Yavin

[extras]

-Posting as Tionne Solusar-

Tionne was by no means an expert at seeking out the truth, he could still be covering up something here. And had he not said himself, that he could not be sure the seed was not still effecting the way he acted? She found some sense of truth in his confession, however slight, and knew that this was as good a place as any to start.
The Jedi master could also sense her husband's concern over this too. His worries were rightfully founded in a sense, but others she could not help but wish he would just set aside his fears. The old Jedi order had no place for fear...it was one means to the darkside.
Tionne realized the irony of such a thought and berated herself for it quickly. They needed to deal with the here and now.

One thing worried her above all else. He had said once the seed was out. What if it could not be taken out? The calcifications she had heard about on some slaves had eaten into their nervous systems so badly that they simply could not be separated from it.
"I will see if I can raise Cilghal, " she said at last, breaking the silence as she rose.

Glancing briefly at Kyle, she nodded in acknowledgment that those remaining here would be able to deal with this best in the meanwhile. Drevin would need to be kept under close watch, without a doubt.

[darklord]

Drevin awoke a few days later to the familiar bright lights of the med bay. Once again he struggled to remember how he'd came to be there when his thoughts were interrupted by the guttural voice of a Mon Calamari.

"We had to operate." Cilghils voice.

Drevin turned to see the Mon Calamari Jedi master stood at his bed side, one of her huge flipper-like hands resting on his now healed arm, the other on the monitoring equipment beside her. She was an imposing figure but held about her the usual calmness and serenity that came with healers.
Drevin instinctively moved his hand to the area of his head that held the tiny scar. He felt the raised area and noticed that it was a lot longer than it had been. As if sensing his thoughts, the Jedi Master spoke.

"I was able to remove the slave seed without damaging any of your brain tissue. You were very lucky, any longer and the seed would have attached itself further into your nervous system."

Drevin frowned hard. So it had been a slave seed. As if doubting the jedi masters words Drevin delved into the force and probed inside his head, searching for the void that had been there before. But now the emptiness had gone. A wave of relief washed over him and he turned once again to face Cilghil.

"Thank you..." Again he found himself reluctant to say more than was necessary, he still held many ill feelings toward the jedi.

"... how long have I been here?"

"I arrived here three days ago to begin operating on you. I finally managed to extract the seed this morning." The Jedi master spoke in a soft tone that Drevin only now noticed as being exhausted.
She had been operating for three days? The look of shock must have shown on his face as the Mon Calamari seemed to smile down at him. He felt nothing but shame as he thought about his earlier rudeness toward her.

Drevin made a move to sit up but Cilghils large padded hand gently pushed him back down onto the bed.

"You need to rest Drevin, you have much to tell the council in the morning."

Drevin nodded solemnly as he remembered the promise he'd made to Tionne to tell them everything. He owed them that much, they had saved his life.
Drevin drifted off into a deep sleep filled with dreams of burning worlds, hideous warriors and his own thurst for revenge.

[extras]

-Posting as Tionne Solusar-

It had been a hard slog for the Jedi healer, Cilghal to remove the remainder of the slave seed - even once the main part had been unfused from the bone it had taken up root in. Tionne had gotten a full explanation from the Mon Calamarian's apprentice, Tekli.
She had chosen to remain behind for the duration of Drevin's recovery while Cilghal was needed elsewhere. Though information about her latest research was kept private from all for now.

The diminutive chadra-fan had gone to collect Drevin while the council assembled the following morning. Heavily sedated as he had been, Tionne hoped that the dark Jedi would be aware enough to answer their questions openly.
A lot of suspicion still fell over the subject of why Drevin was here, what had brought him and indeed if he were telling the truth.

The droid that had accompanied him had refused to be examined or plugged into a data terminal, all this despite the fact he had been fitted with every kind of restraining bolt they had to hand. Good - and often unusual- security systems were clearly paramount to his master.
Now the little droid would be called upon yet again, as it had become clear to everyone in this hall, that he was hiding something of his own.

