3:10's Aftermath

[Jacobi Wylcott]

---MALASTARE - N-16

The Dark Lord held her tightly by the neck, part of him wholly intent on choking the life right out of her. But as the ramp closed tight and left them alone in the dark his left hand moved in and swept under her legs and his right moved from choking her to supporting her back and cradling her to him. “I taught you better than that, Acolyte. You’ll be doing twice the training from now on. A Padawan cannot stand against the Sith, you shame us and for that,” he looked down her body to her hand, covered in blood and the grime of battle - he reached the medical bay and set her down on the table, taking up her hand in his own, and slowly - deliberately - he pulled out his knife from his belt and patted her wrist with the flat end of the blade.

“Failure demands consequence. If there was no consequence then there would be no incentive to succeed.” Flipping his knife around he stabbed down - the tip only touched her skin as the steel blade dug into her palm and with the flick of his wrist he plucked out a large metal splinter. Sheathing his knife he summoned the medical droids. “See that she is fully healed by the time we reach the Harbinger. Sore is fine, but healed.” He turned in a rush of his cape and stormed away - out of the room.

It would take three days for the Specter to reach the Harbinger back within the Gordian Reach and in that time Kita Ikari would spend her days in the bacta tank where she would find her body healing rapidly thanks to the healing miracle agent. It would take her a long time in the tank to fully heal and even free her of the scarring she was given but if she wanted more extensive treatment that was demanded then she’d have to do so aboard the Sith Flagship where such medical facilities were located.

They were mere hours now from exiting hyperspace to rendevous with the massive flagship of the Sith Armada, Tormentous sat within his meditation sphere and focusing his mind on the tasks to come. This failure was not a setback but rather an opportunity - he needed only see the truth in it all.

[Kita_Ikari]

Kita thought for sure her Master would have dropped her and left her to die in that sandy wasteland. So it came to a surprise when he had carried her back into the ship at all. A part of her wanted to cry in frusteration that she couldn't even really beat the padawan. She had tried too. But both of them had seemed equally matched in the midst of battle and both had fallen to their injuries.

Her blue gaze looked at her master in pain and exhaustion. His own had a look of clear disappointment and anger. Kita was unable to fight back, laying limply in his grip before finding him cradling her shortly after. She doubted this act was from Tormentous, but more from Jacobi. And if it was from Tormentous himself...well Kita was mind boggled from such a act coming from him. He wasn't usually like this.

“I taught you better than that, Acolyte. You’ll be doing twice the training from now on. A Padawan cannot stand against the Sith, you shame us and for that,”

She winced at his comment. "I would have won...if I hadn't been stabbed in the beginning..." There was a brief pause before she continued. "She was...surprisingly...equaled to my battle style."

Kita felt the pain from the wound on her shoulder...but what hurt most was the one on her torso. The spear the padawan had had managed to dig into her deeply. Having had lost alot of blood already, Kita found herself more exhausted then usual. Her head partially dizzy as she tried to stay conscious, groaning in pain as he set her on the table. Her eyes shifted in worry too see him slowly pull out a knife, tapping the cool metal against her wrist.

“Failure demands consequence. If there was no consequence then there would be no incentive to succeed.”

Having of thought perhaps he would inflict pain to her already aching body from her failure, she closed her eyes expecting the worst, only to find instead he was quickly digging out a piece of metal out of her hand that she hadn't even noticed was there. "Ow!!" She heard the Clink of the metal hit the floor before Lord Tormentous called the medical droids to care for her injuries. She watched in wonder as he left without another word and being prepped and put into a bacta tank for the remainder of the trip.

~3 days Later~

Still tired from the fight 3 days earlier, she slowly walked through the halls of the ship to find Lord Tormentous. Her Scars had healed, accept for Kita left some light scaring from the vibrolance hitting her right shoulder the padawan struck her with. She would have rid of it completely, but found keeping it would give her a reminder of this Jedi apprentice and to not go without her armor next time when they met again. For Kita had a feeling they would meet again.

Once she found him, she quietly entered the room and stood aside waiting for him to finish his meditation. She just failed a mission. She didn't want to upset him now by interrupting his concentration.

