Spectres of the Past

[Kaziki Halcyon]

"Lord Halcyon, we are about to arrive in the Serenno system." The young Antarian Ranger transmitted the message directly into the quarters of the Jedi Knight and left the internal channel open for his response while turning to her other duties. It took several moments before she realized that their charge had said nothing in return. She reached over and hit the transmission button again. "...sir?" She spun around as the bridge doors opened and the man she thought she was talking to strode through a full minute before anybody could have reached the door from his quarters even at a dead run.

She gaped a bit.

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Kaz noticed the look of surprise coming from the officer on the comm and consciously suppressed the urge to wink at her with a smile in a show of his public personality. He had heavier things on his mind than flirting with the help today. That he'd kept good time and been on his way to the bridge anyway was a secret she was welcome to continue to marvel at, however. That suited both of his personae just fine and all the same. In the mean time... the coruscating lights of hyperspace were replaced with the stretched out lines that collapsed in on themselves to become stars as the rounded form of the system's sole planet zipped into the center of the view screen. Seranno. Home world of Jedi Master Dooku.

The young Corellian was aware of the names and identities that the man had gone through subsequently but Kaz always preferred to think of him by the identity that he had used for nearly eight decades, the vast majority of that life spent protecting those who needed it the most. He'd lived as a Jedi and, in many ways, died as one as well seeing as he'd been deceived and struck down by Sith. A sort of tradition among the best of the Order. Kaz loved history, it was the antithesis of politics in its ability to bring the truth to light despite politics best efforts to obscure the same. Dooku had made many mistakes, Kaz wasn't so amazed by him to think he had been necessarily a good person even while a Jedi, but he'd also made many accurate observations along the way.

It had been Dooku's treatise on swordsmanship that had originally attracted Kaz to the style of Makashi though the historical Master had liberally relied on his advanced talent with Telekinesis to subsidize his incredible skill with the lightsaber. The Telekinesis was a point of frustration for the decidedly deficient Halcyon but he had accepted it as a challenge to be overcome by finding another route to that level of mastery. It was still a work in progress, though Kaz had quickly turned to Force enhancement of his physical abilities to counter his lack of Telekinesis in the area of swordsmanship, other areas requiring other tricks. Kaz wasn't the type to not understand a situation entirely, which had led to his searching everything else he could about the author of the treatise. Good or bad, the rest hadn't turned Kaz away. He'd found the parallels between himself and Dooku fascinating to say the least.

"Take us down. Be polite, Seranno isn't a rough port. These people are civil... most of the time." Nobility did have a disturbing tendency to get out of hand when left unchallenged for long enough... or challenged too often. It brought a smile to his lips as all roads led back to Corellia.

[Kaziki Halcyon]

It had taken Kaz the better part of a standard hour to convince his Antarian Rangers that they didn't need to accompany him. That whatever his intent, which he wasn't revealing, he wasn't going to get himself into trouble without them there to back him. Regardless, in the end he departed the Corroded Serpent alone and made his way into the city known as Carannia, Serenno's capital. As Kaz himself had pointed out, the planet was particularly civilized compared to most Outer Rim worlds and it reflected in the Force as a generally positive feel. The crime rates were low and usually restricted to the petty things like pick pocketing and the various forms of low to mid-level cons.

He strode past the hover cabs that awaited in a line outside the starport, vastly preferring to experience the city at his own biological pace. Through alleys which contained nothing more dangerous than the average sized rodent, around dealers of petty amusements, and on into an open air market of impressive size. It wasn't overwhelmingly large, nor was it intense to the senses like treasure row could be back on Corellia, but sizable enough to have what one might be looking for while still remaining small enough that one might actually find it without dealing with a half dozen brokers along the way.

Kaz wore his Jedi robes but like in most of the galaxy it actually just made him look like a poor drifter or monk so long as he kept it closed around him to hide his Lightsaber and utility belt. On a particularly rainy day, fashion allowing, there was a very good chance half the citizens on the planet would be wearing something very similar. It was a tactical consideration he'd used on his home world more than once as a young Padawan to accomplish a goal and then disappear into a sea of identically covered beings. On a more standard day like to day he could always fall in with more than a few beggars as well, if the need arose. Kaz doubted it would, however.

