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<<…May the Force forgive me for what I had to do. But I love Caleb, not in the way I loved Markus, but as a friend to the man I fell in love with; I had a duty to ease his pain. How could she?!?! How could she possibly…the things he seen, the things she did??? Knowing my sister was alive should have brought me joy, but looking into his mind….seeing what he saw. By the Force…I had no choice. I had to erase it.

Caleb may hate me later in life, but it was for his own good. No man or woman should have to endure those images. And should I ever encounter my sister again after seeing what she did…I WILL kill her.>>

--

-- Gardurrga the Hutt’s Palace….

Caleb stretched his arm across the bed slowly, it hurt to move yet he still let the smile slowly come to his face. The side of the bed he felt with his hand was cold and barren, much like his companion who had undoubtedly gotten up to leave before he woke. Getting what she needed to satiate herself Mrysti had no further use for him. Bringing his arm back under himself Caleb slowly opened his eyes, propping himself up on his elbows to look around.

The room could be declared a disaster zone, as Mrysti literally used everything at her disposal including the room itself to attempt 'Kriffing' Caleb to death. Caleb stretched his arms out to his side using a little of the Force to ease the soreness that plagued his entire body. His former lover had tried more than Caleb expected to break him the previous night. He felt he gave as good as he got from her, including at several points during the evening pinning the large woman and letting his own passions take over; getting from her exactly what he wanted. It seemed to fuel her more when he took control.

It was a fact-finding mission as well as a night of uncontrollable lust. Mrysti had indeed changed, she was as wild in bed as she looked and a far cry from the 'girl' he once knew. Caleb looked down at the empty bed. There was no way she would have allowed herself to wake snuggled in his arms, not like before. But, there was something else. As Caleb looked down at the bed he knew that once they looked in each other's eyes Mrysti was also looking for something in him. Even behind her passion, her rage to just consume him; she was looking for a little recognition during their night together. Caleb knew she found none.

--

Korriban…six months after the Fall of the Jedi Temple….

This was something that needed to be reported. Had Caleb been on a sanctioned mission from the Republic he would indeed be taking note of the large amount of activity in the Valley of the Dark Lords. The forces arrayed before him told him the Empire was preparing for another invasion. Hundreds of troop transports, thousands of Soldiers moving around them. Supplies stacked in bundles at various locations.

Caleb sighed to himself stepping off the shuttle behind Muriel. She handed the flight officer a datapad as he glanced past her to look at Caleb who was still watching all of the activity. They had managed to pass security on the station. Muriel giving the flight officer the same excuse she gave security earlier.

"Disregard my 'Apprentice' it's his first visit to Korriban…." She leaned down to the officer to whisper harshly, gesturing at Caleb, "…he was trained in the Academy on Ziost." The flight officer made a face at Caleb nodding at Muriel in affirmation. It was disgraceful to not have at least visited the Academy on Korriban for recertification after its capture. She moved past the officer looking back at Caleb, "Come Apprentice, the Academy awaits." When they were out of earshot Caleb moved up next to Muriel instead of following behind as a dutiful Apprentice should.

"So, is this the part where you tell me what you need my help with? We are not actually going INTO the Academy are we?" Muriel smiled under her hood.

"Just remember what we talked about. You're doing good, Jedi." Caleb stopped walking to look at Muriel.

"No. It won't hold going in there. The Academy is a nexus of the Dark Side. The Dark Council is in there. Any light that enters will immediately be detected…" Muriel stopped, looking behind and over her shoulder.

"We are not going to the Dark Council chambers, so…relax." Caleb didn't move, glaring at Muriel.

"No! Not until I know what it is, I’m doing."

She was so close to her goal, Muriel bit her lip moving swiftly back toward Caleb. Grabbing his arm like a disrespected Master would do to a wayward Apprentice. On Korriban, you never knew who was watching.

"My Master was killed during the recapture of Korriban from the Republic. In fact, I think it was my Master's OTHER Apprentice that killed him." Muriel started moving them both back toward the Academy as she spoke, "My Master's Holocron was placed in the archive by that other Apprentice, who happened to actually be a Darth as well. But…there was a lock placed on the Holocron that the other 'Apprentice' didn't know about." Caleb stopped moving as Muriel stopped at the base of the Academy steps to explain. "Darth Malgus couldn't access our Master's Holocron because it can only be unlocked by a Sith AND a Jedi working together to unlock it at the same time. My Master knew Malgus couldn't be trusted. He told me about the lock, but did not inform Malgus. That….is why I need you and why we are here."

