Ask Dathomir Entrance to the Conflagration

[Darth Caelestis]

"Although I have had training for four years I have only recently left the confines of Serenno to join the Sith Galaxy at large. That unfortunate Ball was my first foray into the Sith world. Before then I was trying to perfect my technique my control and also dance around my father, brother and rather useless masters approval." He replied, he knew of some members of the Sith who had advanced from Acolyte to Master in less time than he had been training, but he was not like all the others.

"Yes, it was a transition that was for sure, from top dog to little dog was and still is a hard pill to swallow some times. My family know nothing of this, they would only try to use if for their gain, I intend to only use it for my own." The plan's for his father, brother and uncle were well and truly on the way. He actually intended to action them upon his return from his meeting with Darth Andruil.

Artorigas finished his glass of wine and held up the bottle to see if the Darth required a top up before pouring himself some more. He should perhaps go easy but the adrenaline of being in the room with the women was keeping his mind clear. "The Sith, there is much I could say and much which would get my head removed from my pretty little neck." He began. "Though I hope you will not remove it for my comments. I feel that their devotion to the Dark Side can be a false sense of security. Yes it has power, The Force is a powerful ally, but so is a thousand men, a million droids a dozen Star Destroyers. The infighting also to me seems problematic at best, yes it breads the strong but also it removes those who are weak but could still supply so much to the cause. To much anger and hate drives our cause, when guile, intelligence and charm could win so much more." He was treading on potential thin ice here but he was in a flow and the wine had helped loosen his tongue. "Denon is an example, some of the atrocities upon the planet were unneeded, he cost in contempt and hatred across the galaxy was not balanced out by the gains of that single planet. Would we not be in a better position, both physically, but morally if we strayed away from death and destruction? Darth Tyrannus under his guise and Count Dooku pulled half the galaxy away from the Republic with words not murder and rampage."

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Andruil listened in silence as she drank her wine, taking a bit more when it was offered. Oh, he had some radical ideas. She was highly wary of what he was saying, but she was hardly a typical Sith herself.

Still, that wasn't to say that the Nightsisters didn't hold many similar views. And much of what she had learned of the Sith she had adopted for herself.

One of her fingers ran absentmindedly along her cheek and chin as she thought about what he was saying. There was a great deal to unpack and much to address. She couldn't help but think of Emryc at the mention of Dooku. Emryc had swayed a chunk of the galaxy and no one even knew he was Sith. Of course, she wasn't going to reveal that to anyone, not even someone who claimed loyalty to her.

It's not about physical strength, it's about strength of will, she said. Physical strength may play a role, but those who want to survive find a way through intelligence, guile, charm, or something else, she said.

Malicia was removed not because she lost a fight, but because she wouldn't fight. Not by any means, she said. No, someone who won't stand up for themselves deserves to have their assets given to someone with the will to act, she said.

As for the war, people die in war, she said simply. It was the way of the galaxy. Look at any natural ecosystem and one could see it with ease. Andruil didn't lose sleep over it typically. She knew that Stolas hated the death-cult aspect of the Sith, and she was no particular fan, but she also recognized the necessity of war for expansion.

Stability comes through change and change comes through pain, she said. That was a simple fact of life as well. We won't always be at war, but it is the present course.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

The Darth had a point when it came to Malicia at the time when it all happened he was confused, it was his first real foray into the outside world of the Sith and to see something so dramatic happen, perhaps tainted the taste of the Sith Eternal to the Sereenian. "Yes people die in war, but unnecessary death only weakens the winning side." He replied. He took a moment to collect some of this thoughts and to break some of the possible tension he had created with his ramble.

"There will always be war in the galaxy. If not between the Sith and Jedi, the Republic and the Syndicates then some cross of ideology. There are to many people in this galaxy for there ever to be true peace. Too many traditions, too much history, too much division. The only way would be to wipe everyone out and start again." Artorigas did not preach for this method but it was the only way he could truly see a lasting peace in the galaxy.

Hoping to move the heretical dagger from his neck away he positioned his own question. "If I may mi'Queen, if you were in the Eternal's seat how would you direct the Sith? Would it be to war, conquest, slaughter or to something else?"