His hood up, to discourage random personal engagements, Kaz strolled through the market immersing himself in the feel of the people via the Force. Every world had it's own Force signature. A level of emotion and intent that a native of the world would consider normal. If a Jedi could acclimate his or herself to that baseline then it would be far easier to tell when something was truly amiss or merely the culture's par for the course. It helped Kaz avoid unfortunate misunderstandings considering how social he was for one of his Order. Mixed with some self-motivated research on a planet's history and one could accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time. It brought another smile to Kaz's face.

[Kaziki Halcyon]

It wasn't until the sun started to get close to the horizon, casting long shadows through the market place, that Kaz lowered his hood and began to make a more pleasant presence of himself. He began greeting people as they passed by, purchased a few small food items for a passable dinner, and a small green crystal pendant necklace from a jeweler on a whim. It was always good to have a bauble on ones person. Just in case. Kaz continued to stroll as he had for the last few hours, turning what he had observed earlier into working knowledge by interacting with those he had observed.

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An hour later Kaz found himself having to brush off disappointment. He couldn't help but feel a little abashed that he hadn't spotted the situation sooner. To be fair to himself, their intent had been scattered and unspecific at first, the group of beings hanging out near a money changer's (read: loan shark) tent stall. That sort of place always had hang-arounds, thugs, and the desperate orbiting them. So the young Jedi had paid it little attention for being completely ordinary to the background. Having already glossed over them it didn't gather his attention even when their focus began to coalesce. It was so casual, so blaise, that it hadn't really drawn his notice.

No, it hadn't been until the intended victim had noticed their attention that her sudden fear and dread called Kaz to the situation. He turned to see a young woman, obviously a local by her dress, clutch a shopping basket of local make to her chest as the beings began to close in and duck down the only route available to her. Namely, an alley that opened behind a line of market stalls. The feeling of victory Kaz sensed from the males that leaped to the chase informed him that the alley was a dead end only moments before a spike of despair from the girl did the same.

Kaz raised his hood and made his way toward the alley even as many others turned away and made distance in the hope of remaining uninvolved so they couldn't be witnesses. Kaz had been sorely out of position when it all began, something that wouldn't have happened if he'd caught the situation at the beginning, so it took him several seconds to make his appearance on the scene. The situation was far from surprising. A Duros was picking through the girl's basket of goods while a pair of Nikto watched a human male attempt to kiss the girl while she attempted to fend him off weakly.

He strode into the middle of the situation confidently, seizing control with his sheer force of presence. Control the battlefield, control the battle. Or so his mother had always said, a very Djem So concept. The two Nikto, otherwise without distraction, were the first to notice his arrival and turn toward him. His confident baring and obscured features heightening the sense of confusion that rolled off of both Nikto at the completely alien concept of somebody interfering with their amusement. Apparently these were the wild wolves of the market place and Kaz's smile was all dragon as he pressed on them in the Force, opening them up to the Mind Trick. "The boss wants you back at your posts."

The first groaned while the other one looked to him for a decision and then they were both off like someone had set the alley on fire. Their exodus, however, brought a far more intense awareness from the remaining two thugs, particularly the Duros. His mind was sharp and analytical if a bit immoral, Kaz could sense it through the Force like the edge of a knife. There was confusion there but it was being assuaged by a sense of derision aimed at the two Nikto. He was likely presuming they were cowards since he hadn't caught the mind trick statement. Arrogance would be that one's downfall.

With the Duros anchoring the two Kaz knew he wasn't going to be able to use the same trick to run them off as he had with the Nikto. So the Corellian transitioned his tactics to deal with the reality of having to handle two opponents around the edges of a hostage. Violence wasn't his first choice but an Illusion would require focus that he couldn't afford to give up and neither of them were worried about the possibility of violence. In fact, as they both drew vibroknives there was nothing but certainty in them with the threat of violence being offered. At that point it became about facts.

