Private Dig In

[Rinea]

Rinea swallowed blood and felt a hard lump of swollen flesh that made the experience painful. She noticed the fuller extent of the Dark Lord's breakdown. She's seen that defeat before. In others. In the mirror. She knew it intimately from both ends. It had always been her job to exploit it from this end, and yet...

The intelligence officer felt a pause.

"I didn't want you to see me as... this."

You fool. You missed everything in my point. She sighed, and her mixed expression stumbled upon the closest thing it could to a smile. It was mostly in the eyes, which had softened, but her lips quivered at the corners.

Rinea noticed the cigarras had scattered onto the ground. It was a bad idea. Especially given the state of her throat, but she reached for one with a shaky hand and brought it to her mouth.

"Come here... Lighter."

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Suit + Gloves
Tag: Rinea

Kaila stared a moment longer.

Watched as the officer's features twisted with the same confusion and hesitance as her own.

And something else.

Whatever Rinea was trying, she was trying damn hard, she had to give her that. And she hated it, because she couldn't remember the last time someone had tried so hard for her.

But she could certainly remember the last time she wanted it.

She blinked and looked away, anxiously tracing that same finger again.

Until Rinea picked up another damn cigarette, and said those words again.

"Come here... Lighter."

Kaila couldn't bring herself to smile.

But somewhere behind the guilt and the anger, relief shone in her eye.

The young Darth finally moved for the first time since her outburst began, sitting herself down beside the chiss so that she may lean in, touching the end of Rinea's cigarra and lighting it same as before.

After which she found one for herself, and slumped back against the crate to stare at road.

"We need to get you medical."

She took a short drag and continued.

"I've a personal medichamber aboard my courier. Stocked with medical droids."

"Can you walk...?"

​

 

[Rinea]

Rinea nodded and proceeded--with some difficulty--to stand up.

She managed to stay on her feet, and the instability subsided. It wasn't that she recovered miraculously, but that between the stims and her personal experience, the Chiss could handle this. "That won't be necessary," she said after exhaling the smoke.

She couldn't handle another drag and threw the damn thing into a puddle.

"Rent us an airpseeder, let's go speculate on real estate." Even now, Rinea was poised to keep working on this, in spite of everything that just unfolded.

The officer looked back at Anathemous as she walked towards the busier street. "Bodr'ine'ako." She kept walking and waved the Sith along.

There would hopefully be a rental facility near the spaceport, especially on a beautiful world such as this.

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Suit + Gloves
Tag: Rinea

She followed her in the corner of her eye.

How the chiss was standing was beyond her. She could have sworn she watched her die at first.

"That won't be necessary," she said after exhaling the smoke.

She couldn't handle another drag and threw the damn thing into a puddle.

"Rent us an airpseeder, let's go speculate on real estate.

So the she wasn't the only one to stay on mission in a moment like this. Kaila stood slowly, taking another, longer drag. Rinea may have thrown hers away but Kaila knew she'd take on the woman's dirty habit soon enough.

Maybe she needed it.

"Bodr'ine'ako." She kept walking and waved the Sith along.

"Hmh."

Another drag for the road.

She followed after her, running fingers through her tousled hair, daring to steal a glance.

"Kaila."

"...just Kaila."

​

 

[Rinea]

"Kaila," Rinea said the name, letting it hang on her tongue.

Eventually, the two managed to find an airspeeder only a block down the road. A Besalisk behind the counter greeted them with a toothiest grin. "Welcome, welcome! Vacationers... Or business?" He made creepy--his attempts at small talk. "Might I suggest the J-5103? It's a nice two-seater, center console has a built-in drink cooler, and it hums beautifully so not to disturb the local ambiance..."

His sales pitch was too jazzy for Rinea's taste, but the Chiss merely glared at Kaila. "Well, what do you think? It's your money." A smirk.

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Suit + Gloves
Tag: Rinea

Kaila had followed silently.

Hell, she hardly even looked at her.

So too had she gone through her last cigarra by the time they found a dealership. It wasn't until after that she remembered spilling them all over the pavement, now she had nothing to do with her hands nor voice.

What could she have possibly said?

Reaching the dealership was a godsend, even the Besalisk was a bit off-putting.

