FORSAKEN II - Eternal Dawn

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

"And there I was, left to come up with a way to provide for myself and my crew, after Count Dooku stole my starship, and the Jedi and their clone soldiers invaded my planet." Hondo gesticulated on his feet as he regaled Gorin and Elynn with his story, while they worked out the kinks on the AG-2G gunner station in the right deck. There was a lag between the controls and the cannon; Elynn was looking into it with her datapad. "So, I found a small Casiss farming village in Felucia that grew nysillin. But the greedy farmers hired a group of bounty hunters to force me and my men away. I tried to come up with a peaceful solution and offered to pay the bounty hunters off, but the bloodthirsty farmers refused. On top of that, the Jedi decided to antagonize us once again. This left us with no other option, but to fight for our survival, braving impossible odds—"

Hondo's breath began to show. He turned pale as icicles began to form on his skin and he abruptly collapsed, revealing Theleema standing behind him with her hand outstretched.

"Hondo?" Gorin looked up from the gunner's seat controls.

"Finally," Theleema said. "He just doesn't shut up, does he?"

"Leema? Why did you do to him?" Elynn ended the holoscreen in front of her eyes from her advanced agent interface.

"Cryokinesis. It draws heat from a target." A cold orb formed over Theleema's palm. "It's a nice complement to flamusfracta." A flame emerged on her other hand. "Don't worry. He'll be alright. Nothing that a thermal blanket and a hot cup of caf won't fix."

"Where did you learn that?" Gorin said.

"You'll see. Follow me."

Elynn and Gorin followed Theleema. They had spent the next day in Rodia, while Clezo rushed to get them the military gear for half of their coaxium shipment. In that time, Gorin finished modding and repairing the Outcast with the help of some astromechs, Elynn, Addia, and Ilum. Once spaceborne on their way to Nar Shaddaa, he focused on installing the new gunner station.

On their way to the right deck, something caught Gorin's attention, making him reach for his collapsed lightsaber lance on his back. "What was that?"

"What?" Elynn said.

"I thought I saw something sneaking around." He stared at the spot, expecting to see something.

"It was probably Chak-Chak."

"On the ceiling?"

"What the Void?" Elynn grabbed the handles of her guard shotos.

"Force insanity," an amused Theleema said. "It's a new ability Lum is practicing, meant to distract and paralyze your victims—and in the case of weak psyches—it can cause permanent psychosis."

"That's scary." Gorin let go of his staff.

"Where did he learn that?" Elynn said.

"See for yourself." Theleema ushered them into the cargo deck.

Virra ran the length of the wall above the freight crates, practicing a dark side ability called inertia. Next to her, Addia sat cross-legged in front of Jarriss, using the Force to render his mind in excruciating pain. Jarriss counteracted her mind shard attack by using crucitorn, a power that allowed the user to cancel pain. One of Syrran's shotos flew through a hologram of a dark hooded man with a metal mask, and returned to his hand. The image hovered above the opened Sith Holocron on the dojo's tatami.

"Welcome to the dark side academy," Syrran said.

"What is going on?" Elynn said.

"We're all learning a dark side ability from the Sith Holocron," Theleema said.