Skirmish Blood brings family together

[Diarch Rellik]

Location: The Sanctum of the Brotherhood – Archon's Office

The doors opened calmly. The threshold of Archon Zara Saga's private sanctum gave way to two who required no permission. Diarch's Reign and Rellik. Rellik took in the room with a brief glance. Every inch of it bore Zara's presence in HIS opinion. Disorganized. Blades, alcohol and nice fabrics laid about. It filled him with some emotion between disgust and love. Somehow. It was clear no one dared come in here often. Yet, the two Diarch's did not need to ask to enter.

Before she could begin her "Are you here to scold or berate me again. Have I not had enough. You two have not done anything for blah blah blah." Rellik spoke first.

He stepped forward, precisely far enough to respect her space, but near enough to show purpose.

"You were right." He said softly. Despite how rambunctious and annoying she was, he loved her as a daughter or younger friend. With all of his heart. "At the Chancellory forum. You spoke what many would not. About the Jedi. About how we need to rise to the occasion." He gave a soft jab to his brother's chest and laughed. "Little do you know, trouble. That we have already been hunting and killing the Jedi in our space." He turned back to her more serious. "You should have come to us directly. We know you are strong but we do not like risking the lives of our own. So here we are. Subservient to you outbursts. We ask you come on a mission with us. To satisfy your wants." As he said the last sentence he was more exaggerative and flamboyant in his expressions. In an almost mocking way. Even going so far as giving a small bow.

"So, my brother and I have created a hunt for Jedi, just for you." He looked at her with almost puppy dog eyes. Hoping for forgiveness. "Please, remember we love you, trust you, and will fight by your side. The forum is its own place but don't forget that here together. It is a whole other world. Have we spent so much time apart that you have forgotten who we are?"

His last words were serious. Zara was one person he never expected such outbursts from but recently she had been slipping from family to rebellious youth. What happened to the sweet Archon of Light who trusted them, valued what they said and grew up with them. The sister who the Diarchs would do anything for. - It seemed the second they gave her the autonomy of being an adult that she forgot about them. Forgot about the journey they all took to where they are now. - They missed her, missed the girl with the fire in her eyes and heart who would stand with them. The girl who was burning with life, who was fearless, with the wind taking off at her heels. How he missed the girl he pulled up off the rebar in the arena and held in his arms. That was the last time he looked into her eyes and he saw Zara. So much happened around him he did not realize. That... would change. The Diarchs and her were cut from the same star. He knew who she was, he just needed to remind her of who he was.

This was a story of two older brothers trying to bring their sister back into the loving embrace of their family by trying to appease her. They would find her, whether it was a dream or if she was truly beside them. He wanted to bring her renegade heart home.

Zara Saga Diarch Reign

 

[Diarch Reign]

​

Location: Zara’s quarters | Bastion
Tags: Zara Saga Diarch Rellik

---

Reign’s fury had cooled in the time since the Forum outburst. Truth be told, he couldn’t disagree with Zara, and that made him all the more mad. If it had just been he and his brother, the fight would have been taken to their enemies from the onset. Yet now there were people who looked to them for protection.

But he was here to swallow his pride, he loved the rebellious Archon, as he loved his daughters. She was close to his wife, and was considered a member of their family. This schism between them needed to be healed, and Reign needed to kill something.

“I can’t condone the public outbursts, but you know that.. however, I wish you would have come to me, to Nocturne. I know I stand as this disapproving force in your eyes.. but only because I see the same fire there that burns inside me.. I know it must be tempered, or used, before it consumes you.”

His green eyes locked onto the wayward Archon, but it was not the disapproving look of a father. It was a look filled with understanding.

“I do agree though, at least privately, that the Jedi have sat too long untouched. Rellik is not lying, we have dispatched a number already.. however, we have a larger quarry to hunt today. Come with us, together, and root out the stagnation of the Jedi. As a family.”

Gone was the glare, there was a fire alight in Reign’s eyes. The promise of violence, of death.

“I’ve sat on my ass for too long as it is”

 

[Zara Saga]

​

Zara didn't move at first. She stood in the center of her sanctum like a queen without a throne, the long drape of gold and black fabric slipping lazily from one shoulder. Her eyes, stormy, intelligent, and tired, watched them both like strangers at her door. When Rellik spoke, her expression flickered for just a moment. And when Reign added his gravelled, quieter voice, that flicker deepened, but only slightly, before the arch of her brow returned. It was cool, controlled, not cold, but far from warm.

