A Rift in Time [Darth Vulkan]

[Mirshko Betna]

The Chiloon Rift wasn't a place Mirshko could ever recall visiting. She knew Mom and Da never had, that was for sure. But, she knew one person who had. Abigail. The girl Draco was raising. She had the distinct feeling the girl wasn't Draco's daughter by blood. For most people that wouldn't matter among the Mandalorians. And it didn't really bother Mirshko much.

But something had caught her notice. Her parents had known Draco a long time, and over the years, Mirshko had seen Abigail a few times. The first time, Abigail had been young... and then the next time, it looked to Mirshko as if the girl had aged several years. She'd found it rather strange. And so, she'd asked Abigail about it once.

What Abigail had told her left Mirshko with a sense of wonder, and of curiosity. And not so much for the properties of the Rift which Abigail exhibited. Though they were interesting. It was what was in the Rift that interested her. Specifically, the Retreat. A place hidden from prying eyes. She couldn't count the times she'd wanted a place like this - or at least to visit one.

And so, she'd approached Draco - ahem Alor Vereen about the idea a couple weeks after her return from Tygara. And, he'd given her permission, as well as the coordinates. Of which he swore her to secrecy. That was a secret she could keep. Manda knew she had plenty of her own already. And here she was, the Bes'uliik floating in space in front of a rather non-descript station. her fingers moved slowly over the console as she input the codes he'd given her with care.

[member="Darth Vulkan"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Mirshko Betna.

Draco, remembered the young girl, child of Anija and Arrbi Betna. For some reason they trusted him, despite his galavanting around the galaxy, sporting the name Darth Vulkan, the title of Sith Lord, and actively working alongside the One Sith on several occasions. Why they would trust a very mentally unstable Sith Lord was beyond Vulkan's comprehension, but the Sith Lord had shrugged off his own questions and moved on to bigger and more important duties. Such as what he would be doing with Mirshko.

He had been careful not to tell the Betna Clan that the Retreat was currently in the Bubble of the Lost, as it often was elsewhere, far above the galactic plane, out of sight, out of mind. More than likely Abigail had told Mirshko about it some, though he had left details out from her as well, but whether her parents were aware of the situation wasn't important. What was important was training the girl.

"Let her aboard as normal," the Sith Lord spoke, the droids reacting by lowering the shields and leaving the hangar bay open for her starfighter while the Sith walked from the command center towards the hangar to meet her as she arrived.

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Draco Vereen"]

Minutes passed in silence as she waited for a reply from the Flight Control. She spent the time settling her breathing and getting her Dissembling active again. It wasn't that she didn't trust him. Her parents obviously did to a degree. And she would extend that same trust, if warily. Until it was earned. And, she had good reason to, given what she'd been through. And those memories were something she didn't care to share with just anyone.

Slowly, she turned the bes'uliik towards the station, only slightly startled when the voice of the flight controller came over the comm again. A deep breath, and her nerves were a little less unsettled as she angled the stealth fighter along the flight path he'd given, and followed the nav beacons. They led to a hangar just on the lower edge of the main body of the station. Letting out a slow breath, she carefully guided the small craft into the hangar and then towards the designated landing area that was marked on the decking.

The gentle bump told her the craft's landing gear had finally made contact with the decking. As it did so, she began to carefully put the various systems into standby mode as she heard the vessel begin to tick and cool. When the indicator lights on the console were the amber of standby, she hit the canopy release and then released her crash webbing to scramble out onto the bes'uliik's upper fuselage. It was then a short drop to the deck below.

As she straightened, she caught sight of him standing a few meters just outside the edge of the marked landing zone. He was waiting. She recognized him by virtue of his armor, which she'd seen up close on Roche. And yet, the faint sense she got of him through the Force seemed subtly different now than it had then. She frowned, but tried to shrug it off. It wasn't her place to ask such things. Another deep breath, and she straightened before making her way towards him. She still wore the modified Hyperion Advanced Combat armor. Mom had been working on a new set of armor for her, but it wasn't finished yet. As far as Mirshko had seen, it was still in the design stages.

A moment of hesitation - youthful uncertainty, and then she extended her hand with the intent to grip Draco's in a warrior's greeting. She wasn't sure how he would react to that. "Alor Vereen. Thank you for allowing me to visit," she said firmly after she reached up to remove the helmet of her armor.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The big man stood waiting in the hangar, and he saw the bes'uliik land in the small hangar. It wasn't meant for holding large numbers of fighters, it was made for running away from the galaxy to hide when things heated up ad he needed to find a place to recharge or to hide his family in times of danger or personal paranoia. The station was made to hide and often hidden in random systems away from others, off major routes, and away from activity. Normally he required any vessel he took to it to be capable of comprehensive stealth and take a complex course to it in order to shake anyone trying to follow them to keep the station's existence hidden. He had done some in this case, but let a lot slide for Mirshko.

"Mirshko, how are you?" he asked with a false warm smile. "Your mother and father still doing well I presume?" He asked the meaningless small talk and motioned for her bags to be fetched from the starfighter she arrived him. Thirteen, fourteen at the oldest and her parents were letting her fly around in a starfighter of her own. He supposed that wasn't crazy, as he had given Abigail everything a young Jedi needed to make it in the galaxy on her fifteenth birthday, including the sum of about twenty million credits to live off of if she needed it. He had set Abigail free and hadn't really heard from her since that time.

"I wasn't expecting you to want to come here, but I must ask why?" The Chiloon Rift was the bubble of the lost, and its time warping effects would be noticeable for her parents, already closing in on their forties while Draco sat comfortable in the first year of his thirties. Too long a life for such short a time.

