SWTOR Character Tales: Ragdat's Darkest Days KOTFE 7-9

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!  Today, we get to the part of the story that are either partially written, or completely unwritten for fanfiction.net.

As everyone entered the bridge, Ragdat waited just outside the door for Koth.  And when Koth got within vocal range, Ragdat apologized for yelling at Koth on Asylum over something as minor as the "Outlander thing", explaining that he so happened to call him that at the worst possible time.  Koth was taken aback, but apologized for calling him that, saying that it was hard to change the fact that, outside Lana, everyone called him "Outlander".  Ragdat explains why "Outlander" bothered him; it means "person who is foreign to me" with an "and they are lesser for it" connotation.  Koth was getting to know Ragdat, and was learning that not only was Ragdat not lesser than Koth, but only wanted to help and make things better.  And that hurt Ragdat that he still refused to even catch himself calling Ragdat "Outlander".  Koth again apologized, saying he WAS trying, and that he'd try a little harder.

Both men looked at the other for a few moments, before Koth admitted "We're never going to like each other, are we?"  Ragdat nodded, but said that didn't mean they couldn't work together, and took a moment to praise something that Ragdat admired about Koth; Koth's ability to command a starship and the people serving on it, and Koth took a moment to admit that he admired Ragdat's ability to inspire and lead.  Both agreed that, if they focused on that, they could work together despite their issues.

As soon as this was done, they entered the bridge and saw Senya standing there, back to them.  Senya plainly said that she knew they had concerns, and she was right; Koth about her loyalties, and Ragdat was concerned that she might be a Child of the Emperor after what he had learned from Kira and Vedere. Senya may be a sleeper agent for Vitiate without even knowing it.

Koth ranted about Senya and her willingness to fight her children, Senya saying that she accepted responsibility for what they were doing, and also accepted responsibility for being a good parent and stopping them.

Ragdat, finally sick of Koth's ranting, said they were ignoring the bigger threat; Vitiate himself.  Koth balked at this notion, saying he brought "security and direction to Zakuul", and Ragdat replied he tried killing every living thing in the galaxy.  And in case Koth wasn't paying attention, Ragdat said, that included Zakuul.  He also mentioned, when Senya brought up how cold "Valkorian" had gotten toward their children, that was the exact timeframe when Vitiate was ramping up his plan to do just that.

Koth still did not believe the notion that his "Immortal Emperor" was a monster, though Senya, who had been close to him, was more willing to accept it.  Thankfully, before the argument could continue, HK informed them that T7 had found intel on "The Lady of Sorrow", who had been searching for information on the Gravestone, and wanted to meet Ragdat.  Ragdat took Senya to the shuttle, since the zone they were headed, the Old World District, was controlled by a Force Sensitive cult called the Heralds of Zildrog, and Ragdat figured a Force user would have an easier time getting through there than anyone else.

Before they could depart, however, Lana pulled Ragdat aside and gave her summation on the situation; that right now, trust was hard to come by, and Ragdat needed to put in the effort.  Ragdat gave Lana his assessment; Senya, so long as they continued to work toward stopping her children, would continue to help, even with the plan to destroy Vitiate. Koth, however? He was not on board with destroying Vitiate, and Ragdat was worried that he may try to hinder that.  Lana, who knew Koth, said that he desired peace more than anything, and after enough time, she'd be able to convince him of Vitiate's danger.  When they were done, Ragdat headed down to the shuttle bay to meet Senya.

During the shuttle trip to a drainage tunnel going to the swamp from the city, Ragdat heard Senya humming a tune he didn't recognize, and upon landing, she was fully singing it.  And by the context, she thinking about her "romance" with Vitiate as Valkorian.  This dampened Ragdat's spirits, because he knew that he'd need to bring up the ritual Vitiate performed on both himself and his Pureblood Sith companion, Scourge.

