Call of the Abyss

[EmKay]

There had been a returned presence in the Force recently. If anyone would know such things, it would be Sigma. He reclined in the desk chair of his quarters and stared at the monitor before him, tapping his fingers to his chin. His real dilemma wasn't in the knowing that something that felt vaguely familiar had resurfaced. It was that it shared in the memories of Omega. It was that there was something eerily familiar yet distinctly different. The dilemma, was whether or not to act. He decided action over apathy and complacency, and so he stood and zipped up his boots. He walked out of his little dormitory and made his way to the hangar, to his Rassilon. He slid into the cockpit and ignited the engines. Then he was off. To where, he wasn't sure.

* * *​

​

Somehow, he ended up at Druckenwell. He came to land in a wreckage site that hadn't been removed yet. Probably one of the last places they would get to in the recovery efforts after the near-destruction of all civilised life on the world. He wasn't quite sure why he came here, but he knew what to do from there. He perched himself upon a column of stable wreckage and sat, then took a long, deep breath and sent out beckoning waves through the Force. While he was capable of radiating so that the whole sector would know he was there, he directed his own aura upon the signature he'd been contemplating for some time. He instilled a will of beckoning, and only hoped the called would come. After all, if it was who he thought it was, [member="Anesia Jy'Vun"] didn't answer simply anyone's calls.

In fact, Asher had never even truly had the opportunity to say hello.

 

[Anesia Jy'Vun]

The lady who lied in wait, who observed- restless as she was, patience overshadowed a want so deep it could obliterate worlds. What exactly that was? The abyss and the eternal, dark truth it reflected. A hunger that could not be sated and knowledge that the Galaxy of now could not hope to keep, never mind understand. Jy'Vun was of this, thoughts not so very far from the memory, and a shard of glasteel spun just above her open palm. Her eyes of viridian, captivated, yet holding strange peace from a past not quite far enough to escape. Even so, dusky space boots creaked under the weight of more armor than woman while she perched upon the rubble of wreckage and remembered.

"Do what you do best, Anesia. Be a monster."

She sighed, nearly crushing the shard.

"Hold the line."

There had never been a line -not between Salem and Anesia- only a night of blissful terror. It was Omega. It always had been Omega. Often times we lose what we want only to get what we need. Finally and slowly, she came to stand once more, reassured by fate. The Hand of Fate. For it was not only a ship, but a purpose, an idea, a promise. And Ferrius would wait as the day did for night.

For now though, it appeared as if she were not alone in her quest. [member="Asher Valentine"] had been pushed by that same hand. With that knowledge, heels dug in and she moved forward with renewed resolve. Fate had brought them to Druckenwell.

The student has become a teacher, the abyss responded, Sigma.

 

[EmKay]

It was a strange thing, sensing this woman. He was fully capable of doing so, but though he could sense through intent that she was coming, his perception never shifted. It was as though distance were a moot factor, and he was always perceiving her through thin paper. Aware she was there, capable of seeing her outline with faintly blurred lines, but unable to render details. Incapable of truly seeing. It wasn't until she was practically upon him that he was able to truly feel her presence, and in that moment of full awareness, a creeping chill squirmed up his spine, urging him to take up arms against what his instincts saw as a threat. A predator. Indeed, this creature brought out the basest urges of his specie. He drove them back into the depths of his animal side, and stilled himself. Then the instinct came surging back as her presence spoke into his mind.

"The student has become a teacher", the abyss responded, "Sigma".​

​

Asher's mouth twitched in vague amusement... if it was even truly amusement. He was still unaccustomed to being referred to as a master. He was nobody's instructor. He was owner of only his possessions and his pet. Yet still, his experiences and his power attained him such titles. He ceased his digression, however, to reply to that ensnaring voice that sought to root out his true nature.

"I'm no one's master," he let his thoughts flow, "And I've still much to learn."

