Private Ahch-To: On the Trail of the Tyuskleen

[Kloe Weo]

Whispers and hints, rumors and suggestions. It wasn't much to go on, but Kloe had managed with less. When hunting rare game, one had to be brave and a little reckless. When stalking the detritus of a legend, one had to be downright foolish. Madness could only be understood by the mad, ambition could only be met with ambition. A merchant had mentioned spotting a large lizard that 'ate treasure' and 'loved Jedi' to a travelling smuggler, who'd in turn tried to sell that information to an associate of Kloe. She'd tracked down the merchant and found out HE'D just read about it in an old traveler's journal from way back when. A small bank of treasure-seeking lizards, being shipped from Dagobah to... somewhere.

Hopefully they were still alive.

Kloe stepped out of her heavy freighter and into the small coastal town it currently loomed over, consulting a bedraggled notebook. Two Loth-Wolves trailed behind her, keeping a wary eye on the approaching dockmaster and the security he'd seen fit to bring with him.

"Wasn't a-aware we had a second visitor, today!" He stammered, glancing nervously between the irritated-looking woman in black and her beasts. "Staying long, miss...?"

Kloe flipped her notebook around, stabbing a finger at the page. "Lizard. Like this. Have you seen it?" She asked curtly, showing him an image of a quadrupedal reptile with a nasty-looking axe beak, slightly more than half as tall as the presumably human stick figure next to it. "It likes old places."

"N-No, C-c-c-can't say that I have?" He apologized. "About the docking f-f-fee?"

Kloe scowled and gestured to an attendant lingering near the ship. "Pay him." She instructed, storming away. The attendant knew better than to ask when Kloe would return - because Kloe herself didn't know. She had a lizard to find, and she wasn't coming back without at least the remains of one. "And find out if there are any ruins nearby. Temples."

Niysha

 

[Niysha]

Niysha rarely bothered with Jedi ruins for a couple of very compelling, probably extremely obvious reasons. First, and most obviously, they were frequently full of Jedi. That was a bad scene when your saber was red and your solution to a nonzero number of hostilities was to shoot lightning from your fingertips. Second and far more damning, they didn't often have anything fun to find. Sith relics were so interesting because they were so dangerous, and Jedi relics just... weren't.

Still. All knowledge was worth having. The upside of being an old Jedi holy world was that it was largely toothless. From what she could tell on the flyover, the only thing happening within a hundred miles of the area she'd be landing in was some kind of cargo exchange. Some kind of bulk freighter. When a cargo liner landing on your planet was big news, "sleepy" was an understatement.

Niysha set her Sojourner down not far away from an enormous ship that dwarfed it at every possible scale and put up her standard defenses as she locked the modest, private shuttle up for departure. Since her meeting with Aadihr, she'd found a specific flavor of cloak to be her preferred resting point: she didn't bother to hide that she was Force-sensitive, but her training and alignment were choked before they left her body. As it turned out, appearing as non-Force-sensitive when your whole species was known for it had been a dead giveaway.

The poor, cowed man who was handling the landing pad was clearly not having the best of days, and Niysha certainly wasn't going to contribute to that. She gave him a silent nod of greeting, paid immediately in hard credits, and wandered off without another word.

As she'd expected, a little spit of a town on a wild space world full of decrepit Jedi tombs wasn't exactly the most exiciting place to live. There couldn't have been more than a couple hundred people, and from the flyover it seemed like most of what they did was fishing. There might've been someone who worked part-time as a tour guide when they got visitors, but Niysha wasn't interested in a guided tour of any ruins she was explicitly here to ransack.

First things first, groundwork. She needed to know where she was going.

Kloe Weo

 

[Kloe Weo]

The town was provincial. Incredibly provincial. Ordinarily, Kloe wouldn't care about that. It'd even be a plus. Provincial, nowhere town had less people in them, and less density. Less implicit rules, more space to leave. However, less people meant less useful information. It wasn't as though there was a library or the like she could raid.

It was fine. She'd manage. If she wanted her Tyuskleen, she'd have to. And if the locals couldn't point her towards any useful ruins or towards any large reptiles that might be hers? She'd have to find them the old fashioned way. That was always kind of the plan anyhow. No sense in optimizing the fun out of the hunt.

Her two loth-wolves in tow, Kloe lingered in town long enough to stock up on necessities - some local flavor jerky, a bit of guidance towards 'places folk don't go' and dangerous caves', and she was ready to go. To the common eye, she looked like a fairly normal woman wearing hiking gear about to set out on an expedition with her. Kloe even carried a blaster rifle to complete the illusion. To enhanced sight, she left a trail of condensed, malevolent snarl behind her like a bridal train made of briars. Her wolves, insofar as they had a soul, were thoroughly darkly-aligned. And perhaps most notable, the satchel of Jedi holocrons and sanctified crystals she wore at her hip.