"If it's all the same to you two wouldn't it be nice if this ended with you dropping the basket and you unhanding the girl so we can all return to our days like this never happened?" They drew knives. The human's was an over sized, unnecessarily wicked looking number obviously designed to intimidate. From the look alone on the girl's face it was working. The Duros' blade was smaller, slim, and pretty much perfect for dirty work in an alley. As the human male transitioned the female to a human shield position it became obvious he wasn't about to rush in. That meant the Duros was the main combatant, the human male largely immobile, and the hostage scared but still perceptive.

"Alright then. Miss." Kaz reached out to her through the Force as her eyes met his, reassuring her by extending a sense of calm to the young woman. "Stand perfectly still." The Duros took that moment to charge him, blade leading the way. If he'd been the average do good Kaz would have found himself fighting a half beat behind the pace. Of course, average was no way to describe a Jedi Knight even on the slowest of days and certainly not a Makashi practitioner with his feet under him.

A low knife-edge block that struck precisely behind the Duros' wrist drove the weapon out to Kaz's right as he took a quick step to his left. Rolling his wrist over the alien's arm to create a arm lock as he drove his left fist into the Duros' kidney, then using the continued momentum from the being and the arm lock to lead the attacker in a half circle where he could meet the alley wall with his face. Smooth and continuous, the entire engagement took but a few heartbeats to complete. A quick stripping motion snatched the weapon from his now weakened grip and Kaz reversed his motion, dancing back through the circle in the opposite direction. He slung his arm and trusted the Force to guide his blind throw, releasing when it felt right. The thin blade flipped end for end, winding up buried to its cross guard in the back of the human male's eye socket.

The blade's impact elicited a strangled grunt from the man but otherwise... he merely collapsed, though the girl showed the effects of Kaz's calming Force influence by wisely pushing away the man's weapon hand as he went down. The girl leaped away and scrambled for the far wall of the alley breathing hard and panicked. Kaz stood his ground, knowing closing distance with her would only panic her more. "Miss, I think you should go before anybody thinks to come check on these two, I'd hate for this to become something unnecessary once I'm gone." The young Corellian folded his arms and turned to head back out of the alley but paused when she spoke.

"No! Not that way! They'll see you leave and you'll have them all over you before you can get back off planet. There's two of us now, we can get over this back wall and onto the next block before anyone knows what happened."

"There are plenty of people out there who saw me come back this way..."

"The lender won't have any easier a time finding witnesses than the authorities would have." The girl quickly moved to her basket and began gathering up its former contents, stuffing the food and other materials back in quickly. She made a good point, Kaz himself had noticed the conspicuous lack of interest in the situation even as he had decided to get involved himself.

"I noticed that... very well. You go over first, I can make the wall without assistance." She looked at him in momentary confusion but apparently decided it was his funeral if he wanted to risk getting stuck on the wrong side of the 12ft, smooth wall that separated the alley into two halves. Kaz strode over and created a stirrup with his hands into which she carefully stepped, hiking her skirts up enough to show a little ankle to prevent entanglement. On three he lifted and she took the step up, running her hands along the wall to keep her balance more easily. Kaz easily transitioned her to an outside grip so he could lift her clear over his head while politely and carefully inspecting a spot on the wall at just under his standing eye level.

It took but a moment and her weight disappeared from his burden and Kaz took a few steps back to watch her fleeting disappearance over the wall. A moment later he heard her land, drop her basket, curse to his amusement, and regather her materials. He gave it a three count to be sure she was clear, took another step back, and made a short run to the corner where the wall met the side of the alley. One, two, three steps back and forth, he corner climbed up the inside angle to grab the top of the wall and easily pull himself to the top with his Force enhancement technique. The young woman stood below blinking at him as Kaz stepped off the wall and easily dropped to the paved alley below.

The only evidence anything at all had happened were a pair of bodies left behind, one unconscious and the other very much deceased.

[Kaziki Halcyon]

Kaz was up and out the door of the tiny apartment long before the sun was touching the back side of the horizon. The young woman had led him back to her home, introduced him to her mother, fed him and given him a place to sleep for the night as the only thanks they could afford him. The neighborhood they resided in wasn't the safest and the fact that he was likely to discourage any visitors for the evening was probably all the repayment they would have cared for. Especially once they realized he had little interest any a more personal reward... Kaz just wasn't the kind of person to want such a thing from a partner that was anything but fully willing.

