Background:
10.B.B.Y
Galatena a beautiful servant girl was happy, her beloved Datellen had
agreed to move away from the core to a planet far from the hustle and
bustle of the bureaucracy to raise a family after they married, and that
was only three months away as they had been saving for over a year, his
job as a starship mechanic was turning over good money these days as the
Emperor had begun to expand the Military, Galatena was so very happy at
this so she began to whistling as she worked cleaning the marble floor in
the eastern wing of the Imperial Palace on Coruscant and that same
whistling was what drew Carus Bansericin a minor Moff in the Imperial
Governments attention to her. It was late at night and he was drunk after
his function that had seen him appointed to Acherin as the Planetary
Governor, and he was happy about this turn of events his wife Magnia had
not been so happy that her son Augratax would not be raised on Coruscant.
As he wandered down this hall he heard Galatena whistling away happily and
what a sight she was to his drunken eyes, deep blue eyes a slim figure,
well proportioned with straight brown hair falling to beyond her
shoulders. After the way his wife had reacted at the news they were
leaving the core he needed a distraction… and she would do.
“Girl, Come here” Carus ordered his crisp coreworld accent clear in the
silent halls“At once
Sir” Galatena replied, hoping that he just wished to tell her to go home,
until she got close and his breath which reeked of the finest Anaxian
Spirits washed over her, leaving her feeling nauseous.
“Your coming with me girl”
he sneered, and grabbed her by the arm, led her through the nearest
doorway which conveniently led to a bedchamber.
“Please Sir, No” Galatena
pleaded with Moff Bansericin as she began to sob. But he wouldn’t listen,
he pushed her down on the bed and began to rape her all the while
whispering how good she was to keep quiet and that it would all be over
soon, that she would be looked after once it was all over.
Meanwhile, Datellen had come home to find that Galatena was not at their
little one bedroom unit in a middle class suburb, this wasn’t unusual at
this time, she often worked late trying to save up for their wedding, and
he went about fixing the dinner, happy as can be he was about to marry his
sweetheart after all. Time passed and it began to get darker and darker
outside, Datellen began to worry about Galatena, as the street gangs would
be out on her way home and she was a beautiful girl and only nineteen
years old, a prime target for those thugs.
Just as he went to get his blaster pistol from the speeder outside and he
opened the front door, he tripped over a crying body in the doorway, he
was about to yell at the hobo when he realised it was Galatena. He
proceeded to take her inside and tend to her, eventually coaxing the story
of what had happened out of her. She had been raped by a Moff after a
party at the Palace.
“I’ll kill the bastard” he raged.
As he went to head for the palace a detachment from the Imperial Army
arrived led by one Lieutenant Kalan Narasan who queried Datellen as the
door opened.
“Is there one Galatena, who works at the Palace here?”
“Yea, why’d ya ask?”
Datellen replied flatly
“Then you must be Datellen,
by order of Moff Bansericin My duty is to escort the two of you down to
the local court, your to be married tonight, my men will pack your things,
you are on the 04 00 shuttle flight to the Imperial Transit station in the
morning, where you are to board the 013762 Passenger service bound for
Acherin. Do you Understand?” Narasan communicated quickly.
“WHAT?” boomed Datellen, “
By the Force whats going on here? Galatena was raped tonight! Now were
being married and shipped of to the outer-rim?”
“That is correct, and for the record the child is yours” Lt. Narasan added
curtly “ Now if you will follow me, I’d hate to have to order the troopers
to bring you”
The ceremony was nothing like Galatena and Datellen had hoped for, their
dream was being shattered because of the drunken urges of that damned Moff
Bansericin, Datellen silently fumed the whole way through and Galatena
sobbed, once the ceremony was concluded, two burly stormtroopers escorted
the ‘ happily married couple ’ to the shuttle station. Where lt. Narasan
was waiting with their tickets.
“Here are your tickets, Mr… what is your surname?” Narasan asked politely.
“Don’t have one” Datellen
replied unhappily, it had always been an issue for him that he had no
surname to pass on to his children, but he had never known his parents.
“Well then” Narasan added “
that doesn’t matter” and turned to leave, walked five pace before half
turning and saying
“You know I am sorry about
what happened to your wife, but these things happen” and with that he
walked out of Datellen and Galatena’s lives.
Eight Months later, nine years before the Battle of Yavin, in Acheros the
Capital city and Principal commercial spaceport of the planet Acherin,
Galatena gave birth too a son, whom after receiving a note from an
Imperial messenger she named Valleminian Kartenax, whom she would
affectionately call Valle for the rest of her days, much to his disgust.
After the birth of this blue eyed brown haired son to a couple who
probably wouldn’t have had blue eyed children Datellen had an inkling that
this was a rape child, and began to distance himself from Valleminian,
throwing himself into his work servicing the Imperial spacecraft on
Acherin. Galatena again found work, again with the Imperials washing
clothes and repairing uniforms for unmarried junior officers as the
command staff were sometimes short of support staff in the outer-rim.
Four years passed and in this time Galatena and Datellen had a son of
their own whom they named Clentrennus, or Clen for short, his sandy blonde
hair and brown eyes, sent Datellen over the edge, with the knowledge that
Moff Bansericin the man he worked for no less was the actual father of his
eldest son. After this time things became unpleasant for Valleminian as
Datellen became bitter and depressed lonely and angry and slipped into his
cups becoming a violent alcoholic who took his anger out mostly on
Valleminian but there was enough left for Galatena and Clentrennus when
they got involved.
After word of one of these incidents reached up to the Moff, he sent for
Galatena, and quizzed her about the child, making no mention of him being
the father or of the night that he had drunkenly forced himself on her. He
grew angry however at learning of his sons abuse at the hands of
Galatena’s husband and decided that Valleminian would be enrolled in the
local school for officers children to keep him away from Datellen.
As Valleminian grew he began to develop his personality he began to fight
back against Datellen and everyone in general, in fact it was often said
he wouldn’t back down from any fight that he would probably even try to
fight a Rancor. He becomes gregarious however but gains a vulnerable side
that some people Datellen included knew how to exploit to make him angry,
as years of abuse boiled over into rage and hatred, a series of traits
that will serve him well in his fall to the dark side.
Valleminian also gained contempt for those weaker than him as he began to
bully Clen and his friends, going so far as to put Clen into hospital a
day after Datellen had beaten him for insulting Clen for having such a
loser father.
Two years before the Battle of Yavin, and things in Acheros had been
continuing along without change for a couple of years, Valleminian was now
eight, and Galatena had arrived home from work to find him sitting in his
room with a split lip and a cut cheek, she went and confronted Datellen
about it, pleading for him to leaving Valleminian alone if he loved her at
all anymore. He lashed out at her for that comment and sent her sliding
across the floor of there home, Valleminian silently left his room walked
to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and tried to charge Datellen, Datellen
watched him come, slammed his fist against Valleminian’s arm knocking the
knife away, and grabbed him in a chokehold, pinned him to the floor,
reached for the knife and attempted to kill him while Galatena was out
cold, but suddenly Clen was there and threw his body of Valleminian’s own
form, Datellen tried to rein in his thrust for Valleminian’s kidneys but
he couldn’t do it in time and the blade sunk deep into Clentrennus’ flesh.
