Ask Vision and Brain

[Nakoa Singh]

Out in the sticks on Abhean, Nakoa was in the middle of boiling just an absolutely huge pile of crawfish over a fire he'd made just outside his ship's landing ramp. He considered the crackling with pensive expression, considering the state of the galaxy these days. The Sith Order's 'walk of shame' had been broadcast across the galaxy, the Empire was reconsolidating the inevitable chaos of government upheaval, and everything felt kind of weird.

Oh, and they'd announced out loud they were tracking known Sith ships and the like. Would've been cunning of them not to announce that part and lure idiots in. Public transparency Nakoa supposed, or perhaps classic intimidation. Every step felt like they wanted the Sith out rather than gone entirely. Singh himself was hardly notable, having handed in his Sith-issued doodads. The Wrean wasn't even a citizen, really. More of a nomad.

Plus his ship wasn't running an Imperial transponder. That probably helped. Still, it made some things more inconvenient than he would like. Some plans would have to be moved up, others put on the back burner. He let out a long, deep sigh. Not to mention that'd definitely been Jeset on the holo there, poor kid. Nakoa wondered if they were still gonna show up as they'd said.

@Arcangel

 

[Amun Seti]

It wasn't long after Jeset's deal with Aacklay that a certain mister Singh had reached out to him. Plans they had made before the world fell apart that Jeset had thought would merely cease were instead pushed to the forefront.

It took Jeset a great deal of time deciding whether or not to trust the Sith 'Champion'. If that's even what they were these days. The Acolyte had few places to turn and fewer people to trust, but in the end his previous interactions with the man, and his instincts, led him to Abhean.

It was with a fresh transponder on his courier, a new coat of paint that had been purposefully aged, and a few new dings and dents that Jeset touched down near the location where he had been instructed to meet Singh. He had debated whether to wear a mask and protect his new identity from Singh but reveal himself as Sith to all others, or to go maskless, perhaps exposing himself to the Sith but remaining incognito to the rest of the world.

In the end he had settled on the latter, and he came down the ramp of his ship wearing simple clothes. Long pants, dark sweater, a black cap, and a black wrap around mask that was currently pulled down to appear as little more than a neckwarmer. His armaments were sparse, he had what meager talent with the force he possessed as well as a few small vibro-knives tucked away in their usual places, and a microwire garrote that was conveniently stuffed in his pocket as fallback options.

There was a good chance that Singh wouldn't recognize him, his usually white hair dyed a dark black, his facial structure lightly reworked to spoof any facial recognition databases that might be tracking 'Jeset'. Even the name he was working under wasn't the one that Singh knew. The Acolyte approached the campfire cautiously, eyeing the man warily as spoke. "Singh." He said with a nod.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Nakoa Singh]

For a moment after the mysterious stranger wandered into camp, Singh's amber-gold eyes locked to the other being's form with an intensity the young boy hadn't yet seen. Both eyes bored into him, sharp as a bird of prey sighting from above, focused as a wildcat in the trees. The Wrean's nostrils flared as the figure spoke. His head tilted slightly after a moment, that intensity passing almost as if it'd never been there at all.

"You changed your hair. And cheekbones." The face was similar to but not quite the same as the acolyte he'd met with before, but the voice hadn't changed at all. "If you're going to do that, change soap and shampoo." Or their scent. It wouldn't matter to humans, but not every sentient had a human's relatively dull sense of smell.

A hand breezily waved the young man closer to the fire- really more a collection of burning coals with very little smoke, best for cooking- and dumped a bowl of crushed herbs into the boiling water. The smell of strong seasoning and crawfish floated through the forest air. "Still drawing?" he asked while leaning forward to smell the fragrant steam.

@Arcangel

 

[Amun Seti]

Amun unconsciously sucked in a breath as Singh's eyes locked onto him. No longer the casual and uncaring look that he had grown accustomed to from the man. No, this look was the look of a predator trying to decide whether or not he was prey. Or the look one predator gave to another as they weighed the value of a conflict. It might have been hot if it didn't make Amun feel so endangered.

And then the moment passed as the other Sith recognized him.

"Noted." Amun said as Singh called out the bit about changing his soap and shampoo, unconsciously giving himself a sniff before realizing the other man probably had a much keener sense of smell than his measly nearly human senses. "Slipped up, made a mistake. Was time to change masks." The younger Sith shrugged it off as he approached the fire and took a seat. Truthfully it had cost him dearly, a cost he was still paying financially, and more importantly, in his mind.

The path of a Sith had many costs.

"Try to. Galaxy's been hectic, hard to find time." He hadn't had a chance to pick up a pencil or paper since Junction, but the man's reminder put the thought in his head. Perhaps another time.

"Smells good." Amun gestured to the pot that Singh had just dumped a handful of herbs into. His stomach rumbled a little bit, reminding him that he hadn't exactly been able to afford anything that tasted very good on Omega station since taking on a debt for a new face. "What are we cooking today?" He said after a moment, catching Singh's eyes with a serious look in his own that indicated he wasn't talking about food.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Nakoa Singh]

Nakoa watched new Jeset shrug the situation off as if it were nothing, not someone who would be used to revealing anything that might be seen as weakness. Whatever the young Echani had gone through while they were apart, Nakoa doubted it was simple, or easy. He only nodded at the admission there hadn't been time to draw.

