Loharr Talem
Legendary Member
IC: Knight Loharr Talem, Kallosian Shadow Guard
Year: 156 ABY
~~~~~
~~Location: The Spire, Stygeon Prime~~
It was quiet. Pacing the empty, abandoned halls of the Spire, with naught but the sound of clacking boots and their echoes reverberating off of near and distant walls. The Spire was quiet. It always was, at least in recent memory and history.
The Spire used to be a grand prison, capable of containing powerful Force Sensitive prisoners. A century and a half ago, it was thought to have lured Jedi who had survived their infamous “Order 66” and subsequent Purge. Even in the records still housed in these walls, damaged as they were from age and weather (some doors were damaged or left open for untold decades… people can be so inconsiderate…), were inconclusive as to how many Jedi or other Force Sensitives were held captive here or died within its walls.
Looking around the walls, absent any form of decorations, only light fixtures remained. With most every room cleared of furniture or valuables, it was clear that the Spire (at some point) had been looted. Truthfully, that didn’t really bother him too much. All that meant was he would need to spend time in the future decorating… or he could just have T-502 go order some new decorations while he was gone.
On second thought, T-502 was a piloting droid… decorating was never a strong suit for droids like him.
But no matter, it wasn’t of any real importance, whether or not the Spire was decorated. Other things were… prevalent on his mind right now.
Recently, he had been given clearance for several months, at most 3, to hunt down and kill the Jedi Seeker who had killed his parents. This made him a very happy man, as he had been gaining strength to enact his revenge for 13 years. It was 19 years, almost 20 now, since his parents had been killed.
He had waited long enough, and the Seeker who killed his parents had outstayed her lease on life. But first, he needed to find a way into the New Jedi Order.
Making his way to a moderately sized room, with a moderately sized holotable built into the floors (try taking this, you damned looters), he brought up a map of the galactic disc, and used the settings to showcase the active borders of the factions currently holding large swathes of space within the Galaxy. He filtered out all of the factions, save for the New Jedi Order.
After all these years, he at least knew what faction the woman belonged to.
He began to scan the map now, searching for a world that would function as an ideal injection point into the New Jedi Order. Tython, while the ultimate destination, was not ideal for injection. It was far too close to their Temples for him to arrive in secret.
Monastery was a nice option at first glance. Far from Tython, relatively small population, and quiet. But… the travel time might end up costing him the time he needed to complete this task. The uncertainty of the planet's fauna and topography were also a turnoff. No point in starting a mission, if you were only going to get killed before you ever got close to your target.
Then, a planet came across the registry that almost made him smile. Palanhi.
A simple world, in terms of survivability. From what the records were saying of this world, it was mostly small oceans and volcanic islands. It was very close to Tython, and was sure to have any number of Jedi for him to find a way to Tython with minimal suspicion. It also had a centralized bank, which means, depending on where he arrived on the planet, he would practically be invisible, in the sense of a crowd.
With an injection plan in mind, he made his way to his armory.
He perused his weapons, a singular thought in his mind. Any Jedi would be suspicious of another Jedi carrying as many weapons as he did, especially the Lightpike. Not to mention the knives he had tucked into the sides of his robes.
With a steady hand and steadfast resolve, he removed the lightsaber hilts from his belt, setting them down on a pedestal, next to the Lightpike, which was on display, perfectly upright. At a different pedestal, he took the knives off his sides, setting them down with brief, metallic clinks.
Now devoid of tools, save the Force, he turned on his heel to face the middle of the armory. Taking several steps forward to another pedestal. It was seemingly empty, but had a small console on it. He pressed a button, and the pedestal hissed, revealing a false surface, which opened up. From the space under the false surface, rose a simple lightsaber.
It was a weapon he had not used in a long time, but had served him well over his career. He reached forward, closing his fingers around the metal cylinder, pulling it from the stand. Admittedly, it was a lot more comfortable to grasp than his normal lightsabers. He thumbed the activator switch, applying pressure.
The lightsaber woke up with a hiss, illuminating his face and the surrounding area with a brilliant, emerald, green glow.
“T! Prepare my ship.” He exclaimed, deactivating the lightsaber and clasping it to his belt. “Set a course for Dantooine, destination is the Brotherhood Sanctuary.”
Making his way out of the room, he started towards the landing pads, where his ship was, along with T-502, his pilot droid. The walk was uneventful, as there was really nothing much in the Spire, and the take off was even more uneventful.
He sat in the lounge compartment, where his companion droid, R6-L2, sat. The droid was calm most times, including now, but was known to become erratic every now and again. The Sith was in a meditative state. He had to be, as this task required him to infiltrate the New Jedi Order, and to do that… he needed to become someone else.
But what personality could he craft to successfully dupe a Jedi?
Well, that is why he was meditating. He needed to give it plenty of thought. He had to figure an identity for himself and after some time, he figured it out. Jedi Knight Kalus Nadd. The first name taken from his deceased father and the last name to give the impression of Onderonian descent.
Though the thought was not lost on him that his new alter ego shared the same surname as the Sith Lord of old, Freedon Nadd.
~~Location: Brotherhood Sanctuary, Khoonda Plains, Dantooine~~
He opened his eyes, now in the process of changing his personality, assuming a new character. He stood up, realizing his ship had landed. With a small vocalization of surprise, he opened the cargo ramp and made his way down, only to be greeted by a couple old acquaintances. He couldn’t say he was surprised to see them. This was the first time in a couple years since he had been back.
“Marelen… Reidric…” He said, his boot hitting the dusty ground. “It’s been a while.”
“Indeed, it has.” Responded Reidric, approaching the Sith. The anger and discontent was positively overflowing in him. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here after being away so long and-... an-...”
Reidric began to choke as the Sith merely looked at him.
“What’s wrong? Kath Hound got your tongue?” He asked, feeling his grip on Reidric’s throat tighten, before turning his attention to Marelen. “I take it you and Viriz didn’t tell him why I was gone?”
“Why would we?” She asked in response, “It’s fun seeing him act like an idiot.”
The Sith merely nodded in agreement, a slight smile on his face, as he let Reidric go, and he collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. Apparently, he didn’t like being Force Choked, so he drew a weapon and attempted to intimidate his apparent lesser within the Brotherhood.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve doing that to me, you piece of Bantha Poodoo.” Reidric said, holding a dagger to the Sith’s throat. “I’m a Founder of our Brotherhood, and you’re just a member… a nobody!”
The Sith merely looked from Reidric, to Marelen, then back to Reidric, clearly unfazed by the threat looming at his throat. In response to the dagger, Reidric failed to notice that the Sith had unclasped his weapon from his belt.
“We are an isocratic organization, Reidric…” The Sith said, igniting the emerald green blade of his weapon, the tip stopping just short of the Brotherhood Founder’s chin. This stunned Reidric quickly, and he lowered the dagger a little. “We are all equal in our words… but if you think for even a second that you are above me… in any capacity… you may find yourself somewhere in the Khoonda Plains… dead…”
There was a silence shared between the three assassins. None of them saying anything, nor moving. The only audible sound was the thrumming of the lightsaber.
“Ah… if it isn’t Young Loharr…” Said a raspy, aged voice. Everyone, save for the Sith turned to face its origins. It was Viriz.
“Viriz… Good to see you.” He said, still holding the weapon to Reidric’s throat.
“Perhaps you could let our partner walk away from this encounter? Hmm?” The aged Cosian inquired.
“I might be inclined to, yes.” The Sith Assassin answered, deactivating the saber.
Reidric let out a sigh of relief.
“Excellent!” The Cosian exclaimed, “Now, onto business! Inside, now…”
Marelen nodded, as she began to lead the way for the other assassins. Loharr followed close behind her, with Reidric keeping a steady distance from him. Viriz was bringing up the rear.
The group made their way through the mansion. It wasn’t nearly as moldy, dusty, or run down anymore. He could probably attribute that to Else. For such a rich girl, she was certainly not one to shy away from cleaning.
After several minutes, they all reached the central room, which used to look like some overgrown greenhouse, now it just looked like a greenhouse. As an extra surprise, Else and Tic were there, and they seemed to be playing a game where they were slapping each other's hands… The end objective was unknown to Loharr.
“Oh, Loharr! You’re he-...” Else started, then stopped, as the unmistakable sound of a slap echoed through the room, quickly followed by Tic laughing. “Hey! No fair, that was a cheap shot…”
“You’re the one that took your attention away from the game.” Tic said, popping a piece of fruit into his mouth. “Your loss.” He added, now a bit muffled.
“You little…!” Else exclaimed, pulling out a knife. “Come here!”
“Gotta run! See you guys later? Yeah, later!” Tic said, as he ran off, an angry Else running after him.
“What was that all about?” Loharr asked, turning to Viriz.
“She has been spending the last few months with Teersa.” Marelen answered, “I thought it was getting a little boring around here.”
“A ‘little’... is an understatement.” Reidric said, “Ever since Shalla and Sola became a thing, it just got boring. Also, it was all Teersa’s idea… she hates Tic.”
“Yeah… Tic has been going through an annoying phase this past… lets say decade.” Viriz added.
“He’s only been here a decade…” Loharr interjected.
“Exactly…” Viriz said, “Now, onto business.”
“Good idea.” Marelen said, as they all, save for Loharr, took a seat.
“So… your droid contacted us about your target some months ago, at your behest I assume. We did some digging, found where she is, and forwarded that information onto your droid.” Viriz explained, “So you can imagine we were a little surprised to see that you came here first, instead of going forth on your job.”
“I need to borrow a ship.” He answered, “Mine is registered as a New Galactic Empire vessel, and will immediately get flagged for arrest the instant I try to land in any system.”
“I can see how that would be a problem…” Marelen said, “So what kind of ship are you needing?”
“Something small, simple. Doesn’t stand out too much, easy to work with.” He said, “Maybe something equipped with a couple of probe droids, to keep an additional eye out. Got anything like that?”
“We have an old Emissary-Class shuttle in storage… and it does have a probe droid onboard.” Reidric said, “But it’s mine.”
“Then it’s perfect for the job.” Marelen said, “Loharr can take it.”
“You love making me mad… don’t you?” Reidric asked.
“You know it.” She answered, turning her attention to Loharr. “It’s in Garang, in the Industrial District. You can go whenever you want.”
“Gladly.” Loharr said, making his way to leave the room, stopping just before he reached it. “And for the duration of my mission…. Loharr Talem no longer exists… it’s Kalus Nadd.”
They all made some sort of agreeing noise or motion.
“Good luck to you then… Mr. Nadd.” Viriz said, “And happy hunting.”
Making his way from the central room, he began to head back to his ship. The sounds of rapid, heavy footsteps echoing through the veranda, as Tic blew past him with Else chasing after him. Admittedly, this prompted a chuckle from the Sith Assassin.
He strode out into the courtyard, where his ship was, and boarded without another thought.
“T! Get us in the air, our new destination is the Industrial District in Garang. Land on a pad near the Emissary-Class shuttle.” Loharr said, as he rode the lift up to the cockpit.
“Understood, my Lord.” T-502 said, inputting the controls.
The ship shook a bit as it took off. The Sith watched for several minutes as the Khoonda Plains passed him by underneath, and watched as Garang came into view just a few moments later.
As they approached the Industrial District, T-502 began to scan around, searching for the shuttle he was instructed to land near. He found it and proceeded to land on a neighboring pad. As the ship thudded to a stop, Loharr made his way down to the lounge again, now exiting the ship. T-502 and R6 began to follow, before being told to stop.
The Sith explained to his droids that he did not need them where he was going, and that it was better that they stay with the ship as he went off on his job. Oh, and that if they deviated from his orders and left the ship or surrounding area, he would hunt them down and have them melted for scrap.
With the droids sufficiently threatened (though only T-502 needed to be threatened, R6 was always literal with the execution of an order or command. One always needed to be careful with their wording with that Astromech), the Sith stepped down from his starship, his boots hitting the landing pad with a hard thud,
He quickly transferred vessels, boarding the Emissary-Class Shuttle. Taking off, he quickly made his way towards the upper atmosphere, as the built-in pilot droid made the calculations to make its way to Palanhi. As he waited for the trip to complete its duration, he made his way to the main cabin, sitting down on the floor, entering a meditative pose. He would need to meditate on the Force and hope for some insight to the world he was about to visit.
To his great fortune… the Force saw fit to grant him a vision.
~~~~~
At first, there was a haze, heavily negating any ability to see anything. There was no sound either. Slowly, that began to change.
“What brings you to Tython…?” Asked a strange voice, echoing into oblivion. It was the voice of a male, though that was all that could be discerned.
“You look familiar… Do I know you?” Asked a female voice, now female.
“Drop your lightsaber…” The first voice said, now dosed with anger and hostility, followed by the ignition of a lightsaber. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”
“I should have killed you when I had the chance!” Screamed the female voice, heavy with rage.
“Y-you… you killed them?” Rang out the first voice, now more calm, seemingly on the verge of tears.
Then the vision became clearer, allowing for sight to be added to the mix.
There were three figures standing amidst the ruins of an ancient temple, though a temple of what? That much wasn’t clear. They were all wearing the standard garb of the Jedi, but they all seemed to be at odds with each other. They all had lightsabers drawn, two were green, and the third was yellow.
Quickly, the three began to fight, rapidly shifting their attention between themselves, based on who was striking at who.
“You damned liar!” Roared the first voice from earlier. “How could you?!”