Sitting silently as she waited for Tekli to return, Tionne glanced around the hall at the other masters who were now all seated. Kam, next to her, still managed to keep his emotion under control despite the fact his views on this matter had been clear from the start.
"Hopefully this should shed some clearer light on the whole situation." She murmured to those nearest.

All this would then set in motion exactly what they needed to do next. A contingency plan in a sense, for if the Vong were headed this way.

[darklord]

*** Kyle Katarn ***

Kyle sat in the wide circular council chamber among the other masters. The rooms seats were nearly full this time, with the addition of Streen and Kirana Ti, two masters who hadnt been present the last time the council had met. Tekli would fill one of the other empty seats once she had collected Drevin.

They had all come to hear the Dark Jedi's story. Cilghil had eventually removed the slave seed from his head after a few days work. He'd had no idea that the operation would be so complex or take so long. The waiting had been hard.

But now as Kyle sat in the ancient room, the anticipation could be felt clearly. Then as if responding to the emotion, the door slid open and in walked Drevin, dressed in long dark robes, his scarred face revealing nothing. He still looked unsteady on his feet but managed to carry himself well enough. Two Jedi Knights walked in beside him followed by Tekli and the Dark Jedi's droid.

The two jedi knights left the room as Tekli took up her own seat. Drevin stood in the center of the circle, a dark imposing figure set in deep contrast to the light surroundings of the chamber. There was no hostility coming from the Dark Jedi, but it was clear that he was unhappy with the situation. Kyle imagined that this would probably remind him of his trial all those years ago.

Not a great way to start he thought.

[extras]

-Posting as Tionne Solusar-

The hall had filled to the point where Tionne found it hard to recall another time when it had been this full....since Luke's departure anyway. Those seemed like distant memories now, in light of the recent horrific events.

Tekli returned as promised with Drevin just ahead of her under the watchful eye of two Jedi knights.
Everyone waited until all were seated before beginning. It went without saying that this was no ordinary meeting. Prior to Drevin's arrival, there had been a lengthy speech on what was to take place here and that they need only wait to hear the dark Jedi's side of the story to shed some light on Cilghals findings.

" If you please, would you start from the beginning," Tionne asked when prompted, she attempted to send the recovering Jedi reassurance through the force as she continued, "How did you come to be in the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong?"

Questions would surely progress in seriousness from there on in, she only hoped that Drevin would keep his placidity long enough to answer them all. It was not only her husband, Kam, who suspected Drevin of the very crime he had apparently been concerned of perpetrating. She found herself thankful, that the likes of Kyp Durron had not deigned the trip to Yavin 4 as ranking high on their lists of importances. The last thing they needed was another trial.

[darklord]

"If you please, would you start from the beginning. How did you come to be in the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong?"

Tionne was the first to speak, Drevin was thankful that it had been her and not one of the more uncompromising masters. She sent him warmness through the force which he received gratefully and returned to her in kind. Maybe this wont be so bad he thought to himself.

"I was approached by an agent of the yuuzhan vong while in a cantina on Taris." He paused before continuing. "He showed great interest in me after I knocked out a couple of gamorreans." The memory nearly caused him to smile but he quickly regained his composure.

"His interest piqued even more when we began talking and I told him I was a Dark Jedi." He watched as a few of the masters winced at the openness of that statement. That was something they would have to get used to.

"I could feel an emptiness about him that I couldn't understand, almost as if he created a void in the force. I was curious and naturally a little unsettled about this fact so I wanted to investigate further."

Drevin had always been eager to learn at the academy, especially about the various aspects of the force. When he'd encountered the yuuzhan vong he'd touched upon something that he couldn't understand and that bothered Drevin immensely.

"We began talking and discovered that we both shared a dislike for the jedi..." Again he paused to watch the expressions on the masters faces before continuing. He needed to know which ones he could trust enough to listen to him and which ones would be too prejudice to bother.

Drevin continued to tell them of the way the intendant had contacted him using the villip, how he'd revealed himself as Yuuzhan Vong and how Drevin had agreed to help them in their fight against the jedi in order to gain intel on the invaders. He waited for them to respond before carrying on. Even though he'd told the truth Drevin had no doubt that they would have plenty of questions already.

