Play Testers Wanted

[0] Rebuilt and Reacquainted

I woke in the White Room. Had the game crashed? The genderless interface appeared, but it was Kat Shaw's voice speaking through it that startled me.

"Hey, listen... shit has kind of hit the fan." She began but did not sound upset, only strangely stern. "Some of the regular Star Wars players caught wind about you and a few other play testers that found the portal. You know the one between Star Wars and Marvel."

"And?" I asked and heard Kat clear her throat.

"Well, you need to separate your Star Wars side from your Marvel one. Take time and use the points and XP you have earned to fashion two individual characters. Sorry."

"Don't be. The other players have every right to be upset, and I will start with the Marvel one. That is my core character anyway. Let us see," It was easier fleshing out Ghostfire than Katria. Ghost was well defined in my head, while Katria was more an alternative Ghost persona than a separate being. I was overjoyed when I learned that I could keep my shapeshifting in both universes. It was the one bonus Kat could provide as one of the top players in either game. I lost my vampire abilities on the Marvel side. I had to keep them in Star Wars as they were integral to the Darth Nocturnal storyline. It would be nice not to have that hanging over my head all the time. I had the Darksaber for the Star Wars side and Death Kiss and the Svartalfar dagger for Marvel. "You changed the damn interface again. Ugh." I laughed.

"There are new synergetic skills, so keep that in mind. So that you know, those last skills you picked up are unique to you. No one else solved the puzzles fast enough to gain them. If you share them be choosey." Kat advised, and I heard the trepidation in her voice.

"Listen, I can give them up if you feel better. I can have just as much fun without those skills. However, I do like Kun's unique fighting style. The wind sword technique is a bit O.P." I admitted, and she let out a sigh of relief. "Tell you what, you give me a discount on blueprints and cost for supplies, and we can call it even. Ooh, by the way, I have an idea for a new speeder."

"Agreed. What is your idea?" Kat asked, and the worry crept back into her voice or was it simply nervousness.

"A stealth speeder armed with Mandolorian weaponry. I reverse engineered one of those blacklight blaster rifles. I want to build a blacklight cannon for underneath and two blasters on top." I said and heard her sigh. "You guys can sell them as you see fit. Think of spies and assassins buying them up. Just give Katria credit."

"Fine. Just be careful." She said, and this time I sensed genuine fear. "You hold the top views on both your channels. Yes, we created two official channels for you. On average, you are getting ten million plus views on either of them. If I were you find stories you can film. Your account is getting some serious coin from advertisers and subscribers."

"I will keep it in mind," I said as I spied a new icon on the skill web. Ooh, a three-way synergetic bonus. Traci highlighted my best configuration, and I liked the way it felt. It nicely balanced Force powers, skills, and fighting forms with engineering and forging. I had lost a few rogue skills, but I did not have to rely upon those so much. I finalized both character sheets, and they rewarded me with a new skin for my Je'Daii Master robes. The devs and monitors also removed characters' ability to craft particular robes, armor, or weapon designs. They could only earn them through storylines or not at all. Namely, players were creating Je'Daii items outside the campaign. The devs did not approve, and this was their way of putting a stop to it. They could also not name things using labels secured for special or reward items. After three cursory looks, I found both character sheets to be the best build, given the resources at my disposal.

"All done!"

The White Room faded, and I was standing over the prone figures of Whisper, Aoki, and Kyanna. HK-47 trundled in and announced that we were about to drop out of hyperspace. I felt the background vibration shift through my naked feet.

"Wakey-wakey, we are here, wherever the hell that is," I said as the others stirred.

"Where are we?" Kyanna asked as she shifted to a sitting position. Whisper rose and leaned against the trunk of the Force tree. It had never given us a name, so we settled on the simple, inelegant title, Force Tree. Aoki rolled from her back to her belly and got to her hands and knees. I smiled, and she laughed as she thrust her ass up and pushed her breasts to the decking.

"Expert level of doggy style," Aoki declared.

"I was not aware there were levels," I admitted.

"Well then, behold," Aoki purred. "Basic is so."

She rose to a new position with her back parallel to the deck, arms, and legs at a perfect ninety-degree angle. The next stage of doggy was when she walked her hands forward until her arms were at a forty-five-degree angle. The third form allowed her to bend her arms at the elbow and rest her forearms against the decking. This position lowered her head and formed a fifteen-degree angle from head to ass which was now noticeably higher. With a wiggle of her ass, she returned to her original pose with her ass up high, tits pressed against the floor, and a smile on everyone's lips.