  Senya told Ragdat that the Old World District was very much like Nar Shaddaa, a haven for criminals, but mentioned that she did like the aesthetic, praising Vitiate's vision for Zakuul.  This piked Ragdat's curiosity over Senya's relationship with Vitiate-as-Valkorian, and it would have been heartwarming if it wasn't for the fact one of the parties was a monster who was faking all emotions to manipulate the feelings of a young woman.  And it was even more tragic when they had children; they begged for the approval of that emotionless monster, and received none of it.  It was no wonder that Arcann was overwhelmed with jealousy and Vaylin was driven to insanity.  Moreso when Senya told Ragdat just how powerful Vaylin was at the start, and what Vitiate did to get her power under control.  The family was broken even before it was formed, and it tore at Ragdat's heartstrings.

Senya continued to tell Ragdat about how, when she finally realized the kind of monster she had married, she chose to leave, and take the kids with her. And they laughed at her; Arcann and his twin Thexan called her weak, and when Senya tried to take her daughter, she stayed where she was at, even though they were, at the time, torturing her.  So, Senya chose to leave on her own, working in the outer parts of their territory, having no contact with her children since.

It was this moment when Ragdat chose to place the final nail in the coffin of her relationship with "Valkorian"; he told her of how, around 1500 years ago, Valkorian, in his original Pureblood Sith body, enacted a ritual that drained all the life, even the Force, from the world of Medriaas, and made his soul immortal at the expense of all emotion, save for fear and anger, the two emotions that fed the Dark Side within him.  No joy, no sadness, nothing but emptiness. And Ragdat said he knew this because of the ritual that was performed on Scourge was the same, giving him the same experience.

Senya turned away from Ragdat, attempting to process his words, but Ragdat had to ensure that Senya understood that he wasn't trying to hurt her; he said "For what it's worth, I know what it's like to love someone that doesn't love you back," thinking about all his time with Kaliyo on Rattatak and how she just used him for her own benefit, like she did with many others since, according to what he'd heard.

Thankfully, T7 rolled in to the room, distracting them and getting their minds back on the task at hand; finding the Lady of Sorrows.  Ragdat was glad to see his old droid companion, and asked if T7 had heard anything from their friends, though unfortunately, T7 had not. He'd been working for Lana for years now, and Kira, Doc, Rusk and Scourge had all gone their separate ways before that.

Once actually getting out of the sewers and into the district, Senya went to meet a contact, so Ragdat and T7 went off to use some terminals to triangulate the location of the Lady by tapping into surveillance feeds.  And at one point, when T7 went to meet a droid contact of his, Vitiate appeared and tried talking to Ragdat, but Ragdat refused to respond.  And even though Vitiate pushed, knowing that Ragdat was thinking of Senya's reveal, he eventually relented when Ragdat continued to show him silence.

After tapping into a few more surveillance feeds with T7, Senya called on Ragdat's holo and told him to meet her at her current location. T7, who had more objectives to complete, left Ragdat to his own devices, and Ragdat followed the map he was given to a bar not far from where he was at.  He was met by several lightsaber wielding thugs who utilized the Force in battle. Senya mentioned they were called the Heralds of Zildrog, once a local cult that was now more violent gang vying for territory.

Senya went up to her contact and began to interrogate him, and Ragdat recognized the Force technique she was using; it was a way to cause pain in a target without doing lasting harm.  It was a technique that Ragdat had learned about at his training facility when he was an initiate; he saw a small group of adult Jedi around a group of children, or younglings as they were called, and the children were writhing on the floor in agony.  Ragdat immediately stormed over there out of concern for the children, and the Master in charge informed Ragdat of what they were doing.  Apparently, the technique was meant to teach younglings how to cope with pain without actually doing damage.  The technique stimulated the nerves inside the target's body to cause pain, either in a wide area or in a localized area, at varying intensities so the younglings understood how to deal with pain without giving in to anger or fear. And this lesson on coping with pain was for two main reasons; to recognize the body's signals so they could tell when something was injured or sick and give them knowledge of when to focus on healing, and to teach a child to tolerate pain in combat, because, as the Master told him, they were all required to defend themselves regardless of their aptitudes, and that required a degree of pain tolerance.