[Jacobi Wylcott]

“Your failure is yours to own, Acolyte.” His bass tones seeped from his mask’s gill like acid and directed to his lovely Apprentice. “But I will not have you cast aside. Failure is an important lot in our lives and while its occurrence is unfortunate, you will grow form this experience. In this I vow to you - you shall not see another Jedi without being prepared fully.” He rose to his feet and approached her, towering over her almost menacingly. But instead of a punishing backhand or stinging Force power to assault her, he handed her a datapad. “On this is a list of the basic and necessary components for your lightsaber. It will be yours to construct and style as you see fit.”

“Seek these components once we arrive to my ship and begin construction at once.” He turned his back and moved away to where his sword sat. His huge hand gripped the haft and the leather creaked with its touch. He lifted the sword up and it sang to his influence, the Dark Side resonating in the room. He swung it around and pointed it at Kita.

“The Dark Side of the Force is drawn to things of power. Be it a strong presence such as myself or a relic such as the Jidai Maras. Even during these times you must learn to overcome and utilize the Force despite outside influences.” He lowered his sword. “Reach out now, Acolyte and focus on your energy field. See how the current of the Force is flowing strongly towards my sword. Your task here is to interrupt the flow and redirect it back to yo so that you may too feel the call of the Dark Side.”

---BEGIN ALTER FLOW - 100 WORDS

[Kita_Ikari]

It had mean't alot that her master had assured her she wasn't going to be cast aside because of her failure. But it still didn't make Kita feel much better that she was unable to retrieve the bomb.

"In this I vow to you - you shall not see another Jedi without being prepared fully."

The Sith apprentice remained still and unflinching as Tormentous approached her. She had honestly been expecting the worst, but instead was met with a datapad being given to her. She stared down at it questionably before staring at a list of mechanical pieces. Her blue gaze met his one yellow eye as she gave him a confused expression. "What's this for?" She asked.

“On this is a list of the basic and necessary components for your lightsaber. It will be yours to construct and style as you see fit.”

Kita's eyes widened in surprise. Was she even truly ready to carry such a weapon? Obviously her master thought so. Looking back down as she scanned through the items, she began getting ideas of a lightsaber for herself. "I want something practical for my fighting style. Something that can be used as a saber...and when the blade is deactivated. 2 weapons in one for any occasion…" A small smile creeped on her face as she imagined what her saber would look like.

“Seek these components once we arrive to my ship and begin construction at once.”

Kita nodded happily. "Yes Master."

She stepped back a bit as Lord Tormentous pointed his blade towards her. Normally these situations started with a battle of some sort. And she was unarmed in that moment. But once he lowered his weapon, Kita realized it was just another force training session. She much preferred that at the time over a battle since she was still sore and recovering her energy from the fight with the padawan Ali.

~BEGIN ALTER FLOW ~ 100 Words~

Kita had already started stretching out her Force energy field, feeling the cold energy of the darkside magnetically being pulled towards her master...and its sword. The pull was incredibly strong, which worried the young Sith apprentice. She had gotten better at controlling the Forces flow. But it wasn't always still bending to her will. The question was if she could do it. Kita had alot of self doubt in succeeding. But she wasn't one to give up.

Taking a breath to rid a bit of her tension so she could better focus, she let her thoughts solely remain on the swirling dark colored energy. She narrowed her blue gaze on the Jidai Maras, keeping the dark blade as her anchor while attempting to try pulling the energy towards her. But as she tried using her own Force energy to pull the dark energy in the room towards her, it fought back. Like rapids she could feel the darkside's Force energy still moving forward, filling the blade with more power.

Scowling, Kita was growing irritated. She needed to figure out a way to beat this obstacle. The blades signature was so strong that Kita wasn't sure how she would be able to stop it. Thinking on it for a brief amount of time, she had an idea but was unsure it would work.

Moving her own energy, she began surrounding the blade her master held with her own Force energy. This created sort of a tight wall around it to slow the flow and strength of the blade's influence and allow the Sith apprentice to grab hold and begin to control the darkside of the Force better, pulling it back in her direction.

There still remained some resistance, but it was alot easier bending the force to her will this way. Since she had now opened her heart to the darkside not long ago, the feeling of the cool energy was still practically overwhelming for her. She wanted to take it all in, but her heart was still sensitive to the darkside of the force. She felt it surrounding her heart in a cold barrier, slowly seeping into her...slowly corrupting her and stealing her innocent nature...

~END ALTER FLOW ~ 369 Words~