"Outburst," she repeated softly, letting the word sour as it rolled off her tongue. She stepped forward, slow and deliberate, like a feline that couldn't decide whether it would swat or curl up. "I spoke. I didn't scream. I didn't weep or beg. I said what no one else had the spine to say." Her gaze flicked to Rellik first. "If that bruised your pride, brother, then you'll have to learn how to bleed quietly." She turned toward Reign then, but her voice didn't soften. "And you, of course I didn't come to you. I'd be met with a sermon. Another warning to temper myself, to think before I speak, to remember how heavy the crown is." Her lips twisted, not quite a smile, not quite a sneer.

Her eyes drifted toward the floor for a moment, as if memory itself tired her. Then, sharp again: "You say you love me. You say you trust me. But you don't listen. Not unless I drag your attention in front of the Forum and set fire to your politics. That wasn't rebellion. That was necessity."

She stepped closer now, enough for them to hear the steel beneath her tone. "I know I'm right." Her voice cracked there, just once, like a bone splintering under pressure, but she swallowed it down. "You've both gotten comfortable. You sit in your thrones of consensus, and you let Laphisto whisper in your ears, because his words are soft and don't cut like mine do. I'm not him. I won't be him. You don't want me to be."

She paced past them now, circling like an orbit that refused to settle. Her hair caught the light, gold against the chaos of her sanctum. She stopped behind them, letting silence linger long enough for them to feel it.

"And now you come offering me a hunt. A token. A promise of blood and duty, as though that'll sew up what's torn." She turned back toward them, eyes sharp as broken glass. "I'll go. If that's your order. If that's all I am now, a soldier to point at the next Jedi corpse you want. But don't mistake my compliance for healing." A breath escaped her, too long held. "I'll come because I want the Jedi dead. Not because I believe in whatever throne you're sitting on these days." And then, almost too quiet to hear, she added, "But I'll remember you tried."

Her shoulders eased, just enough to suggest exhaustion, not surrender. Then, Zara folded her arms across her chest and waited for their answer, not as a sister needing reassurance, but as a commander awaiting her next command.

Diarch Rellik | Diarch Reign​

 

[Henna Ashina]

“I want it live.”

Henna strode into the comms room with the fury of a thunderstorm. Inosuke beside her, they had been made aware of the activity within the Brotherhood’s Sanctum.

Their outreach over the last two years had not been for nothing. The Lightsworn’d host had not swelled to numbers that would rival a planetary defense force, but they had gained more than just ships and swords. The Fel bloodline had pledged their fealty against a common enemy. The Diarchy operated on old Imperial grounds - and there were those who still aimed to hold the Iron Sun against the stars. Feeding information from Diarchy space back to the Jedi, every once and a while they offered something more.

The bug had only been in place a week or two - since news of the Archon’s call for blood had went out. In truth, Henna had no taste for the intrigue of it. She would have much preferred to watch the Diarchy with her own eyes, far sight granting her ethereal access amongst their own. Yet as her duties grew, she knew the tech became a necessary evil. It was more reliable, too, in truth - she still suspected there were those abroad who were tampering with her seer’s gift. So she had given. An Imperial loyalist had slipped into Zara’s quarters, no one ever the wiser, and left a live feed for the Lightsworn to monitor the escalating situation.

It had finally reached its pinnacle, evidently.

"And now you come offering me a hunt. A token. A promise of blood and duty, as though that'll sew up what's torn."

Henna slammed her fist against their slicers console as the words rang through the room. She shut her eyes, grabbing the thing, looking for an anchor. It seemed impossible. Darkness to their east, darkness to their west, darkness to the north. Then the flash came at once; home. Ships dropping from the atmosphere over Hapes. Golden orbs moved in observance of possible futures. Not one saw an Alliance arrival in times to stop the palace from burning.

“They’re coming to Hapes.”

The seer looked up to Inosuke, desperate. It was a bold move for them to chase the creed beyond their own borders. Hapes was a prime target - politically valuable, on Alliance borders, though not without their pride.There was no path in which the planet willingly gave up their Jedi. The palace would burn.

“Warn the consortium and rally the troops.”

