The Secrets upon the Echo.

[Jarak Kai]

- Teraab Sector, Ruusan System. -

The frosty still cold black within the Ruusan system lay undisturbed until the unmarked YT-2000 erupted into reality. Ice formed around the hull of the Corellian freighter as an old, yet, functional droid sat in the cylindrical cockpit. Though this ship did not belong to a droid, but to the Jedi currently inhabiting the hollowed out cargo bay, positioned first on the left after exiting the living quarters. There the human Jedi listened to the hum of the engine. The sudden stutter and change in tempo alerted him to the deceleration from lightspeed to sub-light engines. He opened his eyes and felt that odd sensation force users get to experience when they stand up, seated from atop of apparently nothing, he gracefully descended and felt his right heel press onto the firm durasteel floor.

Passing the living area, he glanced at the scattered Pazaak cards, distributed over the table and floor. It had been a mistake to try and teach P5 to play cards. They were after all, a re-purposed flight droid and scope for development of other skills was non-existent. Still, it had been worth an effort. Nothing was certain and had it worked out, Jarak Kai, would have a cards partner as well as a pilot on these long journeys.

Jarak entered the cockpit, hood raised over his head from his warm coloured cloak.
"Approaching Ruusan. Galactic Republic becon attempting to make contact. Contact made. System is prohibited to all but the Jedi Order." P5 stuttered and struggled to get out the full sentence from his salvaged vocal unit.
"That gives us a pass, though I doubt the Galactic Republic would have anything to say about my trespassing."
"Proceed with scheduled flight-plan?" P5 stuttered again.
"Proceed." Jarak confirmed.

The Jedi watched as the planet grew large until eventually it's green and cloud-filled sky eclipsed the surrounding star-scape, and the vessel began to fluctuate in the entry-turbulence. The YT-2400 was far more aerodynamic than other Corellian freighters, but it wasn't a snub-fighter, and the ship rocked and groaned until entering the soft airs of the planet. Jarak felt a pull in his stomach, as if he were beginning an illness.

"Circle about, and bring us down here." He called back through the hallway. P5 likely answered, but Jarak didn't hear him over the rattling.

A few short minutes later and the freighter had made a successful landing, and Jarak Kai had strode out onto the surface of the scarred world. The feeling of sickness didn't leave him and bizarrely felt stronger when he approached north-east. He left the shadow of his vessel and followed the 'gut-feeling', but he knew it to be something else. The cold shiver gave him that confirmation at least.

"The darkside of the force lingers here." He said aloud, but stopped. A glint of metal caught his eye, causing him to bend over and run his fingers through the dirt to free it. A metal clip, probably from a belt or perhaps armour. Grey and worn, he brushed his thumb over it to remove the excess. Two black horn-like shapes, symmetrically paired to two slits, perhaps eyes. It looked like a twisted inversion of the symbol the Mandalorian warriors used, but Jarak was experienced in the workings of the darkside, even it's twisted sense of art.

"Brotherhood of Darkness." He said quietly, adding vocal confirmation for what he suspected. The last thrashings of the followers of the darkside in doomed attempt to topple the Jedi and place the strong permanently over the weak. They failed, catastrophically so. Those who didn't fall in battle and lived to see the end endured a fate much worse. The Jedi however, were marked for death by their failure to seek out the Sith, the darkside, and all it's followers. The Jedi Order's subservience to the Republic would lead to an age of peace, but nothing more than a trap, eventually sprung by Darth Sidious.

Jarak wondered if the Jedi had followed his path, the path of a wandering Knight, if perhaps the Jedi could have discovered the schemes of the Sith and prevented the catastrophe which led to the rise of the Emperor. But he did not dwell on it. The past could not be changed, but something in the present drew him here. The Sith, still existed in some form or another, and Jarak seemed drawn to face them at every turn.

The sounds of blasters echoed in the air, causing Jarak to spin on his heel. The force didn't warn him of any danger, but he drew his saber to his hand, not ignited yet. The sound of a lightsaber hummed past his body and yet nothing was there. The sound of the lightsaber disappeared on the wind and it was then Jarak spotted it. A bouncer. Swaying in the sky, the bouncer did not keep it's traditional gliding flow, but instead jabbed and jolted up and down, erratically turning. They were tortured creatures - tormented by the rituals of the Sith and the damage they inflicted upon this world. Jarak would see it healed - but it was then that the bouncer noticed him and let out a horrible shriek. It dived towards the Jedi, as he felt horrible images pushed into his mind. War, death, suffering and a Dark Lord of the Sith standing above the ashes of the battlefield. It was all he could do to throw the lightsaber, igniting it and sending it on a spinning cut towards the screaming beast.