Clen spent weeks in the military hospital at Unleas a city southwest of
Acheros and the main Imperial Military base on Acherin. Other than that
however the next five years passed uneventfully for Valleminian, he
continued to attend the school provided for him by Moff Bansericin but he
didn’t excel, his peace was shattered though as a week after his
thirteenth birthday news filtered into the planet that the Emperor was
dead on some forest moon and the Imperial fleet was shattered.
Within the month Civil War had broken out on Acherin, Moff Bansericin and
His family had fled the planet and no-one knew where too. The Imperial
troops left behind walled themselves in at their base in Unleas, digging a
heavily fortified base into the town, which already held an impressive
citadel.
New Republic troops had landed in the Southern part of the planet and were
headquarted at a city called Bangam. A Crime Lord has risen in Acheros,
his name was Keselo Vlagherov, and he was an opportunist at best, he was
really just a dirty street thug with delusions of grandeur, but after Moff
Bansericin and his elite bodyguard fled Acherin in the wake of Endor, the
Mayonite Crime Family boss decided to have a crack at being governor, he
set his thugs out on the streets to clash with Imperial Loyalists and New
Republic supporters, he also started a recruitment campaign for children.
One day as Valleminian was hiding from Datellen, there was a large bang in
the street, and armed men burst into the house, wearing patchwork Imperial
uniforms. They took up positions in the house and prepared for a stand
off. They did not have to wait long, Five minutes later the house shook
with the explosion of a grenade in the living room where Galatena was
shielding Clentrennus from the worst of the Fire-fight, the grenade (a
high explosive one at that) blew her apart, and drove a fragment of its
self through the unfortunate Clen’s skull, then the ‘troops’ of Vlagherov
stormed the home and killed the Loyalists, Datellen received burns to a
large part of his body after the Imperials were all shot.
Somehow, Datellen found a way to blame Valleminian for the way things had
turned out and one day, he snapped he charged at Valleminian and bowled
him over and began to throttle the life out of him, just as the life began
to fade from his eyes Valleminian felt a push come from his body,
Datellen’s grip slip from his throat and the bulk of Datellen lift of him,
he opened his eyes, to see Datellen lying impaled on the steel leg of the
kitchen table and his neck twisted at an impossible angle from striking
the way as he flew past. Valleminian realises that he has used some kind
of ‘ force’ and must cover this up as well as the death of his abusive
Step-father, so he steals some fuel and burns the house down.
Valleminian lives on the streets for two weeks before thugs capture him
and bring him before Keselo. Currently in his ‘ planetary governor ’ state
Keselo Vlagherov decides that he must be tried for murder as Datellen was
in his pay selling Imperial Military surplus to the Gangsters.
The trial such as it was quickly became the biggest farce in the galaxy
Vlagherov’s sergeant accuses him of murder and another man corroborates
this, Valleminian is brought above the pit where the exotic pets are kept,
and Keselo puts his guilt or innocence to vote, the assorted criminals
wished to see blood so they began to chant ‘death death’ and Vlagherov
nearly pulled the level opening the trap door.
However a man with dark skin and long curly hair with a deep black pair of
eyes walks towards Vlagherov and whispers in his ear… then Vlagherov calls
out, VALLEMINIAN KARTENAX you are hereby found guilty of the murder of
Datellen and sentenced too… Vlagherov pauses for effect now … Kartenax
drops his head as he believes death is his fate,… A fate worse than death,
you are sentenced to twenty years hard labour your sentence is to be
served as a soldier in my planet wide campaign against the vile invades of
the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic because my Lieutenant Andaryl
here seems to have taken a liking to you.
“ You will serve in the 3rd Line Company under General Macrinum, he will
straighten criminal scum like you out quickly” Vlagherov added as he
turned away, “Andaryl, take him away”
“You owe me boy” Andaryl whispered to Valleminian “ big time, you’d better
fight like the rumors said you would or I’ll gut you myself”
Valleminian was unafraid of this man, and looked right at him and said, “
I’m hungry, don’t you lot have anything to eat around here? Haven’t you
heard of hospitality?”. Andaryl gave him a look of pure hate, before
slamming him in the face.
Three hours later, Valleminian woke up far from Acheros at a strange camp,
which from the position of the Dellinian moors he could tell was north
west of Acheros, Valleminian wasn’t given time to assess his surroundings
though as he was hurried along to what was obviously meant to be the
parade ground and forced into a rank of child soldiers all who looked
miserable, a few mostly the female ones were crying as a scarred old man
yelled at them.
“ Listen up Maggots, I’m General Geta Marcrinum, and I don’t care if you
live or die, I still get paid”
“ You will follow all orders issued to you by a superior, In fact I’m
going to assign your ranks now.” He proceeds to walk across the front of
every file and select each child to be a corporal, denoted by wearing a
cap.
“ there that’s better” he added “ You are here at basic training because
your honourable master Keselo Valgherov has decided it is cheaper to train
you and hope you survive some battles than it is to constantly source new
recruits”
after that General Macrinum turned and marched for his office, the
children were dismissed by his lieutenants and sent to their barracks.
Kartenax’s barracks was a nasty place where all the established kids tried
to bully the new ones, however Kartenax would have none of it, slamming
the first bully through the flimsy divider between barracks and promptly
going to sleep.
Over the next year Kartenax’s muscles hardened and he grew strong, fit,
tall and ever more cruel, he had excelled at the vibroblade training where
his fast reflexes allowed him to pre-empt the moves of his fellow soldiers
and even the instructors, and his aim was true scoring highly at the range
with his standard issue blaster pistol smuggled through the planetary
blockade by the New Republic 37th Support Flotilla.
At the end of his basic training. Kartenax was called before the general
and led to his office, once inside the General looked up at him. Kartenax
quickly sized him up, he had a very scarred face and lower arms region and
wispy grey hair, with piercing ice blue eyes, still in prime condition,
well muscled under his rag-tag uniform. He spoke softly but with a deep
voice that was obviously grief stricken so that it was often hard to
understand him. He said to Kartenax “ Valleminian my boy, you have done
inhumanly well here at training and you are to be shipped to the front
line 80 miles west of Inerroc where a local militia force mostly old
republic veterans like my self is heavily dug in, with anti-tank weapons
and artillery, don’t know where in the hells they managed to get that but
by the force it’s a pain in the rear. Anyway” he moved back to the subject
at hand “ you are to find your new equipment in your locker and head out
with the next truck load of recruits.
Six months later Kartenax was fuming, the truck had taken them as far as
Acheros and they had to march the rest of the way, they had only gotten to
the front a weak before his fifteenth birthday, after slogging south west
in the winter rains for months one of the boys had gotten an infection in
his foot from wearing wet shoes to long, and lacking medical care on the
road, the hard ass sergeant shot him in the head, while the others marched
on. This wasn’t what had made Valleminian mad though, it was that they had
to wait more time for General Macrinum and the rest of the recruits to
arrive.