One may have thought he were intentionally being humble with his words, or that he'd spent some length of time being influenced by Jedi. This was not the case. There were a number of simple truths in existence. That one was always capable of learning was one. That Valentine still had a whole galaxy's worth of experiences was another. It was not humility that sparked his words, it was honesty. He'd lived more lives than many ever cared to know. He'd been a research experiment, a pirate, an apprentice, and a soldier. He died and was reborn from the ash of his forebear like a metaphorical phoenix. Now he led a group of technologically-backed Force Users, and still he desired to know more, experience more, see more, do more, he simply wanted more. He closed these wayward thoughts once again, and returned his attentions to the present. His introspective tendencies had a way of getting the better of him.

He stood, and let his eyes slide open. He scanned his immediate area, searching for the one who, while he did not understand her, he began to understand Omega's fascination. He was a creature of indomitable will, Asher nearly was as well, and yet this One had a way of seeking out beyond the measures of the mind... and he felt that she wasn't even trying. His eyes locked onto the only other humanoid figure out here, and so he spoke.

"I see you decided to answer my call."

[member="Anesia Jy'Vun"]

 

[Anesia Jy'Vun]

The wind rustled and the debris crunched under her feet, shard now clutched in her glove-less hand.

Though a foreign entity, [member="Asher Valentine"], much like the Omega and herself, was born of the same ether. The same rip, rolling tide of the Force. And while there were different levels of comprehension and intimacy between the three and that ever infinite power, the affinity was there all the same. The calling was, in fact, the same. It was only the voice that was different, and upon hearing it, a cool calm washed over her senses. The inky dark, for a moment, subsided and the vision was clear.

War.

A connection to a man she had never met grew and took root, expanded past what she aspired to see. Furthermore, anything she wanted. Anesia was curious though and in that, Sigma's frame broke down past that of what was physical. It was veins and blood, his pulse, tendons, marrow, and the calm beat of a heart. The predator in her smiled wryly before that image too was chased away and replaced with genetic make-up, then aura and soul. Finally, after a time, it snapped back. Reverberating as if it were a band pulled too tight and gave way to resistance. "You are your own," her voice began again, soft as silk and her footsteps ventured closer. The Master and the student.

A flash of white before her lips began to part, "Or you decided to answer mine." Wouldn't that be curious? The truth of it was, it was a different sort of destiny. Damnation. A fixed, manipulated reality.

 

[EmKay]

As she neared, he could tell he was being analysed. He could feel the probing. It was a difficult thing to disguise, feeling someone out. It was akin to that sensation one felt when they were being stared at. Only it was rooted deeper than that, and sought to see his origin. He didn't give resistance, instead probing back in his own curiosity. When he tried to look past what his eyes gave him, however, he was met with intersections and crossings. A strange labyrinth that he'd seen the echo of before. In Him. It was an odd thing, how the trials that these older ones faced left them so... convoluted. Such complex things that even he was not entirely sure of. He wondered if, to the average Force User, he appeared the same way. A complex string of thought and sensation, never clear yet never truly hidden either. He withdrew his probing, deciding that the best way to learn this person would be as he learnt much of what he knew of Omega. By exposure.

"You are your own," her voice began again, soft as silk and her footsteps ventured closer.​

​

Asher's mind immediately darted. Was he truly? He still felt those ties, the ethereal grip and beckon to the one who taught him. The one who made him. Those binds would possibly never break, but time would tell if he would ever know. With Norongachi out of knowledge, though, he supposed her words rang true enough. He abided by the sets of lessons he was given and those lessons led him down a path different than most. Possibly different than all.

"Or you decided to answer mine."​

​

The words brought him back from introspection. Again. They had barely begun speaking, and her presence already made him question things. Ponder truths. Why had she never had this effect on him before?

"Things were different then." came his answer to himself. Then he shifted his stance to one of more fluidity, a reflexive precaution.

"When it comes to creatures like us, I'm not sure there's any true telling who called who," he said, then decided to offer a... pleasantry... perhaps a formality, "It's a pleasure to finally truly meet you. You know who I am, yet I find my memory... lacking. Miss Jy'vun, was it?" he probed.

