Private Assessing Stock

[Lirka Ka]

DEEP SPACE

Councillor, they called her now. It was an not entirely unforeseen place for Lirka Ka to end up - one who controlled one of the handful of mighty Sith-Imperial Legions had a certain level of sway when it came to the happenings of the Order. With power, came prestige, and with prestige the next steps upon Lirka’s dark path had been laid bare before her. For it was the nature of true, enlightened, evil to uplift their fellows. To join the pantheons of the Great Enablers of Sith history to give rise to more of the worthy.

So that is what the Third Imperator, and newest of the Dark Councillors did. She sent out the call, a beckon to the wayward souls of the Empire they called home. The bloodthirsty and the killers, the people who understood the sort of murderous drive that compelled the greed of the Sith. For that brief moment where Lirka had worked among the Ministry of Order she had come to understand quite well that Anti-Imperialism was a serious and deadly crime.

And what laid beyond the Blackwall but many a criminal waiting for punishment? Let the savages and the murderers be lawmen at the front of a Councillor’s advance. It would give Lirka a good chance to assess her fellows and gleam who had potential to rise to greater heights.

What had followed was little more than sanctioned massacre. As she has done so many times over the years, Lirka descended from the Blackwall with a portion of the Third Legion flotilla and whomever would accompany at her back. The galaxy was a place rich with worlds, and rich in all that deserved to belong in the hands of the Sith history - find a world in Wild Space, detached and disconnected from the wider Galaxy. Helpless. Meager. A bubble of their own existence. Then fall upon them as a black ravenous storm cloud - the people had resisted, and they had died for it. Their world stripped of its worth as the flotilla moved on. Lingering in space now -

It was time for assessment.

Lirka moved through the gathered assembly of whomever she could muster within the warship’s gathering hall. The once Sephi moved with a certain predatory stride with each step, slit lenses gleaming over those who had joined her in her little violent bout. A chance to taste of the offerings that the Councillor would lay before any who had the capability to reach out and take what they want

Now…it was merely time to gleam who would be the most interesting of all.

Darth Valar

 

[Darth Valar]

Two voices bickered: the first, a grumbling voice filled with barely restrained anger that trembled with the promise of violence; the other, a deep rasp that slithered from a forked tongue, started with a faint resignation but crept slowly into denial, bitter acceptance turned to bruised pride and frustration as they bared their fangs. Together, their voices rose as the argument grew, harsh words exchanged with a desire to hurt, uncaring of the bystanders that stood nearby and with little context to understand. Most turned away, preoccupied with their own concerns and preparations for the arrival of their new Councillor. A few stared, caught between annoyance and amusement, as the two continued to rant and rave, turning their woes into entertainment for the masses.

Not far from the two, Darth Valar stood quietly, her expression twisted into an unamused sneer as the bickering voices of the two warriors drifted her way. She cared not for the subject, though it was impossible not to hear some of it, told between threats of violence and a history utterly tarnished with a tale of well-earned rewards withheld for the sake of greed.

Around the two warriors, a circle of mercenaries and killers formed a wall taller than Valar could peek over, though she caught glimpses of a Trandoshan's dark green scales and a human face turned bright red, between the shifting tide of bodies, their own scramble to see the action growing more chaotic as tensions grew. Her hand raised, a crackle of squirming static shaking between slender fingers, barely constrained by a sense of will that demanded obedience. The promise of violence, not unlike the two raised voices, shifted the attention of a few, who warily stepped back, though far too many remained focused on the ranting duo.

That was a problem easily rectified.

Lightning crackled across Valar's fingertips, a flicker of purple and blue auroras not unlike the colour of her skin, before she pushed forward into the crowd, her hand outstretched as frustration manifested with a screech of burning air and pained yelps from those who skittered away, their muscles shaking with aftershocks that flickered over their skin, a trail of light that gradually died with its task accomplished.

The sound of her boots, quiet against the backdrop of lightning and raised voices, clacked their way closer until they eventually stopped with a final stomp from the Sith.