Once the three month wait had ended and marcrinum had had his weeks rest
for his new boys, the call for assault was sounded and the recruits were
the first wave, swords and blasters out they yelled at the tops of their
lungs when the enemy opened up, the boy to Kartenax’s left stopped
suddenly, blood welling from his mouth and chest as the slug round burst
through, he crumpled to the floor and lay still, dead instantly, but on
they ran, suddenly Kartenax sensed danger, jumped with his right foot
extended against a rock to his right and pushed off to his left and clear
over the rocket, that slammed into a younger girl who had hidden behind
him for protection. Then he reached the trench where the militia was dug
in and swung his sword at the first man, splitting him in two, and as he
felt the mans life energy rush through him as it left his foes body, he
went crazy, the battle mist descended and he slew more and more of the
foe, getting faster and stronger with each foe he downed.
The battle such as it had been, was now a rout, with Vlagherov’s men
chasing fleeing militiamen in their speeders. The might of Inerroc had
been spent and lay broken in the foothills to the west of the city. When
Kartenax came down from his battle high, he realised that somehow he
seemed to feed on the deaths of others, whether it was their anguish and
suffering or their life-force he did not know, all he knew was he needed
more and began to seek out bloody thirsty assignments, like the massacre
of Ry’Utia a town where the families of the Militia high command lived, as
the men folk died defending their families, Kartenax again lost himself to
the darkness, and enjoyed massacring the women and children too, which
stood him apart from the other soldiers there who regretted the act but
knew it was a propaganda exercise.
The Next day Valleminan was called before Gerneral Macrinum, he looke
dvisibly upset, and launched into a tirade about how it was wrong to enjoy
the killing of women and children and that he would receive 5 lashes for
it, Kartenax looked him in the eyes and saw that he ha lost someone to an
attack, but he thought that such an overreaction was weak, so he asked
Macrinum, “ Sir who did you lose?” Macrinum replied “ my wife and youngest
child” and walked away.
After a week in the cells waiting for his lashes Kartenax had languished
long enough thought Macrinum, he should be sufficiently cowed by now, and
had him led out to the public square to be whipped. It was over quickly
enough and Valleminian slunk off to plot how to get his own back.
Valleminian’s chance for revenge came unexpectedly when he was walking the
streets and saw Macrinum drive by on a speeder, his anger welled up and
then the speeder tipped over crushing Macrinum against a wall, leaving him
paralysed and bleeding out, he saw Kartenax smile at him and walk away,
then it all faded into black…
As news of General Macrinum’s death spread through Inerroc and all the way
back to Acheros, a few began to whisper that Keselo Vlagherov had him
killed because he was becoming to powerful amongst the troops, for his own
good. Then a message was received that a replacement General was being
sent, none other than Vlagherov’s enforcer himself Danar Andaryl. He would
take weeks to arrive in Inerroc, so while his comrades partied he sat
quietly and tried to control this strange force that he could use. After
the weeks had gone by and General Andaryl had arrived and set about moving
the campaign along, Kartenax had rudimentary control over his ability, but
he would have to be careful using it, as he had heard by now that the
‘force’ as he had discovered it was called was a weapon of the fallen Jedi
Knights and people wouldn’t take kindly to seeing it used.
Andaryl’s first campaign was a drive towards the New Republic stronghold
of Bangam, which was an initial success until the rag-tag soldiers of the
Vlagherov army we trapped in a swampy part of the country by a Mechanised
Infantry battalion from Fondor supported by four old T-4B tanks. Many died
on both sides and a stalemate was reached. The Colonel leading the 19th
Fondorian Mechanised requested a meeting with General Andaryl and Kartenax
was chosen by his lieutenant to lead the envoy to him.
Once he reached Andaryl’s position he began to request that the parties
sign a Non-Aggression Pact, Andaryl seemed too keen to sign, and
Valleminian reached out and tried to read his thoughts or at least his
emotions, Andaryl was elated that the NR had served them selves up like
dinner he thought. He would begin a withdrawal and then sting them in the
back.
Andaryl’s plan worked to a t and the Fondorian Infantry were annihilated
thanks in part to Valleminian who managed to disable the tanks by risking
his own skin, something he didn’t do lightly and jumping onto the tanks
causing them to fire at each other when he taunted their crews.
Kartenax’s foolish bravery did not go un noticed and he was brought before
Andaryl and promoted to lieutenant in Vlagherov’s Irregular army. Andaryl
seemed to know that he was different from the look he gave Valleminian his
black lizard like eyes, piercing deep into the black depths of
Valleminian’s soul.
Andaryl then secured Kartenax’s services in the shadowy part of
Vlagherov’s service the bounty-hunter assassin sector where he figure
Kartenax would not only excel but enjoy it, and assigned him to his own
service. A year passed in this way with out any major targets and Kartenax
was satisfied, honing his ‘talents’ of killing by night and this ‘force’
during the day when he would meditate between missions.
Seven years after the Battle of Yavin and three years after the fall of
the first empire. Valleminian Kartenax was now nineteen, finally a man and
so able to lead an army at least in his own mind, although he would have
to remove Andaryl first, and in order to do that he would have to continue
to work for him. At least he got eventful targets now, in fact his next
target he would enjoy immensely he was to remove Commander Jalkan Naos the
leader of the now struggling New Republic effort on Acherin, Valleminian
looked over the holo-vid of Commander Naos giving a speech to the new
senate delegation when it had toured Acherin in the wake of his early
victories. Naos was a swarthy man with a dark complexion and incredibly
hawk-like eyes of a surprising green colour.
Inside the base at Bangam where Commander Naos makes regular rounds with
his patrols, Kartenax strikes, His Vibroblade flashing silver against the
moonlight as he cuts through the watchmen while a frightened Commander
Naos looks on in horror at what has leapt from the darkness to attack him
his bodyguard tries to hold Kartenax, but he uses the force to hurl him
from the wall and chases Naos towards his office, his mission seemingly
ruined, however at this moment an Imperial Commando team with their own
orders to remove Naos strikes as part of a combined initiative with
Vlagherov to remove the NR from the planet and as both the side are quite
depleted in manpower they had signed a secret treaty. They blow up a fuel
dump and distract the NR troopers who are just waking up.
Valleminian enters the office, to find Naos ready for him His hawk-like
eyes sizing him up before he asks him who he works for, Valleminian
replies with the name of a senator that he happened to have read about,
this surprises Jalkan Naos and Kartenax sees his chance, vaults the table
and sticks a dagger in Naos’ throat, and then blasts him in the chest with
his pistol.
Returning to Acheros with General Andaryl, who now trusts Valleminian far
too much, Valleminian begins to forment his plan to remove Andaryl and
then Vlagherov himself. He will wait until Andaryl is amusing himself with
the pleasures of the flesh that attracted him to a life of crime in the
first place, and then he will tell Vlagherov of Adnaryl’s treachery and he
won’t arrive quickly enough to satisfy Vlagherov’s anger and he will be
killed in a duel against Kartenax.
8.A.B.Y the plan has been set in motion, Kartenax’s minions have been sent
to warn Vlagherov of his lieutenant’s “ Betrayal ”. As predicted
Vlagherov’s rage overcame his reason. He demanded that Andaryl be brought
before him immediately, and when he couldn’t be located for over an hour
his case was not helped. Especially when he couldn’t explain the
allegations, when asked if he would fight to defend his honour he agreed
quickly he wanted to face his detractors man to man.
