Wearing: Progenitor's Robes (Hooded Armorweave Kimono)
Armed with:
Consular's Blood
Gifting
Sawa Ike
with:
Oni's Tooth
With:
Westenra Mina
(Lynda Configuration, See Bio)
Laertia Io
"Mother, Laertia is
out of control!" The Westenra Copy that most often used its Gladiator form under the alias of Lynda protested to her Mother, Nine Lives in the Matriarch's throne room aboard The
Castle Morpheus .
Nine, clad in her hooded green Armorweave Kimono with white roseprint embroidery say on her carved throne in a vast and nearly empty chamber with a Marble floor.
Lynda, flesh made to resemble her wearing a gold catsuit had been trying to get back here for months to talk to her. House Li-Ves was the secret manufacturer of The Nuetralizer War Bots. Laertia had been the Primary designer, but Nine had helped her work out the Anti-Rebellion architecture of their mental structure.
Lynda had been deeply disturbed encountering an
Advanced Model 1 for the first time. Laertia's programming rendered it reliably non hostile and friendly, but Lynda's X-Ray scan confirmed it: The nanites were a lesser fascimile of her own organic cells. Laertia had used sample of Westenra to create them, likely donated by the copies operating as her sisters.
"Her Jedi Killing is unfortunate. Its not what I wanted either." Nine replied, hood drawn over her head, the only thing of her face visible were two glowing pinpoints of purple light where the eyes were.
"But?"
"But..." Nine continued. "The Alliance and the NIO haven't exactly been shy about wanting to bring the CIS to task either. We're run by
Darth Metus
, and any Darth in any position of power is too much for the NIO. We'll probably be fighting them actively someday if they defeat The Sith Empire. And Jedi in the Alliance have already expressed a willingness to help. I used to be a part of the Order, so I don't like seeing them die. But the Jedi Order is a part of my life that has been over for a very long time. Remember Daughter: Your loyalties ultimately lie with The CIS and House Li-Ves."
"Do you
know how many enemies Laertia has made fighting the GA and the NIO? Those enemies are technically 'our' enemies!"
"Then we are being proactive in slaying them."
"Laertia killed Jedi and soldiers I made friends with. I was the one who brought her into House Li-Ves after Mythos invaded Atrisia. I thought she would be a boon. I thought she needed people looking out for her. I welcomed her as a
sister! She took her entire reputation and
burnt it." Lynda protested. "She's become
unstable."
"You find my methods unsound?" asked a quiet, feminine voice behind Lynda. She turned to face Laertia, and was taken aback at how different she looked.
Her once snow white skin and scarred features had vanished, replace by a lightly toned skin and immaculate beauty free at last of scars, but still clad in her spiky black biker leathers. She looked sad. But that mutated looking Bronze and Green organic eye of hers creeped Lynda out.
"I haven't
found any method at all, Sister." Lynda said quietly(Now: 90 XP).
"I am sorry for who I have killed if they were close to you."
"Sorry?! You're
sorry?!" Lynda sputtered. "The Laertia Io I knew would
never have raised her blade to people opposing The Sith. And she would never have killed their friends. Like you have with mine."
"They are wasting resources fighting each other. The Bryn'adul grow stronger the longer they refuse to unite. I didn't want to kill your friends. I don't even know who they were."
"
That's the problem!" Lynda said angrily. "I
trusted you! I brought you into my family! And you have dragged us all into war!"
"Daughter..." Nine began.
"No!" Lynda cried out, wheeling around on Nine. "Laertia may be the last of your blood but she does
not have this House's best interest at heart! She has become violently unstable!"
"I only see the problem clearly. We will all fall to the Bryn'adul unless we work together--" Laertia protested.
"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Lynda shouted. "This war has completely wrecked you, morally and mentally! You'd say anything to justify what you've done at this point. Sister...
please...please give up this war! Withdraw from it. Even if you don't turn yourself in, you could still withdraw!"
"They will never unite then! And I'll be stuck with evacuations! Holding actions against the Bryn'adul. Useless ultimately."
"Can't that be their choice? Don't they have a right to adhere to the principles they believe in? Otherwise what is the point of standing up for freedom, of peace, if you're just going to toss all that aside for naked survival by linking hands with the very monsters who've tried to take it from you?"