Thats the first part over with at least he thought to himself.

[extras]

-Posting as Tionne Solusar-

The whole room would have appeared silent had there not been a bustling sense in the force. Many minds going over the same facts each in their own little ways. When some found an accord with others, she could feel the group begin to reach an uneasy general consensus.

The words Dark Jedi carried with them a great stigma, one that even Tionne felt too. She could not stop the disappointment from welling up inside of her, it was as though she was witnessing a student fail yet again. But if what Drevin was saying was the truth, then he had perhaps seen the error of his ways enough to turn this situation around.

Giving no indication of her final thoughts on this matter, she continued, the others would certainly speak up when they had questions of their own.

"You claim you knew nothing of the slave seed Cilghal removed, then your agreement with the Yuuzhan Vong could not have been a binding one in terms of words? They didn't trust you enough to keep your word..." she began, then silently adding the thoughts she felt from around the room and conceded that she too felt a similar questioning nagging at her mind.
...So why should we trust you now?

"They must have wished you to get in contact with them sooner or later, how were you supposed to do that?" This from Master Ikrit, perched upon the table further along.

Tionne nodded in agreement, "Will they not be suspicious that you are not responding to them? Was there some arrangement made to meet with this one you spoke with on Taris?"

If so, the meeting would go ahead as planned, but with some unexpected twists.

[darklord]

...So why should we trust you now?

Drevin felt more than heard the sentiment through the force.

"The yuuzhan vong trust no one but their own and regard everyone and everything else as infidels. And as for you all trusting me..." He glared at the masters around him before shrugging. "You have no reason to."

"I can only assume that the implant was installed while I was unconscious after a duel with one of their commanders on Garqi. It was the only time he would have had access to me." That thought made Drevins hand curl into a fist. What he wouldnt do to have a few moments with the intendant now...

"I was to report any intel on you to the intendant via this..." He gestured to the droid at his side and a small compartment opened, revealing the concealed villip.

Kyle Katarn stood quickly and reached for his lightsaber but did not draw it. Drevin smiled at the Jedi masters reaction without meaning to. He picked the small ball up and held it in his palm. "Relax master, its merely a communication device."

"Actually... the intendant is probably seething with anger now. Failure is not well excepted among their kind." Again he smiled at the thought of Tin'aa Shoolb being on the receiving end of an amphistaff.

[extras]

- posting as Tionne Solusar-

As Drevin produced the small spherical biot, everyone in the room had tensed, some reaching for their lightsabers, others readying to defend their fellow Jedi through use of the force. Even Tionne had been prepared to do the same, she abhorred violence as did the best of them, but Drevin was quick to give reason to his action.

"Relax master, its merely a communication device."

So it was true, they used living creatures for just about everything and anything. How exactly, the biot worked was anyones guess.

"And through this you would report to them? If you were to do so now, is it likely that they would suspect a ruse?"

An idea had popped it's self into her head moments before. If an arrangement could be made between Drevin and the Yuuzhan Vong, to make them believe he was still their willing aide, perhaps they could stand a chance at gaining more knowledge this way too? Though the ultimate flaw with that, was that Drevin would be in unmistakable danger if he was to do so...no one knew what these people were capable of, not truly.
That was all it had taken for her to discredit the idea.

"Actually... the intendant is probably seething with anger now. Failure is not well excepted among their kind."

"Intendant? The one you spoke with was some kind of politician?" That was one way of putting it, though the Yuuzhan Vong appeared to have very strange ways of putting members of their various castes to use. Indeed, they had very strange ways of doing just about everything by all accounts.
It didn't have to be like this.

"Sooner or later, they are going to notice that the slave seed implanted in you is not responding, they could send someone to find you...that would not bode well for the students here, we need to figure out a way to deal with this as painlessly as possible."

[darklord]

"And through this you would report to them? If you were to do so now, is it likely that they would suspect a ruse?"

Drevin fingered the device thoughtfully.

