Subject: [OTL]: (alt. Betsy/Star Wars) Fanged Butterfly 2: Knightcross 43/? (R) From: Phil Hartman Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:22:27 +0000 will1@earthling.net Fanged Butterfly Vol. 2: Knightcross Chapter 43 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Marvel's are Marvel's. LFL's are LFL's. Any original characters are mine. The rest belong to their owners/creators. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue. WARNING: Themes, imagery, some violence. ------------------------------------------------- 40 ABY: Hapes System, Hapes Consortium, Inner Rim Territories: Day of the Battle of Corellia: ------------------------------------------------- It was a simple freighter, and focused like a dagger for one purpose. Vibro - the only name he went by, in the Corellian Liberation Front - had little concern for what he was about to do; the cost he was going to exact on innocents. Hapes held 20 percent of the filthy GA's military might. And after the beating the Corellian Kiris Fleet had just received, a balance was needed: Eliminate Hapes, cripple the enemy. He opened the cargo hold, dumping the payload into the Hapan jetstream, as a Battle Dragon destroyed his drives. ----------------------------------------------- The first sign that things were terribly wrong was a shockwave of ... taint, in the Force. Tenel Ka looked up, then instinctively covered her eyes and ran to Allana - but it was night - but something was wrong. HORRIBLY wrong. "Mama ...?" the girl whispered, letting Tenel scoop her up from her bed after checking - and a needle jabbed the Queen Mother's neck, sending her into the black, as gentle hands took Allana from her. ----------------------------------------------- She had served the Hapan Royal House loyally ever since the Vong War. That Major Espara had a missing time period of two weeks in 30 ABY was kindly overlooked; she did her duty, obeyed her Queen ... and reported back to her Master on Vjun. Tenel Ka was slung over the Shaped One sleeper agent's shoulder; Allana, cradled in an arm whose fingertips burst with claws. By the time Espara reached the skip, it was out of the pond, and she was aboard with her charges, fully a Shaped One again. A gentle Force nudge pushed Allana back to sleep. The amphistaff poison used on the Queen Mother was a sedative, nothing more. The Master was not a monster, Espara thought, flying the craft away from Hapes ... and despairing as some kind of disease tainted her birth world. By the time the screams started ringing in the Force, the skip was in darkspace. Her charges were mercifully unaware of the horror behind them, except on a subconscious level. Espara let the yammosk effect soothe her. And she wept for the billions who were dying. ------------------------------------------------------- /Yes, Espara. I understand. I have prepared for such a contingency .../ Caedus was displeased, but not with his sleeper agent; Espara was acting perfectly. He just had to change his plans, when he was trying to comprehend his ascension to full Sithhood ... He turned to Paxis, who was kicking a ball around with Tace, and said, "Paxis ... something has come up. I need you to watch Tace. Why don't you boys go look around the castle, and Tace can help you get to know some of the others?" Paxis smiled, nodding obediently as he replied, "Yes, Father. Thank you - Tace, let's go see the combat ring you were telling me about, OK?" "Yeah! Seeya later, Daddy!" Tace cheered, pulling Paxis after him, and Caedus smiled at how his sons had bonded. At least something was going right. His houseguests, BOTH of them, had vanished, and while Caedus didn't miss the one, the other ... the other could only have left with ... BRADDOCK. #I should have killed her on Dathomir,# Caedus thought, annoyed as he donned a gnullith breathing mask and used the master dovin basal gravity warp creature in the basement to open a gate to Hapes. It was a wasteful way to travel, but risks had to be taken at the time they came. He knelt by a victim of the disease ... some idiot prettyboy noble, a pet of the Hapan female ruling class, and jabbed the man with a claw, using the Force to identify diseases as he sifted the man's blood. Caedus cursed under his breath. The illness was ... Coomb spores. A VONG disease, usually with a long incubation period. Reengineered to kill quickly. Someone else was playing with Vongtech. And Caedus had a VERY unpleasant feeling who ... well, two could take advantage of chaos. He reached out to the sleeping mother of his twins, and asked gently, /You remember what I am. What I have ... and what I can do. Do you wish ...?