He descended into the fighting pit in Vlagherov’s palatial estate where he
faced an assailant in a black robe with the hood raised, covering his face
in shadow.
“Show your face COWARD!”
Andaryl Bellowed, “ I would know who challenges me”
“ Very well, If you wish
your final sight to be my eyes then so be it” Valleminian replied coolly,
and slowly raised his hands and grabbed his hood, lowering it to his
shoulders.
“ You?, You? Kartenax you
sly bastard! I should have known, your too smart for your own good, and
now I’ll have that silver tongue of yours, DIE!!” Andaryl yelled as he
charged Valleminian with a sword. Valleminian raised his own blade and
parried the blow stepping to his left leaving Andaryl to charge of into
the back, before swinging around and walking towards him.
“ Clever” Danar Andaryl
panted,
By now a crowd had gathered
around the ring and proceeded to ooh and aah when the combatants met
blades. The duel progressed for an hour with the combatants testing each
other, until Valleminian leapt into the air, and swung down at Andaryl,
who parried, sending Valleminian spinning away from his blade and landing
face down in the sand rolling away. Andaryl slowly walks close to him
raises his blade and leans in to strike before collapsing in pain as
Valleminian calls on the force to inflict pain in Andaryl, then uses it
again to drag his sword towards him and jump up, while plunging the blade
into Andaryl’s chest.
As recognition of his end creeps into Andaryl’s eyes, and he becomes
enraged that he was beaten, Valleminian uses this to feed his power. Then
he leaves the pit and walks straight into his new role as General that he
has inherited from the late General Andaryl.
Nine years after the Battle of Yavin and just days after Valleminian
Kartenax’s 20th Birthday, General Kalan Narasan has replaced the Imperial
Commander of the effort on Acherin, Narasan was from a long line of
Military men and carries himself with pride, a force adept and an
honourable man who often wonders whether or not the Imperials should be
reclaiming worlds by force, but follows his orders for the pride of his
family and station. Narasan has rigidly straight posture and his of
average height and weight; he has greying hair and green eyes. Which at
the time it happened seemed insignificant as using the force Valleminian
was still able to drive the Remnant’s troops from the field and gain large
territories for Keselo Vlagherov, and in fact left Kartenax free to plot
against Vlagherov, as the planetary war was going well and what good is
being the 2IC? When the top job is so close.
Kartenax’s plan was devilishly simple, being the second in command he
would just walk up to Vlagherov, blast him and take over, no-one else
would challenge him, they’d seen what he did to Andaryl months before, and
no-one else had enough of a claim to try it on by taking half his men
either. Plan in mind Kartenax set a date, and that was that, the appointed
date came and he approached Vlagherov at his Oceanside estate where he was
looking out over the sea, Vlagherov knew what was up however, and accepted
it with decency that didn’t belong to the scoundrel responsible for
creating the monster the Valleminian is now. He crumples beneath the
flurry of blows that Valleminian with his sharp reflexes could deliver;
the bloody husk that once contained Vlagherov’s soul plummeted to the
ocean below.
“ Butler, clean that up
would you” Valleminian asked.
“ At Once Sir” the butler
replied, knowing that he now served Valleminian.
10.A.B.Y
“ General Narasan, Sir” an army major reported “ that rogue crimelord
Kartenax, he and his vanguard have broken through the western perimeter
and they’re storming the citadel!” he rolled out the ominous report
quickly “ Orders sir”
“Leave them to me and go to
my quarters summon Veltan and Padan, tell them to meet me at the citadel,
they will know what is required”
Narasan walked towards the citadel, his field uniform crisp and
immaculately clean, the only non regulation things on him were the odd
silver cylinder on his left hip and a deep blue full length cape fastened
with a band of gold chain. His step a perfect Imperial March and he
covered the ground quickly to meet Veltan and Padan just outside the
eastern enterance to the citadel.
They had breached the western perimeter of the ancient citadel at Unleas
very easily, too easily for Valleminian’s liking and he reached out with
the force to scan the citadel, nothing but isolated pockets of Imperials
inside, it should have been safe, and it was for a start, until the
criminal army reached the central archway and then all hell broke loose,
with two swords of light coming out of the dark and cleaving through his
troopers and stopping short of killing him but have their blades pointed
at him, when Narasan turns on the lights, and walks up to Valleminan and
says “ you must be Kartenax the bloody demon terrorising this planet, I
sensed your attack. That’s right anything you can do I can do better. And
these are my apprentices he say nodding to the two younger men with shaved
heads the first one had cold brown eyes with a tinge of black and a deep
set confidence that came from being the senior apprentice, the other had
yellow eyes that lacked the arrogance of the first, but one could tell by
his bearing that he was a capable man nonetheless and the more capable
swordsman.
“ I would finish you myself, but that would be too easy , I’ll leave you
too my apprentices ”
“ I’ll take him Master”
Veltan responded quickly, before Padan could.
“ Give him your saber
Velatan, take Padan’s” Narasan required.
“ Yes my Master” Veltan
replied as he bowed.
Veltan through his saber towards Valleminian and it clattered on the
marble floor, before he caught Padan’s Lightsaber as it soared through the
air towards him. Valleminian called upon the force to pick up the fallen
weapon. As it was on cue the two blades ignited on either side, Veltan’s
saber, which was in Valleminian’s hands, glowed a deep red, while Padans
saber was a radiant silver colour. The pair advanced towards each other
blades out and began the sword dance where the circled each other warily,
before Veltan’s composure broke and he began a furious assault on
Valleminian who’s guard only just held against the fury delivered. His
counter strokes drove Veltan back, and only the displeasure in Narasan’s
eyes drove him forward again, their duel broke off the Lightsabers humming
in the silence that hung over the room, pierced now and then by a scream
of a rash of blaster fire. Valleminian taunted Veltan told him that Padan
was obviously the greater duellist, and this enraged Veltan who charged
without watching his surroundings, and ran straight into the blade of the
lightsaber that had once been his.
Padan stepped forward to claim the place emptied by Veltan, and picked up
his fallen blade, igniting it again, before Narasan stepped in front of
him and said to Valleminian “ Well Kartenax you have proved to be a worthy
opponent, had things been different I would have considered taking you on
as an apprentice but they aren’t and now I’ll deal to you myself ” drawing
his own weapon a magnificent blade of a deep, deep red blade and a
polished silver hilt. He advanced towards Valleminian and their duel
began, it was immediately evident to Kartenax that he was outmatched by
Narasan and began to look for a way out. The duel progressed and Kartenax
was being beaten handily.
Just as he fell he saw his chance the hall they were in had been shattered
by the artillery assault before his troops had stormed the fortress, and a
great slab of the building was holding up the roof, he couldn’t use the
slab to crush Narasan but he should be able to shift it enough to cause
the roof to collapse on Narasan and Padan and it was his only hope,
turning off his Lightsaber too distract Narasan he summoned all his force
reserves and pushed out at the slab and it budged, Valleminian pushed
again, going so deep that he had to yell from the effort of it. The slab
shifted again and began to wobble, wounded men in the hall looked up and
expressed great emotion some screamed, others groaned and more still tried
to get up and run, Padan stood transfixed as the roof began to move with
the slab, not realising that the far edge of the roof would come down
right on top of him, Narasan looked up and sensed what was happening, he
tried to use the force to hold the roof up, but it was too late, the roof
slipped from the slab holding it up, swinging down towards Padan, and the
wounded Imperial troopers, Narasan used his advanced reflexes to bound
away from the sight hoping Padan did the same, Valleminian Kartenax
abandoned his pride and his troops, and fled for the hills, and headed for
Acheros. Padan and the wounded combatants on both sides were crushed when
they didn’t escape the room in time.