Having never spent more than fleeting moments around the woman, Valentine was making sure he knew names. With how much he'd had to deal with in recent events, older memories were crumbling unless they centred around teachings. Lessons. Every moment was a learning experience back then. While he was merely a passenger, he clung to every one of Omega's words even as Rhoujen performed acts and was instructed... yet it always felt unfinished. Like their time never truly ended. Perhaps some day.

[member="Anesia Jy'Vun"]

 

[Anesia Jy'Vun]

It was quite the wayward practice to become versed in a being through another. The very approach was unnatural and it often left out great detail and important milestones. However impersonal it was, there was no denying the benefit of some familiarity though. The smile was faint before she spoke, but real, "The only master you should ever serve is your own ambition." A lithe frame straightened from within the armor and Ferrius observed [member="Asher Valentine"] from a sideways glance of emerald slits. "It will take you places that others cannot." Perhaps she could feel his self doubt surrounding the notion of being a master, or maybe she was in his thoughts.

"The Force is a fickle thing," declared the Sith in response to the statement on the call. Her footing became more sure, movement more languid the closer she came to Sigma's person. Stopping just past his or any one creature's personal space, but shy of completely overtaking it, her chin tilting up just so. "You may call me Anesia," she paused, meeting his eyes, "Sigma."

There was something else though, past that of pleasantries. "The Union Board of Directors have shared..." both hands clasped in front, "some disturbing news." For some time now, even after the informal resignation, Jy'Vun had her ear to the door, her eye on the prize. "Isley Verd has resurfaced," she went on, moving behind Sigma, then back full circle, "and is within your ranks." It was a statement of fact and given the look she now shared with Obsidian Order's leader, there was no mistake in her knowledge, nor disappointment.

"Tell me, how has this come to pass?"

 

[EmKay]

He watched the shorter woman slink her path near and around him, watching her through both his vision and through the Force. He listened as she spoke, and as her words came to mention Verd. His teeth gritted then. Not in self-defence this time, not in some childish defiance or wounded pride. He was unsurprised she questioned his actions. He even questioned them after-the-fact. Hours of pondering, why he'd been so inclined to allow that... man to live, and carry on within the Order. Then his mind snapped to his thoughts before Kashyyyk. Then to other times, where his thoughts revealed his true desires. He'd finally had an answer.

"Verd is a creature of craving, like most Sith I've observed," he spoke, measuring his tone, "He wants what he feels he cannot have. This is something I too have been guilty of," he continued, "He has ability. He has influence. He is weak." he found himself pacing this time, his eyes considering every facet of the wreckage before him before he continued to speak.

"You say my only master should be my ambition. My ambition has been silent for some time, yet I feel it's continually guiding my actions. Why does Verd live? Because everyone needs a pawn. Why does he exist within my Order? Because it allows me to observe him. Measure him. Find out truths that I've yet to know. And the purpose..." Asher brought an old Confederate helm that lie by his boot to his hand, and stared the broken optical array before letting the piece of broken armour fall and cascade down to the dust below.

"I fought for this... Techno Union. I bled for it, and died for it. And yet, despite ideals that Norongachi set, ideals I was instilled with since I met the man..." he was getting angry now. His aura within the Force was focusing and drawing in that natural excess. On Druckenwell, where such a disaster occurred, the natural flow was erratic and broken. Gaps, dark pulses, a lack of balance. When mixed with Sigma, it was a volatile combination.

Then it stilled. As suddenly as his power spiked, he quelled himself. The Force would release like a gentle breeze, a storm that formed but never climaxed. No, that was energy best saved for another time. Another place.

"They betrayed the principals of the Systems Authority, sold their dignity for credits and corporate funding. Weakness deserves weakness, and Verd is such a perfect fit in this band of ingrates... I know that some day, this Union will break, and for all their precious credits they will burn. And they will all burn." he rolled and relaxed his shoulders.