"Might I suggest the J-5103? It's a nice two-seater, center console has a built-in drink cooler, and it hums beautifully so not to disturb the local ambiance..."

His sales pitch was too jazzy for Rinea's taste, but the Chiss merely glared at Kaila. "Well, what do you think? It's your money." A smirk.

She took a glance at Rinea, then the speeder.

At least she was smiling.

"Hm."

Kaila deposited her ashes in the nearest bin on her way towards the J-5103, giving it a cursory glance while stuffing her now gloved hands into her pockets.

It didn't look as... expensive, as she expected from a world like this.

She browsed the dealership until coming across a Sovereign Solare, which looked like the sort of thing she'd see in Canto Bight. The chiss was given a glance, a questioning brow as if to ask "satisfied?"

It was hardly the apology she owed, but a gesture nonetheless.

"I could just buy it."

​

 

[Rinea]

Rinea quirked a brow, then looked back at the dealer.

"I guess we're buying it." She said with a shrug.

The vehicle was a little... luxurious, all things considered. It wasn't that the Chiss hated luxury or comfort, nor was it because the Eternal Union didn't have such flash--it did, but it wasn't something you could just... Get. And never locked behind a currency. Such things were reserved for state vehicles and the like; there was purpose, intention behind every design.

The speeder before them didn't look like it was designed with intention. No, it looked as if it had been designed to appear the product of careful consideration. It was loud, overdone, and reeked of excess.

Yet, when she glanced over to Kaila, she wanted nothing else than to accept it. "Well, pay the man."

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Suit + Gloves
Tag: Rinea

"Eager are we?"

Her lips pulled dangerously close to a smile.

She returned to the counter with a faint bounce in her step, pleased the chiss had accepted her offer. All it took was a quick swipe from her wrist-computer, displayed in neon hardlight which responded to her touch.

And displayed a lot of numbers.

The dealer's device chimed softly to indicate their purchase, and the numbers decreased almost imperceptibly only to be quickly replaced as the account was continuously filled by various sources.

Then she swiped once more and it the light was gone.

"Who's driving?" she asked while waiting for the keys.

​

 

[Rinea]

The dealer sat at a computer and generated a lock code for the vehicle and registered it.

"You drive, of course. I have to speculate." Despite the teasing, Rinea looked tense.

The moment from earlier didn't just linger on her thoughts; it actively plagued them, and yet she needed this mission to go well. She needed her plan to be successful. Not just for her, but for the thousands stranded and desperately in need of a home. It would've been easier to handle if that were the only cause for conflict in her heart. No, she looked to Kaila and...

The dealer returned with another creepy grin and handed Kaila a small, metal card with the lock number burned into it.

"Here you go," he said proudly. "A pleasure... doing business today."

With that, Rinea walked with Kaila towards their new ride. She removed a small datapad from her back and began to use it. "I pivoted since our conversation at the bar. I figure a world like this has to have private islands." The very thought sickened her, but it formed the backbone of a master plan.

"That is another thing we will buy today."

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Suit + Gloves
Tag: Rinea

"Of course." she echoed.

Another glance told her that something was wrong however.

And it may continue to be, perhaps forever, and Rinea had every right to feel that way. Even if she should know better than to provoke the Sith. Crimson eyes turned on her, meeting for but a fraction of a second as she looked away, as though she'd glimpsed the sun.

"Here you go," he said proudly. "A pleasure... doing business today."

"Mm." she nodded, swiping the keycard as she turned.

She remained silent as the two slid into their new ride, lifting off soon after. She'd keep them in the air for awhile, long enough for Rinea to run her calculations or browse properties whilst she spent time testing the handling, which felt positively buttery to the young Darth. She was no starfighter ace, not yet at least, but she'd almost miss the thing.

Though she had every intention of handing Rinea the keys by tonight.

Kaila dared to steal another glance at the Chiss in the rear view mirror, again noting her expression.

It reminded her of another mirror. Her mirror, not long after Kirie lost control, made her so powerless.

How things had become so complicated after that, right until the very end.

"Rinea..."

Her voice was soft, but her grip on the controls tightened.

"If by the end of the day, you decide that we should do this over the holonet moving forward... Treat this more businesslike, or that you no longer wish me to call you by that name..."

