Dangerous Liason

[Lilaena De'Ville]

It had been months since she'd seen him, and he was probably impatient with her extreme lack of progress. Not that she cared. The hit on Anar had been a fiasco, and she'd learned a valuable lesson. Never let someone else try to do what you know you can do better. True, Byl Laprovik's plan was one that had allowed them both to escape undetected, even though the podium had exploded moments after the Chancellor had left the stage.

She'd been busy on Onderon until the time of the rally, and now, as a failure, she was planning a visit to Khendon Sevon. Lilaena dropped silently onto his balcony, the security devices fried with a touch of telekinesis. The transparisteel doors, normally locked and virtually impossible to breach, were open.

She slipped beside the sliding doors, hidden by the curtains that were moving in the breeze. Quietly she withdrew her lightsaber, and crept inside.

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon’s room was sweltering. He had turned the heat to its maximum to mimic the summer season of his homeworld. A thin sheet of dark crimson covered the lower half of his naked body. It stuck to him and the contours of his form were made evident.

The Sith tattoos that covered his arms from wrist to deltoid were clearly visible in the dim yellow illumination that gently floated through the windows. They were acrid marks on his flesh that reminded him of his origins. Each symbol and swirl of text had been burnt into his skin by his greatest of grandfather’s ghosts. It had been excruciating.

The Executor stirred in his sleep and turned away from the intruder. His motion sent the cover to the floor and revealed his chiseled form.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Almost holding her breath, Lilaena crept forward, lightsaber hilt gripped in her hand. As Sevon rolled over, his nakedness became increasingly evident. Though she had kept herself chaste, per her dead master's instructions, Lilaena was not innocent.

She paused, sweat dripping into her eyes. Why in the hells was it so hot? Khendon did not appear to be bothered by the extreme temperature, and was still sleeping like a gundark. Concerned that she would not be able to hold onto her lightsaber firmly enough if her palms became sweaty, she decided to hurry.

He was facing away from her. It was almost too easy. Lilaena stood beside the bed, holding her saber hilt towards the Executor. Then she thumbed the activation plate.

[Khendon Sevon]

His right arm went into the air. The dim light was barely caught by the metallic surface of the cylinder in his hand. The emitter was facing backwards and the silver beam extended nearly parallel to his arm and penetrated the bed. The smell of burnt cloth filled the air as the spot blackened and smoldered.

The Executor’s lightsaber parried Lilaena’s blow and he rolled off the bed and stood. Fire played on the sheets for a moment then subsided—the material was specially designed to resist flames. He extinguished his blade’s silver glow and smiled.

Khendon wore only his tattoos.

“Oh,” there was a hint of mirth in his voice, “it’s only you.”

A nearby closet door slid open and he began searching around for pants.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She'd half expected him to suddenly wake and defend himself, but was disappointed nonetheless when he did. He turned off his lightsaber and started rummaging in his closet for clothing while she stood by his bed, lightsaber still in hand.

Lilaena looked at her amethyst blade, and then thumbed the activation plate, causing the blade to disappear. She clipped the saber back to her belt, wiping her sweaty hair out of her eyes. "Yes, Sevon, only me." She'd been wounded in the firefight at the hospital, but a patch of synflesh on her arm was doing its job.

"As you know already, Anar still lives." She sounded angry, mostly at herself for failing. "I cannot go after him again right away with his security measures so tight because of the recent attempt." Lilaena paused, "I was considering a new target."

[Khendon Sevon]

A pair of loose exercise pants met the bill and he pulled them over his naked form. He allowed his upper half to remain bare save for the intricate Sith script painted permanently on his defined arms. His body didn’t perspire in the heat and there were no beads of sweat on his nearly flawless form.

Long scars ran over his belly, flank, and back with various widths. Most were no thicker than a marker’s wake. They were delicate reminders of his incurable mortality. More importantly, they were mementos of foes fought—a few killed, a few lost to.

“Lilaena, you are a storm of emotions.” He turned to her and placed his saber on a desk. The Executor then held his palms out. “My dear, you must tame the tempest that rampages the sweet vineyards of your mind. You’re making vinegar when you could be crafting wine.” There was a smile on his face; yet, his eyes betrayed the rage he felt at her failure. It was a personal blow to have his own assassin blunder.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

He was furious, but she couldn't really blame him. "I am not your dear, nor shall I ever be." Lilaena resisted the urge to throw her body into a fighting stance and take him on again. He had beaten her soundly the last time they had battled, and she did not wish to throw herself on his mercy again.