A familiar sound of silence, and the smell of burnt flesh, then the saber flew back into the outstretched hand of the Jedi. He deactivated the blade and couldn't help but mourn the creature, for it had seen terrible things a long, long time ago.

[Kita_Ikari]

Ever since the forces disturbance from her Master Lord Tormentous, Silvanius had begun picking up the pace of attempting to figure out the rest of her plans for Jacobi. The young sith knew once her master appeared once more, she would not have much of a opportunity to sneak away without being monitored. Making sure her lightspear was attached to her belt, Silvanius turned and opened her weapons compartment, grabbing a few smoke bombs in case needed. As usual, she had the special dagger gifted to her from the war-bringer, hidden upon her person.

Silvanius did not want to explore the planet of Ruusan without some sort of transportation. And her furry beast companion was the best option as she prepared herself to leave her ship Silverpelt. The YT-2000 gifted to her from her master had not been used until recently, for the young sith had been mostly held up in the citadel on Moraband, recovering from her battle with Silas Karn and training privately. Silvanius had not quite grown accustomed to loosing the sight in her left eye, and so had been training with sithbots endlessly to make sure it didn't hinder her fighting skills. The scar was unable to heal, leaving a ironic reminder of who's apprentice she was. Silvanius was hoping she wouldn't run into trouble this time as she explored the green planet. Her last couple of singular excursions did not end well for her.

"Warv," she turned as the giant nexu sat nearby awaiting for his master. "You ready to accompany me?"
The nexu waved his rat like tail excitedly, and gave a deep purring growl in response. Rubbing his large head against her bare leg, Kita smiled and scratched the top of his head lovingly. "I take that as a yes."
Bending down, she sighed and lifted up a leather saddle, throwing it atop the nexu's back before securing it under his belly. Giving his soft stomach a few rubs, Silvanius walked over to a nearby control panel and punched in a code to open the hatch. As the door slowly opened, revealing the dusty wasteland, Kita jumped into her nexu's saddle and kicked her silver heels gesturing for him to move forward.

She leaned forward, keeping herself balanced as Warv raced away from sight of the ship. Pulling on the reigns, Silvanius stopped, opening herself to the force. As expected from her research, this planet held a significant event in history between the sith and jedi of the past. She could sense the darksides cold pull, lingering like fog on a cool morning, clashing with the lightsides remaining warmth shining through. "More disturbing times of history ruining of a beautiful planet." She muttered to herself.

Since she won her masters holocron from Silas Karn, Silvanius had been going through the information she could make out. This particular planet had caught her interest in the previous weeks, seemingly calling her towards it. Unsure how or why, Silvanius did not care to ignore it. There was something awaiting for her here. But what or whom? The young blonde Sith was a apprehensive to find out...although it was not going to stop her. Moving her nexu onward, she quietly observed the barren land. To her it felt no different then the world of moraband. Despite Kita never said a word, she missed her tropical planet. The warm sun, cool breeze, and sand getting caught between her toes as she helped her Dad bring fish back from the docks. "I wonder how he is doing since I've been away..." she wondered.

Kita was unaware of another person lurking on the planets surface, that was until she began getting closer to his location. The lightside of the force was feeling ever stronger as she moved forward. Curious, Kita could see a figure of someone in the distance, a blue saber quickly retracting. Glancing down at her nexu, Silvanius began pulling on his reign to have him turn away, yet he refused. "Warv! Now is not the time to be stubborn with me. The last thing I need is to run into a jedi. I already have enough problems. Sa'ato will be pissed off with me if I get caught again. He is still mad at me after what happened at the empire!"

Shaking his head, her nexu grunted and sat. Kita slid comically off backwards and onto the dusty ground with a thud. She looked up, stunned that for once in her life since the war-bringer gave her the beast as a gift, it was not obeying her commands. As to why? She didn't know. "This is NOT happening! We are leaving. Now!!" Silvanius growled unhappily as she got up and pulled once more on the reins. After finally trying for a few more minutes, she reluctantly gave up, to her dismay.