“Because I had a job to do!” The second voice shouted back in response, “And because I could!”
“Stay out of this!” Shouted a voice. It was Loharr’s.
The form that his voice had come from reached out, Pushing the other figure wielding a green lightsaber off the edge of the ruins.
Then the vision altered itself again.
Now, the three of them were standing along a ruined balcony, overrun with vines and foliage, a waterfall falling in the middle. The first figure was leaning up against the wall, clutching his side. The second figure was sprawled out on the ground, still as death, but whether or not she was dead was unclear. Loharr was standing over her, green lightsaber in one hand, yellow in the other.
The vision made one final alteration. The ruins were gone, instead showing what appeared to be the inside of a cantina.
“Now…” Loharr said, looking to the first figure, “Have you thought about what I said?”
~~~~~
~~Location: Palanhi System, Fakir Sector, The Colonies~~
The vision ended, leaving Loharr confused. What the hell just happened? What did he just see? Who were those two he was fighting? It seemed that instead of granting him clarity, the Force thought it would’ve been better to introduce confusion.
He looked up, looking forward through the viewport of the cockpit some several meters ahead, to be greeted by the sight of Palanhi.
At least another leg of his journey was complete.
He stood up, making his way to sit next to the pilot droid. The descent to the planet was uneventful, but at least the droid put the shuttle down in the highest populated area on the planet. That just meant that finding a Jedi might be easier. Or would it be harder due to the increased population density?
Regardless, he made his way to the back of the shuttle, where he figured the probe droid was, and lo and behold, there it was. He couldn’t quite tell what model it was, but it was functioning, and that was the least he could ask for, considering Reidric typically treated droids like garbage.
Activating the droid, he led it outside and gave it the search parameters for locating a Jedi, then he let it free to begin its search.
Before he could be questioned by any security officers, he left. He needed to quickly find a Jedi in order for his story to check out. He didn’t exactly look the part, being dressed in mainly black and dark gray. He needed the correct clothes to sell his new persona correctly.
Besides, what was that old adage? ‘New day, new me?’
~~4 Weeks Later~~
Damn! This was harder than it looked. He was so close to the New Jedi Order homeworld of Tython, yet neither he nor his probe droid had been able to locate a Jedi of any caliber. It was midday, the sun was high in the sky, partially blocked by several plumes of volcanic smoke from distant volcanoes.
He had since been able to get a change of clothes, now looking like a civilian instead of a Sith… or at the very least a Dark Side practitioner.
As he strode down the busy street of the business district of the city, the looming shadow of the Central Bank nearly casting a shadow upon him, he turned down an alley to head to the cantina he had made a habit of frequenting (strictly for water and meals, mind you), but before he could enter the cantina, his comm trilled, signalling that he had received a signal.
He stopped and opened the channel, revealing a holo of a map from the probe droid that he had been using. It was broadcasting its location along with one simple message.
“Jedi Found.” It said.
Perfect.
He turned around and began to make his way over to where the probe droid was. As he did this, details began to roll in about the Jedi. Human, middle aged, average height. Blonde hair, pale skin, but the most important detail came last. A single lightsaber.
It took maybe 20 minutes for him to travel all the way over to where the probe droid was broadcasting, and the exact location of the Jedi was quite clear. There seemed to be a crime scene, with a Jedi overseeing the area. Whatever it was, it was related to the New Jedi Order somehow.
That was of no use to him.
Keeping a healthy distance from the scene, well ingrained into the crowd, he watched as they worked. When the Jedi moved his position, so did Loharr. It was too high profile around here to do anything. He needed to think of something to lure the Jedi away. Luckily for him, he currently had a droid he could use for just that purpose.
He contacted his probe droid and gave it instructions for it to give to the Jedi at the scene. What were the instructions? For him to meet someone to help clear up the details of the incident the Jedi was investigating.
A simple deception to be sure, but with the sketchiness of the delivery, it was sure to be enticing enough for the Jedi to follow.
With the message sent off, he turned and left the crowd, making an indirect path towards the location he sent the Jedi. It took several minutes, but by now, he was sure that the droid had delivered the message, and so he waited.
What was the location?
A simple warehouse near the crime scene. It wasn’t full, but it wasn’t empty either. There were plenty of dark places to hide and conceal his identity, but he stayed in the light. He didn’t want to give off dark vibes… at least not yet.
Pacing in a general area, he soon heard the distant closing of a warehouse door. There was also sensation, like a pulse, through the Force. It was the Jedi. Ceasing his pacing, Loharr stood in wait as the Jedi approached the light.
“I was told you had details regarding my investigation” The Jedi said, who appeared to be younger than Loharr by a few years, “But now that I am here, I feel something else…”
“That is correct...” Loharr said, “But it was a lie”
“What do you mean?” The Jedi asked.
“I have no details regarding your investigation.” He answered, igniting his emerald, green lightsaber. “I just needed to get you away from the crowd.
“So the Force led me true… you are a Dark Side practitioner.” He said.
“Correct, but first, my name is Kalus Nadd…” Loharr said, solidifying his stance on his false persona. “And you are…?
“Daltren Kadlond.” He answered, igniting a green lightsaber in response.
“Perfect.” Loharr said, lunging forward, slashing at Daltren with a powerful strike.
He wasn’t looking to play around this time.
Daltren was barely able to raise his lightsaber to meet Loharr’s in time and stumbled backwards. He Pushed forward at Loharr with the Force, before charging forward himself, attempting to stab at Loharr.
“Sloppy…” Loharr said, taking an uncharacteristic moment to comment on his opponent’s skills as he raised a Defensive shield against the Push.
Loharr effortlessly sidestepped out of the way of the green lightsaber, quickly striking downwards at Daltren’s wrist. The young Jedi was too slow to react to the attack, and soon let out a pained howl as his hand and lightsaber dropped to the floor.
Reacting quickly, he reached forward with the Force, gripping the young Jedi’s throat, and began to squeeze. The sound of Daltren choking soon replaced the sound of the scream he had let out, as Loharr took a step closer.
“You’ve seen my face… you know my name…” Loharr told the young Jedi. “And now you shall know death.”
Igniting the concealed light dagger on his left wrists, he thrust it forward, piercing Daltren’s throat, before turning it off, and letting the body drop to the ground.
Seizing the opportunity, Loharr quickly deactivated his lightsaber and began to switch clothes with the now dead, young Jedi. Several minutes later, he was now dressed in the garb of the Jedi. Picking up Daltren’s lightsaber, he clasped it to his belt, alongside his own.
Daltren Kadlond. He would need to remember that name.
Now that he had the clothes, he made a beeline for his shuttle, recalling the probe droid as he did. Instructing the pilot droid to set a course for Tython. It was now a critical part of his mission. While he looked the part and could most certainly play the part, if any of the Jedi looked his name and records up in their database, they would soon find that ‘Kalus Nadd’ didn’t exist.
After all, if it wasn’t in their records, it didn’t exist.
As the pilot droid began on the flight to Tython, Loharr loaded up a blank datastick and began to give ‘Kalus Nadd’ a record for the New Jedi Order. Nothing too extravagant, just a simple service record.
Serving at the Temple at Monastery as a Seeker, he was almost never at the Temple. He was trained as a youngling, but when he became a Padawan, he was not assigned a Master, and was instead relegated to Seeker duties after spending half a decade as an Archivist.
He based the format off of the way the Sith did their records back at the Academy, so he wasn’t entirely sure it was accurate, but he could always fix the formatting later. For now, his trip to Tython would be tense.
~~Location: Tython, Deep Core~~
This flight was considerably shorter than the others previously undergone during this mission. That was just basic physics really. Tython was far closer to Palanhi, than Dantooine was to Palanhi, or Stygeon Prime to Dantooine.
As they approached the planet, Loharr began to focus on the Force, as a tool to conceal his alignment in the Force. He hadn’t used this with Daltren because there wasn’t a need to, but here on Tython, he would be surrounded by Jedi and couldn’t risk the exposure.
Upon receiving clearance at the Temple on Tython, Loharr exited his shuttle and began to head inside. He greeted as many Jedi as greeted him (just to keep appearances up) and made his way straight to the archives. Which was really simple to get to, a lot easier than he expected.
Not wanting to miss his chance here, he made his way to the far back of the archives, as far back as he could get, to keep from prying eyes, and sat down at a computer terminal.
Setting the datastick into the computer, he brought up the file he had made to codify the lie of ‘Kalus Nadd’, and added it to the Jedi database. He honestly expected their firewalls and security to be harder to beat. He only knew the simple things about slicing, just enough to open locked doors and the like. So really, how easily he added ‘Kalus Nadd’ to the roster, was embarrassing.
With his Jedi persona now codified into their records, Loharr stood up and began to leave the archives, but before he could, he heard a voice call out from behind him.
“Hey, excuse me!” The voice rang out. Something about it was familiar. “You forgot your datastick at the desk.”
Loharr turned around, almost cursing himself for such shoddy luck. But when he finally cast his sight on the face of the source of the voice, he froze. Dark brown hair and tanned skin, a rather common combination really, but the face seemed to cement Loharr’s realization.
The Jedi who was approaching him was one of the two Jedi from his vision, all those weeks earlier.
“Did you hear me?” The Jedi asked, holding up the datastick. “You forgot this.”
Loharr stood there, momentarily dumbfounded, until the Jedi spoke up again.
“Hey… Anyone there?” The Jedi asked, waving his hand in front of Loharr’s face, “You forgot this.”
He held out the datastick and Loharr seemed to snap to. He wouldn’t normally be thrown off by this, but something felt off about this Jedi. It was almost… familiar.
“Ah, yes.” Loharr said, reaching out to take the datastick. “Thank you. It’s so unlike me to forget these things.”
“Not a problem…” The Jedi said, “I was just researching a planet from the Outer Rim, Da…” His voice trailed off.
“What planet?” Loharr asked, “D’qar? Dathomir? Dagobah?”
“Da-” He started, before he was interrupted by a woman’s voice.
“Kalus, what are you doing here?” The voice asked, as both Loharr and the Jedi turned to face its origins, but before Loharr could respond, the Jedi did. It was the woman from the vision, but that was not all. Now that he was really seeing it, the details all matched up. Dark hair, steely blue eyes, freckles, and a fair complexion… This was her. This was Talasi Stalar, the Jedi who killed his parents.
“Nothing, Master Talasi…” He answered, lowering his head, almost as if he were hiding something. “I was just helping… er… what was your name?”
Loharr was quite stumped here. Through some cosmic coincidence, this Jedi’s name was the same one he had chosen for a disguise name. Not only that, but the one he ached to kill had practically walked up to him, as if served up on a silver platter. He would attempt to kill her now if he could, but as he was surrounded by Jedi no matter where he looked, that would be quite ill-advised. But enough thinking, he needed to respond.
“Kalus Nadd, a Seeker from Monastery.” Loharr answered, after a brief (albeit subtle) pause.
“What brings you to Tython, then?” Kalus asked Loharr.
“Just a bit of research. Tython has better records than Monastery.”
“Another Kalus, eh?” Master Talasi asked, crossing her arms.
“So it would seem, Master Talasi.” Loharr answered.
“I’m no Master… Just a Seeker like yourself.” She humbly replied, “Just young Kalus’ Master. He is my Padawan.”
“It is unlike Seekers to take on a Padawan Learner…” Loharr interjected.
“Indeed it is, but young Kalus’ has shown exceptional prowess in the Force.” Talasi explained, “Though his skill with lightsaber combat is lacking, though I won’t complain about that. We are Jedi after all, we prefer peace.”
Hearing that statement alone was enough to send a tingle up Loharr’s spine. Who was this Jedi? Why did the Force show his face to him with Talasi’s? Better yet, what were they all fighting about in that vision?
“... Don’t you agree, Kalus? Kalus…?” Talasi inquired, waving a hand in front of Loharr’s face. “Anybody home?”
“Apologies…” Loharr said, shaking his head a bit, “Lost in my thoughts is all.”
“I said that honing one's abilities through the Force is important, maybe even more so than combative prowess.” Talasi repeated, “Don’t you agree?”
“It is of my opinion that both are important, and focusing on more than one may result in a substantially shortened lifespan…” Loharr answered, “But I do hate to cut this conversation short, but I have had a long journey from Monastery and I would like to take some time and rest.”
“Of course, Kalus.” Talasi said, “Perhaps we can have the chance to talk later?”
“Perhaps we can, yes.” Loharr said, tipping his head. “Have a nice evening.”
Loharr began to walk away, and as he did, he overheard Talasi and Kalus speaking, but the details were too obscure for him to care about them. As he got further away, the level of their speech got audibly weaker, but as he approached the corner to leave the archives, Talasi spoke up just a little louder.
“That is not your decision to make, Padawan Talem!” She exclaimed.
That statement made Loharr stop in his tracks and turn his head to face the two once more. He was sure what he had heard, but could not believe it. He refused to believe it.
Was that young Jedi’s name really Kalus Talem…?
~~The Next Day~~
A bright beam of light shone across the room, painting the floor and walls with a bright, golden-yellow hue. Opening his eyes slowly, the beam of light across his face washed over his eyes, piercing his corneas and illuminating his iris'. Causing the normally, seemingly dark brown iris to turn to a lighter, brown color.
Sitting up and taking in his surroundings, as the light beam left his face, returning his eyes to the appearance they normally were. He looked around the room. There was a large window that covered one of the walls. Outside the window, the cityscape of a planet that he did not recognize. The walls were a brighter, more neutral color.
