The Versai Continuum Chronicles - Awakening

INTRODUCTION

214 years ago…

Val Versai had to deal with the effects of the past, not even aware of the Trade Federation invasion, he must now by some how, some way accept the dismal future he once tried to avoid. Even one man cannot control destiny…but fate? Fate is something that a man cannot control no, fate controls the paths of the living, either to their grave, or to a higher purpose….

Whatever purpose fate had in mind, a great legend…thought long dead

Will awaken once more. Awaken to a present, that is not what it once was, but what it has become now…and he must embrace the cards destiny has dealt to him, organize them piece by piece and play his cards well in order to survive, and strive once more…for Valaryc Versai, fate has decided he has a higher purpose…and a new path to tread upon…

Daylight had come…Daylight upon a troubled land…a planet that once flourished with peaceful people, whom kept their sacred forests, guarded…people who had no real concept of danger within their vast paradise of rainforests and grassy plains…did not see the danger approach, until it was to little too late.

The Ithorians were a peaceful race, who wanted nothing more then view their homeworld as a place of rest and relaxation, a place where it was set aside from the menaces of galactic councils, barbaric warfare and other such catastrophes…Unfortunaly, even they could not stop the massive blanket of Trade Federation invading forces, the swarms upon swarms of STAP battle platforms, racing across the grassy plains, the MTT’s roaring like massive elephants, sending the trees of a once beautiful destination, down into splinters upon the floor, sending the species of Ithor scattering for refuge….this was the day that the Trade Federation.

 Came…Saw…and Conquered

Home One, was sent spiraling in flames to the forest floor, for the Trade Federation droids didn’t care for such things, they had no compassion, no soul…just drones sent to carry out a purpose…and as we know that purpose was carried out, leaving a man’s hopes and dreams in shambles, a flaming place of relaxation and safety...to ashes…the Versai Mansion.

Versai Continuum Chronicles Chapter II – ~Awakening~

217 years later……

A ray of light shone upon a small pile of debris, surrounded by charred ground…the sunlight had peeked through the clouds of the Ithorian atmosphere, as the tiny shimmers of highlights from metallic plates illuminated a room…this room many, many years ago had been shrouded in darkness, kept secret from prying eyes for years…yet now ironically, every single inch of the area was lit up from the blazing light above. Venturing through the area, as we seem to enter from where a roof once stood…in the very center of the carnage lays a single slender, cylinder shaped chamber…the clicks and beeps from the controls seem to after all this time function properly. Moving closer along the tainted, scratched transparasteel we can see the form of a man, still in perfect slumber. This man oblivious to everything around him…and yet here is where fate steps in once more…the slumbering form has been asleep for over a hundred years…the future he knew is no more…and nothing in the galaxy could prepare him for the future he would now come to understand…and embrace.

Teetering above the chamber, we can see a small shard of the once luxurious roof of the Versai Mansion, now filled with weeds, and undergrowth of all shapes and sizes, paintings and other cherished items, laid to waste by time, books, parchments…nothing but dust, occasionally blown in the wind, and hanging above the very top left edge of the desolated roof billowing like a flag in the wind…

Was the Versai Creed…

The Creed was not on a stone, or etched into a wall no….the Creed was the very same tapestry that hung within the once, main hall at the summit of a twin spiral staircase…obviously it must have been caught in the winds, flung up to the ceiling by strong currents…or maybe something more, for you see that single tapestry caused a chain reaction, with a gust of wind hitting it once more, the cloth wrapped around a rather large portion of the roof tiles, engulfing the heavy load within it, the coupled material fell spiraling down on to the chamber……

With a earth shattering crash, the material cracked the pod open like an egg…for the transparasteel was struck so hard, cracks began to streak along the surface of it…and the mans face appeared to be seen in hundreds of separate images…each crack making a new reflection of him…but this was not the only effect from the damage…no…not by far.

As soon as the material of the combined stone, steel and cloth traveled on, the main release button to the pod was triggered. However, the Trade Federation Leaders, Ruyl and Kralyn had wrapped powerful chain-like straps around the pod…as the door attempted to open…jammed shut, creaking back and forth like a electronic door ajar. However the great lapse in time had caused the bindings to weaken, still though with weathering to them, and slight cracks in the structure…they still managed to hold the man known as Val Versai at bay…whom now was beginning to stir. The pressure in the cabin was compromised, as the door struggled to open again and again, each slam into the bindings, weakening them further and further.

