Ask Painful Truths

[Darth Tiamat]

Tiamat didn't move when Jaikus finally spoke, his tone more stern than she had ever remembering it to have been. She waited for his rebuttal, to toss aside her pain as petty pillow talk, but he did not. The storm the rolled and carried on inside her calmed just briefly as she met his eyes, listening to his question, to know what Raze had allowed her to see in those brief moments. However, she knew what she felt all those years ago, and as Jaikus continued she wished he could know also, it was genuine, it was real, and the suffering she had been silently battling for decades had worn her to the core.

Jaikus was right, in at least the Raze that now existed, he was not capable of those same feelings. She knew he would kill her in an instant, she knew he wanted obedience, however, it was hard not to ponder the what ifs, to know the whole truth of what happened to keep Raze and herself separated. However, the painful reality would remain, it was gone, discarded and destroyed, and only her love still remained, unfulfilled. The wound so deep, Raze would have known, Emryc would have known, and now Jaikus, who saw how much of a heart she carried to reassure she was not a monster like the rest of the ones she had met.

He approached her, but Tiamat didn't move, she didn't realize she had stopped pacing. She felt sick, exhausted, the foundations of her self shattered as the storm inside blew through everything she had known, felt and experienced.

"For just today, Jai, I don't want to care about anything." she whispered, feeling herself sink back into her mind, looking for any respite from the chaos, "I just want to go home." she said and turned on her heel to return to the hanger and her ship.

@Altaris @Phoenix @Sreeya

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc came in halfway through Jaikus’ reassuring words towards Tia. He almost discreetly turned and walked out again, but he had an update that was unsettling. The half Sephi patiently waited for the exchange to finish, ending with Tiamat announcing her declaration and beginning to storm off yet again. Emryc eyed her curiously and blinked.

“But you are home,” He muttered flatly as usual. To him it was simply a statement of fact, nothing complicated or emotional about it.

Emryc turned to them all, glancing down at his datapad, “Ezra remote sliced into a droid,” His gaze fell on Jaikus, “He…accessed Ship,” All three knew the significance of that ship for Emryc. All three had years of memories on it. All three knew the rows upon rows of Sith texts on it, “And he found my- Raze’s armor.”

Emryc was both impressed and disappointed in himself that his son was able to outsmart him. No one could outsmart Emryc Thorne, and yet his teenage boy managed to do just that.

@Phoenix @Altaris @GABA

 

[Renfry]

Renfry hadn't joined into the little... moment between Jaikus and Tiamat. They were both a little on the emotional side at the moment and had ultimately gone out to join Emryc to get some fresh, non-emotional air.

She gave thought to their next moves and all that could come when Emryc returned and informed them that Ezra had taken Ship. If that didn't bring back memories. A lot of memories.

I don't suppose you put a way for only you to track and access it, she asked. It would have been just the kind of thing he would do and never tell anyone about, but this could qualify as something close to an emergency.

I know you said not to chase him, but do you think that Raze will go after him? she asked. He would be able to put two and two together that if there was a theft-recovery-like system that only Emryc could use to track the ship, then Raze would know about it too.

 

[Darth Tiamat]

But you are home,

Tiamat blinked, turning slowly to see Emryc and Renfry had both rejoined them. He didn't say anything further but redirected the focus back to Ezra. She wasn't all surprised by the kid's ability to remotely slice into the droid, he had been around Blackwell software that eventually he would have picked up the flaws in the firewalls and blow his way past. His engineering skills were ever growing, catching on quickly to her work with hypergates and assisting her in the labs, it was no surprise he could fly under the radar if he wanted to; he was one of the best young minds in the galaxy. She loved him like her own and he had created so much pride to see him be as successful as he was.

However, what was even more concerning was where else he had gone and what else he had accessed. Reality descended upon Tia as she felt her stomach drop, giving her relief from her own inner turmoil to now what Ezra knew, and she worried what that information would do to him.

She looked at her datapad, seeing the data from a security breach. Though not uncommon, as many of the large shipwrights had upped their attacks on her company, this one was different, a gate had been accessed. Her brow narrowed with concern, "He jumped...at the lab." she said bringing up the reports, "I don't recognize these coordinates..." she said, lips pursed as she continued to read through the reports, wishing with such a jump it would be successful.

"He won't be able to jump back, I-we need to go now." she looked up, her gaze meeting with each of them in her own concern.

@Sreeya @Altaris @Phoenix

 

[Jaikus Thorne]

Jaikus couldn’t help but exhale a deep breath - watching as Tiamat began to turn to leave. He could tell that his words had found purchase to some degree.. But clearly not enough to talk the redhead completely from the ledge. He opened his mouth, preparing to say one final thing, when Emryc returned to the scene and spoke. In an instant, the Axxilan could tell how the half-Sephi’s words effected Tiamat - calming her down at once.

There was a sense of immediate relief, though Jaikus couldn’t help some hint of that the simple statement was able to achieve results where his heartfelt words hadn’t. He silently glanced over to Emryc, giving the half-Sephi a look.

Of course, Jaikus wasn’t allowed to dwell on it for long. His eyes immediately went wide when Emryc mentioned that Ezra had remotely accessed Ship. His son’s engineering prowess was something that - despite the boy rarely advertising - Jaikus encouraged at every opportunity. There was a hint of pride, but it was quickly eclipsed by the knowledge that Ezra had found Raze’s armor - in addition to, most likely, the multitude of Sith artifacts that the two of them had collected over the years. His jaw set into a firm line, eyes closing for a moment. “Fuck..” He muttered under his breath. Ezra had already started to spiral, and that revelation would only haunt the boy further.

When Tiamat revealed where Ezra had gone, Jaikus finally opened his eyes again - worry clear behind his emerald eyes. Despite the urgings not to run after his son on an impulse, the knowledge that the boy had taken a Hypergate - that he’d jumped to coordinates he couldn’t return from - created a new sense of urgency. Once more, his gaze flicked to Emryc. There was no question whether Jaikus would sit around and wait at this point.

“Can you mimic the jump he took?” The Axxilan said, preparing to rush out of the room and towards the quickest route to Tiamat’s lab.

@Sreeya @Phoenix @GABA