Chapter I - Retribution
 

The Versai Continuum Chronicles - Retribution

INTRODUCTION
 

214 years ago…

We open upon the dismal surroundings of a monochromatic hallway, bathed in shades of gray, black, white and off set slivers of bronze. The interior walls hum with electricity, as the smell of smoke and fumes fill the air in a desolate feeling of eeriness. Coming around a bend in the hallway to the left, the dismal surroundings are replaced by a wave of lights, blinking on and off as each of them do their functions, the pathway we tread upon narrowing as we peer into the next corridor, past the incessant sounds of the electronic equipment, to a large eight panel view screen. In each monitor there lies an image of a battle waging, some in the air, as climatic space battles between what appear to be droid control ships and various Imperial and Republic vessels, engaged in daring feats of courage. While on other screens, images of droideka’s attacking, what appear to be Jedi Knights, as the vibrant waves of green, red, and blue whirl, sparks flying every which way. However, on the lowest, right hand corner, there is no action…the scene from within seems to cycle second by second, down the dark brown hallways, of from the looks of the circular dome shaped buildings, are the streets of Mos Eisley, each movement, beginning to flicker with more imagery. until it suddenly stops. On the second screen above the last monitor, we see inside of a Cantina, most recognizable from the massive oval shaped serving area, the Mos Eisley Cantina…

As the scene moves on, the vantage point seems to be from a group of people, or something unseen seeming to zero in and search through the crowds for a specific individual…the individual, is known as one of the biggest threats to this faction, a man so versatile, and clever, he has evaded capture again and again…this man, never have been taken down in a fight, leaving a trail of scrap metal wherever he may go…but this time, the Trade Federation, believes that they will capture the man…as the scene on the last monitor in the lower right hand corner, scrolls once more…

With a jerk up to the right, then the left, as the scene shifts, then seeming to raise, there in the shadows of the room is a figure, barely visible from the darkness, his deep brown eyes seeming to be the only hint of his presence, like a cat…The monitor’s pace seems to intensify, like a roller-coaster ride, swerving from left to right, as to evade something, then the screen lights up in a vibrant, almost blinding flash of orange, the figure once in the darkness, now is lit partially by laser fire, emerging from some source…as the shadowy silhouette moves, a slight trace of black, and crimson flashes like streaks, as he moves, but the last image, before the figure stops once more, the monitor displays, is a flash of purple…then the screen becomes static…The monitor above it displays the figure from behind, the man apparently is surrounded in a long black coat, yet odd as it appears to be sleeveless, the hint of purple shimmering from the angle of the scene, shows that he bares a purple bladed lightsaber, ignited…then with catlike reflexes, the figure is gone, the monitor, seeming to try and catch up, jerks left and right, then left and right again, clearly visible in the picture are 3 droideka units, opening fire on the figure, the man is clearly hit in the chest, as his body slams back into a wall hard. The monitor then slowly, rises, as the image of the silhouette is revealed, unmistakable, by the emblems etched within his boots, and belt, a “V”, clearly the man they have been searching for, was even as the words “target acquired” flashed upon the monitor once more…

”Valaryc Versai”…

Just as the screen flashed the message, did the picture suddenly erupt in static once more, the person sitting in front of the consul, watching the spectacle drops their beverage to the floor with a clatter, as each and every screen turns to static, one after the other…all but one. As the last screen still stays clearly displayed, parts from a droideka fly across the background, while the sound of footsteps, approach…each thud increasing, then at the top edge, again the Versai Crest can be clearly visible, as Val Versai’s coat billows around them, flaring out with each step…till the camera, yes it was cameras that have been “monitoring Val’s location…the camera is lifted up, as Val Versai’s face fills the screen with his seemingly trademark grin, the smirk across his lips, that of pure joy, as his brown eyes glisten into the camera face, the figure whom had dropped their beverage, his eyes were locked on the screen as well…as if looking dead into Val’s own eyes…each playing a unseen staring contest, as Val glances deep into the monitor…

Valaryc Versai speaks to the invisible assailant it would seem, as if there were face to face, brushing his hair from his eyes replying to this unseen person...

