High Prophet Crozeus
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Hunt for a Crimson Blade((This is a roleplay for me and Jerina to further our storyline. Any may join as their character if they wish, for the moment we will be in the hangar bay. After a while, PM one of us if you want to join in as an NPC.))
Darth Crozeus, Acolyte of the Eternal Empire stood in front of the Lambda class shuttle he had requisitioned for the journey. He checked his equipment - 3 lightsabers, a blaster and a bandolier of grenades. He closed his eyes and reached around him, feeling the hustle and bustle of insignificant presences around him as workers scurried about their business. He was on a much more important mission, and he smiled as his best friend Jerina came through the doors towards him, her presence a shining dark light in the grey of the workers.
"Hey," he called, as she came to him, equally kitted out with saber and blaster rifle. "Ready?"
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Darth Ultiria
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"I think so!" She called out nervously, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Are you sure you got the place right? I dont wanna spend hours in a shuttle to find the hutt slime has left. You know I hate hyperspace travel!"
Crozeus smirked and reassured her.
"Is it just us? We can fit about four people in the shuttle surely?" She asked. She felt like a little girl again, excited before going shoe shopping. Instead, she was about to go and kill someone. She had killed before, yes, thugs and drunken men and the like, but most of the time she let Fenko and Typhon and the rest deal with it. They treated her like a goddess. Here it was different - all the adepts were equals. She liked it, having to prove her skill, but it was nice having men running about her every command, and seeing how excited they got when she smiled or lay an hand on their arm.
Jerina hid the coy grin appearing on her mouth and turned to face Crozeus, who was grinning like an idiot. "What?" She laughed?
"Nothing," Crozeus replied, reading her thoughts. "Nothing at all."
(Was that OK?)
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High Prophet Crozeus
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((Yes, that was good. Two parentheses though.))
Crozeus returned his gaze to his personal datapad, which he snapped open and typed a few things. He looked at it for a moment, before slotting in a datacard, the one given to him by his contact on Coruscsant. He showed it to Jerina. "See? You can clearly see it."
The words were more to reassure himself, more than her, as he had his doubts about it. Why would a Jedi go to Menaan? Granted it was a good place to hide, but Jerina had told him that was not their main objective. Still, coming to this Blade would reveal to them where Shii was. And then, they would both have their revenge. Crozeus had only one concern in his mind. Who would get the kill? Maybe they could bring her back here and let the courts deal with her effectively by law, rather than the two Sith arguing over the kill. Nevertheless, Crozeus coul sense an end to his quest coming soon.
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Darth Ultiria
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((Sugar. I always forget that  ))
Jerina looked at the datapa and envisioned herself in the samall facility on Menaan being shown. She had been to Menaan, once, as a little girl to do some trade with her parents, and remembered being awed by the endless seas. It was completely different to Dantooine, which was far more temperate.
She could sense Crozeus being apprehensive, and understood where he was coming from. She could sense theJedi on Menaan, and there was no way he or she was on the city. "Don't worry," she said. "The Jedi is there. we were forbidden to leave our posts unless our missions were complete successes."
Crozeus nodded and shut the datapad. "I have sent out a message in the Cantina. If anyone reads it they will know they are welcome."
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High Prophet Crozeus
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The Empire was incredibly busy at the time, and many Sith were away on various tasks. As such, two Sith, both apprentices, were the only volunteers. Roan Sindal, and Mortalitas. They had both been injured for months and were unable to continue training, and were trying to find a way to earn prestige. to be trained again.
Crozeus acknowledged them both with a nod. Roan had had his accident shortly after Crozeus had come to the Academy, Mortalitas before that. Both were sustained in the duelling ring. Crozeus would welcome any blaster shields he could get, but he would prefer those who could fight back effectively, he grimaced. Jerina, on the other hand, quite happily talked to them, laughing and sharing tales amongst each other.
"Right, enough of that. We move now. Any others will see my message and follow our signal. On the shuttle. Go."
Crozeus cast one final look over his shoulder before storming onto the shuttle, flipping the activation switch and lifing it out of the hanger. He hissed. Just his luck to get stuck with two annoying cripples. He was hoping for Sith legends like Darth Malice, or High General Vexen. Oh well. They were probably watching anyway.
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Darth Ultiria
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Jerina strapped herself in tight and once more checked through her weapons. The bond she and Crozeus had formed still projected random images of his thought into her mind, and she wished she could control it. Perhaps she should go to the Church and see if they could do anything. She listened idly as Mortalitas went on about an adventure he went on in the Traverse, and her thoughts drifted back to the Force bond.
She wondered if Crozeus could control himself in what he learned of her. He never mentioned anything, and he remained expressionless for her to not notice anything when she thought something a bit strange. A part of her wished she had learned of teh Jedi way to read faces and minds, rather than further battle training.
Still, perhaps it was beneficial for her to be able to reach into the person closest to her. She did so now and was bombarded with an array of images, and she was surprised to see her face more than a few times. Most of it made no sense, but she was quite pleased to see she was on his mind. Then, a vivid image flashed in her mind - one of Mortalitas' lifeless body on a cold metal floor, blood tricking from a gaping wound. Shocked, she withdrew and stared, pale as ash.
