The Ori'gehat'ik

[Jago]

[Jago]

[Corr Vhett]

"Ori'jate, Jetii..."




"Ni nu'amyce kaden tion'tuur sol be gar hut'uunla aruetii jorhaa'ise gar lalat..."




"Al o'r ibic taap bic ret gaa'taylir gar bah borarir'ti."

[Joshua Kierra-Solo]

[Corr Vhett]

"Ori be atin, Jetii..."




"Gar an motir bid ibic... "




"You are not my first Jedi, buy'ca. I know how resistant you are to pain even without you sorcery. I have worked on your kind with the lizards of Arasuum present, the creatures called Yslamiri. Pathetic things but useful at times. We have a few here that I may introduce you to later. Even under their influence it seems your kind can go a very long time under conditions of great stress, so much so that I killed the first Jedi I questioned without realising how much strain she was under..."



"The second went a bit better but it was so long before he spoke that the information was redundant. He was only a child and didn't really know anything useful anyway..."



"No... I have come to learn that there is better a way to induce a Jedi to cooperate. Do you know what that is?"

[Joshua Kierra-Solo]

"Keep talking until I give in?"



"Seriously... You will bore me to death before I can divulge anything."

[Lunak'yyx'aele]

~ The guard that remained in the room resisted the urge to shift under the uncomfortable and unfamiliar weight of the non-descript armor. Her mouth twisted in a scowl. Sure, the helmet made things easier. The amount of energy needed to maintain the illusion of her identity in a room full of independent minds becomes dangerously exhausting. But masked faces were so...impersonal.

As it was, she had to keep subtly redirecting the priest's mind in particular, who kept glancing her way, trying to ask a question that never had a chance to fully articulate itself in his thoughts. Who is that? Do I recognize those markings? Why are they here?

But Kyyx could not resist the opportunity to be in the same room as one of the most reknown Jedi of Yavin, a close friend of Man'Sell's and Pulastra's. Still, it was proving to be more frustrating than pleasurable. Oh, his physical pain was palpable enough, but it was his will that she ached to feel crack, the emotional trauma she longed to feel reverberating in his soul. She knew it could not be done quickly, but Kyyx had an impatient side to her when it came to gratification.

She continued to push and draw upon the emotions in the room, careful to avoid the Force Sensitive all-together. Only if necessary. The risk of discovery was unlikely at best, but not worth taking when it was easily avoided. When one kept chaos as their lover, one learned to keep plenty of escape routes in reserve.

Jiriad, in all of his fanaticism, was proving more taxing to manipulate than Kyyx expected. He kept many dark and emotional secrets, many of which she was using against him, but where faith usually made a mind far more malleable to corruption, his kept his will power surprisingly strong. Still, the Mandalorians were growing shorter of temper from lack of sleep, and the element of randomness harder and harder to circumvent.

This is the moment where most illusionists grow cocky, where they feel the weakened minds around them and, incorrectly, assume this is the peak of control. A doomed assumption, for Kyyx knew this was when her control was about to slip. When a mind, or a hive of minds, grows this exhausted, it becomes unpredictable. An unpredictable mind is far more likely to see past Kyyx's illusions by sheer accident than a willful mind is able to break free of them.

Reluctant as she was to rush the Jedi's torment before it had climaxed, it was time to conclude this and move on. Besides...there was another planet that needed tending to, another seed that needed to take root on hard, acidic soil.

The dark tendrils of her mind reached out across the vessel to seek out that of Corr Vhett's, stroking his personal hatred for the Jedi to color his need to personally oversee the interrogation of this particular Yavinite. Kierra-Solo may be strong, now, but Corr had a certain...natural talent...for finding the crack in a man's spirit. ~

[Corr Vhett]

"Ret mhi liser shaadla staabi adol lek?"




"My early experiments with your kind encouraged me to seek alternative forms of persuasion. I've found that it is best not to attack a Jedi directly, but to exploit your rather obvious weaknesses..."

[Joshua Kierra-Solo]

*Something hidden. Unseen. A threat in the shadows. Myriad are the mysteries of the Force and many are the depths within which strife and conflict lurk. Centre yourself and trust in the Force. Such things soon present themselves.*



"Carry on, sunshine. It's your party..."

[Lunak'yyx'aele]

~ With no further visible exchange of communication, Kyyx turned and opened the door to obey the order, as any pious Mandalorian might have.

Inside, there was a mixture of apprehension and anticipation. Apprehension, because she hated missing a second of the mind game the priest was playing with Kierra-Solo. She so greatly enjoyed the works of another artist. But, anticipation for what she knew was to come.

And Lucky me, I get to choose the paints that shall color this canvas.

A few short strides brought her to the room the civilians had been crowded into. Her visor lingered longingly on the youngest, a squawling youngling in her father's arms whom was barely knee-high yet. But she decided not to push her waning luck with her influence over this vessel. The armored men and women under Vhett's command had more honor than sense.

She pointed to the mother instead, whom was roughly tugged to her feet and pushed towards Kyyx. She also gestured almost carelessly towards a young lad who looked ready to start a fight but not quite old enough to enlist, and again towards a kindly old man with a bad hip, whom had the look of a grandfather about him. Kyyx herself could not quite understand why people were more desperate to preserve life when there was little left of it to save, but she was adept at taking advantage of it.

With the three chosen gathered, she ushered them out of the room without a single word uttered. Deception of the eye was far easier than deception of the ear, and Kyyx did not trust her proficiency in Mando'a.

They returned to the Priest of Kad and his subject, Kyyx pressing the butt of her rifle into the backs of the mother, the old man, and the boy to hurry them into the room. She sharply rapped the barrel across the backs of their knees to make them buckle and force them to kneal in front of Jiriad for his inspection, but the imposter's attention was once more eagerly focused on Joshua Kierra-Solo, her mind whispering icy messages of terror and dread.

Do you know it now, Jedi? Can you infer what the Priest has in store for you? ~