The scent of hardened Correllian whiskey drifted through the cabin followed by a methodical puff from a cigarette which was situated in a gloved left hand. The leather of the glove actually extended well up the forearm and occassionally twitched with a mechanized whir. In truth the room more resembled a Nar Shaddaa bar than a actual transport as pin ups of Twi'lek dancing girls were posted on the ship's walls.

Easing the throttle of the ship back, the cigarette was tossed over the pilot's shoulder with a casual disdain. The K-2 astromech unit wordlessly rolled forward before a small mandible snaked from a compartment, grabbing the still smouldering cigarette butt and disposing of it in its "trash bin". Setting the liquor down, the hooded figure took a deep breath as the ship slowed to a crawl and decelerated from hyperspace, materializing above Yavin IV. As the pilot took a second shot of the juice that it preferred, and ignited a second cigarette; a female's voice spoke up chidingly albiet with a veiled degree of humor in it. The speaker had seen this behavior before and found it hillarious and at the same time concerning.

"That's going to kill you, you realize."

The hooded pilot turned its head before within the confines of the robe before the tip of the cigarette blossomed into a golden orange hue, illuminating the features of a woman within the hood. Taking a slow deliberate draw from the bottle of liquor, pilot placed the ship on auto-pilot and stood, sizing up the woman who spoke. After taking another drag from its cigarette, the hooded pilot blew a plume of smoke in the direction of the female and replied:

"Kind of like how "You" almost killed me."

In response to the retort, the figure behind the pilot looked a cross between annoyed and conspiratorial before stepping forward and seating herself at a Djarrik table with a wearied sigh. The humorous air of the room had ended and with a nod, the pilot looked to the droid and motioned for it to take over flight. Looking at the woman, the hooded pilot's voice was irate and at the same time agitated.

"So. Why didnt you tell me?"

Silence.

-I knew this day would come.. but I still am not prepared..-

The hooded pilot pulled back her hood revealing a younger woman with some differences facially, but in the eyes and fierce glower of determination, unmistakably a kindred spirit such as any could be to the elder woman. But the similarities ended there. The first wore robes of a charcoal hue and seemed to thrive on a generally black motif. The second's garb was that of battered Jedi robes that had not been seen in use for many a years, and her body was slightly transparent. A nimbus and corona of faint blue gleamed on the outline of her shape as she shifted in the De'jarrik chair clearly uncomfortable. Raising a hand for silence, the woman spoke a very faint echo trailing after she did.

"Your father.. He was a great man. When I first met Echuu.. he already was a exceptional swordsman and philosopher. But he lacked training as a formal Padawan. I wasnt interested in a Padawan.. and declined his initial petition. Truthfully I should of stuck to that course for his sake. He was in the process of joining Agri-corps, but... "

The spirit smiled recalling a fond memory of her early days before her ignorance and fall from grace. Her time was a far different era from that of the current day, and yet many of the same troubles that harried her and her colleagues were playing out again in the endless waltz and the silent war that ever waged in each person. The primal and total war between the Light and the Dark.

"We wound up working together in the Thyferra Bacta disaster, and later in the Mandalorian and start of the Twin Wars. The boy grew on me in a lot of ways. Smart as tacks, thats for bloody sure."

"The Twin Wars..? I was not aware that father was.. ancient."

The apparition's face shook its head with a frown before nodding to the younger woman's statement in a agreement. As she did so motes of soft light blurred and shaded her features as she shifted her posture.

"He was paired with me despite misgivings from the Grand Masters of the Order. I assumed I could train him better than Master Vex. ..I assumed wrong. I let everyone's respect for me go to my head. ..Even then I was on the Dark path though I didnt realize it. ..Arrogance. ..Pride. ..My foolish, foolish pride."

The Dark robed younger woman sighed and folded her arms before corking the bottle and sliding it under the table. Giving the cigarette a final drag, the younger woman crushed it with her fingers a mechanical whir heard as the artifical limb worked. But the younger Jedi said nothing and instead waited with the same patience she had always given.

The spirit regarded the younger Jedi and her face was a mask of pain and at the same time concern. Mingled in it was a deep seated loathing and desire for a reckoning. As if the spirit wished to have her story told in full and uncover a millenia of pain borne in private, even as the seeds that this figure had placed slowly grew to fruition. The woman across from her was the validation of this, though she did not understand it yet. The spirit spoke slowly and chose words with care. To lay it all out for her now..? Might crush her newly recovered spirit. And yet Vorhn knew the fight wasnt over.