After all, it never hurt to have bait.

 

[Niysha]

As Niysha wandered through the small coastal town of it-was-full-of-adorable-leathery-midgets-places-like-that-don't-have-names, she found her attention consistently pulled away further into the village. Something out there was menacing to a level grossly unexpected for such a peaceful little hovel. Whatever it was, it was outside her normal range, so after a few minutes of wandering around and gathering some basic supplies and information, Niysha found a quiet place and took a seat.

Just a moment of focus was all she really needed to expand her vision far enough to find what she was looking for: multiple dark presences, actively menacing the locals around them. It seemed that the other ship that had landed shortly before she had belonged to another Sith. One that was much less quiet than Niysha was... but still far more quiet and less destructive than she'd expected from one of her erstwhile kin. No one was dead. No one was injured. Barely anyone was even actively scared.

Niysha was just about to choke her presence down to a whisper when she managed to pick through the other Sith's aura well enough to note the several crystals and artifacts she was carrying. Benevolent artifacts. Jedi artifacts. Markedly unexpected. She needed to change her approach. Anyone bringing that many Jedi relics to a Jedi world while reeking of Sith was absolutely up to something that Niysha needed to be involved in.

With a deep breath, the Miraluka relaxed, releasing her presence back to its resting state; markedly gentle, slightly dark, and insatiably curious.

Thus prepared, Niysha stood, shouldered her bag, and wandered along the outside of the little fishing village, waiting to meet whoever her company was about to be this time. They might wind up fighting, of course. That was the danger of talking with other Sith. Still, Niysha didn't feel like this was an intrinsically hostile situation. Whatever the Force was telling her, it definitely wasn't that she was in immediate, life-threatening danger.

She'd know, of course, in just a minute or two.

Kloe Weo

 

[Kloe Weo]

The fishing village was decidedly quaint. The people who lived out here, subsisting on the land - catching and growing and killing what they ate? More alive than anyone on a heap planet like Nar Shaddaa or Taris in Kloe's opinion. Not that people on those city-planets didn't fight to survive and thrive, just that they did so in a way that was less respectable or worth doing. Thus, while they were largely useless for Kloe's purposes? She had no desire to do them harm. With precious little local information, her expedition would begin the hard way.

With a camping back on her back with a bedroll, a cooking pot, and a rifle, Kloe was ready to go. And her saber on her hip, of course. This far out, she hardly needed to hide it and wouldn't have bothered anyway. Her twin Loth-wolves spread out as they began leaving the village on foot, eager to hunt - sniffing the ground, frolicking with each other, keeping a nose out for trouble. One of them bounded right past the sneaky Miraluka without paying her much mind, then caught himself and growled.

Kloe was a few meters behind her hounds and slowed to a stop a respectful distance away from the blindfolded woman. To Kloe's senses, Niysha smelled of grasping vines and sounded like hungry stomachs, a tightly-bound pearl of passion-fueled energy standing patiently at the roadside. Not dangerous, Kloe estimated. At least not currently. The Loth-wolves manuvered into cautious distances at either side of Niysha, unable to understand that a Miraluka didn't have blind spots for them to lurk in.

"You are not from here." The Umbaran observed quietly, resting her hand on the hip near her saber. "Will you give us the road? Or do you have other business with me?"

The wolves did not growl, as Kloe was not yet conveying hostility.

 

[Niysha]

Auras were a curious thing. The presence of a soul was, itself, something a bit too abstract to dedicate a whole science to, though Niysha probably could have taught lectures on them on Alpherdies at this point. Generally speaking one soul belonged to one creature, but in the past, Niysha had hidden her In's aura within her own, and hidden her aura inside In's. They were metaphysically close, and so it was logistically simpler.

The woman approaching Niysha at the edge of the village was in a similar situation. It wasn't quite one soul in three bodies, but her pets were close enough to her that their auras bled together into one hungry snarl. She wasn't substantially more powerful than Niysha, nor was she substantially more hostile. In fact, judging by the softness of the cold, dark shades swirling inside her aura, they likely had quite a bit in common.

As expected, no immediate danger. Niysha relaxed.

The Miraluka offered a careful smile and a short wave of greeting when her distant kin approached. "You can take the path first if you want," she answered openly, "though to be clear, we're probably headed to the same place. If you don't trust me following you, it'd be easier for us to just travel together."