Ragdat was still not completely convinced of the intentions of the lesson, bringing up the children who were crying in agony on the floor.  The Master stated that these children pushed themselves too far in what they thought they could handle, and were paying the consequences, though the Masters there were helping them ease the pain; that no matter what was done, these Jedi cared about them.  The Master also brought up something that Ragdat hadn't thought of; how all species children had to learn how to cope with pain and suffering and recognizing when something was wrong with them bodies.  He mentioned that Ragdat, who was an adult student, had likely learned those lessons the hard way, though sickness and injuries, when he was their age.  Ragdat couldn't deny that, remembering how brutal growing up on Rattatak was, and how he still had some lingering issues due to childhood injuries he'd suffered in his clan's leaders trying to "toughen him up".

Ragdat was snapped back to the present just as he remembered that the Master praised Ragdat for his concern for the younglings when Senya used the technique a second time; this wasn't a teaching moment. This was torture.  But just as Ragdat was about to speak out against it, the bartender gave the information that Senya wanted and directed them to another contact; a human woman named Mona Gale, a gambling promoter about a few hundred meters down the road.  Senya began questioning her upon their arrival, and Mona chose to mock Senya, and demanding to know who Ragdat was. He was just about to use the Force to influence her mind, to tell her that she "didn't need to know who he was", when Arcann made an announcement about "the Outlander that destroyed a power planet that knocked out power to many city blocks and his accomplice Senya", showing holos of them, Mona Gale and everyone around them immediately looked at Ragdat with fear.  Mona told Senya where they needed to head next; Breaktown.  Ragdat thanked them, and he and Senya started off toward the train there.  Senya joked that that announcement gave them some clout, and Ragdat mentioned that being feared by law abiding citizens was not something that a Jedi wanted.

The two fought through Breaktown before being stopped by Koth, saying that the Heralds would respond better to "regular people" than a Knight of Zakuul.  Ragdat's thoughts, however, were about getting through the sector; the Heralds had shown themselves to be trained Force users, and based on what he saw, Koth lacked the specialized training and equipment needed for a Force blind to combat a trained Force user; no lightsaber resistant armor, no fire or electricity based ammunition, and no sniping ability. Koth wore average clothes for a spacer and wielded a slightly modified blaster rifle.  Ragdat told Koth as much, stressing that Ragdat was thinking about Koth's safety more than anything else, and led Senya into the district.

After a few dozen fights, Ragdat and Senya finally met the leader of the Heralds, a human male filled with Dark Side corruption they called "The Exalted". Ragdat knew that, when dealing with slaves to the Dark Side like this, he'd need to show a bit of strength in order for them to understand his power in any negotiation.

The interaction went as Ragdat expected; Senya threatened the Heralds, the Exalted threatening Senya, and Ragdat doing is best to defuse the situation while still maintaining an aura of strength.  He could tell that lightsabers were about to be drawn when a Nautolan appeared on holo, demanding that the Exalted stop, and showed that The Lady of Sorrow had captured his son, and told Ragdat where to meet them.  Ragdat, who thought it strange that a Nautolan was living on a human world this far from her home planet, was ready to head off, but still remained prepared for the expected treachery from these slaves to the Dark Side.

Ragdat wasn't disappointed the Exalted, despite being ordered not to by the Nautolan, ordered his men to kill Ragdat and Senya, and they were force to fight their way out and toward the Lady's base. On the way, they were met by two of Senya's former brethren in the Knights; one of which Ragdat recognized the voice of.  Apparently, Vaylin had killed his original partner, and it was driving him to the Dark Side, as evidenced by his yellow eyes.

Ragdat and Senya dueled them, with Ragdat once again noticing the same flaws in their technique that Vitiate brought with him into this insular society, and dispatched his opponent quickly because of it.  However, instead of killing them like the fallen Knight expected, Ragdat simply had them tied up and knocked out while he and Senya rode the turbolift up to the Lady's penthouse apartment.

