Theed

Burning. The sword burned his hand, yet no smoke and flame rose from his flesh. No, the burning was in his mind, projected onto his very nerves by the blade. With it came images, an unyielding outpouring of knowledge; the fire burned brighter in response, searing the nerves across his whole body. Around him, the council stared at him passively. On the throne Arcturus watched with a stony face - his stoic visage unknowable.

Jashin knew, then, that he would die here. Arcturus had said that when he grasped the sword that he would be transported to another world. But no such thing had happened. His lack of force-sensitivity would be his doom; unable to interface with the sword properly, he would simply burn up and die. Desperation built within him, sheer panic building out of all control. He had to do something. He couldn't let go of the sword, though with great pain he could move. Stumbling, he rose to his feet; the hall muttered among themselves, awe and shock at his ability to move widely evident.

He had to move. He had to do something. He focused on the blade in his hand, trying in vain to stem the tide of knowledge. It was to no avail; images, emotions, flashes of information. It was so jumbled, so discordant, that it was of no use at all. But then, through it all, a single flash; an image of Arcturus, forging the sword, mixing the metal with his own blood. There was one thing he could do. There was one thing he could do to stop it all - to end this, now and forever.

He stumbled across the stone floor of the hall, first from one side, then to another; some of the elders rose from their seats in alarm but Arcturus stood perfectly still, unalarmed. This would be his doom, as Jashin lurched towards his grandfather, spun, and cleanly decapitated the man with his own sword. Instantaneously, the burning pain that consumed him died out. The sword in his hand broke into pieces before crumbling to dust, and the elders of the hall gasped - Arcturus's stoic head falling to the ground before rolling underneath the wooden throne.

"Impossible. Impossible!" Whispered one elder, in absolute shock. "He, he is the new Clanhead!" Whispered another, astounded.

"Yes. I'm the new Clanhead. And I have but two proclamations. The first, is that my name shall forever be Jashin Rau Galfridian. In honor of my mother; and to shed off your oppressive title of Drago." Replied Jashin, exhausted, slowly falling into the seat of the throne.

"And...the second my Lord?" Inquired one of the other elders.

"The second is that you all will die. Battle droids: execute them." Said Jashin, with a wave of his hand.

Looks of shock were replaced by screams of horror as the battle droids behind the elders - not so long ago protecting them - proceeded to unload their wrist blasters into the backs of the their Lords. In alarm, the guards outside of the hall burst through to the terrible scene - and another wave of Jashin's hand had those same guards dead and dying under a hail of blaster fire.

"Good. Good. Now destroy yourselves." Muttered Jashin, holding his temple as a searing migraine raged through his head. Without ado, the droids places their blasters over their CPUs, and, one by one, executed their last order. After the last droid fell, a smoking hole in its chest, eerie quiet fell on the hall. In the minutes that followed, footsteps echoed; and Jakk and Shizunue arrived at the scene. Shizune, covering her mouth, leaned against the wall. Jakk, meanwhile, unsheathed his sword, levelling it at Jashin on the wooden throne. "What's happened here!" He demanded.

"I gave them what I wanted. I took hold of the sword, and I gave them peace of mind. By the by...is that any way to address your Patriarch?" Replied Jashin wryly, his laughter echoing into the ceiling of the hall.

"B-but...they're all dead!" Spluttered Jakk.

"Yes. Yes they are. Every single one. As am I." Said Jashin tiredly, rising from his seat. Walking towards the pair, he slowly stumbled his way towards the door, only pausing to place a hand on Jakk's shoulder. "Now, you're in charge. You were named successor, and you will marry Shizune and lead the clan to greatness. And who will argue with your testimony? Right before your eyes, the sword disintegrated my body, and killed everyone in this room. Allowing the clan as a whole to return to Vartholium...to put behind their barbaric and ancient practices to rest forever, and to rejoin our society proper." Jashin paused, shaking his head. "This, is the best way that I can serve my people."

"I...I understand. Then, as the last command of the last heir, I will take our people home." Replied Jakk, haltingly, slowly retreating back to the same wall as Shizune - before sliding down to sit next to her. "...What a horrible and bloody end to your family."

"And good riddance. Now, without further ado...I have my freedom to enjoy." And with that, Jashin walked through the doors of the hall, down the stairs to the street, turned, and walked into the nearest Cantina he could find.

The Twi'lek was a little surprised when the astromech sprayed her and Sin with water. "Wha-Artooooo! That not was nice. Now I'm all wet..." She tried to wipe away some of the water from her face as Vaili came over to help her and Sin back to their feet. Now standing, and dripping water droplets, she let Sin start to lead her up the stairs. After they had climbed a few steps however, the Twi'lek girl put her hand out in front of the echani. She intended for it to land on her shoulder, but missed and placed it on her chest instead. "Wait wait-oops, sorry..." She quickly corrected her hand placement and tried to turn Sin around. "Ourrrroooooms are on the FIRST flooorrrr. And why is yooouuu leading? I'mmmm suppose to beee watching you!"

*Sin stops and frowns as Tanara said they were on the first floor. She gasps in surprise at the young twi'leks hand finding an unexpected spot to rest her hand. She blushed a bit but it was soon repositioned to her shoulder.*

I..um.. you're..good...right...

*She turns to start back down those few steps, wrapping an arm around Tanara so they could support each other, accidentally her own hand found the other woman's butt. She blushed again and found the woman's waist instead.*

You my frien...we got have our backs. You mine. Me yours. Watch both.