It was yet another strange thing. He was unclear to even his own intentions until just this moment, where his passiveness to let their failures slide ceased and instead he laid out his true feelings on the State of the Union. He felt both puzzled and freed at the same moment. To one degree, it felt good to let that out. Even though he diverged into a nearly sentimental speech on his work for this bastardisation of what he fought for, he truly knew now why he was behaving in the manner he was. He knew now why he was holding himself to heel. He was waiting, and now he knew he was waiting. Yet the fact that he was unaware of his own actions puzzled him. Perhaps he had altered himself more than he'd realised a short time ago. His jaw loosened and he relaxed a little more. Realisation led to conviction, and conviction led to action. Yet his action was inaction. Opportune moments would present themselves, of that at least he was certain.

[member="Anesia Jy'Vun"]

 

[Anesia Jy'Vun]

"Let freedom ring," the thought was fleeting, but it brought out from her a bout of maniacal laughter, "was that not the mantra?"

A touch of violet sparked among viridian filled pools. The madness, though often masked, was evident in this moment. A slide of lips and her mouth tilted into a sardonic smile, full and of guile. That was when she reached with an innocent enough affection, palm offered and placed to cradle the jaw of Sigma. Her thumb traced a second longer and she was on her toes, visage to visage, sharing the air. "Wouldn't you say it rang?"

With as much energy as it would take to steal a kiss, Anesia tugged on their connection and separated his from hers. It was a quick process. Like a robber in the night, there and then, gone. The only thing left was the residual smut of the darkside. The abyss and it was sweet, always calling. Just like the woman. Then, soundless was her feet flattening upon the surface once more. "Observe him. Yes," she said, agreeing, clearly understanding.

To that, a simper of sorts spread over her face. But it was cold, vulpine. "Everything breaks and everything burns."

The lot of them... obviously pyromaniacs.

 

[EmKay]

"They were... given too much." Sigma muttered in response to [member="Anesia Jy'Vun"]'s moment of mania.

Perhaps she'd heard that, perhaps not. The fact of the matter remained, that the pieces had been set and then the board had been flipped. It was a terrible thing, and he found himself caught in the middle. Was he the one trying to right the board? Another piece on the field? No, he was the one who punched the other guy in the face and started a new game. Such things took time in these large scales, however. Long times, and the right trigger. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, stilling himself yet again and finding his patience, then his eyes snapped open when his senses declared that She was within a personal boundary. His face neither softened or hardened when she had her moment. He simply was, and what residual sensation remained did linger, and his mouth twitched as though movement would abate the sensation. Rhoujen, the poor boy underneath, squirmed at Asher's lack of response.

"Don't be so childish, boy." Sigma snapped within his own mind. Atretes' soul stilled.

"Everything breaks and everything burns."​

Her voice was entirely too... mirthful. He wondered at the wisdom at so broadly condemning the Sith culture. In that moment, her nature was clear, and the strongest reason he didn't discard her existence as simply another crazed individual drunk on power, was that she was close to Omega. For whatever the relationship had been between this woman and his mentor, he knew Salem saw her as more than a piece to be played. Why? Because of the similarities. As far as Valentine was aware, Norongachi only rubbed off on people he felt some level of intrigue in at the very least. Such individuals as himself, and apparently Jy'Vun.

"Perhaps not everything..." Sigma mused aloud, then returned to addressing Anesia fully, "So what was your intent for this meeting? To simply learn my motives, or something greater and unseen?" he probed.

He honestly didn't even expect to get a straight answer. Possibly riddles, possibly nothing. What he could tell, was that she was one of those who instrumented people to what she wanted. Whether or not he fell into a plan or was simply an object of intrigue was a paralleling topic, and one he would skirt along, subtly picking at details... if subtlety were a thing around Anesia.

 

[Anesia Jy'Vun]

Reflecting upon the man born of war, both his demeanor and his statements, the way he wrung his tongue, she stood silent. The Sith woman even granted the other with the look of being lost in thought, instead of the facade she so often presented to others. Gem-like orbs squinted and for a handful of moments, the galaxy and stars shone in her eyes. "They were granted too many concessions," she corrected his earlier statement.

It is a natural response, sweet Sigma. The boy cannot learn control over what he is never presented with, the manipulator of minds spoke earnestly unto the master.