Valleminian’s flight back to Acheros was swift, and he encountered a
farmer heading into town for supplies, and killed him, taking his money,
and his speeder, hoping to pawn it for more cash to get off world now that
his dreams for empire had been shattered he would need to escape beyond
this system and find some quiet world to hone his skills on. He puzzled
where this would be as he journeyed quickly towards his base of
operations, stopping there only briefly to gain possession of a few
sentimental items and assorted jewels he could pawn in the core.
Then Kartenax headed to the spaceport, where he found a freighter making
preparations to leave, he sought out the captain and made him an offer,
all his cash now and a the same amount when he got to Coruscant, with a
ten percent waiting fee. Valleminian never planned to pay, he just wanted
to get the astrogation done, and get skyward before he killed the crew.
The Captain agreed to the proposal and the crew of the freighter “
Obsidian Boxinc ” were soon skyward and streaking into the great blue
light of hyperspace a sensation unknown to Valleminian and he almost began
to forget his objective, but he regains his composure and proceeds to
butcher the crew one by one until only the captain remains to bring the
ship into the hangar on Coruscant, then killed him, frying his controls in
the process , the ship was now empty except for Valleminian, and he raised
the hood of his robe and walked from the ship, and disappeared into the
teeming masses of Coruscant.
Kartenax proceeded to the local directory and looked up planetary archives
looking for somewhere central but quiet, he had narrowed his search down
to Fresia, Byss and Corellia, and was deciding where to go he decided on
Corellia because it was an agrarian world and it would be likely he could
spend his time there in isolation without much trouble.
Here he passed the rest of the tenth year after Yavin in Isolation, deep
in meditation for the most part, only surfacing to hear the locals bring
him food, and news from the Galaxy.
In the eleventh year after the Battle of Yavin, Valleminian decided that
his meditation could take him no further just yet and he would have to
seek out a master to learn more. To achieve this aim, he sold up his
assets on Corellia and headed again towards the outer rim. In the main
spaceport’s largest Cantina Vallemian was enjoying a fine lager from the
planet Jabiim a rare find as liquor from Jabiim was generally as foul as
the weather there, this particular brew was however brewed underground
using the finest spring water sourced before the start of strip mining on
the planet. When he overheard a spacer deep in his cups saying he was now
the pilot for a former Moff on a deep outer-rim territory called Acatal in
the Elrood sector ruled by a powerful warlord named Viktor Mallagant
rumoured to be a great dark-Jedi. Valleminian moved tables to be closer to
this spacer, bought him a fine Jabiimite Lager and asked him the name of
this former Moff.
“Hic… it’ssa aaaahhh Moff… I means Mr Carus Bansericin… my good friend” he
slurred “Now how’s about another drink friend” the spacer enquired
hopefully.
“Sleep now, fool” Valleminian said waving his arm at the hapless spacer
who immediately fell asleep.
“OY!” yelled the bartender “No sleeping in my Cantina, you there, hood,
take your friend here outside”
Valleminian escorted the man outside, before rapping him on the head with
the hilt of his lightsaber which he had reconstructed in the year since he
had taken it from that Imperial back on Acherin. Valleminian left Corellia
quickly after that encounter, taking the spacer’s money and spaceport
pass, so Bansericin couldn’t leave the Elrood sector as easily.
The next month was spent travelling the space lanes as a stowaway on cargo
freighters; his path went, from Corellia to Abregado-Rae to Fondor where
the New Republic shipyard was full of activity and on to Thyferra, then he
jumped to Yag’duhl where he encountered the odd creatures call Givin
doaliens that spoke in equations what a ludicrous notion Valleminian
thought to himself, breaking into an evil cackle all the way until he hit
Sullust, a barren world that didn’t hold his fancy on the surface but the
subterranean cities were a sight to his eyes. After He had left Sullust he
ventured on to Eriadu, which by now was in the midst of a crackdown on
insurgents. The final two stops on his journey were Clakdor VII and Acatal
itself.
Once Kartenax arrived in Acatal he set about finding out all he could
about his father, who he hadn’t ever really known, but had found out ten
years previously when a daughter of a work colleague of his mother had
told him, not a very reliable source he knew but he had asked his mother
and she had broken down and told him of the evening he was conceived as a
rape child. He managed to glean little useful information in the first
weeks of his arrival other than Carus had three sons, Augratax his eldest
who was a tallish man with deep blue eyes, and brown hair, a virtual clone
of his father at his peak, and a gifted man who is force sensitive and
honour bound to defend his family despite its excesses, a good man the
people of Acatal said, who may even join Mallagant’s fleet, like his
younger brother Pescen had he retired however after an injury sustained
upholding his family’s honour would have impaired his performance, who
again looked like Augratax and Carus he however was a man obsessed with
protecting his family and doing his duty to the fullest extent possible.
His Third Son Gordyn was set to join the army to represent the family
there, who unlike his brothers was like his father in personality
interested in advancing himself, at any means necessary. He would have to
contend with these three if he wanted to eliminate the father he had never
known.
Later he learned that the estate in which they lived had a city block
surrounding it, meaning it could be easy to infiltrate from the rooftops
nearby, and they didn’t have a large security force considering the were
well loved on the planet not surprising considering Moff Bansericin wasn’t
a bad Governor, just a bad person, probably where Valleminian gained it
from. Only about ten guards in total four at the gate, two at the front
and back doors and two patrolling the grounds, enough to deter thieves,
but not a determined and manic Dark-Jedi hell bent on revenge for well
that not even Valleminian knew, he would have to say revenge’s sake
The date chosen, when the whole family will be there for an important
announcement, Valleminian found this out from torturing a servant that the
younger sons, the mother and daughter would be there first leaving the two
powerful members of the family to come later and possibly be overcome with
grief and anger making them easy opponents. Night fell and the family
began to assemble Kartenax wandered down an alley near the Bansericin home
and climbed a wall, scrambled up to rooftop and ran along them before
leaping down to the grassy section inside the perimeter wall, his robe
flying behind him as he descends. Two guards who arrive spot Kartenax, and
he stays down, fingering his lightsaber’s ignition switch when the two
come close enough to grab him, he stands and ignites the blade and ends
their existence right then and there as silently as is possible with a
blade that literal hums when in use.
Creeping up to the back door he slices through the guards there with ease,
and slices through the door for effect, ambles through the house to the
living room where he encounters the family Bansericin waiting for Carus
and Augratax, they were chatting idly, what unsuspecting fools Kartenax
thought, his eyes lit up at the thought of the kill being so close, he
would savour these moments for ever.
He entered the living room hood raised and spoke, “ Hello folks, you
wouldn’t have happened to order death by disgruntled family member would
you?” he smirked
“What the hell is this? Get
out of our home!” Yelled Magnia, the still youthful: and beautiful mother
figure.
