Chaos and Order

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Turning to face him as he spoke, s'Il pulled one hand from her pocket to rest it against a bulkhead. She could smell food from where Arya had gone, but something had suddenly taken her attention. A word.

Remnant...

The confusion was slowly giving way now to a slow realization, and she studied his face in more detail. He'd called himself Solomon.

Solomon... Sol omon... Sol Umon... Sol U'Man...

Her neck craned forward just a little, head canting to the side. He was certainly older, yet unlike Zem, the years had not been unkind to him.

"Sol.. ?" she breathed.

[Rev Solomon]

It was her. Somehow. She'd had two eyes when he'd seen her last on the Temple grounds. She'd also been a year older than he was then.

"Loklorien. God's name..."

He smiled, slightly, but his mind was racing. A lot could happen in twenty-odd years. She might not be the same person he'd sparred with under Master Saban and Master Windu. God knew he wasn't the same person anymore.

But stumbling over a big part of his old life after years of running from it - that was a miracle too big to ignore.

"I knew there were some of us left," he whispered. "But when I heard about the Temple I thought -"

He cut himself off and glanced toward the living area. He didn't want to talk openly, even in a whisper, with Arya around. Anyone who consorted with a Darksider, willingly or not, was a risk in his sight. He met Lok's eye again with a clipped nod that said later.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Heavy footsteps rang through the halls of The Wing of the Raven, as someone approached the communal area in which Solomon and s'Ilancy were talking...

[Arya Ravenwing]

She heard the footsteps, smelled Whitey suddenly, and yelled as loud as she could. "FRELLING WHAT IS IT NOW!?" Arya slammed her hands down on the table, slid out from the booth and pulled her railgun from its holster. Not now. Not frelling now!

Shoving past Loklorien and Solomon, Arya greeted the pale one with her finger on the trigger. s'Ilancy was just out of sight in the living area, but not for long. "Get the frell off my frelling ship! Frak! You're not invited, not wanted, and not going to be alive for long."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Unflinching, Vega looked over the barrel of the gun into the enraged eyes of its owner. The representative of the Imperial Executor, Van-Derveld was under the guardianship of the Galactic Empire. As he was acting on the wishes of the Empire's leaders, it was an unequivocal fact that any action made against him in hostility would be considered an attack against the Empire itself. It was not, therefore, in the best interests of the smuggler to bring any harm to 'Whitey' – this much, she already knew.

“You have acquired another passenger,” he stated. “To what end? Your purpose is to find the fugitive, a task which you have already delayed long enough.”

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Returning Sol's nod with one of her own, s'Il allowed herself to be momentarily distracted by the sound of approaching footfalls.

Genuine surprise flitted across her features though, as Arya bulled her way through to confront this new unseen stranger. Opting to stay out of site for the time being, the Lupine stepped backwards and lowered her frame quietly into the booth.

Something was off in the air; it smelled... rancid? She blinked a few times, and turned her eye to Sol with a concerned, almost questioning look. The voice that reached her ears was grating, and just the sound of it made her grind her teeth. But it was the last words spoken that set off a storm in her single blue eye.

Arya had been sent to find her?! No wonder the reward for a capture meant nothing to her!

I told you I told you!! Perhaps the next time you'll listen to me!

One hand slamming down atop the table,, s'Il propelled herself upwards in rage as those telltale yellow tendrils began invading her eye...

[Rev Solomon]

It had taken only moments for a miracle of heaven to be tainted by a messenger from hell.

Arya had been sent. Didn't take a prophet to tell who she'd been sent to find. A former Jedi. A comrade and a friend. And Solomon was damned if he'd let them take her now that he'd found her.

Still hidden from the entryway, Solomon gave s'Il a cautionary glance and stepped out around Arya to draw Whitey's attention - for all the Darksider knew, the clatter of the table was him. "You again. I don't know what business you two have together, but I think it's clear you don't belong here. There's been nothin' but trouble since you showed up. Be gone. Trouble us no more."

[Arya Ravenwing]

There was a crash from the living area, and Solomon came out at her six. Arya drew a little strength from the Preacher backing her up.

Her hand shook a little as the railgun wavered. "If I killed you now, they wouldn't know for weeks. More than enough time for me to be lost forever, just like this... so-called Lupine you've forced me to look for, Van-Derveld."

If he found Loklorien here... now... they'd all be supremely screwed. Well, Loklorien would be, anyway. And Arya ... frell it she wasn't done finding out about herself yet!

[Vega Van-Derveld]

“Stay out of this, old man.”

Van-Dervelds lips twisted into a snarl as he looked from Arya to Solomon. The preacher hadn't the faintest idea what he'd gotten himself caught up in, and if he wasn't careful it would be the death of him. The pale figures eyes quickly flitted back to the woman with a gun trained on his head.

“You're a fool if you think you can escape, Ravenwing. Play your part now, find the Lupine in a timely fashion, and this will all be over – then you can go back to whatever meaningless excuse for a life you had before our paths crossed.”

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Sol's look was enough to stay her, and s'Il remained out of eyesight of the newcomer. Her eye was still a menacing yellow, and the muscles of her jaw clenched incessantly. Her whole body remained coiled like a spring, and she was ready to move on Arya at the slightest sign of full betrayal.

Was Klavius truly right?