Leaving early served a double purpose. On one hand it got him headed toward his ultimate goal with plenty of time to spare, ensuring he would have time to explore or at least scout out the location before having to return to his ship. On the other, it allowed him to leave the area without anyone witnessing his departure. If his presence had provided their home with a measure of security from the ruffians in the area then said ruffians believing he was still about would be just as good for a time. Besides, he'd never been any good at breakfast talk. So he'd left.

Across the city the lone, cloaked figure strode. Picking what ever route appealed to him seemingly at random though he liked to think of it as the barely perceptible pull of the Force... and that city map he'd downloaded to his datapad from that information kiosk he'd encountered after about four blocks back toward the wealthier portions of the city. Between the all encompassing mystical energy field and the map Kaz found what he was looking for. A speeder rental lot close enough to the city center to have reliable machines but far enough away that they would take hard credits not to ask too much after identifying information for its customers.

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To his credit, Kaz managed to keep the speeder bike to posted speed limits while still within city limits. That changed, rather quickly in fact, as soon as he got beyond that semi-imaginary line as the young Jedi opened the throttle up and shot through the countryside toward the highlands. The structure he was looking for was programmed into the nav system on the speeder bike, the vehicle's altitude was set for below safe limits, and Kaziki Halcyon relied heavily on the Force to guide his hand at the incredible speeds the vehicle was capable of. And that was why they wouldn't let him have a starfighter...

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Seeing the manor from afar was a treat Kaz hadn't really expected until he'd been able to approach via air speeder or spacecraft. However, as he'd crossed over a forested outcropping he'd happened across a massive downed tree that had taken several of its neighbors with it. It'd created a break that provided him a high angle view that had demanded he stop and gaze down upon the structure he'd intended to visit. The Dooku family manor.



Kaz smiled in the still cool air of the morning, watching his breath curl before him. The place was immaculate despite reportedly having been uninhabited for decades after the social and physical fall of the family that had once inhabited the Villa. Obviously, the society that had crushed them wasn't about to let one of the edifices of their power fall into disrepair. The players changed but the game had to remain the same. It was time to head down and see what there was to see.

[Kaziki Halcyon]

The cliff upon which the Dooku Estate perched faced south, necessitating an approach from the North if one were restricted to low altitude vehicles or on foot. The young Jedi looped far to the east so that he could get up onto the bedrock shelf the cliff was made out of. Swinging out to the north, further and further, until he came across a road that seemed to meander in the proper direction. He turned the speeder bike out of the woods, brought it down to a more decent speed, and began working his way south. The speed reduction quickly payed dividends when he came around a particularly sharp curve to find that the rich hadn't payed as much attention to the road as they had the buildings.

With little enough effort Kaz was able to maneuver around the downed trees and accompanying debris until he finally arrived at the front gates of the grounds. That was were he parked the speeder bike, floating on standby. He raised his hood and stepped out into the middle of the open gate to look in at the still cared for grounds. Here and there he saw a couple of landscaping droids, both set up for doing multiple tasks from gardening to sweeping to changing the glow tubes. It was a distant, forgettable way to see to a manor but it was likely the cheapest and most effective method the other nobles were willing to put out for.

What his eyes saw wasn't what he was looking at, however. Rather, it was what the Force had to show him about his surroundings... Precious little, in the end. There was no resounding presence in the Force, neither benevolent nor foreboding, there was no fountain of Force energy welling up beneath the structure, no signs of a Sith laboratory or the tell tale markings of that philosophy's alchemy. Arrogance, as with many Sith, had assisted in Dooku's downfall. He hadn't thrown himself into the depths of the secrets the Sith had held near and dear over the millennium, he'd merely accepted his switch in allegiance as an opportunity to use techniques that had been denied to him by the rules of the Jedi Order. Arrogantly, he'd thought that more than sufficient.

No, this place had merely been his property. A place to lay his head when he wished to sleep, store a few nicknacks he'd acquired along the way, and from which to guide the government he'd been ordered to create in the form of the Separatist Council. As Kaz started to consider how greatly the galaxy would have been served if the Republic had simply let those worlds go their own way he noticed something else. He was being watched. Through the Force he could feel their hostile intent, at least two of them, focused on him in a dull sort of way. They wanted him gone... they just didn't seem certain of how to go about it.