It was definitely not the same room he fell asleep in the night before. He didn't like the paint scheme. Too bright. The brightness hurt his eyes.
Standing up from the bed, Loharr stretched. Lowering his arms for a moment, he reached his left hand out to Pull the two lightsaber hilts from the nightstand. He placed his own lightsaber on his belt, but placed the lightsaber he acquired from the deceased Daltren Kadlond in his sleeve, on the same forearm which held his concealed lightdagger.
Looking around the room once more to ensure that he was not forgetting anything. Ah! His portable holocommunicator. He so hated going anywhere without it. A habit that was pounded into his head through years of training and close calls back on Dantooine, and when Dana was still alive. He could say that he missed her, but the truth was, he was glad she was dead.
Proud to have killed her himself.
She had betrayed every ideal, every moral that she had spent nearly half a decade instilling into his head. The look on her face when he killed her will forever be etched into his consciousness. The face of a traitor, forever remembered as such.
But enough about remembering the past, he had a task to accomplish.
Making his way out of his temporary quarters, courtesy one Talasi Stalar (he learned her full name later, having been found and told of the temporary accommodations via courier droid), he made his way to the archives once more. For while he did have a desire to kill Talasi Stalar, he needed to do some more research. Specifically, on Kalus… the one whom Talasi called ‘Padawan Talem’.
Who was he?
Well, he would soon find out.
Finding a computer terminal somewhere in the back of the archives, the disguised Sith took a seat. Setting himself up for a lengthy research session, he got to work. Little did he know that what he was about to find out… would make his blood boil.
First, to find out more about Kalus, he searched the name Kalus Talem. He even put the honorific of ‘Padawan’ beforehand to make the search go by even quicker. Luckily for him, only 3 names showed up on the list. At the bottom of the list, was a picture of himself, under the name of ‘Kalus Nadd’. The second name was in fact, Kalus Talem. It was accompanied by a photo, confirming that it was the Padawan he had conversed with the day before.
Before he selected that file, his eyes scrolled up, to the name at the top of the list.
‘Kalus Talem’. It was the same name completely, but the file was older. Out of his own curiosity, he opened the file. The contents of the file were surprising… and almost melancholic. The details were short… too short. Almost as if many of the details were redacted.
‘Kalus Talem, born 98 ABY, on the Inner Rim world of Onderon. Brought to Tython Temple in 99 ABY by Seeker Rhidil Inti. Began Padawan training in 107 ABY under Jedi Master Chazi Mevka. Graduated into Knighthood in 118 ABY. Took on Padawan Jawar Tuzo in 119 ABY. Rose to rank of Jedi Master in 127 ABY, upon Jawar Tuzo’s Knighting. Left the Order of his own volition later in 127 ABY due to disagreements with the Council. Killed in house fire in 138 ABY.’
The file was more than he had ever heard about his fathers’ past. It was… incredible. Or at least it would be if not for that last line. ‘Killed in house fire in 138 ABY.’ The year that Talasi Stalar came and killed his parents. If this line was false, what other parts of this record were false? Was it all false? Or was it simply just the end of the record?
Shaking his head slightly, as if to shake himself from this distraction, he went back to the previous page where ‘Padawan Kalus Talem’ was, leaving behind the file for ‘Master Kalus Talem’. He opened the file for this other ‘Kalus Talem’, and began to read into it. This file was far more detailed than the last.
‘Kalus Talem, born 138 ABY, on the Outer Rim world of Dantooine. Brought to Tython Temple in 136 ABY by Seeker Talasi Stalar, after discovering the young infant in the wreckage of the burned out farmhouse. Began Padawan Training in 148 ABY, under Jedi Seeker Talasi Stalar, against Council recommendations. In 154 ABY, Padawan Talem began to undergo solo missions on behalf of the Order, seeking out Force Sensitive children to be brought into the Order. Seeker success rate, 67%.’
So… she took him from Dantooine and turned him into a Jedi. That wasn’t the strange part.
The strange part was that he was only 6 years old when his parents were killed. If he had a brother, then surely he would have remembered… right? He couldn’t have forgotten an entire other member of his family.
Or was the trauma of losing his parents the catalyst for some sort of psychological block, repressing memories that would be deemed problematic?
Either way, he had an anger building up inside of him, now fueling his need for vengeance even more than it had before. He needed to get it under control. If he didn’t, his Stealth may not be powerful enough to keep his true nature concealed. Luckily, he had years of practice keeping his emotions in check, so getting his emotions from a rolling boil to a smooth simmer was a piece of cake.
As this research session drew to a close, the disguised Sith grew to realize that he hadn’t eaten since the day prior. So, standing up from the computer terminal and closing the research tabs, he made his way from the archives and towards a spot to get something to eat.
Moving through the temple, Loharr asked around for a spot to get some food. Luckily, he was able to get to where he wanted to go with relative ease. The dining hall of the temple overlooked a large section of jungle below. It was midday, a little after actually, by the time he had arrived.
He queued up for whatever was on the menu and wasn’t surprised in the slightest at what it was. It was a protein nutrients bar, some vitamin spheres, and some water. Very bland, simple, but highly nutritious. Exactly what he expected the Jedi to eat whenever they’re at their temples.
Collecting his small tray of food (though, calling it that was something akin to a courtesy), Loharr headed towards the edge of the balcony to gaze across the sprawling jungle. As he began to eat, a familiar voice had rang out, calling to him.
“Kalus! Hey, Kalus.”
Turning around, Loharr found himself filled with mixed emotions as Kalus was coming up to him. He wanted to do something. Hug, punch… something. But obviously, that would be quite suspicious, and draw severely unwanted attention onto himself.
“Greetings, Kalus.” Loharr said, taking a sip of his water. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, how about yourself?” Kalus asked.
“Well… I’ve spent all day doing research, so getting to stand and stretch is an improvement…” Loharr answered, “Also, finally getting around to eating.”
“It’s good to hear you’re getting around.” He said, “So what were you researching?”
“I’m just looking into Dantooine.” Loharr lied, “I haven’t been there since I was an infant, and I guess I was just feeling homesick.”
Loharr was hoping that this lie would be enough to draw Kalus in, as inquisitive as he seemed.
“Dantooine, eh? Why? Is that your home planet too?”
Perfect.
“It is.” Loharr said, seeing no reason to lie about that.
“Ah, interesting.” Kalus commented, “Perhaps we can talk about it later? Master Stalar is expecting me in the courtyard for a lesson soon.”
With that tidbit of information, Loharr got an idea.
“Sounds perfect.” He said, as he pointed to a rather distant ruin, barely visible through the jungle canopy. “Why don’t we meet at those ruins come sundown? I’ll be meditating out that way anyways, so it lines up.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Kalus said, heading off. “Enjoy your lunch!”
“Will do.” Loharr answered, a smirk appearing on his face.
As Kalus disappeared into the distance and around the corner, Loharr was able to catch a glimpse of his lightsaber. Which gave Loharr a fantastic idea with how to proceed.
Finishing up his meal, if one could actually call it that, Loharr made his way through the temple once more, now finding himself at the entrance. Going for a walk around the temple, until he found himself underneath the balcony of the dining hall. He remembered where the ruins were, in relation to his own position, and so he headed out.
The jungle wasn’t as dense as it had appeared up on the balcony, but it was still quite thick. It took him a while to reach the ruins, which were a lot more intact than they had appeared before. He made his way up a long flight of stairs, where there seemed some sort of ritualistic brazier that had long since been snuffed out.
He walked up to the unlit brazier, and knelt down, entering into a meditative state. He had a lot to talk about with Kalus, a lot. He even had a trick up his sleeve to help Kalus believe what he had planned to tell him.
As he meditated, he felt the sun becoming less and less brilliant, the temperature around him dropping to compensate for the loss of sunlight. It was sundown finally.
Then, almost as if rehearsed, Loharr heard the sound of distant footsteps. He opened his eyes and stood up, but he wasn’t pleased. There were two sets of footsteps. Turning around, he saw the origins of them. He wasn’t pleased at all.
Talasi Stalar was there. It seemed that Kalus had brought her along to this meeting, which definitely put a damper on things.
“Good afternoon, Kalus.” Loharr said, “Glad you could make it.”
“Yeah, so am I.” Talasi said, “He almost didn’t finish his lesson in time.”
“You said you wanted to talk about Dantooine?” Kalus inquired, “Were you serious?”
“Quite… but does she need to be here for this?” Loharr asked, “It’s just a conversation about a planet.”
“I trust her… she is the ONLY one I trust.” Kalus said.
“Ok, fine.” Loharr said, pulling his lightsaber off his belt. “Only makes this next part more fun…”
There was an air of near-tangible suspense in the air as neither Kalus nor Talasi knew what was going on, but soon that suspense would be broken. Before Talasi could react or Kalus respond, Loharr had tossed the weapon across the gap between them, allowing the Jedi Padawan to catch it with ease.
He stood there, dumbfounded.
“What is this?” Kalus asked.
“Go ahead and take a real close look at it.” Loharr answered, “Trust me, you’ll want to.”
Kalus, genuinely curious as to what Loharr meant by that, looked down and began to examine the lightsaber. Talasi also attempted to try and get a view of the weapon, but Kalus’ torso blocked her line of sight. There was a few moments of silence, before Kalus looked back up at Loharr, a wide range of mixed emotions across his face.
“Wha… what is the meaning of this?” He asked, “Why does this look like my lightsaber?”
“Because someone has been keeping a secret from you, Kalus.” Loharr said, “And it’s time you’ve been told the truth…”
“What do you mean that someone has been keeping a secret from me?” Kalus asked, looking over the lightsaber that Loharr had tossed to him, before turning his attention to Talasi. “Master Stalar…?”
Talasi stepped up to her Padawan, putting her hand on his shoulder, but keeping eye contact with Loharr.
“Don’t listen to him, Kalus, he is trying to sow the seeds of distrust in you.” She said, her hand subtly reaching down to her lightsaber, unbeknownst to Kalus, “Seeker Nadd, you will stand down this instant.”
“No… I don’t think I will.” Loharr said, “Not until I’ve said my piece to Kalus.”
There was a tense silence between the three. Then Talasi narrowed her eyes at Loharr.
“You look familiar… Do I know you?” Talasi asked, stepping further forward, now in front of Kalus.
“We have met before in the past, yes.” Loharr said, well aware of the fact that Talasi had her hand on her weapon. “But I was far younger at the time, not nearly the man I am today.”
“Then do tell…” Talasi said, moving to step in front of Kalus. “Who are you?”
“Well, I can guarantee you haven’t heard my name… or if you had, you wouldn’t remember it.” Loharr said, taking an ominous step forward. “But perhaps, Seeker Stalar, you would remember the name of my father…”
“Oh yeah? And who was your father?” She asked, as Kalus moved to her left, trying to get around her.
“Kalus Talem.” Loharr said, his face slightly contorting with rage.
Kalus was confused. Why did this stranger just say his name? And why did Talasi look like she was struggling to keep her emotions in check? The silence that had been created was violently broken, as the sound of a lightsaber igniting shattered it.
Talasi charged forward, her golden, yellow lightsaber creating a brilliant arc as it slashed at Loharr. Loharr dropped the lightsaber of Daltren Kadlond from his sleeve, igniting its green blade as he quickly parried the slash, backing up a bit, before quickly rolling his saber forward. The green beam dropped down, before promptly gaining altitude behind Loharr’s back, and he brought the blade down on her.
She let out a shriek of pain as the near-emerald green blade came into contact with her back.
“Drop your lightsaber!” Kalus asked, pulling his lightsaber off his belt, keeping both his and Loharr’s, igniting both blades. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”
A smirk was quickly born on Loharr’s face. He felt the anger rising up in his apparent brother.
“How quaint…” Loharr said, almost in an antagonizing tone. “You think that strike killed her… it was just a glancing blow. She is only playing dead…”
Then, almost as if on cue, Talasi sprang up at Loharr, kicking at him as she propelled herself off the ground with her arms. He stepped to the side, avoiding the kick by a significant margin. Getting a little tired of being interrupted, Loharr threw his left hand towards Talasi, expelling a pulse of Force Energy at her, with the intention of Pushing her away.
To his great shock, it worked phenomenally, as she was thrown several meters backwards.
“Now…” Loharr said, rolling his lightsaber. “May I continue speaking to Kalus? Or are you going to keep interrupting me?”
“You little…!” She began as she shambled to her feet, before Kalus had put his hand up.
“Master Stalar, wait!” He said, “Let him continue…”
“He is not speaking the truth, he is attempting to draw you towards the Dark Side!” She exclaimed.
This put a sour taste in Loharr’s mouth.
“I’m actually not…” Loharr said, turning to face Talasi. “My mission was to kill you… Kalus didn’t have anything to do with my original plan, as I didn’t know he existed. He wants answers, so I will give them to him.”
“Ok then…” Kalus began, “Let’s start with your name.”
This was a simple enough request.
“My name is Loharr Talem, not Kalus Nadd. I chose that name in order to go undercover as a Jedi.” Loharr explained.
“Ok… how about why you’re here?” He asked, “Why do you want to kill Master Stalar?”
“Revenge, plain and simple… at first. Recent developments have shown that it wasn’t nearly as simple as I initially thought.”
“Revenge...? Revenge against what?”