Once there, they were met by Koth, whom the Lady had shown to have captured earlier on the holo, and a droid model that Ragdat recognized from Yavin; the one with the strange crown and female features.  The droid, SCORPIO as Ragdat learned, recognized Ragdat as the Battlemaster of the Jedi Order, killed the Exalted with a shock from her systems and then asked what Ragdat would do with his son, whom she had captured to lure the Exalted himself to her.  Ragdat was torn; by his red eyes and pale skin, the boy as as much an unrepentant slave of the Dark Side as his father.  On the other, he also knew that a being could be corrupted to the Dark Side by no fault of their own, as had been done with him, Leeha Narezz, Tol Braga and Warren Sedoru many years ago.

Ragdat said that, without his father's influence, the boy might find redemption, and he should be given that chance. SCORPIO agreed with Ragdat's choice, but let him go for her own reasons, and told the Nautolan, now revealed as "Thea" to continue her operations in her stead, leaving SCORPIO free to join Ragdat. SCORPIO revealed two reasons for joining; one, she wanted to talk to the Gravestone, and the other was that Arcann had "taken something of her's."

The return to the Gravestone bridge was as unpleasant as Ragdat expected; Koth argued with SCORPIO, HK-55 threatened to shoot SCORPIO, tempers flared.  Ragdat got fed up with it and walked out of the bridge, and Lana followed, informing Ragdat about the people offering to ally with Ragdat now that it was known that he was awake.  Ragdat joked that it might be fun to have people not looking down on him for once, but before the conversation could continue, Lana got a comm from the Scion Heskal, telling Ragdat to come alone once they landed on Asylum.  Ragdat headed up that way with his faithful companion T7-01, and were met by Heskal being held in place with the Force in the middle of the room they had fought days earlier.  His body was then tossed aside, revealing that Arcann was there.  Arcann revealed that Heskal had betrayed Ragdat to Arcann, and Arcann offered a peace agreement; he'd let the people Ragdat had gathered to, but Arcann got the Gravestone. Ragdat, in the meantime, would be returned to carbonite while his people researched the means to remove and destroy his father.

Ragdat knew the truth, however; Arcann had no intention of removing Vitiate from Ragdat's mind. He wanted his father as a trophy now. Ragdat "agreed" and was given a moment to "tell his forces to stand down".  Ragdat turned around and activated his comm, but instead of telling his forces to stand down, he warned them that Arcann was here and ready to fight.  Ragdat spun around while drawing and activating his lightsaber, and prepared for battle.

The battle went the way Ragdat expected; Arcann exhibited the same flaws in his style that his father did on Dromund Kaas and Ziost, though he chained Force abilities into his attack sequences more freely than his father. But with Ragdat's strong telekinetic barriers protecting him from being tossed around, Ragdat managed to out duel Arcann and tossed him through the wall as the roof collapsed.

Ragdat and T7 made their way back to the docks, only to see Heskal being dragged by a couple of Knights. Ragdat struck them down, and Heskal said, as he lied there dying, that "everything was happening as forseen". This upset Ragdat; he stated that according to the Jedi, the future was always in motion and that no vision was ever absolute.  "You doomed people for a possible future, not an absolute one."  Heskal, however, continued to smile as he died, justified in his vision of the "glorious future".

Ragdat and T7 continued down toward the docks, only to find out he had to head back up to unlock the docking clamps.  He was forced to flee when Senya challenged Vaylin in order to fight his way up to the docking clamps. He and Lana were eventually met by Koth and former Havoc Squad member Tanno Vik and his gang.  Lana stayed behind to defend the entrance while Ragdat and Koth headed up toward a warehouse landing pad for a transport ship that would take them up to the tower they needed to get to.

Unfortunately, Koth again showed his loyalty to Vitiate when he asked if he had any tips for Ragdat. Ragdat again condemned Vitiate, and vocalized his worry about Koth still worshiping a monster even after Ragdat and Lana telling him what he did and what he tried to do on a galactic scale.  Koth said "He was always good to Zakuul," and Ragdat replied with "A serial murderer who is a good father to a favored child is no less a serial murderer."