“Clean-up on aisle 4, I’m sorry the fugitive you have tried to apprehend has sent you back to square one, please deposit your trash into the recycle receptacles and try again…”

The figure behind the console screams in anger at this very insulting reply to his efforts, forced to listen to Val have his fun mocking him, while he can do nothing to capture him. Val’s eyes narrow as he speaks with a more serious tone, staring dead into the camera from his end…

“If you send more droids, I will send you more PARTS, You’ll never catch me you stupid sonuvabitch! I’m coming for you soon enough, enjoy life while you have it…you broke rule #1…you pissed me off.”

With a sudden strike, from Val’s fist, the monitor suffers the same fate as the rest, as all the screens show nothing but static, the figure behind spins around, revealed to be a Neomidian, growling in pure anger at another failed attempt to capture the fugitive known as Val Versai, but he has a game plan, he has backup already locked on to Val’s location, even though he cannot visually monitor the progress…yes, the figure had one more card to play against his war on Val, and his name was Ruyl Kovo, head of security within the Trade Federation ranks, a ruthless businessman, with a obsession for capturing Val, having failed many times over, the scent in the air, so to speak seemed that today would be different….Ruyl knew that maybe, just maybe after months of trying…he would succeed.

Now the scene flips to the familiar outskirts of the Mos Eisley Cantina, right were Val Versai is standing…he apparently has decimated all the Trade Fed droids sent to destroy him, as he turns walking to a booth in the back, going back to sipping his drink of choice, Endor Ale. His hand is steady over Gen Zeridian’s lightsaber affixed to his belt, while he drinks his ale, letting his eyes roam from the bartender, to the smugglers playing Sabacc in the back room. His gaze however shifts, then stops on a girl seated across the room from him, looking up and down her shimmering black outfit, the tiny pearls of black glisten in the dim lights of the room. The girl, weaving her hand through her long brown locks, let’s her brown eyes roam from one person to another, catching Val’s gaze, as Val himself swiftly changes it. This girl clothed in rather revealing attire has a history of her own, shrouded in mystery as the dark cloth that engulfs her form…her brown cowlicks, gently moving in the breeze of the room, reveal her eyes searching perhaps for something unknown, again landing back on Val’s own attire, consisting of his black armor vest, long black sleeveless trench coat, and black pants…Val’s hands not seen on the table, show they must be on his lap, to the girl known as Corerilla, she knew this technique all to well in her weapons training under Imperial rule…Val was watching for something.

A faint tumbling noise, like the sound of a marble rolling across the room began to grow in intensity, Val’s eyes clearly shifting to see what the commotions is, suddenly within Corrie’s ears, she can hear a smooth, strong, yet soft voice whisper to her through the Force…the words urgent, yet calm

“Get down...”

Corrie, glancing to Val, immediately drops to the floor, no sooner then do two droideka’s slam through the halls, racing down the steps, as each shifts to battle mode, blaster blazing, two beams rip across where Corrie’s head would have been, decimating the wall behind her in a shower of debris. Val’s location is also pelted with gunfire, but Val himself is not there, no with catlike agility, Val has already taken to the air, in a curled ball, doing a 360 flip from the tabletop, landing with expert accuracy behind the droids…as Corrie blinks, she can see Val draw a pistol, seemingly harmless, as only a small flare explodes from the barrel, she learns that big things come in small packages, as 200 fletchette darts, dagger like stilettos spray like hellfire at a approaching squad of battle droids, instantly shredded upon contact with the deadly darts of metal, shearing them in a shower of sparks.

The droideka’s however have grown wise to Val’s location, taking complex strategic measures, they align themselves to the left and right, while Val does not see them, each opening fire once more, as Val spins around a hair too late, taking a full fledged impact from the left droid’s left twin blasters, Val instantly dropping to his knees, rolling behind a pillar, as the ground he touches is raked with more blaster fire…Val was clearly hit…

Quickly Val gripped his side, as the damage of twisted metal in his chest area, above his adomen had shown that the blaster bolts had found there mark on the seemingly untouchable figure...however using control pain, and the Force Val numbed the pain, only his slight twitches to his eyes revealed it from him, his mind focused on one thing...

escape....

Corrie wanted to do something, but Val’s voice kept telling her to stay down and out of the way…she didn’t know why he cared for her life, but for some odd reason unknown to her, he did. Val quickly viewed his options, while the pillar her stayed behind was being reduced to specks of dust, swiftly, Val rolled behind the main bar-top, igniting his sabers once more, in his left hand a menacing saber handle once belonging to his first love and Master, Gen Zeridian roars to life with a purple blade emerging, the other hand holding a shimmering blue saber, from the unique design, un-mistakably Obi Wan Kenobie’s second lightsaber, though to have been lost on the Death Star.

