(Space, Phantom, Conference Room)
(3rd Person PoV)
Mace slowly opened his eyes after Vaylin stopped speaking. With his legs crossed in the classic meditation pose, Vaylin sat across from him, both had been feeling...reaching out in the force as Vaylin explained her new connection.
Mace had slowly probed the connection to see if it were breakable, not that Vaylin hadn't already tried, but Mace had to look deeper at it. But the connection, as he had found, was unbreakable, the closer he peered the more it seemed like it was truly apart of Vaylin herself, like it had always been there. Something Mace had never encountered before, he has seen many force connections and bonds that formed between people, he had many himself, used them to his advantage when the occasion called.
His brows furrowed slightly as he finally spoke. "We cannot do anything about your new force bond right now. We will have to deal with this in the future. Possible finding the other half…this Jedi could provide the answers we need."
A thoughtful look flashed across Vaylin's face at the words. She had already expected them after testing the connection herself, but it was good to get a second opinion. Truthfully she was in no rush to kill the Jedi; this new connection only intrigued her. Plus the power the Jedi projected was near her own, the thought that this could be another test, an occurrence that would increase her own power, was starting to blossom in her mind.
"I shall go back to my quarters to meditate on this more." Still trapped in her thoughts, her actions were perfunctory as she got up and walked back to her room. Mace watched her as she left, before slowly closing his eyes again.
In an instant he stood in his mind scape and looked at the familiar scenery around him. Metallic walls lined with book cases filled with tomes, data pads, books and Holocrons. A small smile came to his lips as he looked at his old home.
If he imagined it just right he might have heard the sound of Nar Shaddaa from the outside, but of course this was his mind scape, the noise only existed if he wanted it to. The Empire had commissioned his own stronghold back on Dromund Kaas, but he and Alira had used their personal money to purchase their home away from home, their personal retreat to blow off steam and relax.
Alira had wanted to threaten and coerce the property from a hut or some other unsuspecting dealer, but it was decided in the end a properly purchased residence would raise less red flags when they moved their personal belonging in and later settled.
None but their close companions knew about their home and they kept it that way. The small though reminded Mace he would have to see what had become of his old home, it was possible raided in his time away from the galaxy.
He felt his anger prickle in anticipation for the sorry person that currently owned his home, if it was still even standing. In the end he still had this representation in his mind, It had taken his wife quite a while to get it just right. Having another spirit inhabit your mind wasn't something trivial, especially giving one such control over your mind scape, if it were not his wife no one would have such free reign.
The other spirits were still trapped, currently or awaiting their energy to be sapped and knowledge used. Some of the willing ones were treated better; having their own little area that Mace had given them. Of course they could every now and then learn about the outside world to find out what was going on to sate their curiosity. But only his Wife had free access to do whatever she liked.
His eye flittered over the library for a second as he looked for the reason he had come here, a small smile coming to his lips as he spotted her. With her back turned to him, he walked with purpose and hugged Alira from behind as he looked over her shoulder. She didn't make a sound and seemed indifferent to the contact as he arrived, but he could just see the small smirk that came to her lips as she continued to read.
They stayed like that for a short time while Mace read over the Holocrons in her hands. As this was his mind scape, the Library, while resembling the original in his home, was also populated with much, much more.
Though it looked like Alira was looking through a Holocrons she was actually scrolling through the collected knowledge of his imprisoned spirits for information. The books, data pads, tomes and Holocrons were all knowledge retained by him, his wife and the other spirits, only separated to make them easier to identify.
The dark side, the light side, many of the secret of the force, all could be found in the library he was now standing in. The library had drastically expanded with the addition of Valkorion's information, something that had been keeping Alira's attention for the last few months.
"Have you found anything?" Her eyes never left the information in front of her as she spoke. "I have, I'm haven't verified my thoughts yet though. But as you know when we were looking into force bonds and our avenue to enlighten the Cipher and your Twi'lek to the force, we extensively researched the bonds shared between the 'Jedi Exile' and her group..."
