Yavin

[extras]

(Sorry all thought Drevs was already in republic type prison not the yuuzhan vong kind. I can edit if need be or perhaps Kam knows something about Drevin the other two don't -shrugs- )

"Kam...you don't mean that. Returning him to the Yuuzhan Vong is not only wrong on the level that Kyle suggests, but it could also be losing our best chance at actually learning something from someone who has had first hand experience and survived."

His wife's voice always had a way of softening him. Calming his thoughts. Letting him see the true strength of the force.. The truth of the light.

"I know Tionne. Master Katarn..forgive me." He listened to them speak about interrogating about keeping this darksider secret from the senate. His wife was always more sentimental than he was. He knew all too well the depths of which the shadow of the darkside could take a jedi mind. This one was just one more example of it's corruption..nor would he be the last."

"I would not put much weight in anything Drevin (last name? ) has to say about himself or the invaders."

He had been saved from the darkside this was the truth but it was only because of master skywalker. Kam was forced down his path. This one all but chose it.

"For all we know he inflicted those injuries himself to deceive us."

[darklord]

( OOC No Kam doesnt know anything more about Drevin than anyone else. Trust me. It helps to read the background info )

Drevin floated effortlessly in the bacta tank for some time before finally opening his eyes. The rooms lighting was dim but it still hurt initially and the liquid bacta only made things worse.

While floating in the tank he'd entered into a healing trance in an attempt to discover the source of the head pains that kept recurring. He'd been exerting too much effort over his other injuries to be able to even think about the cause of the head pain before now. But with the bacta doing its job, he'd finally had the chance. His efforts to locate the source had been in vain though, he'd only concluded that there was something inside his head that shouldnt be there and whatever that was, the force could not touch it. Which lead him to only one conclusion. Yuuzhan Vong

He craned his neck to look down at his bare chest, his wounds had been well treated. The tight bandage around his ribs still remained in place, no doubt to prevent his ribs from breaking further. At least the Jedi took better care than the Vong he thought to himself.

He moved his head slightly to look around the small room, the movement causing a 21B medical droid to come hurrying over. Drevin ignored the droids protests and continued to gaze about the small chamber. It was only then that he noticed the shadowed figure sitting silently in he corner.

[Blue but beautiful]

-Posting as Tln'aa Shoolb-

-Garqi, Yuuzhan Vong encampment-

Tln'aa Shoolb relinquishing in a small chamber at the back of an rather unusually disused grashal, glared at the villip on the small coral stand before him. In his right hand, the key-villip that when stimulated would cause the dark Jedi implanted with the surge coral implant, immense pain. It had taken all his efforts to dissipate the broiling anger he felt at his near-death encounter with Commander Shedao Shai earlier that day, and there was no denying the sheer embarrassment he'd felt either.
He needed some answers fast, some that the commander would accept too.

The Jedi had not responded when he had tried to awaken the villip that was paired with the one he held in his possession. Once he could accept, twice - and indeed at a moment like this- was a little more than infuriating.
It was with little more than an after thought then, that he ran a taloned hand over the receptive creature held in his right palm. It reacted instantly, pulsing in his hand with a certain fluidity that betrayed it's sending a signal to it's designated psychic link. And not just once either.

Oh you will answer when I call infidel, even if you die in the process. The intendant thought irritably.

[darklord]

Drevin thrashed wildly in the bacta tank as the intense pain in his skull returned once more. But this time it did not subside. The screeching pain intensified almost causing him to pass out. He screamed in agony through the force as he held his head tightly, kicking wildly at the transparent glass of the tank.

He clawed at his head as if to gauge the thing out as it threatened to end his life. In Drevins fit of rage and pain he lashed out and delved into the darkside to give him the extra strength he needed to hold off this torture. Or to end it permanently. The glass casing around him smashed as he hit out, spilling the bacta all over the floor along with his writhing body.

[extras]

-Posting as Tionne Solusar-

"For all we know he inflicted those injuries himself to deceive us."

Tionne gave a slight nod of acknowledgment, though the impression she had gleaned from Drevin's memories was something else entirely.
"No, we would have known if they ha - " She stopped mid sentence, cut off by a cry of pained anguish in the force so loud it was as though the source was standing next to her. It was then she realized she was partially right.