Val’s vision was very blurry…after such a long period he had no clue of what had occurred, but soon in time he would know…one finger twitching, followed by another…then another muscle twitching…until an entire hand began to flex its joined fingers, back and forth, one after the other. Like an old computer, restarted each and every system in Val’s body began to awaken…and run tests…each turning on like lights in a Christmas tree, one after the other…Meanwhile, as the door still struggled to open, allowing a four inch gap of air to pass into the chamber, along the roof…the debris that caused the first action, in a series of chain reactions, continued to leave the remnants of the roof unstable…like a avalanche, the roof began to come down in massive sections of rock and mangled steel, slamming into the chamber, like a ton of bricks. This occurrence, triggering the long passive danger sense into Val’s mind, his brown eyes erupting upon…staring at the cracked transparasteel of the chamber lid. Quickly he struggles to get his hands up against the roof, as more debris from the roof begin to crackle and creak…small handfuls of dust spilling like liquid down upon the top of the chamber, each piece growing in size….

Val’s eyes studied the events occurring, knowing that if he did not move soon his awakening could come to a crushing end…instinctively, Val’s hands slammed into the lid of the stasis pod, over and over again…each strike allowing him to gain ground, and weaken the 200 year old bonds around the chamber, until finally, with one last driving blow into the lid, Val’s hands sent the lid flying across the room in pure unbridled strength alone. The thunderous sound of debris from the roof began to get louder and louder, Val’s eyes watching the cracks raking along the remains of the ceiling, he knew only one thing, as the roof left no warning, sending about one ton of concrete and steel down towards him…….he needed to get the hell out of the way….

Glancing to the falling debris, Val’s own cockiness did not lapse, as he used his arms to roll from the pod, out of danger yelling:

“OH SHI---!!!”

Val’s body skid along the floor rolling over and over again, as his once prison chamber was crushed in seconds, he has escaped death once more. As the debris started to settle upon the weed filled faded red carpet of the floor, Val laid there, seemingly immobile. His eyes scanning the terrain around him…glancing from the massive holes in the walls, caused by the droideka blasters, to the overwhelming amount of sunlight pouring into the once covered cavern. His eyes squinting against the sun, trying to concentrate on the devastation around him, his hand coming up to shield the sun from his face…able to see the atmosphere of Ithor through a massive “window”, in barren ceiling of the remnants of his mansion. Val’s mind was racing a mile a minute, countless flashbacks raking though like a movie left on fast-forward, images of his past, Gen Zeridian, Sacul, his Mansion, businesses…and then one last image played in his memory…Corerilla being flown out of his grasp.

In his mind, Val was asking himself so many questions he could not answer at the moment; the feeling in his legs was weak…as if they were asleep, beginning to tingle throughout his senses. He shook his head slowly, trying to clear the imagery…in his eyes; he saw what was no longer there. The secret chamber where he studied and trained in private, bathed in darkness like his bleak past…but now as he glanced further, the magic of his imagination faded away to the grim reality, as he could see from left to right missing walls, and jungle vines, snaking around damp corridors, with broken furniture and piles of weathered wood, the smell in the room was musky, and damp. The air filled with dust, with each movement he made…coughing occasionally, truly this place was not his own…it must be a nightmare…

But it was no nightmare…Val had woken from his slumber into a LIVING nightmare, a scene he only pictured in  the darkest of night…alone, and so now he was alone, in this apocalyptic surroundings.
He tried to stand, finding his ability to walk severely challenged, grasping a table to stay vertical, stumbling over piles of wood and stone, everywhere the eye could see, for the lavish colors that once graced this place, now reverted to nothing but earth-tones. The thoughts running through Val’s head were very straightforward…

“What the hell happened here?” He remarked to himself…so many questions he needed answers to, yet how to do it? What year was it anyhow? How did all he see become so desolate and bare? Once again the image of Corerilla being stolen from his grasp had plagued his mind…and from his lips he whispered two words………

“Trade Federation”

Dusting himself off, Val managed to pace one, foot after another stumbling to the floor. It would seem taking a refresher course in how to walk again. If you could see such a sight you would surely laugh, but this was no laughing matter…Val closed his eyes, using the Force to guide his senses…carefully again taking one step after another, little by little making his way to the sealed blast-doors. Glancing to the sky, Val knew he could not climb his way out, a mistake could be fatal and with another glance to the decimated stasis pod, he knew the roof was very unstable. Val stretched out with his fingers, tracing the cleanly wielded shape of the wielding lines created by the battle droids, many years ago…each fingertip almost sensing the tension of the metal…once shimmering with silvery hues, now turned brown and red, immersed in rust eating at the supports, leaving cracks and rough patches along it. Val’s fingers still traced the steel of the door, closing his mind to concentrate on the weakness in the metal structure, a technique he used many a time to infiltrate security storehouses, particularly Trade Federation compounds.