Caleb swallowed hard, every Jedi knew about Malgus. Who didn't know about the Dark Lord who led the attack on the Jedi Temple personally. Caleb looked down at the red dusty ground of Korriban. He really didn't want to do this. No one should be helping someone so close to the ‘Sacker’ of Coruscant, but he was desperate to find Mrysti. Muriel didn't speak as Caleb considered, she already knew she had him even after revealing everything. Still, she knew his Jedi sensibilities would inevitably ask the question, the question she was already prepared for.

"What's on the Holocron that you looking for?"

"Proof that my Master didn't trust Malgus. Proof that he could have killed my Master and had me ostracized from the Sith. Look, I only want what’s rightfully mine. My place in ‘things’ has been stripped away…." Muriel watched Caleb as he considered her words. It wasn't totally false, she did want proof against Malgus, but she conveniently left out the parts about the knowledge not only her Master placed within the Holocron, but the knowledge of her Master's Master and his Master before him. The knowledge of one thousand years of the Dark Arts, power infinite if she could get it. She smiled sweetly, it was time to push Caleb over the edge.

"You help me with this….and I swear to you Caleb, I will not only help you find this woman you're looking for, but if we find her, we WILL get her out of here!"

--

Gardurrga the Hutts Palace….

The flooring was cold as Caleb finally set his feet down upon it, standing up off the bed. He still hurt in places, especially the places where there were wounds; bites from Mrysti or scratches. The Force had gotten rid of much of the bruises and fatiguing pain, but he would have to take time to do a healing meditation before he--Caleb stopped his thoughts not wanting to think of it; of fighting Mrysti later that day.

Moving shards of something broken out of the way, Caleb stepped over some more rubble as he moved closer to the entryway. The doorway opened up into a grand foyer and beyond, the training yards. Sounds of grunting and slashing were just getting into earshot as he approached. Caleb grabbed his robe from off the floor next to the broken chair that it formerly rested on, tightening it around his waist as he stepped over the threshold.

Rustic brown cloth around her waist moved in unison with Mrysti's red hair as she slashed across the target at its midsection with lightning speed. The target slowly coming apart at the cut from the precise slash and falling apart horizontally. Mrysti was already in the air having jumped into a smashing power move toward the next target; the sword held in both hands between her legs as she came down upon it. The metal split the wooden target cleanly, vertically. The precision of the smashing cut causing not only the target to shake almost out of the ground with the force of her landing, but quickly parting it in half to fall to the floor on both sides of her.

Mrysti stopped for a moment, breathing heavily and turning her head slightly to the left toward Caleb, but didn’t make eye contact. The sword she held in her hand was made of a metal Caleb couldn't identify, but it was the length of the broadsword that caught his attention. Mrysti had to be using her strength in the Force to even wield it. It was nearly as long as a man; tall and broad enough to cook a bantha steak on if held over a fire. She wasted no time flinging her sword wielding hand and the empty hand away from her sending the two halves of the wooden target into adjacent walls, shattering them into sharp fragments. Seeming to know what Caleb was thinking, Mrysti turned with her arms still raised to show she had no problem wielding the heavy blade. And that she was doing it with her own physical power.

It wasn't the fact that Mrysti was ONLY wearing the strange rustic colored waist wrap and that her fully ample chest was bare that made Caleb raise an eyebrow. It was seeing her sweat at holding the impossibly heavy sword out to her side and that she was doing it with her own genetically enhanced strength. Caleb knew all about Mrysti's association with Project Alpha, all of her generically enhanced 'siblings'; all of which served the Republic in some form or fashion. Well, not all of them…not anymore.

Though Caleb knew about the Project and that each member of Mrysti's family were 'special' he did not know the specific gifts each one had. Looking at the massive, half-naked Mirialan; he could only surmise that one of Mrysti's gifts was incredible strength. He watched as a crooked, scarred smile started to crease her face. She glared at him, holding the sword out to her side. Caleb started his own sly smile right back, leaning on the door frame to look at his lost love. It was opportunity knocking.