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Draco Vereen"]

She was momentarily taken aback, and blinked up at him as she took a deep breath. Calm. she reminded herself. She had no reason to be afraid of him. Which... was intriguing, considering the sense she'd gotten from him on Roche. It felt so very different now. Shrugging slightly, she nodded and tucked her helmet under her arm as she turned to walk with him out of the hangar. "I'm well enough. Just got back from a visit with some family. I do appreciate your willingness to let me visit. Mom and Da are well, and as busy as ever." She laughed slightly. Mom always was elbow deep in some engineering project, and Da was off training more of the clan these days.

His next question caused her to pause for a moment as she considered her answer carefully. She knew, at least partially why she'd come. And Mom and Da had given her permission to do so. But she wasn't sure they fully understood what she was asking... or what she was getting into. A slight frown crossed her face before she nodded as if to herself. "Alor Vereen. I have come.... to ask for training in the ways of the Force. I have some skills and basic training... but the training I require to grow my abilities is not something which I can get from my buir'e."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco nodded as he listened walking through corridors, leading her not to the biodome at the center of the station but towards one of the lower, private levels on the station. This was where he kept seven valuable artifacts of power, all Dark Side artifacts inside a room coated in Nullification Resin. The artifacts themselves were clean, free of dust. There was the Gauntlet of Hod Ha'ran, the Ravening, the Glove of Darth Vader, Darth Bane's Holocron, Darth Vectivus's Holocron, the Dark Holocron, and several copies of other holocrons and scrolls, including datacrons with the incantations to summon Smoke Demons. She likely wouldn't be dabbling in much of those, but he was going to show her one of them.

"I understand the desire for training, Mirshko. I've sought it in the past, found it many times from unlikely sources. Unfortunately, my duties will not allow me to stay here with you and train you personally the whole time you are here, but I do have a few things that can help you." He stopped at a heavy blast door and waited for it to finish a molecular level biometric scan before it opened the thick turadium doors. "Wait here." He instructed moving into the library which was little more than a trio of shelves against the walls of the vault, finding the one he sought and returning to her, letting the door close. "This, is a copy of the Dark Holocron. It has within it many things of great knowledge and power and is a very old, very powerful Dark Side Holocron. I'm letting you have access to it because I am choosing to trust you. There are a few rules to using it though. First, you must never attempt to look into it without supervision. Make sure someone is nearby. This is mostly for your safety. Second, return it to that chamber every night you use it. Third, don't delve to deep until you are ready. The guardian will try to stop you, but being able to overpower it, doesn't make you ready to handle the information it might be protecting."

He smiled at her and dropped the holocron into her hands, ruffling her hair and leading her in a different direction, back up to the dormitories. The station didn't have very many people on it, it was very private, rarely visited, and those people that were on it, had been cut off from the galaxy at large for several years. It was safe, but it was also very much like a prison for some of them, unable to leave, unable to go elsewhere while the station was locked in place. Years at a time they were stuck like this.

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNdZu0A6Qks[/media]​

Mirshko didn't know all that much about the actual layout of the station - beyond what Abigail had told her, anyways. She could feel sparks of life near the center... some sort of garden maybe? But as they continued their progress through the corridors, it appeared that was not where Draco was leading her Instead, by her estimate, they seemed to be heading deeper into the station itself. Finally, they came to a stop outside a heavy blast door. She studied it for a moment as she saw it run some sort of scan over him. Whatever it was, and what was inside it, it appeared that only he could gain access to it.

She watched curiously as he entered the room, instructing her to wait outside. Frowning she did so. What he would come back with, she didn't know. But whatever was in that room was important enough to be locked away. Her eyes widened as he finally returned with a small triangular object in his hands. When held flat, it looked as if the bottom of it would completely cover her open palm. Her gaze lifted to his face, her eyes wide. 'Would he really trust her with this?' Her question was answered when he began to describe it and it's function in more detail.

A frown crossed her face as he further outlined how she was to utilize it. She knew it was for her safety. And for good reason. She knew each person who possessed an affinity for the Force had at their core the potential to great.... or terrible things. And she knew that was true of herself as well. As she felt the weight of the holocron settle into her hands, she let out the breath she'd not realized she'd been holding. The fact he was giving it to her meant that he trusted her... or maybe it was some kind of test as well? It was hard to tell. Mentally, she shrugged, and wrapped her fingers around the cool metallic surface.

When he'd finished, she lifted her gaze to his, a question etched upon her features. "You said I am return it to this chamber every night.... how am I to do so, unless someone can put it back for me?" That was the practical part of it. And it meant that perhaps that same person ... or possibly droid would have to be easy to reach should she need to. She was going to do her utmost to follow the guidelines he'd set forth.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco shrugged at her, "There are people about that can help you return it to its vault. Ask for Ner'gal, and he can assist you. He is a defel that is loyal to Clan Vereen and one of my former students. He can certainly help you if you need and he's always around her somewhere. He likes to hide, its practice for him, and he enjoys trying to sneak up on people since that is what he specializes in. As a wraith it benefits him to keep up his practice. He's around here somewhere."

The Mandalorian turned, leading the thirteen year old around the station, showing her the mess hall, the gym, and the biodome held within the Station. Since it was made for long term missions and exploration, it had a number of luxuries built into the station that Mirshko would have access to, and, there were always plentiful stocks. "Watch yourself in the gym, the artificial gravity is tuned higher in there than anywhere else on the station, so short stints, no marathons." For her age, long times spent under increased gravity could stunt her growth, and her parents likely wouldn't appreciate that.

"Other than that, only use the Stations communicator under supervision. It has to be heavily encrypted and re-routed through a number of channels to keep people from finding it. And you can leave whenever you wish, just be sure not to jump straight to inhabited space so you can't be back tracked."

[member="Mirshko Betna"]