Adasa's search for the crystals

Warning: Work continuously in progress, as this story evolves. All members of the guild involved in this saga are welcome to add portions that were missed or edit mistakes. Please check with others involved before removing something.

Still hoping to get some pictures to add in. I just never think to take pictures when we are in the heat of these intense rp's. I'll keep trying. (Stell)



Chapter 1



Adasa met with a new mercenary on Tython, giving him the task to find the location of former jedi knight Ozner Emiya, the one who knew where to find the crystals he was looking for. Stell and Anaris had accompanied Adasa in hiring the mercenary. Sending the mercenary on his way, the other three boarded Anaris' ship, heading for Nar Shaddaa, where Adasa wanted to find a bounty hunter, named Rukko, who had double crossed him. She had told him that Ozner was dead, destroying Adasa's chances of trying to find the crystals. She had lied.

On Nar Shaddaa, after a brief search, the three found Rukko at her shop. Adasa threatened her, wanting any information she could give him on Ozner's whereabouts. She revealed only that Ozner had talked of somewhere cold. As Adasa made himself more and more threatening, Stell, not wanting to see the young bounty hunter get hurt, placed herself between him and Rukko, and suggested to him that she let her deal with the bounty hunter. Anaris and Adasa stepped back, leaving Stell to have a girl to girl chat with Rukko. After much positioning and discussion of their respective Hutt connections, Rukko indicated to Stell that Ozner had talked of enjoying the Ilum sky. She assured Stell that she had already returned to Adasa what he had paid her for the bounty. Stell brought this information to Adasa and Anaris and the three headed to Hoth, the most likely location for Ozner according to the clues from Rukko and Adasa's knowledge of Ozner.

Back on Anaris' ship, on their way to Hoth, Stell began questioning Adasa about the nature of the crystals he sought and his motivation in seeking them. Adasa, who insisted that they call him Iron, indicated that a single crystal would increase strength and all other skills, even those of a non force-user, such as accuracy in firing, ten-fold. As Stell questioned the wisdom of anyone holding such power, Adasa grew increasingly angry, especially with Anaris, who took Stell's side. Stell indicated to Adasa that she wanted to make sure she got her profit out of the endeavour, and that he wouldn't, once that powerful, keep all the power and profit to himself. As they arrived at Hoth, Adasa went ahead to make contact with Hëktor, while Stell dressed for the colder weather. In Adasa's absence, Stell and Anaris discussed that they must not let the crystals fall into Adasa's hands.

As Stell and Anaris caught up with Adasa and the three arrived at the edge of a cliff, looking down over debris from a crashed ship, the saw below them Ozner and Hëktor. Anaris wanted Stell to stay behind, out of harms way, but she refused. Anaris and Adasa dropped to the valley below, to face Ozner, held there by Hëktor. Stell, meanwhile, spotted an armored figure in a sniping position over a ledge on the other side of the valley. Stell snuck around the rock formations, came up behind the sniper with her weapon raised. The trooper identified herself as Ma'kko and had been aiming for Adasa. Stell informed Ma'kko that she and Anaris were on Ma'kko and Ozner's side in ensuring that Adasa didn't get the crystals.

As the discussion between Adasa, Anaris and Ozner deteriorated into argument and finally battle, Stell and Ma'kko took aim and the mercenary, wanting to get him out of the way, while Anaris and Ozner faced Adasa. Stell was shot in the abdomen by Hëktor and crumpled to the snow bleeding. Anaris' panic at seeing Stell go down led Adasa to realize that Anaris' feelings for Stell made her a better target than Anaris, and he shifted his attack towards her. A former sith, Anaris lost control of his emotions and allowed fear and anger to permeate his very being. His sith training came back to him easily and he touched back to his previous connection to the darkside of the force and threw a blast of dark force lightening at Adasa.

Adasa made his way nonetheless to Stell and held his lightsaber at her shoulder. Stell retrieved a training lightsaber from her belt; a gift from Anaris that he had insisted she take from him many weeks previously. She ignited it and plunged it at Adasa's already wounded chest. As Adasa backed away, Anaris placed himself between the two. Sensing Anaris close to her, Stell confessed her love to him before passing out from the loss of blood. Adasa, heavily wounded, grabbed his hired mercenary and ran from the scene. Ozner, Anaris and Ma'kko stabilized Stell so that Anaris could get her back to his ship's medbay and get her healed.



Chapter 2



While taking some time to relax back home on Tatooine with Anaris, Stell received a strange holocall, from a soldier, in the Dune Sea, asking for her help, to bring stims for him and his fellow soldiers, but insisting she come alone. She and Anaris made there way to the Thorazen Outpost and the soldier gave her his location, up a dune and near a sandpeople enclave visible from the outpost. Determining that there was no way to sneak up on the location, but finding the request suspicious, Stell asked Anaris to take his speeder along the path to a point still close to but not visible from the location given and she made her way, using her cloak generator, up the hill. Near the top of the dune, Stell spotted Adasa, and called over the comm to Anaris to warn him as she made a run for it. Adasa, however, spotted her, caught up with her and pinned her down with his lightsaber, warning her to tell Anaris not to come. She reassured Anaris over the comm that she had been mistaken a sandperson for Adasa in the blowing sand and sent Anaris to see her sister Sera, on Tython, promising to meet up with him there after. As Anaris headed towards Anchorhead, Adasa led Stell to a nearby house, where a Sith, Lord Grim, awaited them.

Adasa, insisting again on being called Iron, and Lord Grim tortured Stell, leaving her with a lightsaber through one hand, a knife through the other, slammed around by force throws and electrocuted, before contacting Anaris with a holocall, letting him see the state in which Stell was. Stell tried to focus on Jedi meditation games her grandmother had played with her as a child to control the pain. Adasa gave Anaris instructions to retrieve a crystal from Ozner and to bring it, as well as the Jedi named Tana back to Tatooine to their location. Before closing the call Adasa put a lightsaber through Stell's other arm, at which point she passed out.

Anaris found Master Ozner on Ord Mantell, where he had been pinned down for the last week by bounty hunters after him, thanks to Adasa's search for the crystals. Anaris found him on a beach under fire from a group of bounty hunters. Having been heavily stressed out Anaris decimated the group with no questions and no difficulty. He quickly told Ozner about his conumdrum with Iron desiring the crystal and Stell' being captive. Anaris told Ozner of his fear, and hatred and how he wished to end it all no matter what the cost even to himself. Ozner entrusted Anaris with one of the crystals, expressing his faith in him that he would not let Adasa have it. The former Sith agreed, thanking Ozner stating he would not betray his faith in him, and hurried back to Tattoine. After picking up Tana, en route to Tatooine, Anaris handed Tana the real crystal, as he knew the galaxy would suffer if Iron became more powerful. He then obtained a similar looking crafting crystal and decided to use that instead, to trick Iron for Stell's freedom.