"The three of you might just have to show me again," I suggested. "I am a little confused on that one."

"You never answered my question," Kyanna stated.

She placed hands on her hips and grinned. Aoki and Whisper looked to me for answers.

"No clue," I replied. "H.K.?"

"Query. Do I look like a navicomputer to you?" The droid replied.

"Never fucking mind," I snapped, realizing I had not fed recently. I moved to the pilot's compartment and looked at the readout. "Lehon. We are deep in the Uncharted Regions."

"Lehon?" Aoki said as she got to her feet. "Never heard of it."

"Incoming transmission," Whisper announced as she hopped into the pilot's seat. She worked the controls and placed us in a stable orbit. "That is strange. The signal is not coming from the planet below." Whisper's fingers worked the keyboard. "I am triangulating, and it appears that the transmission is originating from the star. There must be something artificial orbiting it. There is too much interference from solar radiation to get a clear look." She paused as her fingers danced over the controls. "Holy shit, we are orbiting Rakata Prime!"

"Display the transmission." I directed as H.K. walked off towards the cafeteria. The holographic emitter activated. The hologram displayed a random string of numbers.

"They are transmitting using base three. Translation might take some time to decipher." Whisper informed us. The agitation grew as I fought the hunger and tried to keep my thoughts clear. It was Aoki that noticed and giggled. She took my hand and drugged me towards the captain's quarters.

"Come on, Grumpy, you have not had breakfast yet." She said, and Kyanna followed. "We have plenty of time for Whisper to decipher the message. Base three that is like zero, one, and two, right."

"Yeah, maybe whoever is sending it only has three digits," Kyanna suggested.

"Gods, I can't think straight," I grumbled as the door slid shut behind us. We sat at the foot of the bed while I fed. The anger fled, and what followed could only be described as a long leisurely getting to know you again. H.K. entered without announcing himself and, clutched in his elegantly designed hands, was a tray laden with fruits, cheeses, and coffee.

"Statement. Meat bag Master and his fornication partners should keep up their strength." He said, and we all laughed.

"What do you make of the alien transmission?" I asked H.K., not expecting anything but a snarky comment.

"Statement. I suspect there is a biological component present. Addendum, I have looked at the raw signal, and it is unique. Clarification. While I have pretended to be a protocol droid in the past, it was necessary to acquire a language preset. Emotional response. Fascinating."

"What is so unique?" Kyanna asked, and instead of getting pissy, H.K. responded civilly. Well, as civilly as could be expected.

"Response. Being a simple meat bag and not seeing it, you would not know the full extent of the signal's complexity. It ranges all over the E.M. spectrum and yet is cohesive, concise, and completely incomprehensible. Intended sarcasm. Good luck translating it."

"I got it!" Whisper hollered from the bridge.

"Emotional response. Bitch." H.K. cursed and stalked off.

I took a quick shower, and all of us gathered behind the Lethan Twi'lek. She showed us the information packet that preceded the bulk of the transmission. The design of the message screamed comprehension. The broadcast became legible after using the data packet, but still, it proved a mathematical enigma. The equation was inscrutable and proved a bitch to solve. One thing was clear, though. We were not to approach the thing orbiting the sun before we solved this puzzle.

"Let us land, stretch our legs, and work on this thing planetside. You two need to touch the Dark Side and find your balance." I suggested.

"Whisper, any sites look good to set down on?" Aoki asked, stroking her fellow Twi'leks lekku or head tails.

"Stop that. I can't think straight when you do that," Whisper purred. "Scanning. There are dozens of power sources scattered across the planet's surface, but only one shows any significant output. It looks like a temple complex, typical Rakata architecture big, tall, and intact after nearly twenty thousand standard years."

"Works for me," I said, and she plotted a course, and down we went. Lehon, or Rakata Prime, is made up entirely of thousands of archipelagos. Tens of thousands of islands of varying sizes and shapes dotted the watery surface. The largest was a bit greater than Japan's Honshu island. The island also happened to be the source of the power signature. We flew over once before landing, and that is when we saw them.

"Rancor! There are packs of wild Rancor all over the place," Kyanna exclaimed. "We can't land here. They will tear the ship apart!"