"I feed and love you...and this is how you repay me?" She asked arms crossed her chest.
Warv purred happily and licked Kita on the cheek, leaving a slight red mark and drool slowly dripping down her face. "Oh no! You can perhaps win this time, but don't think I'm going to forgive you so easily." She remarked cooly. Instead of being upset, the large cat-like rat beast pushed his head against her shoulder, bringing a smile to Kita's face. Her good eye glanced up at him. "Big suck up."

[Jarak Kai]

Jarak brushed his elbow against his cloak, moving it back to reveal the clip on his belt where his lightsaber swiftly came to rest. He exhaled deeply. The harrowing thoughts and images of a war fought millennia ago, were forcefully pushed into his mind without care or thought to the damage it could do, or the emotion it could elicit in response. He wondered if he could've controlled it. The anger, the pain. Coupled with the imagery were the emotions, as the Bouncers were flying empathic creatures, they stored these and passed them onto others. It was told in the Jedi archives that Bouncers were often seen circling majestically over the wounded, over tents of the dying and soothing their pain, their despair. Flooding their hearts with joy and bliss and calming their minds with soothing words.

There were a lot like the Jedi Knights. They tried to live in harmony with this world, as much as the Jedi try to with the Force, but as Jedi can be corrupted, so can the Bouncers, and, like the Jedi, they become a terrifying mockery of what they stood for. In the end, Jarak felt gratitude, grateful that he could put the Bouncer to rest swiftly. He couldn't tell if the memories were their own, or if they had been passed on like a plague from other tormented creatures, but those images died with them.

"There is no death, there is only the force." Jarak said, calmly as he placed his closed fist, thumping with blood flow, into the open palm on his off-hand. He allowed his cooler hand to wrap around the fist and exhaled slowly.

As the stress of killing a creature began to subside, the force around him began to calm from chopping waves to a sea in the breeze, to finally come to a flowing river. Then the air hit him, or so he thought, but it was the ice clear clarity of the force reaching over and inside his mind. He sensed something, or rather the force was telling him to. His cloud-blue eyes shifted to his left, and even without the force, the Jedi Knight could see a pair of beings. He recognized one as a Nexu, an often dangerous creature from both arid wastelands and thick jungles, and, apparently a rider. The natives on Ruusan did not ride creatures, not like this one. Speeder bikes were the common choice in the mid-rim and Ruusanian outlanders were no different, some even still used bikes from the New Sith Wars.

The Jedi had began to move to them, quickly and nimbly navigating his way across what would be for a normal person, difficult terrain, but not all of his steps were connecting, as he glided over the sharper rocks, with quickened pace. After all, there was a cause for concern. Nexu were dangerous creatures, and Jarak had encountered four in his time, all of which ended badly when they saw the chance for an opportunistic snack, not anticipating the precognition of the Jedi. They weren't the only creature to make that mistake, but here was someone actually riding one. He was certain they could feel the force - that much was clear, as aside from the Mandalorians, no one but force users were known for such command over beasts, but there was more to be concerned about. Ruusan was a graveyard of battles long past, but it was also a shrine to the Jedi and their victory over the Sith. It was not uncommon for force users of different sects to come and pay respects to the one-hundred Jedi who sacrificed themselves to prematurely detonate the Sith superweapon. The Sith were the enemy of all force sects, not just the Jedi, for they cared only about themselves and the subjugation of the weak to service them. There were a lot of differences between these religions but only one, the Sith, stood for dominance over the others. There was a 'chance' she was a Sith and here to decimate the sacred valley, or try to manipulate the power there. They wouldn't be the first to try.

Now halfway there, sensing an opportunity to take the initiative, the Jedi Knight called to the force as he broke into a run. The surging tides of the force ripped and roared around him and for a moment, the physical world responded as debris and dust became weightless around his boots with pebbles and clumps of dirt defying gravity, just as the Jedi as what sounded like thunder from over the hills, rumbled through the air as the Jedi was catapulted at speed. Before he landed, mere meters away from the pair, he reached out with the force and pushed. To the untrained eye, nothing happened, but to a force wielder, they could see the ground crack at the last moment before the Jedi hit the ground, slowing himself without the need of a roll, but making him appear much heavier than he actually was. His tattered brown hood had blown off in the flight, but the sudden stop had brought it back over and obscuring his eyes under a self-made shadow.