Both hands spread as if she were giving room for what was next, or as if to say without utterance that time would tell. "The Union Board of Directors beseeches your presence at the next meeting." Still, Anesia had not given slack... or his personal space back. "They are requesting all heads of departments to be present. As the chosen representative of the Chief Director, I opted to make the arrangements personal. There will be an inventory of personnel, weapons, ammunition, ships -personal and otherwise- down to the flimsi shoved in the General's desk. Everything is to be accounted for." Lithe shoulders rolled under the armor and she straightened.

The game has changed and thus, the rules.

After swallowing the sigh about to escape, the Secretary of Affairs directed her gaze to the sky. "They will also need an up-to-date list of training, capability, and Force powers for all of the Obsidian Order."

The silence stretched and Jy'Vun awaited a reply from [member="Asher Valentine"].

 

[EmKay]

Asher allowed himself a wry grin. Apparently there were a few things that even [member="Anesia Jy'Vun"] didn't fully understand. That little voice of the dead was... aggravated at the pseudo-intimate touches laid by the female here now. The boy had a love, in his time. One that ended as he did. He was unsure if she even still existed... no matter. Those were memories of someone who relinquished control in favour of who and what stood now. A foundation, thin yet sturdy.

News of a Chief Director actually taking action took the Obsidian Archon off-guard. Up until this point he had, for the majority, been left to his own devices. He saw the Order as a whole as nearly a separate entity because of that. It was still connected, other people still paid the bills and set forth tasks, but there had never been such direct interference. This was something new, and he enjoyed such surprises. Especially since he'd directed a few non-Force employees to task with bookkeeping the Order. Equipment, members, roles, even outdated Templar items were inventoried and catalogued.

"I'll just need to pick up some copies of forms, then," he told Anesia before his smirk mirrored Rhoujen's old pirate expression, "I run a tight ship."

Then he took a step backward, distancing that personal space, and looked out to the debris of Druckenwell. Words of change spoken at a site that changed everything. How... apt. The Force was indeed a vexing influence, capable of changing destiny and bending fate. It led them both here once before, defending against the spear-head of the Omega Protectorate. Now they were hear again, with this Sith Lady holding the spear head of governmental intervention on an otherwise loosely-bound collaboration of megacorporations. How interesting. His expression reset to its resting state. Not truly readable, but he was still prone to the normal tiny expressions.

"So," he began again, "Where is this meeting going to take place?"

He expected Roon, since it was the capitol, but surprise had been today's moral.

 

[Anesia Jy'Vun]

This was not about love and the corner of her lips twitched at the other's interpretation of response that she spoke of. Anesia would give Sigma just that, his own interpretation, his own opinion. It was his to have after all. This other woman was all she was. A woman. The Sith Master was of a different variety, another kind...breed...creation. A monster.

"He is there as much as you," the secretary offered darkly. "You are merely stronger, more dominant." Tearing her gaze from Druckenwell's skyline, her eyes slid back to the soldier. "Sigma, you surprise me. Perhaps you do not know or you wish to ignore it in hopes he will all together fade. The Force connects everything." She too took a step back, rubble skittering at the fall of her booted feet. "The sooner you accept that, the better."

Upon addressing her understanding, Jy'Vun lofted a brow. It was an action done out of habit when curious, even if at her own thought process. Before replying she considered the options, weighed them. The meeting had to be conducted in a place where not one sector of The Techno Union would have the upper hand over another. Such a place had to mean something as well.

Instead of answering, the Sith commented, "That would be most appreciated. The Board will note the efficient manner in which you are conducting your branch of The Union. I trust they will be pleased that you are prepared."

Swiping a bit of soot from her shoulder, Anesia finally gave a response to [member="Asher Valentine"] and met his eyes as she spoke. "Druckenwell."

 

[EmKay]

Asher nodded in understanding and took a step away.

"I'll need to collect the appropriate documentation. Contact me when the meeting is arranged." he said simply.

Then he turned, and made his way without another word. He felt that there was nothing more that needed to be said. She left him with words to think on, and a task. Such he would think on and complete, though the task could be put off. It was a simple matter of requesting files.

[member="Anesia Jy'Vun"]