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Varyn Atrix

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Per my new OP template, thread is death enabled​
Varyn had been summoned. Whether this was a good or a bad thing remained to be seen, but the irony was that despite being a bit nervous, he'd been under so much pressure and scrutiny in his role for so long that he was almost becoming numb to it. He had a certain confidence to his walk that seemed to have been absent for a long time before this. A certainty in what he was doing that came from genuine conviction.

He was dressed in his ISB uniform - which felt kind of weird after years of pretty much wearing armor all the time - and arrived at the office of the Director, notifying the receptionist out front. Several seconds passed before he was directed to step inside. If directed, he would surrender his newly crafted lightsabers, but if not he would advance inside as he was.

Director, he said, standing straight with his hands clasped behind his back. The fact that he hadn't been stripped of his weapons was... probably a good sign. This wasn't the Sith, and so he felt his odds of being executed on the spot were lower than if he had been summoned by Trelain, which had thankfully never actually happened. He'd just had to endure the grilling of an Inquisitor instead. But now they were gone as well.
 

Val Varthra

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Val Varthra had a problem. A not insignificant problem and one that gave her repeated headaches: the Force. Up until now, her only real experience with it had been the Sith and Altair. Altair was obviously the better of the two options, but unfortunately there weren't too many Sith like him. Force users who put the Empire above their personal religious beliefs.

Well, if none yet existed, she would just have to make one—or several. And she knew exactly who to ask.

She found it while searching the old records preserved by the previous director of the Imperial Security Bureau. A reference to a Jedi infiltrator who had turned to the dark side and become a Sith. As it happens, that same covert was one of the Sith who had willingly surrendered his weapon and renounced the Order. It was enough to make her raise her brow, but he may also be exactly who she needed. And so she had summoned him with haste.

"Varyn," she replied professionally when he was before her. She had an urge to call him 'Champion Atrix,' the name and rank she had known him as when he was a Sith. Now, she didn't know what to call him. "I appreciate you coming so quickly." She nodded her head towards a myriad of datapads spread across her desk. "I'll cut straight to the point. I was glancing through your files the other day and landed upon an interesting fact. You were once a Jedi."

She crossed her hands behind her back. "So, a Jedi became a Sith; and then a Sith become a nobody. Walk me through that line of thinking. Why did you betray the Jedi to join the Sith? Why did you renounce the Sith to become... whatever you are now?"

He wouldn't see the purpose of her questions yet, but they weren't as antagonistic as she made them sound. @Phoenix
 

Varyn Atrix

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"You were once a Jedi." It always came down to those words, and the variability in how people felt about those five words. His history as a Jedi had blocked his ascension in the ranks of the Sith at multiple turns, and he'd be lying if he said it didn't frustrate him. It also put a shattering strain on a relationship he had held dear, though the reason for that failing were far more than just that history.

I'm an agent. Or whatever my new rank will be within the ISB. Assuming you haven't brought me here to arrest me, he said as she said he was a nobody. He didn't seem particularly rustled by the way she spoke to him, he'd experienced far worse, but he was going to lay down precisely where he stood on the situation as it currently existed.

You're concerned that I'm still a Sith infiltrator, though, aren't you? he speculated. Although that wasn't why he had been called here, it was a logical guess. He'd been a Shadow once before so what was to stop him from doing it again? He went on only pausing for a moment to actually answer the question she had asked.

To understand why I did all of that you have to understand what motivated the original decision to leave the Jedi, he said, making a mental note not to wax too philosophical here. She was a busy woman, and likely didn't have time for him to make some very long-winded debate out of things as was his wont.

I left the Jedi because I believed in the good the Empire could do with the right guiding hand at the wheel and because I felt the Jedi missed their opportunity to actually deal with the Sith, he said. His answers were shockingly honest and his face betrayed surprisingly little: a well practiced skill from his years in intelligence.

I think if and when you inevitably collect reports on me, if you haven't already, you'll find a prevailing fact to be true: I was a terrible Sith and an excellent intelligence officer. My belief in the Empire - not the Sith - was the reason I was one of the first in line to back the Warmaster, he said. And there it was. He had made his case, and he could feel the nerves there as he waited under her judging gaze.
 

Val Varthra

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Val didn't know Varyn terribly well. They had met on Eraidu only weeks ago and so much had changed since then. Their brief mission to Naboo had been spent mostly apart. Yet despite all of that, she had never taken him for a paranoid man. Yet she did nothing to contradict his assumption that she was intent on arresting him. She wasn't going to do that, of course, but she derived some small pleasure from the fact that he thought she would.

"Such devotion to the Empire," she said in a flat tone, betraying none of her intentions. "Perhaps you were indeed a lousy Sith. By now we know how shallow their patriotism was. Small wonder they were cast out from the Empire they helped to build." Her gaze flicked across the desk to the former Sith. "But not you. You stayed behind, and you have slim company. Only one of seven. Which brings me to the point of summoning you here."