"I think if I don't report to them they will. I can explain the lateness due to the fact that they shot my ship up." Drevins anger simmered as he remembered the crash landing. His ship was more than just that, it was his home too. "The lack of slave seed in my head might cause them a bit of a problem though...". Drevin had strongly resisted the urge to contact Tin'aa Shoolb and inform him of that very fact as soon as he'd had the chance, but it would have done no good to completely sever contact with the intendant.

Drevin sensed Tionnes sudden interest through the force and then her worry, ending the thought quickly. It didnt take a genius to work out what she was thinking. He urged her silently not to throw the idea away. He doubted that the intendant would provide much in the way of information, he was as guarded as Drevin but they could still keep the line of communication open.

"Intendant? The one you spoke with was some kind of politician?"

"I wouldn't say that exactly, although his kind seem to be the ones that do all the talking." You cant get more politician than that he thought. "Although they all answer to someone called Shedao Shai. He was even less compromising than the rest of them."

[extras]

-Posting as Tionne Solusar and Tln'aa Shoolb-


"I think if I don't report to them they will. I can explain the lateness due to the fact that they shot my ship up."

Tionne considered this carefully, so their plan had been a pretty simple one when placed in this analytical context. Drevin had been sent here as the Jedi on the inside as it were. And, she thought sadly, she may well have let him. She disappointed herself and reminded herself to speak to Kam when all this was over.
This was not to say that he was being untrue though, Drevin had told them all...or so he said. Doubt would always be tugging at their minds relentlessly, but this didn't feel uncertain in the force. The Jedi code was all about trusting in the force, so that was where she placed her faith right now.

"Then I put it to the rest of the masters, that perhaps we should let Drevin make contact with them? A contingency plan should be put in place of course...this needs great thought." She suggested softly.

Murmurs around the hall suggested that some were interested, others more than deterred.

"they all answer to someone called Shedao Shai. He was even less compromising than the rest of them."

Tionnes face paled more so than usual, so there was a driving force behind all of this? At least they had a name now...she had hoped that Sernpidal would be the last of it, but it was a fools hope. She knew better than to believe that those Yuuzhan Vong killed at Helska 4 were of any great importance to those considered important among them.

"They are testing us," she mused sadly, she'd read of similar strategies among the countless archives she had access to, even holocrons told of great battles. She was no tactician by far, but this reaked of similar situations.
"They will keep on sending better people against our own, until we are worn thin...and with the senate in the mess that it is, that won't be long."

---

Tln'aa Shoolb uttered curses beneath this breath as the ground beneath his feet shook with the vibrations of moving, heavy machinery. The abominations attack had been halted - temporarily- just beyond the perimeter set up about the university. But even from the safety of the furthest grashal's he could clearly feel and hear the deep thrumm of mechanized movement.

This did little to brighten his day, he had unsucessfully been able to raise the Jeedai, despite inflicting upon him what should have been intollerable pain via the biot sitting across the way.
With any luck, that fool Shai would die out there with the rest of them. But then it seemed the gods were not on his side this cycle, so the chances of that were slim.

For the slave seed to have no effect on his Jeedai 'counterpart' was next to impossible. Could Jeedai sorcery have been to blame in this? No...still impossible, that seed had been the work of a very tallented shaper, who's protocols came directly from the gods. It simply could not have failed.

He would wait, then, abominations or no abominations, for the Jeedai to do as he had been ordered. If he did not, then the infidel and that irksome mechanized blasphemy that followed him around were as good as blood sacrifice. He would see to that himself.

[extras]

Earlier (-dinosaurs in the background- haha. No! sorry x.o)

The waves of pain, anger, and fear from the ex jedi all but exploded over the rest of the academy. Master Katarn went along with his wife therefore his duty was clear. Kam turned in the direction of the footsteps running their ways. Padawans and knights in training wanting to know what was going on. He calmed them all down and informed them to return to their quarters for the remainder of the day and not to enter this chamber under any circumstances. His attention however never left his wife or the feelings that were coming from the room.

There was much fear from the ex jedi. Much fear.

Now
------------

His hand let go of his lightsaber after Drevin explained it was merely a communication device. His wife's presence next to him Kam's eyes kept themselves on the ex jedi himself throughout all the talking to spot even the slightest misstep of his intentions. So far it seemed he was telling the truth or at least that was the impression he wished to potray. It really was no secret to his wife how he felt about this one in their presence. Even if every word Drevin told them was the truth, Kam Solusar would still watch him least he bring the corruption of the darkside even closer to their house. Not again.