“She murdered my parents in cold blood back on Dantooine.”
“Murdered…?” Kalus asked, lowering his lightsabers just slightly, before his attention returned to his questions. “And my fathers’ name… Why did you say it?”
“Surely you must’ve put two and two together by this point…” Loharr said, “My name is Loharr Talem, your name is Kalus Talem, the same as my fathers… and yours…”
“Don’t listen to him! He is lying.” Talasi screeched, jumping in front of Kalus, as if protecting him.
“Am I lying?” Loharr asked, taking a single step forward. “Or did you attack my parents after they refused to let you take me to the Jedi Temple on this planet? Admit it! You killed them and burned their home down around their bodies to hide your crimes.”
In a split second, Talasi was now across the gap between Kalus and Loharr, slashing her weapon at the Sith. Loharr quickly brought his weapon up to block it.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance!” She screamed, her voice thick with rage. “I was fortunate to have found this little brat in the ashes. That way I didn’t need to explain to the Council why I had failed.”
“Y-you… you killed them?” Kalus asked, his voice softening, almost as if he were about to cry. “My parents are dead… because of you?! The report said they died in a house fire.”
“Oh shut up!” Talasi hissed, throwing a Push back at Kalus, throwing the unprepared Padawan off his feet. “You believed it this whole time because that’s what I told you.”
As Kalus was thrown backwards, he had let go of the two lightsabers, and the two metallic cylinders clattered onto the stone floor behind him. Talasi turned her attention back to Loharr, as she Pushed at him, trying to knock him off balance. The Sith fully expected something like this, as she had just Pushed away her Padawan Learner.
She pulled her saber back, to immediately slash at Loharr horizontally before bringing it back and slashing vertically, from head to toe. Loharr’s response was simple. He brought his lightsaber forward to meet the first slash, its vertical blade screeching as it came into contact with Talasi’s horizontal blade. Moving quickly, he left hand gripped the hilt of the weapon, as it spun around, hovering over his head, now horizontal as Talasi’s vertical strike came crashing down.
As this happened, the distinct sound of a lightsaber igniting could be heard, as behind Talasi, Kalus had recovered from her Push, and was now charging at her.
“You damned liar!” He roared, slashing at his Masters’ waist. “How could you?!”
Talasi pushed back at Loharr, kicking him in the gut, forcing him to stumble backwards as she turned around to block Kalus’ attack.
“Because I had a job to do!” Talasi screeched, “And because I could!”
Loharr had since recovered and was ready to fight once more. Focusing the Force into his legs, he burst forward, Speeding towards the Seeker, looking to quickly impale her. She reacted too quickly though, moving just out of the way in barely enough time.
Kalus had to react now, as Loharr’s lightsaber was on a direct path to impale him. He moved his lightsaber down, quickly deflecting the blade that was coming straight for his gut.
Loharr felt the route his lightsaber was taking take a detour, suddenly forced off course, having been deflected to the left side.Taking the momentum in stride, he spun around, refocusing his attention on Talasi.
Seeing this attack coming, she Pushed at Loharr. He couldn’t get a Defense up quickly enough, and so was thrown from his feet. Talasi turned her attention back to Kalus.
“You just had to be a curious one, didn’t you?” She exclaimed, as she opened her left hand, reaching through the Force, picking him up by the throat.
Kalus began to choke, struggling to breathe. His hands began to shudder and shake, dropping his lightsaber as he reached up towards his neck, grasping at something that simply wasn’t there to grab.
He looked down at his Masters’ face through strained eyes. He saw a face that could only be enjoyment. This couldn’t be the woman who had found him. Not the one who raised him with such kindness and tact. His vision was beginning to fade and he could feel himself drifting out of consciousness. He didn’t know this detail, but his face was turning blue from lack of oxygen.
“Let him go!” Loharr shouted, throwing his lightsaber towards Talasi, having focused on it to keep the activator switch pressed.
The green blade spun violently through the air, forcing Talasi to release her grip on Kalus to counteract the incoming attack. Kalus hit the ground with a solid thud, coughing and sputtering, struggling to catch his breath. Talasi easily deflected the lightsaber that Loharr had thrown and it came whirling back towards the Sith.
Talasi lunged forward, trying to cover the distance between the two, holding her lightsaber with both hands.
Loharr almost let himself smirk, but that would have given away his plan. The first part was undoubtedly getting Talasi away from Kalus. The second, involved the lightsaber that Kalus had used at the start of this interaction. Not his own lightsaber, but the one that Loharr had used to begin the conversation. His fathers’ lightsaber.
Loharr reached out through the Force, feeling for the lightsaber. To anyone else, it would’ve looked like he was pulling the first lightsaber back to him. After about a half-second, Loharr had a grip on the weapon and pulled it back towards him. As an added bonus, he manipulated the Force towards the activator switch and pressed it, turning the weapon on.
Talasi, hearing another lightsaber turn on, turned around, expecting Kalus to have recovered, but he remained on the ground. By the time that she had saw the incoming lightsaber, raising her own to deflect it, it was too late.
The pain wasn’t immediate. Nor was the realization. There was the sound of a lightsaber being swung, but she thought it was hers at first. But when she moved her hand to deflect the incoming lightsaber, her eyes failed to register a yellow blade. She looked around in confusion for a few, brief moments, she looked down at her hand. Or at the very least, where her hand used to be.
The scent of charred flesh filled her nostrils as the pain, like a damn releasing the floodwaters, flared up. Howling in pain, she dropped to her knees. She turned around, quickly, only to see Loharr ominously approaching her, two lightsabers in his hands.
It seemed that he only used the second lightsaber as a distraction. It worked gloriously.
She looked at him, at his eyes. They were not the brown eyes that he had previously had, but instead they were yellow and red, showing his anger. His steps were slow, intentional. His rage was seeping into the air around him. He had been keeping up his Stealth this whole time, but now with his rage being as high as it was, he was sure that at least some Jedi in the nearby temple could feel his presence.
Kalus looked up, watching Loharr approach Talasi. He could feel the anger and rage flowing from the Sith, like it was crawling over his skin. Poking and prodding, trying to find a way in. It felt… foreign, invasive. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
Loharr stopped just before reaching Talasi, but knew that she was well within striking range of the lightsabers.
“Wait!” Kalus exclaimed, reaching out to do something. What exactly, he wasn’t sure of. “Don’t kill her!”
“Stay out of this!” Loharr exclaimed, Pushing Kalus with the Force.
The momentum from the Push was moderate in strength, but more than plenty to throw Kalus from the ruins. Loharr wasn’t sure how deep it was exactly, but he did remember it from when he entered. They weren’t deep enough to kill him if he was smart about it. Loharr turned his attention back to Talasi, who was now crawling away from him.
He stepped forward, slamming his heel into the back of her thigh. She screamed out in pain, rolling over involuntarily. Loharr turned off his lightsabers, putting them on his belt.
He had spent years imagining this very moment. What he would do, what SHE would do. So far, this entire interaction has gone nothing like he envisioned. His daydreams certainly never involved finding a long lost relative. But now that he was here, in this moment, inches away from achieving his lifelong goal of revenge, he knew exactly what to do.
He reached his hand out, Pulling with the Force. But not on Talasi, no. That would be far too obvious. He pulled her lightsaber to him. The simplistic, metal cylinder flew to his hand. There was a barely audible slapping sound, as the chill of metal bit his hand.
“I have waited…” Loharr said, examining the lightsaber in his hand. “So… very long… for this…”
“You’re pathetic!” Talasi spat, “Too afraid to kill me.”
“You’re right…” Loharr said, leaning over a bit. “I am afraid… afraid that I will end this too quickly.”
Before saying another word, he tightened his grip on the metal cylinder, and swung it forward.
There was a satisfying crack as the deactivated lightsaber smashed into her face. There was a small spray of blood paired with a scream of pain. Then another as he swung the weapon again. He continued to swing the weapon and it continuously made contact with Talasi’s face.
With each swing, came another spatter of blood (which were increasingly more and more grotesque) and another scream. After about a minute of repeatedly bashing her face with her own weapon, he stopped.
Her face was a gross mess, completely unrecognizable. A puddle of blood had formed around her head, and her blood had coated the upper half of her lightsaber and spatter was all over Loharr’s hand. Panting heavily, he leaned down, grabbing a tuft of her hair and pulled her into an upright position. He moved his head next to hers and whispered.
“At one point in my life, you stole my life… and now I will steal yours.” He said, pulling her head back.
Taking the lightsaber and moving it towards her face, he pushed the weapon into her mouth, emitter first. He pushed it deeper and deeper, forcing her to cough and gag in response. As he pushed it even further, he stopped before the activator switch was in her mouth. She was gagging so violently by this point, that she vomited.
It spewed all over, spraying Loharr’s torso and even flowed over her chin, down her neck. Her eyes were bulging, turning read. Tears streaming down her face. Admittedly, it was more than a little difficult to tell they were tears, with all the blood. With no reason left to stall, Loharr flipped the activator switch.
There was no scream. There was no sound.
Hard to make sounds with one's voice box being completely incinerated. The golden, yellow blade pierced through organs, bone, and flesh. Ripping through her body, coming out of the bottom of her toso.
“And now it ends…” Loharr said, slamming her head down.
The golden lightsaber blade swung backwards and up, tearing through her back, obliterating her spine in the process. The lightsaber blade was now protruding back of her head. Finishing things off, Loharr pulled the lightsaber out, moving it to the right, tearing it through the left side of her skull.
Her body fell backwards, thudding to the ground. As it did, Kalus was cresting the edge of the ruins where Loharr had pushed him off of. He recovered, panting moderately. He looked over towards Loharr, his robes covered in excessive blood spatter and dribbles of vomit. His eyes traced down, towards Talasi’s body.
“Y-you… you killed her…” He said, fear heavy in his voice.
“Yep…” Loharr said, throwing the bloodied lightsaber into the air, spinning it a few times before catching it.
“You murdered her!” He shouted, his fear turning to anger.
“Yeah well… she started it.” Loharr answered, wiping some blood from his face.
“I’ll kill you!” Kalus exclaimed, stomping a few feet forward.
“But you won’t.” Loharr told him, almost cocky.
“And how do you figure that?”
“Because you and I have a lot to talk about…”
~~6 Weeks Later~~
~~Location: Talem Farmstead, Mosa Plains, Dantooine~~
There was silence in the air. Well, not total silence, but there were no artificial sounds being made. Loharr sat at a table, an open window to his left. He was looking out of it, as a small breeze came in.
As he looked across the plains, he saw the sight of an incoming starship. He felt a sense of accomplishment. Or was it relief? He wasn’t sure.
He watched as the ship came in to land, turning on its yaw-axis so the loading ramp was facing the house. The ramp opened and a figure stepped out.
He now knew which feeling it was that he felt. Relief. It was definitely relief.
Still glancing outside as he heard the door open up, he listened carefully. The sound of a single pair of boots approached, getting closer and closer to the table.
There was the sound of a chair getting pulled back, the legs scraping and groaning against the floor. There was a soft exhale as the figure took a seat, but he nor Loharr made a sound. Neither of them spoke, just taking a moment… just existing.
Then, after several minutes of communications silence, Kalus spoke up.
“So…” He said, looking around. “This is the place, eh?”
“This is the place.” Loharr answered, “The place where our parents lived. The place we were born. The place we had our lives ripped away from us.”
Kalus was silent.
“Sure looks like it wasn’t burned down…” He said, “No sign of any kind…”
“I spent a long time renovating.” Loharr answered, “No less than 3 years pay went to purchasing the Farm back and rebuilding the house from the ashes.”
“Do I even want to know what job offered enough pay for that…?” Kalus inquired.
Loharr turned his head to face his brother, simply raising an eyebrow.
“Do you want a real answer?” Loharr asked.
Kalus was silent again, now contemplating Loharr’s question.
“I’ve been fed lies and half-truths for 19 years… I think it’s time for a full truth for once.”
Loharr nodded. He was glad that Kalus said that.
“I am an Assassin.” Loharr explained, “When I was younger, I worked as a Bounty Hunter. It was dangerous, but it was the best option, given the circumstances.”
“I see…” Kalus said, “I’m sorry…”
“Nothing to apologize about.” Loharr said, “But you and I are here to discuss something more serious… Have you given some thought to what we talked about?”
“I know…” Kalus told him, “And I’ve come to a decision…”
“And what have you decided?” Loharr asked, leaning back and crossing his legs.
There was a moment of stern silence shared between the two. Loharr was apprehensive as he watched Kalus reach down towards his belt, hearing the distinct sound of a lightsaber unclasping from a belt. As a precaution, Loharr subtly unlatched his as well, ready for any possible outcome. Kalus raised his hand, dropping a metal cylinder onto the table with a solid thud.
It was his lightsaber.
“This is the weapon of a Jedi…” Kalus said, “Our father’s weapon, but the weapon of a Jedi, nonetheless. It will not be my weapon.”
“I see…”
“I shall need a new weapon. A weapon befitting my new path…” Kalus told Loharr, as he stood up, holding his hand out. “One I will share with you.”
Loharr didn’t stand. He didn’t take his brother’s hand. He did smile though.
“Then follow me.” Loharr said, standing up, grabbing the lightsaber off the table, and heading for the door.
“Where are we going?” Kalus asked, pulling his hand back and following Loharr.
Loharr stopped at the door, turning around to face Kalus with a smirk.