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Sometimes people get carried away in war, she said. She didn't condone wanton slaughter either, but she understood that a single incident wasn't the best to judge an entire system by.

Death is natural, but pointless death is pointless. I don't condone anything that's pointless, she said. Even if you wiped the galaxy clean and started again, in a hundred years there would be splits in opinion again, she said. Creatures killed by nature. It was the natural order, and anyone who denied it was blind by choice.

I am not in the Eternal's seat, she said. She didn't trust him nearly enough to disclose her secret, traitorous thoughts against the Eternal. She much preferred to keep her own head for now. Disagreements she may or may not have had with the Eternal were for discussions during meetings with the council, not spreading through the ranks of the Order.

If you're interested in how I rule, then look to the worlds that I rule, she said. Some were diplomatically taken, others had been a bloody, violent rise followed by relative peace with a brutalistic and rapid response to dissent, invasion, or anything else that threatened her worlds.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

She dodged the question, in his mind that meant that she was either unhappy or at least disinterested in how The Eternal ran the Sith Empire. That was something to note in the back of his mind, it seemed that many of those in great power did not like nor trust their esteemed leader. If Artorigas was honest with himself he had spent little time studying the worlds outside of those immediately at interest to himself, he had heard little if nothing of the worlds which sat under the control of the Dark Councillor sat before him.

He did not doubt that she was effective in her rule, he had seen her on the battlefield and had already spoken enough with the women to get a relative feel of the woman's agenda. Though for all he knew this was all a farce for something far greater, be it evil or good. "We are closing on Korriban." Cydric called back from the cockpit. Which seemed to break the silence slowly creeping on the pair.

"I hope I have answered your questions adequality Mi' Queen, unless you have anymore? I am an open book."

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

She sensed that he was unsatisfied with her answer, though she didn't say anything about it. Perhaps she was incorrect, but he didn't ask for further clarification. She didn't actually expect him to know much about her rule because the truth was that she had mostly kept to herself during her rise to power. Dathomir's existence as a Sith world wasn't even "common" knowledge.

The pilot notified them of the arrival on Korriban, and her eyebrows rose. They'd made good time, and she was excited to get underway with learning the techniques they were here for.

It's been an interesting conversation, she said somewhat cryptically. She blamed Morgan and Emryc for that. She knew that plenty of people found the vague answering, non-answers frustrating, but it paid to play things close to the chest most of the time.

She made her way up to the cockpit once again and watched as the ship was guided down to the ground. There were various ships gathered in a landing area near the old temple that had been re-inhabited by the Sith.

She descended from ship's ramp and out into the sun. She had been to the Twin Worlds before multiple times and while their impression in the Shadow was interesting and almost comforting in a way, the actual climate was insufferable. She was more than happy to get inside the temple as soon as possible.

In the distance, she could see others in training. New recruits and acolytes interested in joining the Sith and learning their craft. It was surprisingly bustling for how dead the planet was in general. Not packed, but more than one or two people milling around.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

He knew that she was withholding but that was expected a Darth need not give him anything unless they wished it. The heat of the Korriban desert seeped through the ship as soon as the ramp lowered into the sand below them all. Artorigas followed Andruil out of the ship and onto the planet, this was the first time he had laid his feet upon the Twin Worlds of the Sith. He had heard much about the worlds and had visited the orbiting space station but this was the first time actually on the ground.

He looked around new Sith stood in the distance, some with sabers in hand others with rocks floating around them. This was unlike any training he had ever received at best it was one on one though most of the time it was the drunk shouting at him from across a private garden. "Do you have a location for this master? Mi' Queen" Artorigas asked, she would need to take more of the lead than normal less the Acolyte wonder off into the endless red desert.

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Andruil continued over the open sand and toward the temple, suppressing the urge to say "ugh it's hot out." This was not her favorite world, so the sooner they could get inside or off this world the better.

She instead opted to distract herself with conversation. The Acolyte had gained her interest, and that was saying something.

He's within the temple. Nothing so problematic or dangerous as running into the desert, she said.

She headed toward the temple, glad to break through the door. Even the initial anteroom was still warm, but she headed deeper inside until she they would eventually find the Master's office.