“Damn it, what in the hell happened here!”

Val spoke as fist slammed into the door over and over again, as his head tipped down in thought…all this around him, he didn’t understand. He had no answers to his questions, just a bunch of things he thought he knew, no longer familiar to him. Closing his eyes once more, he set his fingers upon the carbon scoring on the door, and again along the wielding lines in the steel…reaching out to the Force, trying to clear his mind to attempt to use Post Cognition, to get a glance from the past…each image beginning to play like a unfinished movie, only bits and pieces of a grand picture he did not know a thing about. Images of Ruyl and Kralyn flashed, standing side by side, in his back then fully constructed Mansion halls…blaster fire setting the surroundings on fire, smoke billowing around them….he could not hear their words, but see images, still playing on…the pictures played, skipping to the words Ruyl had spoken to him, when he was in the…chamber!

Val was in the chamber! He knew now, part of what had occurred…he had known nothing because he was asleep! Quickly, Val regained control as his emotion began to make the image flicker…and blur. Once again…there was more. He could see the battle droids sealing the chamber, then see the walls shaking…then nothing…the image went blank. Shaking his head once more, Val knew there were limits to how much the Force could tell him, but he knew more then a few moments ago. Val’s main concern now was getting out of the god-forsaken room. Glancing along the steel frame of the door, he knew that kicking or punching it would waste his time, and as he looked around he could not see his lightsabers anymore…but there was one thing he could do, as he paced away from the door gaining distance. Val’s eyes began to crackle with long dormant Force energy, struggling to draw in the Force around him…Val’s eyes closing tightly, feeling heat surge along his arm…down to his wrist, and fingers…slowly opening his eyes as small bundles of crimson energy encircled his palm…a ball of energy building…

Suddenly the ball flickered out, Val’s lips parting in response yelling

“DAMN IT ALL, WORK!”

With each protest, his fingers snapped together, as if trying to spark a reaction, his eyes glued to the two digits contacting each other building friction….

“WORK DAMN IT!”

With the last intense flick of his anger, the crimson energy exploded around his fingertips, to the point he had to move his arm away, so that he would not be injured. Val’s lips curling as it was starting to all come back to him, the powers of a Dark Jedi Master, spent so long in training years ago…clearly he had to do some training and rekindle his former levels of power…yet as he looked on to the door, he smiled, each and every second passing, the ball of crimson red energy expanded out by 10 feet…further and further, Val’s left foot sliding back, causing his right leg to bend, while his left slide back in a straight line, his hands seeming to cradle the massive energy charge, both palms cupping it….Suddenly with a sudden thrust of both his palms extended out, the spherical ball of energy released from him, knocking Val off his feet, as the energy slammed into the weakened steel of the door, shattering the structure like a bullet to a sheet of glass, deadly shrapnel extending every which way, one 6 inch triangular shard, skimming across Val’s bend knee, leaving a sudden gash across it, crimson trails of blood streaming in seconds…Val’s eyes narrowing as he spoke to himself saying:

“Real $%@ bright Val, that’s right blast the damn door and stand there like an idiot!”

Quietly, Val gathered his thoughts, and then tended to his leg. Closing his eyes once more he slid his finger across the wound, as the pad of it traveled from left to right, the skin that was severed, patched itself together, and wove together in seconds as a whole section…in short, Val’s knee was completely healed.
Slowly, Val paced one foot in front of another…as walking began to get easier and easier, till he almost didn’t even have to think about it, his body’s natural sense of balance returning. He looked about the vine-covered halls of the Mansion, all once beautiful, looked like spilled paint on a perfectly painted picture…a disgrace to gaze at. Stepping over fallen columns, and busted wooden furniture, a metallic clink of a familiar structure caught his eye. Gently, Val lowered his gaze down, dropping to one knee; to peer upon the device…it was familiar all right…because it was none other than…