“To Korriban…”
Year: 156 ABY
~~~~~
~~Location: The Spire, Stygeon Prime~~
It was quiet. Pacing the empty, abandoned halls of the Spire, with naught but the sound of clacking boots and their echoes reverberating off of near and distant walls. The Spire was quiet. It always was, at least in recent memory and history.
The Spire used to be a grand prison, capable of containing powerful Force Sensitive prisoners. A century and a half ago, it was thought to have lured Jedi who had survived their infamous “Order 66” and subsequent Purge. Even in the records still housed in these walls, damaged as they were from age and weather (some doors were damaged or left open for untold decades… people can be so inconsiderate…), were inconclusive as to how many Jedi or other Force Sensitives were held captive here or died within its walls.
Looking around the walls, absent any form of decorations, only light fixtures remained. With most every room cleared of furniture or valuables, it was clear that the Spire (at some point) had been looted. Truthfully, that didn’t really bother him too much. All that meant was he would need to spend time in the future decorating… or he could just have T-502 go order some new decorations while he was gone.
On second thought, T-502 was a piloting droid… decorating was never a strong suit for droids like him.
But no matter, it wasn’t of any real importance, whether or not the Spire was decorated. Other things were… prevalent on his mind right now.
Recently, he had been given clearance for several months, at most 3, to hunt down and kill the Jedi Seeker who had killed his parents. This made him a very happy man, as he had been gaining strength to enact his revenge for 13 years. It was 19 years, almost 20 now, since his parents had been killed.
He had waited long enough, and the Seeker who killed his parents had outstayed her lease on life. But first, he needed to find a way into the New Jedi Order.
Making his way to a moderately sized room, with a moderately sized holotable built into the floors (try taking this, you damned looters), he brought up a map of the galactic disc, and used the settings to showcase the active borders of the factions currently holding large swathes of space within the Galaxy. He filtered out all of the factions, save for the New Jedi Order.
After all these years, he at least knew what faction the woman belonged to.
He began to scan the map now, searching for a world that would function as an ideal injection point into the New Jedi Order. Tython, while the ultimate destination, was not ideal for injection. It was far too close to their Temples for him to arrive in secret.
Monastery was a nice option at first glance. Far from Tython, relatively small population, and quiet. But… the travel time might end up costing him the time he needed to complete this task. The uncertainty of the planet's fauna and topography were also a turnoff. No point in starting a mission, if you were only going to get killed before you ever got close to your target.
Then, a planet came across the registry that almost made him smile. Palanhi.
A simple world, in terms of survivability. From what the records were saying of this world, it was mostly small oceans and volcanic islands. It was very close to Tython, and was sure to have any number of Jedi for him to find a way to Tython with minimal suspicion. It also had a centralized bank, which means, depending on where he arrived on the planet, he would practically be invisible, in the sense of a crowd.
With an injection plan in mind, he made his way to his armory.
He perused his weapons, a singular thought in his mind. Any Jedi would be suspicious of another Jedi carrying as many weapons as he did, especially the Lightpike. Not to mention the knives he had tucked into the sides of his robes.
With a steady hand and steadfast resolve, he removed the lightsaber hilts from his belt, setting them down on a pedestal, next to the Lightpike, which was on display, perfectly upright. At a different pedestal, he took the knives off his sides, setting them down with brief, metallic clinks.
Now devoid of tools, save the Force, he turned on his heel to face the middle of the armory. Taking several steps forward to another pedestal. It was seemingly empty, but had a small console on it. He pressed a button, and the pedestal hissed, revealing a false surface, which opened up. From the space under the false surface, rose a simple lightsaber.
It was a weapon he had not used in a long time, but had served him well over his career. He reached forward, closing his fingers around the metal cylinder, pulling it from the stand. Admittedly, it was a lot more comfortable to grasp than his normal lightsabers. He thumbed the activator switch, applying pressure.
The lightsaber woke up with a hiss, illuminating his face and the surrounding area with a brilliant, emerald, green glow.
“T! Prepare my ship.” He exclaimed, deactivating the lightsaber and clasping it to his belt. “Set a course for Dantooine, destination is the Brotherhood Sanctuary.”
Making his way out of the room, he started towards the landing pads, where his ship was, along with T-502, his pilot droid. The walk was uneventful, as there was really nothing much in the Spire, and the take off was even more uneventful.
He sat in the lounge compartment, where his companion droid, R6-L2, sat. The droid was calm most times, including now, but was known to become erratic every now and again. The Sith was in a meditative state. He had to be, as this task required him to infiltrate the New Jedi Order, and to do that… he needed to become someone else.
But what personality could he craft to successfully dupe a Jedi?
Well, that is why he was meditating. He needed to give it plenty of thought. He had to figure an identity for himself and after some time, he figured it out. Jedi Knight Kalus Nadd. The first name taken from his deceased father and the last name to give the impression of Onderonian descent.
Though the thought was not lost on him that his new alter ego shared the same surname as the Sith Lord of old, Freedon Nadd.
~~Location: Brotherhood Sanctuary, Khoonda Plains, Dantooine~~
He opened his eyes, now in the process of changing his personality, assuming a new character. He stood up, realizing his ship had landed. With a small vocalization of surprise, he opened the cargo ramp and made his way down, only to be greeted by a couple old acquaintances. He couldn’t say he was surprised to see them. This was the first time in a couple years since he had been back.
“Marelen… Reidric…” He said, his boot hitting the dusty ground. “It’s been a while.”
“Indeed, it has.” Responded Reidric, approaching the Sith. The anger and discontent was positively overflowing in him. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here after being away so long and-... an-...”
Reidric began to choke as the Sith merely looked at him.
“What’s wrong? Kath Hound got your tongue?” He asked, feeling his grip on Reidric’s throat tighten, before turning his attention to Marelen. “I take it you and Viriz didn’t tell him why I was gone?”
“Why would we?” She asked in response, “It’s fun seeing him act like an idiot.”
The Sith merely nodded in agreement, a slight smile on his face, as he let Reidric go, and he collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. Apparently, he didn’t like being Force Choked, so he drew a weapon and attempted to intimidate his apparent lesser within the Brotherhood.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve doing that to me, you piece of Bantha Poodoo.” Reidric said, holding a dagger to the Sith’s throat. “I’m a Founder of our Brotherhood, and you’re just a member… a nobody!”
The Sith merely looked from Reidric, to Marelen, then back to Reidric, clearly unfazed by the threat looming at his throat. In response to the dagger, Reidric failed to notice that the Sith had unclasped his weapon from his belt.
“We are an isocratic organization, Reidric…” The Sith said, igniting the emerald green blade of his weapon, the tip stopping just short of the Brotherhood Founder’s chin. This stunned Reidric quickly, and he lowered the dagger a little. “We are all equal in our words… but if you think for even a second that you are above me… in any capacity… you may find yourself somewhere in the Khoonda Plains… dead…”
There was a silence shared between the three assassins. None of them saying anything, nor moving. The only audible sound was the thrumming of the lightsaber.
“Ah… if it isn’t Young Loharr…” Said a raspy, aged voice. Everyone, save for the Sith turned to face its origins. It was Viriz.
“Viriz… Good to see you.” He said, still holding the weapon to Reidric’s throat.
“Perhaps you could let our partner walk away from this encounter? Hmm?” The aged Cosian inquired.
“I might be inclined to, yes.” The Sith Assassin answered, deactivating the saber.
Reidric let out a sigh of relief.
“Excellent!” The Cosian exclaimed, “Now, onto business! Inside, now…”
Marelen nodded, as she began to lead the way for the other assassins. Loharr followed close behind her, with Reidric keeping a steady distance from him. Viriz was bringing up the rear.
The group made their way through the mansion. It wasn’t nearly as moldy, dusty, or run down anymore. He could probably attribute that to Else. For such a rich girl, she was certainly not one to shy away from cleaning.
After several minutes, they all reached the central room, which used to look like some overgrown greenhouse, now it just looked like a greenhouse. As an extra surprise, Else and Tic were there, and they seemed to be playing a game where they were slapping each other's hands… The end objective was unknown to Loharr.
“Oh, Loharr! You’re he-...” Else started, then stopped, as the unmistakable sound of a slap echoed through the room, quickly followed by Tic laughing. “Hey! No fair, that was a cheap shot…”
“You’re the one that took your attention away from the game.” Tic said, popping a piece of fruit into his mouth. “Your loss.” He added, now a bit muffled.
“You little…!” Else exclaimed, pulling out a knife. “Come here!”
“Gotta run! See you guys later? Yeah, later!” Tic said, as he ran off, an angry Else running after him.
“What was that all about?” Loharr asked, turning to Viriz.
“She has been spending the last few months with Teersa.” Marelen answered, “I thought it was getting a little boring around here.”
“A ‘little’... is an understatement.” Reidric said, “Ever since Shalla and Sola became a thing, it just got boring. Also, it was all Teersa’s idea… she hates Tic.”
“Yeah… Tic has been going through an annoying phase this past… lets say decade.” Viriz added.
“He’s only been here a decade…” Loharr interjected.
“Exactly…” Viriz said, “Now, onto business.”
“Good idea.” Marelen said, as they all, save for Loharr, took a seat.
“So… your droid contacted us about your target some months ago, at your behest I assume. We did some digging, found where she is, and forwarded that information onto your droid.” Viriz explained, “So you can imagine we were a little surprised to see that you came here first, instead of going forth on your job.”
“I need to borrow a ship.” He answered, “Mine is registered as a New Galactic Empire vessel, and will immediately get flagged for arrest the instant I try to land in any system.”
“I can see how that would be a problem…” Marelen said, “So what kind of ship are you needing?”
“Something small, simple. Doesn’t stand out too much, easy to work with.” He said, “Maybe something equipped with a couple of probe droids, to keep an additional eye out. Got anything like that?”
“We have an old Emissary-Class shuttle in storage… and it does have a probe droid onboard.” Reidric said, “But it’s mine.”
“Then it’s perfect for the job.” Marelen said, “Loharr can take it.”
“You love making me mad… don’t you?” Reidric asked.
“You know it.” She answered, turning her attention to Loharr. “It’s in Garang, in the Industrial District. You can go whenever you want.”
“Gladly.” Loharr said, making his way to leave the room, stopping just before he reached it. “And for the duration of my mission…. Loharr Talem no longer exists… it’s Kalus Nadd.”
They all made some sort of agreeing noise or motion.
“Good luck to you then… Mr. Nadd.” Viriz said, “And happy hunting.”
Making his way from the central room, he began to head back to his ship. The sounds of rapid, heavy footsteps echoing through the veranda, as Tic blew past him with Else chasing after him. Admittedly, this prompted a chuckle from the Sith Assassin.
He strode out into the courtyard, where his ship was, and boarded without another thought.
“T! Get us in the air, our new destination is the Industrial District in Garang. Land on a pad near the Emissary-Class shuttle.” Loharr said, as he rode the lift up to the cockpit.
“Understood, my Lord.” T-502 said, inputting the controls.
The ship shook a bit as it took off. The Sith watched for several minutes as the Khoonda Plains passed him by underneath, and watched as Garang came into view just a few moments later.
As they approached the Industrial District, T-502 began to scan around, searching for the shuttle he was instructed to land near. He found it and proceeded to land on a neighboring pad. As the ship thudded to a stop, Loharr made his way down to the lounge again, now exiting the ship. T-502 and R6 began to follow, before being told to stop.
The Sith explained to his droids that he did not need them where he was going, and that it was better that they stay with the ship as he went off on his job. Oh, and that if they deviated from his orders and left the ship or surrounding area, he would hunt them down and have them melted for scrap.
With the droids sufficiently threatened (though only T-502 needed to be threatened, R6 was always literal with the execution of an order or command. One always needed to be careful with their wording with that Astromech), the Sith stepped down from his starship, his boots hitting the landing pad with a hard thud,
He quickly transferred vessels, boarding the Emissary-Class Shuttle. Taking off, he quickly made his way towards the upper atmosphere, as the built-in pilot droid made the calculations to make its way to Palanhi. As he waited for the trip to complete its duration, he made his way to the main cabin, sitting down on the floor, entering a meditative pose. He would need to meditate on the Force and hope for some insight to the world he was about to visit.
To his great fortune… the Force saw fit to grant him a vision.
~~~~~
At first, there was a haze, heavily negating any ability to see anything. There was no sound either. Slowly, that began to change.
“What brings you to Tython…?” Asked a strange voice, echoing into oblivion. It was the voice of a male, though that was all that could be discerned.
“You look familiar… Do I know you?” Asked a female voice, now female.
“Drop your lightsaber…” The first voice said, now dosed with anger and hostility, followed by the ignition of a lightsaber. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”
“I should have killed you when I had the chance!” Screamed the female voice, heavy with rage.
“Y-you… you killed them?” Rang out the first voice, now more calm, seemingly on the verge of tears.
Then the vision became clearer, allowing for sight to be added to the mix.
There were three figures standing amidst the ruins of an ancient temple, though a temple of what? That much wasn’t clear. They were all wearing the standard garb of the Jedi, but they all seemed to be at odds with each other. They all had lightsabers drawn, two were green, and the third was yellow.
Quickly, the three began to fight, rapidly shifting their attention between themselves, based on who was striking at who.
“You damned liar!” Roared the first voice from earlier. “How could you?!”
“Because I had a job to do!” The second voice shouted back in response, “And because I could!”