She waved her hand slightly and a different tome appeared on the right, something Mace had read before, his mind drifted back to gather the information before she continued. "Some of the tattered reports and Personal journals of the 'Exile' point in a certain direction..."
Alira stopped for a second and finally turned to her Husband a devious smirk on her lips. "It's deeper than a force bond or connection, it points to only a few possibilities, if I'm correct the results would be...delicious." Mace knew that look in his wife's eyes, the look of lust and passion at gaining new knowledge...power.
Mace listened intently as she began to list potential options and ideas as the mystery before her gained all her attention, if it wasn't for the small ripple in the force that appeared outside his room, he would have stayed longer.
Letting one last smile grace his lips, he leaned in for a goodbye kiss before leaving. Alira watched as her husband left and couldn't help but frown for a fraction of a second before finally getting back to the information before her.
One thought though played through her mind before she lost herself again, 'I will have his undivided attention later', a small sultry smirk on her lips.
******************
(Ayillh PoV)
*Beep*
I shifted down my hood and clipped my mask to my belt as the door slowly opened, before finally stepping over the threshold, sitting in his usual posture on the bed, his eyes opened slowly as he took me in. I could see how relaxed his body had been, he must have been talking with his Alira.
He was only this relaxed when he talked to his wife... well without having sex anyway. The small content smile on his lips as I stopped before him turned to business in seconds and I couldn't help but appreciate the predatory and calculative eyes he held as he looked up.
The gaze was one of the first things that drew me to him, the fact that he could organize and command an alliance of both the republic and empire, bitter enemies, to face the eternal empire after a 5 year carbonite bath...well that came in a close second.
I had known him long before that though and already had enough reasons to be drawn to him, so when he called, I of course answered. But I was getting side tracked, there was a reason I was in here. "Commander, the long range sensors have picked up the planet, our calculation were correct. We'll be arriving in 1 hour."
Eyes finally focusing on me, he gave a small nod but said nothing else, I was already used to his small use of words after working with him for so long, in the field though he was completely different, taking control of a situation in seconds and giving orders when needed. He truly was the perfect commander in that aspect.
I waited to see if he had any other orders before finally turning to leave. I had an hour to spend before we reached our destination, I needed something to do in that time...Blizz did pick up a few interesting things back on Tatooine.
As I finally reached the door I was about to leave when my body locked up, the force was lightly squeezing my body. I frowned for a second before letting it take me. I was lifted off the ground for a second as my boy turned to face Mace once more.
If it had been anyone else I might have tried to escape instantly, I still had a few ways of getting out of the situation, but it was him, I didn't trust many people, but I trusted him. I let the force grip me just that bit tighter as I floated over to the bed. *Beep* I heard the door to the room close as I finally reached the bed.
As if molding me like a toy I didn't resist as my knees curled up below me and my hands drifted to my back, locking themselves there, my chest pushed out. I just had enough control of my face to raise an eye brow in his direction. He still hadn't said a word as I landed before him on the soft bed.
Why was he doing this? Did I mess up in my mission?
The thoughts drifted through my mind as his hand reached out and gently caressed my cheek, I felt a small tingle go down my spine at the touch and knew exactly what was going on...but why like this? He usually wasn't this forceful...well unless you count Jaesa; she loved this type of stuff.
I looked into his eyes searching for the answer and instantly saw the small devious smirk on his lips and playfulness in his eyes. His hand left my cheek and he started to take off his clothes, my body still immobile. As he went he spoke.
"I remember a certain Mirialan shooting me right in the face back on Naboo." Ohh, I almost face palmed, I should have remembered that. The smile grew just that bit wider as he saw my reaction. "Yes, ohh. It's time for your Punishment." His voice had turned completely playful by this point and I considered if I might have made a small mistake.
Finally his last piece of gear was moved to the side and I felt the grip of the force tighten before making me bend at the waist, slowly lowering my head.
Or maybe I should do that more often?
At least it would be an interesting hour.