While awaiting Anaris' return, Adasa gave Stell a stim to wake her up, bandaged her up a bit and bound her. He challenged Stell to see that she was a terrible weakness for Anaris, that he would never be able to be a true Jedi with his feelings for her. Stell recognized the weakness her and Anaris' love brings to them, but also the strength in that love, which she believes outweighs the weakness. Stell challenged Adasa on his motivation for getting the crystals and that holding such power would invariably corrupt him, regardless of his noble intentions of wanting to make the universe a better place. Adasa's anger returned at feeling again misunderstood and betrayed. Adassa then took Stell, bound, to a nearby rock formation, leaving her high up, but under a ledge that he could easily collapse with just a yell, to crush her.

Anaris and Tana arrived at the given location on Tatooine, but Anaris was unwilling to discuss anything about the crystal without seeing first that Stell was alive and safe. Adasa intially refused to cooperate, wanting the crystal before complying, but eventually obliged and had Grim drag Stell out. Seeing his love generally safe Anaris handed over the crystal to Adasa, and signalled Tana to retrieve her.

Tana went after Lord Grim, succeeding in grabbing Stell, still bound, and carrying her to her speeder. Stell, however, would not get on, refusing to leave Anaris alone against Adasa and Lord Grim. Tana cut Stell's bindings and Anaris successfully used the force to throw her onto the speeder, so that Tana could leave with her. Anaris, affected by the crystal he had used, drew fully on the darkside of the force to battle Adasa and Lord Grim, also revealing to the two Sith, that the crystal was infact a fake, enraging Adasa even further. Anaris fueled his attacks with his passions; his fear of losing Stell, his rage of what had been done to her, gave potency to every dark power he had learned as a Sith as he unleashed them on his two opponents.

Not far from the battle, Stell managed to throw herself from Tana's speeder, pleading with the Jedi to return and help Anaris, offering that she would continue on to safety, as long as she knew someone would go help even up the odds for Anaris. As the two argued, Adasa spotted them, and turned his attack once again to Stell. In desparation, Stell started drawing upon the force for strength in spite of her injuries. She thought back to the force explosion she had seen come from her sister a few years back, and attempted a similar attack against Adasa. She gave way to all of her pain, her anger and her fear and threw an attack of force energy that was strong enough to burn off Adasa's armored chest piece.

Anaris remotely brought his ship to the group's location, opening the ramp and, after one failed attempt, managed to jump onto the ramp with Stell in his arms and left her in the care of his medic, Kira. He then continued his battle with Adasa. While Anaris continued his battle with Adasa, Tana, still nearby, had been targetted by Lord Grim. Heavily wounded and losing her battle with the Sith, Tana suddenly transformed into a vicious, clawed creature, launching fresh attacks on the Sith, but sustaining more heavy wounds. In the midst of all of this, Hëktor, called by Adasa for another contract, showed up. However, seeing the odds against Adasa once again, Hëktor began firing on Lord Grim.

Anaris finally stood over Adasa, who was too weak to launch another attack against him, injured the unrelenting assault of his foes. Adasa offered Anaris that if he would just give him the real crystal, he would stop hunting them, would stop trying to hurt Stell, but that if he refused, Adasa would not let up on his attacks against Stell. Stell, having received some stims and koltos from Kira, observed all of this from Anaris' ship, of which she had taken over control, the guns now aimed at Adasa. Anaris retrieved the real crystal from Tana and stood over Adasa, struggling with the decision of whether to take the crystal back to Ozner or give it to Adasa, thereby protecting Stell. It may have been better to just destroy it. In the end, as he thought of Master Ozner's faith in him, he could not bring himself to give the crystal to Adasa, even to protect Stell. As he picked up Adasa's lightsaber, Anaris contemplated killing him. He chose to walk away, jumping onto the ramp as Tana and Hëktor did the same. As Stell started closing the ramp, bringing them into the ship, Anaris disassmbled Adasa's lightsaber and let the pieces fall to the sand.

Chapter 3



Life for Anaris and Stell’ returned to its relative peace within weeks after their ordeal on Tattooine. Infact the event seemed to bolster their commitment to each other, and additionally seemed a moral booster for Anaris in his future on the lightside of the force with his sparing of Iron. While running a reconnaissance mission on Corellia for the republic, Anaris received a holocommunication from an unknown source. Answering it, he knew that it could infact be Iron again. His suspicions were answered with it indeed being Iron, along with a small child. Iron greeted his former friend, and ignited the crimson lightsaber. Iron told Anaris he must come to Coruscant to “speak” with him, or the child would suffer a most “uncomfortable” fate. Knowing his answer already, the Jedi agreed, to which Iron grinned. The hatred for Anaris seething with his oration, he told Anaris he could meet him in his “temple” at the Works, on Coruscant and immediately hung up. Anaris knew that he would have to do this alone, even though Stell’ would be furious with his actions, the child’s life depended on what he did at that moment, and he knew that if he let the child die due to his arrogance or stupidity he could never forgive himself. Begrudgingly Anaris travelled to Coruscant to enter the Lion’s den.

Iron’s temple was full of equipment and machinery, which suggested to the Jedi that Iron had resided in the area for quite a long time. As he “strolled” through it in search for his adversary, Anaris could feel a powerful dark presence surround him. The Aura deeply affected Anaris, however the Jedi bolstered himself remembering some of the teachings Master Sindrael had instructed him. Eventually Anaris found Iron afloat in a device akin to a power conduit. With electricity flowing through his body Iron greeted his former friend. Anaris noticed the Sith was alone, and asked where the hostage was, to which Iron had replied he’d let go. Relieved Anaris backed up slowly, and queried Iron as to why he’d want to speak with Anaris again after his defeat from Stell on Tattooine. Iron simply had replied that he wanted Anaris to become what he wanted to be, and to join him at his side. Anaris refused simply, stating that as a Jedi he would not, and more importantly he’d made a promise to Stell’ that he would do no evil ever again, as long as his heart was hers. Becoming even more agitated as the ridiculous notion of Anaris (as a jedi) being in love, Iron withdrew his saber from his belt and ignited it. The jedi maintained his composure and backed up slowly refusing to draw his. Anaris knew that his brashness on Tattooine was a terrible mistake and he needed to control his feelings, and knew he needed to so here. Iron kept on pushing, yet Anaris continued to resist.

Eventually out of frustration and anger Iron attacked Anaris. Having little recourse Anaris took up his saber and held off Iron, trying to make his way to the exit of the complex. The two fought as equals, each warrior matching the other’s blow. Anaris was able to keep up with Iron even with the fact that was retraining with the force. The Jedi still remember his fighting stance and its fundamentals. However, Iron was able to entrap Anaris within a force grip. With the jedi gasping for air, Iron told Anaris that after he would kill him, he would indeed “take care” of Stell’ange. The thoughts of what Iron could do to Stell’ drove Anaris into a rage, with all his might he tried to contain it, as he broke free from the grip Anaris cried, “never!” and struck Iron, severing his hand. The Sith fell to his knees, and collapsed from the shock, and sudden pain. Panting, Anaris immediately cursed himself for what he’d done and stared at Iron face down upon the grating. Even though this man had brought so much pain to his life in just mere weeks, Anaris knew that he couldn’t let him die. The Jedi believed that Iron was still a good person underneath all his wrongs, even before dealing with Stell’. Knowing that the order had already dealt with Iron once with his mind wipe, Anaris could only forsee them killing him if captured again. Even as he loathed Iron for everything he had done, he could not let that happen, he needed to be redeemed. In looking at Iron’s life Anaris could see himself doing the same things, if not for the love of Stell’ange. With that notion, Anaris knew what he had to do, even if it would ruin him in the end. Half dead, Anaris slowly carried Iron’s limp form to a medical bay nearly 2 miles away and left him with the droids there, stating he found the man buried beneath rubble….

