The Soo Legacy - Origins

Part II - Voreina Talos

3648 BBY

She was sixteen standard years old when she watched her brother die in a hail of blaster fire. Growing up in the ganglands of the Coruscant undercity, devoid of parental care from the age of ten, Voreina had always thought she was too hard to be affected by death.

Watching friends die even as they grew up tended to have that effect. Watching both parents die from an illness which would have been easily treated if they hadn't been born in the undercity of Coruscant tended to have that effect. Fighting for each scrap of food or water ration tended to have that effect. Evading the attention of the myriad Coruscanti gangs with every ounce of guile and cunning she possessed tended to have that effect. Voreina had thought there was nothing else left for the galaxy to throw at her that could pierce the durasteel walls she had built around her heart.

The sight of her brother, the only family she had left, falling to the floor, peppered with contusions and deep burns that not even a good draft of kolto could help, tended to have that effect. She didn't even have the luxury of kolto, the good stuff anyway, just the third-rate reject gunk smuggled in by the Black Sun gang runners and sold for exorbitant prices to the truly desperate.

Voreina had never been one for their mother's staunch devotion to the Force and their people's beliefs. Growing up in the Coruscant undercity had drummed it out of her, even as she could not deny their truth - how else could a Miralukan with no eyes see everything around her as though she did? - but the rest of it, Voreina had no time for. They were stories, make-believe tales to soothe the every day travails of their existence. They would do her no good in the undercity.

Nevertheless, as Voreina cradled her brother's fading body, she let herself believe, just a little. It was comforting to imagine that some part of Kamal would live on through the Force.

The sound of explosions and shouting pierced the cloud of grief in her head, as she looked up from her brother's slack features, staring at the commotion's source. A squad of Republic Security officers had engaged the gang thugs, exchanging fire rapidly but they were outmatched. It wasn't until a new figure jumped into the fray that Voreina felt the grip of her grief loosen on her mind.

Like all Miraluka, she used the Force to see, as instinctive as breath to her. Just as with her mother's beliefs, she had never given the subject any more thought as the Jedi were all but exiled from Coruscant and they were a long way from Tython. After their parents' deaths, both Kamal and she had taken to wearing fake cybernetic visors over their vestigial eye sockets to deflect unwanted attention, pretending to be Humans for the sake of escaping the notice of the gangs. Scum like Black Sun would pay much to get their hands on a Force-sensitive they could bully into submission.

It had been an unlooked-for advantage, both Voreina and Kamal using their natural affinity for the Force to survive, to avoid the gangs' recruitment drives and ensure they went unnoticed.

It hadn't been enough this time. They had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But now a Jedi leapt into battle, over the heads of his compatriots, driving through the gang members like a knife through cloth. A panicked shout, and then the few gang thugs who were uninjured ran for their lives, offering only a few paltry shots to deter pursuit.

With a shudder, Voreina not only saw but felt the Knight's presence in the Force, like a warm beam of light into her darkened world. She sensed the exact moment he became aware of her also, his head turning to gaze in her direction with sadness and surprise.

The ganglands were no place for a Miraluka.

He deactivated his lightsabre and turned towards her, opening his mouth as if to speak, but Voreina did not wait for him to say anything. With a titanic effort, she lifted her brother's corpse over her shoulder and took off into the shadows, not wanting the inevitable interrogation she sensed was coming.

She had no time for it. First, she would see her brother's body safe. Then, she would seek revenge. And she would brook no interference from the Jedi.

A week later, Voreina watched the warehouse intently from her shadowed corner. After delivering her brother's body into the care of one of the few friends she had left, Voreina had thrown herself tirelessly into the hunt for the one who had pulled the trigger.

She had also gathered what gossip she could find about the Knight who had ventured into the undercity. She didn't want him crossing her path, and after he sensed her true nature, she had no doubt he would be curious. She knew hope that he might be too busy to waste time tracking down a Miralukan gangland waif, Force-sensitive or not.

But as she sensed his presence approach from the shadows of the alleyway beside her sheltered corner, she reflected wryly on hope and vanity.