"I do not think that plan would be wise. Having lost the seed the yuuzhan vong might expect a counter move such as this if they don't already believe him to be dead it might be better to see if one of theirs comes for him."

There was all too much that was still unknown about these people or the workings of their seemingly strictly biological technology and society but what Drevin had been saying about them all fit in to the previous attacks. Maybe too well.

[darklord]

*** Posting as Kyle Katarn ***

Kyle stirred uncomfortably in his seat as he let the other masters voice their thoughts. It would be very risky allowing the Dark Jedi to contact the intendant but the suggestion had some merit. If Drevin could at least keep up the pretense that all was ok then it could buy them some more time.

The masters had heard Drevins account of what had happened and Kyle could feel no hint of a lie in the Dark jedi's words. Drevin had always been guarded but it seemed to him that he'd let that guard down now, if only temporarily. But where did his loyalty now lie? That was a question that they all wanted answered.

"Drevin, you left the jedi after your release to find your own way in the galaxy. Then you let the yuuzhan vong believe that you were sided with them before coming here. Where now do your loyalties lie?"

If the Dark jedi attempted to lie in front of them all now, they would all feel it. They would all feel his mental guard fix back into place.

[darklord]

Drevin

The question was abrupt but not entirely unexpected. It was a question he'd often asked himself of late and one that he had only one truthful answer to.

"My only loyalty lies with the force." He let out a slow breath as he looked around at the other masters.

Kam looked as ready to attack him as ever, Kyle actually looked relieved, the other masters wore guarded expressions. His gaze fell at last upon Tionne, the beautiful Jedi master always looked so sad, as if she carried the weight of the galaxy on her fragile shoulders. But now Drevin felt a twinge of sadness of his own before saying it. "I have no allegiance anymore."

He knew that saying such a thing would make them trust him even less but it was the truth. The Jedi had no hold over him, nor did the yuuzhan vong or any government. It was a lonely existence but it was one he had been forced into.

[extras]

-Tionne Solusar-

"I do not think that plan would be wise. Having lost the seed the yuuzhan vong might expect a counter move such as this if they don't already believe him to be dead it might be better to see if one of theirs comes for him."

Kam's idea had crossed her own mind and held just as much merit in theory, but either way suggested a certain amount of risk to everyone concerned. This troubled Tionne immeasurably.

"Leading the Yuuzhan Vong here would endanger the lives of all those here, both the students and this world it's self." She reasoned, trying to remain as calm as she could - which was hard when tensions were so high.
Brow knitted with worry, she continued,
"We still do not know what exactly that implant was effecting. How can we be certain that it even was a tracking device? If it is not we could be leading ourselves astray."

Kyle seemed rightfully concerned about where exactly Drevin's loyalty lay at this moment in time. This, she noted, was the most important factor and she could not contain her disappointment when he had practically stated for all to see, he was as much in the grey as he had been the day he'd left the order. Her reassurances came in the exact wording he had used,
"My only loyalty lies with the force."

There was no doubt about it, they had to think deeper than they were, cover every possible angle or variant for this to work. Of course there would always be risk, but were the participants willing and aware, then that was a risk they would have to take.
Drevin's allegiances mattered second only if he had decided to side with the invaders, because he must know...as all in this chamber did, that this galaxy was going to need every hand on deck.

It was Kam, however, that had helped provide her next suggestion. She nodded once to him, sending thanks through the force before speaking.
"The location of the proposed meeting need not be Yavin. We need only locate a place so desolate and wait." There was more to this than met the eye,

"Of course we would need the Vong to believe that there was Jedi activity on such a moon or world. That it was of importance somehow." - Master Ikrit spoke up, as though tuning into the idea,

"Of course," Tionne responded in kind, "It also makes both plans viable if one should fail...this Yuuzhan Vong agent is going to notice that Drevin has not made contact as I said before. If they suspected a ruse, would they not have come for him already?"