Station: The Commitment

Posted on Wed Aug 6th, 2025 @ 7:02am by Lieutenant Ainkara "Kara" {Meji}

Mission: Stellar Problems
Location: Dark Harbor
Timeline: Current

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Having gone to her rooms, Kara got within and let the door close behind her, leaning back against it. Her head was hurting, a migraine that made her feel that her head would explode, or simply pop off her neck.

~Come to me~

"No!" Kara cried out, trying to push the presence away using the Force, but she could not get her pain under control enough to focus.

~Come to me...commit~ This time the Spirit voice spoke like a caring mentor, but there was still the hint of venom behind the words, making it a command no matter how subtle.

"Take the pain away and I will!"

~Dear child, the pain is a necessity of life. Revel in it and find your strength. If not, I will kill Captain Taavis~

Even through the headache pain, Kara's head came up. She could see red concentric circles on the outside of her vision tunnel, the pain causing her eyes to falter. "Do not harm her over my disobedience." Turning around and resting her forehead on the cold metal door felt good at the moment. That was when she realized she was covered in a sheen of perspiration. Vulcanoids did not sweat easily, so this told her the Spirit's machinations were making her feverish. She had to give in and prevent unwanted harm on others. As the spirit instructed, however, Kara focused on the pain. She flipped her script from fighting the pain to accepting it and relying on it. As the Spirit Mistress had said, accepting her pain aided in her being able to handle it; strengthening her resistance.

~Gooood...Gooood. Accept my teachings, commit yourself to me, and I will make you more powerful than Master Ro and her Meji puppets~

Calling on the rage within herself, Kara stepped back from the door and stood up straight, shoulders squared as if invincible. That familiar cauldron of hate and anger burned at the center of her being, and with it, all her pain seemed to vanish. "I am ready, Mistress."

~We shall see~

What did that even mean Kara wondered as she stood facing the door into her rooms. Then she not only heard a subtle footfall, but she felt an immediate danger. Squat ducking she then shoulder rolled to her left, hearing and seeing the familiar sight of a lightsaber pass over her at the level of where her waist had been a moment before. A crimson lightsaber. Rolling over she got her feet under her through acrobatics and Force use, coming up and igniting her own held sword. Two beings stood in her dining area, one on either side of the table, along with the one that had just tried to cleave her in half standing within a meter of her. "Now you die!" She threatened.

The three were covered head to foot in black robes and martial arts gees, masks on their faces, all three brandishing their own crimson sabers. The one nearest to her twirled his blade and stepped in with a vicious attack sequence, his blade a streak of red as he swung the weapon with incredible speed and accuracy. Using her own anger and rage, Kara deflected each strike meant to end her quickly, backing into the main living room area through an archway. Their blade tips scored the walls and edging with carbon burn slashes that smoldered from the intense heat even as the blades were pulled away, the acrid smoke rising into the room to bring a haze and the stench of burnt materials. As they fought Kara took Ro's advice about music, bringing to mind a favorite tune perfect for this moment. She saw an opening and gave this person a swift backhand to the face, sending him stumbling back a moment.

Twirling her blade in the manner of satisfaction at having struck him, a grin on her face, Kara got back into her fighting stance. "Bring it!" When the man took the first step to come back in at her Kara thrust her hand out and sent him flying back through the archway to slam his back into a curio shelf and the wall, items shattering and crashing around him as he landed on his ass on the floor. The other two had come around to the living room through a back archway from the dining room. One of them also got the Force push while the other ran in and began swinging. His attack was not as intense as his companion and during an overhand strike, Kara squatted and rolled onto her back as their blades connected. They flashed and popped as she pushed back at his blade even as she rolled onto her back. With his blade momentarily out of action to strike, Kara used both legs and kicked upwards into his gut with everything she had, sending out a Force push through her feet at the same time as she reveled in the violence. She heard the man grunt in pain, then saw him flung up to smash his back into the ceiling. Doing a kip-up just as he was coming back down to land prone on his face, she gave a twirling maneuver with her body and swung her blade in an upward arc, removing his head from his body even before it hit the floor.

Now in a pincher move between the other two, her back against a wall, her two opponents faced her in a triangle pattern. One feinted an attack, the other actually coming in. Spinning to catch the feinter's blade and move it aside, Kara immediately counter spun the other way to catch the other man's blade and shove it away hard enough to send him off balance, calling on the Force in all its glory just as she did so. Her body was filled with strength, vigor, and dexterity several times higher than she had ever done herself. Her rage pushed her to attack harder and faster as she closed on the feinter and attacked him with a relentless barrage to his sword, moving this way and that to change the angle of attack as she danced back and forth in front of him to keep him off-balance. Her strikes were left-right, low, then an overhand. Once he blocked the over hand she struck left again then feinted going outside right and as he went to block that blow she twirled her attack angle down low, bringing her blade straight up the front of his body, opening his flesh from crotch up to his neck.