/ Tenel Ka stirred, gasping in realization that "Jacen" was daring to speak to her, but she calmed, even let her heart leap when he showed her Tace ... and she sobbed at his diagnosis of her people. /Can you ... save them? And what of Allana and I?/ Tenel asked, trusting him again ... as he smiled. /I can. But I will not deceive you; my cure will Shape YOUR ENTIRE HUMAN POPULACE. The nonhumans ... I am sorry. I can do nothing for them,/ Caedus replied, adding sincere regret. All sentients deserved to be Shaped, after all. To bow to him. Sadly, even Caedus had limits. He was no deity, nor sought such. Temporal power and reverence were enough for him. /... any lives you can save, I am grateful for. But if this attack was so sudden ... then Allana and I .../ Tenel Ka feared, as Caedus tried to soothe her. /Think of it as preventative care. You will still be a Queen, beloved. Just of a ... more equal race,/ Caedus offered; he could almost taste it ... and Tenel Ka agreed, and Caedus fought back s surge of triumph. /Hurry, love. We will await you,/ Tenel Ka sent, and Caedus assented, before concentrating. Shaping a WORLD was beyond him. Only Vjun or Yuuzhan'tar, the one claimed by Caedus, the other by the World Brain he had fostered during the Vong War, were his to command. But Caedus could manipulate any Vonglife, anywhere. Draw it through the dovin basal gate on Vjun ... reduce it to the virus he had used on Paxis ... and miniature warpgates opened across Hapes, as the virus rained down, attacking the coomb spores. Caedus concentrated, reaching out to the infected humans ... his new subjects ... and his power increased GEOMETRICALLY, as he Shaped a race. FIVE BILLION. Men, women, children ... an army, if he wanted them. Caedus howled with laughter, as the dark side exploded and his might poured forth and his followers rose, leaving Hapes as their minds became Shaped. Vjun would soon experience a building boom, and Caedus knew what world to strip to house his people. It was only fitting, perhaps, that as the new order dawned, the seat of the old should die. Yavin IV would be denuded of Vonglife to serve Darth Caedus, as the ancient Sith had used the world. All right things moved in cycles, Caedus thought approvingly, stepping across space to oversee Yavin's ravaging. The transition from night to day was less ... unexpected than annoying, and Caedus was glad his eyes adjusted as quickly as they did, while he started breaking the organic material down and sending it through the portal to the empty continents of Vjun. And then he saw them: a terrified astromech droid ... and an unconscious, grieving Jedi Master, whose broken shields hinted at the fear that his wife and son were lost. Caedus smiled sadistically. Luke had no idea HOW lost. Once Caedus' work was done ... there was sport to be had ... ------------------------------------------------- Vjun: Castle Bast: ------------------------------------------------- Paxis rocked on his heels as the yammosk effect grew; he could sense the work being done, and why, and gasped. #Hapes ... SHAPED!? The WHOLE PLANET?!# Paxis thought, sitting down as he let Tace hug him in comfort. /Are ya OK?/ Tace asked, and Paxis smiled back; the little guy was really nice, and Paxis was grateful. /Just ... thinking, buddy,/ Paxis sent back, rubbing Tace's bald scalp, and the little boy smiled - he looked up to Paxis. He trusted his big brother. Paxis was more determined than ever to protect his little brother. But to do so, he had to know more about their life ... "There's the combat ring!" Tace cheered, pulling Paxis' arm, and the brothers left the bench to walk to a group of adolescents about Paxis' age, who motioned him over as they shut down their lightsabers or coiled their amphistaffs into guard position. "Welcome! You're Paxis, right? Everybody's been wanting to meet you," one of the other males - Korol, Paxis sensed through the Force - said, clasping Paxis' wrist in a friendly greeting which Paxis returned. "Thanks - Korol? And you're - Senna, and - Varda?" Paxis asked, as he greeted his new fellow Shaped brother and sisters. Senna nodded at Paxis, smiling as she said, "Welcome to Vjun. You're fully Shaped - and Tace's brother. Good. He's a sweet kid." "Senna watches me sometimes when Daddy has t' go away," Tace explained, smiling when Senna rubbed his head, and Paxis returned her friendly look. Like male Shaped Ones, what had to be covered on female Shaped Ones, was. Both had bald heads, claws and talons, and appeared to be wearing flesh-colored bodysuits which turned different colors. Senna just happened to be a teenaged girl, that was all. #Keep telling yourself that,# Paxis thought, trying not to blush ... Senna was pretty. She smiled at Paxis then, and ignited her lightsaber - orange, pointed down, a challenge but not a blood-draw, he sensed, letting information from the yammosk link flow into him. "Show me what you've got, Paxis," Senna challenged - just friendly, and what was wrong with sparring between new friends? He ignited his purple blade, recovered from the skip, and saluted her, then assumed a guard stance, motioning Tace back with the teens. Their blades clashed, and Paxis grinned - she was GOOD. He spun, going for her legs, but Senna rolled the blade up and went for his shoulder. Paxis blocked, pushing back a little, and asked, /Powers?