SWTOR Character Tales: Rise of Mamine KOTFE 1-6

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den! With today marking 6 years of me playing SWTOR, I'm taking some time to post Rise of Mamine.

Now, keep in mind that, unlike Ragdat, Mamine will call Vitiate "Valkorian", as a way to show that she accepts his new identity, but she won't forget that the darkness that the man has always illustrated. Also, as a quick reminder of her character arc, she's a Dark Jedi during the events of the game up to Ilum, and then began a path of redemption after having the Cathar officially exile her from their homeworld. With that in mind, it's time for the story!

Our story begins when Mamine steps off of her Defender starship with her best friend, Kira Carsen.  After a bit of banter, Mamine clumsily admits that she has romantic, but not sexual, feelings toward Kira. Kira is taken aback a bit, and says she's flattered, but she's not into other women, and Mamine said she wasn't either, but she just wanted Kira to know how much Kira mattered to Mamine.

Kira returned to the Defender trying to process this information, and Mamine made her way to the bridge of Darth Marr's ship, only to begin sensing the presence of her old enemy.  As she and Darth Marr begin to plan, Marr's ship is attacked by strange ships with strange troops.  Mamine heads to combat the troops, droids as she discovers, wading through blaster fire and directing the shots back at her foes.  After rescuing both Republic and Imperial troops, Mamine is informed to return to the bridge, only to find that the Defender is stuck; no one can get in or out.  After releasing the docking clamp, Mamine is forced to regretfully inform Kira that she can't get out.  Kira, who shouts at her that she won't leave Mamine behind, is forced to do when Mamine says that they're Jedi and both have a job to do.

 Mamine heads to where Darth Marr was located, which was down in engineering, and fought along side him until they got to the terminal near the hyperdrive. Supercharging the shields, Mamine orders the crew to abandon ship, but Mamine and Marr are unable to get to safety themselves. The attackers take the ship, capturing Mamine and Marr and bringing them to the being they've been searching for; Vitiate, though using a new name, Valkorian.  On the way, they meet Arcann, Vitiate as Valkorian's son and slave to the Dark Side like Vitiate himself, and the blind seer Heskal.

Valkorian begins offering power to Mamine and Marr, and both refuse, but for different reasons. Marr, refusing to bend knee to Vitiate again, holds true to his own philosophy and accepts death. Mamine, however, held true to the lessons she had learned. She had seen the horrors of the Dark Side, and wanted nothing to do with its influence. She also refuses, but Arcann chooses this moment to attack his father when told to execute her, giving Mamine's lightsabers back to her, and allowing Mamine to strike down Vitiate's new body, saying she hoped it stuck this time.

However, things did not happen as they should; Valkorian releases a great deal of power, knocking Mamine out, allowing Arcann take Valkorian's throne and to toss Mamine into carbonite, where Mamine is forced to dream of Vitiate in his Valkorian form, the form she assumed he saw himself as from this point on. Valkorian tried to convince Mamine of his philosophy, but Mamine fights back with philosophy and combat when necessary. Eventually, Mamine is awoken by a woman that she first confuses with Kira, but turns out to be Lana Beniko with a new hairdo and a new outfit that lets her go unnoticed better, as well as her old friend, the astromech T7-01.  Lana lead Mamine out of the facility, and just as they are about to leave, Lana's partner, Koth Vortena, contacts them via radio.  Koth, a product of Zakuulan society, immediately annoys Mamine when he calls Mamine "Outlander", a term that Arcann called him and, as he finds out later, blames for all of what he's done and will continue to do to the rest of the galaxy.  However, she did understand why Koth called Mamine that; Koth had no other reference point for Mamine.

Mamine and Lana continued to fight their way to Koth, Mamine performing some impressive physical feats when she cut out the knees of a walker droid before blowing the cab into the air and off the bridge, however, she does not nail the landing and knocks herself out.  Awoken by Lana within moments, they continue to fight their way to Koth, but not before Mamine is forced to shut down a reactor that would have destroyed several city blocks if she hadn't.  But before they could board Koth's ship, Mamine and Lana are forced to fight two Knights of Zakuul, where Mamine is finally able to analyze their fighting style; Form VI lightsaber combat, or Niman.  This gave them an answer to everything, but mastery over nothing.

Mamine and Lana defeated their enemies their own way, forcing one to retreat, but Lana was about to choke the life out one before Mamine stopped her.  Moments later, they were met by Valkorian's daughter, Vaylin.  They were about to engage Vaylin and her Knights, but Koth Vortena opened fire with his ship's cannons.  Vaylin used the Force to rip a piece of walkway to hold off the shots. Lana escapes, but while Mamine was jumping, Vaylin throws the metal at the ship, forcing it away, and Mamine was about to plummet to her doom, only to be saved by an HK-55 unit.  It is here where Mamine finds out that she's been in carbonite for five years, and her first thoughts were of Kira and Suthazi, her friends who led her out of darkness through the support and desire to provide an example for.