Niysha's own lightsaber was hidden in her bag, as always. The top was unzipped, so it wouldn't take her more than a moment to call the blade out. But that was caution, not aggression or malice. In essence, no different from the exact emotion that the lady's hounds were giving off. Niysha idly realized that through no intention of her own she'd managed to effectively slightly camoflage herself even when she had actively tried to be open, honest, and obvious. Chances were she wouldn't be able to announce her presence without considerable effort at this point.

She continued, just as unconcerned. Not scared. Not panicking. "You're looking for Jedi ruins, right? We're headed to the same place. The planet's not dangerous enough to really need the company, but I don't think you want me behind you."

Kloe Weo

 

[Kloe Weo]

Perhaps it might be prudent to demand what the frizzy-haired woman wanted at those ruins and what utility she could offer Kloe's expedition, but to be honest? She seemed harmless enough. She spoke in a tone that was both controlled and in a way that was not laden with implication and metaphor, which made her not-entirely-unpleasant to listen to. So far. That could easily change. And she was right - Kloe did NOT want a Sith behind her, or back here where she might attack her goons or harm her ship.

"Fine." Kloe decided. "Makes sense. Let's go."

And that was that. The Umbaran woman resumed walking, giving the hounds - and Niysha, in a sort of way - a beckoning gesture to continue the hike. The loth-wolves understood what she wanted of them implicitly, trotting several meters ahead of Kloe where they would be better able to flush out prey or intercept danger. After a few steps, Kloe clicked her tongue at them and they spread out a little more - trotting through grass and stone rather than taking up the path.

"Any lizards we find are mine." Kloe added after they'd been walking for a few minutes, her tone sharp and warning. "They are not to be harmed." She had to stop herself from going into detail about why they were important or the wonderful biology that had created such a fascinating monster. After all, a fellow Sith might understand the utility that such an animal represented and try to scoop her prize, and then she'd have to fight for her treasure. Best to keep things vague, to protect her interests.

Ahead on the path, the Loth-wolves switched sides as an excuse to play with one another in passing. A snarl, a bite, a bit of a chase and then they were off and back to duty. Kloe smiled. Humanity didn't deserve dogs.

"Why do you seek the ruins?" She asked, making an effort to sound like she wasn't demanding the information. "If you seek to desecrate or pillage them, you may be far too late."

 

[Niysha]

Wow, that worked?

Niysha could count on one hand the number of times she'd been able to defuse a situation with another Sith without even the implication of internecine violence. At some level she was worried about getting used to it, considering how very much not the norm it was to emerge from contact with her contemporaries without any threats on her life. For now, though? A welcome reprieve. She had no interest in killing dogs.

As she didn't presently have any use for her lightsaber, Niysha still didn't zip her bag back up, because she wasn't trusting enough with a total stranger to remove her most reliable means of self-defense. It was still nice to be able to walk with someone without needing to do any hiding or use any euphemistic language. Frankly, the two of them didn't seem to need to use much language at all. Niysha was entirely comfortable in silence, and it seemed like this woman wasn't much of a talker.

Eventually, though, the passingly human woman had something to talk about. She was after lizards, apparently. Considering half of Niysha's work involved sifting through what was effectively someone else's 5,000-year-old trash, she didn't have any room to judge. "Got it. No touching the lizards." Clever as she was, Niysha didn't have to study the situation or ferret out any secrets to suss out just about everything she needed to know about her impromptu traveling companion: the woman had showed up in a large ship, didn't hide her presence, had multiple animals escorting her, and her interest was in more animals. It was a safe assumption that said ship was a floating zoo full of dangerous beasts.

Of course, given how naturally her hounds played, the other Sith wasn't actively abusing them. She didn't see the effects of the Force on either of them, either. It wasn't hard to imagine that they'd both wind up with a pile of treats and a soft bed back on the ship. If nothing else, that was encouraging.

"You're here for lizards, I'm here for rocks," Niysha replied with an easy smile. "No matter how pillaged a tomb is, there's always something if you look hard enough. Looters don't normally care about reliefs." The Miraluka stepped easily around a particularly large stone that had fallen into the road so long ago that it was a natural fixture. Her pace didn't slow in the slightest; considering she was dressed for hiking and rock-climbing, this likely wasn't anything out of the ordinary for her.

Kloe Weo

 

[Kloe Weo]

Reliefs? Cultural artifacts. Information. A historian, then, or perhaps somebody - like her - on the trail looking for something that could only be found in ancient places. Likely of no direct harm to Kloe herself, unless she took issue with the forcivorious reptiles most likely living around whatever Jedi ruins they could find and sought retribution against them. Then there would be direct harm involved. "Your statement feels true. I have looted tombs. I've never cared about reliefs." Kloe reflected thoughtfully. "Maybe I should."