What do you feel on this world? Have you been here before? she asked. She'd grown up with Dathomir's essence and felt many similarities between this world and that. It was her tendency, but he was a different person with different experiences. Surely he would have a different perspective.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

The glare and over baring heat had blurred his vision and it took a moment after Andruil's comment about the temple for him to truly make out the structure from its rocky surrounds. It blended effortlessly to the stone around it, thousands of years of beating sand softening its features. The Acolyte was pulling at his clothes trying to get some air moving around him as they trundled through the entrance of the temple.

The stone held the heat so even inside he was still sweating but as they dived deeper it began to cool much to the delight of the young Sith. "I have not been here before Mi' Queen. It feels strange, like a beat, a rhythm like the entire world is pounding like a heart. Though it feels slower than Dathomir, less alive. Perhaps because of the desert? There is much more life on Dathomir than here. That makes sense to my mind but I cannot be confident in its truth." He paused for a moment as they continued walking towards the masters office, before stopping holding his head for a moment. "It is as if the further we go the deeper the beating digs into my mind."

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

As they walked on, she too was glad to get away from the beating heat of the outdoors. Things began to cool and she glanced back at him as he began to hold his head.

Hmm, interesting, she thought to herself. The Veil between living and dead is thin here, she said. So thin, in fact, that it was where she and Emryc had performed the ritual to rip open the Veil and allow the return of the Sith Spirits into the galaxy again.

Perhaps your condition is responding to it, she said, almost wondering if the Sith Lord in his mind would be able to find a way to crawl across and slither into the mind of Artorigas.

But you're correct, she went on. The layers of the Shadow are different here. Possibly equally as deep, but this world lacks the surface layer of life that makes Dathomir... vibrant, she said.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

When she mentioned Andros he was interested, had the Lord himself been to this planet before, perhaps he could ask the long dead Sith Lord, but it seemed that he was still to afraid of the Darth to make an appearance. As they continued through the temple, it seemed strange and if anything confusing that this had once been the home to their order. "I find it weird that this place holds such significance to our order. When you think of the worlds that we have once conquered, once controlled I would assume that one more affluent would be our home. Not some hot box on the edge of the galaxy."

Artorigas was unsure if the planet had always been like this, but as far as he had studied it had been the case, though he only had histories and records back to the beginning of the Drast Dynasty, and even then he had only spent a little time researching that far back.

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

She listened to him and wondered if he had never been educated in the origins of the Sith. She supposed it would have made sense given his training. It sounded like his teacher was... questionable at best.

It's the origin, she said. The Sith Purebloods started here and Andraste conquered them. Everything the Sith are arose here, she said. Not to mention that the world was still incredibly strong in the Shadow.

They turned down another hallway and arrived at the office of the man of the day.

Overseer Tresler, she said, entering into the office and addressing the man. He rose and gave a partial bow, looking to both Sith who had arrived.

My Lord, he said, looking over to Artorigas. Have you worked with technology before? he asked.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

The overseer was a thin man, the toil of the role easily written upon his face. Although he addressed both himself and the Darth with grace and dignity he did not seem overwhelmed by the presence of the two. Perhaps Korriban was really a different world when it came to dealing with the Sith. "A little, I can keep a speeder moving or a droid rolling. Though beyond the basics of part changing, cleaning and tweaking the mechanisms of the galaxy are beyond me."

Most of what Artorigas had learned about the hydro spanner had been self taught, more out of boredom than anything else. When you are just pushed to one side, a spare set of kidneys or at worse a heart for your older sibling, it does pay to have some hobbies to keep you occupied. "Mi' Queen?" He said forwarding the question to Andruil, though part of him hoped that the Overseer would notice his address and give the women a more fitting acknowledgement.

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Andruil listened to Artorigas's explanation, and if she were honest, it was far more impressive than what she knew. She'd come here to learn because technology was by far one of her weakest points. She wanted to fill in the gaps in her knowledge, strengthen herself, and incorporate this into her future studies.

Technology is not my strong suit. I have only recently begun to investigate it, but I know the Force. If I can use it to cover over my shortcomings in technology, then I will, she said bluntly. While she didn't typically enjoy advertising her weaknesses, when she was learning something new like this, it was only to her disadvantage to conceal things.