With the flick of his wrist, Val seems to concentrate on the blade of Gen’s saber, as he releases it from his grasp, the blade spinning so fast at a perfect horizontal angle, it appears to be a solid discus of purple light, Val’s eyes shifting in concentration, pictures the droid’s blasters, using the Force he lifts them up enough to send the blaster fire into the air, that Gen’s blade contacts, and actually hovers within the safety shield around the droid, a second later, as Corrie looks on she can see the pulsing energy field expand, then fill with vibrant flashes of blue, orange, yellow and white…clearly an explosive reaction, seconds later, Gen’s saber erupts from the display, leaving behind a droideka in flames, with no arms…Val’s saber had cut from the under the two blasters, straight through them causing a chain reaction, entering the field with spilt second timing to trick the energy shield modules, allowing his saber to penetrate them.

As quickly as Val had decimated the droideka, so then did he catch Gen’s saber, calling it back to him…lowing it quickly to clip it to his belt, after disengaging it, Obi Wan’s saber was still active, Val quickly running down the bar-table like a runway, flips once more, landing right in front of the second droideka…as the guns spread apart, fire beyond him, Val’s reflexes allowing him to match the droids movements, allow his saber to come up and send the droid’s blaster fire, right to its shield generators, instantly shattering them, like a ninja, Val then with the shields gone, brings his saber up to cleave right through both arms once more from the bottom, allowing him time to roll out of the way once more…as the droid explodes into nothing more then a fancy paperweight.

Corerilla’s eyes track Val’s movement’s once more, as he dashes out the door, knowing if he does not keep moving they will find him again, with only one glance back, he smiles to the girl…knowing her name as Corerilla Dublon, through the Force messages he sent her, he sends her only one more mental thought as he dashes to his MARC known as The Assailant.
 

“Take care babe, we’ll see each other again sometime”

Corrie’s curiosity was stirring with unanswered questions, who was this Valaryc Versai that she had crossed paths with? What did he know that has made him hunted like a animal? She could not know these answers till much later, although the exact ways of this are lost with the ravages of time we now shift to the not so distant future…a dismal time.

You cannot run forever……

Versai Continuum Chronicles – Retribution

As we open up on another scene, it is void of any monochromatic settings, but rather luxurious interiors, elegant even, from the tapestries along the hallway walls, to the spiral staircase moving up to the left and right Wings, of the location, so elegant, yet to protective to be known as the Versai Mansion. This location has been shrouded in mystery for many many years, as Val himself has made sure none would discover his “base of operations” below the grand display of his Mansion, built to tell all who enter it

“We will not die silently in the night, we will not be exterminated, we will FIGHT and we will survive, so that the events of the past NEVER occur again.”

This motto etched within the main tapestry hanging along the center of the staircase hall adorned with the Versai Crest displayed proudly there, along the bottom are the words of the Versai Creed, created and followed by Val himself and all he calls “family”…reading...

“Truth, Honor, Respect, and Loyalty…These are what it means to be a Versai.”

No truer words have ever been spoken by someone as noble as Val himself, to some the most annoying individual on the face of the galaxy, to others a white knight whom comes to their age, but one thing they all know is that he is first and foremost a preserver of Honor, of the ways of Chivalry long lost, and above all else a family man, who believes that the events of the Versai Massacre, that wiped out all but 3 of his blood relatives, shall NEVER occur again…

Yet within this peaceful surrounding, a great battle awaits…unknown by fate…for if one was aware of such things, the future would be different…but in the present, change was coming for Val Versai, in the form of a Trade Federation battalion, able to locate the Versai Mansion, like the Lost City of Gold for them, through various sources…they knew where to find Val Versai and they wanted him exterminated, for the things he saw, the center he broke into…no one in the galaxy would be able to live upon viewing it, a plan so vile, so secretive…it would shape the future…and so it did.