Mrysti had indeed changed. So much, Caleb might have realized a way to survive. Stealthfully, he reached out to Mrysti in the Force as she stood there looking at him. Straining against the weight of the sword. What Caleb discovered confirmed his suspicions. When Mrysti left the Jedi and before her accident she was a Consular. A Sage. One who shaped and walked strong in the Force. One who could listen to the flow and understand the hidden meanings within the Living tendrils of the Force in everything. Eventually being able to manipulate that energy in nearly any object. As they all were taught, the Force….was in everything.

What Caleb sensed in that brief touch of the Force within Mrysti was contrary. Mrysti had lost almost all of her ability with the use of the Living Force. She was using it now to only augment her own genetically enhanced strength. Caleb had discovered an advantage and as he turned his back on her to walk away, much to her confusion; she finally lowered the sword watching him. Caleb smiled at his discovery, but quickly lost it. Asking himself, 'Would he use it?' Would he use the knowledge to hurt or possibly kill the only woman he ever loved?

--

- Korriban….six months after the Fall of the Jedi Temple….

Muriel had begun to realize; Jedi Knight Caleb Goss was much more keenly aware of his surroundings and what was going on than she'd first surmised. Whether intentionally or not, Caleb had foiled the remainder of her plan. The part of the plan that included his death or capture once they had secured the Holocron.

It was twice actually. Once, as Muriel was nearly trapped in a ray shield security device; Caleb used the Force to pull the Holocron from the pedestal into his palm and Muriel avoided the activation pads on the floor. And only seconds before that moment, as Muriel plotted to jab a spike into the back of his skull and toss him from the cliff they now traversed. Caleb turned back on her, sensing the intent.

Two things stopped her. First, that she had to weaken herself in the Force to use her power in cloaking her intent. And second, as Caleb was busy reminding her while they walked; the Holocron was in HIS possession. Even if she did manage to get it from him, she still had to have a Jedi to help her defeat the Dark side/Light side Force Lock. It was with much grumbling that Muriel now followed behind him as Caleb allowed the Force guide him. The former ‘Master and Apprentice’ both changing their roles.

Caleb knew exactly what he was doing and smiled to himself at the grimace and obvious change in demeanor of his companion once they climbed the series of rocks. Crossing the Valley quickly. Forever grumbling was what accompanied the climb. Caleb was sure Muriel did not like the fact the Holocron was holding her at bay. Also, Muriel wasn't sure she could 'take' him in single combat. Or she would have tried. Though Caleb had more of a sense of Muriel since he took possession of the Holocron. Muriel was building up the nerve to try. All of her pretenses were gone. And he was keenly aware she would very likely kill him the first chance she got in order to get the Holocron.

"I sense nothing!!! How can you be sure we are even going the right direction???!!!"

The change in Muriel's tone made Caleb smile again, no more of the sweetly veiled voice that had beseeched him to go to Korriban with her. At last there was deadly truth between them, her voice had a mean, deadly edge to it at last. Caleb stood straight up closing his eyes to open his sense to the Force. Feeling Muriel looking at him, but also feeling the pull again pointing ahead and over the next ridge. He quickly started moving, letting the Force enhance his speed.

"There! I can sense her over that ridge!!!"

Muriel followed close behind, using her own Force enhanced speed to follow. Over the ridge it opened up into a rounded recess followed down by a depressed rounded out valley. Caleb could make out a structure built into the mountainside, with open air rooms in different spots. The one who constructed the place; utilizing all of the mountain’s natural architecture to build an impressive stronghold both inside and outside the cutout.

The depressed area seemed to be the centerpiece of the builder's home having been built into a sort of stage with a raised dais in the center. Caleb glanced over his shoulder as Muriel knelt down next to him looking down into the recess. Caleb took a small pair of macrobinoculars from his belt to get a closer look. His senses were stretched between 'watching' Muriel and now the inside of the recess. Panning around he saw various racks of tools set against the mountain’s natural walls. A rack of some kind displayed prominently at the center of the dais. Movement from one side of the recess caused him to jerk the binos toward it. And he nearly dropped them seeing the image.

There she was. Muriel sensed the change in Caleb immediately, standing up slowly behind him.

"What! What do you see?"

Muriel squinted, trying to use the Force to enhance her sight and see what he was looking at.