After leaving Iron, Anaris was able to call upon Former Master Emiya, and alerted him to all that had happened. With the help of Jedi Evelard, and Padawan Orzaks the three investigated the temple. Before entering the temple Anaris explained what had happend thus far, however he led concerning what had happend to Iron. Anaris felt that the Order would seek to ultimately execute his former comrade, after giving him a chance from before. Initially he stuck with the lie, however his guilt began to consume him and he immediately admitted his lie, infuriating Evelard. Ozner reminded the group that time was short and more pressing matters required thier attention.

The group entered the hidden area, and investigated, taking as much information as possible, eventually realzing that this area was where Iron was trying to make his own crystals. Knowing they could not allow Iron to return, Ozner and Anaris together primed the area for destruction as the rest of the group fled, and barely escaped said explosion. Afterward, Ozner and Anaris separated from the group to go find Iron, and remedy Anaris' mistake



Chapter 4



Stell arrived at Dancer's Haven, shortly before the 9 pm start of the weekly Night-Owl Party. She usually tried to be a bit early, as co-owner and hostess, but tonight she was arriving just barely on time. Her mind was still swimming with her last discussion with Anaris, over his Jedi Master's suggestion that the two of them separate for a few weeks. She couldn't help but find the idea...unwise...with both of them still prime targets for Adasa.

As she arrived at the barge, a Sith was waiting impatiently for her. He introduced himself as Lord Taelios, or just Tae, and indicated that he wanted to offer his patronage of Dancer's Haven. Stell recognized the name of the Sith Lord who had declared himself Patron Saint of Parties, and had already hosted many of his followers on the barge, at the weekly parties. Having assured herself that he didn't want to claim any ownership, only that his patronage be advertised and that he be allowed to pay the tab of his followers, Stell accepted the offer on condition that her business partner, Benn, accept the deal also.

Still in the midst of her conversation with Tae, however, Stell noticed Adasa standing on the dock behind him. Stell nervously looked between the two. While Tae and Adasa exchanged insults, Stell asked Adasa if he had come to kill her or to talk. When he answered to talk...for now, she invited him on the barge and took him aside to a quiet end of Dancer's Haven, where they could sit and talk. Stell questioned him on his view of both the Republic and the Empire being broken and asked him if he didn't see that setting himself at the head of the universe would just lead him down the same power-hungry path, leading to no better. Adasa refused to believe that this would happen and was again frustrated with Stell's inability to see things his way, Anaris' betrayal of him and refusal to join him, and his failure as of yet to procure the crystals. While he talked quite freely to Stell, he continued with his regular threats, which she managed to ignore. The crowd of patrons on the barge, however, did not so easily ignore his threats of their hostess, and slowly began converging around the two. Frustrated by the crowd impeding her chance to speak freely with Adasa, Stell invited him to move with her onto the dock, to continue their discussion. On the dock, as they continued, Stell told Adasa that she should thank him for what went had happened on Tatooine, because thanks to those events, she no longer had any fear of losing Anaris to the darkside. Adasa told her that she was very strong in the force, as demonstrated by her attack against him in that battle, and that she could be a more powerful Jedi than Anaris. Stell indicated that she regretted having hurt him and didn't want to learn to use the Force and potentially hurt people with it, silently wondering if she really did have that much of a connection with the Force. He then shocked her telling her that he wanted her to leave Anaris, to let him train her and to have her at his side. He threatened to continue to go after Anaris if she refused, seeking now to kill him. After a long moment of speechlessness, Stell told Adasa that she loved Anaris, and she would not leave him, that the heart was not something to be commanded, not by Master Tangaroa, and not by him. Adasa was enraged by her refusal, promising to hunt and kill both her and Anaris. At this point, the crowd of Jedi and Sith from the barge, mostly Tae and his followers, had closed in on the two of them again, and was exchanging increasingly hostile and violent insults with Adasa. Stell, feeling she was losing any control of the crowd, called to Adasa, as he stepped away from her and asked him to consider a different way of making the universe a better place and joining her and Anaris. At this point, a kind Jedi, repeat patron of the barge, Miller, who had been trying to watch out for Stell, moved in and pulled Stell back to the barge where she would not be in harms way, as the crowd closed in on Adasa. She went with him to Dancer's Haven, holding in tears, as she heard the violence erupt behind her.

Back in the relative safety of Dancer's Haven, Stell sought out her business partner, Benn, to appologize for the drama on the barge. Benn couldn't hold in his concern at seeing Stell conversing with an enemy who was still actively trying to kill her. Stell sat with Benn and the end of the barge, where she had sat with Adasa, to try to explain to him her determination to give every possible chance to Adasa for redemption, before resorting to kililng him, especially given the past actions of the Ascension of which she had now learned, wiping Adasa's memories. As they spoke, a Sith walked up, looking for her, introducing himself as Adasa's brother. Stell remembered having seen the name Kezie identified as Adasa's brother in the Ascension files she had found about Adasa's trial. Kezie asked to speak with her off the barge, telling her that she did not really know Anaris and that Anaris belonged to another. He also made very clear that he thought it unfortunate that Anaris had chosen to spare his brother and hadn't just eliminated him. Concerned over what he was saying about Anaris, Stell followed him onto the docks, not getting out of view and earshot of the barge. Kezie did nothing but repeat the same claims, but, as Stell turned around to where he pointed when talking of Anaris belonging to another, she was horrified to see Lord Grim, ginning, and telling her that Anaris belonged to him.