Sacul’s arm…

Val looked from where the arm was, to another twinkling sparkle across the way…material of the same consistency as the arm he held, rushing to it to find Sacul’s leg. Then another to find the other arm, then the other leg, Val’s eyes widening at the sight in both pain and wonderment…his loyal droid was in pieces! He wanted to know more, pacing to a mainframe under a heavy sheet of metal and rock…pinned beneath it. Val’s own anger, his own anger towards what has happened, pumped his muscles with adrenaline, grabbing the heavy sheet of metal and stone, flinging it aside without much thought, clearly dense enough to take several men to lift safely…Val didn’t give a damn about the size, he wanted it out of his way, and he got his wish.

Glancing through the debris, brushing the dust away, he could see a mangled componenent with several plastic strips, a bit out of alignment…a photoreceptor. It was none other than Sacul’s own eye piece…brushing through the dust and particles before him, Val unearthed the head of Sacul…it was in perfect working order, except for the dust coating it and the missing eye piece. Val’s hands tenderly plucked the CPU unit that was Sacul’s head from the rubble, pacing to a table…his feet now working in perfect order as his body had revived. Val’s fingers gently brushed over the durasteel shell of Sacul’s head to a small compartment in the back, looking down to see the securing latch had been severely damaged…Val’s eyes closed a bit, using the Force, he let his hand hover over the damaged consul, straining to yank out the plate…seconds later the plate wedged in the opening, moved back and forth until it flew out of place, exposing the main CPU of Sacul himself. The chip was made to last, because Val himself had constructed it from heavy durasteel, bonded with permacite…knowing that the chip not only contained information and data…but Sacul’s silicon soul…his very life-force.

Val had no clue if anything in this Mansion was able to function, still unclear as to the year, not knowing a damn thing, pacing through one desolate, plant-filled room to the other…looking for something to use to get this chip to work…his mind racing as he shouted in the darkness

“THE RICHEST BASTARD IN THE GALAXY AND I CANT FIND A DAMN TV AROUND HERE!”

Val’s eyes narrowed but his grin returned…loving a challenge, he wondered if upstairs had anything for him to rummage though. Yet the stairs were not there! The twin staircase had completely withered away, but along the very very edge, about 3 inches in length, the securing boards were still in tact…Val’s eyes examining the stability of the boards, unsure if it was wise to tread upon them…Slowly, with Sacul’s head in his hand, he started to climb up the boards, one by one…as they creaked under his weight. Val’s lips curled into a smile as he reached midway, the top floor only a mere 2 feet from him, extending his foot out…

Suddenly the board gave out, Val’s whole body crashing through the boards, down the levels of the Mansion straight through each floor, the only sound heard was obscenities, and cursing of the damned architecture of the place, and his lack of counting how many damn floors he has to crash through, before he hits bottom, damming himself for making so many. With a loud thud, Val’s ass hit the floor of the basement his voice screaming,

 “ YOU DID NOT JUST DROP MY ASS 30 #%$# feet!”…

The furnace roared to life as if awakened. Val’s gaze quickly shifting to the furnace, yelled at it

“What? You got something to say?”

Shortly the furnace was quiet once more…Val’s lips curling in his grin uttering, “That’s what I thought”.
The floor below him started to creak again, as his eyes lowered, glancing to the cracks beginning to rake along the basement floor, his thoughts were “What the hell he below a damn basement???” Looking up he could see about 6 holes, where he fell through, with a protesting call to the Mansion or God, or fate, he spoke out, as the Force filled his veins.

“I don’t think so…”

With a glint in his brown eyes, Val propelled himself, through all 6 floors, to the main staircase at the top, after grabbing Sacul’s head in his hand, reaching the second section of the Versai Mansion at the base of the dilapidated staircase. Looking down to the depths again, Val paced to his Room of Valor, which was now nothing but a pile of busted photos, and dirty old uniforms from his past. He knew one other thing was here though, shifting through the dust to a case…the case was a holo-recorder he found in the bowels of the Dark Jedi Academy long ago…the initials “G.Z.” were enough of a clue to reveal its previous owner, as the last time he had opened this case, his long dead lover had given him insight and a rank of Dark Overseer…though long forgotten and changed, it served a new purpose. Sliding his finger along the DNA scanner, the unit sparked to life…each light illuminated, while the inner workings spun, air escaping from a cooling fan…and the screen, still in tact. Without a second thought, Val pulled out the long slender CPU from Sacul’s cybernetic skull unit, placing the chip into a slot on the side of the machine, where a data card was typically stored to save a holo image.

