Post by Cain on Aug 13, 2012 11:57:14 GMT -5
Name: Jack Makura
Class: Consular
Age: 26
Sex: Male
Height/Weight: 5'11" 160lbs
Species: Human
Title: Dark Jedi Prophet
Appearance:
Jack is not an imposing figure by any stretch of the imagination. Most who come across him tend not to notice him or underestimate him because of this. He's not very tall and fairly thin with very pale skin. His eyes are naturally a dark brown color but more often than not appear yellow due to dark side corruption.
Jack's default expression is usually one of extreme fatigue and disinterest. He also has dark rings under his eyes from lack of sleep. Jack typically doesn't wear anything overly conspicuous, certainly not anything that would identify him as a Force adept.
Base Stats
Strength: 2
Speed: 3
Stamina: 10
Force Stats
Control: 3
Sense: 12
Alter: 5
Combat Stats
Lightsaber: 1
Unarmed: 0
Melee: 4
Range: 0
Personal Items:
Starship: Fury-Class Transport (The Auren Sol)
Force Powers:
Telekinesis
Force Sense
Shock
Fear
Force Aura
Skills:
Shii-Cho
Force Focus
Duelist
Two-Handed Specialist
Bio:
The Boy with no Name
Jack Makura was born on Corellia, though he wasn't Jack Makura then. Born the son of a mercenary and spice junkie named Darros Reid, the young boy that would one day be called Jack Makura was only minutes old when his father's many addictions caught up with him.
Elite assassins working for Exchange boss Lagra the Hutt had tracked down Darros, who owed the Exchange millions in credits for gambling and missing spice cargo. Leading the assassins was a young silver-blonde haired woman named Lynn Makura. The assassins wounded Jack's mothers and took both parents with them back to Nar Shaddaa. The infant would have been left for dead were it not for Lynn. She could sense the touch of the Force within the child. Sensing his potential, Lynn gathered up the child and brought him along as well.
On Nar Shaddaa Darros was brought before Lagra. The slug demanded that Darros' debts be paid, otherwise he would be cast down with the others who had failed to give the Hutt his cut. Lagra's Labyrinth they called it. There were whispers here and there on Nar Shaddaa of the horrors and torture that await within Lagra's personal dungeon. Though none of these rumors could be verified as no one who entered the Labyrnith ever returned.
Darros pleaded with Lagra, but there was nothing he could offer the Hutt slug... nothing besides his wife and son. Pleased, maybe just by the anguish such an offer caused Darros, Lagra agreed to the terms, setting Darros loose and keeping his family behind.
It wasn't revealed until after Darros had disappeared again that the shot which had hit Akira had severed her spinal cord, paralyzing her from the waist down. Lagra had little use for a slave who couldn't walk and simply had her put down. It was bitter-sweet, but the deal was not a complete and total loss.
A Deal With the Devil
Lynn Makura was the top Exchange assassin on Nar Shaddaa employed by Lagra the Hutt to work as his personal muscle. "Clan Makura" they called themselves, the word meaning "total darkness". Each assassin initiated into the group would take on the clan moniker as their surname. However, before she was Lynn Makura, the head of Hutt's clan of assassins was a Jedi at the academy on Coruscant named Lynn Akunin. Her master was an old Rattataki named Maha Rishii. Though Lynn was an eager and promising student, Master Maha felt her ambition moved quicker than her ability to progress. He constantly stressed to Lynn the importance of patience and control, lessons Lynn interpreted as Maha holding her back. Lynn's older brother, who was also a Jedi, had died when she was very young. After that event she began to question the wisdom of the Jedi Masters who had been unable to save him, Maha in particular...
Despite her doubts, Lynn eventually became a Jedi Knight and continued to team with Master Maha on many of his missions. In an effort to wrestle control of Nar Shaddaa away from the gangsters and the Exchange, the Republic assigned Jedi to protect several diplomats sent to the moon to restore order. Lynn and Master Maha were among them. Their assignment was a Bith senator called Rom Qota, a very high profile assignment considering the bounty the Exchange had on his head. During their mission Lynn was eager to meet the Exchange bosses head on, but Maha insisted that they wait for the attackers to reveal themselves. It made no sense to Lynn to just sit back and wait for the enemy to come and strike the first blow, Maha was going to get them all killed.
Not about to get herself killed for a worthless senator or due to Maha's head games, Lynn went out to find the Exchange on her own. Her search led her to Lagra's Labyrinth, a dizzying maze of tunnels beneath the streets of Nar Shaddaa littered with all sorts of vicious beasts, torture devices and booby traps like something right out of an Indiana Jones film. The rumor that none had ever entered the Labyrinth and lived to tell about it was not entirely accurate. There was only one; Lynn Akunin. Her exploits had thoroughly impressed Lagra who offered her a deal. A promise of even greater powers if she would join with him. Lynn was skeptical at first that a Hutt could teach her anything useful, but once he explained how he would grant her the power, she greedily accepted.
Lynn gave the position of Senator Qota and Master Maha to the Hutts in exchange for the Holocron of a Dark Jedi Lagra had come across quite some time ago. Thanks to the wisdom and power of Master Maha, the attack on the Senator had failed, but Lynn had made her deal with the devil.
The Brutal Tutelage of Lynn Makura
Lynn had taken it upon herself to look after the young son of Darros after he had been given over to the Hutts. She decided to name the boy "Jack" after her fallen brother. The Force was strong with Jack, there was no question about it. Lynn had felt it from the first day she'd met him. But the presence of the Force alone did not guarantee Jack any power. The Force was a powerful ally, but its potential was held down by the weaknesses of it's practitioners.
"Remember, the Force's limits are your limits because the Force has no limits." These words were taken from Lynn's Holocron and passed down to young Jack. The boy was a quick learner. While not much of a fighter, what Jack lacked in physical strength he more then made up for in intelligence. The child thirsted for knowledge, absorbing anything and everything his teacher told him. Even as a child he was able to grasp the meaning behind Lynn's words. The Force was a powerful thing, but not all could wield such power. Some were stronger, some were weaker. This weakness was not with the Force, but with the individuals. By shedding yourself of weakness you allow the true power of the Force to shine through, the power of the dark side.
Lynn spent many many long hours explaining each of these perceived weaknesses that Jack would have to rid himself of. Lessons would often carry well into the night as Jack almost always had questions, picking at every idea from all paths of logic. A weakness such as compassion for example... Lynn explained that attachments to others who were weaker than yourself would pull you down, force you to divvy your strength among them in a fruitless effort to protect them. Jack countered, noting that Lynn herself was teaching someone who was weak. Lynn explained that there was no "attachment" between the two of them. Her time with Jack was an investment and that when their partnership no longer was needed one would have to cast the other aside. Being so young Jack had naturally become attached to his master. Though he nodded in agreement, he did not truly believe a time would ever come where Lynn would cast him aside, he could not conceive of it at the time.
Lynn reinforced her lessons on weakness through harsh treatment. Forcing the eight year old Jack to find his own way from place to place on the Smuggler's Moon of Nar Shaddaa, forcing him to rely on his own survival instincts to get by. It was during one of his treks through the refugee sector that Jack was first introduced to the game of chess. A pair of vagrants had stumbled across a discarded lightsaber. It didn't work anymore, but it could probably be sold for a high price in any case. Jack knew his master would be very pleased if he could somehow bring the saber back to her, but the bums were fully grown men more then twice his size. Rather then simply killing the fools and making off with his prize, Jack would have to use his wits to get what he wanted.
Aside from their unkempt clothing the vagrants had very few possessions, one being a simple chess game. Noticing it, Jack approached the men with a proposition. He claimed that he knew how to fix the lightsaber, which would make its price on the black market go up considerably. However, he would only offer the service if the men would be willing to make a little wager. Not being strangers to games of chance, the men agreed to the boy's offer. He would challenge them to their chess game, if he won he would get the lightsaber. If they won he would repair it for them. Of course Jack had no idea how to repair the lightsaber, but even though he had never played chess before, he had no intention of losing.
The vagrants explained the rules of the game to Jack. As he thought about all the possible move combination's instantly his mind rejoiced at the possibilities, it appealed strongly to Jack's meticulous nature. The game didn't last long, Jack won handily. Though the bum wasn't ready to admit defeat quite yet and Jack could see this as a weakness in his victim. He offered to play again, this time with the man's chess game at stake. Even though he clearly had no chance, the man could not refuse the offer. In the end Jack had humiliated the man who then refused to hold up his end of the bargain. Using his limited ability at the time in the Force, Jack tried to affect the bum's mind, succeeding in a gentle push of persuasion that caused the man to grudgingly relinquish Jack's winnings.