Stell ran back to the barge, looking for Benn for safety, as the crowd, having seen her talking to Kezie and seen her reaction, began to congregate again, this time around Kezie, asking him to leave. When Stell found Benn and he asked her what was wrong, she burst into tears, unable to speak, as he held her. One of Tas's followers, an apprentice by the name of Saline, seeing Stell's uncontrollable sobs, came over, touched Stell gently on the chin and sent calming empathy waves over her, using the Force. While Benn frowned and chided Saline for using mind tricks on Stell, Stell calmed down and thanked her for her assistance. Stell was barely finished her sentence as suddenly her mind filled with a horrible vision of Anaris kneeling before Lord Grim and killing all of their friends in the Ascension. She crumpled to the ground with a cry, gripping Benn's arms, crying out no repeatedly. As the vision cleared, a second vision was thrown at her of Anaris killing Lord Grim and taking his power for himself. She cried out with repeated no's again, gripping Benn's arms painfully and beginning to shake. At this point she understood that these visions were being thrown at her, attacks from the Sith Lord Grim and she saw them for the lies that they were, inspite of the pain they gave her. She tried to focus on her grandmother's mind calming meditation again, mumbling to herself about seeing the dune of sand, seeing the sand at her feet, seeing a single grain of sand. Meanwhile, the concerned crowd grew around her, as did the determined crowd escorting Kezie from the dock. None had however identified Lord Grim as hostile, and so he was allowed to pass onto the barge, until he was quite close to Stell. He threw a third vision at her, this time of Anaris, having achieved his full power in the darkside, calling her to his side, promising that he had enough power to protect her forever. Stell lost any ability to focus on the calming meditation, as her mind was crushed by the new vision. She began to shake uncontrollably, unable to speak any more. A Miraluka patron of the barge, Eirwynn, moved in to try to help, which Benn encouraged her to do. She placed her hand on Stell's shoulder and began to errect a mental shield around her. Still fighting the after images of the third vision, Stell settled enough to finally open her eyes again, horrified to see Grim standing right behind Benn. She immediately looked at him, and putting all her energy into the effort of speaking, identified him as the one responsible for the attacks on her, pointing at him then, as the crowd asked her to confirm this. As the crowd gathered around Grim, asking him to leave, he threw a final vision at Stell, crushing Eirwynn's mental shield and sending her also reeling from the mental attack. The final vision showed Stell running away from Anaris, surrounded by the bodies of those he had killed who called out to her for justice. Stell crumpled against Benn again, shaking, crying, unable to speak or even open her eyes.

Minutes stretched on feeling like hours, as Stell still struggled to clear the images of the visions she knew to be lies from her head. Benn, having little mobility of his arms, and even less feeling after so many minutes of Stell's desperate grip, pulled a self destruct activator for the barge out of a pocket and commented on the time to allow before it should blow up Dancer's Haven. This pulled Stell out of the mental pit she was in, as she looked at him, dazed, asking him what he was doing. He smiled and returned the activator to his pocket, welcoming her back. She finally released her grip on his arms and sat on the floor of the barge, unable to do anything other than sit there as she recovered. Benn brought her some tea, as others saw to Eirwynn's recovery and the patrons of the barge settled from the evening's dramatic events.

As Stell finally rose from the floor of the barge and began to walk around, trying to shake her mental haze, Evelard, a Jedi friend she had worked with on Hoth, showed up, wanting to talk to her, as did a bounty hunter looking for the owner of the barge. She spoke with the bounty hunter first, who was looking for Kezie, apparently for an unsettled debt. Stell appologized that she could not even indicate to him by which direction Kezie had left, as she had been incapacitated at the time. She then went to see Evelard, who told her that he needed to talk to her about Anaris. At that very moment, Anaris showed up, back from the mission that had kept him away from the barge that evening. Stell went straight to him and hugged him tightly, taking great comfort in the feel of his arms around her, after the evening's nightmares. Evelard grew concerned at this sight and made clear his anger with Anaris at ignoring the Jedi Code in establishing a relationship. He asked Stell if he could speak to her alone, but she made clear that she would tell Anaris anything he told her, so he could just as well tell both of them what he had to say. Evelard refused to discuss the matter any further with them that night, insisting that he would call Stell to Tython when he was ready to discuss the matter with her, and that Anaris could come along if she chose. At this, Evelard excused himself and left.

Stell, exhausted from the evening, made one last round of Dancer's Haven, thanking those who had protected and helped her, and saying her farewells for the night. She then left with Anaris, as they returned to her ship, so that she could fill him in on the various developments of the evening. While Anaris was furious at Adasa's suggestion that Stell leave him and join Adasa, letting him train her, and offered that he could start to train her in the use of the force, the two agreed that it would be best to discuss her force sensitivity with Master Tangaroa.



Chapter 5



As Benn relaxed on Carrick station, with his buddy Zorq and long time friend Phaltanax, their peace was suddenly destroyed by the arrival of Adasa. Adasa began insulting and taunting the group. As Benn used his quick wit to respond to Adasa's insults in kind, Adasa indicated to them that they should bring Stell and Anaris with them to Belsavis, if they wanted a chance to make good on their threats. Anaris showed up at this point, as he and Stell had been seeing to some affairs on the station, and, as they picked up Stell, the five joined up to follow where Adasa had indicated. As all five landed on Belsavis, they immediately spotted Adasa, standing among the droids and the troops in the midst of the current crisis on the prison planet. As the group approached him, Stell asked him if he'd considered her offer and Anaris abruptly asked him what he wanted. Adasa informed the group that he was holding Master Ozner prisoner, and showed them on a map where they would have to go to find and release him. Stell began talking to Adasa about his brother's visit to her on the barge, working at throwing him off balance with what she knew to be a sensitive topic for him. Anaris sought more information about what Adasa really wanted and why he was holding Ozner. Benn simply wanted to take out Adasa, and glared at Stell for her restraint.

Adasa left the group, still infuriated with them, and having repeated to Stell his demand that she join him. As Adasa left, Benn, fuming, refused to take any further part in what he considered to be a foolish endeavor, and left with Zorq. As Anaris and Phaltanax headed to the given coordinates, Stell ran after Benn to try to talk to him. Benn didn't hold back his anger that they would simply let Adasa walk away, when they surely had a large enough group to kill him. Stell tried to make Benn understand why she wanted so much to try to redeem Adasa, and not kill him, indicating that if she could redeem him, then it gave her hope for saving another. Stell finally stopped trying to explain, simply hugged Benn, thanking him for having come along, and told him to do what he had to do. As she walked away, heading to the speeder to catch up with Anaris and Phaltanax, Benn's face suddenly dropped and he swore, as he finally understood to whom Stell was refering.

Stell caught up with Anaris and Phaltanax, who had followed the coordinates to the Republic Outpost, where they found Master Ozner free and unharmed. At this point, other duties called Phaltanax away. Ozner informed Stell and Anaris that he had located another crystal but that it was behind enemy lines. He had troops setting up position to hold the line, but the three of them would have to pass behind the line in order to secure the crystal. Upon learning of Adasa's presence on Belsavis, Ozner stressed that time was of the essence.

The three worked their way down an imperial platform leading into the depths of a crater filled with magma at the bottom, finding imperial rigged bombs along the way. As they started their descent, Anaris suddenly stumbled, being hit by violent visions. In the first vision, he saw himself kneeling before Grim who had a crystal in his pocket. In the next vision, he saw himself killing Stell. As he fought through the visions, with Stell holding him with great concern, his nose began to bleed. Master Ozner placed a force shield around Anaris' mind, finally blocking out any more mental attacks.

As the three reached the bottom platform and took out the last of the imperial troops in their way, the Commando at the bottom surrendered. As they lowered their arms, they spotted an imperial ship moving in. At that moment, the Commando triggered the bombs. The three rushed to clear the platform ahead of its collapse, barely making it to the top on time, Ozner almost falling to the lava below with the last falling part of the platform. The looked back to see the imperial ship latching onto and pulling away the rock face from one side of the crater, leaving with what appeared to be a giant drill.