“Stay out of this!” Shouted a voice. It was Loharr’s.
The form that his voice had come from reached out, Pushing the other figure wielding a green lightsaber off the edge of the ruins.
Then the vision altered itself again.
Now, the three of them were standing along a ruined balcony, overrun with vines and foliage, a waterfall falling in the middle. The first figure was leaning up against the wall, clutching his side. The second figure was sprawled out on the ground, still as death, but whether or not she was dead was unclear. Loharr was standing over her, green lightsaber in one hand, yellow in the other.
The vision made one final alteration. The ruins were gone, instead showing what appeared to be the inside of a cantina.
“Now…” Loharr said, looking to the first figure, “Have you thought about what I said?”
~~~~~
~~Location: Palanhi System, Fakir Sector, The Colonies~~
The vision ended, leaving Loharr confused. What the hell just happened? What did he just see? Who were those two he was fighting? It seemed that instead of granting him clarity, the Force thought it would’ve been better to introduce confusion.
He looked up, looking forward through the viewport of the cockpit some several meters ahead, to be greeted by the sight of Palanhi.
At least another leg of his journey was complete.
He stood up, making his way to sit next to the pilot droid. The descent to the planet was uneventful, but at least the droid put the shuttle down in the highest populated area on the planet. That just meant that finding a Jedi might be easier. Or would it be harder due to the increased population density?
Regardless, he made his way to the back of the shuttle, where he figured the probe droid was, and lo and behold, there it was. He couldn’t quite tell what model it was, but it was functioning, and that was the least he could ask for, considering Reidric typically treated droids like garbage.
Activating the droid, he led it outside and gave it the search parameters for locating a Jedi, then he let it free to begin its search.
Before he could be questioned by any security officers, he left. He needed to quickly find a Jedi in order for his story to check out. He didn’t exactly look the part, being dressed in mainly black and dark gray. He needed the correct clothes to sell his new persona correctly.
Besides, what was that old adage? ‘New day, new me?’
~~4 Weeks Later~~
Damn! This was harder than it looked. He was so close to the New Jedi Order homeworld of Tython, yet neither he nor his probe droid had been able to locate a Jedi of any caliber. It was midday, the sun was high in the sky, partially blocked by several plumes of volcanic smoke from distant volcanoes.
He had since been able to get a change of clothes, now looking like a civilian instead of a Sith… or at the very least a Dark Side practitioner.
As he strode down the busy street of the business district of the city, the looming shadow of the Central Bank nearly casting a shadow upon him, he turned down an alley to head to the cantina he had made a habit of frequenting (strictly for water and meals, mind you), but before he could enter the cantina, his comm trilled, signalling that he had received a signal.
He stopped and opened the channel, revealing a holo of a map from the probe droid that he had been using. It was broadcasting its location along with one simple message.
“Jedi Found.” It said.
Perfect.
He turned around and began to make his way over to where the probe droid was. As he did this, details began to roll in about the Jedi. Human, middle aged, average height. Blonde hair, pale skin, but the most important detail came last. A single lightsaber.
It took maybe 20 minutes for him to travel all the way over to where the probe droid was broadcasting, and the exact location of the Jedi was quite clear. There seemed to be a crime scene, with a Jedi overseeing the area. Whatever it was, it was related to the New Jedi Order somehow.
That was of no use to him.
Keeping a healthy distance from the scene, well ingrained into the crowd, he watched as they worked. When the Jedi moved his position, so did Loharr. It was too high profile around here to do anything. He needed to think of something to lure the Jedi away. Luckily for him, he currently had a droid he could use for just that purpose.
He contacted his probe droid and gave it instructions for it to give to the Jedi at the scene. What were the instructions? For him to meet someone to help clear up the details of the incident the Jedi was investigating.
A simple deception to be sure, but with the sketchiness of the delivery, it was sure to be enticing enough for the Jedi to follow.
With the message sent off, he turned and left the crowd, making an indirect path towards the location he sent the Jedi. It took several minutes, but by now, he was sure that the droid had delivered the message, and so he waited.
What was the location?
A simple warehouse near the crime scene. It wasn’t full, but it wasn’t empty either. There were plenty of dark places to hide and conceal his identity, but he stayed in the light. He didn’t want to give off dark vibes… at least not yet.
Pacing in a general area, he soon heard the distant closing of a warehouse door. There was also sensation, like a pulse, through the Force. It was the Jedi. Ceasing his pacing, Loharr stood in wait as the Jedi approached the light.
“I was told you had details regarding my investigation” The Jedi said, who appeared to be younger than Loharr by a few years, “But now that I am here, I feel something else…”
“That is correct...” Loharr said, “But it was a lie”
“What do you mean?” The Jedi asked.
“I have no details regarding your investigation.” He answered, igniting his emerald, green lightsaber. “I just needed to get you away from the crowd.
“So the Force led me true… you are a Dark Side practitioner.” He said.
“Correct, but first, my name is Kalus Nadd…” Loharr said, solidifying his stance on his false persona. “And you are…?
“Daltren Kadlond.” He answered, igniting a green lightsaber in response.
“Perfect.” Loharr said, lunging forward, slashing at Daltren with a powerful strike.
He wasn’t looking to play around this time.
Daltren was barely able to raise his lightsaber to meet Loharr’s in time and stumbled backwards. He Pushed forward at Loharr with the Force, before charging forward himself, attempting to stab at Loharr.
“Sloppy…” Loharr said, taking an uncharacteristic moment to comment on his opponent’s skills as he raised a Defensive shield against the Push.
Loharr effortlessly sidestepped out of the way of the green lightsaber, quickly striking downwards at Daltren’s wrist. The young Jedi was too slow to react to the attack, and soon let out a pained howl as his hand and lightsaber dropped to the floor.
Reacting quickly, he reached forward with the Force, gripping the young Jedi’s throat, and began to squeeze. The sound of Daltren choking soon replaced the sound of the scream he had let out, as Loharr took a step closer.
“You’ve seen my face… you know my name…” Loharr told the young Jedi. “And now you shall know death.”
Igniting the concealed light dagger on his left wrists, he thrust it forward, piercing Daltren’s throat, before turning it off, and letting the body drop to the ground.
Seizing the opportunity, Loharr quickly deactivated his lightsaber and began to switch clothes with the now dead, young Jedi. Several minutes later, he was now dressed in the garb of the Jedi. Picking up Daltren’s lightsaber, he clasped it to his belt, alongside his own.
Daltren Kadlond. He would need to remember that name.
Now that he had the clothes, he made a beeline for his shuttle, recalling the probe droid as he did. Instructing the pilot droid to set a course for Tython. It was now a critical part of his mission. While he looked the part and could most certainly play the part, if any of the Jedi looked his name and records up in their database, they would soon find that ‘Kalus Nadd’ didn’t exist.
After all, if it wasn’t in their records, it didn’t exist.
As the pilot droid began on the flight to Tython, Loharr loaded up a blank datastick and began to give ‘Kalus Nadd’ a record for the New Jedi Order. Nothing too extravagant, just a simple service record.
Serving at the Temple at Monastery as a Seeker, he was almost never at the Temple. He was trained as a youngling, but when he became a Padawan, he was not assigned a Master, and was instead relegated to Seeker duties after spending half a decade as an Archivist.
He based the format off of the way the Sith did their records back at the Academy, so he wasn’t entirely sure it was accurate, but he could always fix the formatting later. For now, his trip to Tython would be tense.
~~Location: Tython, Deep Core~~
This flight was considerably shorter than the others previously undergone during this mission. That was just basic physics really. Tython was far closer to Palanhi, than Dantooine was to Palanhi, or Stygeon Prime to Dantooine.
As they approached the planet, Loharr began to focus on the Force, as a tool to conceal his alignment in the Force. He hadn’t used this with Daltren because there wasn’t a need to, but here on Tython, he would be surrounded by Jedi and couldn’t risk the exposure.
Upon receiving clearance at the Temple on Tython, Loharr exited his shuttle and began to head inside. He greeted as many Jedi as greeted him (just to keep appearances up) and made his way straight to the archives. Which was really simple to get to, a lot easier than he expected.
Not wanting to miss his chance here, he made his way to the far back of the archives, as far back as he could get, to keep from prying eyes, and sat down at a computer terminal.
Setting the datastick into the computer, he brought up the file he had made to codify the lie of ‘Kalus Nadd’, and added it to the Jedi database. He honestly expected their firewalls and security to be harder to beat. He only knew the simple things about slicing, just enough to open locked doors and the like. So really, how easily he added ‘Kalus Nadd’ to the roster, was embarrassing.
With his Jedi persona now codified into their records, Loharr stood up and began to leave the archives, but before he could, he heard a voice call out from behind him.
“Hey, excuse me!” The voice rang out. Something about it was familiar. “You forgot your datastick at the desk.”
Loharr turned around, almost cursing himself for such shoddy luck. But when he finally cast his sight on the face of the source of the voice, he froze. Dark brown hair and tanned skin, a rather common combination really, but the face seemed to cement Loharr’s realization.
The Jedi who was approaching him was one of the two Jedi from his vision, all those weeks earlier.
“Did you hear me?” The Jedi asked, holding up the datastick. “You forgot this.”
Loharr stood there, momentarily dumbfounded, until the Jedi spoke up again.
“Hey… Anyone there?” The Jedi asked, waving his hand in front of Loharr’s face, “You forgot this.”
He held out the datastick and Loharr seemed to snap to. He wouldn’t normally be thrown off by this, but something felt off about this Jedi. It was almost… familiar.
“Ah, yes.” Loharr said, reaching out to take the datastick. “Thank you. It’s so unlike me to forget these things.”
“Not a problem…” The Jedi said, “I was just researching a planet from the Outer Rim, Da…” His voice trailed off.
“What planet?” Loharr asked, “D’qar? Dathomir? Dagobah?”
“Da-” He started, before he was interrupted by a woman’s voice.
“Kalus, what are you doing here?” The voice asked, as both Loharr and the Jedi turned to face its origins, but before Loharr could respond, the Jedi did. It was the woman from the vision, but that was not all. Now that he was really seeing it, the details all matched up. Dark hair, steely blue eyes, freckles, and a fair complexion… This was her. This was Talasi Stalar, the Jedi who killed his parents.
“Nothing, Master Talasi…” He answered, lowering his head, almost as if he were hiding something. “I was just helping… er… what was your name?”
Loharr was quite stumped here. Through some cosmic coincidence, this Jedi’s name was the same one he had chosen for a disguise name. Not only that, but the one he ached to kill had practically walked up to him, as if served up on a silver platter. He would attempt to kill her now if he could, but as he was surrounded by Jedi no matter where he looked, that would be quite ill-advised. But enough thinking, he needed to respond.
“Kalus Nadd, a Seeker from Monastery.” Loharr answered, after a brief (albeit subtle) pause.
“What brings you to Tython, then?” Kalus asked Loharr.
“Just a bit of research. Tython has better records than Monastery.”
“Another Kalus, eh?” Master Talasi asked, crossing her arms.
“So it would seem, Master Talasi.” Loharr answered.
“I’m no Master… Just a Seeker like yourself.” She humbly replied, “Just young Kalus’ Master. He is my Padawan.”
“It is unlike Seekers to take on a Padawan Learner…” Loharr interjected.
“Indeed it is, but young Kalus’ has shown exceptional prowess in the Force.” Talasi explained, “Though his skill with lightsaber combat is lacking, though I won’t complain about that. We are Jedi after all, we prefer peace.”
Hearing that statement alone was enough to send a tingle up Loharr’s spine. Who was this Jedi? Why did the Force show his face to him with Talasi’s? Better yet, what were they all fighting about in that vision?
“... Don’t you agree, Kalus? Kalus…?” Talasi inquired, waving a hand in front of Loharr’s face. “Anybody home?”
“Apologies…” Loharr said, shaking his head a bit, “Lost in my thoughts is all.”
“I said that honing one's abilities through the Force is important, maybe even more so than combative prowess.” Talasi repeated, “Don’t you agree?”
“It is of my opinion that both are important, and focusing on more than one may result in a substantially shortened lifespan…” Loharr answered, “But I do hate to cut this conversation short, but I have had a long journey from Monastery and I would like to take some time and rest.”
“Of course, Kalus.” Talasi said, “Perhaps we can have the chance to talk later?”
“Perhaps we can, yes.” Loharr said, tipping his head. “Have a nice evening.”
Loharr began to walk away, and as he did, he overheard Talasi and Kalus speaking, but the details were too obscure for him to care about them. As he got further away, the level of their speech got audibly weaker, but as he approached the corner to leave the archives, Talasi spoke up just a little louder.
“That is not your decision to make, Padawan Talem!” She exclaimed.
That statement made Loharr stop in his tracks and turn his head to face the two once more. He was sure what he had heard, but could not believe it. He refused to believe it.
Was that young Jedi’s name really Kalus Talem…?
~~The Next Day~~
A bright beam of light shone across the room, painting the floor and walls with a bright, golden-yellow hue. Opening his eyes slowly, the beam of light across his face washed over his eyes, piercing his corneas and illuminating his iris'. Causing the normally, seemingly dark brown iris to turn to a lighter, brown color.
Sitting up and taking in his surroundings, as the light beam left his face, returning his eyes to the appearance they normally were. He looked around the room. There was a large window that covered one of the walls. Outside the window, the cityscape of a planet that he did not recognize. The walls were a brighter, more neutral color.