One of the dogs snapped-to and bolted off into the underbrush, diving into a thicket. The second was right behind him. They came up with some badger-looking creature, holding it by the midsection. It snarled and twisted, trying to find an angle to bite at until the wolf shook the sense out of it. Then both loth-wolves - acting with coordination that could only be borne of practice and training - seized the stunned animal by both ends and messily ripped it in half. Nice and slow. No need to rush through a fun game after all.

Kloe let them enjoy the treat as she and Niysha overtook and then walked past them, making a mental note to slip an anti-parasitic into their food later. The crunching of bones didn't bother her in slightest. They were just having fun. She even smiled a little.

"According to my satellite map, we'll be in the vicinity of an ancient temple complex by morning - at this pace." Kloe reported. "My tyuskleen will likely either be basking on the surface or grazing in the deepest, oldest parts of the structure. Your reliefs are likely in the same location." There was no need to ask if Niysha could take care of herself in a potentially trapped Jedi ruin - she either would, or she'd die. Simple enough. Besides, this was a Jedi ruin. Their traps were babyfood - having to talk to your dead mom or being forced to duel an old robot that looked like you. Silly things. Nothing with any real teeth.

 

[Niysha]

Well that was... unpleasant.

Niysha was exceedingly accustomed to death. Several of her friends were much gentler souls than she was, so she avoided it when engaging with those people, but the lost of life meant very little in the grand scheme of things. The loss of animal life meant even less, most of the time; if an unthinkable number of people died every day, then a quadratic degree more creatures died in the same time. Most had never and would never amount to anything, but more importantly, life and death were both so ephemeral as to be illusory. When one was keenly aware of the Infinite, anything finite was meaningless.

Still, when Niysha killed, it was quickly. She'd been in the same room as torture - even fatal torture - back on Kaas. It was keenly unpleasant. Desperation, fear, pain, frenzied necessity, despair... even from a critter that small, it was all very intense. Thankfully, it didn't last long. Still, a little reminder that war-beasts were still dangerous even if they were cute was healthy. These two wouldn't attack her because their will was largely in tune with their master's. Probably.

Hmm. They were moving slower than Niysha had expected, if it'd take them until tomorrow to get there. Not entirely surprising; alone, she would've taken far more shortcuts, stopped only when she was tired, and generally been a bit more efficient about it. Apparently she'd gotten far too used to being a solo act; she needed to bring In on more ruin dives in the future. Or just... out hiking, really. Having just one data point to draw from made for an unhealthy state of mind.

"Chances are what I'm looking for is pretty deep," the Miraluka replied as she brushed aside a particularly tall weed that'd grown over the path. "Statuary and ornamentation come in three basic shapes: front door, interior decoration, and central chamber. Any of them are useful, but obviously the more well-protected stuff is generally more illuminating." She shrugged a little and fixed her shoulder strap. "I do hope you get lucky and find your critter on the surface, though."

Kloe Weo

 

[Kloe Weo]

"Ideally I'll be taking the entire bank." Kloe replied quickly. "Those two are expert shepherds. They'll be able to move things along. The Tyuskleen are forcivorus, so I didn't want to put myself in a scenario where I located them but could not efficiently direct them. While the predominantly consume the Light Side, my influence on one might prompt the others to rip it to shreds - to say nothing of how long I may be able to maintain control." Dangerously close to admitting a weakness, but oh well. She didn't feel she had much to fear from the frizzy-haired Sith anyway.

"I brought herding dogs. I also brought bait." She explained, jangling her bag full of Jedi artifacts. "And in the worst case scenario, I'll take a breeding pair at a time by force."

"Of any given population, roughly five to ten percent are worth cultivating a dynasty out of." Kloe continued rambling. "If I can curate the traits that make them worth my time, I should have a usable product within a few generations. Unfortunately, the minimum viable population for comparable species is around five thousand and I doubt there are more than two dozen on this planet, so this is a corner I will have to cut with the use of alchemy to prevent unfavorable mutations from being passed down. Overusing alchemy spoils the beast. Results in an infertile strain with unpredictable behaviors. So I will be doing most of the work the old fashioned way."

"If I only wanted one Tyskleen to turn into a war-beast, I'd have it already." Kloe continued. "This is an act of restoration and preservation, not warfare. These were cultivated by a brilliant mind with an artisan's touch. They should be preserved and appreciated. And then also used for warfare."

Kloe jogged a bit ahead and hopped up into a tree, unslinging her rifle to have a look around through the scope. All continued to be clear. A relief.