Ozner deduced that the imperials must also be after the crystal, and must have used the drill to get it, taking it away before the lava filled the entire crater. He took Stell and Anaris with him as the three of them followed the path of the ship to where it set down the drill. At this point, before approaching the drill, Stell and Anaris suggested bringing in more members of the Ascension to help them. The launched a call for assistance over the guild comm channel, and four Jedi of the guild answered their call. Master Xecryo, Master Tangaroa, Knight Nahrin and Knight Rotander, came to Belsavis to assist them. The now larger group then advanced upon the position of the drill, finding Adasa standing on its edge.

Adasa welcomed the group, laughing at them, promising that they would see what he is capable of. Stell began her verbal taunts again, working to throw him off balance, hoping to make him see what he was becoming, only managing to bringing up his anger by comparing him with his brother. She continued to repeat her offer to him, of him joining her and Anaris, offering him the friends, the family he didn't have. Adasa tapped at the controls on his wrist, causing the drill to move and the ground to shake and break apart. He taunted the group in his anger and drew his lightsabers. Force attacks and lightsaber swipes were exchanged and repelled between Adasa and Anaris, Nahrin, Rotander and Ozner. Adasa continued to belittle his attackers, telling them that he would get what he wants, and then that he would have "her". As the others questionned who Adasa was talking about, as Anaris repeatedly asked Adasa who was the "her" he would have, Stell knew, from her conversation with him on the barge, that he was talking about her. In the midst of this battle, Stell put away her blaster and drew the lightsaber Anaris had given her. She called out to Adasa and walked slowly towards him, challenging him, asking him if this was what he really wanted, to destroy all of them, to destroy her. She came up close to him, as he didn't back down, and with a swipe of the lightsaber, she cut off his prosthetic hand, which rolled down the hill, still clutching one now unlit lightsaber. As Stell backed away, the attacks continued. Anaris charged forward, pinning Adasa to the ground, a lightsaber at his throat but he was unable to stop Adasa from hitting the controls on his wrist against the ground, sending the drill lurching forward again. The shaking and breaking up of the ground, sent Anaris and others rolling back away from the drill.

An imperial ship appeared, latched onto the drill, and began lifting it into the air. Adasa climbed up the rocks to the edge of the drill and began to climb with it towards the imperial ship. The group charged towards the drill, not wanting to let Adasa escape. At this moment, an imperial drop ship appeared and laid a cover of ground fire, hitting many in the group, forcing them to back away from the drill. Nahrin lept for the drill, but didn't gain a solid enough footing, and slid back down. Rotander successfully lept up to the drill, only to be thrown back a ways off the drill by a force push from Adasa. Only Xecryo, aided by the Force and jet-rocket boots, succeeded in landing securely on the drill with Adasa. As the two engaged in battle, Nahrin and Rotander attempted to use the Force to secure a tracker to the drill. Stell and Anaris, who had retreated to a nearby building seeking shelter from the drop ship's fire, ran back to the rest of the group, errecting Stell's personal shield to try to assist Nahrin, who had been injured. Rotander finally succeeded in using the Force to launch a tracker and fix it to the drill. As the drill continued its ascent into the belly of the imperial ship, those on the ground lost sight of Adasa and Xecryo engaged in their epic battle. As the drop ship released a squadron of fighters, aiming at the group, the group retreated on their speeders to the nearby power control centre, taking shelter from the imperial attack.

As the group waited for Republic troops to deal with the imperial incursion, Anaris suddenly fell to the ground, in pain. As Stell kneeled before him in concern, he looked up at her and told her that Adasa was dead. Nahrin moved forward, confirming that he had also felt Adasa's departure from the Force indicating his death. The other Jedi present confirmed the same feeling. Nahrin also indicated that he felt the same indication of death for Master Xecryo. Stell sat back in shock, took out the lightsaber she had used against Adasa, looked at it, set it on the ground and walked away. Anaris picked up the discarded lightsaber and followed her out. Nahrin questionned Master Tangaroa as to whether they should follow, but she suggested that they would be better to leave the couple alone to deal with their grief. The four other Jedi then departed.

Anaris followed Stell outside where she collapsed in sobs. He held her while she cried, sharing her grief for Adasa, whom he had hoped to redeem. When her sobs finally settled, Stell insisted on returning to the site of their battle with Adasa, now that the imperial forces had been pushed back. The two walked slowly back to the scene. As they approached, Anaris suddenly indicated that he sensed Master Xecryo. The two sifted through the rubble and debris, led by Anaris' sense through the Force. They found Master Xecryo, barely alive. As Stell pulled out a kolto, unsure of where to inject it, with all of Xecryo's armor and injuries, Anaris called for a medivac. Anaris then carefully removed Xecryo's chest armor and injected him with the kolto. Anaris questionned Xecryo as to what had happened on the drill. Xecryo, barely able to speak, could only say that Adasa was dead. While Anaris stayed with Xecryo and saw him safely evacuated by a med team, Stell returned to the spot where she had taken her lightsaber to Adasa. She walked slowly down the hill, kicking at the debris, until she found what she was looking for. With Xecryo safely off the surface, Anaris came over to see what Stell was looking at. She held in her hands Adasa's prosthetic hand and lightsaber. She looked up at Anaris, as the tears began to flow again. He helped her up and the two made their way back to their ship to deal with their grief.



Chapter 6



After the death of Adasa at the hands of Xecryo, Anaris and Stell’ange went into seclusion. It was in this brief period that Evelard, Adasa and Kezie’s father contacted the two and requsted that they meet him on Tython. Initially the two debated whether right now would be the best time to leave, but then soon realized it must be of some importance, however in the back of their minds, they knew that Adasa’s death was not known to Evelard, and the two would be the ones to inform him of his son’s death. Landing upon Tython, the couple could feel a sense of peace, as this was their second home and therefore found some comfort with the peaceful area.

Finding Evelard in a cave meditating Anaris and Stell’ approached him. Anaris felt some apprehension as he recalled Evelard holding much distaste for the “failed sith”, who now strolled around as a Jedi. Anaris almost expected this to be another trap set, however Evelard only approached them with peace. At First Evelard greeted the two and had asked how they had fared. Anaris and Stell looked at each other and could feel that there was really no other time to unleash the terrible news. Evelard was broken by their oration as he tried his best to contain his sadness and anger. Both Stell and Anaris did their best to comfort him, telling him they had done everything in their power to help redeem Adasa. To which Evelard only requested the name of his killer, which the couple reluctantly stated, “Master Xecryo Sirius”.

Evelard eventually revealed the reason he’d summoned the two, he’d wished to warn them about Adasa’s brother Kezie, who most likely would not take the news of his brother’s death as well as Evenlard had. Anaris and Stell’ clasped their hands together and stated that no matter who or what came their way, that the two would face it head on as one. Evelard seemed slightly taken aback by the two’s resolve. It was here, that Stell’, had stated that Anaris had proposed to her a week prior, and she’d accepted (OMG YAY!). This news seemed to shock Evelard as much as the news of his son’s death. He wanred the two that their connection would only serve to hurt them, as Anaris and Stell’ again stated that they understood the risk that they were taking, but loved each other enough that they would take the risk to be as one. Evelard still unable to dissuade the two, congratulated them, and took his leave, walking form the cave a saddened man.