A quick scan of his eyes told him the source of that animosity wasn't from the grounds between him and the main entrance of the estate. They had to be inside. Kaz took one, measured, step through the gates and felt a surge of both animosity and fear in the Force. Sentient beings he thought, as animals tended to react one way or the other instead of both. A look toward the two droids poking around in the rocky spaces on either side of the main avenue that connected the gates to the entrance showed that neither unit was even remotely concerned with his presence. They were service, not security.

His head turned back toward the front of the building and his tread-ed boots began to carry him toward the massive doors that would admit him into its interior... whether they liked it or not.

[Kaziki Halcyon]

The walk from the main gates to the door of the main building took a surprisingly long time. The Horn Estate was one of the largest private properties on Corellia due in large part to Rostek Horn buying up the neighborhood around his old home, knocking it down as the families moved away or passed on, and then building a larger home commiserate with his wealth. Even so, Kaz didn't think it took up quite as large a foot print as Dooku's former home and even if it did not nearly as much of it was paved. There were, in fact, still woods on the Horn Estate that made up a sizable portion of the property beyond Rostek's gardens.

This place was all stone work and meditation gardens... or rather the kind of place one would practice lightsaber combat over broken ground as Kaz thought more about it. Dooku had been obsessive about his ability with the weapon of Jedi and Sith, though that obsession hadn't been enough to see him beyond the glaring flaw in his technique. In the end he'd been pushed around, dominated, and defeated by a younger and faster opponent. It was a consideration even Kaz would have to take into account eventually. Still, from the writings he had read, the holocron lectures he'd endured, and the things he was seeing at that very moment it was becoming increasingly obvious that if not for the ravages of time Dooku might have been too much for even the vaunted Anakin Skywalker that fateful day. By all accounts the eventual Sith Lord had put precious little effort into perfecting his sword technique until after his ultimate transformation into Darth Vader.

With the ease of intent Kaz wiped away the thoughts he had been using to pass the time during his short trek across the large courtyard. Things were happening inside and they made Kaz certain he was about to be facing at least a pair of sentient beings as he felt them in the Force scrambling to execute some expectation. A plan definitely required sentience, executing it without the sense of malice that usually accomplished such a defense told him his opponents weren't in it to hurt him but rather to drive him away. Interesting. Something about it all, something in the Force, said it was important that he talk to the beings that were so anxious to see him gone.

[Kaziki Halcyon]

The doors were massive, large enough to admit even a pair of Mandallian Giants shoulder to shoulder. With but a touch the two, massive wooden structures swung open without a sound outside the obligatory clunk of them reaching full open. A sound designed to inspire awe fully planned for by the designer. The door was so well balanced, so artfully wrought, that Kaz very seriously considered finding the being who had created, or said being's descendents, and rewarding them again for something no doubt already paid for. They were that nice.

Beyond the doors there was a short entry hall, large enough to not hinder any creature the doors would have admitted but long enough to make invaders regret walking into the choke point. That tactical consideration is what made Kaz remain where he was for a long moment, carefully eying the sweeping staircase he could see beyond the short entry hall and on the opposite side of a bare, marble expanse. A terrible, terrible place to invade in force if the building had sufficient warm bodies to hold the blasters. Even a Jedi might be in a bad spot against enough blasters considering the limited space in which to move.

And yet, Kaz sensed nothing of an immediate threat. Blasters had huge areas of danger in the Force when somebody intended to use one but there was nothing so far. If there was a blaster then the holder didn't intend to use it, if there wasn't a blaster then it couldn't be used. Either way worked for Kaz. He stepped inside, the tread of his boots making a hard but largely quiet sound on the marble as he moved forward. The young Corellian Jedi's senses led the way and he moved steadily, confidently. That's when the warning came from the Force.

It started out as a slight tingle when he began to drift toward the wall on his right, growing to a dull throb as he drew closer to the end of the entry hall. A small smile came to Kaz's face, the easy smirk of personal amusement he often felt when facing somebody who had no idea what they were up against, somebody who came to a lightsaber battle with a vibroknife. Who ever it was laying in wait for him at the end of the entry hall, on the right side, with a personal range weapon that didn't cover the entirety of the space Kaz had available to himself was terrified. Cute. His plan leaped from the ether of his mind instantly.