The screen, illuminated only with a small green dot. The dot moved back and forth, expanding and contracting with every syllable it uttered, the words vibrant and clear……

SACUL MODEL 456 ACTIVE……..

State your request_

Val knew that to unlock his comrade from his own slumber, he needed to assimilate Sacul’s main CPU information into the machine itself…As time passed, Val searched through various protocol files, imputing access codes, making the lone computer unit more and more expansive, finally there was one more file Val accessed…the screen read as follows:

SACUL MODEL 456

Voice Activation_
…………
……….
………..
…
ACTIVATED

Seconds later, Sacul’s voice began to flow through the speaker units of the computer, but the sound went from very very low, to sounding like a chipmunk…until Val’s fingers adjusted the knobs to the right frequency…With Sacul’s voice active, Val hit the replay key…and this message is what played for him as well as a skewed picture relay…

“Glancing from left to right, the room was empty, the emotion chips Master Val installed within my mainframe, sparked to life, and if a droid could cry, so would I perform such a human function, but I have no tear ducts to do so…the carpet, my gods the carpet…the carpet is ruined, there is no way to repair the damage they have done, like thieves in the night they have came in and shattered our lives, our way of life gone in seconds…I couldn’t stop them…

Why didn’t I turn around in time????? Oh my Master Val…I pray that you still live strong, you are a fighter, such a fate cannot befall one such as you…from the day you plucked me from the fires of damnation and took my hand…I have served you…you are my friend, my Maker, my Master…please fates do tell me, that this is not the end of a noble soul, who has fought to achieve everything, and have it ripped from him in minutes, I……………

What…. so silent…. what’s that noise???? OH NO, The mansion, the mansion is falling in on itself, they are FIRING ON IT, no, please not now…enough is enough, my Master, oh Master, please…please live through this moment, they will not stop, like the predators they are…they are still attacking…the roof NO THE ROOF…………………..*****Silence…………..

Val’s eyes lowered as he saw the bastards blast Sacul from behind…then pace past him, his face tear-streaked, for no living person had been able to reach his humanity, and his emotions then Sacul his loyal droid…he clicked the image magnifier on two faded individuals in the background. Each frame coming to focus revealed bigger images until the outlines and facial features of Ruyl and Kralyn striding from the sealed case…slight voices were picked up….

Ruyl’s voice replied to Kralyn

“With Versai out of our hair finally, we can implement our “New Future” plan and begin taking over, the fools in the Republic and the Galactic Empire will be unaware, when we take over…Val Versai will be no more! WHAT A GLORIOUS FUTURE WE WILL MAKE!”

Kralyn, almost joined in the celebration…but a thought crossed his mind as he turned to Ruyl

“What if he does survive?” You and I know the Grand High Chancellor wants him terminated, beyond a shadow of a doubt…”

Ruyl’s red eyes flickered with anger, but he composed himself replying to Kralyn

“Whether he survives or not, is not my concern, my concern is that he suffers as much as possible before he dies, and that he can no longer jeopardize our plans…I do not give a damn what the Grand High Chancellor thinks, he can go play with his committee for all I care…I have a job to do, that was to make sure Val has been dealt with, after we leave this place BRING IT DOWN. Is that understood?”

Kralyn looked to Ruyl, wondering if he should press the issue any further…but knowing Ruyl’s vengeance for this particular individual, even though Ruyl was in direct violation of his orders…Kralyn stayed silent only nodding his head in understanding.

Ruyl looked to Kralyn and asked him one more question that brought anger to Val’s eyes….

“How was his bitch? She go to sleep nice and quiet like?”

Kralyn grinned and responded to Ruyl

“Yes the girl had no choice, you should have seen the look on her face when her own father betrayed her! That man was pure Imperial, and yet, (laughs) Her father was taken out the same way only seconds after our little public “ceremony” to hide our efforts. The fool thought the Trade Federation cared about his service? My lord it was truly remarkable when I told him, “Your services are no longer required…have a nice rest.” Then PERSONALLY slammed his stasis pod shut!

Ruyl grinned once more to Kralyn looking to him replying...