((To be added: subsequent meeting with Evelard and reveal that he is the one behind Kezie's plot.))



Chapter 7



((To be added: Attack on the barge.))



Chapter 8



((To be added: Stell's attempt to join Kezie in order to infiltrate his operation and the disaster that it turned into on Quesh.))



Chapter 9



With no further sign of Kezie and no further information on the remaining crystals, the Aeternum Ascension turned its attention to other matters. They recently acquired an ancient Sith holocron from an Imperial disguised as a gang member in the ruins of the Jedi temple on Coruscant. While Dalthane worked on understanding the Sith holocron, others decrypted a datachip taken from the same Imperial. Partial information on the datachip led a group from the AA to attack a hidden facility on Balmorra, where they found a Sith and a number of very aggressive animals showing signs of having been modified by both cybernetics and Sith alchemy. The AA continued its research folllowing these missions as the concerns of Kezie and the crystals fell into the background.

As Stell and Anaris prepared for a routine transportation run, they both received indications that they had a holomessage. At the holoterminal on their ship, Stell activated her message first and watched in stunned silence as Adasa appeared before her, masked. As Stell continued to stare at the now blank holoterminal, Anaris replayed the message and paused it on the clearest view of Adasa. Anaris then played his holomessage, also from Adasa, instructing the two to go to Tatooine. Stell smiled, with tears in her eyes, that Adasa was not dead. Her smile quickly faded, upon seeing the stern gaze with which Anaris now looked at the holoterminal, remembering the threat that Adasa represented. As the two discussed the messages and Adasa's return, Anaris warned Stell to not let herself dwell on the feelings of guilt she felt over their last encounter with Adasa and that killing him might be the only way to protect many more from being hurt. Stell assured him that she understood that and would not hesitate to kill Adasa if it became clearly necessary, pointing out with a smirk the irony that, after having begged her to not kill while she attempted to work for Kezie, he was now encouraging her to not hesitate to do so. The two made their way to Tatooine with a mix of expectation and trepidation.

On Tatooine, Stell and Anaris made their way to their appartment in Anchorhead, unsure of where to go. As they continued to discuss Adasa's return and the possible implications, they heard a noise outside and suddenly a voice calling out Anaris' name in a whisper. As they both drew their weapons and Anaris Force-pushed the door open, they initially saw no one. Around the side of the house, a bounty hunter again spoke Anaris' name and moved forward. The bounty hunter turned out to be Ma'kko, in disguise and on the run. As they invited her into the appartment, behind her they spotted Tana, who had stumbled into Ma'kko at the spaceport and had been dragged along by her in the search for a safe haven. Tana excused herself as she was heading to meet her mother. Ma'kko proceeded to explain that upon her return from an ordered extended shore leave, she had found all her goods seized, her very existence wiped, other than a rather large bounty on her head, as the Republic had discovered that she'd been smuggling baridium weapons. At this point, Anaris sensed Adasa in the Force and indicated to Stell that they should go. Ma'kko, upon hearing the name Adasa, suggested to the two that she should join them. Stell expressed concern that they didn't know in what state Adasa was and he had sent messages only to them, so they wanted to go along. It was agreed that Ma'kko could follow along at a distance, remaining hidden unless support was clearly needed.

Stell and Anaris, followed by Ma'kko in her disguise, took a speader to Espalar base, where they found Master Ozner, to their great surprise. As they explained the contact from Adasa, clearly not dead, and their intention to meet with him, Ozner indicated that he found it a rather suspect coincidence that Adasa reappeared, back from the dead, just as he himself returned from a long stint in the Outer Rim. He offered his assistance, but again, Stell and Anaris asked him to stay back, unless it became clear that they needed his support.

Stell and Anaris mounted their speeders, following Anaris' sense of Adasa in the Force, heading North from Espelar, arriving at an isolated homestead. They dismounted and headed in, finding Adasa, wearing a different and imposing mask, within. Stell smiled at Adasa, while Anaris regarded him cautiously. The two questioned Adasa as to how he had been healed. He revealed only that he had been found and had been healed, though it took much time. He indicated that he now had a clearer view of his path. Anaris questioned him about this path, but he gave no answer. He reminded Stell of how she had cut off his arm at their last encounter and she asked him to forgive her. He then returned his attention to Anaris, showing much hatred of the one he considered to have once been a friend but now a traitor.

As the three talked calmly, Adasa spotted movement at the door. Stell and Anaris followed him out, to find a trooper within the homestead, just outside the door. Adasa angrily accused Stell and Anaris of having brought along forces to invade his home. Stell and Anaris vehemently denied having brought anyone along and repeated many times that they did not know this trooper. As Adasa threatened the trooper, the trooper did all that he could to goad Adasa. As Adasa attempted to Force-choke the trooper and the trooper shot at Adasa, Stell succeeded in puting a Force-bubble around the trooper and eventually succeeded in moving him away, as Anaris used the Force to push Adasa back and tried to calm him. As the trooper continued to insult all and make indecent comments to Stell, Stell drew both blasters and aimed them at him. She switched her secondary blaster to tranquilizer darts and attempted to incapacitated the trooper, frustrated by the interuption to the discussion her and Anaris had been having with Adasa and by the trooper's success in building up Adasa's anger. As she released the trooper from the Force-bubble, she was, however, unable to get a tranquilizer dart into the trooper, as each round she shot hit only his armor. Stell desperately suggested to Adasa that the three of them go to her family farm or to their ship, so that they could continue their discussion unhindered, but Adasa refused, too angry over the invasion of his home. Stell surprised Anaris by telling Adasa that she had wished for so long that he hadn't really died, as she tried to convince him to go elsewhere with them. As she and Anaris switched spots, he attempting to deal with the trooper and her trying to calm Adasa, Ma'kko suddenly dropped into the homestead, hearing the ruccus. Seeing the trooper, Ma'kko assumed he was there to try to capture her and in panic and anger, launched a small tactical missile into the house behind the four. As the trooper moved away, Stell, Anaris and Adasa ran into the house. Adasa succeeded in using the Force to propel the missile far into the dessert, away from the homestead, thereby saving all of them.

As they returned outside, the trooper had moved off, followed by Ma'kko who attacked him. Drawn by the explosion nearby, other members of the Aeternum Ascension, Master Ozner, Captain Rusticulous, and Kanjaro, appeared. As Adasa attacked the trooper who had invaded his home, Stell and Anaris subdued Ma'kko and sent her on her way, Stell warning her that if she didn't immediately leave, she would carbonize her and turn her into Master Tangaroa herself, to face charges for her smuggling of baridium weapons. As Ma'kko left, Stell and Anaris explained to Master Ozner the issue with the unknown trooper and returned down into the homestead, where the battle between the trooper and Adasa continued, with Kanjaro looking on. Kanjaro used the Force to send both the trooper and Adasa flying agaisnt the wall and he and Stell disarmed the two of them. Stell and Anaris asked Kanjaro and Captain Rusticulous to remove the trooper for questioning so that they could continue their discussion with Adasa. The remaining members of AA left, with the trooper in custody, and Stell and Anaris attempted to resume their discussion with Adasa.