It was definitely not the same room he fell asleep in the night before. He didn't like the paint scheme. Too bright. The brightness hurt his eyes.
Standing up from the bed, Loharr stretched. Lowering his arms for a moment, he reached his left hand out to Pull the two lightsaber hilts from the nightstand. He placed his own lightsaber on his belt, but placed the lightsaber he acquired from the deceased Daltren Kadlond in his sleeve, on the same forearm which held his concealed lightdagger.
Looking around the room once more to ensure that he was not forgetting anything. Ah! His portable holocommunicator. He so hated going anywhere without it. A habit that was pounded into his head through years of training and close calls back on Dantooine, and when Dana was still alive. He could say that he missed her, but the truth was, he was glad she was dead.
Proud to have killed her himself.
She had betrayed every ideal, every moral that she had spent nearly half a decade instilling into his head. The look on her face when he killed her will forever be etched into his consciousness. The face of a traitor, forever remembered as such.
But enough about remembering the past, he had a task to accomplish.
Making his way out of his temporary quarters, courtesy one Talasi Stalar (he learned her full name later, having been found and told of the temporary accommodations via courier droid), he made his way to the archives once more. For while he did have a desire to kill Talasi Stalar, he needed to do some more research. Specifically, on Kalus… the one whom Talasi called ‘Padawan Talem’.
Who was he?
Well, he would soon find out.
Finding a computer terminal somewhere in the back of the archives, the disguised Sith took a seat. Setting himself up for a lengthy research session, he got to work. Little did he know that what he was about to find out… would make his blood boil.
First, to find out more about Kalus, he searched the name Kalus Talem. He even put the honorific of ‘Padawan’ beforehand to make the search go by even quicker. Luckily for him, only 3 names showed up on the list. At the bottom of the list, was a picture of himself, under the name of ‘Kalus Nadd’. The second name was in fact, Kalus Talem. It was accompanied by a photo, confirming that it was the Padawan he had conversed with the day before.
Before he selected that file, his eyes scrolled up, to the name at the top of the list.
‘Kalus Talem’. It was the same name completely, but the file was older. Out of his own curiosity, he opened the file. The contents of the file were surprising… and almost melancholic. The details were short… too short. Almost as if many of the details were redacted.
‘Kalus Talem, born 98 ABY, on the Inner Rim world of Onderon. Brought to Tython Temple in 99 ABY by Seeker Rhidil Inti. Began Padawan training in 107 ABY under Jedi Master Chazi Mevka. Graduated into Knighthood in 118 ABY. Took on Padawan Jawar Tuzo in 119 ABY. Rose to rank of Jedi Master in 127 ABY, upon Jawar Tuzo’s Knighting. Left the Order of his own volition later in 127 ABY due to disagreements with the Council. Killed in house fire in 138 ABY.’
The file was more than he had ever heard about his fathers’ past. It was… incredible. Or at least it would be if not for that last line. ‘Killed in house fire in 138 ABY.’ The year that Talasi Stalar came and killed his parents. If this line was false, what other parts of this record were false? Was it all false? Or was it simply just the end of the record?
Shaking his head slightly, as if to shake himself from this distraction, he went back to the previous page where ‘Padawan Kalus Talem’ was, leaving behind the file for ‘Master Kalus Talem’. He opened the file for this other ‘Kalus Talem’, and began to read into it. This file was far more detailed than the last.
‘Kalus Talem, born 138 ABY, on the Outer Rim world of Dantooine. Brought to Tython Temple in 136 ABY by Seeker Talasi Stalar, after discovering the young infant in the wreckage of the burned out farmhouse. Began Padawan Training in 148 ABY, under Jedi Seeker Talasi Stalar, against Council recommendations. In 154 ABY, Padawan Talem began to undergo solo missions on behalf of the Order, seeking out Force Sensitive children to be brought into the Order. Seeker success rate, 67%.’
So… she took him from Dantooine and turned him into a Jedi. That wasn’t the strange part.
The strange part was that he was only 6 years old when his parents were killed. If he had a brother, then surely he would have remembered… right? He couldn’t have forgotten an entire other member of his family.
Or was the trauma of losing his parents the catalyst for some sort of psychological block, repressing memories that would be deemed problematic?
Either way, he had an anger building up inside of him, now fueling his need for vengeance even more than it had before. He needed to get it under control. If he didn’t, his Stealth may not be powerful enough to keep his true nature concealed. Luckily, he had years of practice keeping his emotions in check, so getting his emotions from a rolling boil to a smooth simmer was a piece of cake.
As this research session drew to a close, the disguised Sith grew to realize that he hadn’t eaten since the day prior. So, standing up from the computer terminal and closing the research tabs, he made his way from the archives and towards a spot to get something to eat.
Moving through the temple, Loharr asked around for a spot to get some food. Luckily, he was able to get to where he wanted to go with relative ease. The dining hall of the temple overlooked a large section of jungle below. It was midday, a little after actually, by the time he had arrived.
He queued up for whatever was on the menu and wasn’t surprised in the slightest at what it was. It was a protein nutrients bar, some vitamin spheres, and some water. Very bland, simple, but highly nutritious. Exactly what he expected the Jedi to eat whenever they’re at their temples.
Collecting his small tray of food (though, calling it that was something akin to a courtesy), Loharr headed towards the edge of the balcony to gaze across the sprawling jungle. As he began to eat, a familiar voice had rang out, calling to him.
“Kalus! Hey, Kalus.”
Turning around, Loharr found himself filled with mixed emotions as Kalus was coming up to him. He wanted to do something. Hug, punch… something. But obviously, that would be quite suspicious, and draw severely unwanted attention onto himself.
“Greetings, Kalus.” Loharr said, taking a sip of his water. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, how about yourself?” Kalus asked.
“Well… I’ve spent all day doing research, so getting to stand and stretch is an improvement…” Loharr answered, “Also, finally getting around to eating.”
“It’s good to hear you’re getting around.” He said, “So what were you researching?”
“I’m just looking into Dantooine.” Loharr lied, “I haven’t been there since I was an infant, and I guess I was just feeling homesick.”
Loharr was hoping that this lie would be enough to draw Kalus in, as inquisitive as he seemed.
“Dantooine, eh? Why? Is that your home planet too?”
Perfect.
“It is.” Loharr said, seeing no reason to lie about that.
“Ah, interesting.” Kalus commented, “Perhaps we can talk about it later? Master Stalar is expecting me in the courtyard for a lesson soon.”
With that tidbit of information, Loharr got an idea.
“Sounds perfect.” He said, as he pointed to a rather distant ruin, barely visible through the jungle canopy. “Why don’t we meet at those ruins come sundown? I’ll be meditating out that way anyways, so it lines up.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Kalus said, heading off. “Enjoy your lunch!”
“Will do.” Loharr answered, a smirk appearing on his face.
As Kalus disappeared into the distance and around the corner, Loharr was able to catch a glimpse of his lightsaber. Which gave Loharr a fantastic idea with how to proceed.
Finishing up his meal, if one could actually call it that, Loharr made his way through the temple once more, now finding himself at the entrance. Going for a walk around the temple, until he found himself underneath the balcony of the dining hall. He remembered where the ruins were, in relation to his own position, and so he headed out.
The jungle wasn’t as dense as it had appeared up on the balcony, but it was still quite thick. It took him a while to reach the ruins, which were a lot more intact than they had appeared before. He made his way up a long flight of stairs, where there seemed some sort of ritualistic brazier that had long since been snuffed out.
He walked up to the unlit brazier, and knelt down, entering into a meditative state. He had a lot to talk about with Kalus, a lot. He even had a trick up his sleeve to help Kalus believe what he had planned to tell him.
As he meditated, he felt the sun becoming less and less brilliant, the temperature around him dropping to compensate for the loss of sunlight. It was sundown finally.
Then, almost as if rehearsed, Loharr heard the sound of distant footsteps. He opened his eyes and stood up, but he wasn’t pleased. There were two sets of footsteps. Turning around, he saw the origins of them. He wasn’t pleased at all.
Talasi Stalar was there. It seemed that Kalus had brought her along to this meeting, which definitely put a damper on things.
“Good afternoon, Kalus.” Loharr said, “Glad you could make it.”
“Yeah, so am I.” Talasi said, “He almost didn’t finish his lesson in time.”
“You said you wanted to talk about Dantooine?” Kalus inquired, “Were you serious?”
“Quite… but does she need to be here for this?” Loharr asked, “It’s just a conversation about a planet.”
“I trust her… she is the ONLY one I trust.” Kalus said.
“Ok, fine.” Loharr said, pulling his lightsaber off his belt. “Only makes this next part more fun…”
There was an air of near-tangible suspense in the air as neither Kalus nor Talasi knew what was going on, but soon that suspense would be broken. Before Talasi could react or Kalus respond, Loharr had tossed the weapon across the gap between them, allowing the Jedi Padawan to catch it with ease.
He stood there, dumbfounded.
“What is this?” Kalus asked.
“Go ahead and take a real close look at it.” Loharr answered, “Trust me, you’ll want to.”
Kalus, genuinely curious as to what Loharr meant by that, looked down and began to examine the lightsaber. Talasi also attempted to try and get a view of the weapon, but Kalus’ torso blocked her line of sight. There was a few moments of silence, before Kalus looked back up at Loharr, a wide range of mixed emotions across his face.
“Wha… what is the meaning of this?” He asked, “Why does this look like my lightsaber?”
“Because someone has been keeping a secret from you, Kalus.” Loharr said, “And it’s time you’ve been told the truth…”
“What do you mean that someone has been keeping a secret from me?” Kalus asked, looking over the lightsaber that Loharr had tossed to him, before turning his attention to Talasi. “Master Stalar…?”
Talasi stepped up to her Padawan, putting her hand on his shoulder, but keeping eye contact with Loharr.
“Don’t listen to him, Kalus, he is trying to sow the seeds of distrust in you.” She said, her hand subtly reaching down to her lightsaber, unbeknownst to Kalus, “Seeker Nadd, you will stand down this instant.”
“No… I don’t think I will.” Loharr said, “Not until I’ve said my piece to Kalus.”
There was a tense silence between the three. Then Talasi narrowed her eyes at Loharr.
“You look familiar… Do I know you?” Talasi asked, stepping further forward, now in front of Kalus.
“We have met before in the past, yes.” Loharr said, well aware of the fact that Talasi had her hand on her weapon. “But I was far younger at the time, not nearly the man I am today.”
“Then do tell…” Talasi said, moving to step in front of Kalus. “Who are you?”
“Well, I can guarantee you haven’t heard my name… or if you had, you wouldn’t remember it.” Loharr said, taking an ominous step forward. “But perhaps, Seeker Stalar, you would remember the name of my father…”
“Oh yeah? And who was your father?” She asked, as Kalus moved to her left, trying to get around her.
“Kalus Talem.” Loharr said, his face slightly contorting with rage.
Kalus was confused. Why did this stranger just say his name? And why did Talasi look like she was struggling to keep her emotions in check? The silence that had been created was violently broken, as the sound of a lightsaber igniting shattered it.
Talasi charged forward, her golden, yellow lightsaber creating a brilliant arc as it slashed at Loharr. Loharr dropped the lightsaber of Daltren Kadlond from his sleeve, igniting its green blade as he quickly parried the slash, backing up a bit, before quickly rolling his saber forward. The green beam dropped down, before promptly gaining altitude behind Loharr’s back, and he brought the blade down on her.
She let out a shriek of pain as the near-emerald green blade came into contact with her back.
“Drop your lightsaber!” Kalus asked, pulling his lightsaber off his belt, keeping both his and Loharr’s, igniting both blades. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”
A smirk was quickly born on Loharr’s face. He felt the anger rising up in his apparent brother.
“How quaint…” Loharr said, almost in an antagonizing tone. “You think that strike killed her… it was just a glancing blow. She is only playing dead…”
Then, almost as if on cue, Talasi sprang up at Loharr, kicking at him as she propelled herself off the ground with her arms. He stepped to the side, avoiding the kick by a significant margin. Getting a little tired of being interrupted, Loharr threw his left hand towards Talasi, expelling a pulse of Force Energy at her, with the intention of Pushing her away.
To his great shock, it worked phenomenally, as she was thrown several meters backwards.
“Now…” Loharr said, rolling his lightsaber. “May I continue speaking to Kalus? Or are you going to keep interrupting me?”
“You little…!” She began as she shambled to her feet, before Kalus had put his hand up.
“Master Stalar, wait!” He said, “Let him continue…”
“He is not speaking the truth, he is attempting to draw you towards the Dark Side!” She exclaimed.
This put a sour taste in Loharr’s mouth.
“I’m actually not…” Loharr said, turning to face Talasi. “My mission was to kill you… Kalus didn’t have anything to do with my original plan, as I didn’t know he existed. He wants answers, so I will give them to him.”
“Ok then…” Kalus began, “Let’s start with your name.”
This was a simple enough request.
“My name is Loharr Talem, not Kalus Nadd. I chose that name in order to go undercover as a Jedi.” Loharr explained.
“Ok… how about why you’re here?” He asked, “Why do you want to kill Master Stalar?”
“Revenge, plain and simple… at first. Recent developments have shown that it wasn’t nearly as simple as I initially thought.”
“Revenge...? Revenge against what?”
“She murdered my parents in cold blood back on Dantooine.”