Jack presented the broken lightsaber to Lynn, but kept the chess board for himself. Studying it in private, he would simulate games against himself, memorizing hundreds of strategic sequences. The way the pieces worked together, the logic and cunning involved, Jack saw parallels between the game and the nature of war and the Force. He would also find that the game would translate well into his blade training. Jack was not very physically imposing, but still Lynn attempted to teach him the basics of lightsaber combat. Using a short katana to train with, Jack practiced to master the basics of Shii-Cho. His strength and speed were sub par, but Jack knew how to make the most of the skills he had. Jack spent his time practicing sequences of blade movement, doing drills day after day after day to work the movements into his muscle memory. This would give the illusion that he was able to move and react quicker then he actually could, though if his opponent were able to engage him for a long period of time the repetitiveness of his movements might cost him the fight. Still, blade to blade combat was the last thing Jack considered when taking on a foe but this solution would at least make it an option.
The Assassination of Senator Qota
When Jack's blade skills had finally begun to take shape and his ability to use the Force progressed far enough, he was at last ready to accompany Lynn on one of her missions. As fate would conspire, the subject of this particular mission was the Bith Senator and Jedi Master who had eluded the Hutt's some thirteen years earlier. Though the Republic's efforts to quell the Exchange had largely failed, Senator Qota was still one of the loudest voices in the Senate calling for the Republic to continue its efforts against the criminal organization. The powers that be on Nar Shaddaa deemed it was at last time to silence the Senator and Lagra's assassins were those selected to carry out the job.
They would travel to Coruscant disguised as refugees. Once there they would make their way into the Senators apartment, garbed in black from head to toe. Unbeknown to the assassins, Master Maha had foreseen the danger that the Senator might have been attracting to himself and had insisted that he and his new Padawan stay and watch over him. Maha's new apprentice was a pretty young girl named Kaylin, only slightly older than Jack.
Lynn had used the Force to help hide the presence of the assassins as they slowly moved in. Jack gripped the hilt of his katana tightly as they approached. Lynn ignited her green lightsaber and used it to cut through the locking mechanism on the Senator's door. The inside of the apartment was dark and with his black mask it was impossible for Jack to see much of anything. He instead let the Force stretch out around him and probe the apartment, rolling over the walls and furniture. The Senator was asleep with Master Maha sitting in silent meditation at the foot of his bed. Outside of the room the young Padawan sat slumped over in a chair, she had fallen asleep as well. As Jack approached her a twinge of doubt rippled over him. He had been taught and thus memorized that such feelings were weakness, but Jack found in actual practice ridding oneself from such vices was quite difficult.
Focused on the girl, Jack couldn't help but pity her. She was so innocent, so pure. What had she done to deserve such a fate? Did he truly have the right to extinguish her life? Through his indecision Jack had failed to notice Master Maha who had been able to sense the clumsily projected feelings of the boy at Qota's bedroom door. Maha stealthily maneuvered himself through the apartment and behind Jack, his blue blade halted only by a green one igniting just behind Jack's neck. Startled, Jack fell forward to find his master's lightsaber locked with that of Maha Rishii. The commotion had awoken Kaylin who ignited a purple lightsaber of her own.
Jack's simple katana was no match for a lightsaber. Instead he took advantage of his opponent's confusion, using the Force to grab her ankles and sweep them out from under her. After she fell Jack moved in quickly, he was no longer thinking, instead allowing the emotion and adrenaline of the situation guide his actions. The fear of Kaylin's lightsaber had succeeded in eroding Jack's prior hesitation. Without a second thought Jack brought his weight down upon his victim and in a panic, ripped his katana from its sheathe and plunged the blade down into the girl's chest. It wasn't until the spatter of blood hit his face that the reality of what he'd done finally dawned on him. Up until then the whole experienced seemed like a movie working in slow motion, beyond his control. Slowly he pulled the blade from her chest. The girl let out a weak cough before falling silent.
With shaky hands Jack gripped his blade and picked himself up. With Maha distracted by Lynn, the other assassins had dispatched the Senator and all moved in on the Jedi Master. Jack watched with quiet awe as the Jedi skillfully held off all of Lagra's assassins, but even he was not immune to the effects of fatigue. Eventually one of the assassin's blades landed a hit. With the Jedi's defenses down almost instantly all of their blades plunged forward and pierced Maha's flesh. Though they had accomplished their mission, Lynn was extremely disappointed in Jack's performance. His indecision had not only cost him a quick kill, but had tipped off the enemy to their presence. Though through the mistake Jack had learned first hand the importance of ridding himself of these weaknesses... and also experienced his first true taste of the dark side.
Learning the ways of the Force
In the wake of Qota's assassination the only voice for the Republic's continued intervention on Nar Shaddaa was stamped out. With the Republic's withdraw Lagra took a strangle hold on the Smuggler's Moon. All ships entering and leaving the system were now forced to pay a tax to the Hutts. It was an unpopular policy, but all ships refusing to pay were confiscated by the Hutts along with their cargo. There were few who dared to argue.
Meanwhile Jack's training in the Force continued. He was proficient in the use of Telekinesis and even studied some of the Jedi teachings on self preservation. Lynn had pointed out that the Force itself was neither light nor dark during one of their training sessions...
"Dark... Light. Good... Evil. These are just words, labels used by the ignorant to rationalize that which they do not understand. The Force is above the ignorance of sentient beings. It does not have labels nor does it require them. The Jedi however are very keen on the use of words to pervade their weakness down upon others and the result is suffocating. They tell you to beware of the "dark side" and to follow the "light". Calling your rules light and mine dark is a shrewd tactic, but in reality its only weight is with the weak mindedness of those who choose to indulge it."
Jack saw some truth in these words. Could a Jedi not use a technique like Lightning in order to protect or defend? Even if it meant harming would it not be used in much the same way they would use a lightsaber? And by the same token, could a Sith not use his passion to heal and repair his own body? The dark side, after all, was at its very core the preservation of the self above all else. With this in mind Jack began his study of the process of protection with the Force. Jack's skill was in the Force, not with the blade. If he was going to make the Force a truly formidable weapon he would have to learn to use it for both offense and defense.
Jack's training was progressing well, though above all else his focus was on the use of the dark side and its use on the mind in particular. Lynn had shown Jack how harness the power of dark side to create electricity, letting the Force's energy flow through your body and out your finger tips, raining it down relentlessly on some hapless victim. It struck Jack as a terribly vulgar and not entirely useful application of the Force. As most abilities had potential to be expanded upon and used in different ways, Shock seemed simplistic to Jack. But still he supposed it had its uses... a pawns movements, while simplistic, were not meant by any means to take the king but instead to scout the foe for weaknesses. Jack supposed that viewing Shock in the same way would make its use forgivable.
Jack saw much more potential in the Force's use on the mind. The ability to sway and manipulate others without even drawing a blade was an undeniable advantage. Jack had shown some natural proficiency in this even as a young child. He had been able to subtly manipulate the mind of a vagrant for his chess board, and while he could access the power he couldn't figure out how to make it stronger. Despite Jack's attempts his ability to use Telepathy seemed to be impotent. Lynn was little help on the matter and Jack began to grow suspicious of her motives. Recently she had become less and less willing to share information with Jack. Perhaps she had begun to realize that his power was growing to fast for her to control. Perhaps she intended to make good on what she had told Jack a long time ago, "There is no attachment between us. My time with you is an investment and when our partnership no longer is useful it will be time for one of us to cast the other aside."
Jack wasn't able to conceive of such a thing at the time but now it seemed a very real possibility. Jack would take his master's own words to heart, if she would not teach him everything than she was no longer useful to him. The thought of killing still brought a hint of fear to Jack. The experience he had during the mission to assassinate Senator Qota had left some doubt in his mind as to how he might perform if confronted with the same situation a second time, but this didn't dissuade him. Jack knew what he had to do.
Despite Lynn's limited instruction, Jack worked hard to improve his powers of Telepathy. On Nar Shaddaa one could sit anywhere, simply quiet their mind and listen. The mass of life made the Force sound like nothing more than white noise at first. It was difficult to sense much of anything on the moon as all the voices mingled together. Though over time Jack honed his abilities, being able to pick out individuals among the crowd. He would silence all other distractions and focus the whole of his energy on a single target. He could hear the thoughts that his targets had on the surface. Simple things that ofter carelessly ran through their heads. Jack knew there was more to be had... to be able to dig to the very core of one's mind, Jack's voracious appetite for knowledge made the possibility of such a power more appealing then anything else. It was possible... through the Force anything was possible. He just needed to learn how to shed the weakness in himself that was holding him back. Once he had this power he would be ready to cast his master aside...