Lightsabers cauterized as they cut but when the guts of a man have nothing to hold them in, cauterized or not, the gore spilled out onto the floor as the man collapsed. Spinning about to face the last opponent, Kara saw he had waited for his companion to win or lose and now looked around for a way out. "I promised you death! I honor my oaths!"

Using the Force she started her attack by tossing an ottoman at him, which he dodged and came back up, barely in time to catch her blade with his, the crimson blades now crossed between them as they sparked, popped and hissed, the glaring red of the blades causing a blood red garish glow to her face and his face mask. The evil smile on her face said it all. Ainkara had given herself over fully to the Dark side. Shoving him off with him stumbling back, Kara advanced with her first strike being a strong overhand down swing. They ended up in a more open space in the room, both of them dancing around according to their fighting styles, blades clashing and whirling with attacks and defense.

A chair was Force flung her way, and she dodged and cut the item in half, allowing the Force to defend her and send the two pieces in a V pattern out and away from herself as they passed. He came in undeterred, his sword flashing as it repeatedly tried to find purchase with her flesh and bone. The one who had smashed the shelf had recovered and was now trying to find a way to get on her other side through the furnishings and statuary in her rooms. They both attacked, with Kara blocking, ducking and weaving even as she blocked and struck back at each of them. Confident in her victory, Kara gave a pause to the fighting as she stepped back. He stopped to, sword held up in a two handed grip. For her part, Kara stood facing him straight on as she dropped her saber down to her side, blade still thrumming but held low. "Give a girl a kiss." The sneer on her face backed by that wicked smile caused him to step in and swing from his right toward her left, and empty side, aiming for her shoulder. Her left hand came up, splayed open with palm facing him and his blade, which stopped frozen a few inches from her palm. The moment it stuck there, she made a circle motion with her arm, the blade now caught by her telekinesis and followed along with where her palm was before he could pull it back.

The angle of the circle, from her right to left, had his sword turn outward from his body as the tip struck into the floor. He was now completely open for a strike that quickly, and she took advantage. An upward swing from his left hip up to his right shoulder sliced open his chest, her blade then twirling around and hacking his right arm off at the elbow and causing his sword to drop to the floor and deactivate even as the hilt was still gripped by the hand of the removed limb. Dying slowly, some organs open to view in his chest and damaged enough to kill him painfully, the man stumbled back and hit his back on the wall. Stepping forward, Kara stood over him as his legs gave out and his corpse slid to its butt in the final act of dying. She could feel his death coming, his pain making her grin at her victory, and finally he expired. Her blade thrummed as she held it down at her side as she looked down at his body. For final assurance, Kara ran him through the center of the chest, holding her blade within his torso while she spun it right and left a few times to make sure any vital organs were skewered and cooked. Pulling the blade free, she deactivated the saber as she quickly hooked it back on her belt.

***

Breathing heavily from the duel, Kara's vision cleared and her rooms came into focus again, with her still standing and facing the door. She spun around quickly, her eyes going all around the dining room, seeing that nothing was shattered or broken, no blade damage to walls, nothing. "What the...?" She asked herself quietly, not sure if it was all a dream or if it had actually happened.

~Well done, young one. Well done. What is your decision?~

Kara went to her knees, speaking up towards the ceiling since she did not see the Dark Mistress within the room. "I commit myself to your teachings, Master. I seek the secrets of the Force and the powers of the Dark side as your training permits."

A female laugh could be heard in the mind. ~Excellent. Excellent. Henceforth you shall be known as...Lady Wight. W-I-G-H-T. It has various meanings, some of which fit you well. You were dead but you have come back as something greater. Hide your true nature for now, use guile and pull the Darkness deep within yourself. To outsiders you are Meji. Lady Wight, however, is now Cortosis.~

"Cortosis?" Asked Kara.

~Yes. A rare ore from another galaxy I shall gift to you when you have proven your loyalty. A fitting name for another Force using order in this galaxy. Ro Green will know what it is, do not speak of it with her~

"Understood, Master. My first task is destroying Dark Harbor's slave trade. Become a hero and no one questions motives or loyalty. It becomes expected." Kara said.

~You will rule Cortosis well, apprentice. Again, keep it hidden until the right time. Patience is key~

"It shall be done, Master. Now, time for a bath. Until we speak again, Master, I am your servant and enforcer." There was no response. The Mistress had left her be. Kara headed for her extravagant bathroom, stripping as she went, her saber near to her the whole time. After her clash with Billi she was sure they were scheming her demise.

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