As Val Versai slept within his stasis pod deep under the Mansion, he was never aware of what fate would bestow upon him…he could not hear the thundering sound of approaching AAT’s, MTTs, and the groups of Battle Droids closing in on his location…nor the sensors trying to warn of the danger, as anti-invasion emplacements, began to wage war with the ever growing invasion of Trade Federation forces upon the Versai Mansion grounds. The forests, once sacred to the Ithorian race, were now aflame, as blaster fire showered the delicate strands of life growing within them, the Ithorian races had been disposed of in a measly 7 minute fight, Home One…crashed to the Ithorian planet floor…and yet in all the carnage, one droid struggled to maintain the fight, Val’s trusted droid Sacul 456. Unfortunately, he was not able to stop the barrage on the main doors of the Mansion, as AAT tank fire, burst the once elegant doors to smoldering cinders of wood, splinters scattered to a fro…the sea of gray and white flowing into the halls like a wave of deadly jellyfish, pouring into the hallway, plastering every inch within in site to carbon scorched patches of blaster residue, everywhere the eye can see, each tapestry so delicate, each history within them, burned away like the ashes of time…gone in an instant.

Sacul himself rushed to the lower level to reach his master and alert him to the damage insuring above, but as the noble droid reached the secret entrance, the battle droid commander spotted him, pelting him from behind with so much blaster fire, that Sacul’s appendences were literally ripped from his body, the last bolt slamming into his chest, pierced through him, Sacul bucking with no legs, to the floor in a smoldering pile of twisted, burning metal…within his cybernetic mainframe stored in his head unit, he could still live…with no body, but to get to Val would be impossible…and he knew that as hard as he tried, as droids whizzed past his toppled form, he could not stop the carnage from invading Val’s secret chambers, and fate would have to decide his master’s fate, for how can you fight, what you cannot see…

Within this time frame, it took the droids seconds to breach the heavy blast-doors shielding Val’s secret study chamber off its hinges, as 25 droideka’s rolled into position, over 100 battle droids taking their place, with their smoking blasters in hand...suddenly they stepped into formation to the left and the right…a figure, a lone Trade Federation figure strode down the middle of the line…it was none other than Ruyl Kovo himself, as he walked to the stasis chamber looking through the transparasteel glasslike view port to the slumbering Val within, he smiled…for finally after years of trying, Ruyl had finally had his retribution, and Val Versai was vulnerable before him…
 

Pacing through the crowd, another individual wrapped in the ceremonial Trade Federation attire, the figure’s appearance consists of shimmering purple and blue robes, with his eyes lit up in a red hue…though he’s not Neomidian, like Ruyl like his superior, he’s actually a Corillain traitor to his people, by the name of Kralyn Deka. Kralyn has served with the Trade Federation for many years, serving as a spy in the New Republic, unknown to them, promises of power in the “New Future” drives him to his new levels of vileness, and outright vengeful behavior. He himself had to come personally with Ruyl, no just because he is his advisor, but to glance upon the man he’s seen in busted cameras time and time again…Val himself in the flesh.

Turning to Ruyl, Kralyn speaks to him with an inquisitive mind….

“What should we do with him? Kill him? We took his home…his life, what more is there?”

Ruyl’s eyes narrow, as he turns to Kralyn…

“We will do what I wish, and nothing more…Val Versai is one of the most powerful Force Users in this galaxy, it would take an act of fate to terminate his life when he’s awakened…I suggest another alternate”

Kralyn glances to Ruyl, knowing his documented hatred for Val, almost a quest it would seem to track down this person, whom the Trade Federation knew little of, other than his invasion of their privacy, interrupting their perfect secrecy on their droid construction, and stasis pod plans, unknown by anyone in the galaxy…the Trade Federation once thought destroyed after the disbanding of their trade license, wanted vengeance, and Val knowing this information was very damaging to their cause. Still though the Commander glanced to his superior, wondering what he wished to do as his “alternative”

Ruyl’s lips curved back into a sadistic grin….

“Open the chamber, and remove all the oxygen from this room…let’s see how much fight he has when there is no air for him to breath, YOU will watch him die.”

Kralyn’s eyes opened wide, as without a second thought he blurted out exactly what was on his mind….

“ARE YOU CRAZY! STAY IN HERE WITH A DARK JEDI MASTER???”