Jack's research into the Force's effect on the mind had yielded a possible solution to his problem. The Jedi were often known to use the Force to share strength among each other, it was a technique called "Force Meld". But what was more, it was said that the meld could even be used to the point where all the participants consciousness would meld into one as well. Essentially they could share knowledge. After giving it much thought Jack reasoned that if one could share knowledge, could the opposite not also be possible? Could one take knowledge away using the same premise? It would be risky, but in theory it should work.
Constructing a Lightsaber
During one of Jack's meditations Lynn approached him and requested he drop what he was doing. Jack didn't like being interrupted but he complied without complaint. Lynn explained that it was time Jack constructed his own lightsaber. She presented him with the broken saber he had brought to her eight years earlier. It was still in the same sorry condition it had been when he'd won it from the bum in the refugee sector. There was no crystals, no lens and a useless power cell. About all the saber had that Jack could use was its casing. He would have to find the three other components on his own.
Jack was given Lynn's Aurek tactical strikefighter to use for his mission. Lynn had only provided the names of planets where Jack might find the parts he needed, after that it was up to him. The first world on the list was Tatooine. Jack's fighter landed in Anchorhead and from there he began his search.
Not really having any idea where to start, Jack wandered into the local cantina for a drink. A woman on the other side of the cantina caught his attention. She was seated across from a Duros with a chess board in between them. The pieces on the board where holoprojections, modeled after Jedi it seemed. After the woman input her move there was a pause before the Duros stood up, angrily slamming his fists down on the board before pulling out a blaster pistol. Jack didn't speak Durese but he could tell the Duros had though the woman cheated.
Jack approached the table, placing his hand on the Duros' shoulder, "This one is more than you can handle. You'd better leave while you still have the chance." Jack reached into the Duros' mind with the Force, as he had many times before on Nar Shaddaa. Instead of simply listening, however, he fed back to the Duros feelings of fear and dread which quickly compromised the hapless alien's ability to reason. In a panic the Duros turned and darted for the doors.
The woman raised an eyebrow, she was impressed with Jack's abilities. She introduced herself as "Cele" and Jack sat down at the table. Evidently Cele had been at the chess game all day, swindling drunken patrons out of their hard earned credits. She was good, there was no doubt. Observing the arrangement of the pieces from her last game Jack couldn't help but admire the beauty of her strategy. He was eager to challenger her himself.
As the game began Jack started with his knight. Cele countered with a pawn, placing it in a position where his knight could easily take it on the next turn. However, doing so would allow the queen to take his knight. Jack attempted to listen to his opponent's thoughts, but they were strangely silent. Jack couldn't feel anything at all from this Cele. Was she somehow able to mask her presence in the Force at such a close range? Jack couldn't figure it out and nothing annoyed him more than not knowing.
Jack moved his pawn out diagonal to his opponents, tempting her to take it. She did not. Instead she drew out her bishop. The piece that resembled a bearded Jedi Consular moved out to its place and the board suddenly flashed "Checkmate". Jack was stunned. Two moves? Two moves! It was impossible, unfathomable. Jack found himself leaping up and slamming his hands down on the table. He accused her of using the Force to gain an unfair advantage. She only snickered at Jack, assuring him that he was the only one able to do such things. If that were true then Jack would call her bluff. He sent a charge of lightning at the woman across the table. To his surprise her flesh tore open to reveal... wires? She was a synthetic... a droid.
Taking advantage of Jack's distraction, Cele quickly drew her blaster pistol and squeezed off one round. Jack reacted to it just in time to dive out of the way and only take a glancing blow on his left shoulder. After the shot Cele leaped up and made a dash for the exit. Jack followed close behind her, chasing the droid through the streets of Anchorhead. She led him to an old droid repair shop. Inside Cele handed her winnings to an Ithorian as Jack burst in after her. Cele raised her pistol again but the Ithorian placed a hand on the blaster so that she'd lower it. Jack kept his hand on his katana sheathed at his hip. The Ithorian identified himself as Yarma Laka the master craftsmen. He had constructed Cele solely for the purpose of playing and winning at games such as Pazaak and Chess. Yarma recognized that Jack was not all to pleased with having been swindled and offered to pay him back his winnings. However, Jack had a better idea after noticing the forge and glass parts Yarma had all around his shop. Jack told him he could keep the money if he would make the lens he needed. Yarma agreed.
The Ithorian's work was excellent, the lens was a work of perfection. Though now that he had what he wanted, Jack felt the need for a little retribution. A droid's memory was contained on a simple chip, which fortunately was much easier to extract than an organic's memory. Once he had his lens Jack crushed the droid's body into scrap with the Force. When Yarma tried to reach for his blaster Jack turned and subdued the Ithorian with lightning, then preformed the shop keeper's coup de grace with his katana. Killing came much easier this time, but Jack still grimaced at the charred corpse of his victim. So uncivilized. Jack then cracked open the synthetic's skull and extracted its memory core before leaving.
Jack's next destination was Corellia. It was a world he'd not been to since he was a day old. Jack had no memory of Corellia or his real parents. As such the journey there seemed as unassuming as any other. However, as soon as Jack landed on the planet he could feel something was off. A wave of sadness washed over him as well as pain through his chest. As he moved about the planet the negative feelings grew stronger and stronger until finally the drew him to an apartment building. The building seemed to have been abandoned for quite some time. The rooms hadn't received any sort of maintenance in years. Most of the windows were shattered allowing the wind and rain to blow freely through the halls. Even so, the whole area felt colder than it should.
Exploring the structure Jack finally came to the eleventh floor. One of the apartment door frames was mangled and misshapen, as if it had been blown apart. Upon entering that room the pain in Jack's chest became searing. He gripped his sides and fell to his knees, gasping for breath. It was then that Jack heard the twin thud of a pair of heavy boots settling in the doorway behind him. He spun around to see an older man who wreaked of Corellian Ale holding a blaster rifle on him. Strangely, the man felt very familiar to Jack.
"I recognize that clothing. You're one of the Exchange's assassins aren't you? Lagra took my wife... Lynn took my boy. Now you want to take me too. Well that ain't gonna happen. Whatever mistakes I've made I've paid my debt and then some. I just want to be left in peace," The man's words startled Jack. He stood up slowly, telling the old man that he was not here for any bounty and demanded that he identify himself. The man said his name was Darros Reid. He went on to explain to Jack what had happened to him, how the Hutts had taken his family and left him with nothing. Jack could sense no deception in him. Lynn had never said much about where Jack had come from, but if the man's story was true... Jack was pretty sure he could piece it together.
Jack could feel the echoes of pain and death here. It was a pain that began to overwhelm him in the form of grief. Grief which turned to anger towards Lagra and Lynn. Anger towards this dead beat old man who had sold his family to save his own worthless life. Anger... became hatred. Like a flame the hatred slowly began to grow, filling every fiber of Jack's being until it was a raging inferno. As he glared at Darros the old man's very existence repulsed him. He could feel the Force flowing freely between the two of them and he couldn't stand it any longer. Jack focused all his hate on his father, his thoughts chanting almost audibly his desire for the old man's death. Concentrating his seething emotions on the Force, Jack hit Darros with a wave of Force energy that shoved him out the open window and sent him crashing down eleven stories to the pavement below. The old man's final moments of anguish were intoxicating. Jack eagerly drunk it in, feeling re energized by its power.
When Jack's assault was finished Darros lay lifeless on the street. Jack checked the man for anything useful. He didn't have much aside from a few weapons. One however was fitted with a lightsaber power cell. Had Lynn known he would find this man here? Perhaps she was more cunning than he had originally thought. He would have to be cautious moving forward.
Jack's final destination was the ancient Sith world of Korriban. Though there may have once been great power on Korriban, when Jack found it the planet was nothing more then a shadow of its former self. The tombs of the great Sith had long since been looted and left abandoned. There were no signs of life anywhere say for the Tukata that roamed the Valley of the Dark Lords at night. Jack knew however what it was he would need to find here. There was a cave not far from the Valley of the Dark Lords where it was said the Dark Lord Ludo Kressh had been buried. The dark side was faint inside, distant. Any power this place had once had was long since used up, but Jack pressed foward anyway.