"...I'd never had a Padawan.. I wasnt prepared for the task. I thought I could instruct him as a Redeemer... but I never was much of a Redeemer myself. I spouted the words and codes, but I never truly understood it.. I was reckless and foolish. Too easily turned.. and Echuu loved me despite that insane self centered indulgence I had. He cared for me, doted on me, and at every step was there seeking to understand.

I acted so superior, so almighty, and puissnant. Small wonder that I eventually betrayed the Order. Adventure.. Excitement.. hah! What arrogance. A true Jedi doesnt desire any of these things.. I was a reckless fool, and I realize that now. "

Celise furrowed her brow and shook her head. Rising she looked at the elder Jedi spirit and spoke finally. The voice given was mixed with respect and irritation at what was looking to be a rant of guilt from a nagging force spirit. Raising her hand in the same way that the ghost had earlier, she motioned the elder woman to stop talking. Bowing her head down and averting her gaze from the Apparition, Celise spoke.

"If you are done. I would submit to you that perhaps what happened to you a thousand years ago is not important. It isnt going to solve anything. It didnt help me at Deralia, it certainly has not made my task any easier, and by the Force it has not conjured any training that was a "Silver Slug" to assist me. Deimos is dead likely and I have your ego and lack of trust to thank for it. Now I think I deserve answers. Why?"

The Spirit paused perhaps enraged in some level by the audacity displayed and when it spoke again the voice was cold and matter of fact. The methodical and callous Dark Lord of times past manifested in the barest moment. Yet even in this moment the manifestation of Vorhn's "other side" was enough of a tremor felt to make Celise stop short, and give her full attention to the spirit.

"Dead?!

You think that you can kill what Deimos has become? Hah!

He is obsessed with the destruction of the Force now in earnest. It is the source of his anger and that which stands in the way of his take on Echuunism being correct. ..And when he starts to consume it, ah me.. Kill him!? You are a complete fool daughter of Shinzon, if that is what you believe! Dead?! Do you truly believe he follows the same rules that you do? You play a game of Dejaarik, and yet the enemy has a ARMY of Rancors, while you get only two as you are shackled to the "rules" which he does not play by.

You foolish child! He is no longer your equal. What he has become is more than man. More than a wound. He is.. a part of the cosmos. As much at one with his madness as I am with the netherworld of the force. The less said of that one, the better—even a stray thought may draw him, and you are not ready. No one in the Order is. If you fight him again, he will rape you like fire rapes the beauty from a flower and if he desires it, he will break you upon paths of agony that would make me seem like but a child. Oh yes.. I know your so very proud of your little dueling games. Yet you fought him when he was still a man, and against the man.. you had a semblance of hope and might of achieved victory. Yet none remains now, and it is all because you STILL refuse to listen! Because you refuse to consider the courses as they truly are! All of the training I gave, and you still fail me!"

The harsh croaking of Vorhn's apparition calmed itself as a faint nimbus of crimson threatened to bubble into subsuming it again. Taking a deep breath the figure sighed looked up striving with a millenia of rage and despair and sought to master herself as her emanation weakened slightly from her inner tumoil. Finally the ancient Force User looked steadily at Celise. As the shadows departed, a wizened and tired old woman leaned heavily against the Dejaarik table. This sad spectre was all that remained of the once Jedi Redeemer, Ryuka tas Vorhn. Her ire vented, Vorhn's voice took on a introspective tone, as if perhaps this course was destined.

"..Perhaps however, this is the great tragedy of all things. If the Order had learned from what transpired at Zhyr some thousand years earlier. If their training of new Jedi had been altered even a parsec to accomodate the truths that exist OUTSIDE of the Force. Vader may of never fallen. Palpatine would of never come into being. Yet now we stand ready to cross the Rubicon again! Only now instead of Sulek Pharos, Darth Nihilus, Nick Crazer, or even Gonv Ahz'uyn..? We have Darth Deimos. The Lord of the Void. The Nul-force's ways. Damn you for allowing that course to unfold."