"I grow tired of this nuisance," Her voice was sharp and cold, like a dagger forged in the heart of winter, uncaring for the woes of man. The human turned to her, his assortment of belts and weapons clinking with the sudden twist of his torso, revealing a face that had more in common with ground meat than any other she'd seen of his kind.

"Bu-" His response turned to a scream as lightning slithered over his body, coiled around his limbs. There was nothing natural about the movement that ravaged his extremities, even as it miraculously avoided his head, and dissipated as swiftly as it arrived.

A soft sigh escaped from the Sith's lips, her eyes staring down upon the shivering frame of the figure that had dared to interrupt her, before they flickered to the Trandoshan, who stepped back, his hands raised and head bowed in submission.

"Consider this a warning for those who wish to make their personal problems something of a public drama," Valar stepped forward, closer to the human form beneath her, ensuring he remained close as she started to prowl around his body, a symbol for the crowd to witness. "I possess little patience for such pathetic displays. If you cannot contain yourself, then at the very least, avoid disrupting the rest of us. Otherwise, I will be inclined to make a more," She paused, a gleam of amusement in her eyes as they trailed over the crowd, "permanent example."

Then, with a final glance at the figure struggling to peel themselves off the ground, she strutted away.

Those around her were smart enough to consider the discussion closed, though she was sure the lesson would need to be taught again some other time. She wondered whether they would be gracious enough to include repeat offenders, or else restraint would be required again. It mattered not in the end. Darth Valar smiled, soft and sweet, with the future promises of inevitability whispering in her ears.

Lirka Ka arrived not long after.

Tags: Lirka Ka​

 

[Lirka Ka]

There was a certain rancor that came with getting large numbers of rampaging raiders together in one place. Lirka found it rather comforting, all in all. There was a certain primal horridness that came alongside the persons that would so gleefully ravage and loot their way through the territory of the hapless.

Besides, it was merely the way of the Primordial Darkness to present scum with the opportunity to drive a shiv into each other in some barbaric showing of power. Such was the nature of things in the true path of Sithhood. When Lirka Ka was around, without the leering gaze of whichever ruler of the Empire demanded some modicum of decorum - she encouraged the worst in those around her. A corrupting presence, really.

As she entered the room, it was with the clack of metallic claws clapping together. She wanted to see strength, to find those among the Empire with the knack to be loud. Prospects. Potentialities. Variables that were worth considering in the almost-certainly-violent days to come.

"Strong words!"

For being a councilor, when Lirka was back in her element. Acting as if she were now back trapped within Wild Space, a warlord ravenously taking all that she could to fuel her megalomania, the dreariness of politics became quite more distant. She was loud, boisterous almost. The violent display from Darth Valar all but warmed her cruel dead hearts. It was good to see the sort of brawler that knew how to command obedience through fear, yet not shatter the blade. Lirka was rather unfond of wastefulness, after all.

"I suppose we have something of a commissar among this miserable little assembly now, hm?"

The councilor spoke half in jest, hands returning to her back. Clasped as usual. She approached now, those gleaming slit lenses seemed to look over this Sith once, twice, three times. A predator's gaze, the careful analysis of a surgeon - Lirka trusted no one. Yet, she coveted the raw potential present in all those who had yet to blossom. This Lord was a new site to her, a variable unknown.

Which meant she was exceptionally interesting, and exceptionally dangerous to Lirka's paranoia.

"What is your name, commissar?"

And what had more power than a name?

 

[Darth Valar]

The clank of clashing metal announced Lirka's arrival with all the subtlety of an artillery barrage, thunderous in the quiet. Her words echoed off the walls, a wave of sound carrying through the crowd like a shockwave as the statement registered and warriors stepped aside, a wary look shared between the parting sea.

Seperated from the masses by a clear gap that grew wider by the second, Darth Valar stood at the centre of it all, her arms crossed and with a scowl that darkened by the moment: cowards, all of them. In her mind, a list was gathered, faces pinned upon a wall that would not forget the grudge that was formed today. Not because they had stepped aside, but because they'd been so quick to forfeit her to another's attention.