The walls of the cavern were barren. Jack really didn't know where he'd find a crystal in a place like this, but he was certain they were here. Jack's search brought him to a large chamber within the cavern. A stagnant pool of water rippled lightly... there was absolutely no wind inside the cave, the ripples could only indicate that something else was present. Jack drew his sword and stretched out with the Force. Suddenly Jack was attacked from behind by a Hive Kinrath. Jack quickly rolled to the side, slicing off the Kinrath's stinger with his blade as he brought it across his body. The Kinrath let out a high pitched shriek that Jack swiftly silenced with a jolt of lightning.
Once the creature stopped moving Jack discovered what had made it act out so aggressively. There was an unhatched egg in the chamber, the Hive Kinrath was its mother. Jack stepped up to the egg and smashed it open with his blade. There wasn't much inside other then green goo. But among the organic muck was a red stone. It was a lightsaber crystal.
Having retrieved all three parts he needed, Jack returned to Nar Shaddaa. There Lynn instructed him piece the weapon together, focusing the Force on the crystal he'd found in order to increase its power. Jack did as instructed, using the Force to carefully assemble the pieces of his lightsaber and imbue his crystal with the dark side's power. He concentrated on the hatred he'd felt on Corellia, focusing it into his lightsaber's crystal before setting it into place. When the weapon was completed Jack turned it on. The blade flared to life with a crack and a low hum. The crimson light of the blade washing over him reminded Jack of the blood spattering across his face during his first kill.
Darkness Take You...
Jack's training was just about complete. He had officially been welcomed into Clan Makura upon completing his lightsaber. All that was left now was to finally end his partnership with Lynn and with the Hutts. The Hutt tax on ships moving in and out of Nar Shaddaa had turned into an all out blockade when several Onderonian ships refused to pay. In response the Republic had finally woken up and sent some of its own ships to assist the Onderonians. The result at the moment was a stalemate between the two sides. This was the opportunity Jack had been waiting for. During the stalemate, Lagra's guards had been stretched thin, most being used on board the Hutt slug's personal fleet of ships. There was only one left behind to watch over Lagra himself. This might have been sufficient to ward off any opportunistic bounty hunter, but Lagra did not expect his murderer to come from within.
Jack was able to enter Lagra's compound without trouble and even walk right into the room where the Hutt was lounging. The single guard was caught completely unprepared, Jack attacked his mind, turning him into little more than a blubbering husk before having Jack's blade plunged through his neck. Lagra tried to make a move for his alarm, but his tremendous girth impeded his progress. Jack used the Force to smash the Hutt's control panel before raining Lightning down on Lagra. With both hands he pumped the Force's power out, the bolts of electricity arcing and coursing through their victim's thick flab.
With the controls destroyed the communication between Lagra's fleet and their commander was severed. In the confusion one of the inexperienced admirals summized that the Republic had somehow gotten through and ordered his ship to open fire. The Republic returned fire and without any cohesive command it was only a matter of time before Lagra's fleet would be decimated.
Lynn saw that things were falling apart and quickly abandoned the fight to return to the surface. The Republic troops would land soon, she couldn't let them take her prized possession. Back on the moon Lynn hurried to her quarters only to find they had already been broken into. Inside was her ambitious apprentice Jack. She arrived just in time to find him crushing her Holocron.
Lynn exploded with anger, igniting her green lightsaber and charging in at Jack. With little regard for her energy Jack raised his palm to his old master, shoving her back hard. Most of the knowledge on the Holocron had been corrupted. Lynn had been very careful to follow the Sith philosophy of destroying something once it no longer had use to her. Jack was simply doing the same.
Lynn's reaction to the Holocron's destruction was exquisite. The despair at seeing it in his hands and then being utterly destroyed. She had coveted power above anything, typical of a Sith. But even the Sith code stated that power was only a means to an end, not the end itself. Lynn had lost sight of that.
There would be only one way to get the information that was on that holocron now. All of Jack's training had prepared him for this moment. The ability to drain a foe's knowledge by reversing the effects of a Force Meld was only a theory Jack had and one that he had never actually proven in practice... but it was now or never.
Jack followed the tendrils of the Force back to Lynn. Her mind was a rage of emotion, but this was only what was on the surface. Jack needed to go deeper. Reversing the process that sent the Force out from his body Jack began to tug at the mind of his opponent. When that did not work he began to violently tear at it. Her resistance was strong and Lynn grabbed her head as she began to feel the strain of Jack's assault. Jack's head too throbbed with pain as if his skull would split in two. The tug of war between the two only took seconds, but it seemed like an eternity before at last the dam ruptured. Lynn's thoughts were savagely torn from her head, the sudden flood of information was more then Jack could have ever imagined. He let out a scream and fell to his knees as it was almost too much for him to bear.
When the ordeal had ended Jack was left shaking on the ground and Lynn was catatonic. Her body lay motionless, blankly staring up at the ceiling. Jack could not stop shaking, he could hear her in his head still cursing him. Without knowing how to control his power he had inadvertently taken too much. Jack could not use the ability as he had hoped, the subtleties of it were still beyond him, and for attempting to use it without the ability to control it, he paid the price.
Struggling to compose himself Jack fled to his Aurek tactical strikefighter. The ship was small enough to slip past the Republic blockade which allowed Jack to escape Nar Shaddaa.
From that day onward Jack would be relentlessly haunted by the thoughts of his former master. So much so that he had all but given up sleeping for fear of the torment that await him within his own head. Instead resting himself only through meditation. Jack's first attempt to drain someone's thoughts had been costly. For one most of what he'd received from Lynn was an overwhelming fog of thoughts. The information he'd sought was lost among a jumble of memories, emotions and information about his old master he certainly didn't need.
The Seduction of Auren Sol
After fleeing Nar Shaddaa, Jack went into hiding. He chose the lower levels of Coruscant as the perfect location to fade away into the background noise of the galactic capital. He wouldn't remain hidden long, however.
Tagrenn the Hutt, older brother of Lagra took over in place of his murdered sibling. The new Exchange boss' first order of business was to avenge the death of his brother. Tagrenn sent what was left of Clan Makura to find Jack. To lead them, Tagrenn hired one of the most notorious bounty hunter in all of Hutt Space, an Anzat named Amon Darklighter. Amon was notorious and feared across the galactic underbelly for his habit of drinking the "soup" (what Anzati call the brain matter they suck from their victim's heads) of his bounties before bringing them in catatonic.
Amon and Clan Makura tracked Jack to Coruscant's southern underground where they confronted him. Jack might have been killed were it not for a young woman who went by the alias Starstorm. She turned on Tagrenn's assassins to help Jack escape.
In return for her assistance, Starstorm wanted Jack to train her to use the Force, and to help her kill Amon Darklighter who had murdered her parents for Tagrenn the Hutt years earlier. Jack was hesitant at first, but eventually succumb to the prospect of eliminating a very dangerous threat.
Jack trained Starstorm on Mygeeto. In so doing, he shared much of what he'd learned from Lynn, both directly and indirectly. He also shared some of the more personal aspects of his life. Jack was weary of revealing weakness, though he reasoned it may help his apprentice grow stronger, faster.
The opportunity to kill Amon and Tagrenn came as the Hutt slug hosted an execution. For the Hutts, such executions were lavish public spectacles, and all the top cut throats on Nar Shaddaa were invited. Jack and Starstorm would crash the party and use it as a means of getting close to the Exchange Boss and his new muscle.
Jack and Starstorm split up to find Tagrenn, though unfortunately for Starstorm, Amon found her first. When Jack confronted the Anzat, he used Starstorm as a human shield. Jack was confronted now with a terrible choice. Either could let Amon escape with Starstorm, but if he did the possibility was very real he would consume her mind, and with it all the things Jack had shared and taught to his apprentice. Jack could not allow that. The only other choice was to attack... Starstorm was just in the way at this point.
Jack blasted both Starstorm and Amon with lightning, severely injuring the young woman and creating the opening Jack needed to attack Darklighter. Unfortunately, Jack's Shock was not strong enough to put the Anzat down. Really it just pissed him off. In a fury, Amon attacked Jack nearly feeding on his brains before Jack was able to ignite his lightsaber through Darklighter's chest.
Tagrenn had escaped in the confusion, though after the confrontation Jack lingered behind, waiting for Starstorm to breathe her least breath before taking her ship and leaving her behind. From there he finally learned her real name...