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High Prophet Crozeus
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Crozeus remained expressionless as he recieved the vision, just one of many he had recived since his journey to Wayland. It was interesting how the vision contained but one image, however, most of the others were flashes that usually amounted to nothing. He studied it in his mind, and he focused on the wound. Done with a sword, and a vicious one at that, Crozeus mused. Who would be proficient enough to deal such a blow to a Sith? Time would tell.
He keyed in the automaic hail response, sending the day's sequence to the Indidictor ship to deactivate it's tractor beams so he could pass it. There would be a slight delay. Crozeus suddenly felt a pull on his mind, unknown to him before. He delved into it, sensing his Force bond, and the shining presence that was Jerina. He felt her mind, images coursing through it until he felt a strange part of her mind, which she kep secret from others. Crozeus wanted to go back, but he couldn't resist. In it, he found images, from her childhood, the Jedi, when he kissed her before he left...
Crozeus recoiled, disgusted with himself. He should not have delved into her mind like that. The sequence was confirmed and Crozeus, his cheeks burning with embarrasment, sent the shuttle into hyperspace, a particularly loud bout of laughter from Mortalitas along with it.
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Darth Ultiria
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The shuttle entered the atmosphere of the water-world of Manaan silently. Jerina could immedietly sense a strong presense coming from a tower on a floating city. Since the Clone Wars, Manaan had grown and grown, benefiting by selling bacta to the Republic, and then the Empire. The shuttle docked and the four Sith dis-embarked, automatically checking their suuroundings. Graciously, Mortalitas had fallen silent. A pair of Selkath and a droid had come to meet them. The Selkath spoke in a strange language, and Jerina's translator kicked in.
"What are you doing here? This is a restricted area."
Jerina watched Crozeus murmur something to them, something that made them draw their blasters.
"Blast 'em!" Crozeus yelled.
Jerina whiped out her blaster pistol and fired 5 bolts into the nearest Selkath. In a few seconds the smoke cleared and the four Sith quickly cleared out the security checkpoint and headed towards the now alarmed Force source, leaving a trail of smoking corpses in their wake.
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High Prophet Crozeus
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It was annoying, resorting to the barbaric blaster weapons, but necessary to conceal their identity. Fortunately, no one had used the Force yet, just as Crozeus had ordered. They came to the main section of the tower and entered a turbolift, rather cramped in the small space. When they reached the top they were confronted by six Selkath, each armed with a yellow or green lightsaber, and one with a curved sword.
"Fan out. Use any means." Crozeus ordered, igniting his wrist lightsaber. He looked at one Selkath and lunged. His blade cut straight into the amphibian's neck, and it gurgled and collapsed. He then turned to parry an attack. He looked to see Jerina, Mortalitas and Roan each cut down their own Selkath, before ganging up on the one with the sword, who soon fell. The one Crozeus was fighting was the only one left. He sidestepped neatly and cut it's hand off at the wrist, before slashing across it's belly. He then Force pushed it into the wall, its spine breaking with an audible snap.
The door at the end of the corridor opened and a man stepped out. Skinny and pale, with little hair, he held a lightsaber almost the exact same as Jerina's. Mortalitas and Jerina moved in ahead, while Crozeus and Roan came up behind them. The Crimson Blade sudddenly moved his hand with a smile, and sent the sword from the dead Selkath spinning through the air. Crozeus leaped across the hall and threw Roan to the ground, the blade passing just over their heads. It was too late for Mortalitas. The blade ripped straight through him, spraying blood and guts out of the other side. Jerina then began to attack him, and Crozeus moved up behind her, Roan alongside.
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Darth Ultiria
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Jerina knew the man who had just killed Mortalitas. Drake Fayarn, relatively in the middle of the Order. He was always quiet, and was too aggresive in the duelling ring, so they sent him here. He had certainly improved. Jerina parried a distincive move to her thigh and wheeled their blades round, before shouldering him towards Roan.
Roan smashed him in the side with his saberstaff, ducking to avoid a swing. Drake staggered, and Jerina pushed him towards Crozeus, just as Crozeus pulled. As a result, Drake was impaled on the waiting violet blade. Drake gasped and coughed, and Jerina took his head off with a single blow. She ignored the body and went rumaging through the office, returning triumphant with a data card.
"The co-ordinates on Kashyyyk. We've got her."
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High Prophet Crozeus
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Crozeus nodded, still staring at the body of Mortalitas. Just like in his vision. Curious. Should he have prevented it? Crozeus, without thinking, wondered into the office. He was drawn to a strong box, which he opened with the Force. In it was a Qixoni crystal, a diatum emitter, a kunda lens, and a dark crystal. He took them out and pocketed them, checking to see if the others had noticed. There was still a source there. He felt around and discovered he could lift the bottom. Underneath were two holocrons. Crozeus gasped. Nearly all missing holocrons had been accounted for, yet here were two of them, clearly in working condition. He would have to smuggle them back.
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As the shuttle returned to Kuat, no one noticed the strong presense attached to Crozeus. No one asked. As he returned to the Chapter on Kuat, he began to assemble a new lightsaber. He ignored a message from Jerina asking him to attend Mortalitas' funeral. Was it just a coincidence that his splayed form was pointing to the box?
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