Very good, my Lord, he said, standing from his desk. Andruil seemed unperturbed by his address of her as Lord. It was relatively standard among the Sith, and not unfitting of her rank. By all accounts, the Overseer was a polite but intense man whose academic knowledge of the Force was quite impressive.

With all due respect, my Lord. You may have a slightly more difficult time, then, he said. Though, your knowledge of the Force may compensate, he added.

Andruil nodded simply. He went across the room to a small cabinet and brought out a pair of datapads. It's not entirely different from touching someone's mind to manipulate it. Where the synapses of the brain can be fired or stifled by a Force-user, the circuits of a device can be triggered as well. Just as you don't have to understand all the inner workings of the brain, you don't need to understand all the inner workings of a circuit board. The Force knows. If you know the Force, you can know where to trigger, he explained.

The first step is to access basic information from a datapad, he said, setting one in front of both "trainees." Meditate over it and connect to it, he said, his voice almost taking a teacher's tone, but managing to keep the tendency in check given who he was instructing at this point.

It may be an unusual sensation and different from what you're used to, he said.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

Artorigas absently nodded along with the Overseer's instructions as he flipped the datapad around, looking first with his eyes before using The Force. It was perhaps a bad habit considering what they were trying to learn here, but habits twenty years in the making were hard to break over those only four years old. After a moment of consideration of if this could not just be done with a tool he took a few steps away from the pair and sat down on the floor placing the datapad before him.

Closing his eyes he let The Force flow around him and slowly into him. The darkness deep down inside him awoke to the feel of the Dark Side energy of Korriban, the voice in the back of his head began talking again. "Welcome back old friend." Artorigas tried to block out the voice and concentrate on what was in front of him. He began prodding and probing at the datapad with The Force, like a child playing with its food. Little tendrils of power touching different electrical components trying to see if he could activate some of it.

Though he had never hacked a pad before he could recognise some of the parts inside, the power port, the battery, information jack. That had to be the memory core, so he needed to activate the battery if it had any charge, if not charge it through the power port and from there he could activate the memory core. He tried the battery, it was dead, he needed to power it somehow, he had to power it, Artorigas had seen a dozen if not more of his Sith brethren use Force Lightning, but he himself had never done so. It seemed to be trapped behind that voice, behind the darkness, something he was not willing to let loose for the sake of some meaningless combat ability. No instead he would try to think outside the box, the console the Overseer sat upon had plenty of power, it was connected to the main grid of the temple.

The pad moved across the room close to the main console, Artorigas connected the pad with the Overseer's desk with a small tendril of Force energy and the battery quickly began to charge, then with another Force prod, the memory core came online and then the screen above it. Opening his eyes he looked around at both the Overseer and Darth Andruil....

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

As Artorigas wandered to one end of the room, Andruil took her pad and went to the other end. She took a seat cross legged and set the pad in front of her. Although she knew how to use a datapad, she didn't turn it on or touch it beyond that. Her eyes closed and she touched the Shadow.

As much as she found this world unsavory, she couldn't deny that she loved the way it felt around her. It pulsed with primal and vicious energy. She could feel everything flowing around her. The minds of those in the room, the fear and anger of those in training in the temple, the peace and apprehension of those beyond the Veil.

And then there was the datapad. It was devoid of life, simply dead. Mechanical and metal, but the Shadow pierced everything. It could surround a stone and turn it into a weapon. It could flow like lightning from the fingers. This was no different.

Her mind tried to penetrate it at first and she caught whiffs of the electricity flowing through it. For just a moment she could sense it and then she lost it, her mind pulled back out of focus. She gritted her teeth and opened her eyes to look at both of the other two. She was going to get this. She didn't like failing, and it simply wasn't an option.

It seemed Artorigas had made some good progress based on the glowing screen.

Andruil took another deep breath and focused once again on the pad, reaching out to the world around her and drawing on the very fabric of the universe to escalate the energy running through the device. She reached out and put her hand on the device. She could sense the circuits again this time, the physical contact lending aid to her focus. Everything about the device was starting to be laid out in front of her and she continued to force her mind forward, using brute force and raw power to overcome her shortcomings in technology.