Val took a seat for the first time since Varyn arrived and invited him to take a seat across from her. Whether he took her offer or not, she would fold her hands in front of her and continue. "I don't intend to arrest you, Varyn Atrix. Not unless you pull out a red lightsaber right now and declare your undying loyalty to the new 'Dark Lord,' which seems improbable given that heartfelt case you just made for yourself. No, what I really need is your help. Or, more accurately, the help of a bad Sith."

Now, here was the heart of her case. The other six Sith who had renounced their Order were considerably more devoted to the old religion than he had been. If she was to build something new using these seven as the first generation, it couldn't be them who derived the curriculum.

"Most of the Sith are gone now," Val continued. "Those who remained behind will be dealt with in due time. But though they are gone, we cannot just ignore the Force or those sensitive to it. If we do, the Jedi or the Sith could pick them off and forge agents within our own borders, and that just would not do. The Warmaster and I have ideas, but I would hear yours. As someone who never felt at home in neither the Jedi nor the Sith, what would you do in my predicament?"

@Phoenix
 

Varyn Atrix

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Well, she hadn't arrested him yet, so that was a good sign. Ultimately, he had little choice but to "go with the flow" of the situation. He had always prided himself on his adaptability and capacity for finding creative solutions to problems in front of him.

She motioned for him to take a seat, and he did so, settling into a chair that was very functional if not the be-all-end-all of comfort.

As she declared her conditions for arresting him, he had to suppress the urge to make some very bad and sarcastic jokes. This really wasn't the time, but oh if he wasn't tempted. However, as she reached the point of describing himself as a "bad Sith" he finally allowed himself a snicker and smirk. Well, that was one thing that he fit the bill for quite well if nothing else.

He was a bit surprised when her statement turned not to a proposal but a question, he frowned and looked off into the distance for a moment in thought.

Well, seven people won't be enough to patrol the entire Empire, he said, he was clearly thinking out loud here.

But there's the kids from the academies who could be trained up, so what you're wanting is for the seven of us to be instructors, too, right? he said. But instructors in what? You've got the Jedi, you've got the Sith, but there's a lot of other Force-using sects out there. What you need... eeh, he said, dismissing his initial thought and pausing for a moment to let his brain catch up once again.

Honestly, an alliance with the Jedi would probably be useful, but that's kind of a burned bridge right now... and for the foreseeable future, he said. So I guess what you need is a military-based Force-using organization. People who specialize in tracking and neutralizing other Force-users, right? he said.

Now whether that group is a Dark or Light side we could debate for hours... probably days even, he said, before pausing. But you don't want more Sith, and you brought the former-Jedi here, so I'm guessing that tells me which way you lean, he said with a nod as if it was coming together. Which brought about something of a sense of... concern within him. He had been a Jedi, but he had dipped into the Dark Side. Granted, not nearly as deeply as others, but there was no question that his connection to the Force was... different than it was before.

Light-leaning, he finally said. No, the seven people who were going to form whatever this new group was were not all going to be Lightsiders. They would still harness aggression in ways the Jedi would forbid, but the Jedi sometimes took the edge of the cliff and instead of walking right up to it, they stayed about a mile back. Maybe they needed something that wasn't afraid to be aggressive. To be soldiers without embracing hatred.

More Knight, less Jedi, he said.
 

Val Varthra

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Val leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other as she watched Varyn walk through his thinking in real-time. More Knight, less Jedi. She liked that phrase. It could almost be a slogan. Perhaps the start of a new Code. Force-types were so fond of those mantras of theirs. The Sith Code was all over the walls and plaques of the academy back on Dromund Kaas.

"The Jedi Order is no more use to us than the Sith are," Val stated bluntly. "You said it yourself. The Jedi have had years to handle the Sith, and what have they done? They're essentially nomads at this point, parading out every few months to apologize for something else they've been accused of."

The disdain Val had for the Jedi Grand Master was known to only a few, but only because the Jedi were not a frequent topic of discussion with her. The truth was that she found Grand Master Alexandra Voran a weak and impotent leader compared to Emryc Thorne, Altair, or even the Hutt leader. Sure, the Jedi had executed Draugr recently, but only because the had been handed they Sith Lord by the Hutts. No, she didn't want the Jedi anywhere near the Empire or the new Order she was creating.

"Furthermore," she continued, "What you Force-users call Light and Dark are religious mumbo jumbo to the rest of us. More importantly, the fixation on alignment has led to a zealotry that has cost trillions of lives. What I am looking for is an Order that recognizes the flaws in seeing the Force as a deity instead of what it actually is: a tool." She realized that argument tended to make Force-users bristle, but Val had no patience for a theology debate. "Whether it ultimately leans Light or Dark is up to its members."