It went without saying that the others would hear it too, as they would undoubtedly have risen and rushed toward the medbay - not without caution in it's self- all the time trying to ascertain what had happened here.

---

When Tionne arrived on the scene, what she saw before her was a mass of crushed glass shards and a frantic 21B droid attempting to quell or calm the agony stricken Jedi. Drevin twisted and contorted on the ground all the while grasping at his head. That was as good a place as any to start.

Reaching out into the force, she did her best to bolster him in what ways she could - someone would need to hold him down - sending her strength to him. Anything that would alleviate or aid his affliction.
What is it? What is doing this? She sent amid the torrents of pain she had begun to take on herself in an effort to help, it was little aid, but it might just be enough. Weather or not he would answer her, that was another matter entirely.

[darklord]

*** Posting as Kyle Katarn ***

The sight of Drevins body writhing in agony on the floor quickly prompted the Jedi masters to act. Tionne attempted to siphon some of the Dark Jedi's pain while Kyle tried to calm him and hold him still. It wasnt an easy task, the Jedi was strong.

He could see Tionne was struggling with the pain by herself so he added his own presence to the meld. The pain was incredible even shared among the three of them. Kyle managed to pry Drevins hands away from his head and pin him to the ground.

He heard Tionnes plea through the force and Drevin fought against the pain to scream out in anger.

"Yuuzhan...... Vong!!"

A few of the other Jedi present quickly added themselves to the meld, each siphoning away some of the pain.

[darklord]

*** Drevin ***


Drevin had screamed the name as though it was a war cry, pouring all of his hate and anger into it. In that one instant he imagined reaching across the galaxy to Garqi and crushing the entire Yuuzhan vong race in a giant fist and allowing their black blood to trickle through his fingers. They had done this to him and he wanted them to suffer painfully.

But now as the pain and emotion finally subsided, it left him feeling hollow inside. He had felt the jedi each adding their own presence to his, taking away some of the pain. It was gone now, but the source was still there inside his head and Drevin vowed to be rid of it, even if he had to cut it out himself.

He shakily came around and was all too aware of the Jedi around him, all looking startled and a little shaken. Kyle Katarn and Tionne were closest, the former still gripping his wrists tightly, pinning him to the ground. Tionne looked shaken but relieved.

[extras]

-Posting as Tionne Solusar-

"Yuuzhan...... Vong!!"

That confirmed it for them then, this was certainly regarding the present, and whatever it was that was inside of Drevin, it was doing a great deal of damage to his nerves. It was easy to tell someone that it was just pain, so overwhelming was it in intensity that even Tionne had stumbled back when she had taken upon her too much.

With the help of the other masters, together they were able to take the burden, albeit shakily themselves until finally, and none too gently, it subsided without warning.

Catching her breath, relieved, she tried to center herself in the force, feeling the same hollow resonance from the Dark Jedi still prone on the floor.
"That was not us..." she voiced rather breathlessly, they had not stopped the onslaught...more something else had ceased to happen.

Her gaze, though somewhat benign, wavered between Drevin and Kyle. This was so overwhelmingly beyond them that is could happen again at any moment should that...thing...will it. That worried her a lot more than it should. In all her years, all the challenges she had had to face as a Jedi, nothing was more terrifying than the atrocities they were witnessing over the past few months and beyond.

"We should contact Cilghal first chance we get," was her only response for now, shortly followed by, "And you, Drevin, must tell us everything that lead up to this."

There was no hint of reproach in her voice, no threat, just pure concern. This had shaken her worse than she had expected it to...and having him so close to the students....

"Someone should speak to the students too...if there are Yuuzhan Vong on their way, we can't afford to have errant apprentices on training."

[extras]

-posting as Tahiri Veila-
earlier
In the monitor room, Tahiri watched Drevin writhe beneath the glass, breathing painfully. He seemed to be unaware of her presence, perhaps out of exhaustion. The unfamiliar jedi was awake, examining his wounds. She had watched him while he was asleep while dressing the wounds with bacta patch bandages. Although she had not probed his mind; she knew better; Tahiri had felt his untroubled surface thoughts through a smoky haze. She wondered how he felt now.