A red and purple robed figure led a much larger green figure into the recess by a chain around its neck. Straining further, Muriel could see the green figure was a woman due to her nakedness; she was hunched down, eyes cast to the floor as she was led into the open area. The robed figure led Mrysti up to the rack, dropped the chain and was obviously instructing her in some way. They both watched as Mrysti climbed slowly onto the rack and pronated herself across it, planting her legs and arms in the holds located at each ankle and at each wrist. Caleb slumped down as the robed figure pulled the restraints around Mrysti's appendages and began methodically beating her across her back with a whip produced from a nearby storage rack. Caleb started moving down the recess, but slid to a stop. What he heard from below stopped him.

"…And you will scream!!! You will tell me how badly you want this!!! How badly you need to be punished!!!!"

"Y-yes!!! Oh yes, Master!!!"

It was pure bliss. The kind of bliss that was once directed toward him. Not only could Caleb hear it, he could feel it from his distance to them. Caleb shook his head. It couldn’t be Mrysti, yet even as he denied it the waves of pleasure rolled up and out of the recess toward him once again.

Caleb felt weak, sick as he stumbled and then fell in disbelief. Falling down into a lazy squat on the ground. His arms, limp to his side with the binos rolling out of his hand. Muriel smiled wickedly, taking her lightsaber from her belt as she stepped over the rocky surface toward him. With Caleb compromised emotionally, the time to reclaim her Holocron had arrived.

"Not quite the woman you remember, Jedi?" Muriel ignited her saber, the crimson blade held down at a guard to her side. "I will be merciful, Caleb. I like you. That's why this death will be swift and painless."

Caleb kept his eyes focused on the violence going on down in the recess. He could feel her, every bit of pleasure she felt at each vicious hit with the whip. And flinched each time it struck home. In his head he could hear Mrysti's pleasurable screams echo off and up the recess walls, they mixed with his own pleasurable memories of her. The sounds of her that night, the feel of her so close to him. Muriel's threat overlapped the voices in his head. He heard Muriel, but didn't really comprehend. Turning his head slowly to look up at her, tears streaming out of his eyes. Muriel brought the lightsaber up to her other hand, holding it in a slashing guard.

"Goodbye, Jedi. Thank you for helping me reclaim my power."

The Jedi wall shattered. Caleb leapt up with speed steeped within the Force; grabbing Muriel's wrist as she began her slash toward his head. They struggled. Spinning around and toward the opposite cliff side. Red crimson of the saber only a fraction of an inch from each other. Caleb clenched down on the Sith's wrist, twisting. Muriel looked in his eyes, her spittle sizzling off the plasma of the blade.

"Give me my Holocron, Jedi!!!"

Caleb's eyes were not on Muriel's, but on the saber hilt they both struggled to get control of. All of his love, his hate, his worry, his doubt and his fear penetrated the hilt as Caleb saw through the mechanics of the saber like it was transparent. Though they struggled, Caleb found the synthetic red color Crystal that focused the plasma energy cell of Muriel's lightsaber. Closing his eyes tightly only when he knew he had it focused. Synthetic crystals were easy to manufacture and manipulate. The bond between crystal and user was not strong enough to prevent what Caleb was doing. In his mind, he heard the snap. Shattering the crystal, the blade abruptly cut off.

In surprise, Muriel loosened her grip on her deactivated saber. Caleb was consumed, his grief over what he seen did not allow Muriel to finish speaking as she looked up at him.

"Wha---how did yo--"

They spun around toward the cliffside. Caleb wrenching the hilt from her grip as he thrust the other hand out to his front. A reverberating distortion of the air gathered up in the Force; hitting Muriel in the midsection and sending her tumbling toward the edge to fly over the side of the cliff. She didn't make a sound as she fell to her death, the power of the blast in the Force from Caleb either killing her or rendering her unconscious before the fall.

For a long moment, Caleb looked out over the cliff he had used to send Muriel to her doom. Finally, turning back to take one last look down into the recess where he witnessed the end of all that he loved. He watched the robed figure drop his own clothing to position himself behind Mrysti to further torment her. Caleb closed his eyes at the sound, knowing that it was over. All of it, too much to bare.

Mrysti had found a new Master, she had crossed over. No one as powerful as his love would ever allow themselves to be unwillingly put through what was occurring down below. Caleb walked away toward the direction of the Academy, he had to find a way off Korriban. But he was Jedi, nothing was impossible in the Force. Echoes of the consensual pleasure being wrought in the recess seemed to follow him for much longer than it should have.