Close to the Borderline

[Caulder Dune]

BASTION
IMPERIAL PALACE, RAVELIN

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

Bastion sat right at the end of the Braxant Run, one of the last important worlds before the end of the galaxy itself. Scarcely a year ago the planet had been the capitol world of the Primeval. The fall of their regime had left a power void on the planet that had yet to be filled by any one faction. There were a few Primeval warlords thrown into the mix of a half-dozen Bastionite claimants trying to restore the planet's old Imperial regime. All vying for power, all with their own individual visions they wanted to see fulfilled. With all the fighting going on, the old Imperial Palace that had stood for centuries was overlooked by the various factions. Though symbolic, it was not strategic. Hostilities had not yet reached the point where any faction was comfortable enough to waste resources securing something unimportant to the grand scheme of things.

Which left Darth Adekos some leeway to poke around the abandoned palace.

He had come to here a ball once, under a different face and with a Queen who stopped returning his calls several months ago. It was a lavish affair even if the ones hosting it were better than primal beasts. There had even been a public execution, of all things. Adekos didn't know what sort of set-up the Primeval government had in the palace or if it had only been used for social occasions. Whatever the case, he did know there was a library. The typical looters were a simple folk, not unlike Adekos. They had already absconded with the palace's tapestries, furniture, light fixtures, even some of the plants in the garden. The Umbaran wasn't here for such trivialities... This time. He was only here to peruse the remnants of the library, see if the Primeval had added anything useful to its collection during their dominion over the world.

Adekos was turning over a dust-encrusted datapad in one of the dark, unlit rooms of the palace when he detected movement out of the corner of his eye. Too big to be one of the rats, so it must have been an interloper. One hand dropped down and hovered towards the lightsaber clipped to his belt. "Who's out there? Get out where I can see you." The darkness of the palace, both from the time of night and the absence of electricity, was of no issue when those of his race could see easily in the dark.

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin had also attended that same ball on Bastion with a handsome, square-jawed Captain, probably mingled with party guests in identical palace rooms as Darth Adekos, but at the time, she did not know him. The Captain was now gone, and the Hapan Dark Jedi Master had a completely transformed herself from a Stormtrooper Commander into a pharmaceutical executive. But like her time with the One Sith, she was still as opportunistic as ever, which was why she was here on Bastion as well – to pick the jewel-encrusted bones of the palace clean.

The red-haired Morpho CEO had not brought anyone along on this trip, not Ulysses or Beulah. It wasn’t like she was a cat burglar, but she had felt it better to do this "surveying" of the Bastion palace in solitude. Not one for esoterica, she would not be stopping at the library on the way to the Empress’s private chambers, but she had to go past it just the same. Poor night vision was a hallmark of the Hapan race, but Tmoxin had that racial weakness surgically corrected on her seventeenth birthday. But she still found it a little difficult to get around in the low-light setting and ended up slightly lost.

However, when she heard a strange, male voice called out for her to show herself, she figured the best light in this unpredictable situation would be her own crimson saber which she promptly ignited with a snap-hiss.

“How about you answer that question first?” she asked in a challenging tone.

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

Such recalcitrance! Adekos didn't even need to see the red lightsaber to understand this was a Dark Sided individual he was going to have to make inquiries into. The red light of the lightsaber illuminated his face with an ominous glow. Power was sacrifice, and the Dark Side hadn't exactly been kind to Darth Adekos. Formerly sharp features were worn away. Accidental (albeit brief) exposure to the technovirus had apparently deprived the Umbaran of one of his eyes and replaced the other one with a scalding crimson replacement. He was still working on getting that fixed. Until then he was just going to have to make due with his decreased depth perception.

His own lightsaber snapped to life. It was a similar color, but the crystal was far from synthetic. The Qixoni gem amplified his presence in the Dark Side, possibly hyping him up to be more powerful than he actually was. Adekos held his weapon of choice with the refined grip of someone who utilized Makashi, but conservatively enough to indicate he was more of a Soresu man. Gears were turning in his head. He recognized this woman from somewhere. Why did something tell him she was Hapan? Well, aside from the already clear attitude problem, obviously.

"Pardon you?" He tossed the datapad aside. He had no use for the Bastionite cooking recipes contained within it anyway. "You start by putting that thing away. Perhaps then I'll consider your request."