"I'll understand."

​

 

[Rinea]

Rinea did not look up from her datapad.

Indeed, her throat burned, a bruise formed at the base of her neck from where it bled inside, and much of the soft tissue was heavily swollen. She wheezed ever so slightly with each breath. For a moment, it seemed as if the chiss might have ignored what Kaila said, but she eventually replied.

"You choked me." Tried to kill me. "You feel bad." Confused--lost, or so she read. "But these interactions are important to me." Her tone was too plain to be authentic. Kaila would know that by now, especially given the conversation they were having.

"I know now that you won't do it again. I believe that, Kaila."

Rinea's eyes flicked up to meet hers in the rearview. "What I want from you is to be open with me." As a gesture of goodwill, or something like it, she followed her own wisdom. "I am ideologically opposed to the Sith. I have read the Sluis Vain report, my operative has seen the death toll." She accused.

Then, in knee-jerk fashion, the chiss doubled down and pulled up the report from her datafeed. The droid intelligence in her implant read audibly, over the vehicle's speaker system.

Subject #23521. Civilian male, mid-thirties. Neurojack split clean at the base of the skull. Cause of death: kinetic trauma to the back of the head. No defensive wounds logged.

Subject #2541-B.Untagged juvenile, approximately six years old. No identifying implants. Third-degree plasma scarring etched across the chest cavity. Surgical staples—non-sterile—suggest recent field intervention. Bled out. Alone.

Subject #2304-G. Male, ~40s. Asphyxiation without obstruction. Airway remained clear, oxygen levels plummeted. Brainwave spike logged milliseconds before death.

She stopped it there. "Do you know what the worst part was?" She did not await her guess. "Over the thousands of morgue entries, they stopped giving clarity. They stopped trying. Every body that was logged had one cause of death: Sith Invasion."

Her eyes returned to the datapad. "There's an island not far from here." Like clockwork, her implant already punched in the coordinates. All Kaila would have to do was confirm it.

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Suit + Gloves
Tag: Rinea

She did not answer at first.

Even the name Sluis Van brought little more than a quizzical brow.

It wasn't until the second report that Kaila truly felt the weight of it all. Her heart sank, eyes closed, she couldn't bear to look Judgement in the eye.

She remembered something.

Something she wasn't telling her.

"Do you know what the worst part was?" She did not await her guess. "Over the thousands of morgue entries, they stopped giving clarity. They stopped trying. Every body that was logged had one cause of death: Sith Invasion."

Her eyes returned to the datapad. "There's an island not far from here."

Kaila just shook her head, and engaged the autopilot.

Then slumped into her seat.

"That's not the whole story." her voice was small, frayed.

The young Darth leaned her elbow against the door, chin resting in her gloved hand while she watched the clouds pass.

"I was on that front."

"The Galactic alliance, jedi, they launched a tri-pronged attack on Sluis Van, Dorvalla and Echnos."

"That's how I became a governor, you see, for my actions during the siege. Field promotion."

"Before the planeshift, these worlds were along the northern border with the Alliance. I don't know what Jedi were like in your reality but here?"

"They cut the power to the frakking dome, Rinea." she said, still incensed to this day.

"They would have let innocents die in a nitrogen filled atmosphere without life support."

"Just to dislodge us from our world."

Her eyes reflected back at her in the window tint, a little more clearly than before.

"I didn't agree with the Empress' methods. But neither did I agree with our enemies'. They were all convinced we wouldn't end this war unless we showed the Jedi what it would cost to destroy us. They said the fear we spread then would save lives later."

"Echnos was a nightmare. Sluis Van was hell. And Dorvalla-"

She grit her teeth.

Frakking Dorvalla.

"I wish I'd fought on Dorvalla."

"I wish we'd killed more alliance that day."

​

 

[Rinea]

She listened. Didn't say a word even during the pauses. Rinea knew how much Kaila's guts were being spilled this day.

Rinea didn't even have the heart to say where this data was from. Or rather, when. She could hear the pain in Kaila's voice as she explained. She sensed struggle, not just for the things she wanted to protect, but an internal struggle.

"You have an enemy," she finally remarked. "I understand that." She did. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't see much distinction between Jedi and Sith. Their kind has a long history of causing, escalating, and continuing galactic wars." So did the Sith, but that was beside the point.