Closing her eyes Celise grimaced inwardly, asking herself mentally for what seemed the thousandth time, why Vorhn couldn't just lay everything out to her. In part she knew that the Spirit was right and she could of done more perhaps on Deralia.. She had tread close to the Dark-side and made many mistakes on the side. But that had been the entire reason for her hermitage and time spent in solitude. She had worked very hard to unlearn the very things that she had taken at face value in the past. None of it mattered however as she had indeed failed to redeem Echuu. This coupled with the logic driven at her, further affirmed to Celise that her time as a student of Vorhn was likely at a end to her. Ryuka had brought her as far as she could on the path of the Redeemer. The rest would have to be found on her own it seemed. Shaking her head, Celise kept her emotions in check and brought the conversation away from the very passionate and angered matter of Deimos, and back to that which she truly cared about.

Her father and his potential redemption. It would be lie to say that at the knowledge that he had not died on Deralia gave a measure of peace. But this peace was not a overpowering drive for affection now. It merely was a desire to save the only family she still had if such was possible.. And if it was not..?

Then defiance to the treachery of her family would have to suffice. Celise's soul had achieved the peace she sought finally. Her choice and path of service to the Jedi Order was marked in her soul as a battle line might be drawn in the sand. Vorhn might of fallen, Echuu might have fallen.. But Celise would practice the same warfare her father had upon Vorhn some one thousand years earlier in the Twin War, and tear down his plans piece by piece. She would destroy him if need be also.

Such was the price of her existance, and the weregild her training as a Jedi Redeemer brought. ...And reaching this state of mind took every ounce of her training and mental strength to align herself to this truth. Celise never met with Vorhn's gaze and shut her eyes in thought as strategems and ways she could track Deimos came to her mind. A faint voice, barely above a whisper breathed her reply to Vorhn's statements.

"If Deimos is to be the Dark Lord.. then my decision was made by him well in advance. ..I will not allow it, I will not follow him and I will not turn. The treachery.. this evil which my family.. my blood has commited. I will end it. Shinzon will not be a word of fear EVER again."

A somber crack in Ryuka's voice echoed as the elderly woman's tone softened finally. Something kept Vorhn from wholly snapping on the girl, where others would of likely been met with a Force Choke or worse perhaps, a strike of Force Lightning. Looking up with a voice ragged from grief Ryuka spoke again.

"You must try to understand.. I cannot accept anything less than perfection from you Celise. This is why my teachings are so harsh. It must be so. The Zhyr debacle must NOT occur again. Try to understand.. to truly listen for once, and remember this above all things.

One should not fear the Jedi who takes risks. The Jedi that is shackled to the Code.. The Sith shackled to his or her rage and hatred.. The man who takes risks with power or titles. These things are all predictable and thus counterable. In the measure of time, they will reach a selected end that CAN be foreseen. What we must fear.. No.. what you must fear, is the one who has nothing to lose. The one that you do not foresee coming. That unknown is what I seek to train to you!"

Vorhn sighed softly and bit a transparent lip a shook sigh of defeat framed in her voice.

"..Do you not see? Sometimes.. even honorable people cannot behave honorably. It is simply impossible sometimes to do that which must be done, honorably. And yet it.. must be so. Oh Celise.. I am not the meddling old hag that your mind's eye might view me to be. I pray that someday you see me for what I truly am. That then you will understand all of my policies, and thoughts. That what I do is not a lingering trace of the Dark-side as the Jedi might assume.. but a part of a deeper design.

Closing her eyes Ryuka paused before exhaling with nonexistant lungs a sigh of submission.

At the sound of what seemed a near emotional breakdown, Celise looked up finally; only to find that the Ancient Jedi was no longer present. Making a sigh of subdued displeasure to herself, Celise turned and looked out the window of the "Dancing Twilek." The ship was already in the atmosphere of Yavin IV, and had been guided by her droid to a safe landing while she had held her discussion with her former "Master". The ship bumped the ground as it landed, and offering a smile to and pat of gratitude to the Droid, The Jedi Redeemer turned from the cockpit and pulled her hood over her features. Disembarking, she gave a formal bow to the Jedi in the shipyard of Yavin IV before turning away.

"Remain with the ship K-2.. I have to see to some business.."

Marching with firm and measured steps, the Jedi Knight made her way through the myriad of corridors, heading steadily in the direction of the Council chambers. It would be good to see Malius and Master Alies again.. Old friends, old mentors, and truest of confidantes.