He reached out with an open palm, firmly in the direction of the creature, nothing happened, but the Jedi Knight was projecting an air of calm, like the Bouncers creatures would do. It often opened the path to conversation in a galaxy so quick to draw and fire first.

"Not many come to this place that aren't Jedi." He paused looking her up and down, noticing a light-weapon of sorts, a staff or pike, he wasn't sure. "But those who do always come with intent." The Jedi looked to their eyes, though he was less concerned about the Nexu and more about the identity of the unknown woman.

"Are you here to do harm?" The Jedi gestured to the Nexu. "Not many a kind soul would choose to pair with such a beast." Ever the diplomat, as the Jedi who came before him, but the keen senses would notice the cloak had been brushed past the clip, showing a chromium plated lightsaber with a distinctive diamond-shaped pommel pointing upwards, hanging from his belt in clear view, and in clear reach of his other hand.

[Kita_Ikari]

Kita realized shortly after her her nexu decided to be a brat, that the jedi began to notice their presence soon after. Knowing there was no place to go at the moment, instead she leaned against Warv and sighed. "Thank you...very very much Warv for such a wonderful outing." She said sarcastically. As the jedi's form grew bigger, Kita was less concerned with him and began scratching the nexu behind the head. Once the jedi caught up, the ground visibly cracking as he landed, the young sith raised a brow as Jarak began trying to calm her nexu. She laughed a little at his attempt. "He won't attack you. Not unless I tell him too."

She listened carefully as the jedi observed her attire and weapon. Obviously as expected the Jedi was being cautious.
Kita quietly nodded in agreement, not many would ride a nexu, much less show up on this planet without intent. And she definitely was not a jedi. The silver attired sith shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest as she met Jarak's blue gaze. Her faded blue uninjured eye observed the proximity of his lightsaber to his hand. "First of all, yes. I'm not a jedi. And I did come here with some intent. But you will be happy to know I don't know what the reason is exactly at this very moment. And i don't think it's anything bad either."

Sighing, Kita got up off her nexu and began slowly walking over to Jarak. "As you should know, no. I don't mean harm to you, much less anyone else on this planet. I actually wouldn't be here if I didn't feel the force calling me to Ruusan." Knowing the jedi was probably curious on who she was, Kita had no objection to keeping anything about herself from him. "I am in the sith, but I'm not interested in what my master is. Power is the least of my ambitions unless I need it for survival purposes. Living in the sith and being on guard 24/7 is exhausting as it is. I don't need to keep up the pretenses when I'm away. Consider me a neutral opponent at this point. I know the jedi don't attack without reason. The same applies to me. However, if im accompanied by the sith at all, don't expect me to play nice. I have my own personal mission to carry out and i don't need it ruined by getting myself killed. I have to keep up appearances."

A slight breeze blew the young sith's long blonde hair, some getting in her face as she slowly pushed it back behind her ear. Holding out her right hand, she smiled lightly at the jedi. "I'm Kita Ikari of Tibrin. Known as Silvanius in the sith. And you are?"
Jarak would quickly find she held no deadly intent or harm by any means.

[Jarak Kai]

The frown of the Jedi was hidden by the cloak that masked his stature, but she wasn't about to lash out at him or strike. Her animal would've given it away first, but the Nexu appeared calm. The Jedi stepped back on her approach, step for step with her own, keeping a measured distance. Precisely shy of the length of the lightsaber.

"Silvanius." He paused, seeming to take time to absorb her apparently amicable greeting. "Well, Silvanius, if we are being completely honest..." Jarak said as his lightsaber had made it's way to his hand. "I am a Jedi Knight, and it is my task to seek and destroy followers of the Sith." He gestured to the beast with a slight nod. "The beast is innocent. I don't kill the innocent, and it couldn't harm me if it wanted to."

What was this Sith doing here? Jarak had moved away from her open hand, giving it but a glance as she offered it, half expecting a concealed weapon to emerge and for a whirling dervish of light to take over. It wouldn't be the first time. He knew the deceitful ways of the Sith - yet - he felt no dishonesty. Even if she was living in folly, she believed what she was saying.