Kaz continued to stride toward the end of the entry hall, making no secret of his approach, and even began to head off to his right. Straight toward the danger. Just a split second before the Force screamed at him he stomped a foot and gave a sudden, "boo!" The whistle of air in a hollow object briefly preceded the clank of the metal pipe striking the marble just a few inches in front of him. There was a pitched grunt of effort in there somewhere and another of surprise when Kaz stepped on the end of the pipe to keep it from being reset for another attack. "Now, that's no way to greet a visitor."

What he came face to face with surprised even Kaz. It was a boy. A human child, apparently, of no more than 14 years. Something inside the boy's head clicked, Kaz could see it in his eyes, and he shouted, "Regina! Run!" The boy was standing on a box to give himself a better range of motion with his chosen weapon and an even younger girl sprang from behind an overturned couch in the space behind him to bolt for a half open doorway in the far wall. Kaz reached out with the Force and brought them both to a complete stop with a powerful Force suggestion. "Stop."

It was said in a conversational volume but the Force made it as strong as drill sergeant's battlefield command. The girl came to an immediate stop, her shocked expression showing that she was obeying, not certain why, and not sure what to think of it. The boy gritted his teeth but had nothing for it. Kaz nodded simply to himself. "Better. I am no threat to either of you. My curiosity about this place was merely outstripped by my desire not to get brained by a child with a length of sewer pipe." The Jedi looked the two juveniles over quickly and he knew the answer to his question before ever he asked it. "Where are your parents?"

"They're not here," the boy replied defiantly. The girl looked sad and Kaz smoothly responded with, "Not for a long time now, I imagine." The silence that followed was pointed. He knew the truth, they knew he knew the truth, and nobody wanted to speak about it directly. All for the best then if he changed the subject entirely. Kaz took his foot off of the pipe and walked around the boy's perch. "Anybody hungry? I'm positively famished myself." He went into one of his belt pouches as he moved toward the overturned couch he'd seen the girl appear from behind. Considering the relatively pristine condition the antechamber was in Kaz presumed they'd overturned it simply for the perception of cover such a thing provided them.

Tacticians they weren't, but children shouldn't grow up having to know that sort of thing anyway. It gave Kaz hope that they had led a relatively undisturbed life until this point. From the belt pouch came a handful of protein bars. They were, technically speaking, field rations but since Kaz was a total brat of sorts he tended to indulge the credits to buy the best tasting ones to be found. They were similar to candy bars in that regard, though nutritionally vastly more sound. He gave a grunt of effort as he righted the couch, flopped down at one end, and tossed two of the three bars on the center cushion before beginning to unwrap his.

The girl was halfway to the couch from where she'd halted before her brother reprimanded her sharply enough to stop her. "Regina stop!" "But Brun..." she whined back. She was hungry, very much so. "Come now Regina, your brother is merely looking out for your safety. Do as he says and I'm sure I can convince him its safe in a moment." He smiled a reassuring smile at the boy as he took the first bite of his own bar. Kaz chewed thoughtfully and swallowed politely before continuing. "Which brings me to the big question. What, exactly, are you doing in the Dooku estate?"

The boy looked indignant, meaning that he didn't have a really good answer in his own estimation. "We live here." "That you do, but why here? Why not in town where the resources are more plentiful even if the competition is stiffer?" Children would either fair very poorly in that scenario or very well, depending on personal cleverness. "He means this is our home." The boy hissed at his sister to be quiet but she just gave him a recalcitrant look in return. Kaz smiled as the girl reminded him of one of his mother's nieces.

"Your home you say..." Could they be descendents of Count Dooku himself? It was possible, though it wouldn't be direct. Dooku had never had children of his own that anybody had ever discovered, he'd been a Jedi until long after such a thing was likely. Of course, he'd spent all of his time around Sith after his Jedi days and who would want to compromise themselves around any of that lot? "Yes. Our home." Kaz watched the boy closely for a long moment, idly stroking his own chin with a free hand. Interesting indeed....