And then the smell of smoke filled the room and she opened her eyes to see that she had perhaps brute forced it a bit too much. The datapad wasn't on fire, but it was fried and smoking. She frowned at it. Apparently she would need another datapad.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

As he watched the Darth seem to overload the datapad he was struck with surprise, he thought that at best he had made an ok job and that someone as talented and powerful as the Darth would succeed easily where he thought he had struggled. The flipping of the expected put him on his heels and it took him a while to fully think through and react as the smell of smoke began to fill the room. It was not an unknown smell to him, burnt out circuitry was a common occurrence when he was playing around as a kid.

The overseer took the burnt pad from the floor next to Darth Andruil and replaced it with a second and stepped away not saying a word. It appeared that he was not the one for show and tell, Artorigas was conflicted on whether he should offer some guidance, he was well below her in both rank and station as well as mastery over The Force, but his basic knowledge had seemed to be the cause of his success, so perhaps giving some of that knowledge would be helpful. Or would she see it as him being patronizing, 'Look the little Acolyte can do it where the Councillor could not.'

Gritting his teeth and taking the plunge, the Acolyte stood up and moved slightly closer towards the Darth before crouching down at a safe distance. "You need to identify the missing power link, it could be a broken wire, battery or just no charge. If you don't know what the items look like, try sending a charge of energy through the screen. Follow the power backwards through the pad until you find what is stuck."

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Andruil watched the datapad taken away and another one placed in front of her, and she too said nothing. Instead, she focused her attention on the datapad once more and was ready to begin when Artorigas spoke up.

Her eyes flicked up on him, a burning intensity behind the golden gaze, but there was no command to cease speaking nor a word of rebuke for what he said. She was here to learn. Both men in the room were technically below her rank, but they had knowledge she did not, and she wasn't foolish or arrogant enough to turn away help and instruction when it was offered.

She paused for a moment, considering whether or not she wanted to ask a question and then deciding that it would be a stupid and pointless waste of time to pretend that she knew what she was doing when she did not.

She thought about what he said, and what she had tried to do. She could feel the energy and the Shadow flowing through it. But brute force wasn't working, likely because of what he said. She focused again, letting her energy flow through it and permeate the entire device. She let it flow through every circuit until she could almost feel what was one the device in her mind. And then she saw it: the single dark corner in the machine. Rather than try to force the energy through, she manipulated it, letting it reconnect with the rest of the pad before the screen flashed to light.

Ah, she said, looking pleased at the results. That would do quite nicely. Excellent work, she said to both of them, indicating her appreciation of their instruction. It was a start.

---​

The remainder of the day was spent working with an escalating difficulty until she felt that she had a good enough grasp of the techniques to practice them on her own. And it was something that would take practice. Like everything dealing with the Shadow, it was a process that would take practice to perfect.

She stood and looked over to Artorigas. He was an odd one, she had decided. A difficult read to be sure, and one who played things close to the chest. Not that she couldn't appreciate that. She was a secretive person on many topics herself.

Has this been what you were hoping for? she asked bluntly after a moment.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

After Andruil has completed the first task and not removed his head for speaking, Artorigas was able to relax and sink his teeth into the rest of the afternoon's training. The rising difficulty of the tests was exciting for the young man, he was able to exercise his power within The Force without the need to borrow anything from the Dark Side. The voice was there, niggling in the back of his mind the entire time, the planet of Korriban seemingly egging the voice on. But he resisted, content in his application of his brain more than brute force.

He thought of different applications for this technique in the future, a lot of his military strength at the moment relied on droids so having a way to shut them down if they ever turn against him was good. The possibility to depower a station or unit and then use this to get through was also a good application of the power he thought.

Finally Darth Andruil broke the silence, they had hardly spoken since they met the Overseer a far cry from their open conversation on the 'Wyvern'. "It has been enlightening both the knowledge and the conversation." He said with a smile. "And yourself Mi' Queen?"

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Indeed, she replied. She turned to the Overseer. Until next time, she said before heading for the door. She wondered if and when he would request something in exchange for what he had taught today. Nothing in the Sith was free, but she had the resources to pay.

She headed out and then looked back at Artorigas when they were out of earshot of anyone else.

Why are you a Sith? Just because it was a Sith who found you? she asked. It was another direct question. She had sensed his... almost conflict throughout the day, and it had only further triggered her ever-curious mind that knew no concern for boundaries.

@Braden Drake