Adasa was still angry and was unwilling to continue the discussion, but Stell and Anaris did not relent. They noticed, that as Adasa spoke, especially in anger, he frequently held his head. At one point, as he again verbally attacked them, he then yelled "No, I won't" leading Stell to ask him who was in his head. In a moment of calm, Adasa admitted that this was the home where he grew up with his brother. Stell asked him which brother he had grown up with here, if it was Kezie, but his anger again mastered him. Stell grew concerned over Anaris' concurrent discussion with Adasa, as he spoke as if he had given up on being a Jedi. As Stell continued to question Adasa about growing up here, Anaris began to question him about the mask he was wearing. When Stell finally asked if it was Brog the brother he had grown up with here, and what they had played together, Adasa replied calmly that it was Brog and that they had played games as children do. Anaris, however, asked Stell to hold off on further questioning, while he persued his questions about the mask. Adasa's anger again mounted, clearly having Anaris as a target. Anaris asked Adasa what would make things right with him, if it took Anaris' death for him to stop being angry. Adasa answered that he didn't want to see Anaris die, he wanted to see him hurt and suffer, to see him lose everything. Anaris asked if it would help if he would leave, go away to the farthest reaches to never return, but also pushed Adasa with more questions, sensing that there was something else he wanted. Adasa finally spat out in anger that he wanted Stell. Adasa offered that he would stop his rampage, if Anaris left, leaving Stell behind with him. Adasa would then send Stell to Anaris with a message, the details of the deal he was offering, which was to include bringing him the head of Dalthane, and then Anaris and Stell were never to have contact again after that. Stell moved close to Anaris, hugging him and holding tightly onto him, crying, as Adasa spoke. She whispered to him to wait for her on Dromund Kaas, that she would find him and they would be together again, promising him that she was his, all his, only his, for always. Anaris whispered to her that he thought the mask was what was behind Adasa's behaviour.

Anaris offered Adasa that he would accept the deal, he would leave and leave Stell behind, if Adasa gave him the mask. Adasa grew angry again at this and drew his lightsaber. Anaris drew his as well but Stell, not wanting to see it come to battle, tried to impose herself between the two, pulling Anaris back. This only succeeded in getting Anaris injured. As he indicated to Stell that he was only going to try for the mask, she withdrew and the two battled, Anaris trying only to deflect Adasa's attacks as he moved in closer. Finally, Anaris succeeded in deflecting another blow from Adasa and reached in and pulled the mask off him, moving back. As the mask was removed, it revealed only half of a face. The left side of Adasa's face was badly scarred from burns and the eye was missing, but the right side of his face was but a gap. Stell looked on in tears as Anaris, understanding what he was seeing, told Adasa that the mask has been corrupting him.

Adasa silently put away his saber and walked into his house, followed by Stell and Anaris. He reached down against a wall and pushed a series of buttons, starting a countdown. Suspecting a bomb or some sort of self-destruct mechanism, but unwilling to leave Adasa to such a fate again, Stell and Anaris moved closer to him and together errected a strong Force-bubble around the three of them. As the countdown hit 0, a safe door opened in the wall. Stell and Anaris exchanged confused looks, releasing the Force-bubble, as Adasa reached in and took out another mask, puting it on. Adasa turned back to the two and told them to leave him as he had much to think about. The two refused to leave, insisting that they would stay with him, silently, and keep him company in his reflections, but that they would not leave him alone again. Anaris, insisting on his friendship, told Adasa that he should not have to face his demons alone. Adasa suddenly lit his lightsaber and stabbed Stell through the stomach. Stell crumpled to the ground, a shocked look on her face. As Anaris picked her up and backed away, keeping his now lit lightsaber pointed towards Adasa, she reached for him, clutching at him, trying to remain conscious. Anaris left, carrying Stell quickly back to their ship to get her stabilized, then took her to the medical facility at the Republic Fleet, as she needed more care than he could provide. He stayed with her at the medical facility while they treated her, then brought her back to their ship and stayed with her through her days of recovery and healing. After bringing Stell back to their ship, she and Anaris had begun to discuss what had happened on Tattooine with Adasa, and some of the things he'd said during the confrontation, suddenly Anaris had received a holo. call from an unknown source. It had been Adasa, who'd called the two demanding his mask returned to him. Stell and Anaris knew that under no circumstances, should Adasa ever be reunited with the mask, and thus both refused, much to the frustration of Adasa. Getting frustrated themselves with the conundrum, Anaris and Stell pleaded with Adasa to give up his hatred, as the two stated to him that above all else they were his friend, and did not seek to reform him to become a jedi, but only bring him peace. Adasa refused their help, like before, and threatened them both, saying that those they loved would suffer for their insolence. It was at this point that Stell. stood up and asked Anaris to direct their ship to Rigel, an extremely bright (and hot) star. Carrying the holo in her hands she had Adasa watch as she put the mask in one of the torpedo tubes and prepared to fire. Adasa could clearly be seen becoming more and more agitated by her actions. At this moment Adasa, with his anger seething told the couple that his lightsaber would bathe in blood and hung up before Stell fired the mask into oblivion. She took the mask from the bay, and Anaris told her that they needed to contact Anaris' padawan, Ardnel, and to get Sera, Stell's sister, to prevent them from becoming one of Adasa's possible targets

As they entered the orbital station together, Anaris received another Holo call form Adasa, this time with his saber drawn and cornering a young jedi Saffic, Stell and Anaris watched as Adasa threatened the young one. The two could do nothing, as they had no idea where Adasa was, and to prevent Adasa from even getting what he'd wanted; terrorizing the two, they hung up the holo with a heavy heart, and sought to find Ardnel and Sera, and see if they could find any clues as to where the young jedi Saffic was.

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Chapter 10

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((Summary only, pending time to write out more details.))

(Ma'kko found Anaris waiting by his and Stell's ship in the hangar of the fleet. Ardnel came along and started attacking Ma'kko. Stell came in to find Anaris holding Ardnel, passed out, seeming to have been influenced by something or someone controling him. They took him on their ship and decided to take him to Tython to see if Sera, Stell's youngest sister, could help shield him. As the ship travelled, Anaris entered Ardnel's mind to try to push out whoever was there. Stell managed to join Anaris in Ardnel's mind, finding Adasa there. Stell made a lightsaber materialize and slashed across Adasa, pushing him from Ardnel's mind. Stell and Anaris took Ardnel to Tython, where Sera worked at healing and shielding him. She looked at the circlet that Ardnel had been wearing, that Anaris had broken and was immediately captured by the dark energy of the circlet, even broken, when she held it. She managed to break free and worked at healing Ardnel. Ozner was on Tython and heard Stell and Anaris' voices and came to see what was going on. Adasa showed up. Stell linked with Sera, making their combined strength in the force stronger. Adasa managed to cut off Ardnel's leg and Ozner's hand. Anaris attacked Adasa, using the force to squeeze his heart. Adasa in the end managed to retreat after setting the medbay on fire and bringing down much of the entrance to the room. Sera tended to the wounded, as Stell looked at Anaris silently and walked out, hurt, angry and feeling betrayed that he had gone so dark. Anaris found her, so angry and hurt over not having been able to protect his padawan that he was nearly suicidal. A long, heated argument ensued between the two. After the two worked things out, some days later, after much thought, Anaris decided to leave the Jedi Order. The two returned to Tython so that Anaris could tell Ardnel. Ardnel, adjusting to his new leg, didn't take the news well, feeling that Anaris was abandoning him and that he was too weak to earn Anaris' approval. Sera stayed with Ardnel, trying to help him heal emotionally as he struggled to heal physically.))