The question had been meant as more of a reminder. A Sith should maintain their passions, especially the little things, or risk losing far more valuable things. Not something he wanted to test personally, but he believed as much from old writings and anecdotes. He'd check in again about it later, maybe.

Stirring the boiling mixture with a slotted spoon, he removed one of the crawfish to examine it. He glanced over at Jeset and smirked. "Taozin." Without preamble, he scooped some crawfish into a wooden bowl and offered it over. He could still hear a stomach growling pretty easily, turned out.

"I've confirmed a rough location. Unfortunately, still in space. Abandoned bit of the old orbital foundries." Getting some crawfish for themself, Nakoa idly cracked and peeled one open. "What should I call this mask?"

@Arcangel

 

[Amun Seti]

Amun watched Singh for a moment. He was pretty sure the man had more questions but he kept them to himself for now. The black haired youth raised an eyebrow at the name that Singh offered as the target, questioningly.

"Taozin?" He asked simply as he leaned forwards, grabbing the bowl that was offered. He looked at the food, listening to Singh explain about the location.

"It would be in space." He said in irritation after a moment, fishing a crawfish out of the bowl and examining it. It certainly smelled good. He watched closely as Nakoa proceeded to de-shell his own, copying the technique to get to the meat inside.

"Amun Seti. Forget the old one, that name died on Junction." He said before popping the crawfish into his mouth, chewing the flavorful shellfish. It had been weeks since he had had good food. "This is good." He commented, fishing for another one in his bowl.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Nakoa Singh]

"A species of large, armored worm. Allegedly it is strangely attuned to the Force." A very interesting and potentially useful claim, if not one with much validity on its own aside from scant records. Personally, Nakoa hoped to verify its many supposed properties for himself and make use of them however possible. Didn't help they were stupidly rare out in the galaxy and where they'd originally come from was lost to time.

"Good to meet you, Amun Seti. I am Nakoa Singh," he said as if they were being introduced for the very first time. Nakoa smirked. "Also good fried." But he preferred to try food using simple local things whenever possible. Water and crawfish from the river and some of the herbs were from the surrounding forest.

"Space won't be so bad if we can restart power." The foundry in question was still in orbit, probably stuck in some kind of bureaucratic hell while people figured out what to do with it. Maybe they'd get lucky and life support was still on.

@Arcangel

 

[Amun Seti]

A large armored worm, strangely attuned to the Force. That wasn't something that one stumbled across in the galaxy every day and Amun could see why Singh was interested in it. "I am intrigued." He admitted. He wished there were time to do his own research but that could always be a future endeavor.

"A pleasure, Nakoa Singh. Would you prefer to stick to Singh?" It was the first time that Amun had gotten the man's first name, having only been introduced to the man's last name in previous encounters. He would of course stick to the honorific if that's what the older Sith preferred.

"So restart the power, hope there's still gravity and life support." He said as a matter of fact rather than a question as he proceeded to de shell another shellfish to eat. He paused, looking at the crawfish as he thought about their quarry. "So how exactly are we to go about boiling or frying this Taozin? I assumed by armored you mean hard to kill." He asked before popping the morsel into his mouth.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Nakoa Singh]

The Wrean chuckled, waving a hand dismissively. "Whichever is easiest for you." Neither name really mattered, really. They weren't the ones that mattered. Peeling with care, he ate another crawfish from his own bowl. "According to at least one tale, their shell repels most things. It won't matter." There was a pause to drink water from a skin nearby, a moment of thought.

"Taozin is best still living." It was very Sith to assume that just killing a thing was the best solution. Nakoa didn't blame Amun for his upbringing. "An animal well hidden and well protected is usually not an animal well mobile." Although there wasn't much to prove that point for this specific creature, it was often true in nature. Usually.

Rather suddenly, Nakoa's face formed an expression of thorough amusement. "If an enemy is well entrenched and defended, how does one defeat them?"

@Arcangel

 

[Amun Seti]

Amun remained impassive as Singh dismissed his question on a name with no preference. He would figure it out in his own time then. The information that their prey's shell repelled most things was troublesome, though the further information that living prey was the preference gave Amun a pause. He supposed that Nakoa had never actually mentioned killing the beast.

"Not always the case." Amun said quietly, pointing out the obvious. There were plenty of creatures in nature that defied such a characterizing.

The sudden amusement on Nakoa's face caused Amun to pause mid deshelling as the man asked a rather interesting question. Amun looked at him for a minute, thinking as he cocked his head slightly.

"Pin them down, deprive them of vital resources, food, water, ammunition." Amun started with listing the classical strategic characteristics of a siege. "Poison their rations, infiltrate their numbers with spies and assassins. Kill their leaders, sow chaos and distrust among the rank and file. Wear them down until defeat is inevitable." That was of course assuming this hypothetical involved an army, and not perhaps one large, armored worm. Some of these tactics still applied however. He resumed deshelling the crawfish having answered.

"Any idea what Taozin eat?" Amun asked quietly before popping the deshelled shellfish in his mouth. Chewing. Savoring. He figured it would be a while before he at something good like it again. There was a quiet question in the back of his mind as he wondered if Taozin were any good cooked like crawfish.

@Mr. Teatime