Once again, she steepled her fingers, her gaze unflinching. "The truth is, Varyn, I don't want just anyone teaching this new Order's recruits. I want you to do it. You have been both Jedi and Sith. You are better positioned than any of the converts to know the weaknesses in both religions' philosophies and can hone these new Knights into warriors whose entire purpose is service to the Empire." As she spoke, she began to open a file on her datapad, glancing idly through it as she continued. "I'm also told you're a seasoned warrior. That is good. As you said, these new Knights will need to be capable of fending off Jedi and Sith alike. They will need to be relentless."

"The Warmaster has recommended Wodan to lead the new organization," she went on without stopping. "I agree with his assessment. Wodan's tactical experience makes him a natural pick for the job. But I would elevate you to the 'Master' rank—name forthcoming. Put you in charge of developing curriculum for the new trainees. So, my questions for you are twofold: Do you accept? And how do you plan on getting the Acolyte children away from their Sith academies?"

She had also considered plundering the Sith worlds for their Force-sensitive children, but thought the situation too volatile at the moment. But if Varyn had a plan, she wanted to hear it...

@Phoenix
 

Varyn Atrix

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Yes, he understood her sentiment about the Jedi being useless. It was one of the reasons that he had left them: impotence. He didn't believe they would always be like that but what they might be in the future was only so helpful for the here and now.

As she talked about the Light and Dark, he was once again reminded just how little so many people knew of the Force. For someone like him who was surrounded and immersed by it every moment of every day, it was easy to forget that for the majority of the galaxy it was just a myth, and even for those who had seen it first hand, they barely understood anything about it.

So he just nodded as she left the decision up to the members. It would be an excellent topic of discussion among said members, but now wasn't the time for that. The mention of seeing the Force as nothing but a tool was... a bit more contentious, and was something he would no doubt need to meditate on, but that, like everything, would have to be carefully evaluated.

And then she told him she wanted him to train them. Although he kept his expression externally neutral, inside, he leapt at the idea. He would love the opportunity to shape something new and actually make the Force-users in the Empire better and more in line with what he had always wanted to fight for.

I would be honored and thrilled, he finally said in answer to her first question. And it was entirely true. It was an honor to be asked to do this, and he was excited to get started.

As for the academies: I would be more than happy to go in myself along with any of the seven, but we we need full military support, he said. With fortune, anyone who is left there isn't looking for a fight and the Sith will have left. We go in, load them up on shuttles, and move them away from Korriban to wherever the new academy will be, he said.

But I'm a firm believer in "hope for the best, plan for the worst." Just because that's how I hope it happens, it's still possible the Sith will dig in and fight, and if that happens, that's why the military task force, he said.
 

Val Varthra

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Val's face remained chiseled stone, betraying nothing. She was pleased Varyn was so eager to complete his mission. More pleased that she was not wrong about him. If the other six were even half as keen to reform, this could work, and the Empire would be free of the Sith plague once and for all. But there were still intricacies they had to navigate. This road would not be an easy one.

"Very well," she said after a moment. "Take any of the other six you deem fit. Take them all if necessary. Secure the academies and as much of their charges as you can." That was the easy part, but the military on the other hand... "But that brings me to some bad new. I can authorize some of the military and the fleet to be dispatched to your aid in these missions, but after this military support will be limited. The Sith strongly damaged the outlook on Force-users by the Imperial public. You, the others, and any the seven of you train must regain that trust from the public before the government can be seen giving you a significant part of its budget and resources again."

"The important thing to remember, Varyn, is that whatever this New Order — these Imperial Knights — become, they cannot become the Sith again. They cannot head armadas and invasion forces." At least, not yet. Not now. Sometime in the future? Perhaps, who could say. But on this, she and the Warmaster were of the same mind. "You strike me as someone who has long wished to see change in both the Jedi and the Sith. Well, this is your opportunity. Be the change you've longed to see. The very survival of the Empire depends on it."

She wished she was being hyperbolic, but Val was never one to exaggerate. She knew the galaxy's eyes were on them. Watching. Waiting to see if they would outgrow the Sith or fall back into their own habits. The success of her — of their — Imperial Knights was paramount in demonstrating that they would not. They they had grown and become something new. Something better.

"I trust you will have no trouble operating under these conditions?"

@Phoenix
 

Varyn Atrix

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Varyn frowned at her comments, making no attempt to hide his opinions. He was done concealing what he thought about things and he had no interest in simply being a pawn. He would fight and die for what he believed in but that didn't mean he would simply put his head down and be silent.

I couldn't agree more about not returning to the ways of the Sith and with making changes to avoid the mistakes of both Jedi and Sith, he began, but he wasn't going to fail to point out the flaws in her logic.