“Oh? And how do you know that the same will not happen to YOU for your actions? Do you really think that the Trade Federation cares about a Corillain spy like you? You people are a dime a dozen…”

Kralyn’s eyes widened in shock at the thought, his smirk quickly turning to dread…Ruyl looked to Kralyn with contentment and whispered to him…..

“Do not worry my friend, I need you…relax…I need you.”

Kralyn, glanced to the doorway now sealed then turned to Ruyl to assure him of his loyalty

Yes M’lord, I understand…As for Val’s only witness…Corerilla Dublon has been taken to “Dark Territory” deep in the………*the image fades out*

Val’s eyes narrow at the screen, as what appears to be Sacul’s recording limit expiring at the most crucial bit of information he needed. He only knew one thing, he needed to find this “Dark Territory” and find Corerilla…Val’s lips parted in thought…the only image playing in his mind was when Gara Mari a female Jedi, Isis Sarul another female Jedi and Krad Helo a adventurous young Jedi Knight had forged a daring attempt to break Val from the Trade Federation Prison…in which the plan succeeded, all except for recovering Corerilla, whom was too far out of reach as Val and his band of friends reached the platform too late…

Returning to the present Val’s eyes blinked to the electronic cries from the computer speakers…

“MY GOD MY LEGS, I CANT FEEL MY LEGS!!!!”

It was Sacul’s voice, duly noting that he was not in his former shell…in a new source, but online…it was almost laughable, as Val could not stifle his snickering from Sacul’s very emotional comments

“I have an itch and I can’t reach it, HOLY HELL I CAN’T EVEN COUNT ON MY FINGERS……WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FINGERS?????”

Val’s snickering caught the sensors in Sacul’s new shell as he remarked…

“Uhhhh nice joke Val but………………VAL??????? MASTER VAL?????”

Val’s eyes glanced to the screen, scrolling down a menu engaging Sacul’s own optical sensors…as the computer, now a AI unit scanned Val’s form…creating strands of data into a picture only Sacul could understand….

“Master Val? What has happened???…..I feel like I’ve been downloaded into a microwave food replicator.”

Val looked to Sacul and smiled replying to him…

“Think about being downloaded into a child’s plaything for now…your body is beyond repair, so in the mean time buddy you are a fancy laptop."

Sacul scanned Val, and loosened up a bit, after time informing Val on all the events that he knew of before he went offline, his backup power cells were active, but the ability to record was terminated.

Val seemed to smile to the small green blip on the screen, pulsating with Sacul’s every word. nodding in understanding until a little counter in the corner read the date to him….

216 years LATER………than he recalled.

Suddenly Val almost flipped out of his skull, pacing around the room looking at what was left of his Mansion, then back to Sacul asking Sacul to inform him of what events took place while he was asleep…Sacul reading off a chronological order of events from what Val told him in journal entries to the attack on the Versai Mansion itself. Val’s eyes narrowed with each moment, seeming to open and close like the iris on a camera lens. When he had heard enough, he told Sacul to give him a read out of the Mansion Interior. Sacul responded by naming off stable sections of the Mansion, and the danger areas…then Val had a thought…

The very bottom of the Mansion is where his hanger bay was…if he could get to it he might be able to access The Assailant and go to his backup Mansion on the new Versai Homeworld. Val’s memories began to unfold to him, recalling how after finding out about the “New Future” he had taken precautions to make sure his vehicles, and finances were in working order, as well as his secondary base of operations. The goal on Val’s mind was simple…get to his second Mansion and go from there…but how to do it was the question, for according to Sacul’s readouts…all entrances to the cavern were blocked off. Val looked to the floor, and rubbed his backside, remembering how unstable the floorboards were; quickly turning to Sacul he spoke to him of his plan….

“Sacul how stable is this floor we are on? And how far up are we from the main hanger?”

Sacul’s instruments began to spin and whirl inside his mainframe, and then he replied to Val:

“Well if you were to drop a piano on this floor it would crumble, the floors under this are just as unstable, and could crack from immense pressure…its possible you could freefall to the bottom of the cavern but I must war…”

Sacul is cut off, as Val grabs the holo recorder in his hands, and sends a heavy busted machine over a cliff edge, directly into the floor, as the whole floor he stands out, caves in shattering like glass, Val’s arms quickly tucking in his arms as he freefalls down, shattering through one, two, three, four…floors and so on till he hits the cavern roof, but looking down he extends his arms out, stopping his decent…listening for the rubble to collide on the floor below…he narrows his eyes and smiles waiting to hear the impact, expecting the sound to be in seconds…instead he waits, and waits, and waits, and waits…till a barely audible thud is heard….