Class: Consular
Age: 26
Sex: Male
Height/Weight: 5'11" 160lbs
Species: Human
Title: Dark Jedi Prophet
Appearance:
Jack is not an imposing figure by any stretch of the imagination. Most who come across him tend not to notice him or underestimate him because of this. He's not very tall and fairly thin with very pale skin. His eyes are naturally a dark brown color but more often than not appear yellow due to dark side corruption.
Jack's default expression is usually one of extreme fatigue and disinterest. He also has dark rings under his eyes from lack of sleep. Jack typically doesn't wear anything overly conspicuous, certainly not anything that would identify him as a Force adept.
Base Stats
Strength: 2
Speed: 3
Stamina: 10
Force Stats
Control: 3
Sense: 12
Alter: 5
Combat Stats
Lightsaber: 1
Unarmed: 0
Melee: 4
Range: 0
Personal Items:
- Single hilt/Single phase Red Lightsaber
- Short durasteel katana
- Wooden Chess Set
- Bloodstripe Cigarettes
Starship: Fury-Class Transport (The Auren Sol)
Force Powers:
Telekinesis
Force Sense
Shock
Fear
Force Aura
Skills:
Shii-Cho
Force Focus
Duelist
Two-Handed Specialist
Bio:
The Boy with no Name
Jack Makura was born on Corellia, though he wasn't Jack Makura then. Born the son of a mercenary and spice junkie named Darros Reid, the young boy that would one day be called Jack Makura was only minutes old when his father's many addictions caught up with him.
Elite assassins working for Exchange boss Lagra the Hutt had tracked down Darros, who owed the Exchange millions in credits for gambling and missing spice cargo. Leading the assassins was a young silver-blonde haired woman named Lynn Makura. The assassins wounded Jack's mothers and took both parents with them back to Nar Shaddaa. The infant would have been left for dead were it not for Lynn. She could sense the touch of the Force within the child. Sensing his potential, Lynn gathered up the child and brought him along as well.
On Nar Shaddaa Darros was brought before Lagra. The slug demanded that Darros' debts be paid, otherwise he would be cast down with the others who had failed to give the Hutt his cut. Lagra's Labyrinth they called it. There were whispers here and there on Nar Shaddaa of the horrors and torture that await within Lagra's personal dungeon. Though none of these rumors could be verified as no one who entered the Labyrnith ever returned.
Darros pleaded with Lagra, but there was nothing he could offer the Hutt slug... nothing besides his wife and son. Pleased, maybe just by the anguish such an offer caused Darros, Lagra agreed to the terms, setting Darros loose and keeping his family behind.
It wasn't revealed until after Darros had disappeared again that the shot which had hit Akira had severed her spinal cord, paralyzing her from the waist down. Lagra had little use for a slave who couldn't walk and simply had her put down. It was bitter-sweet, but the deal was not a complete and total loss.
A Deal With the Devil
Lynn Makura was the top Exchange assassin on Nar Shaddaa employed by Lagra the Hutt to work as his personal muscle. "Clan Makura" they called themselves, the word meaning "total darkness". Each assassin initiated into the group would take on the clan moniker as their surname. However, before she was Lynn Makura, the head of Hutt's clan of assassins was a Jedi at the academy on Coruscant named Lynn Akunin. Her master was an old Rattataki named Maha Rishii. Though Lynn was an eager and promising student, Master Maha felt her ambition moved quicker than her ability to progress. He constantly stressed to Lynn the importance of patience and control, lessons Lynn interpreted as Maha holding her back. Lynn's older brother, who was also a Jedi, had died when she was very young. After that event she began to question the wisdom of the Jedi Masters who had been unable to save him, Maha in particular...
Despite her doubts, Lynn eventually became a Jedi Knight and continued to team with Master Maha on many of his missions. In an effort to wrestle control of Nar Shaddaa away from the gangsters and the Exchange, the Republic assigned Jedi to protect several diplomats sent to the moon to restore order. Lynn and Master Maha were among them. Their assignment was a Bith senator called Rom Qota, a very high profile assignment considering the bounty the Exchange had on his head. During their mission Lynn was eager to meet the Exchange bosses head on, but Maha insisted that they wait for the attackers to reveal themselves. It made no sense to Lynn to just sit back and wait for the enemy to come and strike the first blow, Maha was going to get them all killed.
Not about to get herself killed for a worthless senator or due to Maha's head games, Lynn went out to find the Exchange on her own. Her search led her to Lagra's Labyrinth, a dizzying maze of tunnels beneath the streets of Nar Shaddaa littered with all sorts of vicious beasts, torture devices and booby traps like something right out of an Indiana Jones film. The rumor that none had ever entered the Labyrinth and lived to tell about it was not entirely accurate. There was only one; Lynn Akunin. Her exploits had thoroughly impressed Lagra who offered her a deal. A promise of even greater powers if she would join with him. Lynn was skeptical at first that a Hutt could teach her anything useful, but once he explained how he would grant her the power, she greedily accepted.
Lynn gave the position of Senator Qota and Master Maha to the Hutts in exchange for the Holocron of a Dark Jedi Lagra had come across quite some time ago. Thanks to the wisdom and power of Master Maha, the attack on the Senator had failed, but Lynn had made her deal with the devil.
The Brutal Tutelage of Lynn Makura
Lynn had taken it upon herself to look after the young son of Darros after he had been given over to the Hutts. She decided to name the boy "Jack" after her fallen brother. The Force was strong with Jack, there was no question about it. Lynn had felt it from the first day she'd met him. But the presence of the Force alone did not guarantee Jack any power. The Force was a powerful ally, but its potential was held down by the weaknesses of it's practitioners.
"Remember, the Force's limits are your limits because the Force has no limits." These words were taken from Lynn's Holocron and passed down to young Jack. The boy was a quick learner. While not much of a fighter, what Jack lacked in physical strength he more then made up for in intelligence. The child thirsted for knowledge, absorbing anything and everything his teacher told him. Even as a child he was able to grasp the meaning behind Lynn's words. The Force was a powerful thing, but not all could wield such power. Some were stronger, some were weaker. This weakness was not with the Force, but with the individuals. By shedding yourself of weakness you allow the true power of the Force to shine through, the power of the dark side.
Lynn spent many many long hours explaining each of these perceived weaknesses that Jack would have to rid himself of. Lessons would often carry well into the night as Jack almost always had questions, picking at every idea from all paths of logic. A weakness such as compassion for example... Lynn explained that attachments to others who were weaker than yourself would pull you down, force you to divvy your strength among them in a fruitless effort to protect them. Jack countered, noting that Lynn herself was teaching someone who was weak. Lynn explained that there was no "attachment" between the two of them. Her time with Jack was an investment and that when their partnership no longer was needed one would have to cast the other aside. Being so young Jack had naturally become attached to his master. Though he nodded in agreement, he did not truly believe a time would ever come where Lynn would cast him aside, he could not conceive of it at the time.
Lynn reinforced her lessons on weakness through harsh treatment. Forcing the eight year old Jack to find his own way from place to place on the Smuggler's Moon of Nar Shaddaa, forcing him to rely on his own survival instincts to get by. It was during one of his treks through the refugee sector that Jack was first introduced to the game of chess. A pair of vagrants had stumbled across a discarded lightsaber. It didn't work anymore, but it could probably be sold for a high price in any case. Jack knew his master would be very pleased if he could somehow bring the saber back to her, but the bums were fully grown men more then twice his size. Rather then simply killing the fools and making off with his prize, Jack would have to use his wits to get what he wanted.
Aside from their unkempt clothing the vagrants had very few possessions, one being a simple chess game. Noticing it, Jack approached the men with a proposition. He claimed that he knew how to fix the lightsaber, which would make its price on the black market go up considerably. However, he would only offer the service if the men would be willing to make a little wager. Not being strangers to games of chance, the men agreed to the boy's offer. He would challenge them to their chess game, if he won he would get the lightsaber. If they won he would repair it for them. Of course Jack had no idea how to repair the lightsaber, but even though he had never played chess before, he had no intention of losing.
The vagrants explained the rules of the game to Jack. As he thought about all the possible move combination's instantly his mind rejoiced at the possibilities, it appealed strongly to Jack's meticulous nature. The game didn't last long, Jack won handily. Though the bum wasn't ready to admit defeat quite yet and Jack could see this as a weakness in his victim. He offered to play again, this time with the man's chess game at stake. Even though he clearly had no chance, the man could not refuse the offer. In the end Jack had humiliated the man who then refused to hold up his end of the bargain. Using his limited ability at the time in the Force, Jack tried to affect the bum's mind, succeeding in a gentle push of persuasion that caused the man to grudgingly relinquish Jack's winnings.