She looked out of the window at the open water and... She began to cough--violently. When she looked down, she saw blood in her hand, more of it speckled across her shirt, and from the rearview mirror, Kaila would see it trickling down Rinea's chin. The Chiss' vision blurred again, her breathing heightened.

An internal warning... Error: Implant failure. Diagnosis incomplete. Priority: critical.

The damn thing meant to put her in a coma if she didn't recover fast. The biomonitor sensor in her spine must've been damaged during that moment.

Rinea passed out in the back seat. Her implant sent an S.O.S. to the Fleet, and the medical logs were sent directly to Sachi Maren along with her location data.

Darth Anathemous

 

[Rinea]

Rinea awoke aboard Kaila's ship, with hardly a memory of what happened. After being flushed from the bacta tank, the two began to have a conversation about the nature of loyalties, vulnerability, and the endless tug-of-war they both felt between them.

After all, Kaila had been responsible for not one but two of Rinea's near-death experiences, all in a single day. The Chiss knew there would be risks to bargaining with the Sith, and while she acted in desperation for her people's needs, she also began to sense a kindred spirit in the Dark Lord, despite everything the Sith stood for.

"Do you think our positions are so different?" She interjected.

The two were deep in a conversation about what was 'on the line.' "My entire life vanished the moment we dropped out of hyperspace... Maybe before that." They had no idea what actually happened, and she resigned herself to believing there was no way back. Only forward.

"Our ships are unmaintained. Our people are anxious. Our resources dwindle every day. We are at risk of unraveling at any moment, and this, all of this, is the one chance I have at saving them." Rinea admitted more than she would've liked to, but it was all in the spirit of openness.

"They are my burden, but I am not beholden to anyone except myself. I live and die on my own terms. No one, not you, not High Command, not your fething Emperor decides that."

At this point, she vented her anger. "I don't hide behind melancholic fantasies of fate or absolutism. I don't resign myself to an enemy so grand and insurmountable that I can just crawl away and accept defeat as inevitable." She stopped. She lost the thread and only now realized it.

She waved a dismissive hand at Kaila in frustration, but in truth, it was at herself.

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Suit + Gloves
Tag: Rinea

Fate.

Her eyes flared in the darkness.

Only Bodr'ine'ako could stir her anger and passions both in a single sentence. A single day. She loved that defiant fire raging before her now, even in the face of fear. Yes, fear. She could hear it in that confession, how dire the situation.

But by the Fanged God did she hate the assumptions, thrown at her as though accusations.

Kaila leaned forward, chin resting upon steepled fingers.

"Fate." she echoed.

"Is not something to be accepted."

"Fate is the enemy. And when faced with insurmountable odds one does not accept defeat."

"She fights."

"Bite. Claw. Kick, scream, it does not matter so long as she fights it."

There was a grim passion behind those eyes, a hatred so stoked, the very air around them seemed warmer.

This was no metaphor.

"Do not think for a moment that I have surrendered to that enemy—that I will ever surrender to anyone—just because I am committed to the path I walk."

"To my position."

Her voice softened as she gestured toward the chiss.

"Because the answer is no, our positions are not so different."

"...I do not deny it..."

"Neither will I tolerate being treated as though I am lesser."

"For sharing those convictions."

​

 

[Rinea]

Rinea was taken aback by the sudden burst of Kaila's passion.

For a second, she felt the boisterous rage of the Dark Lord in that alley. The chiss reacted by reaching up for her own throat, and then positioned herself ready to deliver an angry backhand.

She only stopped herself when Kaila's voice softened. Rinea threw that hand back down to her side. Like a soldier accused of insubordination, it stepped back into line. Her eyes were wide with fear, her jaw compromised with anger, and her heart pounded to the point she felt it in the back of her neck. There was venom on her tongue even now, and she needed to spit it.

She leaned forward, tapping fingers against her own chest. "We can do anything!" Rinea shouted.

Her hoarseness returned. "I don't..." As if they had known each other always, "I don't understand your path! Share convictions we might, I don't understand how someone like you can be a Sith!"

She picked up the jar containing her implant and threw it against the far wall, then stumbled forward in another coughing fit.