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Chapter 11

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Sera wandered around Tython, having just returned after a few days away doing work she'd been given on Alderaan. She decided to go for a walk before going to visit Ardnel. She found a group of Jedi in front of the temple, deep in discussion, and stopped to listen. As the various comments went from slavery, to the definition of alive and sentient, and then to droids, Sera had a hard time following what the exact topic of discussion was. As her attention wavered, she glanced around at the various assembled Jedi. Her gaze stopped suddenly on a large man standing apart from the rest of the group, a hat covering most of his face. As she looked at him through the force, she recognized Adasa. As he turned and looked in her direction, she quickly turned back to the current speaker, looking around uneasily at the others speaking, wondering if she should sound an alarm of some sort.

As Adasa looked around, listening with mild interest to the topic of the sentience of droids and the ethics of slavery being discussed. He spotted Miller to one side of the group and pulled his had down a little farther over his face. As he glanced in the other direction, his gaze suddenly stopped on a young female padawan, bearing a Miraluka mask, looking his way, then quickly looking away. He recognized Sera, Stell's youngest sister. He moved over to stand very close beside her and leaned in to whisper to her to not make a scene if she didn't want anyone getting hurt. Sera whispered back to Adasa that she wanted to leave, and he was welcome to leave with her, but Adasa's attention was back on Miller and he only repeated his whispered threats to her.

As Miller finally sensed the eyes steadily on him, he looked back at the unknown figure, trying to place him. He moved away from the group, back towards the entrance of the temple. Adasa suddenly grabbed Sera's hand, dragging her along, "Come on." Startled to be dragged away, but relieved to leave the group behind, Sera followed Adasa, past the stairs leading up into the temple, to where Miller had stopped, watching the two of them approach. Miller frowned as she recognized Adasa and questionned him as to his purpose on Tython. Adasa released Sera's hand and picked up his usual threats and posturing, answered by more threats and posturing on Miller's part.

Miller turned to Sera and asked her, "Captive or friend?" Sera smiled at Miller, "I'm Sera. And not captive." Miller introduced himself, Sera recognizing the name, "I think my sister has mentionned your name." To Miller's further question, Sera indicated that she was Stell's sister. As the two men resumed their threats and posturing, Sera turned to Adasa, "I'm going to go to my favourite meditation spot. When you're done here, if you'd like to talk, I'm sure you'll be able to sense me in the Force in order to locate me." With this, she walked away before he could say anything more.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Sera went to sit by a small waterfall beside the temple. A few minutes later, Adasa came up behind her. Standing a few steps behind her, he started in on the instructions he had mentally practiced. "Ardnel has been taken. You will tell Stell and Anaris that if they want to find him, they will have to follow the instructions I will give you carefully." Sera's heart sunk as she heard his words.... Ardnel, who she was supposed to protect and care for, taken, from Tython. Adasa moved foward and sat down beside Sera, watching for her reaction, his anger and hate levels high, thinking of the satisfaction it would give him to sink his vibroblade into her flesh and watch her bleed. Sera, sensing the echo of his thought asked him quietly, "Would that soothe you? Would it soothe you to see me bleed?" Adasa answered her, "Your suffering feeds me."

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Sera slowly reached behind Adasa, taking his vibroblade from its sheath. Adasa watched her, making no move to stop her, though poised to defend himself if needed. Sera brought the vibroblade in front of her and looked at it. She reached deep within to connect to the Force to give her strength and brace her. With a swift motion, she sliced across her other hand with the vibroblade, leaving a deep, though not life threatening cut across the hand. She set the vibroblade down on the grass between her and Adasa, as blood dripped from her hand on the grass. She then broke off her connection to the Force, shutting out anything that would dull the pain of her wound, letting herself feel it completely, and letting Adasa feel her pain. She asked him quietly, through the pain, "Does that feed the hunger?"

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Adasa stared in shock at the bright red gash in her hand and the drops falling to the grass. Feeling the pain in Sera neither fed him nor soothed him, but touched something deep within him suddenly. He tore a strip of cloth from his shirt and slowly started bandaging her hand, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. Sera said nothing as she allowed him to bandage her hand, stopping the bleeding. As he gently finished the task, she left her hand in his and turned to look at him, seeing him with the Force, bringing up her other hand to wipe away a few of his tears.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Adasa leaned his head on her shoulder, as the tears fell. ((Adasa, please add more here of what was going on for Adasa. Thank you.))

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">As the two began to talk, she shared with Adasa that she had yet to take her trials by her own choice, because she still wasn't sure that the Jedi path was the right path for her. Sera found herself reflecting upon the Jedi code, and upon the bits she had heard of the Sith code. "Perhaps that is the failing of both the Order and the Sith," she told Adasa, "the Jedi seek peace at the expense of passion, and the Sith seek passion at the expense of peace. There must be balance." Adasa asked her to honestly tell him what she thought of his actions, that she knew of. She told him honestly that he had caused a great deal of pain and suffering to a great many people, but that she could she the potential in him to bring a great deal of good to a great many people.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">As the two spoke, looking intently at one another, Sera became suddenly aware of just how close their faces were to one another. Suddenly, her heart raced, the sound of it thundering in her ears. Adasa, suddenly aware of the same closeness, gently leaned over and pressed his lips against Sera's. Initially unsure, Sera gradually, gently returned the kiss. As the two pulled apart, Sera blushed. Adasa gently reached over and pulled her Miraluka mask off, and she blinked at the sudden brightness of human sight from her now exposed small human eyes.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Confused by his own feelings, Adasa passed Sera a holo. "Have them slice that. It will tell them where to find Ardnel, on Tatooine." Sera asked him softly, "Adasa, what do you want in exchange for Ardnel?" He stammered, unsure of himself, "Nothing..." Adasa stood to go, still holding Sera's bandaged hand in his, as she stood with him. "Meet me again tomorrow, here, at the same time," he asked. She nodded. He leaned over and kissed her again, as she returned the kiss still shyly, but a little more confidently this time. She watched him walk away, her heart still racing, pondering her unexpected emotions.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">After he left, she took some time to meditate, then headed for the fleet, where she knew Stell and Anaris made regular stops. Finding only Anaris, as Stell was on transportation run, she gave him the holo, explaining the instructions from Adasa. When Anaris pushed her, sensing she was holding back, she also admitted to him the feelings she had developped for Adasa, before leaving him to tell all to Stell.

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<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Chapter 11

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<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Finding Ardnel on Tatooine

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<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Chapter 12

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<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Ondero's attack after Stell and Anaris' return from Sulon

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<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">Chapter 13

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<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;">The mission to Korriban

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