The Rebel Faction

To many people, even those used to strange anomalies like the Force, such an encounter would leave them disoriented and panicked for hours, maybe days. Dolash, however, had learned to take the mysteries of the Force in his stride, and he immediately knew what to do.

He rose, opened the door, and said to the doctor "She's fine for now. I want any and all schedualed medical checkups, operations, perscriptions, or otherwise to pass through our confirmation especially for her. Make no public note of this meeting and don't tell her of any of your suspiscions."

The doctor sniffed, and said "Of course, she's only a child - serious medical conditions are best kept away from their eyes."

Dolash nodded. "Sure. The important thing is that we keep everything appearing normal, but keeping a careful eye on her - okay?"

With that, he set off at a quick pace to meet Trazu, and succeeded in finding him. "We have much to discuss, and little time to speak of it." with that, he turned the Trandoshan to a side room unoccupied at that time and sat him down.

"It appears events are moving far faster than I'd anticipated. For months, only loosely connected clues and now half the pieces in a day. Lavality is possessed by a spirit - not the one which took you, but a different one. Whatever it is, it seems helpful and purposed, as well as incredibly powerful in the Force. That's the fourth separate confirmation of Force Ghost activity I've seen in a short time, and the Force has presented a clear next step in the form of these caves that you mentioned earlier.

"I do not know the nature of these ghosts, or their source, or what has caused them to walk amongst the living again, but it is these answers the Force wants us to find, and for what purpose I can only guess. We must act quickly, however - I do not like a being so powerful in the Force that I know so little about setting an agenda which makes use of a little girl, and it is vital to find out wether it is a danger or not.

"It did, however, mention something mysterious directly pertaining to you. It asked me to ask you to ask Naosha to ask Sillass if he noticed anything strange going on at the battle for Trandosha - a cryptic clue, certainly. Whatever this all means, I intend to mount another expedition soon, and I request that you come along."

Dolash nodded, deep in thought. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, all little hints and coincidences, all leading to... what? The Force was trying to communicate something, and with each clue it seemed to be more dangerous and more mysterious. They'd need a few more pieces first if they were to have any chance of figuring out the connections in all of this.

"What you tell me is most mysterious. The Force is acting strangely, that's for sure, and we must move quickly to figure out the cause. All evidence points to this cave as the next clue, so I will take my leave of you now to make all preparations. Anything more you can discover about this suicide mission - which I suspect the Force had a hand in - I will be glad to know." With that, he bowed to Trazu and qucikly excused himself.

There was much to do, and every second was a second longer this mystery would go unsolved, a second where further damage could be infliced by whatever was causing the ghosts and unusual fluctuations. As Dolash went to make preparations, he was intercepted by Fwar.

"Dolash, we have made full sweeps of the grounds and surrounding area - everything is back to normal. The wookie has been removed and the doctor confirms no further damage to Lavality."

"Not quite normal yet, my friend. Inform the others that we will be leaving immediately on another expedition as soon as we can."

Fwar nodded, and then said "If I may, can I ask you what's going on? Assassins, ghosts, possessions, ruins - it all seems so tangled and confused."

Dolash nodded "That's because it is, for now. The Force reveals things slowly, Fwar, and at the right time. We might not understand the connections to these things yet, but patiance and diligantly following each clue will eventually reveal the common thread between it all. The Trandoshans we can trust, the spirit possessing Lavality we have no choice but to trust, the ghost we found on Ilum and the Seer we found on Kessel the Force wants us to trust. Each brings a piece of the puzzle, my friend, and we have not yet enough pieces to assemble it. But don't worry, we are getting closer."

Lavality got off the bed. She had a headache and was feeling kinda hungry. She walked toward the door, then stopped and turned around. "Thanks, I think..." she said to the doctor; although unsure WHY she said it

She made her way down the hallway, she passed her room and stopped and glanced at the room for a second. She couldn't remember what had happened; nor about who it was who attacked her. Only that it was someone she knew and someone she should've trusted

Either way, she walked into the cafeteria and got herself something to eat. She sat there for awhile and tried to think of what had happened, but finally after a few minutes she gave up

"I know something happened.... but I can't figure out what..." she said to herself several times

After a few more minutes she left and made her way to the libery, she made a quick stop at her room and picked up the book she was mean't to read. Once she arrived she looked around some, but wasn't quite sure where to begin

Trazu had a lot to do and likely not a lot of time to do it, so he needed to start right away.

First off, he needed to gather some training and studying material: he was going to be pulling some late nights getting as much training as he could before they left. To his surprise he found Asri wandering the library, not looking like she was looking for anything in particular but more like she was just curious about what they kept there. He wanted to say something to her, but wasn’t quite sure what to say, let alone if she would be willing to speak to him again so soon after his little…slip up…earlier. Ultimately he decided to give Asri her space.

Retrieving the book he had left behind earlier, he tucked it under his arm and started browsing the shelves. He had picked out a couple more books of interest by the time Asri spotted him.

“A rare thing to see a T’Doshok actually reading literature.” He heard her say suddenly with a faint chuckle. Beside himself he jumped slightly, having not expected for her to talk to him at all.

