Sisterhood - Alienation

"What are you?" I asked as I turned it over in my hands. "What can you tell me?" I asked the drone and it displayed a small holographic screen. "Organic technology? No way! This must be Duskwalker clothing." I said as I stripped down to try it on. "Well now." I commented when the material I had set on a nearby table slithered off the table, snaked its way over to my feet and dressed me for lack of a better term. "What do you think?"

"It looks like black silk. How does it feel?" Thorn asked.

"Smooth and cool." I said running my hands over the material. "Did you hear that?" I asked when I heard a psychic purr. "It is purring."

"Better warn Neko," Thorn giggled. "She might see that as a contender."

The drone shot off and began working on a hover platform three of the sisters had shoved into the room. While it could hold the machinery its propulsion system was shot. That was until the drone rewired it. It declared with a blast of Legend of Zelda music that the task was successful. I helped the sisters load up the machinery and once done one of them guided the self-propelled platform forward.

Four sisters were dressed in work clothes and wearing tool belts. We parked the platform where they directed and watched. One of the sisters led the others in the process of reassembling this device. They opened a panel in the floor giving them access to the power grid. The first piece tied itself into the matrix. It reminded me of a cyber zombie as the wiring slithered out and plugged itself into the grid. They anchored that into place and the rest of the assembly was holding the next piece in the segment which repeated the process and did all the work. I wondered if they would need tools at all. They did. The fourth piece was damaged and appeared to have carbon scoring on the outer shell and melted guts.

"Some one shot this machine." I said and again there was that awkward silence. "The former superior did this didn't she?"

"Yes." Zethra'ah admitted. "She had to be isolated for her own good."

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea." I said.

The technicians stripped the guts out of the damaged machinery and split up the parts and began repairing them. A few were able to regenerate themselves when halves were joined together. While others had to be replaced from parts scavenged from elsewhere in the temple. It didn't take long and soon the device was up and running.

A deep thrum could be felt though our feet. Massive machinery long dormant stirred and came to life. A shriek of metal against metal tore through the air as the temple powered itself up. The walls changed as the smart walls pushed their way through the stone covering. Warning claxons sounded and the lights strobed red and blue as the sister's raced to the command chamber. Holographic screens came to life displaying tactical solutions and incoming threats.

"What the hell is going on?" I shouted over the noise.

"I don't know yet." Zethra'ah cried out as she made a slashing gesture cancelling the alarms.

"According to the readouts there is a large celestial body heading our way." One of the sisters warned. "It will be here in less than one standard day."

"The guardian program is trying to bring the generators online to power up the planetary shield." Zethra'ah added. "Two of the generators are damaged. Keeper? Where are you going?"

"Someone has to fix them." I said as one of the sisters joined me and led me to the stairs leading down. "Thorn! Grab my pack."

We raced down the steps and the thrum of power grew with each step. By the time we reached the subbasement it felt like ants were crawling all over my body. Thorn tossed me my pack and fled. Her sensitive lekku were on fire and I felt her agony as if it were my own. She lasted far longer than I thought she would. The sister pointed down the hall as blood began to ooze from her eyes and ears. The deadly atmospheric discharge was blurring my vision and through extreme force of will propelled myself forward. The interior of the power plant was a firestorm of lightning and surges of electromagnetic fields or so someone wanted us to believe.

"Get... out... of... my... HEAD!" I screamed and weaponized my anger.

The illusion ended with a shriek of a woman's voice. The plant was dimly lit and teetering on the catwalk over one of the massive reactors was a woman clutching her head. I sprinted over before she could recover. She was of the same race as the sisters, but she was clad in green. Did that designate another faction involved?

"Why are you doing this?" I asked as her mind collected itself for another attack. "Sorry." I said before knocking the wind out of her. "Damn it Thorn I wish you were here."

"Telepathy, isn't it grand?!" Thorn said as she took the woman captive. "I got her." She said with the woman slumped in her arms.

"Get her upstairs and questioned. Maybe the other sisters can explain." I said as I switched on Binary's gift and tied into the machinery. "Tell Zethra'ah the reactors will be up and running within the hour."

'Beautiful isn't it?' Binary whispered in my thoughts soothing my tension. 'A delicate balancing act of matter and antimatter.'