/ /What fun is it without them?/ Senna replied, and they almost ... giggled together. Paxis tried not to let the chameleon cloak reveal what he was feeling ... he Force-pushed, carefully; she blocked and made a tsking sound, winking - oh. Paxis dodged a bolt of lightning, gratified that there were apparently ... dampeners? ... around the edge of the sparring square, and circled Senna with more caution. THIS time, it was a collision, blow parried by blow, a few claws and talons tossed in - - and she caught his ankle, spinning him to the sand cushioning the square's floor, as Senna straddled Paxis' chest, arching an eyebrow. "Yield?" he offered, and she rubbed his scalp ... kriff ... OK, BAD choice of words, Paxis winced, but Senna laughed as the others drifted back to sparring. "You're a good loser! I LIKE that in a male. C'mon, let's go lose this sand," Senna offered, helping Paxis up and leading him to a small pool off of the courtyard, Tace close behind. Paxis was grateful for the chaperone, even if Tace was innocent of the hints of emotion coming from Senna. He slipped off his combat belt, wading in and paddling about, then dunking himself - and watched appreciatively as Senna did the same, rising, sparkling, on a Force pillar before sitting poolside. Tace whooped, leaping in and paddling around, giggling as he and Paxis splashed each other. /You're really good with him. Most big brothers aren't so patient,/ Senna asked, and Paxis smiled as Tace went back to paddling. /He's a cool Iittle guy. I wanted siblings, but ... it didn't work out, before,/ Paxis tried to explain, sitting beside Senna. "I was very young when I was Shaped, near the last days of the War. My homeworld was devastated by a wave of the Vong ... I was Force-sensitive, stuck with surge coral. I don't remember much beyond my birth name, but I was loved," Senna explained. "Then Our Lord Shaped me ... kindly ... and I've been here ever since. It's better not to think too hard about the past," Senna concluded, and Paxis nodded. "Pax's an astral big bro," Tace called, and Paxis and Senna laughed with the little boy. "Listen, what are you doing -" Senna began, until two surprisingly familiar ... no, THREE ... Force signatures appeared close by, and Paxis helped Tace out of the pool. "Can we talk later?" Paxis asked; he could sense he was needed, and Tace was growing excited ... Senna nodded, laughing as Tace shook himself dry; Paxis used the Force, also grabbing his combat belt, and ran after his brother, smiling over his shoulder at Senna. Things were getting interesting, all right. ------------------------------------------------------- Caedus shut down Artoo, then finished shackling Luke up in the Embrace of Pain, the basic model; the Jedi would be imprisoned, agonized, but not stripped or sheared. Caedus had a far crueler fate in mind for Luke than humiliation, although that emotion would be part of the pleasant torment ... He caught up to his sons, and they walked to the landing pad, watching as one of the ultrafast skips came in for a landing - the dovin basal was one of Caedus's few nods to his father - and its hatch opened. Espara - now back in her Shaped guise - stepped out, helping the amused Allana and the exhausted Tenel Ka disembark. Allana shrieked - with JOY - and ran to Paxis, who swept her up and hugged her. "You know me?" he asked, as she giggled. "Silly. Always," Allana said, and Paxis growled playfully, setting her down as she saw Caedus, then Tace ... and beamed. "YOU'RE `LIVE!!!" she cried, running to Tace - who sprinted to her, hugging her back, his son was HEALTHY again, Caedus gave thanks. And he met Tenel Ka halfway, as she hugged Paxis, then knelt to hug Tace, recognition and memories flooding her. "You saved him," Tenel Ka said, a hololibrary's worth of meaning in the words. "The one good thing I did for you, besides help make our children," Caedus replied, remorse in every word. The twins clung to their parents' legs, and Caedus grinned. His family was whole again, after too long. Tenel Ka looked at Espara ... seemed to take a mental measure ... then glanced down at herself, and at Tace and Allana ... approvingly. "My father ... is already dead, Jacen. I have only my children and their father, now ... all my children," Tenel said, running a gentle hand down Paxis' cheek. "You -" Paxis asked, and Tenel Ka kissed his bald scalp. "You saved Tace. How can I turn you away?" Tenel said, and she hugged Paxis as he beamed. Caedus took Tenel's hand, and Allana's, and they walked, the boys following behind, Tace holding Paxis' hand. ---------------------------------------------------- Approach to Nar Shaddaa, Nal Hutta System, Hutt Space: ---------------------------------------------------- Betsy had been prepared for trouble when the Wing reverted to realspace ... just not practically every bounty hunter ship in the galaxy waiting for her kind of trouble. "Bloody HELL! Hang on, we're going in hot!" Betsy warned, as Vergere slapped the shields up, and near space filled with a latticework of energy blasts. It was still extremely strange to be working with the Gray Jedi who was effectively responsible for all the problems with Jacen, but Vergere had at least helped Luke's Order in the past. And given the surge in the dark side since they had left Vjun, Betsy wasn't turning down any help. For her part, Vergere had been unusually honest during the half day trip to Hutt space; the avian Fosh had admitted that she had suggested holding Ganner captive after his supposed death, to let his legend serve as a rallying point for the Alliance during the War. "Ganner WAS near death when he fell into the Well of the World Brain, but Jacen had a vial of my healing tears hidden away - he Force-pushed them into Rhysode's hand," Vergere had explained. Vergere herself had used a variant of Force image projection to convince almost everyone that she had died at Ebaq 9, the last great naval battle of the war. As to why she had stayed hidden, why she had allowed Jacen's Vong experiments ... "We need to address the most dire answer before you ask questions which can wait. Jacen is the greatest threat; him, and ... another," Vergere had only replied, before meditating. Betsy had let that go, focusing more on rescuing Ganner and escaping Nar Shaddaa before thinking too much further ahead. She managed to evade their pursuers, then cloaked the Angel's Wing and landed in a little traveled part of the citymoon. Vergere glanced at Betsy as they slipped off the Wing, while Neal adjusted the transponder signature and crystalline paint of the craft to hide it. "Wise. Now, to the Hutt's lair," Vergere said, letting Betsy take point. Betsy was hardly flattered. Nor did she trust Vergere, but her telepathy did allow her to watch the Fosh where the older Force user could block Betsy otherwise ... They made their way through the back alleys, as Betsy scanned for signs they were being tracked, and she and Vergere used the Force to discourage too much attention ... At last, they reached the back door to Gardulla's - and a degree of mental static, which Betsy had encountered only once before, exuded from the cloaked, hooded figure trying to hack the rear entrance. "It's NOT BLOODY POSSIBLE !" Betsy whispered, pulling Vergere behind a corner, but their fellow attempted entrant spun and threw a sizzling object at them, surprise and then outright disbelief filling the Force as the ... man ... saw Betsy. Betsy deflected the kinetically charged card with a Force nudge, and gasped when she saw red on black eyes meet hers ... but their face ... was still in its mid 30s, making Betsy gasp: "GAMBIT!?" ------------------------------------------------------- Landing Pad 337, Berth of Freighter Longshot, AKA Millennium Falcon: Coronet, Corellia, Core Worlds: ------------------------------------------------------- Han and Leia had decided to meet with Denjax Teppler, ex husband of slain Corellian Prime Minister Aidel Saxan, in person; after the blockade had turned violent, they needed to keep their comms classified. So, they'd planned to wait a day, then slip out in the confusion of Niathal's latest thrust at one of the Five Sisters' home guard fleets ... until Leia sensed ... an absence in the Force, and stopped Han at the landing pad hatch. #Vong?