Jack presented the broken lightsaber to Lynn, but kept the chess board for himself. Studying it in private, he would simulate games against himself, memorizing hundreds of strategic sequences. The way the pieces worked together, the logic and cunning involved, Jack saw parallels between the game and the nature of war and the Force. He would also find that the game would translate well into his blade training. Jack was not very physically imposing, but still Lynn attempted to teach him the basics of lightsaber combat. Using a short katana to train with, Jack practiced to master the basics of Shii-Cho. His strength and speed were sub par, but Jack knew how to make the most of the skills he had. Jack spent his time practicing sequences of blade movement, doing drills day after day after day to work the movements into his muscle memory. This would give the illusion that he was able to move and react quicker then he actually could, though if his opponent were able to engage him for a long period of time the repetitiveness of his movements might cost him the fight. Still, blade to blade combat was the last thing Jack considered when taking on a foe but this solution would at least make it an option.
The Assassination of Senator Qota
When Jack's blade skills had finally begun to take shape and his ability to use the Force progressed far enough, he was at last ready to accompany Lynn on one of her missions. As fate would conspire, the subject of this particular mission was the Bith Senator and Jedi Master who had eluded the Hutt's some thirteen years earlier. Though the Republic's efforts to quell the Exchange had largely failed, Senator Qota was still one of the loudest voices in the Senate calling for the Republic to continue its efforts against the criminal organization. The powers that be on Nar Shaddaa deemed it was at last time to silence the Senator and Lagra's assassins were those selected to carry out the job.
They would travel to Coruscant disguised as refugees. Once there they would make their way into the Senators apartment, garbed in black from head to toe. Unbeknown to the assassins, Master Maha had foreseen the danger that the Senator might have been attracting to himself and had insisted that he and his new Padawan stay and watch over him. Maha's new apprentice was a pretty young girl named Kaylin, only slightly older than Jack.
Lynn had used the Force to help hide the presence of the assassins as they slowly moved in. Jack gripped the hilt of his katana tightly as they approached. Lynn ignited her green lightsaber and used it to cut through the locking mechanism on the Senator's door. The inside of the apartment was dark and with his black mask it was impossible for Jack to see much of anything. He instead let the Force stretch out around him and probe the apartment, rolling over the walls and furniture. The Senator was asleep with Master Maha sitting in silent meditation at the foot of his bed. Outside of the room the young Padawan sat slumped over in a chair, she had fallen asleep as well. As Jack approached her a twinge of doubt rippled over him. He had been taught and thus memorized that such feelings were weakness, but Jack found in actual practice ridding oneself from such vices was quite difficult.
Focused on the girl, Jack couldn't help but pity her. She was so innocent, so pure. What had she done to deserve such a fate? Did he truly have the right to extinguish her life? Through his indecision Jack had failed to notice Master Maha who had been able to sense the clumsily projected feelings of the boy at Qota's bedroom door. Maha stealthily maneuvered himself through the apartment and behind Jack, his blue blade halted only by a green one igniting just behind Jack's neck. Startled, Jack fell forward to find his master's lightsaber locked with that of Maha Rishii. The commotion had awoken Kaylin who ignited a purple lightsaber of her own.
Jack's simple katana was no match for a lightsaber. Instead he took advantage of his opponent's confusion, using the Force to grab her ankles and sweep them out from under her. After she fell Jack moved in quickly, he was no longer thinking, instead allowing the emotion and adrenaline of the situation guide his actions. The fear of Kaylin's lightsaber had succeeded in eroding Jack's prior hesitation. Without a second thought Jack brought his weight down upon his victim and in a panic, ripped his katana from its sheathe and plunged the blade down into the girl's chest. It wasn't until the spatter of blood hit his face that the reality of what he'd done finally dawned on him. Up until then the whole experienced seemed like a movie working in slow motion, beyond his control. Slowly he pulled the blade from her chest. The girl let out a weak cough before falling silent.
With shaky hands Jack gripped his blade and picked himself up. With Maha distracted by Lynn, the other assassins had dispatched the Senator and all moved in on the Jedi Master. Jack watched with quiet awe as the Jedi skillfully held off all of Lagra's assassins, but even he was not immune to the effects of fatigue. Eventually one of the assassin's blades landed a hit. With the Jedi's defenses down almost instantly all of their blades plunged forward and pierced Maha's flesh. Though they had accomplished their mission, Lynn was extremely disappointed in Jack's performance. His indecision had not only cost him a quick kill, but had tipped off the enemy to their presence. Though through the mistake Jack had learned first hand the importance of ridding himself of these weaknesses... and also experienced his first true taste of the dark side.
Learning the ways of the Force
In the wake of Qota's assassination the only voice for the Republic's continued intervention on Nar Shaddaa was stamped out. With the Republic's withdraw Lagra took a strangle hold on the Smuggler's Moon. All ships entering and leaving the system were now forced to pay a tax to the Hutts. It was an unpopular policy, but all ships refusing to pay were confiscated by the Hutts along with their cargo. There were few who dared to argue.
Meanwhile Jack's training in the Force continued. He was proficient in the use of Telekinesis and even studied some of the Jedi teachings on self preservation. Lynn had pointed out that the Force itself was neither light nor dark during one of their training sessions...
"Dark... Light. Good... Evil. These are just words, labels used by the ignorant to rationalize that which they do not understand. The Force is above the ignorance of sentient beings. It does not have labels nor does it require them. The Jedi however are very keen on the use of words to pervade their weakness down upon others and the result is suffocating. They tell you to beware of the "dark side" and to follow the "light". Calling your rules light and mine dark is a shrewd tactic, but in reality its only weight is with the weak mindedness of those who choose to indulge it."
Jack saw some truth in these words. Could a Jedi not use a technique like Lightning in order to protect or defend? Even if it meant harming would it not be used in much the same way they would use a lightsaber? And by the same token, could a Sith not use his passion to heal and repair his own body? The dark side, after all, was at its very core the preservation of the self above all else. With this in mind Jack began his study of the process of protection with the Force. Jack's skill was in the Force, not with the blade. If he was going to make the Force a truly formidable weapon he would have to learn to use it for both offense and defense.
Jack's training was progressing well, though above all else his focus was on the use of the dark side and its use on the mind in particular. Lynn had shown Jack how harness the power of dark side to create electricity, letting the Force's energy flow through your body and out your finger tips, raining it down relentlessly on some hapless victim. It struck Jack as a terribly vulgar and not entirely useful application of the Force. As most abilities had potential to be expanded upon and used in different ways, Shock seemed simplistic to Jack. But still he supposed it had its uses... a pawns movements, while simplistic, were not meant by any means to take the king but instead to scout the foe for weaknesses. Jack supposed that viewing Shock in the same way would make its use forgivable.
Jack saw much more potential in the Force's use on the mind. The ability to sway and manipulate others without even drawing a blade was an undeniable advantage. Jack had shown some natural proficiency in this even as a young child. He had been able to subtly manipulate the mind of a vagrant for his chess board, and while he could access the power he couldn't figure out how to make it stronger. Despite Jack's attempts his ability to use Telepathy seemed to be impotent. Lynn was little help on the matter and Jack began to grow suspicious of her motives. Recently she had become less and less willing to share information with Jack. Perhaps she had begun to realize that his power was growing to fast for her to control. Perhaps she intended to make good on what she had told Jack a long time ago, "There is no attachment between us. My time with you is an investment and when our partnership no longer is useful it will be time for one of us to cast the other aside."
Jack wasn't able to conceive of such a thing at the time but now it seemed a very real possibility. Jack would take his master's own words to heart, if she would not teach him everything than she was no longer useful to him. The thought of killing still brought a hint of fear to Jack. The experience he had during the mission to assassinate Senator Qota had left some doubt in his mind as to how he might perform if confronted with the same situation a second time, but this didn't dissuade him. Jack knew what he had to do.
Despite Lynn's limited instruction, Jack worked hard to improve his powers of Telepathy. On Nar Shaddaa one could sit anywhere, simply quiet their mind and listen. The mass of life made the Force sound like nothing more than white noise at first. It was difficult to sense much of anything on the moon as all the voices mingled together. Though over time Jack honed his abilities, being able to pick out individuals among the crowd. He would silence all other distractions and focus the whole of his energy on a single target. He could hear the thoughts that his targets had on the surface. Simple things that ofter carelessly ran through their heads. Jack knew there was more to be had... to be able to dig to the very core of one's mind, Jack's voracious appetite for knowledge made the possibility of such a power more appealing then anything else. It was possible... through the Force anything was possible. He just needed to learn how to shed the weakness in himself that was holding him back. Once he had this power he would be ready to cast his master aside...