Ruyl glanced sharply once more to his advisor, as another grin crossed his face…he had another idea…

“No, of course not, I would want that pleasure alone silly boy, I was merely testing your sense of…judgment…I know all to well Force users can hold their breath for a very long time, all he needs is seconds to escape, the resourceful bitch…I know how we will end Mr. Versai’s life…come with me…”

As he speaks these words, Ruyl paces along side his advisor, handing Kralyn what appear to be locking mechanisms. Wrapping them from the bottom to the base of the chamber, its almost reminiscent of wrapping chains around a coffin…each latch to the locking mechanisms are secured tightly, making the lid to the stasis pod, impossible to open. Ruyl’s eyes light up, glancing to Val, seeming to talk to him through the now covered glass of the chamber…

“Where is your catlike reflexes now Val? How do you intend to escape when you don’t even know I blew down your little house! HAHAH Finally, vengeance is mine you fool! You will die like the rest will soon…when we take over, NO ONE WILL SEE IT COMING, just as you join your pathetic comrades in the Force, so will you NOT SEE IT COMING, when we bring this place right on you!

“SEE YOU IN HELL VERSAI!”

Quickly Ruyl turns his back to the stasis pod, leaving through the doorway, up the steps from Val’s chamber, looking to the battle droid commander he whispers only few words……

“Seal it…”

The droid commander replies with “Roger, Roger” then seconds later, each droid leaves the room, the blast-doors, what is left of them are slid back across the entrance to the chamber…From the inside of the room, looking out, we can see the steel being wielded shut, as tiny shimmering sparks emerge from the outside in…making a line of molten white-hot metal, until it reaches the bottom of the floor, the ways out of the room, being so deep underground…are sealed as well…there is no way out.

A few minutes later, the thundering sounds of retracting Trade Federation armies, cease…an eerie silence, as Ruyl, and Kralyn have completely abandoned the Versai Mansion, now streaked with imperfections, Sacul’s circuits sparking along the floor, as vital fluids to his appendages, leak like a stream of crimson blood along the floor, seep into the once lavish carpets, now riddled with debris of all shapes and sizes.

Sacul was still able to record the accounts of the events…and this is the only reason that we know of the following excerpt from his memory banks…because the droid, perhaps contained more then circuits, he had a will to live…a soul, not a human soul, but a soul of silicon…none the less…

SACUL FILE DATE-RECORD

"Glancing from left to right, the room was empty, the emotion chips Master Val installed within my mainframe, sparked to life, and if a droid could cry, so would I perform such a human function, but I have no tear ducts to do so…the carpet, my gods the carpet…the carpet is ruined, there is no way to repair the damage they have done, like thieves in the night they have came in and shattered our lives, our way of life gone in seconds…I couldn’t stop them…

Why didn’t I turn around in time????? Oh my Master Val…I pray that you still live strong, you are a fighter, such a fate cannot befall one such as you…from the day you plucked me from the fires of damnation and took my hand…I have served you…you are my friend, my Maker, my Master…please fates do tell me, that this is not the end of a noble soul, who has fought to achieve everything, and have it ripped from him in minutes, I……………

What…. so silent…. what’s that noise???? OH NO, The mansion, the mansion is falling in on itself, they are FIRING ON IT, no, please not now…enough is enough, my Master, oh Master, please…please live through this moment, they will not stop, like the predators they are…they are still attacking…the roof NO THE ROOF…………………..*****Silence…………..

What Sacul had witnessed was the Trade Federation’s victory, the very end of Val Versai and his legacy, for they had opened fire on the mansion from a distance, sure of themselves in their overconfidence, as every wing of the Mansion was destroyed, the roof having caved in…Ruyl was sure that Val Versai was crushed in the melee of the ensuing carnage, that finally they had won…but if there is anything that fate has shown, it is that Val Versai is destined for more then these things, and such matters, such attempts were useless when a man forged of destiny, was meant for much more…and no one at this time could stop it….

For you see, the Mansion was totally decimated, but Val Versai in his great foreseeing, maybe not this event, built another Mansion, and hid several ships and deeds to his companies, knowing from the information he had gathered from the Trade Federation compound, after evading capture…the future NEEDED him, as such, as much as fate ripped from him…in the grand scheme of things…it would replace it…. with life, for his stasis chamber remained unscathed, the room you see, was the strongest part of the Mansion, deep underground, where oxygen and stability were paramount…However the lights in the room were completely gone, there was nothing, but one stasis chamber, a man within it…the Force surrounding him and destiny awaiting him for in this sealed room there was nothing but Val himself…and the chains that bind his pod…but the future, was yet to be written, as this scene closes…the shimmering lights of blaster fire, extinguished, and the hums of Trade Federation tanks, the marching of battle droid squadrons were gone…there was nothing….

Only…

Darkness…………….