"I should have remembered that old adage about Jedi and their stubborn curiosity," she murmured dryly, not bothering to look sideways to give him the benefit of pretending to be human. Masquerades were useless at this point. "How did you find me, Master Din?"

The Knight's brows rose questioningly. "How did you discover my name?" he asked.

One corner of Voreina's lips quirked in a mirthless smirk. "The undercity thrives on gossip, Master Din. But you didn't answer my question: how did you find me?"

"The undercity thrives on gossip, Miss Talos. Deaths in the ganglands are not uncommon, yet both you and your brother have a reputation for avoiding the gangs' notice with uncanny skill," he explained, a wry tone in his voice as he parroted her own words back at her. At her swift frown, he sought to ease her concern. "Fear not, child. No one suspects your true nature."

Voreina's jaw clenched as she looked away. "So have you come to lecture me about peace and forgiveness for my brother's killer, or some other load of bantha shit?"

"I understand your pain, Voreina. I would help you find solace in the hope that it will not lead you down a dark path," Din replied steadily, making Voreina roll her eyes.

"Is that what you did? Don't look so surprised," she muttered, sensing his shock. "I might be untrained but I can still sense the reek of the Dark on you. Sorrow, regret, shame-"

"Yes, I did," he interjected firmly, his eyes leaving her stony features to stare at the warehouse before them. "I failed many, once upon a time. Lost many. But I found my own peace with it. You can too, without letting the Dark side consume you whole."

"Stopping the monster who murdered my brother from killing anyone else is hardly going to push me off the deep end, Master Din," Voreina snapped. "Now, are you going to help or did you just come after me to lecture?"

The Jedi Master sighed, as if digging deep for patience, wringing an unwilling smile from Voreina, before gesturing to the warehouse. "Ladies first."

Despite herself, Voreina had to admit that it had been easier infiltrating the warehouse with a fully trained Jedi at her side. While strong, she was untrained and had nowhere near his level of control. Watching him fight beside her, for the first time Voreina understood the legend of the Jedi Order and their warriors. She'd spoken true when she'd accused him of knowing the Dark Side, but only shallowly, she realised. Through the Force, she could see the Light radiating off of him like the corona of a blue star. Shrugging the observation aside, Voreina reapplied herself to the fight, taking down the guards as quietly and non-lethally as possible. She only wanted one man dead.

She could sense him like the stench of blood lingered around him in the Force, mingled with pain, shame, fear and….regret? Why would one of the gangs regret killing any one, let alone an orphaned nobody like Kamal?

They slipped inside the living quarters of the warehouse, a rough dormitory, where military issue cots were screened to give an illusion of privacy, personal effects littering the floor. Her target lay on the bed at the very end…crying?

The closer Voreina got, her footsteps silent on the durasteel floor, the more her heart sank.

He was just a kid. Like her, like Kamal. And he was broken.

Voreina could sense it, could sense the wound her brother's murder had left in him. As she tore aside the screen, the boy fell off his cot, whimpering as he recognised the small, slight figure holding a blaster to his head.

"Please, make it stop. Make it stop, I didn't wanna do it," he babbled, crying silently. His emotions roiled off him like a wave of sickness, making Voreina nauseous. Her hand wavered, the blaster shaking wildly.

"They said they'd kill me, kill my sister and my mom too," he shook his head. "I didn't wanna do it."

"How did you end up in the gangs, son?" Din's voice was gentle and soothing, as if approaching a spooked tauntaun.

"Debt. My sister was injured, needed kolto. We needed the credits," the boy mumbled, his shame overwhelming his fear and pain for a moment. Anger lanced through Voreina for a moment, as Din reached out his hand to the boy's forehead. She felt it through the Force as he put the boy to sleep.

"What are you doing!?" she demanded, in a fierce whisper.

"Giving him what little peace I can," he sighed, staring down at the somnolent boy. "And you. Put your blaster away, Voreina Talos. If you were going to take his life, you would have done it by now."