# Leia wondered; all her Force perceptions were off, with that odd surge of ... otherness, along with the dark. She lit her lightsaber, and he pulled his blaster, as the door opened ... Hideously scarred, with a distorted left eye hiding a lethal plaeryn bol, a Vong organism containing a caustic poison, and wearing a shimmersilk cloak ... was Nom Anor, a Vong intendant and Leia's archenemy from the war. "WHAT in the - you DIED!" Han snapped, taking a shot - but ... Anor ... deflected the bolt, and Leia met the conniving alien in head to head dueling as he pulled an amphistaff. "Manipulating the Corellians to resent your new government was too easy. Then ... she ... interfered, and your accursed son with her," Anor rasped, and despite her wishes otherwise, Leia knew the intendant was real. She was having a difficult enough time fighting him back with his Force immunity, and then Anor opened his plaeryn bol - until he cursed in Vong, his foot blackened as Han held up his smoking blaster. "CURSE you! At least Hapes will SUFFER!" Anor spat, running off, and Leia looked at Han with a raised eyebrow. "Hapes. Jacen working with an unidentified woman. Nom Anor. And now ... Han, I can't reach Luke. Forget Teppler, we need to warn the Jedi," Leia said as they boarded the Falcon. "What, no validated parking?" Han tried to joke, actually trying to hide his fear for Tenel Ka and Allana. Leia was just as worried. -------------------------------------------------- Star System MZX32905, near Bimmiel: -------------------------------------------------- Anakin Solo's attention was being pulled six different ways, and he was NOT happy. Distraction bred mistakes. His astromech toodled, helping the 29-year-old Jedi focus on the asteroid belt ... and one particular hunk of rock which scanned iron-rich. The sublight engines got the XJ7 to the asteroid with ease, and Anakin checked the readouts, found a hangar bay big enough to contain four of his ships, and took the Wing in. He tightened his Force presence against the laving waves of dark energy now present - still not the most powerful he'd ever encountered, but there was something here. "Fiver, stay with the ship, keep her ready for a fast departure," Betsy ordered. R5 protested, but obeyed; he knew Anakin didn't waste time with his assignments. #Let's just hope this doesn't take too long,# he thought. The hangar bay was tall enough to reveal a 10-story habitat of some kind, with the walls painted a sky-blue. It all felt very soothing. Soothing meant traps. And Anakin enjoyed working off frustration by avoiding traps. Anakin cast out with a Force-pulse, triggering some kind of bomb attached to hyperdrive coolant barrels which he deflected upward and away with a Force push. After he danced past the spitting darts from the walls, he entered a hexagonal side room with some kind of tube angling down into the asteroid. A cart with 12 seats divided by a cargo container sat in the tube. He trusted in the Force, sensed no more traps - and a considerable increase in dark energy down below. #Well, choose and act, I always said...# Anakin got in the cart, careful to check for poison spikes on the seats, and flipped a switch to descend into the heart of darkness. And he shuddered as a blonde Yuuzhan Vong woman appeared beside him, taloned hands grabbing his throat. Far below, a husky voice laughed in anticipation. ---------------------------------------------------- Ossus: Jedi Academy: ---------------------------------------------------- The Shawnkyr landed, Jaina's eyes narrowing as the Force pulsed with warning. "They're likely expecting us," Jag said, watching his wife get up and check the security system - and the external holocams. There were GAG troops all over the place. The Academy headmaster, Kam Solusar, radiated frustration and welcome to Jaina, and she projected comfort back to her old teacher as she went down the ramp. Kam waited there with his silver-haired wife Tionne, the Jedi historian ... and a sharp-nosed GAG major. "Jaina. A pleasure, especially in these times," Tionne said, her musical voice both comforting Jaina and warning the younger woman of the major's obvious issues with Jedi. "The Sword of the Jedi. And Colonel Solo's ... twin," the major said, his nametag reading "Serpa." He executed a nauseating Imperial bow, and Jaina bit her tongue. "Major. Grand Master Skywalker asked me to check on the Academy and make sure things were ... secure," Jaina said, sensing Jag descend the ramp behind her. "Quite. I'll have to ask you to turn over your weapons, though - we have a bit of a problem with a former associate of yours running around the forest," Serpa said with a thin smile as he activated a holoprojector in his watch. Jaina's heart skipped a beat - even after five years with Jag - as an image of a dark-haired man with a furious look and a blue lightsaber flickered from Serpa's watch. "Zekk ..." Jaina breathed. --------------------------------------------------------- Somewhere Beyond the Outer Rim, Far Galactic North: --------------------------------------------------------- She had fled Yavin, screaming in pain and loss. The ... firebird ... had given her new powers, feeding off of her memories and emotions, helping the firehaired woman to forget her agonies. For a while. The spacewarp the firebird had opened dropped its host in a pleasant enough stellar neighborhood. The woman let the great fiery being within her feed on a passing