 

[Diarch Rellik]

Rellik didn't smile. His offer of appeasement was spat in his face. He silently clenched his fist as Zara paced around them. He was running out of brotherly love. Dare she lie to them, to their faces now. She did not scream - than what was her cries. Her voice at the forum was thick with a venom, she looked directly at the Diarch's as she spoke. How dare she say she did not cry out as if her voice was not a sunburst of anger as she said "Where is the fire that Kakus lit? Where is the will that began all of this?" What was it then when she openly called for rebellion. "Let me speak to those who truly matter: You. The citizens of the Diarchy, the real lifeblood of this great machine. Do not let your Diarchs be soothed into stillness. Demand from them the clarity you were promised. Do not insult the blood we've already spilled by giving away what others died to earn. The Diarchy was not built on compromise. It was built on vision. Bring back the fire. Or let the people light it themselves." What, did she think he forgot her passion. Her call for the people to Light it themselves.

If it were anyone else, Rellik would kill them. Here, in their office with his brother. He would show her the depths of brutality she wished to see. - Yet, she was special to him. She was here from the beginning. Risen from a young girl to the fiery spirit that stood before him now. He remembered his youth. He remembered days full of restlessness and fury. Nights drunk on dreams. A man who hungered for glory. His father beat and abused those lessons out of him. Was that what he needed to do now? Was there a better path. He hoped so.

His jaw clenched. His steps closed the distance. And then, he put his hands on her shoulders, not gently. Not with love. Not with comfort. But with weight.

"Why do most men commit to bloodshed, Zara?"

His voice was low, dangerous, level.

"We all posses a side that is barbarous but it is a double edged sword. It can win precious things like freedom, friendship, and love. Yet, can also damn those to lives of revenge, murder, and zealotry that leaves them without ever accomplishing something greater. Some think there are things more precious than these all combined. Some are driven to pursue it damned the outcome. They pursue it all solely for their own sake and no other. Their dream holds dominion over the entire galaxy. Think of the emperor of the Sith. Dedicating his life to the forging of his ideals. What has he accomplished? We hold nearly as much space as he does. Is that what you want? To be proud of savagery and winning nothing? - Many can pursue their dreams in solitude, other dreams are like great storms blowing thousands if not billions in their wake. These dreams can breath life into men and can cage them into suffering. They live and die by it. You are an Archon and must choose if you wish to cage or free those within the Diarchy. That, is what we are here for. Not some trivial pitty party. I have tried to appease your insolence and bring you back in the fold but I will hide the meaning no longer. You are high archon of the brotherhood. You will either lead, or be swallowed by your own ambition."

His hands slipped from her shoulders.

"I will not coddle you anymore. You are either a leader, or a warning. Pack your things. That. Is an order."

Then, softer but no less serious.

"And whatever you think of my throne... remember, I built it for all of us. Including you. I have been hunting Jedi, Sith and more while you sit and moan about oh woah is me. What, have you lost so much self respect you forgot that you are a High Councilor to the point that Reign and I need to take you by the hand to kill Jedi? Pathetic, Meet me at the the Sloan Naval Academy. We take my flagship to the hunt. Be on time... and sober. Be fearless, be strong. Be Zara Saga, or lose yourself to this drunk mess that will accomplish nothing. Either way, I am off to the Hapes cluster to kill those Jedi you believe we think so sacred."

His words were laced with the same venom hers were at the forum. He would not be swayed and deluded in what she has said and done. There was no level of manipulation that would sway him from his task tonight. Zara, could see the vision, know the Diarch's are willing to help her. Or be damned. He turned and left the chamber to ready his flagship.

Zara Saga Diarch Reign Henna Ashina

 

[Diarch Reign]

​

Location: The Crucible on route to a shuttle
Tags: Diarch Rellik Zara Saga

---

Reign had not stayed to hear all of Rellik's rebuttal. He knew what his brother would say, and before he launched into another "sermon" he left the room. His anger at the young Archon was threatening to spill over, and rather than lose himself and do something he may regret.. he walked away.

That was not to say he was done however, as when he reached a safe distance his fist struck out in a force amplified blow to the wall. Leaving a dent in the durasteel. He was livid, and woe be to any enemy that was in his way now. For if he was ready to strike down one of his own, the enemy would have no chance.

He practically stalked on to his shuttle, the air around him seeming to shimmer with his fury. As he directed the pilot to the naval academy, he pulled out his lightsaber and began practicing his forms to let off steam. Each strike giving him clarity and soothing his rage, he would hold on to it.. for later.. but right now it served him no purpose. He was not a slave to his emotions, like the Sith. Nor did he disregard them, as the Jedi would. He acknowledged his rage, and the cause.. and saved it for later.

Reign arrived at the academy and immediately went to where Rellik's ship was docked. The Diarch had never been to Hapes, but it would be a trip he would not soon forget.