"I am selecting a new target, and I will not fail. Miranda Tarkin, the new Moff of the Doldur Sector."

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” He commanded a datapad to float over to him from his desk, keyed in a password, and flung the device at her with an angry wrist lob.

“She’s already spoken for. Consider her under my protection and untouchable. I need her for my upcoming gamble. You, on the other hand, are proving yourself a liability.

“Darling, tell me why I shouldn’t turn you into a pile of carbon right now.” He let the anger roll off him in a mighty wave. The Force boiled from its pit and spewed forth like hot magma ready to melt everything in its path.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She stopped the incoming datapad with a touch of telekinesis, holding it steady a foot in front of her. "Interesting, Executor."

You need her? All the more reason for me to take her out. Her green eyes flashed with her anger, but she forced herself to maintain the illusion of calm as his emotions rolled towards her. The strength of his rage was impressive, but she was a rock in its stream, the emotion he projected going around her and not through her. The datapad in front of her did a little flip, and then was directed to a nearby table.

"If you turn me into carbon ash, you'll never know what it is I've been spending my time with these past few months." She had no intention of telling him anything about Onderon, but there were a few... side projects she'd been working on. Even so, Lilaena pulled at the Force, feeling energy pricking at her fingertips.

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon shook his head and cast his gray eyes over her form. He scanned for some indication of importance, for any delicate resemblance to grandeur. There was nothing.

“Your flame is flickering in the wind and threatens to extinguish completely. Be quick; do not hold your tongue. I am losing all faith in you, dear girl.” He clenched his hands into tight fists and allowed a calming breath to shore up his mental fortifications.

Killing her now would just satisfy him for a moment. He dialed down the urge and let his face plainly display his dissatisfaction with Lilaena.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She didn't have time for this. Lilaena knew that behind her was the balcony, and therefore freedom. She could leave, and never see this man again.

With Salem Ave she had someone who could teach her more of the Force - there was no need for her to lust after Khendon's power any longer. One day I will return and it will not be to talk, it will be to kill you, she vowed. However, instead of leaving, Lilaena held out her hand, palm up. The prickling feeling in her fingertips faded, slowly.

"I do not care whether you have faith in me or not. You speak in riddles that make no sense, and strike grand poses that mean next to nothing to me.

"I want you all dead. And not even my own death will stop me from seeing my mission through to the end." As she spoke, a glowing orb of energy formed above her palm. It was small: about half the size of a shockball. Quickly, before Khendon could see how it was done, it shimmered into darkness, a red light escaping between floating gobs of blackness. She removed her hand and the orb stayed where it was only for the scantest of time parts.

Lilaena threw herself backwards, backflipping towards the balcony door as the orb of Destruction rocketed towards Sevon's chest. Even if he stopped it or redirected it with the Force it would still explode with force greater than its size indicated. It would be like a grenade - the pin was pulled and there was no stopping it.

[Khendon Sevon]

“Parlor tricks,” he spat.

He had killed enough Dark Siders in his time to have faced such devious magic. It was foolish to cling to such pompous traditions and musings. His greatest of grandfathers had shunned the mystic arts for a more direct approach to killing.

The movements of Helladune had been designed to bond the body and Force into a creature of pure power. Each repetition was meant for facing a foe that had troubled the ancient Sith—including their own kind.

A breath of air flowed around Khendon’s still form and his muscles instantly relaxed into pliable elastics. He let go the hot air in his chest and took in the refreshing coldness of the chilled oxygen around him.

He called on the chaos within him and took a cat-of-nine-tails to the Force. His body wrapped itself in a silken sheet of power and moved with it in the gentle breeze that had grown to a minor torrent. Blood pounded in his head as he became more aware of everything’s existence.

Mirror copies seemed to stream from his wake as he propelled himself towards the glowing orb. His body twisted as he kicked off his feet and arched his back over the deadly sphere. He could feel every nanosecond tick away in his head. The Force was a powerful wind that filled his sails.

He tasted metal in his mouth as his saber touched his ready hand.

The Executor flew through the window with arms outstretched as the explosion ripped apart his chamber.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena stretched out backwards, flying over the balcony railing as the orb of energy exploded. A dark, sulfurous fire that burned hot would belch out into the whole room, but would not burn for long. She had not put that much energy into the ball of Destruction.

Air whistled around her as she tucked into a ball and then straightened out again so her feet were pointing downwards. A line of speeder traffic was coming up fast, and she intended to catch a ride.