piece of space junk that had a radioactive power source, and she realized a civilization had to be close by. There. The third world. Strangely, the firebird KNEW this world. The host let her curiosity be satisfied by the firebird, and they flew to the little, pleasant world. To the northern continent. To the house, on the road, near the college. Bard. Deep, old, dangerous memories tugged at the woman as she unlocked the door and shut down the security grid; she KNEW this place. Knew the sleeping human couple with graying hair. But the firebird knew the holocron like crystal by the couple's bed ... and when its host touched the matrix crystal, SHE knew. Her REAL parents. Thrawn. Her unsuspected REAL family. Palpatine. Her undreamt of relatives. Her training. The firebird's complicated history. Her husband and son. The woman SCREAMED, telepathically, with the firebird, but not in fury, and she wept joyous flames before rising. #Momma's coming, baby,# she promised, flying to her son. The Hand was at last reconnected to her family body. ALL of them. And she grasped a fiery sword. ------------------------------------------------------- Coruscant: Jedi Temple Landing Pad: --------------------------------------------------- Tahiri Veila was ... reluctantly patient, as an adult. She'd had to be, to survive on the desert world of Tatooine as a child, then the trials at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. And then, a Yuuzhan Vong shaper's lab ... Tahiri had emerged as Riina Kwaad, believing herself a child of the Vong. It had taken her true love, Anakin Solo, to help snap the blonde Jedi back to her true self. Except that Riina wasn't going anywhere. In time, with Anakin's help, and a quest on Dagobah after helping find the Vong-linked world Zonama Sekot, Tahiri came to terms. Patience was a trait admired by both the Jedi and Vong. So, running errands while her boyfriend was half a galaxy away wasn't exactly an inconvenience for Tahiri. #But my Vongsense AND the Force are screaming,# Tahiri thought, disembarking and letting the ground crew handle her X-Wing. She executed a quick bow to Kyp Durron as the black-grey-haired Jedi Master ran to her side. "We've been feeling disturbances in the Force! Mara's faded in and out, then Luke - Master Skywalker - vanished, and there's word from Ossus that GAG forces are settled there!" Kyp said. "It's worse than you know - OSSUS? Kriff, Jacen's snapped even more than we thought!" Tahiri cursed - And then YAMMOSK TENTACLES, STORIES high, rose around the Temple, as Tahiri and Kyp leapt. The World Brain roared, demanding fealty from Riina, but Tahiri refused to obey ... She would FIGHT, since there was now no Temple to land upon. The Temple was a sinkhole. The Force screamed. And still, Tahiri would fight. Anakin had. #You do the same, lover.# First, though ... a ledge or airspeeder would help. ----------------------------------------------------- Catacombs, Bast Castle, Vjun: ----------------------------------------------------- He hung, Forceblind and drowning in white haze, in the Embrace of Pain. Neither were as horrific to Luke Skywalker as his memories: Mara, screaming and in flames. A mental image of Ben, Vongshaped. Luke heard, barely seeing, a flesh-colored mountain of oddly familiar being enter the cell, and the thorn vines slackened enough to let the Jedi Master focus. He rasped, horrified again as the Force returned, just a trickle to let him discern truth, "... Jacen?" A clawed hand left bloody gouges along Luke's cheek, and he looked up into SITH eyes ... of a Slayer. With Jacen's face. "Darth Caedus, Uncle. I have taken Hapes, Shaped its humans into an army of BILLIONS. I have unleashed the World Brain on Coruscant, destroying the Temple. I have made Tenel Ka my queen. And soon, Corellia will be overrun by my forces. Not only will I bring order ... I will bring EMPIRE!" Jacen snarled. "No ..." Luke moaned - this HAD to be a nightmare. Jacen ... Caedus ... grinned sadistically, leaning down to add, "And the best part? I took EVERYTHING from you ... "BECAUSE I *SHAPED* YOUR SON, BODY *AND* MIND." "No!" Luke pleaded - and then, he saw the ... boy ... enter the cell. Bald. Clawed. Taloned. Altered, like ... Caedus. The boy's lack of recognition when he looked at Luke was the worst. "NO!" Luke SCREAMED. Caedus put a twistedly paternal hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "Paxis. My son, you don't have to witness this." The boy smiled eagerly and said, "Please, Father, let me help you." Paxis ... lit the lightsaber he was holding - Mara's - and lifted it, as Caedus smiled in surprised delight, and the boy said: "This kill is MINE." And the blade fell. ----------------------------------------------------- tbc ... !?