“ Mother I’ll deal with
this loony.” Pescen quipped
You? Think you can
stop me? Cripple! After I’m done with you I’ll kill your brother and
sister and then well your mother is pretty enough lets just say well have
some fun” Kartenax’s eyes lit up at this knowing it would enrage the proud
young man, still conscious of his missing hand, his robotic limb hadn’t
arrived yet.
“What? You monster!” yelled
Jor’elle the daughter, “ Are you even human” she cried out her eyes filled
with fear, and she began to weep. Kartenax ignited his lightsaber and
began to advance across the room.
“ Gordyn, take mother and
Jor’elle and get out of the house send in the guards, head for Augratax
and our Father.
“ Sure thing, Pescen”
Gordyn replied glad to not be risking his skin especially in the face of a
maniac with a lightsaber.
“ Go NOW!” Pescen yelled
urging his family to leave as he backed away from the hooded assailant
advancing across the room towards him.
The family stood up and fled, running down the halls screaming for their
security men to come to Pescen’s aid in the lounge. Pescen continued to
back up and straight into a wall, while Kartenax vaulted a couch and moved
ever closer. Pescen took a deep breath, and pointed a blaster pistol at
Kartenax. Meanwhile on the streets down at the space port Moff Bansericin
and his eldest son were walking home with a detachment of Imperial troops,
when they heard people screaming and yelling and running towards their
home Augratax caught snatches of the conversations “…. Up at the ban…” and
“ fire fight” they began to walk faster eventually breaking into a jog.
Kartenax saw the blaster raised at him and sneered, in his whole life,
no-one had ever even come close to hitting him with a blaster bolt and
this cripple was about to try, his devotion was admirable but his effort
was less than that, in fact to Kartenax his effort was laughable, and
Valleminian broke out in to an evil chuckle, which enraged Pescan, who
fired a series of bolts at Kartenax, who swiftly dodged them, wandered up
to Pescan, removed his hood, looked him in the eye and said “you wouldn’t
shoot your own brother now would you?” Pescan balked at the comment mixed
with the unmistakable features of his father, he was astonished he had
another brother, he dropped the blaster, the worst move he could have made
as Kartenax then added “ But I will kill you, raised the lightsaber, and
swung down cleaving Pescan down the middle but also cleaving the wall. He
then set off after the other members of the Bansericin family cutting down
the security men with single strikes, they fell in heaps missing limbs or
dying slowly from burn wounds. “Blast, they’re getting away” Kartenax
thought as he sprinted down the driveway to see the rest of the family
turn left, so he vaulted up onto the wall, and again onto the roves and
saw them turn left again towards the spaceport, he knew where they were
heading and ran across the rooftops to cut them off, leaping down into an
empty street, running across the street Kartenax headed into the darkness
provided by the awnings outside stall in the local arcade, when he heard
heavy footfall matched by heavy breathing Kartenax surmised that it was
the Bansericin family his blade again illuminated the light as he strode
from beneath the awning and cut down the two remaining security men as
they rushed to give their employers more time, their blood spilt across
the cobbled promenade, and spread quickly, creating a large black patch on
the ground Illuminated by the waning moon.
“Dammnit, will you lot just stop running so I can kill you!” Kartenax
asked quite politely for him.
“Please let us go, we will
give you anything” Jor’elle pleaded with Valleminian.
“ Yes, spare us” added
Gordyn the spineless one.
“ let my children go
please, Jor’elle is to be married in a month please don’t deny her that,
lord” Magnia implored hoping admitting her subservience would placate the
madman with a lightsaber.
“ If only I could dear”
Valleminian replied wandering up to her and stroking her cheek fondly,
then licking his lips “Perhaps we could come to an agreement, or sorts” he
mused for a minute “ No. you will not distract me from my aim” he angrily
muttered, and sliced behind himself to fell the coward Gordyn.
As Augratax and Carus Bansericin came up the same promenade that Kartenax
mow held their family hostage on they saw a flash of red light then two
men fall, the stick of red light moved towards three figures further up
the road, the blade flashed again and the only male figure crumpled into a
heap, the women screamed, and one was tossed aside as if by magic into the
wall on the left side of the road, the other woman was picked up by the
throat and was being throttled.
“Men Quickly now, run, my wife is in danger, ” Moff Bansericin ordered as
the troopers and Augratax raced ahead leaving the older man to catch up.
Kartenax was enjoying the fear pouring from the very being of Magnia so
much he nearly didn’t see the Imperial troopers and Augratax Bansericin
come closer, in fact he probably wouldn’t have seen them if Augratax
hadn’t tried to be noble calling out “ Knave, you will release my mother,
Now!” before ordering the troopers to take aim.
“ What? Put her down?, oh
you mean like this?” Kartenax said as he tossed Magnia just a little
further than her daughter Jor’elle causing her neck to break against the
thick stonewall of the market nearby. Her limp form slumped next to his
sister was almost too much for Augratax, as the threat of this had been
for Pescen back at the house, His voice audibly shaking with hate and
anguish he ordered the troopers “ready! Fire!” and a sudden volley of red
blaster fire broke out from the rifles of the troopers, striking the
cobbled road where Kartenax should have been, leaving deep carbon scoring
where he just stood, next second a deep hum flashed past Augratax’s ear as
the Sergeant in technical command of the bodyguard unit was suddenly two
pieces cleaved into two halves by the hateful blade of Kartenax, the other
troopers succumbed to a similar fate, one sliced horizontally in half and
others missing limbs and extremities, the fell before receiving a killing
blow to each living member. Augratax was frozen to the spot by an all to
familiar sound, he didn’t know that this lunatic was a dark-Jedi as
evidenced by his skill with the Lightsaber he was spinning in his hands
now waiting for Augratax to make the next move, resisting the taunts of
Valleminian such as “ your brother cried like a girl when I gutted him”
and “ your mother begged for mercy for her children and screamed when I
took their lives in front of her”
Augratax was at the end of his tether when Carus finally arrived and tried
to use his own meagre grasp of the force to stop Valleminian trying to
push him over, the desperate tactic fails and Augratax tries it, thinking
his own grasp to be greater, and Valleminian wobbles and pitches he even
looks like he will fall over, Carus senses a chance and rushes him, only
to be tossed aside as if he was weithless, lying next to a trooper who
lies bleeding out, he seems dazed and unable to focus.
This is too much for Augratax finally and he draws his secret weapon, his
own lightsaber with a blade of a dazzling cerulean blue, its long curved
hilt is finished with the finest metals and it has an odd pommel attached
so there is no possibility of a second blade being added. He pushes his
blade forward and waits for Valleminian to re-ignite his own lightsaber.
The sparks from the collision of blades illuminated the faces of the
combatants, as the circled making the occasional attack and parry,
Valleminian favouring overhead strokes trying to batter Augratax into
submission, Augratax was the more balanced swordsman and he kept up a
valiant defence, Valleminian had to resort to taunts again to try and get
him to lose his cool, “ your mother squealed like a pig when I was
throttling her to death scum,” this caused the blood to boil for Augratax
but the noble son kept his head for now. “ That’s right, give in to your
anger, your hatred it will make you stronger” Valleminian said in a hollow
intonation reminiscent of so many others across the galaxy through out
history.