“Normally I probably wouldn’t even bother with these.” Trazu admitted. “Being a T’Doshok that learned by ‘doing’ and all. But I don’t have much time….”

“You don’t?” Asri asked, puzzled. “Why not? They kicking you out already?”

“Heh…no.” Trazu replied with a smile. "I will be leaving soon on an expedition to the caves I found while I was a Dark Jedi."

“Oooh. Sounds like something your ranger talents will come in handy with. Anything interesting there?”

Trazu chuckled. “Bunch of carvings depicting historical events and a Force imbued sphere.”

“Ok, that sounds out of my league.” Asri said with a giggle. “Even if I did once work for a Sith. Guess I’ll just stay here being bored to death.”

“Well if you want something to do.” Trazu said, an idea coming to him. "Since I don't know how long I will be away and since Maskis lost his partner he'll probably need help keeping an eye on Lavality. Your past experiences have already proven useful in deterring attempts on Lavality's life and I imagine Maskis wouldn't mind your continued help. Unless, that is, you prefer to return to Trandosha, which I can arrange safe passage for you."

"And have to deal with your sister again so soon?" Asri said with more then a little venom in her voice. "I'll stay here thank you, at least until you are ready to return home yourself."

"You are more then capable of handling yourself around her Asri, I've seen that."

"Yeah, but she isn't so...blunt...with her insults when you are around. I'd rather not get mentally bludgeoned to death the moment I step off the transport."

Trazu chuckled. "As you wish." Privately he was glad she'll be sticking around at the Academy. “Oh…could you by chance attempt to get me some sets of clothes before I leave? I’d rather not go on an expedition wearing baggy loaners…”

“I can see what I can do.” Asri said. “That rogue wookiee did mess up my shopping earlier and I could use some spare clothing myself. Anything specific you want?”

“Just normal clothes should be good, although…” He paused to think a moment. “See if you can pick up an outfit that resembles but not exactly the…traditional Jedi attire.”

“Hmm…so you identify with them yet not at the same time?”

“Well I am not going to be training as a full Jedi, so I feel it would be inappropriate do match their look exactly.”

“Understandable. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Did you need any credits? I can transfer…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Asri said with a raised hand. “My dear father left me with a nice inheritance to spend as I please.”

“That’s right…” Trazu said with a smile. “I had forgotten about that.”

Asri smiled in turn, making it hard for Trazu not to shudder with pleasure at the sight of it. “I’ll hit the bazaar when it first opens, so I should have your clothes by lunch.”

“Don’t you mean dinner?” He said with a smirk.

“Ha ha. Very funny wise guy.” She punched him playfully in the arm.

“Ow! Ok, I’ll see you around lunch then.” He said, rubbing his arm with his free hand and started heading for the check out counter.

"Lord Trazu...a question." She asked suddenly.

"Yes?" He replied, wincing slightly at the sudden formality as he turned to face her.

There was a pause before she continued. "I know you mean well, but why are you so insistent at knowing my past?"

"I didn't realize I was being that pushy about it." Trazu said, blushing faintly in embarrassment. "I just want to know everything about you."

"Why?"

"I...uh...lets just say I have my own secrets that I know some are not ready to hear."

"There you go again about secrets. I told you my reasons for not..."

"I know!" Trazu interrupted, a bit louder then he intended and drawing a glare from the library attendant. "'Some secrets are best not revealed.' you said. I understand that and I also understand you are afraid of what would happen to you if that secret is revealed."

"How did you...."

"You adamant refusing to even so much as hint at what it is tells a lot." Trazu explained, a bit more harshly then he intended. "I know from painful personal experience though, that such deeply buried secrets have a very bad habit of becoming revealed at the worse possible times."

"You couldn't possibly understand what this means for me. No one can."

"Do you think just anyone would understand what it's like not being in control of your own body while it goes out and slaughters people?"

Asri faltered a moment, then retorted. "That's different! I'm the only one going through this, so there's no way you could understand."

"Try me." Trazu said boldly, staring at her in the eyes.

For what felt like an eternity they just stared at each other, until Asri turned her head away. "You don't trust me because of this do you?" She asked.

"I trust you with my life, my children's lives...everything, despite the secrets you hold from me." Trazu said softly. "It's you that can't seem to trust me, or anyone else, not even the Jedi."

Stung, Asri turned her back on him. Trazu walked up beside her and gently took her hand into his. "Asri...I know you are afraid, I understand that. But if you keep locking yourself away like this you'll never see the doors of opportunity I know are out there for you, open and ready for you to take them. There is so much more you can do with your life if you just open yourself up to them."

"But everything will be taken away from me if the secret becomes known...." Asri said quietly.

"How can you be so sure of that? You're not willing to even take a chance? If there's one thing I know you are not...is a coward." It was he then he decided to take his leave, to leave her with those words to think over and start preparing himself for the journey ahead, including getting in as much training as he could before it started. He could only hope that by the time he came back Asri didn't flat out hate him. Fortunately she apparently didn’t see the argument as a reason not to go shopping for him, as he found his new clothes by his door when he left his room to go to lunch….