After landing, Koth and Ragdat stopped at the tram needed to get Ragdat to the docking controls, and Koth and HK-55 stayed at the start of the tram to defend it.  Ragdat reached the platform and let loose the Gravestone, only for his danger sense to alert him of Arcann's presence. Ragdat dodged Arcann's strike and activating his own lightsaber to begin this final duel.  He continued to exploit the weaknesses in Arcann's style, while HK-55, who had taken the tram up to assist Ragdat since was taking too long, fired upon the Zakuulan Emperor as they fought. Eventually, Arcann got fed up with the droid and used his power to destroy it. However, at this moment, Ragdat saw a Shatterpoint that would allow him the opportunity to disarm Arcann and take him prisoner.

Of course, Vitiate saw the Shatterpoint from inside Ragdat, and chose this moment to again make his presence known and dissipated the Shatterpoint, and "offered" Ragdat his power, saying he risked death if he didn't take it. Ragdat knew that Vitiate was only trying to manipulate him, again denied the power Vitiate offered, but when Vitiate disappeared, Ragdat noticed something different; his telekinetic barrier had suddenly been dropped. And Arcann, who had apparently noticed this, reached out with the Force and grabbed Ragdat, and pulled him toward Arcann, impailing Ragdat on his lightsaber.

Arcann took that moment to taunt Vitiate, shouting "Feel that, Father?", but Ragdat just grinned.  "He doesn't feel anything, Arcann. Not pain, not joy, nothing." And while speaking this, Ragdat gathered telekinetic energy and let loose with a Force Repulse, knocking Arcann off the platform and into the depths below.

It was then that Koth made his presence known, helping Ragdat down to the docks, where he passed out on the bridge.

He woke up many hours later, surrounded by the allies he had gathered, save for the destroyed HK-55.  His allies had recovered the droid's body, but his memory core had been destroyed. They also told him where they were and informed him of the allies they had gathered. Ragdat took a moment to look at Koth and told him that, if it hadn't been for his Immortal Emperor, they'd have been able to capture Arcann before this war had even started, and explained exactly what happened before Koth found him.  Ragdat did not relent and stated that, as long as Vitiate was in his mind, he'd be unable to defeat Arcann unless it directly benefited Vitiate's plan. This took Koth aback, trying to rationalize the benevolent Emperor that he knew with the actions he had taken during this battle with his son, and how it prolonged the coming conflict.

After leaving the ship, Ragdat indeed saw the gathering of the people there; Republic, Imperials, Jedi, Sith and all sorts of criminals and mercenaries.  Ragdat looked around for something to get everyone's attention, and found it with a giant drill they would use to create an entrance for the facility that was partially built behind them.  He activated it, and started in on a rousing speech of how they needed to work together for a better future.  Once he was done, he went off with Lana, Koth and Senya to begin to make plans for this new Alliance base and the structure; there would be a Commander of the Alliance to make executive decisions about the path they would take, a circle of advisors for the Commander, and people to run the day to day operations.  Ragdat didn't know the role he was going play in this Alliance, but he assumed he'd be some kind of rallying figure at the very least.

In the coming days, Ragdat met some of the members of the Alliance, including some old friends and allies.  He met Vedere Marr, last member of the Jedi Council and acting Grandmaster, who told him of the fate of the Jedi Order during the war; they experienced heavy losses after Satele Shan disappeared and continued to do so for many years after, leaving only the Jedi she had brought into the Alliance with her.  He met Darth Nox, who was no longer a member of the Dark Council, but still had access to much of her former resources, and was giving the Alliance access to her resources and research.  He met Colonel Amelisan Strannos, who had been promoted since the last time he saw her, but was frustrated that she was forced behind a desk instead of being allowed to do field work.  He met the Mandalorian Maircus, who still worked as a Bounty Hunter, but was angry that many of his targets were now in Zakuulan space and that his former employers lacked the funds to pay him.  He met the Pirate Queen Curoda Riggs, now married to her companion Corso, who continued to lead a criminal resistance to the Eternal Empire, and was now offering her assets to the centralized Alliance to bring the fight to Zakuul.  And strangely, Ragdat met Adaso, former Emperor's Wrath, who had lost nearly everything to the Eternal Empire and Acinna's treachery.  What Ragdat found most strange, however, was how Adaso was now over his grudge with Ragdat; Ragdat had been dead for five years, Adaso said, so he got used to the idea of how stupid his grudge was after what Vitiate did.  However, he still wished to duel Ragdat, but not to the death, and not until he was free of Vitiate's influence.