"The point is
you survive. What good are ideals if you all die upholding them?" Laertia asked, clenching her fists.
"We die
honorably." Lynda said passionately. "We die knowing we didn't become those we hate! We die fighting for what's right and just, even if the Universe utterly crushes us."
"A cold comfort to those already slaughtered. And selfish. Honor is useless if the Bryn'adul win...our honors, our history, will be wiped from memory. Utterly. And the Universe will laugh at the Jedi and the Alliance for falling on their sword as they burn in hell for their failure. As we will all deserve to burn if we fail to stop them. The leaders of the GA and NIO will not cease, nor will their soldiers. So I will make it as costly and bloody as possible for them to wage war on the Sith and not the Bryn'adul. I'll make it so bloody they have no choice but to throw in the towel where the Sith are concerned.
"And what if they don't throw in the towel? What if they just refuse to stop the way you do?"
"Then they are doomed." Laertia replied simply. "But I have confidence. The population of the Alliance at least will soon grow weary of fighting, even if their soldiers do not."
"Do you
understand people, Laertia?"
"I understand as much about people as I have to." Laertia replied. "And I know what demoralization is. The Alliance was dealt a pretty devastating defeat at Generis with the NIO. How many more defeats do you think they can take?"
"Are you listening to yourself?!" Lynda hissed.
"I don't take pleasure in what I have done. I am waging a war. It is messy and people die in it." Laertia said. "I have to look at everything through cold, hard fact--"
"And deliberately ignore the suffering you've inflicted..." Lynda said bitterly, heartbroken. "You've changed, Sister. You're not the brave woman I fought alongside at Atrisia. Learning the truth on Kar Shian broke you. Now you're this cold, angry shell with a grudge against the whole Galaxy for not seeing it your way."
"This isn't about me, West."
"Of course it is! Your talk? That's not the talk of someone who wants to save the Galaxy. That is the talk of someone who wants to win at any cost, even if the Victory would destroy them."
"Enough. Both of you." Nine said. "This Alliance with the Sith is not something anyone in this room likes but its the hand we have been dealt. As long as the NIO and GA make war upon the Sith while we are allied we must inevitably assume that they will be prepared to make war upon us should they get their victory."
"Mother , its nothing but cold blooded
butchery!" Lynda protested.
"War is not won by being merciful, West. Not even to good people. I am sorry you have lost friends, Daughter, but I feel in particular destabilizing the NIO is the best course of action. If they lose this war, it buys the CIS breathing room. The GA has unfortunately committed themselves to a very stubborn course of action, not considering the whole playing board before striking. Or not caring. Either way, the result is the same. That said...Laertia...I feel that this fight has become, in some ways, too personal for you. You have taken the Alliance and NIO's continued assault as almost a personal insult. That is not a healthy mindset for any leader. If you want your struggle over the NIO and Alliance to be about more than the most fethed up grudge match ever, you're going to have to act like your goals are actually a little more high minded than what you have displayed."
"War is cruelty. I can't change that." Laertia replied icily.
"Do not forget, Laertia, it is 'my' resources you use to battle your foes properly." Nine warned. "You may be the last of my Bloodline, but you risk going down the same route that destroyed the
Original House Li-Ves. Without the patronage of this House, you are virtually a lone Berzerker. You must be better than violently killing simply for being opposed."
"Am I to defeat the NIO and GA with
harsh language?" Laertia asked bitterly.
"You are to defeat them by being smart, not savage. Savagery didn't save the old Li-Ves family. It will not save
you." Nine replied curtly, making clear her word was final on it. She rose from her throne.
"Now...I'm going to go and visit
Sawa Ike
as I planned. Daughter, I am deeply, truly sorry for your recent losses." Nine said to Lynda. "The fog of war is a horrible thing to try and wade through. Forces collide, and good people don't always make it."
"And good people don't always stay good it seems." Lynda spoke looking directly at Laertia.
"West--" Laertia said, reaching out...
Lynda slapped it away.
"Get away from me! I should have left you where you were when I found you! I renounce bringing you into this family!" Lynda wept. "Your morals? Your
code? Its a bad
joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. You were only as good as The Galaxy allowed you to be. When the chips were down, you turned on the people who called you ally!"