'Yes.' I said as her thoughts guided my hands and I reset the delicate balance she spoke so highly of. 'Show me.'

'Yes.' She whispered and my mind dove into the containment chamber and then she took me deeper until I watched the collision and the sun bright explosion that provided vast amounts of energy to the temple and the surrounding communities. 'See, you aren't alone. Tiny outposts from an ancient past. The last sigh before death. A dying religion for a dying race.'

'What about me?' I asked holding up my new hand and feeling the rage and anger of helplessness. 'Again! It happened again!'

'You are better than this.' Binary said with a hint of her own anger. 'You are the Keeper! I wasn't attracted to your hands or you body. It is that laser bright mind that enticed me. A glimpse into your soul. What did you find appealing when we made love?'

'You were so mercurial on the surface but underneath... I've been a fool.' I admitted.

'Here you can scream to your heart's content. You taught me that.' Binary urged. 'Scream my Keeper! Scream!'

I did. All the anger and helplessness found a form in that singular prolonged wail of anguish and rage. The emotional alloy forged there was made manifest in the quantum realm. A new particle came into being out of it. Binary cupped it in her hand and showed it to me before it collapsed into a scattering of subatomic parts. Of course, it was unstable and couldn't last. Her last lesson for me before I was slammed back into my body.

"The board is green." I said aloud in case anyone was listening. "All of the reactors are online."

I wiped the tears from my face and returned to the sisterhood. The rogue sister was bound hand and foot with what appeared to be a shock collar around her slender neck. I strode in as the last checks were performed before the planetary shield was activated.

"Has she spoken?" I asked.

"She doesn't need to." Zethra'ah explained. "She belongs to a rival clan. She and those of her ilk are followers of Kadaena."

"I know that name. There is an image of her in the tomb. She is or was related to Umbra. A cousin I believe." I said.

"There were two factions. One supported order, the other a more chaotic path, and in the middle Umbra. That is why she outlived the others as they tore each other apart. She stood back and let them cancel each other out."

"If that is the case, why is she here? If the war is over and the Duskwalkers are all but gone." I asked.

"The orders still exist. The followers take up arms for long dead masters." Zethra'ah explained. "The dead cults vowed to find Umbra and destroy the last Duskwalker. You see their efforts are in vain. Umbra isn't the last, you are here to show them the error of their ways."

"I..." I began and then stopped.

The first time they saw me was rising out of the depths of the tomb via the elevator. They didn't know of my previous incarnation or the one before that. I felt like an RPG character. Jerry, pre-Keeper was a level one human, Keeper nearly dies introduce an alien symbiote and boom we have Keeper level ten. But we're not done folks, final transformation by alien retrovirus into his Duskwalker form, easily level twenty or better.

"I guess I am one of the last." I said looking at Thorn who made a 'my lips are sealed' gesture with her hand over her mouth.

"Planetary shield at seventy five percent." The automated voice announced over the hidden speakers. "Planetary object has increased forward momentum. Estimated impact in one standard hour." Pause for dramatic effect. "Warning. Warning." It said in a dire yet soothing tone. "Enemy ships inbound. ETA. Six standard minutes."

I felt it a moment later. The white-hot rage of a true Duskwalker. Her mind touched mine gently and it was as hard as diamond and equally beautiful. I turned to face Umbra, back from the dead apparently.

"You saw what I wanted this little hooker to see." She laughed. "Did I use that in the proper context?"

"Dead on target." I said. "You saw how much I was projecting my thoughts."

"Yes." She replied. "When she slipped into your thoughts, she would see a weak and dying victim. She isn't the only one gifted with projecting illusions into the minds of the weak. No offence."

"None taken, that is why I came here." I admitted. "I need to grow stronger."

"You speak your mind, so unlike a Duskwalker. We survive on deception and misdirection."

"Incoming craft will reach the shield in four minutes." The voice counted down.

"Leave this to me Keeper." Umbra said with no small measure of deference to me. "I set this trap long ago."

"What can we do to help." I asked looking at Thorn who just smiled and loosened her swords.

"Bear witness to the power of patience." Umbra said and continue. "Scan for their carrier. They'll be cloaked so look for a small gravity well. Leave the planetary defenses at twenty five percent. Let them think her sabotage worked."