"Land near the split spire," I ordered as Whisper swung the Ivory Wraith around and landed. "First lesson of the day, how to enthrall an animal intelligence. Who wants to be a beastmaster?"

"What makes you think that you can control one of those?" Kyanna argued, which surprised me. Then I realized that the Dark Side nexus was affecting her. Fear leads to the Dark Side. I opened my inventory and called up an old friend that I had woefully neglected.

"I am sorry old girl," I said, watching to see how my two students dealt with the camouflaged newcomer.

"I sense something." Aoki declared. "No menace, just curiosity." She smiled, knelt, and was summarily knocked down and licked furiously. "Cut it out." She giggled. The exomorph revealed itself, and Kyanna's hand drifted to her lightsaber. The exomorph froze and locked eyes with the green-skinned Mirialan.

"The Dark Side has you in its grip," I said, observing. "Will you be mastered, or will you master it?" Kyanna closed her eyes, and I felt her tap into her wellspring of strength. She wrestled with, and in the end, she won out. The exomorph returned to playing with Aoki. "Excellent, now tap into it and the Light Side and let them move through you. If it helps, imagine you are in a spherical Yin Yang. It is constantly in motion, and one leads into the other, an eternal circuit if you like. Good, I can feel the balance within you."

"I have never felt so complete," Kyanna exclaimed. "It is so difficult to maintain."

"You are trying too hard. Just let it be. Ignore it and let your power find its natural flow." I instructed her. "Now you..." I said and looked at Aoki in shock. "Well, I will be damned."

"My grandmother raised me," Aoki began. "I was taught from a young age that too much of anything is a bad thing. I have always lived my life that way. I hid my connection to the Dark Side early on. I was afraid you would not like me." The exomorph pounced her again and licked her face. "I am proud of you both. Let us try and wrangle some Rancor, and then we will visit the temple."

"You called it the Split Spire," Kyanna stated and cocked her head to the side. "Did you learn that from a Holocron?"

"I did indeed. Speaking of Holocrons HK... can you gather my guest so he can see his homeworld again."

"Statement. Yes, Master." The assassin droid said, leaving off for the first time the title of meat bag. We were all changing, and I wondered if the transmission was influencing the droid.

"HOME." My Rakatan master boomed. "I am home." He shouted as H.K. carried him onto the bridge.

"We are near the Split Spire. I am leaving you here, old friend." I declared, and the Holocron fell silent. "The circle is now complete, and it is time for you to join the others."

"You have a Rakatan Holocron," Kyanna exclaimed in shock. "No wonder you are so strong in the Dark Side."

The ramp lowered, and a rogue male Rancor greeted us with an ear-splitting roar of challenge. I placed my hand on Kyanna's shoulder, and she reached out and touched the primitive mind of the beast. H.K. aimed at the towering semi-sentient monster and waited for me to give the order. I felt the struggle between Rancor and Kyanna. She began with an all-out assault and failed. She quickly switched tactics and went for seduction. The clever little minx triggered the pleasure centers of the thing's brain.

"Aye-Yah," Aoki exclaimed when the thing sported an erection of epic proportions. "Keep it away from the ship's engines."

"Statement. You are sick." H.K. remarked as his optics turned green.

"Go on, big fella, find yourself a nice willing female... of your species," Kyana whispered as she released it, and the Rancor bellowed a second time and went in search of a mate.

"Not bad for your first time." I chuckled. "Some girl is going to be lucky... dear god, tone it down, you two." I laughed and left the ship's safety with Holocron in hand. We strolled up the stone path to the temple. Whisper elected to stay behind and handle the ship's defenses. The Split Spire stood over a hundred feet in height and took its name from the stone and alloy adornment that made up half its height. The design reminded me of the chess piece called the bishop. The smooth upswept teardrop shape with the gouge cut out made the wind moan and whistle between the flat interior sides. The haunting sound greeted us as ten-foot-tall blaster doors opened, and we entered the ancient complex. "They know you are here," I said to the Rakata gatekeeper.

"Of course they do. I am a ranked master," It said ever so humbly.

"No dust, no damage, it looks brand new," Aoki commented as we followed the ramp down to the main floor. There were hundreds of banks of computers, displays, and towering mysterious mechanisms. The center display awoke, and a holographic image of a Rakatan appeared.

"Welcome back, Master," it said in its native language.

"Thank you, the being holding me is my former apprentice and known as Darth Valakhor." The Holocron introduced me to the keeper of this place. It was one gatekeeper greeting another.