Valar's skin tightened around the corner of her eyes, an extension of the furious glare that she shot the Councillor's way. An ember of anger burned against the charred furnace of her heart, a roaring fire born of the frustration of her own mistakes, and the knowledge that she alone was to blame for the other's attention, lashed upon a pyre of her own devising.

With an expression of the iron-clad will that had crushed other Sith underfoot, Valar restrained her barbed tongue, the boiling frustrations of being turned into a display piece held at bay, sealed away behind deep crimson lips that smiled like a rusted blade. Her jaw, clenched tightly shut, strained against the pressure, as though trying to grind the enamel of her teeth to dust. A sliver of pain, not unlike the fingernails that pierced into the palm of her hand, a prickling pressure that pulled her away from the spotlight.

Then, with a deep exhale that cleared her lungs and shattered the seal on her lips, Valar welcomed the opportunity to speak.

"I was born Sari Mukan, it is a name that I may still respond to. However, I prefer Darth Valar," She answered, her eyes focused upon Lirka Ka, but projected to ensure that all within the crowd could hear. "What of yourself, is it Councillor, or do you prefer something else?"

Tags: Lirka Ka​

 

[Lirka Ka]

In so many ways to exist within the domain of the Sith was to clash strength against strength, tide against tide. Sometimes in violent ways, other times the necessity became much more subtle. The politics of beasts and monsters masquerading as lords and nobles. A certain gleefulness to the act had kept Lirka well within their domain, Sephi were a dramatic people at heart.

Lirka approached the universe with a predatory, and analytical, glint in her eyes. Everything was to be categorized, analyzed, and neatly put somewhere within the labyrinthine bounds of her “calculus” as she called it. Where Darth Valar was going to end up in it? Well, time would certainly tell. The Once-Sephi’s slit lenses looked the woman up and down, drinking in that barely contained fury. It reminded Lirka much of herself in her infinitely more barbaric youth.

But that’s where they all started, wasn’t it? A ravening beast that required the careful temperance of experience.

With hands still clasped behind her back, Lirka approached. Looming some. The surgical precision of a fleshcrafter remained, it was good to take stock of her fellows’ make after all.

Amusement buzzed from the emotionless monster’s helm.

“A quaint thing - most Sith seem to have long Sith abandoned their given name.”

Or for some, had warped their name so greatly that the two had become all but different entities - like Lirka had done with herself.

“Councillor. Imperator. Some once called me Slavemaster General. Some names far more uncouth, if they are bold enough.”

She certainly had gained herself plenty of enemies in her long tenure within Sithdom.

 

[Darth Valar]

With each metallic step that clattered against the hushed silence of eager spectators, Lirka drew nearer, forcing Valar to crane her neck backwards if she had any hope of meeting the others' eyes, concealed as they were behind a layer of gleaming green lenses. It was better than the alternative. The pantoran had no intention of competing in a staring contest with her own reflection in the frame of the Imperator's chest plate. Not when it would feel too much like submission, accepting their right to judge her, even when lifting her head upwards as she did now, exposed her neck.

They were free to try; she would claim any hand that thought it was their right to touch.

"Many names," Valar acknowledged, her voice smooth, a winding road that one could drift upon, never noticing the sharp drop that awaited anyone who lowered their guard. "I wondered, however, if you had a preference. I answer to two names, because I have deemed those names to have value to me, a connection that I still wish to maintain. Others may call me what they wish, but that does not mean I respond to them, nor do I need to acknowledge them, except perhaps to crush those who should know better."

Darth Valar imagined there were more than a few names that people threw behind her back, that was their due, to whimper and whine like cowards in the background. In time, they would falter and fail, to be later replaced by another set of snivelling wretches that would in turn be pressed into the machine of war, churned beneath the grinding gears, unnoticed by the one they disdained.

"The rest may abandon their names for all they wish, but I hold no shame for the person that I used to be. Not when I look back and see the struggles that I have overcome to reach this point," Valar said with pride, her lips stretched wide in a pleased smile. "Let others pretend they stepped into the world fully formed, wrapped in titles and accolades, that the name they clasp to with desperation is all they've ever been, but I am stronger from the steps I have taken to reach this point."

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