"I will not follow allies off of a
cliff." Laertia replied.
"WELL SOMETIMES THAT'S WHAT LOYALTY MEANS!" Lynda shouted at her again, heartbroken. "Loyalty means remaining true to your oaths even if they become inconvenient! Even if you know what everyone doing around you is wrong in your eyes!" (Ahead of the Curve: 90 XP)
"Even if it lets the Bryn'adul win?" Laertia asked cynically.
"If they win...then maybe it was simply our time." Lynda replied. "Our survival against them will mean
nothing if we
become them."
"You may be content with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I am not. If that is loyalty, it is a poisonous thing that leads to senseless ruin. How many planets have to die before this starts to make sense to you? You been hanging around the Jedi too long, Lynda. You're not one of them, no matter how much you want to be."
"At least I am more of a Jedi than you were."
"Let's see how much you'll be proud of that when you suffer because of their feth-ups and short sightedness. They could both end this silly war tomorrow if they wanted. They only fight it out of some misplaced sense of pride and completely unjustified sense of moral superiority. Speak of morals to the Kubaz and the Barabel, who lost their whole planet, whose cultures were nearly wiped out. Or those massacred at Dubrava. I didn't have the forces to save them. Couldn't even get into their systems. Why? Because I had no back up. If I had back up, I would have done everything in my power to save them. But instead half the time I'm stuck trying to force them to stop killing each other. If that's being a good and honorable person,, if that's Democracy and Heroism, accepting their right to destroy themselves while they put the whole Galaxy at risk, fighting pointless fights while the enemy that wants us
all dead grows stronger, than I want
none of it." Laertia said passionately.
"
ENOUGH! Both of you!" Nine scolded.
Laertia stormed out of the chamber angrily. Lynda waited a moment before starting to leave.
"Daughter--" Nine called out.
Lynda spun around.
"You are
enabling her!" Lynda accused, hurt and pain across her whole face. "We are on a precipice! If she drags us over it, it will be your fault, not mine!"
Nine was left alone in the throne room after Lynda stormed out.
Hours later...
Nine made her way to Sawa's fortress in a prim and proper manner, the tall woman's hood lowered, hair done in a proper and traditional arrangement, her beautiful olive skin and seductive face contrasted with her inhuman eyes, pools of black with glowing dots of purple light at the center, twitching bird-like movements, and her shoulders haunching everytime her body sensed prey around her.
The Arch Psy-Pire trotted up the path, carrying a long black box in gift wrapping. She was so distressed after her first ever real argument with her Daughter, whose pain she did not know how to alleviate, and her own Blood Descendant's slide into Extremes.
She
needed Sawa. Needed to confide her fears in her.
The Onna recognized her immediately and let her through. She felt Sawa nearby, the Onna directing her past the throne to the dining table they sat at.
"Ohhh...it all smells scrumptious. A pity I'm...unable to eat any..." Nine said as she was announced by the Onna.
"Mistress, Lady Nine Lives of House Li-Ves has arrived." The Onna next to her said.
"Nice to meet you finally, Elise..." Nine said in greeting to
Elise Ike
, forgetting her earlier distress. She also spotted Erric
Jacen Nimdok
, who had done an expose on Alliance War Crimes. She heard Laertia had contacted him in secret, offering him evidence of her own "crimes" in the war, likely in some strange attempt to hold herself accountable to at least one ordinary person, even if he ended up condemning her just as hard as the rest. Laertia apparently wasn't sugar coating the grisly details either, from what her spies told her...he was supposedly getting unedited video evidence of everything she had done so far, with multiple sources to corroborate that she hadn't altered any footage. He was getting documents also. Nine was finding Laertia a confusing woman to understand. On the one hand, she refused to stop fighting the GA and NIO until they tapped out. On the other hand, she was giving Nimdok all the rope he would need to essentially hang her whether the war went in her favor or not.
No one knew Laertia and House Li-Ves were connected. Nine intended to keep it that way until she couldn't.
"I assume Professor Nimdok knows we're all vampires of some sort. If he doesn't,
Hi! I'm a Vampire!" Nine joked.