[Arya Ravenwing]

The tip of the railgun twitched downwards, and Arya pulled the trigger. The projectile weapon spat a round into Whitey's shin, shattering bone and flesh and sending the creep abruptly to the ground. His lower leg was nearly completely severed, hanging onto the rest of his body by a few tenacious sections of muscle.

"Get off my ship!" Before anyone else could move, Arya stepped over and slapped the ramp controls, opening up the hatch.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon jolted at the unexpected report.

"For God's sake, woman, put that thing away!"

Darksider or not - he couldn't hold with that sort of violence without a real good reason. The preacher knelt next to the pale man to assess the damage and reached down to help him.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

His leg all but obliterated, Van-Derveld fell backwards and hit the deck with a thud. The open wound left by the rail-gun showed the already deteriorated muscle tissue beneath his skin, the flesh off-color. The pain was overwhelming, an exquisite agony. His eyes rolled as he struggled to maintain clarity, fighting back unconsciousness. Unable to contend with the feeling in any other way, Vega called on the Force to sustain him.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It wasn't exactly horror that she felt, but it was something very close to it. She knew that it wasn't Sol who'd used the Force; no. The ripple that she could feel washing over her was a malignant thing, dark and evil.

And yet it wasn't the nature of the user that made her flinch, it was the simple fact that the Force had been used.

Wasting no time, the Lupine scrambled to pull the shirt she wore off. There was no time for the pants however as she hunched forward. Her Change was bourne of desperation - Arya would Change, there was no way around that.

And with her Change would come a beast most terrible; bent on destruction and filled with madness. She would kill anyone around her.

s'Il's thoughts went to Sol as she felt her body transform, a sheen of white fur growing over her body like a wildfire. She'd never told him, and for him to find out like this...

... but she couldn't let Arya tear him to pieces, which left her only one other option.

For the first time in over a millenia, Losstarot would battle Loveloxx once again.

[Arya Ravenwing]

As Solomon crouched by Whitey, Arya holstered her railgun and reached down to grab her stalker's arm. "Out you... goooooohhnnn-!" Her hands clenched down on Vega's arm, fingers indenting the leather he was wearing. The Change was coming over her, fast and without warning.

She fought it, concentrating so hard she couldn't let go of Whitey's arm, her eyes yellowing and joints grinding painfully. Her teeth ground together, and a gutteral noise escaped - sounding like a mental patient receiving electroshock therapy. The smuggler stumbled to the side, her legs refusing to allow her to stand on just two feet, and she hit the bulkhead with her shoulder as her body began to bulge in unusual places.

Eyes wide and golden, Arya stared at the wall, and then reared her head back, slamming her forehead into the metal. Dazed, but not out of it, she managed to do it once more, cutting herself on an exposed bolt and knocking herself into unconsciousness before the Change took full hold.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon was frozen for a moment in horrified fascination - he'd encountered Arya once before in her changed state, but he hadn't seen what came in-between. He was bracing for another hellish battle, trying to decide how he'd defend the pale man and Loklorien at the same time, when Arya put herself out violently. The smuggler slumped to the floor, caught for a moment in a half-human, half-beast parody before shifting back again.

But then - the unthinkable - there were bestial sounds emanating from the living room as well. There wasn't time for questions like who and how. Solomon let his instincts do the talking. He threw out a hand toward his quarters, and the flap of his bag fell open as a slim metal cylinder came hurtling into his palm. He thumbed the ignition switch and swung it toward the doorway.

The stunstick whined as the electrical charge built up to full potential.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

There was no point now in suppressing any use of the Force, but s'Il still held it in check, snarling as her body finished its' change. A sleek white pelt covered a powerful form, and she burst through the doorway of the living area.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Through the haze of pain, he could hear things. A snarling, wet thuds of flesh against metal and then something like an explosion – only more compact, contained to a small area. Without the support of the preacher, Vega's head fell backwards. As it hit the metal beneath it, the last dregs of consciousness were drained away from the pale man. His eyes rolled back into his head and his body became limp, semi-clotted blood slowly oozing from his stump...

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon didn't hesitate At the first sight of flashing fangs and yellow eyes, he thumbed the trigger and planted the beast with a stun blast. She jolted as if she'd hit a brick wall and tumbled in a heap to the deck plates.

He took quick stock of the situation - Arya was human and unconscious, the pale man was unconscious and bleeding, and the white beast was... stunned, but not out. He had to move fast.

Solomon went with his loyalties. He swung Arya up into his arms and deposited her on his bunk in his quarters and closed the hatch. Then he rushed out, grabbed Vega, and rolled him unceremoniously down the exit ramp. He flipped the lever with the Force on his way back up. Now he was sealed in the Raven with the white-furred beast.

He turned the stunstick in his hand so the other end faced her, and his thumb hovered over another switch. But he hesitated - hoping... praying.

"Lok... Lok, are you in there?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

On unstable legs, the white beast rose to her feet while shaking the cobwebs of the stun from her mind. Her snout felt raw, and tingled as she sat on her haunches. A single tawny eye was sent up to look at Sol, then to the area around him. Arya was not in sight, and neither was the stranger who's voice she'd heard.

Ears swiveling forward, the Lupine sat up just a little straighter. She'd expected a stark, raving mad beast to greet her; not Sol. Confused, she looked up at him again before letting out a sneeze.