Logged: April 12, 2001 Logged by: Hadin Prine Titled: Biding Time ------------------------------------------------- Characters: Hadin Prine Sato Prine Terrick Seth Briefing Room - TFS Onyx Dragon A central long dark polished wood table takes up the core of the room. At the far end another table of like size sits cross ways for use when even larger groups than fit around a single table are being addressed or debriefed. The chairs are more a dark upholstered armless utilitarian style than items of comfort and luxury. The floor here, unlike other places in this dragon is carpeted to muffle and absorb back ground noise and shuffling feet. The rest of the room being quite live to re-amplifier a speakers voice. Sato Prine sits at end of dark polished table. The lighting is set low and subdued, diffuse as the dark lord meditates. His fingers touch each other and are mounted below his pointed angular chin as eyes not quite mortal peer beyond space and time. The doors open with the usual hiss. The mountain of man and metal that is Hadin Prine enters the room. He moves carefully but efficiently, navigating the room toward his lord and brother. As he moves, the shimmering metal plates of his armor click against each other. Upon arriving before the dark lord, Hadin removes his battle helmet and takes it under his left arm. He kneels down on one knee and bows his head down. "Lord brother," he broadcasts in his usual bass. Sato Prine's glazed eyes sphincter into focus on this world at the vocalization from the court floor. He swallows as he mentally settles back into this worldly flesh. "Marshal of my forces and child of my mother, I greet you and accept your presence. Arise and report." He commands, his shoulders stock steady in the throne like chair. Hadin stands as ordered. His face seems troubled. Things were simpler when he had left his brothers side to take on his crusades. "I come from the surface brother. This world is unlike those we have claimed as our own. It is far from our worlds. Its people are proud, and arrogant. To dominate it would add greatly to our glory." He obviously realizes the risks involved, he is no fool, but something is urging him into these words. "However, I've not come to waste your time with that which you know." He pauses for a second, then continues. "I was approached on the surface by one of the Jedi." He almost spits the phrase out. Sato Prine's hands at still cupped to each other below and in front of his face. He nods knowingly to both the desire to subjugate this system and to Hadin's encounter, "Aelx Hamilton, The Jedi with two sabers or perhaps his young pupil?" He hazards a force-aided guess, "Corellian Soil is soiled with Jedi Taint. It was one reason I have remained from my Palace so long to see just what interest these Jedi had on Corellia. Have you piece to add to the unraveling puzzle, Cruel One?" Hadin squints softly. "Their kind are always said to speak in riddles," answers the count as he delivers a mental image of Terrick, and the distinct taste of his aura. "He rambled on about expecting me," Hadin says and a soft smile cracks on his face. "I did not play his game. But, before he retreated, he challenged me for the future." Hadin's eyes almost flash with anger. "I had not your endorsement for bringing battle to this world. I allowed him to leave." He takes a breath and continues to speak. "I have come to ask you for the life of this one. He amuses me. His aggression and arrogance are beyond the rest of his kind. I do not doubt that we will face their kind in battle. I ask that you grant me the sole right to face this one in battle." "He shall be yours and yours alone Count. But you were wise to restrain for now. If he challenges you again you have my leave to act on it but the aggression must be seen to originate from the light side. Let their anger grow forcing them down the path of hate. I have noticed this one before in my visions. He meddles too near our machinations and soon you will need chew him up. But act not, now. Bide and wait. I have faith that he will urge the council to accept our invitation and events on Teta have yet to play out in my visions. But this I do grant you, his life is yours." Sato throws his head back in maniacal laughter enjoying the step by step defeat of the Jedi as they embrace their fears. Hadin smiles silently, obviously content with the future satisfaction of his pride. He bows his head to the lord once more, envisioning ranks of Massassi marching over Corellia. "Thank you, brother. When the day comes, I will bring you his head, like the rest." He takes a step back, which is accompanied by the usual sound of metal. "With your permission, I will now return to my mission." Sato Prine nods dismissal, "You may depart. I am told the Tengu Alchemy's scent is now in readiness for your use. Have patience my warrior master. I know this sort of envoy is not your forte but conquest can take many forms. Show me you can be subtle and I shall be pleased." "Your command determines my forte, my lord," Hadin answers calmly. He turns and walks for the door, replacing the helmet on his head as he does. Sato Prine makes a signaled gesture of general thanks to Hadin for his loyalty, "You serve me and the Clan well count my brother. I have faith you will continue for a healthy long time." You leave Briefing Room - TFS Onyx Dragon and enter Main Spinal Corridor Section Gamma Nine - TFS Onyx Dragon. As he began several hours ago, Count Prine stands on the beach silently. Hadin's eyes are closed, and his breathing is very rhythmic. His feet are at shoulder distance, and his arms are extended in front of him, index and middle fingers pointing forward toward the water. His jacket and shirt are off. They are folded neatly and lay on the sand, several feet away from him. The lack of clothes reveals a very muscular body, but one that is unblemished by scars or any other imperfection. A gentle wind blows briskly across the vast ocean and falls toward the beaches. Some distance toward Bela Vista a cloaked figure might be seen in the distance. His brisk step was well calculated. His facial features masked behind his heavy hood. He was weary indeed. His mind racing about a thousand possibilities of a future but only one would be answered. The Jedi knew not to lay on such nonsense. He had a mission to continue, but in such a long period of time he was even beginning to forget that. His gloves were off and his hands were the center of his attention. He studied over their scars and lines he trained hard.. sometimes too hard it had taken a few weeks to get his right index finger reattached and cosmetically sealed into what looked to be a minor cut wound. Terrick's eyes turned about gaining some perspective of his reality. He noticed the