"Passive scan has picked up a single target. They are hiding in the gas giant's ring." Zethra'ah barked out as the sisters manned their stations.

"Kadaena will have her revenge on you." The traitor growled. "She will steal your soul and make you suffer for an eternity."

"Oh, do shut up Kadaena is dead." Umbra fired back.

"You lie! She survived the purge." She screamed. "I have felt her in my thoughts."

"If she survived, she dwells beyond the pale with her masters. The only soul she'll get will be yours. She'll toy with you in the bowels of the black hell little one." Umbra paused and cut the girl off with the words that shattered the girl's faith. "How do I know she's dead? I slid my knife into her spine and then slammed it into her brain. This dagger as a matter of fact." She said drawing the sapphire hued blade.

"Two minutes until the craft reach the shield."

"It is moving!" One of the other girls called out. "The carrier is leaving the rings. It is headed this way."

"Extend your scans. I'd be heartbroken if they sent only one capital ship for me. They won't be so cautious now that no help has arrived." Umbra grinned and a hint of the battle lust trickled from her thoughts. "You are about the learn why they call me the Shadow Weaver."

"Ships decloaking!" One girl called out.

"Ten! Twelve! No, twenty!" Another followed up.

"That's more like it." Umbra roared.

"How big are those ships?" I asked and one of the sisters displayed the tactical data on the Titan Class Capital Ship.

"It generates enough power to supply a large metropolitan city of ten million for a year." She explained.

"Damn. Can the shield withstand that?" I asked and she shook her head smiling. "Trap. She said trap."

"During my travels," Umbra said as the fighters nearly reached the shield. "I came across a sneaky armored insect that dug a burrow with a secreted door covering it. Its prey could walk by it, over it, and only when the beast was ready would it lunge out, snare it and drag it kicking and screaming back to its lair."

"Kicking and screaming?" I said turning to face her. "How the hell big were those things?"

"About the same size as the terrestrial animal you know of as a horse. Vicious things really." She paused and let me think that over. "Are they in position yet?"

"Nearly." Zethra'ah replied. "Ten seconds."

"Give them their orders Sister. Spring the trap. Bring up orbital display for the Keeper. Let him watch."

"Yes Mistress." They intoned and the main screen showed a shot from space.

The capital ship must have been miles long. They were corkscrew shaped allowing them to mount weapons that could fire in nearly any direction. The satellite's cameras had barely zoomed in on the nearest ship when there was a brief rippling effect and the carrier was gone. The sister replayed the footage back at extreme slow speed. The cloaked trap sprung open for two seconds and metallic tentacles wrapped around the ship and yanked it into the concealed space. The fate of the ship and its crew could only be guessed at, Umbra wasn't in a sharing mood.

I looked back at the tactical display and the carriers were gone. The fighters broke off their assault on the shield in a panic. The planetary defenses were more than enough to wipe out what should have been the first of many waves of fighters. They were destroyed by the massive railguns. Some fighters burned up in reentry while others were simply shredded into clouds of debris.

"Damn." I muttered. "I guess you have everything in hand."

"You came here to improve your control." Umbra asked and I nodded. "Good. Take out the pyramid and I will explain how it works and a bit of its history."

She took the relic into her hands and turned it over. There were a series of symbols forming a circle etched on the bae. She pressed them in a sequence that she told me to memorize. Once the last of the twenty-five characters were inputed the device pulsed a deep ruby light and was accessible. The pyramid projected a hologram of a male Duskwalker who fixed me with his gaze and a torrent of thoughts and images slammed into my unprepared mind. I staggered back and Umbra switched the device off.

"That'll take you a day or so to assimilate." She laughed. "That was the basics of K'Ta'Viiri culture, language, and cumulative knowledge of science and the arcane."

"Great!" I growled wiping the blood from my nose. "Another damn core dump."

"Another?" Umbra said slightly alarmed. "Which was the first if I might ask?"

"The Great Library inside the House of a Thousand Doors. I learned about Technomancy in a day." I explained as I fought the urge to pass out. "Give me a second." I continued as I turned Binary's gift on and let it sort out my mind for me. "I am performing a little mainteence... defraging my mind as it were."

"I don't know what that means." Umbra laughed. "It sounds like fun."