To her alarm, a white hot stab of anger answered her as she unconsciously nudged him for a reply. She knew something had gone wrong when the man began to thrash violently, pouring out anguished screams, pounding hard against the edges of the tank. The discordant sound of shattered glass filled the holovideo audio feed. He had broken the glass! Tahiri knew what this meant.

A dark jedi!

Tahiri yelped suddenly; had she angered him? The mournful rippling in the Force of his pain was overwhelming. She began to panic, but stopped. A jedi knight is in control of her situation, she thought. Drevin's anger felt intense but aloof; he was cursing someone else, someone other than herself. Was the dark jedi approachable? Tahiri would find out. She quickly sprinted to the monitor room's exit, pressing the hatch release in haste.
*****************************************
The Jedi masters had felt Drevin's suffering too; for they had gathered in the med bay. Tionne was at the scene, Tahiri was glad to see, and he spoke out to the beings gathered in the room. Tahiri was pushed out of the inner circle huddled around him, but felt him clearly through the Force meld.
"Yuuzhan...... Vong!!"
Tahiri recognized the name; Anakin's family had encountered the aliens. She had heard horror stories about the invaders, but had not expected them to approach the Jedi Praxeum! Perhaps it was a relief that she had not angered Drevin, her thoughts relayed to Tionne briefly, but this was worse....

[darklord]

"We should contact Cilghal first chance we get. And you, Drevin, must tell us everything that lead up to this."

Drevin nodded in agreement. He had to tell them, but how much could he reveal? Could he afford to hold anything back at all? In the moments of madness he'd just had it was possible that they could have glimpsed some of the other memories of his time with Tin'aa Shoolb. The ones that he'd kept hidden.

A thought occurred to him then. Could the implant be the work of Tin'aa Shoolb? It was certainly possible, the intendant had been able to get close to him during his unconscious state. Perhaps he even had control over the thing in his head! What if it transmitted images back to the vong? He had no idea how advanced their technology was. Drevins heart began to beat faster as he considered the possibilities. Why else would the intendant have let him go? It all made sense...

If it was a surveillance device then everyone here could be in great trouble. The vong would be able to see everything! He had come here as an agent of the yuuzhan vong, unsure of what side he would take in this war. But now as he lay among the jedi who had saved him, he made his choice.

Perhaps he'd known it all along.

"The... thing inside me..." He trailed off, deciding that it would be best to communicate through the force in case the vong could hear.

'...it could be some form of surveillance device recording everything. If its not removed first then i could be transmitting everything back to the vong.' He spoke through the force with genuine concern now.

It would be just like Tin'aa Shoolb to do something like this.

Curse you and your yuuzhan Vong. You will regret ever coming to my galaxy!

[darklord]

*** Kyle Katarn ***

Kyle understood through the force. That thought hadnt occurred to him before now, but they had no idea what they were dealing with as far as the implant went. The slave seeds that others had encountered seemed to exert their will over their subjects, causing them immense pain if they didnt comply. From what had just occurred with Drevin it would appear that he was fighting against those orders if it was a slave seed. And suffering for it.

But this implant could be a different form all together and could, as Drevin had suggested, be relaying information back to the yuuzhan vong.

Until they removed it, they couldnt afford to take any chances. If it was a slave seed then getting Drevin to reveal everything that had happened to him would probably end up killing him.

They needed Cilghal and fast.

[extras]

-Posting as Tionne Solusar-

Tahiri's sudden entrance confirmed her fears, the rest of the students had no doubt felt the incident too. There would be time to explain it later, and she felt reassurance from Ikrit that he was allaying fears as much as he could right now.

While she was not entirely comfortable with the young Jedi listening to all that would be said here, Tionne felt she could perhaps trust Tahiri not to blab all she had heard to the younger members of the academy. The last thing they needed right now was an endless stream of even bigger curiosity.

'...it could be some form of surveillance device recording everything. If its not removed first then i could be transmitting everything back to the vong."
She heard Drevin relay to them through the force.

It would be unwise to speak anything here and the room fell into an deathly quiet.
"Cilghal theorized that Slave seeds answer to an controlling biot that would need to be nearby to assert it's will over the individual, we would have seen if the Vong had managed to find us...wouldn't we?"