They head out of the city, crashing into the swamp, and Mamine is given time to get to know Koth and HK a little before heading into the swamp.  Mamine was actually awestruck by the feeling of the swamp; so alive, so different than the city.  She could feel the ebb and flow of both the Dark and Light sides of the Force here, and all that nature had to offer.  If she wasn't running for her life, she felt she could actually enjoy her time in the "Endless Swamp" as Koth called it.

A few moments after Mamine took this in, Koth and Lana choose to set a trap for any Skytrooper droids that search for them, Mamine and HK headed into the swamp to find the "technological object" that HK had detected, and was informed that HK's new highest priority was the protection of Mamine.  Upon finding the object, Koth started freaking out over it being the Gravestone, a ship from Zakuulan legend.  Mamine and Lana, who didn't know the legends, did accept that this was going to be the best means get off the planet.

Mamine, with Koth at her side, cleared out large insects from the ship, which allowed Koth the time and space he needed to look over the condition of the combat frigate, mentioning that they might be able to find the parts needed to do the necessary repairs to get the Gravestone space-born, and Lana mentioned that they might want to hunt through the swamp for fresh water and access to safe food.    Mamine went with Lana first, who helped her get up to date on current events over the last five years; the Sith Empire and Republic no longer had the political, financial or military power to fight Arcann's Eternal Fleet, and were forced to pay a heavy tribute of credits and resources, and Mamine's friends were missing.

Upon returning to the ship, Mamine followed Koth through the swamp, searching for some parts he had jettisoned before the crash, though, upon finding the last cache, mentioned his belief in destiny.  Mamine mentioned how destiny is rarely pleasant, and brought up the story of Andor Vex as an example, or her own, which was a path that caused a LOT of pain and suffering to people who didn't deserve it, a path she still regretted to this day.

Upon returning to the Gravestone and helping Lana and Koth clear out stuff on the ship and help repair it, she found herself heading down a few decks and ended up in front of, what she learned later, was a control node for the Zakuulan "machine god", Zildrog, where Vitiate, still using his Valkorian form, chose to show himself as a ghostly form and started talking to Mamine.  He talked about the downfalls of his children and told Mamine that she needed to kill them, but Mamine was having none of it;  she had seen the end point that the dark path took her, and was certain that the only way to both stop them and stop Valkorian was to neutralize them while keeping them alive.

However, before any philosophical debate could take place, the ship was attacked by the Skytroopers. Mamine took Lana outside to fight them off while Koth got the ship off the ground.  They fought side by side for a bit, until one of the Knights flew in on a speeder, dropped a thermal detonator at the feet of several Skytroopers, and jumped off, igniting a unique lightsaber; one with an electrum guard.  And since electrum was rare and, among the Jedi Order, an indication of Mastery of either the Force or the lightsaber, she knew this woman was special. In fact, Mamine, a Battlemaster and lightsaber form instructor, had earned the right herself, but didn't feel worthy of the electrum finish on her weapons.

The three fought the Skytroopers and Knights until Valkorian chose to freeze time and lie to Mamine; that if Mamine didn't relinquish control of her body for a few moments, Lana would die to an unavoidable lightsaber strike to her shoulder.  Mamine refused, of course, and just after Lana was injured, Koth and HK exited the ship and gunned the individual who struck Lana down, as well as the others that Mamine, Lana and the Knight that Mamine now knew to be Senya Tirall, hadn't gotten to.  And after a brief argument between Koth and Lana over Senya joining their crew, HK reminded them that they were not safe.

Mamine, Lana and Senya all waited outside the ship and used the Force to life the ship out of the muck, before leaping up to the airlock and leaving the planet.  But of course, they weren't safe yet. Mamine had to run down to the main cannon and fire it, annihilating many ships ahead of them before they were able to get into hyperspace. Unfortunately, they had to perform a blind hyperspace jump, which burned out the hyperdrive, which hadn't been used in centuries, as well as the Gravestone's main cannon.  Luckily, they were within sublight engine range to get to a safe haven, a space station known as Asylum.

After returning to the bridge, Mamine saw the three humans arguing.  Senya and Koth didn't get along due to a shared past, and Koth was upset that Lana hid her allying with Senya.  Mamine understood why the humans were so upset with each other, but she still needed to fully regain her strength, and decided that it was time to find a place to meditate. After doing so, Mamine went and talked to Lana and dressed her wounds, then went to talk to Koth, who annoyed  her slightly, but after explaining why being called "the Outlander" bothered her, Koth backpedaled, not realizing that what he was saying was offensive and not wanting to do so later. But when Mamine said she was willing to give Senya the benefit of the doubt, Koth said "Don't forget who dropped everything to get you out of the Spire.", a clear attempt to play on Mamine's emotions. Mamine just rolled her eyes, and said "You've got a real bad habit of shoving your foot in your mouth, Koth," before explaining how he had just come across.  Once again, Koth sheepishly apologized, and as Mamine left, she wondered how he had made his way as a military officer without upsetting a superior with his "foot in mouth" tendencies.