"It's a dangerous game you're playing then. Your master, would surely inflict unimaginable suffering on you if they knew you were this close to me and not trying to kill me, but then I'm guessing you really don't know my name, or you wouldn't have outstretched your arm like that, vulnerable to a blade." He twirled the saber in his palm, the counter balance allowing it to sit flush on his open hand, until he grasped it tightly.

"Being Sith is more than enough reason to cause harm. This world is proof of that alone." He looked past her, towards his destination. "Tell me - why do you think the archives within the Sith sanctum, fail to mention all of what transpired here? Were you aware this place is known as the 'Decimation of the Sith'? Many of your own died here, at the hands of Jedi Knights, and your own hands, as is tradition... as I know it well myself."

"I was lost, in the arms of the Sith, like you are, except I made no assertion of control. They control you, no other arrangement is acceptable to the darkside." He lowered his hood. His skin was warm, eyes rich in their blue, but among the blue were scars which appeared orange. His eyes clearly glowed with the power of the darkside at some point, but the enigma in the recovery of the light within a fallen feature is unusual, like seeing a gem for the first time. "I think you're in more danger next to me than you realize, and not necessarily from me, but from your own. If your 'friends' decided to show up, I'd advise you, in return for your honesty, to run. They know me already."

[Kita_Ikari]

Obviously Kita's attempt at showing she was no real threat was not getting through. She frowned as he stepped back, clearly keeping his distance from her, as if she held some terrible disease. In honest truth, the young sith understood his concerns. She probably wouldn't trust herself either. As she watched him placing his saber in hand, Kita sighed and walked away back towards her beast companion. "Fine. Don't trust me. As far as I'm concerned, I don't blame you. The darkside from what I've seen in my time on moraband, is in fact potent. I won't say it hasn't affected me at all in the time I've joined the sith. But I assure you I mean what I say. I don't actually intend to harm anyone."

Kita was a bit unnerved as Jarak mentioned what her master would do if he found out her kindness towards their enemy. She had spent endless nights of sleep thinking back on that matter. "I don't care what he does to me! He can kill me a thousand times over and I would endure it. And as for who you are..." she glanced at the jedi knight right before her with a curious gaze. "Your actions speak volumes than words ever will. I'm not afraid. You seem rather level headed." As he went on, she nodded in reply, his explanation of her being a sith enough as being for cause of him attacking her slowly sank in. It had unexpectedly hit a nerve.

"You think i asked for this life?!? No. I was content on Tibrin selling and cleaning fish with my dad! I didnt ask to be whisked away from my home!" Kita's tone of voice was stern and slightly heated out of defense. "And of course I know the battle between the sith and jedi here. I've done some research on the area." Kita knew and had obtained the full history on Lord Tormentous's holocron she had won in battle. "But in reality, it's of no concern to me. What's past is past." There was a brief pause as sadness passed her fading blue gaze. "Is it sad? Of course it is. Even i know that. But we can't change what has happened. However, what we can do is change the future's outcome."

The giant nexu got up and stood, purring deeply as he flipped on his back for attention. Kita smiled and gladly bent down to pet the giant beast. Glancing at Jarak, a idea came to mind that may prove she meant no ill will. "Look. I joined the sith out of my own free will shortly after my capture. Not for power, not to harm. But self sacrificing myself for others. The people on my planet would have immediately been destroyed if i did not go, and i discovered a certain person, trapped within the sith, if he is willing, may be able to help the Galatic Alliance. However...i need help. Because im not sure how to do it myself." Kita stood, her fading blue gaze glancing down at the ground in thought. Kita did not care what the jedi knight thought. What mattered was she was at least heard before the jedi knight decided to make any decisions.

"I originally was hoping to run into Ben Kenobi to relay my information...but unfortunately fate had never allowed me to cross paths with him again since my kidnapping on Tibrin and escape from Nal Hutta. Ben Kenobi i know has a deep history with the very person i think could possibly help bring down Lord Tormentous." She let that information slowly sink in with the jedi.
In all honesty, Kita did not care for the Dark Sith Lord. He could die and she wouldn't bat a eye.
Kita had just merely accepted his existence in exchange for the mandolorian she had discovered, locked in a prison of darkness within his own old vessel. Kita Ikari was hoping to change that. And in turn...also saving a part of herself in the process.