The taunts were not working according to plan so he tried to take another
road, he would try surprise him “ you couldn’t strike down you own brother
now could you, you’re to honourable for that. As the recognition flared in
Augratax’s eyes and his guard dropped momentarily Valleminian moved in for
the kill seeming to fly more than walk, however with his blade raised he
had little balance and slipped on the blood he had spilt earlier, he took
a fall and ended up on his knees his blade still lit in his left hand and
his chest exposed with head held high, his eyes locked with his only
remaining half-brother. Augratax’s blue lightsaber hung perilously close
to Valleminian’s chest, the incessant hum was about to be the last thing
Valleminian would hear, as Augratax drew his blade back and made to thrust
right through Valleminian’s exposed chest, as his simple black robe would
provide no protection. The blade sliced forward, and stopped just in time
as Carus Bansericin called out “ Augratax stop his is my son, don’t kill
him”. This was the moment that Kartenax was looking for, his blade arced
upwards and cut Augratax where no man should ever be cut, and the life
fled from Augratax, his body thudding against the cobbles, Valleminian
stood up and wandered over to Moff Bansericin “Good-bye Father, this is
because I felt like it”, one final hum of the lightsaber as he swung
through the bones of Moff Bansericin’s neck, spraying the wall he was
propped against in his blood, decapitating him, the Lightsaber faded out
after the switch was turned off, and Valleminian Kartenax walked straight
into a massive Imperial roadblock.
The remaining troopers of the company had been powerless to save the
Bansericin’s and could only hope to escape their Lord Admiral’s Wrath by
capturing this renegade for him to interrogate personally. Valleminian
strode into the middle of the road, and raised his arms into the air;
“guess you’ve got me then boys.” He said laughing to himself, the end
wouldn’t be so bad now, he had done what he needed to do.
You spent the better part of a week in transit from one easily escapable
holding cell to another. Now, clasped in pathetic magnacuffs, you are
being transported aboard a small shuttle. It is a rather bumpy ride. For
prudance sake, the shuttle is not equipped with hyperdrive. Your Imperial
captors don't want you running off. You can see through the tiny viewport
that the shuttle has entered a dark blue gas giant.
The shuttle has a crew of two, plus four armed guards. You no longer have
any weapons. Although you suspect that your lightsaber is hidden in a case
underneath one of the guard's seats.
Valleminian had thus far been prevented from escaping , not by the forces
arrayed against him, but by his own profound apathy. Drawn from his
current lack of goals, as after butchering his father and half-siblings,
but now inside the shuttle he sensed a grim fate could await him in the
near future and gripped by a sense of fear he began to reach out with his
mid to try and locate his lightsaber whilst staring at the guards,
analysing them.
Your suspicions are correct, you can sense your blade nearby and in the
direction of the case. The guards eye you warily, blasters raised. The
shuttle hits a hard bump and wheels over to the right, nearly tossing
everyone in the compartment out of their seat.
Valleminian seizes the chance presented to him by fate to lurch for the
case holding his weapon trying to break the magnacuffs at the same time.
You strain against the cuffs as you reach down for the case in the
confusion, but your wrists are held firmly. You feel another jolt and are
pressed downward into your seat as the shuttle begins moving backward and
upward. As the vehicle rotates slightly, an image comes into view through
the transparisteel port. An odd vessel is situated amidst the roiling
clouds of the gas giant and it is reeling the shuttle in with a tractor
beam.
“Blast” Valleminian muttered, nothing for it now, he would likely have to
face this trial without a weapon, “Best to feign obedience for now” he
thought.
In a moment the shuttle was secure within the strange vessel's hanger bay.
The hatch opened and... for lack of a better description... a behemoth
entered. Barely able to fit through the doorway, the giant humanoid figure
clad in simple but robust armor grabbed you with hands nearly twice the
size of yours.
Panicking Valleminian began to struggle against the vice-grip of this
mutant, hoping to wriggle free.
Was this his fate? To be crushed by a freak?
You don't have much of a chance against its brute strength. It doesn't
even grunt as it lifts you by your shoulders and hauls you out of the
shuttle as if you were an unruly child. You catch a glimpse of the ship's
interior, dark and ominous, before a hood is slipped over your eyes. You
hear a vaguely familiar voice say, "Yes, thats him. Cell Block Esk-One-Six-Four-Zero,
Sentinel."
Kartnenax heard the voice and wondered at its familiarity but couldn’t
place it.
You are carried for many moments, in complete darkness. In fact, it was
almost as if all your senses had been deadened. You only heard the muffled
footsteps of the ogre and its faint breathing as it moved along the
corridors. You smell only rot and decay. Finally the veil lifts and you
are tossed headlong into a small room. You hear a quick snapping sound
accompanied by a low hum.
You find that you are now floating slightly above the floor and bars of
crackling energy have surrounded you. You had heard of one of these
devices before, but this is your first experience with a Force cage.
“Bantha’s breath” Kartenax cursed, “what is this place” and began to reach
for a side of the cage before thinking better of it.
You loose count of the days as they pass. You grow weak from hunger and
your throat burns with thirst. Any attempt to touch the cage is
immediately resisted by a repelling force. You have no choice but to
starve to death. Finally, on the fringe of consciousness, you see a dim
light. A doorway has opened. You hear the voice again. "How do you like
your cell Kartnenax?"
Just shifting back to lucidity Valleminian still had the energy to joke,
“Penthouse quality, just how I like it, you really know how to treat a
guy” then he adds “besides, starving is my kind of party”
You hear a soft chuckle, "So, you still have some fight in you. Good. I
hate it when they are broken so quickly. Take him."
The energy cage releases its hold on you and you are grabbed on either
side by those gargantuan sentinels. They lift you up by the wrists,
holding you off the floor. The man with the familiar voice approaches and
in your foggy vision you can make out General Narasan, "So good to see you
again, Kartenax."
"When last we met, you deprived me of my apprentices."
“So I did, I also wanted to deprive you of your head but that wasn’t to
be, please entertain me with how you escaped our little picnic as it were”
Valleminian quipped as he recognised his old foe.
"Entertaining you is not my objective," Narasan retorted, "Unless you find
THIS entertaining." He belted you hard across the face, sending blood
flying from your lip.
Wiping the blood from his lip and turning his head slowly back to Narasan,
he replied “ooh, Fiesty for an old timer, if you’re going to kill me hurry
up and make it interesting before I die of boredom, even my stepfather was
capable of more than this and he was a drunkard, whats the matter? Not up
to it Narry?”
"Your boredom amuses me," he says giving a sideways nod. The sentinels
begin to walk in a circle, turning your back to Narasan. You hear him
unfurl his whip... the whistle as it cuts the air... the snap as it cuts
the flesh from your back.
“Hnnngh” Valleminian cried, but let out no more sound, he wouldn’t give
Narasan the satisfaction. “ My Turn Yet?” he responded. Looking around to
see if there were any available weapons.
"Not yet." Narasan replied as his whip slashed across your back again.
Another strike; you can feel the warm blood trickling down your back.
No reply at all from Kartenax, except a mild twitch as the blood starts to
flow from his back, he still tries to find something, anything that could
be used as a weapon.