Senya was at the Zildrog control node, and she and Mamine introduced themselves to each other.  Senya mentioned an appreciation of the Jedi philosophy even though it didn't work for her, though Mamine mentioned how it hadn't been enough combat her Dark Side either, at first. However, when Mamine mentioned how Arcann had pushed her and her support network apart, Senya offered compassion, and mentioned how she had some personal reasons for wanting to bring Arcann down, though Mamine could tell she wasn't ready to tell him why.

A few hours later, the Gravestone had docked with in Asylum, and after marching out the cargo hold door, Mamine was immediately met a group of humans.  The humans appeared hostile, demanding entrance to the ship, and Mamine said that threats weren't the best way to get what they wanted out of her, and floated her lightsabers into her hand, but did not activate them, showing the thugs that she was more powerful than they were. Seeing the standoff, Koth ran up to Mamine and assured her that they were Koth's people.  Mamine stood down, but took a moment to gently chastise Koth for not telling her what was going on; Mamine could have easily killed Koth's crew, she explained.

After a brief conversation with Corporal Ralo, the Republic soldier from Darth Marr's ship that she'd saved, Mamine was asked to find the final member of Koth's crew, a human named Tora. HK had Tora's information in his databanks, and Mamine and HK headed into the so called "Free Zone" to retrieve her.  After fighting through a bunch of gangsters, Mamine was met by Tora, who was signified by her blue hair and obnoxious laugh, and a weequay with a Havoc Squad badge on his armor. She found out he was Tanno Vik, former demolition expert of Havoc Squad, but was sadly dishonorably discharged due to his criminal activity after his CO disappeared .

Mamine rolled her eyes over how stupid the argument was; Tora refused to pay for the weapons she bought, and Vik, now a gangster, wanted to kill her.  Mamine said they were both being ridiculous, and ordered Tora to pay what she agreed to and apologize for insulting his dead mother.  Vik was perturbed that he couldn't afford to be weak, and Mamine reminded him that he negotiated a deal in his favor from a Jedi Master.  Vik agreed, and all parties parted ways, but not without some choice words from Tora, who claimed she'd never apologized in her life. Mamine, not happy with the mouth on Tora, told her to just say "thank you" and head back to Koth, and directed her toward the Gravestone.

A few minutes later, Mamine and HK were met by Senya, who led them into the Scions' compound. However, an ion charge knocked out HK, and this was met by Mamine immediately drawing, and activating, her lightsaber and dropping into attack position. Shee didn't trust Senya or these Scions at this point, and wasn't afraid to let them know that.

As it turned out, these Scions were confused that they couldn't read Mamine's future, and wanted to know why, but what really surprised Mamine was that Senya stood at Mamine's side, not the Scions.  Unfortunately, these Scions believed like the Sith and Voss about visions; they were absolute certainties, and not like the Jedi, who believed that visions were suggestions about possible futures, and that the future was always in motion.  And Mamine knew the truth about visions; they were only true if followed, if what Mamine had done on Voss with Sel-Makor had been any indication.

Mamaine and Senya fought through the Scions' "tests", doing their best not to harm them, before meeting Heksal, the leader.  Mamine recognized Heskal, but she could also feel the overwhelming darkness within him, it being so similar to her own so many years ago, meaning his vision was tainted.  Mamine calmly said that so long as Heskal said she must, she would refuse to kill Arcann, because she would not be a part of Heskal's dark designs.  This brought on the duel between then, and Mamine's superior focus and greater skill in lightsaber combat brought her to the edge of victory, only for Valkorian to freeze time and offer his power to speed things up, since "this was all pointless" Mamine refused and continued dueling Heskal.

The duel ended with Heskal's defeat, and Mamine said that the Scions' vision was tainted when Senya said they needed the Scions, mentioning she knew better than anyone how the Dark Side clouded the mind of anyone under its thrall.  This is when Lana, Koth and his men came up behind them, and demanded they disarm.  Heskal claimed that every moment since they landed on Asylum, even this moment, had been foreseen, and asked Mamine about how she'd fix the galaxy when she won, and Mamine essentially said "Whatever way denies your dark visions and helps those being hurt". And this is when Valkorian decided to make his presence in the Force known, which created chaos among them all. Heskal, the Scions and Koth were all elated that Valkorian was alive, while Lana, whom Mamine had told about Vitiate invading her mind in the Endless Swamp, was appropriately concerned.

However, the building anger in Mamine erupted when Koth called her "Outlander", and though he immediately apologized, it still caused Mamine to shout in Koth's face about why that term bothered him.  Apologizing for yelling after it was over, she then clearly spelled out what "Valkorian" had done as Vitiate, as well as what he tired to do on Belsavis, Voss and Corellia before Mamine stopped him on Dromund Kaas, and was just about to storm out before Senya revealed that she was Arcann and Vaylin's mother.  Mamine knew at this moment that he needed to cool off, and returned to the Gravestone to meditate.

And that's the first post of Rise of Mamine.  As always, I put links for things that I'm not certain would be easily understood by my foreign audience, and I did my best to swap out the "he" and "him" into "she" and "her", since this is the editted version of Ragdat's version, like I did over at fanfiction.net before taking these two down.

For now, look forward to the next set of chapters, and stay beautiful freaks!