count, well slightly his lack of a shirt or jacket and the distance made it difficult to truly place him. The Battlemaster decided it better to keep his distance for the time being and allowed his heavy cloak to fall gracefully toward the ground. His weapons of choice were clearly seen and were just in his reaching area. Like the warrior he was training to be. A young Corellian girl is laying on the beach, she doesn't know it is getting dark. All she cares about is the ocean mist hitting her body making it feel like she was on her fathers home in an all water world. She sighs and pulls out a holovid and plays a message of her newly deceased dad, a tear trickles down her eye, but she wipes it away. Hadin Prine's eyes are closed, but his mind is open. The bitter aura, that had presented itself before, is now once again upon him. He does not shift. His meditation is more important to him. He masks the power of his presence as best he can. His hands remain stretched out, like two massive logs. A weaker man would have been driven mad with pain my now. Hadin's face is completely calm and completely still. It is the flesh mirror of his metallic battle helm. Terrick watched as his cloak laid about on the ground. The Jedi moved it around slightly and then slowly took a place upon it. Taking up his own stance of meditation. Unlike Hadin's, Terrick found his sanctuary to be among dried and dead trees hidden among the driftwood, Terrick watched the seas and allowed it's rhythmic beat of life, the waves press him into concentration. He recalled one fateful day in this very ocean where he swam for his life and found himself on the shore, barely gripping to life. Painful memories are to be forgotten. He pushed them back away hidden. Emotion only gets in the way of his true art. There is no emotion, there is Peace, echoed through the audible sound of Jarfet, the old crow. He smiled inwardly as he had somehow evolved into those very teachings he denied himself so long ago. He reached out pricking toward his company on the beach the count. He seemed dim as if shadowing himself, perhaps he was. He felt distant. Terrick felt it best not to pursue such a venture. The Corellian girl starts to weep, "Oh father, I only wish I knew who killed you." She looks at the holovid and the message disappears, she puts her face in her hands and starts to sob... Hadin Prine does not feel the nature of the place, nor the beauty, nor the wind, no the sea. He feels only one thing. He feels the future and prepares for it. His path is clear, but something intrudes on his meditation. It is the emotion of two souls sharing the beach with him. He increases his concentration, but can not block them. They annoy him, tug at his soul. "Leave me," he commands sternly, knowing that only one of the two can hear him. He leaves the girl alone, for the moment. The Count knows her sorrow is limited compared to that of others. He knows that with the other presence gone, he'll be able to purge her presence from his mind. "Leave me, now," the count commands again through the invisible language of the mind. Terrick's mental plain was interrupted the lights and sphericals he visualized as life brightened someone was altering the force. His mental ear and senses like an almost instinctual way rushed toward the source the light was bright, the force was altered the words /Leave Me/ echoed about /Leave me, now/ an order. Terrick pushed his emotions away locking them hiding them. His life was not for others to tamper with, but his interest was set now. His mind met Hadin on the plain he had found him. His mind echoed out /Leave? What has one done to provoke such action, can you not channel away our presence as you could do anyone or do you lack the training/ he allowed that to echo through the area. His physical features in reality were rigid and cold and he stood like a part of the dead trees and beachwood as if one with that very essence. He found it interesting every time the voices and will was heard. The alteration of the force was truly a site that to be seen, even though it was only seen by those capable. The Count smiled inside. His training was not knowledge for any other. His mind receives the second challenge from the other Jedi. "Your soul cries for our way," he replies through the force, "but I do not care to hear its whining. I am here to rest. If you wish to cry do it elsewhere, to someone who cares." The count shifts in his stance slightly for the first time in ten hours. His knees bend very slightly and his hands unwrap to form a shape reminiscent of claws. He breaths deeply and returns to his meditation (of sorts). The young Coreillan girl looks up from the holovid and sighs, she looks around and notices to men, one man without a shirt on, and another that looks like he is in a deep trance, her eyes are ringed with tears, but she gets over it. Hadin Prine feels his privacy returning, and the goal of his meditation accomplished. The hands he extends fill with the power of the mind. The power surges from his hands to his arms. From there, it moves to his arms, his shoulders and from there to there through his body and into his legs. From his legs, the power moves to his feet, where it dissipates. He retracts his hands, and opens his eyes. The world is now different. He turns, and looks about, noticing the girl in the sand, crying. "You will be strong," he says in a deep bass as he picks up his clothes and dresses himself. "You will gain as a result of what you have lost." He turns and begins to walk through the sand, full of pride and self-confidence. His path to the city brings him by Terrick's hiding spot, but he does not care for him, his problems, or his intentions. Terrick noted the presence. As he was passing by, the Jedi's eyes opened slowly and he looked not toward Hadin, but to his hands, a person obsession was there for some twisted reason beyond many. The Jedi slowly raised to his feet and pulled his cloak up off the ground and gentle whirled it once allowing the sand to fall from it. His hands he wiped clean and placed his gloves back about them, showing his impersonal opinion of the galaxy. He kept his distance from its realities, at least he tried to. He slowly adjusted the cloak over his body, but did not cover the head. His steps did not lead him to the city but to the sand's end. He pauses a moment staring toward the sea. With a few deep breaths he slowly took a few steps into the path of the gentle waves the water he felt not his boots kept him shielded, he continued to walk. To defeat fear one must face it he agreed. Slowly the Jedi walked into the water up to his neck his clothing drenched in the exercise but what was done is done. He closed his eyes in silent rejoice. His path to healing was only beginning.