Then an Idea struck, he would try use the force to dislodge Narasan’s grip
on the whip, he tried to gather the force and use Telekinesis to push the
whip away.
Barely holding on to consciousness, you are unable to locate anything. The
sentinels have you in an iron grip and all you can see is the wall in
front of you. You try desperately to hold back the lash with the Force.
Six more strokes... your face is turning white from loss of blood. But the
tenth stroke does not fall. The whip missed you by a few centimeters.
You hear Narasan grunt his disapproval of your resistance and he struck
you again with a noticable increase in hatred. The whip bit deeply into
your skin, the barbed tip lodging itself in the exposed muscle of your
back. Narasan tugs, ripping his lash free and sending an agonizing wave of
pain through you. The last thing you remember as you pass out is the
sentinels tossing you back into your cage.
"The torture continued daily at Narasan's whim. Occasionally you were fed
and given water. The torture varied. At times it was the brutal lashing of
the whip, but he employed numerous techniques. Sometimes you were
subjected to intense pain that Narasan seemed to summon upon you with the
Force. Those pains were the worst of all."
"You would fall over and would be unable to do nothing but tremble in
agony for many moments until you were wracked again with torment."
The purely physical pain was easy enough to bear as Valleminian had
experienced little but pain in his existence.
However the pain that seemed to come from the force that was different, it
burnt to the very core of his being and he couldn't understand why? Or
figure out how to return the favour. This soon became the only drive in
his life
You have lost count of the days you have been incarcerated in this place.
You have seen no other being, living or dead, except for a pair of mute
titans and Narasan. Once more the door of your cell opens.
The usual party enters and you are released, then hoisted up by the
guards, with Narasan standing in front of you, a slight smirk on his face.
"So, how are we feeling?"
"Quite well, really, all things considered, allthough I have a bit of a
headache... Think I could get a pillow?"Valleminian asked
Valleminian knew he was broken in spirit, but his body was fine, prompting
this token resistance
Narasan grunts. He visibly relaxes, closing his eyes. You can feel him
probing your mind.
The unusual sensation of having his mind probed, unsettled Valleminian
causing concern to show on his face, he didn’t want Narasan to know he was
broken, and he tried to throw up barriers, but with his will lost it was
no use
Narasan has discovered what he wished. He opens his eyes and the corners
of his mouth curl up into a wicked smile. He steps to the side, revealing
another figure standing in the doorway. "M'lord," he says, turning to the
side as this newcomer approaches. In the dim light, he is hard to see, but
you can tell he has burning green eyes and a sharp visage.
"Mr. Kartenax, is it?" He says in a deep voice.
His Will Broken Kartenax felt compelled to reply to this stranger, who
oozed force power, “Yes M’lord” He replied slowly trying to gauge the mood
of this new comer.
The stranger studies you, but speaks to Narasan, "You have done well to
bring him to my attention. What you have begun, I will complete." He
raises one hand. The sentinels release you, but you do not fall. You've
seen this trick before, and can levitate objects yourself quite well.
However the next came as a complete surprise. A burst of bluish lightning
stretched from the spread fingers and wrapped around you, surging
unspeakable pain through your body.
Kartenax screamed violently, hoping against hope that the burning pain
that was shooting throughout his body would subside quickly, his body he
was sure could take it, his mind he was not, and he had recently decided
that living without his mind was a fate worse than death
he soon realised that these thoughts were the ones his captors wished he
would have, so that he could be bent to their nefarious purpose or
disposed of easily
As the lightning coursed through your body, you heard the stranger say
softly, "You have only scratched the surface of your power. You could be
much more. I will release you. I require but one thing in return."
Anything Screamed Kartenax, Anything Power is my desire, that and to
preserve what little sanity I have My Lord
"Your cravings are not my concern. I require your obedience. Absolute and
unswerving. Do as I wish and you will be rewarded. Fail to obey and you
will die."
Obedience you shall have My Lord, Kartenax replied, once again assuming
the subservient role he had known for most of his existence.
The stranger tossed his hand aside, breaking the stream of energy and
tossing you against the back corner of the room with such violence that
you hear bones snap. "Then we have an understanding," he said. He turns
and walks out, speaking as he steps away, "Clean him up."
Kartenax, slumped in a broken heap in the corner of the room was
disturbed, such power, who was that man, a fraction of his power, a chance
to learn from him, and in return a promise of obedience, to carry out any
and all tasks which he desired, and he got to keep his mind as far as he
knew, Kartenax couldn't help but feel he had gotten the better end of that
deal.
The sentinels stalk over to you and drag you out of your cell. You are
cleaned up, still quite roughly and given simple but fresh clothes. Then
you are shown down a corridor to another room. When the door opens, you
are greeted by the sight of a table laden with food. There are two chairs.
In the one at the far end sits a man with dark hair and goatee, with the
same green eyes.
He still appears quite intimidating, even as he motions to the other seat,
"Sit."
Valleminian Kartenax obeyed quickly whilst studying his new Master, whose
piercing green eyes seemed to burn right through him, and many greater
than him he assumed.
He waits for a sign before touching the food.
"So you do not recognize me?" The stranger said, adding, "I suppose that
is both good and bad."
You are the powerful Dark Jedi From before aren't you? Valleminian
queries, but other than that I do not recognise you, should I My Lord?
"I am Lord Mallagant, leader of the Galactic Empire," He states, with
perhaps a bit of disappointment in his voice that you are not familiar
with his name.
“Forgive my ignorance Sire, my homeworld was a backwater, and the
internecine fighting didn’t help the spread of news, with spacers avoiding
my planet like the plague unless highly paid, however My Lord your name is
vaguely familiar, and I assume either General Narasan worked for you in
his time planet side, or my ...late father did at some point perhaps
both?” Valleminian replies quickly to try and avoid disappointing this
figure who could crush him at the bat of an eyelid.
"Both," he said, motioning now to the food, "And I must say that the death
of the latter and his family quite put me out. It takes years to train
Sith to their level. You will make up for them, though."
Valleminian takes a large amount of food and quickly shovels it down
before responding. “My deepest apologies my Lord, they were your men?, I
had no idea, however I am more capable and not restrained like my
“Brother” was by his code of conduct I am far more like our father then he
could have ever been.”
"You have made a significant accomplishment, Valleminian," Mallagant says,
changing the subject slightly, "I understand that you have taught yourself
much of the Force and have a natural skill with the lightsaber?"
“It is so, My Lord” Valleminian replied, “I had to make do with what I
had, and there are many who could soundly trounce me anyday, General
Narasan did it”
"You have more in common than you know," he said. "The general had also
used the Force naturally for years, although on a more subconscious level.
He was quickly refined. I see things in your future that you could not
have imagined. It is a pity that you had to endure this sentence on a
dungeon ship... but it was necessary. After all the destruction of
Imperial property and the murder of personnel. But, no more talk of that.
I have a great deal of faith, Valleminian. Enough even to put some in you.
Here." At this, he tosses you your lightsaber.
Valleminian tries to Impress Lord Mallagant by performing Telekinesis on
his weapon bringing it slowly to his hand. “Great things M’Lord?”
Valleminian enquires.
"The life of a Dark Jedi has its rewards. But it is not without its
trials. You will be tested, both in training and in the field. And you
will serve."
“Yes M’Lord”