Val’s eyes narrow, speaking to Sacul

“You damn poor excuse for a toaster! You didn’t tell me it was 60 damn feet of nothing down here!”

Sacul spoke from within the box to Val replying

“Yes I did, you as always wanted to do things your own way and dive right into a bottomless swimming pool! See Val this is why you get hurt so much, you take to many risk………..”

Sacul is cut off again, as Val barks to him

“I don’t need the damn lecture, I need answers”

Sacul tells Val, that the only way he’s going to get down there is if he can find a way to safely move there…by a rope or something. Val glanced up to the floor above him…it was his costume storage room, where he kept his guns, his coat, his attire and his…lightsabers….

A small glint revealed a sharp curved angle, dome shaped…clearly Val knew it was Gen Zeridian’s lightsaber, calling to it with the Force he forgot one little detail, he was hanging with his arms outstretched holding himself up! Gen’s saber came spinning down, landing next to him on a tattered rag…preventing injury. Val still didn’t know how in the hell he was going to get out of this whole thing…but he was a resourceful bastard…and he again had a plan. Glancing above him he could see a heavy starched canvas like dome, he had used it for a lampshade, he didn’t know why at the time, it just looked cool to him. Val’s mind worked a mile a minute, as he managed to lift himself out of the hole with pure strength…rolling away from the hole…again the floor was cracking, this was just NOT his day for stable floors…

Clipping Gen’s saber to his belt, he soon saw Obi Wan’s saber spiraling down to the crack, a slight impact had ignited the blade, sending the deadly blue shimmering blade heading straight for the cornerstone of the floor…. Val had seconds to plan a course of action, quickly grabbing some rope, he tied a handle strap around the laptop that was Sacul, and wrapped it about him securely, (like a purse) while he gripped the left and right edges of the shade, the floor gave out seconds later, sending him plummeting down the bottomless void of darkness. As funny a display as it looked, Val managed to hang-glide his way down to Obi Wan’s saber, grabbing the saber with his teeth by the D-ring, causing the blade to retract, still having to flex his arm muscles as he floated down an agonizing 50 feet through the cavern, seeing the hanger floor in his sight.

Now at this point, Val was very exhausted, and Sacul’s protests of how crazy and out of control Val was at the moment was not helping him…Wondering if he had kept his catlike agility, he let the glider go, Sacul screaming….

“WHAT IN THE??????”

Val curled himself into a ball, spinning 360 degrees, landing perfectly on the floor below. Glancing about the room, Val’s lips curled…his body was working perfectly now, though his arms hurt like hell, he didn’t care much, because before him stood his pride and joy…covered in dust…

Was The Assailant…

Boarding the ship, Val set Sacul up on the consul, waiting for him to access if the Assailant was still able to function over 217 years of neglect, but like all things Val knew his ship was a tough lil MARC, and like clockwork, with the flick of his wrist, dust entered his lunges causing him to cough, but the ion blue engines of the Assailant, roared to life once more…like a dragon awakened…so then was the ship alive once more….

Looking at the hanger doors, Val realized something, he had no way to get out, with the doors offline he couldn’t open them…again with his quick wit, Val turned to the laptop version of Sacul grinning to him as his finger hovered over the turbolaser cannon trigger…..

“Sacul, I’ve been thinking about something….”

Sacul asked Val,“What is that?”

Val pulled the trigger, as twin beams of green ripped into the dura-armor of the bay doors, ripping them to shreds… the night air of Ithor passed into the chamber….Val grabbing the stick to his MARC, hovers his finger over the engine release button, turning to the green blip that is now Sacul’s face….uttering only one word before pressing the switch down…

“Moving…”

And so then, did Val leave his past behind, blasting into the atmosphere of Ithor, on route to his secret destination, able to reclaim his past through Sacul, Gen’s Holo recorder, and his lightsabers…and finally the last thing…his ship…

Not sure where the future will lead him, but having two things on his mind as the MARC Crimson-red marauder enters hyperspace…

“Moving to his new Home, and………”

“Where is…Dark…Territory.”