Jack's research into the Force's effect on the mind had yielded a possible solution to his problem. The Jedi were often known to use the Force to share strength among each other, it was a technique called "Force Meld". But what was more, it was said that the meld could even be used to the point where all the participants consciousness would meld into one as well. Essentially they could share knowledge. After giving it much thought Jack reasoned that if one could share knowledge, could the opposite not also be possible? Could one take knowledge away using the same premise? It would be risky, but in theory it should work.
Constructing a Lightsaber
During one of Jack's meditations Lynn approached him and requested he drop what he was doing. Jack didn't like being interrupted but he complied without complaint. Lynn explained that it was time Jack constructed his own lightsaber. She presented him with the broken saber he had brought to her eight years earlier. It was still in the same sorry condition it had been when he'd won it from the bum in the refugee sector. There was no crystals, no lens and a useless power cell. About all the saber had that Jack could use was its casing. He would have to find the three other components on his own.
Jack was given Lynn's Aurek tactical strikefighter to use for his mission. Lynn had only provided the names of planets where Jack might find the parts he needed, after that it was up to him. The first world on the list was Tatooine. Jack's fighter landed in Anchorhead and from there he began his search.
Not really having any idea where to start, Jack wandered into the local cantina for a drink. A woman on the other side of the cantina caught his attention. She was seated across from a Duros with a chess board in between them. The pieces on the board where holoprojections, modeled after Jedi it seemed. After the woman input her move there was a pause before the Duros stood up, angrily slamming his fists down on the board before pulling out a blaster pistol. Jack didn't speak Durese but he could tell the Duros had though the woman cheated.
Jack approached the table, placing his hand on the Duros' shoulder, "This one is more than you can handle. You'd better leave while you still have the chance." Jack reached into the Duros' mind with the Force, as he had many times before on Nar Shaddaa. Instead of simply listening, however, he fed back to the Duros feelings of fear and dread which quickly compromised the hapless alien's ability to reason. In a panic the Duros turned and darted for the doors.
The woman raised an eyebrow, she was impressed with Jack's abilities. She introduced herself as "Cele" and Jack sat down at the table. Evidently Cele had been at the chess game all day, swindling drunken patrons out of their hard earned credits. She was good, there was no doubt. Observing the arrangement of the pieces from her last game Jack couldn't help but admire the beauty of her strategy. He was eager to challenger her himself.
As the game began Jack started with his knight. Cele countered with a pawn, placing it in a position where his knight could easily take it on the next turn. However, doing so would allow the queen to take his knight. Jack attempted to listen to his opponent's thoughts, but they were strangely silent. Jack couldn't feel anything at all from this Cele. Was she somehow able to mask her presence in the Force at such a close range? Jack couldn't figure it out and nothing annoyed him more than not knowing.
Jack moved his pawn out diagonal to his opponents, tempting her to take it. She did not. Instead she drew out her bishop. The piece that resembled a bearded Jedi Consular moved out to its place and the board suddenly flashed "Checkmate". Jack was stunned. Two moves? Two moves! It was impossible, unfathomable. Jack found himself leaping up and slamming his hands down on the table. He accused her of using the Force to gain an unfair advantage. She only snickered at Jack, assuring him that he was the only one able to do such things. If that were true then Jack would call her bluff. He sent a charge of lightning at the woman across the table. To his surprise her flesh tore open to reveal... wires? She was a synthetic... a droid.
Taking advantage of Jack's distraction, Cele quickly drew her blaster pistol and squeezed off one round. Jack reacted to it just in time to dive out of the way and only take a glancing blow on his left shoulder. After the shot Cele leaped up and made a dash for the exit. Jack followed close behind her, chasing the droid through the streets of Anchorhead. She led him to an old droid repair shop. Inside Cele handed her winnings to an Ithorian as Jack burst in after her. Cele raised her pistol again but the Ithorian placed a hand on the blaster so that she'd lower it. Jack kept his hand on his katana sheathed at his hip. The Ithorian identified himself as Yarma Laka the master craftsmen. He had constructed Cele solely for the purpose of playing and winning at games such as Pazaak and Chess. Yarma recognized that Jack was not all to pleased with having been swindled and offered to pay him back his winnings. However, Jack had a better idea after noticing the forge and glass parts Yarma had all around his shop. Jack told him he could keep the money if he would make the lens he needed. Yarma agreed.
The Ithorian's work was excellent, the lens was a work of perfection. Though now that he had what he wanted, Jack felt the need for a little retribution. A droid's memory was contained on a simple chip, which fortunately was much easier to extract than an organic's memory. Once he had his lens Jack crushed the droid's body into scrap with the Force. When Yarma tried to reach for his blaster Jack turned and subdued the Ithorian with lightning, then preformed the shop keeper's coup de grace with his katana. Killing came much easier this time, but Jack still grimaced at the charred corpse of his victim. So uncivilized. Jack then cracked open the synthetic's skull and extracted its memory core before leaving.
Jack's next destination was Corellia. It was a world he'd not been to since he was a day old. Jack had no memory of Corellia or his real parents. As such the journey there seemed as unassuming as any other. However, as soon as Jack landed on the planet he could feel something was off. A wave of sadness washed over him as well as pain through his chest. As he moved about the planet the negative feelings grew stronger and stronger until finally the drew him to an apartment building. The building seemed to have been abandoned for quite some time. The rooms hadn't received any sort of maintenance in years. Most of the windows were shattered allowing the wind and rain to blow freely through the halls. Even so, the whole area felt colder than it should.
Exploring the structure Jack finally came to the eleventh floor. One of the apartment door frames was mangled and misshapen, as if it had been blown apart. Upon entering that room the pain in Jack's chest became searing. He gripped his sides and fell to his knees, gasping for breath. It was then that Jack heard the twin thud of a pair of heavy boots settling in the doorway behind him. He spun around to see an older man who wreaked of Corellian Ale holding a blaster rifle on him. Strangely, the man felt very familiar to Jack.
"I recognize that clothing. You're one of the Exchange's assassins aren't you? Lagra took my wife... Lynn took my boy. Now you want to take me too. Well that ain't gonna happen. Whatever mistakes I've made I've paid my debt and then some. I just want to be left in peace," The man's words startled Jack. He stood up slowly, telling the old man that he was not here for any bounty and demanded that he identify himself. The man said his name was Darros Reid. He went on to explain to Jack what had happened to him, how the Hutts had taken his family and left him with nothing. Jack could sense no deception in him. Lynn had never said much about where Jack had come from, but if the man's story was true... Jack was pretty sure he could piece it together.
Jack could feel the echoes of pain and death here. It was a pain that began to overwhelm him in the form of grief. Grief which turned to anger towards Lagra and Lynn. Anger towards this dead beat old man who had sold his family to save his own worthless life. Anger... became hatred. Like a flame the hatred slowly began to grow, filling every fiber of Jack's being until it was a raging inferno. As he glared at Darros the old man's very existence repulsed him. He could feel the Force flowing freely between the two of them and he couldn't stand it any longer. Jack focused all his hate on his father, his thoughts chanting almost audibly his desire for the old man's death. Concentrating his seething emotions on the Force, Jack hit Darros with a wave of Force energy that shoved him out the open window and sent him crashing down eleven stories to the pavement below. The old man's final moments of anguish were intoxicating. Jack eagerly drunk it in, feeling re energized by its power.
When Jack's assault was finished Darros lay lifeless on the street. Jack checked the man for anything useful. He didn't have much aside from a few weapons. One however was fitted with a lightsaber power cell. Had Lynn known he would find this man here? Perhaps she was more cunning than he had originally thought. He would have to be cautious moving forward.
Jack's final destination was the ancient Sith world of Korriban. Though there may have once been great power on Korriban, when Jack found it the planet was nothing more then a shadow of its former self. The tombs of the great Sith had long since been looted and left abandoned. There were no signs of life anywhere say for the Tukata that roamed the Valley of the Dark Lords at night. Jack knew however what it was he would need to find here. There was a cave not far from the Valley of the Dark Lords where it was said the Dark Lord Ludo Kressh had been buried. The dark side was faint inside, distant. Any power this place had once had was long since used up, but Jack pressed foward anyway.