Kita listened, intent on the jedi's words. Of course she was no idiot. She knew the sith had control to a fault. But Kita was willing to fight it off to the best of her ability for now. The young sith glared at Jarak in annoyance, yet quickly faded as he explained his own dwellings within the sith. As he lowered his hood, she quickly noticed the small amounts of orange decorating his blue eyes. She had seen the darksides affects fade before on Jacobi, but she never noticed it linger after disappearing. Obviously he had been in very deep with the sith.

Shaking her head, Kita Ikari was not interested in running. "I'd been asked to run when I first joined the sith, by the very person I intend to help. But I refused to leave him behind. I knew if I left him, there was no possibility in helping him escape...and he could be of great use in the future for the Galatic Alliance. If i run now, i'll never find the answer to accomplishing my mission. Which...i can't get help in the sith. I don't trust anyone there with the task ive taken on. And unfortunately im not knowledgeable enough to figure out a solution on my own." She admitted.

[Jarak Kai]

The Jedi came to a stop on his slow glide. He looked at her and tilted his head, slightly predatory, but he saw something unusual.

'She genuinely thinks she is saving others.' He thought to himself, then felt something wash over.

It was pity.

Pity was a dangerous thing to come over a Jedi Knight, especially near a Sith. He wouldn't have been the first Jedi to die on this planet because he pitied a Sith. It was hard not to. Once you stripped away the base motivations which drove them along the quick path to power, you usually find a hurt, frightened or damaged individual who fell into that trap, the same trap which ensnared so many to the Brotherhood of Darkness over a thousand years ago.

In another similarity, Jarak himself had been 'rescued' by Sith alchemy. He saw himself as a leader for the Sith people, not the Dark Lords, but the civilization itself. He created starships, trained an army and set out to carve out a functional government in which they could make a lasting peace with the other galactic powers, but how deluded had he been? To think that the Darkside was something that could be constructed upon. It was a fragile base for any solid thought, building or dream. Every single time, they fall.

"If your friend is in the Sith, then they're already lost to you." He paused, looking over her body language. She seemed sure of herself, and honestly reminded Jarak of other Sith he had known in the past, but they were dead. Good intentions gets you inside the Sith, but hold onto them too long and a rival will bludgeon you to death with them. This happened to those who lingered in his mind, like ghosts.

"A pity the Jedi Knights, my kin from the 'Army of Light' succumbed to war fatigue. You see - I think the Jedi of millennia ago, wanted to believe that the war with the Sith was finally over so much, that it blinded them to the truth of things. The Sith had suffered their decimation but escaped their destruction. I feel obligated by those who came before, by those I can hear whispering to me now on this world, to destroy the Sith, and all who claim to be within the cover of it's power."

He waited to see her response. I sensed a level of fear, but not overly so, no more than the average force user when confronted with a known foe, but it could have also been the creature, he wasn't sure. Predatory beasts were often timid in the open, exposed with the Bouncers flying over their heads. Jarak turned to look at them, raising a hand wrapped in cloth, like a bandage.

"These are the what locals call the bouncers. They could be the reason we've not engaged in combat, potentially guarding over your life, young Sith." He looked down to her. "They show images you know. Things of what can happen, and things of what has happened. The trick is, to avoid the ones who saw your kind before. They stand out clearly. Tormented, infected in the eyes. It's from the crying, you see. The eyes well up and become swollen. They're driven mad by the grief from the destruction the Sith unleashed. If you stay here, looking for help from the Jedi... as I know Ben. He's a great Jedi and if he saw fit to spare you, then I will not undo his designs, but you will experience a harrowing here."

He gestured around them.

"This planet, chose it's side in the war. It remains loyal the Jedi who fought here and as such it is your enemy. The bouncers will seek to grant you visions of this destruction. Visions of the Jedi cutting down your friends, and you will feel what they feel. The burning sensation of a lightsaber." He stepped a little closer, placing his saber to his belt and extended a hand, like she did before. "I won't call you by that name you gave me. Only the name you were born with, or 'little one' it will be. I offer to be your guide here, but only if you promise you can endure it. If you lose yourself - I will kill you, and there's nothing waiting for the Sith in the abyss that waits for the dark ones." He smiled slightly, "Not like here. After all, not all of those Jedi Knights from the war are gone quite yet."