*She leads Tanara to her room, with the twi'leks help in which room as apparently she didn't know which was her's. She opens the door and leads Tanara to the bed to help her lie down. As she did, she slipped and falls onto the bed as well. She broke into a fit of giggles at the fact.*

S..ssorry... leass... I didn' land on ya...

*Atton nodded, figuring it was high time they rejoined the rest of the crew. For some reason, it felt like ages since he had seen them, even though it had only been a few hours at most...

He was about to suggest to Thea that she finish packing when he felt a disturbance in the Force. It was the little nudge of danger that he always felt right before something terrible happened. He turned and darted into the living room and peered out the window. He couldn't see much from here, but there was now a definite disturbance in the Force. That same old bad feeling...*"Crap...Thea, we have to get moving!"*With one hand on the lightsaber clipped to his belt, he reentered the kitchen.*"Get your things and let's get going! We have to get back to the others ASAP!"

*Before long, Atton was heading out of Thea's house with her in tow, except they didn't use the front door. He had no idea where their potential attackers were or how many there possibly were. So instead of going out the front, he had Thea show him how to get out the back. Hopefully they could avoid detection by the enemy by staying out of sight. Even so, Atton kept one hand on his lightsaber the whole time.*

The voice on the comm awoke him, and groggily he opened his eyes. Kriff it was annoying. He was having a good sleep here in...Jashin chose that moment to take in his surroundings...Well, apparently he had chosen an alley to fall asleep in.

Ah, yes. The previous day came flooding back to him. The trial, the killings, his drunken stupor. Apparently the inn had chosen to decline his patronage, and had sent him on his way. Smart move on their part. Rising to his feet, Jashin was thankful for his healing factor - no trace of a hangover in his system. He was equally thankful for the non-existant crime on the planet; as a result, all his clothes and equipment were still on his person. Stumbling out of the alley, Jashin nearly stumbled headfirst into a a fleeing civilian, who was running full tilt away from a squad of...stormtroopers? Jashin turned his collar up, and similarly began walking in the opposite direction. These weren't regular troopers, by the looks of their black armor and high-powered weapons. Thankfully for Jashin, as well as the troopers (whose lives he would have surely ended) Jashin was too new of an associate to the Wayward Sons to be in any records or of any interest to the search teams. As such, he was essentially left alone as he made his way to a speeder hub, looking for a repulsorcab that would taxi him to the villa.

As he hailed a taxi and gave the droid his destination - as well as paid for his fare in advance - Jashin quietly went over his options. He had no ship, and not enough credits to get off world. This crew of sentients were highly dangerous and accident prone. He'd bet his shirt that the FO was looking for them; idly, he pondered turning them in for a reward, but discarded it almost immediately - the FO was undoubtedly not big on paying aliens finders fees. Besides, they'd probably just torture the information out of him instead of paying his exorbitant prices. No, the crew was a better bet - they had resources, resources that they could barter with Jashin with. He would side with them, for now, at least, until he had a better idea of the playing field and the key players. Either way, Jashin would work to keep himself on top...even if it mean he'd be the only one left alive.

As the repulsorcab lifted off from the streets of Theed, Jashin idly took in the sight of several ISB operations ships scattered around the city, depositing their troops on the ground once landed. Then, all too soon, the speeder sped away - back towards the villa, which Jashin hoped was the meeting point for all of them.

Thea noticed a change in Atton's body language. He seemed to tense up. When he told her to grab her things, she quickly grabbed her bags, swearing in her head, and led Atton out the back. Thea led him down some back alleys until they were far enough away from her house. Now what were they going to do? She looked up at him and then around the area. This is about as far as she had ever had to travel. She didn't know the streets of Theed that well, even though she lived there. Most of the time, she spent every minute at the hospital. "This is all I got, your turn."

*Atton got the comm message from Adi not long after he and Thea had left her house. He assumed that the fallback location that Adi referred to was the villa in the lake country where they had first landed upon arrival on Naboo.*"So we need to get back to the villa we came from..."*Reaching the end of the street, he peered around the corner of one of the houses and grimaced as he saw a checkpoint being set up by what he assumed were the First Order troops. He quickly pulled back.*"Damn...already blocked off parts of the road. There's no way we're getting out of here without being seen..."

*The original plan had been to try and sneak away but Atton couldn't see a way around the checkpoint. Thinking quickly, he remembered that the speeder they had taken to Thea's house was probably still there, provided the First Order hadn't swiped it. The plan brewing in his mind was reckless, but if he could buy some time, at least Thea would be able to get away. She couldn't fight, so getting her out of danger quickly was the priority. Although if he managed to clear the checkpoint quickly, maybe Thea could pick him up and they could try to get away before the First Order sent more reinforcements...

He turned to her.*"I think the speeder we took here is still parked at your house...you get back there and grab it. I'll distract the soldiers here. They're clamping down on the city so we gotta move fast! Go!"

*Atton waited until Thea started back for her house before taking a deep breath and starting to walk slowly down the street, lightsaber in hand. It wouldn't be long before the soldiers noticed him. He gathered the Force around him as he walked, preparing himself for the battle. With a smirk, he hailed the guards at the checkpoint and activated his lightsaber, the cyan blade igniting with the familiar snap-hiss sound.*"Hey fellas! I'm kinda new in town, do you guys know where the bar is?"