Once the construction was nearing completion, Lana informed him that the last of the Alliance inner circle had arrived and wanted to meet Ragdat; Theron Shan, former SIS operative.  They spoke for a while about things that Lana didn't have the answer to, and Theron showed Ragdat another thing he had retrieved; his old Defender starship.  And when he went to inspect the ship, Ragdat was met by another member of the Alliance; Jedi Master Daashla Myr, whom he had met briefly during his early training.  She had tested Ragdat to determine if Ragdat was going to require her special brand of training to help him control his darker, more violent impulses, or if he could be trained by another master. She deemed him "safe" to be trained by another, and didn't take on a Padawan until a few years ago.  And in the last five years, Daashla Myr had been gathering displaced Padawans and helped them get over the darker emotions that they were unprepared for thanks to this war.

Once this was done, Ragdat met the leaders of the specific aspects of the Alliance; Admiral Bey'wan Aygo of the Republic fleet, whom he had served with during the battle of Kuat, as the the one in charge of his military, Hylo Visz, who was in charge of getting supplies and funds, Doctor Oggurrobb, the Hutt who helped him on Makeb in charge of science, and the Voss Mystic Sana-Rae in charge of matters pertaining to the Force.  Ragdat wasn't too pleased when he was introduced to Sana-Rae, but when Master Vedere said that making a neutral party their Force advisor was her idea, he relented.  From here, Ragdat was told that there was a party going on in the cantina upstairs and that Ragdat was asked to make an appearance, he agreed, figuring that it would be a good idea for their rallying figure to be seen as a "man of the people".  From here, he took Theron aside and continued his conversation from earlier.  Once they were done, the party was winding down, Ragdat headed back into the facility to find Senya standing by his ship's hangar, musing about the future. She told Ragdat what Vaylin told her while on Asylum; that her other son, Thexan, wasn't killed in battle in the Core Worlds. It was Arcann who killed him out a fit of jealousy and rage.  This affirmed her desire to stop her children before heading off. It was then that Vitiate made his presence known, and asked Ragdat what kind of future he saw for the galaxy, and Ragdat was blunt, saying "A future without you." and was about to storm off when he felt a disturbance in the Force; he grabbed the lightsaber of his belt and activated it, holding it at the throat of the stealthed figure behind him, saying "Bad idea sneaking up on me."

The stealthed figure uncloaked, revealing herself as Gua'llisan'ireshoth, or Allisani as she asked to be called, was the former Cipher Agent that had sent him a message so many years ago. She claimed to be an agent of a being called "the Specter", and told Ragdat that he'd have access to all the Specter's resources. And just as she was leaving, she left a warning; do not trust SCORPIO. She's always shady at best, and if he ever thinks she's being direct, she's not.

Ragdat took a moment to ponder this until he got a message from Lana to meet him in the military hanger.  Once there, Lana led him back to the main area of the base and told him that he was now the Alliance Commander himself.  He was not only the rallying figure for the Alliance, but the one calling the shots.  Ragdat took this new title with the same level of gravity and responsibility that he had taken the other ones he had before, save for "the Outlander", and gave a rousing speech to his people.

The next entry will be short; it will be mostly Ragdat going with one of the other Player Characters and meeting the Alliance Specialists, which will allow him to skip the annoying aspects of their recruitment. And yes, Ragdat will be getting both M1-4X and Pierce.  For now, look forward to it, and stay beautiful freaks!