Shaking, Voreina turned on him, grief making her wild as she lost control of it for the first time. The Jedi Master looked unconcerned, calm and collected. "Who are you to make that claim? You don't know me!?" she hissed, as the Force rippled and bucked around her, her anger spiking in her blood, sorrow lending it strength as it spread out from inside her. Metal objects began to bow, to buckle, as sparks rained down on them from imploded light fittings in the ceiling.

"I have known killers. I have fought beside them, fought against them. I have blood on my hands too," he said. "I have watched the blood consume good men and women until they have nothing left but a twisted facsimile of who they once were to cling to. You are not one of them, Voreina Talos. You are not a murderer."

Abruptly the shaking stopped and the Force calmed, as Voreina drew it back in with a shudder of effort, her brow sweating. Without another word, she holstered her blaster and turned her back on the Jedi, moving to walk away.

His last words rang in her ears.

"This is the true evil of the gangs, Voreina. What they have done to this boy, and to you. But fear doesn't have to be your only path in life."

Later that night, Voreina stumbled back into the small apartment she had shared with Kamal. Though 'apartment' was probably too generous a term for it; hovel might have been more apt a description.

She was tired. After escaping the warehouse, she had spent several hours dodging Black Sun enforcers, out for blood after the hit on the warehouse. She idly wondered what had become of that boy Din had put to sleep, then pushed him from her mind. She hadn't killed him; she didn't have the energy or the will to care what happened to him now.

After making sure her door and windows were securely locked, she stumbled towards her bed, too tired to even think about scrounging some food from somewhere. Before she did, she checked her mail.

Some instinct told her that the Jedi would not easily give up just because she'd walked away from him. And her instinct was right.

Sitting in her inbox was a message from Jedi Master Orgus Din, just as she'd expected. With a sigh, she opened it on her terminal, the tech decades old and barely held together with tape, spit and prayers but it was the best she could get.

Voreina,

I won't insult your intelligence by pretending you don't know every argument I can think of for what I am about to suggest. You are far from stupid, and your strength in the Force alone would not have protected you from the gangs for so many years.

You are wasted on Coruscant. Sooner or later, the gangs will track you down, and what then for you? Servitude? Slavery? Or worse? You have great power, Voreina, and an understanding of the harsher side of life that many in my Order lack. Life as a Jedi would not be one of ease, but then I suspect you have known ease enough in your life to miss it. The Order needs people like you, not just your strength in the Force, but your insight and your determination. The gangs are not the only ones to press good people into committing terrible crimes out of grim necessity, and the shadow of war looms ever closer.

You were right when you said I had tasted the Dark Side. But then, so have you and you found the strength to pull back, as I once did. The Jedi needs knights who know the darkness in themselves as well as the light.

Tomorrow afternoon, I leave Coruscant for Tython. My ship will depart from Hangar 11-B. There is a seat for you, if you want it. If you do not, then I will simply say farewell and good luck.

Orgus Din

Voreina read the missive three times, her heart pounding. She shut the terminal off abruptly, before collapsing onto her bed and pressing the heels of her hands to her visor, wishing for the relief of tears. She cried silently into her lumpy pillow, for the first time really let herself mourn Kamal's death.

Before, she'd been driven by the need to avenge her brother's death somehow. She'd been sure that the thug who had killed him had been a monster, like most of the gang muscle were. Brainless, heartless killing machines.

She'd been wrong. In another life, that could have been her with her finger on the trigger.

With that realisation, a sense of purpose replaced the grief in Voreina's heart. Not peace, never that, but purpose. Tonight, she mourned her brother.

Tomorrow, she would leave Coruscant. And one day, she would return.

One day, she would destroy the gangs so they would never harm another soul like they had harmed her. And that nameless boy who would now live his life with blood on his hands. She would do it, for him, for her and for Kamal.

Her life on Coruscant was over. Tomorrow, she would go to the spaceport. Tomorrow, she would leave Coruscant until she could return to cleanse it of the gangs.

As a Jedi Knight.

To be continued. Next: Teiyla & Kalimra, the Sith Marauder and the Mercenary Bounty Hunter