"I bring my Master home," I replied in the Rakata tongue.

"We will place him with the other honored masters. They will be pleased to have a new mind to occupy them." The image replied. "Your appearance has been anticipated." A set of double doors slid silently open, and a heavily armored droid strode in and made his way towards us.

"We received a transmission from something orbiting your sun," I said as what must have been a Rakatan war droid appeared and took the Holocron from me. Like so many other races past and present, the droid's design mirrored its creators' basic anatomy. The gleaming chassis and haunting red optics gave it a menacing appearance.

"You speak of the Star Forge." The digital intelligence explained. Those two words brought a flood of memories and sensory input. I fell to my knees, remembering my destiny. One of my other selves had been here, and now I was finishing the temporal loop. The Star Forge would build the Heart of Korriban, my flagship. Battle droids of my devising would operate it, and we would strive to crush both the Jedi and the Sith beneath my heel. The sister ship would vanish in the battle, and Xim the Despot would claim it for her own. I would discover the Heart of Korriban and my corpse in orbit around the Viridian Pulsar. I felt sick. Time and space were colliding, and I was at the epicenter.

"Master?" Kyanna stood behind me, cautiously observing but not interfering.

"Boy, are you in for a trip," I managed before a Rakatan protocol droid appeared to guide us to a place of rest. This new droid had a noticeable female softness to its features, limbs, and delicate digits. Her markings bore the droid's name, PL-42, and she moved smoother than the war droid. I paid attention to her hip servos and how they affected her movement.

"Are you checking out that droid's ass?" Kyanna laughed.

"Yes and no," I said and fought the urge to giggle. "I was comparing the difference between the combat and protocol droid. The war droid has a staggered if stocky movement. PL-42 is more fluid and biological. I think she might inspire as assassin droid or bodyguard model."

"Are you alright?" Aoki asked as we left the control center and down one of many tunnels to the observatory. "When it mentioned Star Forge, well, you fell to pieces."

"I am fine now," I said, looking around at the boundless domed chamber. Here, via holographic projectors, was displayed the entirety of the Infinite Empire. Every world where the Rakata touched and enslaved the native populations was ours to look at and interact with if we chose. "Kashyyyk, Corellia, Ilum, Ossus, and dozens of others. Where there was sentient life, the Empire reached out and claimed them. Even the Rancors were brought here as an amusement. The Star Forge and the endless supply of ships, droids, and war supplies made it possible. It took energy directly from the star and converted it into raw matter of any shape or configuration the forge required. It was a miracle of technology and the Dark Side of the Force. I reached up, and one of the spheres dropped down, and I held the Wookie homeworld in my hand.

"I have never been there yet," I said as the ladies munched on the exotic food provide by the droid. "How are you getting along with that transmission?" I asked, tapping my earbud and speaking to Whisper.

"I found a second data bundle. My gut tells me there should be a third." She replied calmly. "Oh hey, the weather is turning shitty. Does this planet have monsoons?"

"No clue," I replied when a new model of droid hovered in. It reminded me of a more organic-looking probe droid. It was a blend of octopus, dragon, and jellyfish. The metallic casing was translucent, and its insides were visible and glowed in seemingly random patterns. Its tentacles fluttered below it and appeared to be part of its propulsion system. The underside of it, where the beak would be, gave off an ethereal blue radiance.

"Master, would you like me to direct you to sleeping quarters, or would you prefer to retreat to your vessel?" The droid asked, and as it spoke, the random pulses of light from its interior became a pattern. "The storm time has come, and it will last some weeks."

"Time to go," I said, not wanting to overstay our welcome. This new droid gave me a bad feeling and did not appear to be made by the Rakata. I could not tell you why but my instinct screamed retreat and regroup. We hauled ass back to the Ivory Wraith. The first drops of rain were falling as the ramp dropped. By the time we reached the bridge, a steady downpour was falling. An hour later, the full might of the, oh why not call it what it was, a fucking monsoon struck. The power of the tropical storm manifested, and my ship shook like a woman in the throes of passion. I opened the iris on the roof and lay on the decking, watching the storm as my students practiced the lessons I laid out for each of them. The fury of the storm held my fascination and gave me respite from the inevitable. Time was circling like the ouroboros, and as the lightning was getting incredibly intense, Whisper's voice pulled me back to the present.