Without turning back to face her, "The 'Dark Lord' held my life in her hand and made sure I knew she could take it, while Kaila craves connection and understanding." She looked back over her shoulder. "I have seen no unity in those lives, and one day... when you cross that ravine... one of you will jump."

Rinea clenched her fist. That moment before, that line they crossed... She wanted to pretend her motives were an act of opportunity, but that was a hard lie to swallow, especially now.

Her voice grew colder. "I don't trust the one who hurt me."

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Suit + Gloves
Tag: Rinea

Her victory was hollow, and short.

Whatever understanding she thought they may share was dashed away.

And everything the chiss knew of her had come back to haunt her in the most unusual way.

"I don't..." As if they had known each other always, "I don't understand your path! Share convictions we might, I don't understand how someone like you can be a Sith!"

Her features softened.

No, withered.

Her intentions were to illustrate that there may be such a thing as righteous Sith, that the cause could still be noble if only one made that sacrifice. That everything she had done was worth it. Instead the chiss saw no thing.

Kaila had always been the blacksheep of the order, even inducted in the Emperor's circle.

Perhaps she always would be.

Rinea saw that, she realized. Not only her weakness, but something worth saving perhaps.

But for all her talk, the young Darth saw no such thing.

"The 'Dark Lord' held my life in her hand and made sure I knew she could take it, while Kaila craves connection and understanding." She looked back over her shoulder. "I have seen no unity in those lives, and one day... when you cross that ravine... one of you will jump."

Rinea clenched her fist. That moment before, that line they crossed... She wanted to pretend her motives were an act of opportunity, but that was a hard lie to swallow, especially now.

Her voice grew colder. "I don't trust the one who hurt me."

It was an ugly thing Anathemous had done.

She was an ugly thing.

A monster, just like her master always wanted.

Slowly her features were pulled into that forcibly dour expression, that one she always hid behind when the world was deemed too dangerous to see her in the ways Rinea had. She'd come to a realization. One the chiss needn't burden herself with.

"...you shouldn't." Kaila murmured after a time.

"Anyone would be a fool to, in your position."

She dragged her nails across her lip in thought, slowly piecing together a newfound understanding of herself.

The young Darth thought so, at least.

"You told me you did not wish to discard me."

Not once did she look at her.

"You should reconsider. It's your safest move on the board."

​

 

[Rinea]

The self-loathing and regret in Kaila's voice were clear to the Chiss' ear, even if weren't trained to pick up on such things.

She saw that look on the woman's face. It wasn't just self-pity; it was loneliness.

"You told me you did not wish to discard me."

Not once did she look at her.

"You should reconsider. It's your safest move on the board."

She glared with righteous disgust. "No."

"You are Kaila here. At your governsorship, in Sith Space, the Dark Lord can be as she pleases. Even in my presence, should she choose. That is her hole, and I will not dare to drag her from it."

Rinea turned to face her, then walked forward with arms locked behind her back. "But here.. in my presence, outside of that bubble, you are Kaila. Darth Anathemous has no right to exist in my space without my direct and inviolate permission. I will not deny her uses, she who is given to use and be used in kind, like all Sith are." There was no budging in her belief. Not today.

She stood inches from Kaila and looked down at her. The bitterness in the chiss' red eyes softened, and her jaw went loose, mouth slightly agape.

"You, Kaila, are welcome in my presence. I reserve no hate for you. I will not use you. I will not discard you. Here, in my presence, we are equals."

Welcome to Consensus.

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Suit + Gloves
Tag: Rinea

She closed her eyes.

Shed another tear.​

And when she opened them again, she looked right up at Rinea's. Eyes that terrified her, eyes that saw more of Kaila than most ever would. Eyes that saw more in her than most ever could.

Her efforts were not vane either. Kaila could see how hard she was trying, even if Anathemous stubbornly refused.

Maybe she would give up her mission for this woman, but perhaps she could change, and trust her to see more. Secrets, vulnerabilities, things Kaila hid even from herself. It nearly cost the Chiss her life, completely broken protocol, but she had Kaila exactly where she wanted her, ready to reveal it all.

Commitment like that deserved to be rewarded.

"Then I will choose to trust you..." she murmured.

"...Bodr'ine'ako."

​