There was little or no chance that one of the Yuuzhan Vong could have secreted themselves within the Praxeum, the gaping void in the force would have been as noticeable as a solar-flare. This would be true also, if they had landed on Yavin. The world was so teeming with life, that yet again a sudden change in this would be notable...if nearby.
It would have helped if Cilghal's research could have progressed enough to determine what they were looking for and how far they would need to look. And that all depended on if they were looking for the right thing at all.

"Have those scans of the system arrived back yet?" She sent to the others in question, " either way, we do not wait for them, we contact Cilghal now. The more information we can give her the better."

Tionne's concerned gaze now fixed on Drevin, though her concern was hidden behind a band of caution, she still sent him some reassurance as she quizzed,
"The source of what you felt...where is it exactly?" There would be little they could do to remove such an implant until someone who knew what they were doing arrived. That however, was the 6 million credit chit question. Did anyone know what they were dealing with?

[darklord]

"The source of what you felt...where is it exactly?"


Drevin moved his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. He opened himself to the force and allowed it to guide his hand... there. A tiny void in the force, barely noticeable, but there none the less. As he rubbed his fingers over the area he found the small raised scar where the incision would have been made.

He turned his head slightly to allow the others to see the tiny scar. 'I think i have a fair idea of who's controlling it... but he's far away from yavin.' There was no doubt in Drevins mind now about who was behind this. The intendant hadnt trusted him to be obedient in his task so he'd installed a fail safe.

I should have killed him when I had the chance

Now all that mattered was getting the thing out so that he could tell the Jedi before it was too late. He knew that Tin'aa Shoolb would be frantic by now, having heard nothing from him since leaving. He could explain that of course, his ship had after all taken a considerable amount of damage. He just needed to contact the intendant and convince him that he was carrying out his orders before the wretched being decided to administer another dose of pain..

[extras]

-Posting as Tionne Solusar-


Tionne had tracked his movements through the force with care, should he object or have a sudden change of heart, the reflux could be potentially lethal.
When he turned his head, the slight scar was clear for all to see. To an onlooker it would have appeared to be just another of his injuries and now, after a small spell in bacta, it looked nothing more than a feint line.

'I think i have a fair idea of who's controlling it... but he's far away from yavin.'

That got her attention. So Drevin knew who had done this? And from his words she got the impression there was more to this tale than he would be willing to let on.
"He?" Tionne prompted through the force, "where are they, and to what ends did they send you here?"She was presuming of course, he could have fled here as a last resort.

The senate was still pretty much devided on how to handle the Vong, that left many governments in a state of stalemate over what action could be taken. It stood to reason that he would seek out those who were almost impartial, didn't it?
And then again, he had pretty much turned his back on the Jedi those years past, renouncing everything he'd ever learned from them in an effort to seek his own understanding of the force. Had that journey been so fruitless and lonely?

"How do we know that this...seed, it cannot be used to control your actions as the slave seeds do? That is could inadvertantly cause you to become a greater threat to those here?" She paused for thought, she hated sounding so acusatory, but it was necessary sometimes. "You are going to need to start from the beginning."

[darklord]

Drevin felt Tionne's worry through the force.

'They havent followed me here. It would not have been in their interest to do so. But I promise you i will reveal everything to you once this... thing is out. But, there is more to my coming here than you may have originally thought. I will not pretend otherwise."

He knew how hard it must be for them to believe him after what had happened but he had no choice.

Tin'aa Shoolb had done a fine job of using his own weaknesses against him, turning his dislike for the jedi into a burning hatred. And i let him. But now that hatred was focused firmly where it belonged, on the invading Yuuzhan Vong.

Drevin couldnt help but feel shame for what had happened, he'd been too weak to resist and too arrogant to see past the lies he'd told himself. He'd allowed the manipulation to progress knowing where it would lead. If it hadnt been for these Jedi before him, it would probably have consumed him completely and he would never have known of the implant.

He could except that he was a Dark Jedi, he would always be. But he was no traitor

'I have no gurantee that the seed is not efffecting my actions right now, only my word. Do what you will with me until Cilghil arrives. I understand your concerns for the padawans.'