However, if you expect this group to act in isolation without the support of - or supporting - the rest of the Empire, you will be setting things up for failure, he said. Preventing competent people from advancing simply because they are Force-users would necessitate the removal of the new Warmaster from power: a proposal I can't imagine you're suggesting, he said. In other words, Varyn wasn't excited about being told "no, you're completely on your own" simply because he was Force-user.

I understand the skeptical perception of Force-users, but I'm sure you understand that seven people have little chance of protecting the Empire from a Sith or Jedi invasion without any support, he said, baffled that he was even having to make this argument.

And further, this would be a military operation regardless, unless you intended - barring my involvement - to simply leave the academies on Korriban to not be dealt with, he said. In other words, these were military forces that the Empire needed to deploy anyway, and that was the crux of the issue.

I suppose, then, I should ask precisely how you are expecting this group to operate? he asked. Perhaps he had simply misunderstood or perhaps she had some vision that he was missing.
 

Val Varthra

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A cruel smile curled across Val's lips. In the short time he had been in her office, Varyn had gone from afraid of possible arrest to challenging her boldly. Quite the turnaround; and he was right, partly. The Knights would need support eventually, but not now — not yet. The moment her program was announced, it would look like the Sith had returned and been only slightly repainted.

They needed to show Imperials that they were something new. Something better. Only then could Val risk getting her Knights more involved with the Imperial military. "Varyn, Varyn, put your listening ears on," she said, smooth as silk. "I already said you'll have military and naval support for dealing with the academies. I wouldn't send you all to your deaths so early. But this new group will not be generals and admirals as the Sith of old were."

"What I spoke of comes after. I am not a foolish woman." She gestured to the pile of datapads spread messily across her desk. "I have done my research. And you are former Jedi and know that the current Order — flawed as it was — sprang from a single Jedi over a hundred years ago. There are seven of you. After the academies are dealt with, your mission will be to build it up." She tapped keys on her desk and brought up a series of holograms. "The ISB will provide you with a building here on Raxus to serve as a base, but you should also build temples and training dojos across the Empire as you begin recruiting."

"As for how you should operate," she continued, the holograms vanishing. "Right now, you will be the fist of Imperial law enforcement. You will protect our citizens from threats that make it inside our borders. I will be giving all of you Peacekeeper-level clearance as a start. Once the New Order is more robust, we can talk about a larger role. If you need credits or resources, you come through me. I will not be a blank cheque, but I will be your advocates to the Warmaster and the rest of the Ruling Council."

She arched a brow at him. "Any further objections?"

@Phoenix
 

Varyn Atrix

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Oh, my listening ears are on, and they heard that we'll be receiving no support after this, he said, though there was a hint of sarcasm and humor in his words if just a touch. He had made his point well spoken and known, and for now that was all he wanted. He knew there were times to dig in your heels and times to simply plant a seed and move on.

He nodded as she spoke of rebuilding and described their role within the Empire. Honestly, that was all things he could get behind. He'd considered transitioning into the peacekeepers even before the split, and he couldn't help but think that this was the ideal situation for him. Things just kept getting better.

And there at least was a door open for funding and resources. He had no illusions about unlimited funds, but he didn't need that either, and he doubted the others would, too.

Understood, he said with a nod.

No, he said before trying to suppress a smirk. But if I do, I will be sure to bring them to you, he said. He had a dry sense of humor, and he didn't know her well enough to know if she would find it amusing, but it also wasn't entirely wrong. She'd made it clear that she was the head of this new group, and therefore issues should be brought to her.

I'll get to work immediately. Starting with Korriban, then, he said, waiting for her agreement.
 

Val Varthra

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Val could tell Varyn wasn't happy. He had every reason to be upset, after all. Because he was right. Mostly. She didn't intend to leave her Knights entirely without support, but the grandiose support the Sith had received from Imperials simply were not in the cards right now. They would have their temple, they would have their clearance. And if they were truly reformed, they would be able to build the Order from scratch. Of that she had no doubt.

But now was not the time to get into arguments. She rose from her seat and offered him a handshake over the table. "See to it that you do," she said of his first remark. "Any problems arise, I want to know about them."

To his second, she added, "Korriban sounds like the smart place to start. The paperwork is already done for the resources I promised you. They await your departure." Regardless of whether or not he accepted her handshake, she would finish with, "I wish you good fortune in the battles to come, Knight-Captain Atrix."

@Phoenix
 

Varyn Atrix

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Varyn nodded and rose as she did, taking the offered hand and shaking it firmly. There was a great deal more work to be done, and not much more to just say about it.

Until next time, director. I look forward to working together, he said, with genuineness in his tone. She had proven herself competent and not insane, which he respected. It was good to have people at the helm of the Empire who weren't simply bloodthirsty.

Varyn turned to leave and his thoughts whirled, first settling on those who he would need to work with and then to the next mission. The details of what would be built would have to wait and be worked out... for now. Right now, he had an academy to liberate.

//Thread
 
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