“Murdered…?” Kalus asked, lowering his lightsabers just slightly, before his attention returned to his questions. “And my fathers’ name… Why did you say it?”
“Surely you must’ve put two and two together by this point…” Loharr said, “My name is Loharr Talem, your name is Kalus Talem, the same as my fathers… and yours…”
“Don’t listen to him! He is lying.” Talasi screeched, jumping in front of Kalus, as if protecting him.
“Am I lying?” Loharr asked, taking a single step forward. “Or did you attack my parents after they refused to let you take me to the Jedi Temple on this planet? Admit it! You killed them and burned their home down around their bodies to hide your crimes.”
In a split second, Talasi was now across the gap between Kalus and Loharr, slashing her weapon at the Sith. Loharr quickly brought his weapon up to block it.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance!” She screamed, her voice thick with rage. “I was fortunate to have found this little brat in the ashes. That way I didn’t need to explain to the Council why I had failed.”
“Y-you… you killed them?” Kalus asked, his voice softening, almost as if he were about to cry. “My parents are dead… because of you?! The report said they died in a house fire.”
“Oh shut up!” Talasi hissed, throwing a Push back at Kalus, throwing the unprepared Padawan off his feet. “You believed it this whole time because that’s what I told you.”
As Kalus was thrown backwards, he had let go of the two lightsabers, and the two metallic cylinders clattered onto the stone floor behind him. Talasi turned her attention back to Loharr, as she Pushed at him, trying to knock him off balance. The Sith fully expected something like this, as she had just Pushed away her Padawan Learner.
She pulled her saber back, to immediately slash at Loharr horizontally before bringing it back and slashing vertically, from head to toe. Loharr’s response was simple. He brought his lightsaber forward to meet the first slash, its vertical blade screeching as it came into contact with Talasi’s horizontal blade. Moving quickly, he left hand gripped the hilt of the weapon, as it spun around, hovering over his head, now horizontal as Talasi’s vertical strike came crashing down.
As this happened, the distinct sound of a lightsaber igniting could be heard, as behind Talasi, Kalus had recovered from her Push, and was now charging at her.
“You damned liar!” He roared, slashing at his Masters’ waist. “How could you?!”
Talasi pushed back at Loharr, kicking him in the gut, forcing him to stumble backwards as she turned around to block Kalus’ attack.
“Because I had a job to do!” Talasi screeched, “And because I could!”
Loharr had since recovered and was ready to fight once more. Focusing the Force into his legs, he burst forward, Speeding towards the Seeker, looking to quickly impale her. She reacted too quickly though, moving just out of the way in barely enough time.
Kalus had to react now, as Loharr’s lightsaber was on a direct path to impale him. He moved his lightsaber down, quickly deflecting the blade that was coming straight for his gut.
Loharr felt the route his lightsaber was taking take a detour, suddenly forced off course, having been deflected to the left side.Taking the momentum in stride, he spun around, refocusing his attention on Talasi.
Seeing this attack coming, she Pushed at Loharr. He couldn’t get a Defense up quickly enough, and so was thrown from his feet. Talasi turned her attention back to Kalus.
“You just had to be a curious one, didn’t you?” She exclaimed, as she opened her left hand, reaching through the Force, picking him up by the throat.
Kalus began to choke, struggling to breathe. His hands began to shudder and shake, dropping his lightsaber as he reached up towards his neck, grasping at something that simply wasn’t there to grab.
He looked down at his Masters’ face through strained eyes. He saw a face that could only be enjoyment. This couldn’t be the woman who had found him. Not the one who raised him with such kindness and tact. His vision was beginning to fade and he could feel himself drifting out of consciousness. He didn’t know this detail, but his face was turning blue from lack of oxygen.
“Let him go!” Loharr shouted, throwing his lightsaber towards Talasi, having focused on it to keep the activator switch pressed.
The green blade spun violently through the air, forcing Talasi to release her grip on Kalus to counteract the incoming attack. Kalus hit the ground with a solid thud, coughing and sputtering, struggling to catch his breath. Talasi easily deflected the lightsaber that Loharr had thrown and it came whirling back towards the Sith.
Talasi lunged forward, trying to cover the distance between the two, holding her lightsaber with both hands.
Loharr almost let himself smirk, but that would have given away his plan. The first part was undoubtedly getting Talasi away from Kalus. The second, involved the lightsaber that Kalus had used at the start of this interaction. Not his own lightsaber, but the one that Loharr had used to begin the conversation. His fathers’ lightsaber.
Loharr reached out through the Force, feeling for the lightsaber. To anyone else, it would’ve looked like he was pulling the first lightsaber back to him. After about a half-second, Loharr had a grip on the weapon and pulled it back towards him. As an added bonus, he manipulated the Force towards the activator switch and pressed it, turning the weapon on.
Talasi, hearing another lightsaber turn on, turned around, expecting Kalus to have recovered, but he remained on the ground. By the time that she had saw the incoming lightsaber, raising her own to deflect it, it was too late.
The pain wasn’t immediate. Nor was the realization. There was the sound of a lightsaber being swung, but she thought it was hers at first. But when she moved her hand to deflect the incoming lightsaber, her eyes failed to register a yellow blade. She looked around in confusion for a few, brief moments, she looked down at her hand. Or at the very least, where her hand used to be.
The scent of charred flesh filled her nostrils as the pain, like a damn releasing the floodwaters, flared up. Howling in pain, she dropped to her knees. She turned around, quickly, only to see Loharr ominously approaching her, two lightsabers in his hands.
It seemed that he only used the second lightsaber as a distraction. It worked gloriously.
She looked at him, at his eyes. They were not the brown eyes that he had previously had, but instead they were yellow and red, showing his anger. His steps were slow, intentional. His rage was seeping into the air around him. He had been keeping up his Stealth this whole time, but now with his rage being as high as it was, he was sure that at least some Jedi in the nearby temple could feel his presence.
Kalus looked up, watching Loharr approach Talasi. He could feel the anger and rage flowing from the Sith, like it was crawling over his skin. Poking and prodding, trying to find a way in. It felt… foreign, invasive. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
Loharr stopped just before reaching Talasi, but knew that she was well within striking range of the lightsabers.
“Wait!” Kalus exclaimed, reaching out to do something. What exactly, he wasn’t sure of. “Don’t kill her!”
“Stay out of this!” Loharr exclaimed, Pushing Kalus with the Force.
The momentum from the Push was moderate in strength, but more than plenty to throw Kalus from the ruins. Loharr wasn’t sure how deep it was exactly, but he did remember it from when he entered. They weren’t deep enough to kill him if he was smart about it. Loharr turned his attention back to Talasi, who was now crawling away from him.
He stepped forward, slamming his heel into the back of her thigh. She screamed out in pain, rolling over involuntarily. Loharr turned off his lightsabers, putting them on his belt.
He had spent years imagining this very moment. What he would do, what SHE would do. So far, this entire interaction has gone nothing like he envisioned. His daydreams certainly never involved finding a long lost relative. But now that he was here, in this moment, inches away from achieving his lifelong goal of revenge, he knew exactly what to do.
He reached his hand out, Pulling with the Force. But not on Talasi, no. That would be far too obvious. He pulled her lightsaber to him. The simplistic, metal cylinder flew to his hand. There was a barely audible slapping sound, as the chill of metal bit his hand.
“I have waited…” Loharr said, examining the lightsaber in his hand. “So… very long… for this…”
“You’re pathetic!” Talasi spat, “Too afraid to kill me.”
“You’re right…” Loharr said, leaning over a bit. “I am afraid… afraid that I will end this too quickly.”
Before saying another word, he tightened his grip on the metal cylinder, and swung it forward.
There was a satisfying crack as the deactivated lightsaber smashed into her face. There was a small spray of blood paired with a scream of pain. Then another as he swung the weapon again. He continued to swing the weapon and it continuously made contact with Talasi’s face.
With each swing, came another spatter of blood (which were increasingly more and more grotesque) and another scream. After about a minute of repeatedly bashing her face with her own weapon, he stopped.
Her face was a gross mess, completely unrecognizable. A puddle of blood had formed around her head, and her blood had coated the upper half of her lightsaber and spatter was all over Loharr’s hand. Panting heavily, he leaned down, grabbing a tuft of her hair and pulled her into an upright position. He moved his head next to hers and whispered.
“At one point in my life, you stole my life… and now I will steal yours.” He said, pulling her head back.
Taking the lightsaber and moving it towards her face, he pushed the weapon into her mouth, emitter first. He pushed it deeper and deeper, forcing her to cough and gag in response. As he pushed it even further, he stopped before the activator switch was in her mouth. She was gagging so violently by this point, that she vomited.
It spewed all over, spraying Loharr’s torso and even flowed over her chin, down her neck. Her eyes were bulging, turning read. Tears streaming down her face. Admittedly, it was more than a little difficult to tell they were tears, with all the blood. With no reason left to stall, Loharr flipped the activator switch.
There was no scream. There was no sound.
Hard to make sounds with one's voice box being completely incinerated. The golden, yellow blade pierced through organs, bone, and flesh. Ripping through her body, coming out of the bottom of her toso.
“And now it ends…” Loharr said, slamming her head down.
The golden lightsaber blade swung backwards and up, tearing through her back, obliterating her spine in the process. The lightsaber blade was now protruding back of her head. Finishing things off, Loharr pulled the lightsaber out, moving it to the right, tearing it through the left side of her skull.
Her body fell backwards, thudding to the ground. As it did, Kalus was cresting the edge of the ruins where Loharr had pushed him off of. He recovered, panting moderately. He looked over towards Loharr, his robes covered in excessive blood spatter and dribbles of vomit. His eyes traced down, towards Talasi’s body.
“Y-you… you killed her…” He said, fear heavy in his voice.
“Yep…” Loharr said, throwing the bloodied lightsaber into the air, spinning it a few times before catching it.
“You murdered her!” He shouted, his fear turning to anger.
“Yeah well… she started it.” Loharr answered, wiping some blood from his face.
“I’ll kill you!” Kalus exclaimed, stomping a few feet forward.
“But you won’t.” Loharr told him, almost cocky.
“And how do you figure that?”
“Because you and I have a lot to talk about…”
~~6 Weeks Later~~
~~Location: Talem Farmstead, Mosa Plains, Dantooine~~
There was silence in the air. Well, not total silence, but there were no artificial sounds being made. Loharr sat at a table, an open window to his left. He was looking out of it, as a small breeze came in.
As he looked across the plains, he saw the sight of an incoming starship. He felt a sense of accomplishment. Or was it relief? He wasn’t sure.
He watched as the ship came in to land, turning on its yaw-axis so the loading ramp was facing the house. The ramp opened and a figure stepped out.
He now knew which feeling it was that he felt. Relief. It was definitely relief.
Still glancing outside as he heard the door open up, he listened carefully. The sound of a single pair of boots approached, getting closer and closer to the table.
There was the sound of a chair getting pulled back, the legs scraping and groaning against the floor. There was a soft exhale as the figure took a seat, but he nor Loharr made a sound. Neither of them spoke, just taking a moment… just existing.
Then, after several minutes of communications silence, Kalus spoke up.
“So…” He said, looking around. “This is the place, eh?”
“This is the place.” Loharr answered, “The place where our parents lived. The place we were born. The place we had our lives ripped away from us.”
Kalus was silent.
“Sure looks like it wasn’t burned down…” He said, “No sign of any kind…”
“I spent a long time renovating.” Loharr answered, “No less than 3 years pay went to purchasing the Farm back and rebuilding the house from the ashes.”
“Do I even want to know what job offered enough pay for that…?” Kalus inquired.
Loharr turned his head to face his brother, simply raising an eyebrow.
“Do you want a real answer?” Loharr asked.
Kalus was silent again, now contemplating Loharr’s question.
“I’ve been fed lies and half-truths for 19 years… I think it’s time for a full truth for once.”
Loharr nodded. He was glad that Kalus said that.
“I am an Assassin.” Loharr explained, “When I was younger, I worked as a Bounty Hunter. It was dangerous, but it was the best option, given the circumstances.”
“I see…” Kalus said, “I’m sorry…”
“Nothing to apologize about.” Loharr said, “But you and I are here to discuss something more serious… Have you given some thought to what we talked about?”
“I know…” Kalus told him, “And I’ve come to a decision…”
“And what have you decided?” Loharr asked, leaning back and crossing his legs.
There was a moment of stern silence shared between the two. Loharr was apprehensive as he watched Kalus reach down towards his belt, hearing the distinct sound of a lightsaber unclasping from a belt. As a precaution, Loharr subtly unlatched his as well, ready for any possible outcome. Kalus raised his hand, dropping a metal cylinder onto the table with a solid thud.
It was his lightsaber.
“This is the weapon of a Jedi…” Kalus said, “Our father’s weapon, but the weapon of a Jedi, nonetheless. It will not be my weapon.”
“I see…”
“I shall need a new weapon. A weapon befitting my new path…” Kalus told Loharr, as he stood up, holding his hand out. “One I will share with you.”
Loharr didn’t stand. He didn’t take his brother’s hand. He did smile though.
“Then follow me.” Loharr said, standing up, grabbing the lightsaber off the table, and heading for the door.
“Where are we going?” Kalus asked, pulling his hand back and following Loharr.
Loharr stopped at the door, turning around to face Kalus with a smirk.
“To Korriban…”
Definitely anxious to see what happens next!