The walls of the cavern were barren. Jack really didn't know where he'd find a crystal in a place like this, but he was certain they were here. Jack's search brought him to a large chamber within the cavern. A stagnant pool of water rippled lightly... there was absolutely no wind inside the cave, the ripples could only indicate that something else was present. Jack drew his sword and stretched out with the Force. Suddenly Jack was attacked from behind by a Hive Kinrath. Jack quickly rolled to the side, slicing off the Kinrath's stinger with his blade as he brought it across his body. The Kinrath let out a high pitched shriek that Jack swiftly silenced with a jolt of lightning.
Once the creature stopped moving Jack discovered what had made it act out so aggressively. There was an unhatched egg in the chamber, the Hive Kinrath was its mother. Jack stepped up to the egg and smashed it open with his blade. There wasn't much inside other then green goo. But among the organic muck was a red stone. It was a lightsaber crystal.
Having retrieved all three parts he needed, Jack returned to Nar Shaddaa. There Lynn instructed him piece the weapon together, focusing the Force on the crystal he'd found in order to increase its power. Jack did as instructed, using the Force to carefully assemble the pieces of his lightsaber and imbue his crystal with the dark side's power. He concentrated on the hatred he'd felt on Corellia, focusing it into his lightsaber's crystal before setting it into place. When the weapon was completed Jack turned it on. The blade flared to life with a crack and a low hum. The crimson light of the blade washing over him reminded Jack of the blood spattering across his face during his first kill.
Darkness Take You...
Jack's training was just about complete. He had officially been welcomed into Clan Makura upon completing his lightsaber. All that was left now was to finally end his partnership with Lynn and with the Hutts. The Hutt tax on ships moving in and out of Nar Shaddaa had turned into an all out blockade when several Onderonian ships refused to pay. In response the Republic had finally woken up and sent some of its own ships to assist the Onderonians. The result at the moment was a stalemate between the two sides. This was the opportunity Jack had been waiting for. During the stalemate, Lagra's guards had been stretched thin, most being used on board the Hutt slug's personal fleet of ships. There was only one left behind to watch over Lagra himself. This might have been sufficient to ward off any opportunistic bounty hunter, but Lagra did not expect his murderer to come from within.
Jack was able to enter Lagra's compound without trouble and even walk right into the room where the Hutt was lounging. The single guard was caught completely unprepared, Jack attacked his mind, turning him into little more than a blubbering husk before having Jack's blade plunged through his neck. Lagra tried to make a move for his alarm, but his tremendous girth impeded his progress. Jack used the Force to smash the Hutt's control panel before raining Lightning down on Lagra. With both hands he pumped the Force's power out, the bolts of electricity arcing and coursing through their victim's thick flab.
With the controls destroyed the communication between Lagra's fleet and their commander was severed. In the confusion one of the inexperienced admirals summized that the Republic had somehow gotten through and ordered his ship to open fire. The Republic returned fire and without any cohesive command it was only a matter of time before Lagra's fleet would be decimated.
Lynn saw that things were falling apart and quickly abandoned the fight to return to the surface. The Republic troops would land soon, she couldn't let them take her prized possession. Back on the moon Lynn hurried to her quarters only to find they had already been broken into. Inside was her ambitious apprentice Jack. She arrived just in time to find him crushing her Holocron.
Lynn exploded with anger, igniting her green lightsaber and charging in at Jack. With little regard for her energy Jack raised his palm to his old master, shoving her back hard. Most of the knowledge on the Holocron had been corrupted. Lynn had been very careful to follow the Sith philosophy of destroying something once it no longer had use to her. Jack was simply doing the same.
Lynn's reaction to the Holocron's destruction was exquisite. The despair at seeing it in his hands and then being utterly destroyed. She had coveted power above anything, typical of a Sith. But even the Sith code stated that power was only a means to an end, not the end itself. Lynn had lost sight of that.
There would be only one way to get the information that was on that holocron now. All of Jack's training had prepared him for this moment. The ability to drain a foe's knowledge by reversing the effects of a Force Meld was only a theory Jack had and one that he had never actually proven in practice... but it was now or never.
Jack followed the tendrils of the Force back to Lynn. Her mind was a rage of emotion, but this was only what was on the surface. Jack needed to go deeper. Reversing the process that sent the Force out from his body Jack began to tug at the mind of his opponent. When that did not work he began to violently tear at it. Her resistance was strong and Lynn grabbed her head as she began to feel the strain of Jack's assault. Jack's head too throbbed with pain as if his skull would split in two. The tug of war between the two only took seconds, but it seemed like an eternity before at last the dam ruptured. Lynn's thoughts were savagely torn from her head, the sudden flood of information was more then Jack could have ever imagined. He let out a scream and fell to his knees as it was almost too much for him to bear.
When the ordeal had ended Jack was left shaking on the ground and Lynn was catatonic. Her body lay motionless, blankly staring up at the ceiling. Jack could not stop shaking, he could hear her in his head still cursing him. Without knowing how to control his power he had inadvertently taken too much. Jack could not use the ability as he had hoped, the subtleties of it were still beyond him, and for attempting to use it without the ability to control it, he paid the price.
Struggling to compose himself Jack fled to his Aurek tactical strikefighter. The ship was small enough to slip past the Republic blockade which allowed Jack to escape Nar Shaddaa.
From that day onward Jack would be relentlessly haunted by the thoughts of his former master. So much so that he had all but given up sleeping for fear of the torment that await him within his own head. Instead resting himself only through meditation. Jack's first attempt to drain someone's thoughts had been costly. For one most of what he'd received from Lynn was an overwhelming fog of thoughts. The information he'd sought was lost among a jumble of memories, emotions and information about his old master he certainly didn't need.
The Seduction of Auren Sol
After fleeing Nar Shaddaa, Jack went into hiding. He chose the lower levels of Coruscant as the perfect location to fade away into the background noise of the galactic capital. He wouldn't remain hidden long, however.
Tagrenn the Hutt, older brother of Lagra took over in place of his murdered sibling. The new Exchange boss' first order of business was to avenge the death of his brother. Tagrenn sent what was left of Clan Makura to find Jack. To lead them, Tagrenn hired one of the most notorious bounty hunter in all of Hutt Space, an Anzat named Amon Darklighter. Amon was notorious and feared across the galactic underbelly for his habit of drinking the "soup" (what Anzati call the brain matter they suck from their victim's heads) of his bounties before bringing them in catatonic.
Amon and Clan Makura tracked Jack to Coruscant's southern underground where they confronted him. Jack might have been killed were it not for a young woman who went by the alias Starstorm. She turned on Tagrenn's assassins to help Jack escape.
In return for her assistance, Starstorm wanted Jack to train her to use the Force, and to help her kill Amon Darklighter who had murdered her parents for Tagrenn the Hutt years earlier. Jack was hesitant at first, but eventually succumb to the prospect of eliminating a very dangerous threat.
Jack trained Starstorm on Mygeeto. In so doing, he shared much of what he'd learned from Lynn, both directly and indirectly. He also shared some of the more personal aspects of his life. Jack was weary of revealing weakness, though he reasoned it may help his apprentice grow stronger, faster.
The opportunity to kill Amon and Tagrenn came as the Hutt slug hosted an execution. For the Hutts, such executions were lavish public spectacles, and all the top cut throats on Nar Shaddaa were invited. Jack and Starstorm would crash the party and use it as a means of getting close to the Exchange Boss and his new muscle.
Jack and Starstorm split up to find Tagrenn, though unfortunately for Starstorm, Amon found her first. When Jack confronted the Anzat, he used Starstorm as a human shield. Jack was confronted now with a terrible choice. Either could let Amon escape with Starstorm, but if he did the possibility was very real he would consume her mind, and with it all the things Jack had shared and taught to his apprentice. Jack could not allow that. The only other choice was to attack... Starstorm was just in the way at this point.
Jack blasted both Starstorm and Amon with lightning, severely injuring the young woman and creating the opening Jack needed to attack Darklighter. Unfortunately, Jack's Shock was not strong enough to put the Anzat down. Really it just pissed him off. In a fury, Amon attacked Jack nearly feeding on his brains before Jack was able to ignite his lightsaber through Darklighter's chest.
Tagrenn had escaped in the confusion, though after the confrontation Jack lingered behind, waiting for Starstorm to breathe her least breath before taking her ship and leaving her behind. From there he finally learned her real name...