I braced myself against the wall as the dizzy spell slammed into me and I closed my eyes to keep from hurling. They say you see your entire life flash before your eyes just before you die. In this case this was dozens of lifetimes screeching through my brain getting ordered, codified, and otherwise delegated. I nearly lost my sense of self in the host of other people's experiences. For sanity's sake I allocated them to history and later examination. I was able to compare what I already learned from the library and the new material.

"Impressive." I moaned as my headache slowly faded away. "I'll give it to you guys. You leave no branch unexplored."

"There is no way you could have assimiliated that amount of data on your own." Umbra said in shock.

"Was that another test?" I asked as I opened my eyes and savored the look on her face. "Or were you hoping to leave me a drooling idiot?"

"Now you are thinking like a Duskwalker." She smiled.

"Your lot are a bunch of fucking sadists." I remarked.

"Can't fight our nature." She fired back. "I think a celebration is demanded. We have our party favor, don't we ladies."

"Uh Huh!" They all giggled.

"Aw hell, the things I do as Keeper." I muttered.

I spent a month more on Korriban. I spent most of my time pouring over the contents of the pyramid. The holographic interface was a home for a host of what Umbra called Gatekeepers. Each was an expert in their specific field. While most of my time was spent mastering my unwanted gift, telepathy. Umbra tested me daily as she slipped past my defenses with ease. This wasn't going to be easy. It was like mental weight lifting. I would reach and plateau and feel good about it until Umbra tore through it with ease.

I fought off the urge to give up, but this was far too important. The hardest test was the random displays of cleavage, ass, or nudity. I had to keep control all the time and that was causing a strain, and it showed. I wasn't sleeping and circles began forming under my eyes. Umbra didn't miss it and addressed it.

"You are suffering from Kitai Syndrome." She said. "I will impart a technique that will free a yet undiscovered portion of your mind little Shadow Weaver. Before you say it, you're welcome."

The technique was what I thought of Duskwalker Kuji Kiri. The Japanese shinobi or ninja used complex hand gestures in the movies and perhaps even in real life to focus their chi and willpower. In this case it did just as she claimed. I felt the stress melt away and a sense of euphoria. It became a staple in my psychic arsenal. I started using it the moment I woke up and before I went to bed. I also used it whenever I was overwhelmed. I felt in control for the first time since my symbiote died.

'No. Not Dead. Healing.' It whispered.

Aftermath:

I stared at the two holograms. One was me as I was now, and the other was my birth form as I thought of it. With Serenity's help I finished the decorative collar and matching rings. They would shroud me in a hard-light hologram to hide my obvious differences. I tested them and gave them my personal approval. I switched them off and returned to the Duskwalker pyramid. I touched the sequence of symbols and continued today's lesson.

"You are making remarkable progress." The hologram of Ulrich declared, and we ran through previous skills and I performed flawlessly. "Better than yesterday."

"What next?" I asked and he seemed to be contemplating. "What is it?"

"You have finished all I have to teach you about telepathy. You will still have slips, but I am confident over time those will occur infrequently at best."

"Is there anything more?" I asked and he made a face before nodding, but a knock at the door interrupted me. "Come in, the door is open."

"You look like hell." Jarael remarked before sitting in my lap facing me. "You need to stop this."

"Stop what?" I asked as she gave me the look. "Okay, which this am I doing?"

"Locking yourself up for weeks at a time." She frowned. "Three weeks Jerry, it has been three weeks. Come with me, you have a visitor."

"Visitor?" I asked but she refused to say anything else.

We showered and despite maintaining a limited routine I had no sign of facial hair growth. I dressed slipped on my rings and choker and activated my holographic disguise. I knew how Thorn and Naia felt when dealing with normal people. I heard the girls chatting away in the living room before I stepped in and saw Kat Shaw, Nick Shaw's sister, in the middle of a conversation with Xo'Dee, Thorn, Naia, Neko, and Jarael. None of them were hiding or camouflaged. Thorn was even letting Kat stroke her lekku, that took a lot of trust from the Twi'lek.

"Keeper!" Kat said addressing me with great deference.

"Ms. Shaw." I replied and her mouth formed a full pout as her left eye brow was raised. "What is that look for?"