Exile (Open) [Lake Natth / Ambria]

[Darth Ayra]

A fire cackled before the Sith as she sat in meditation along the shores of Lake Natth. Drawing upon the power of the dark side, Darth Ayra thought about her past, her future, her mistakes. It had been years since she had completed the Essence Transfer ritual upon Ella Nova, eradicating the existence of the Jedi so that hers would endure. Without a cure for the obelisks, which had latched onto her as she had explored the ancient tomb of Freedon Nadd, she had known that her time was limited. With no other course of action to take, Ayra had unleashed the arcane powers of the dark side that she had learned from her late Master; her body destroyed in the process of the ritual as she had sought to eradicate the existence of Ella Nova and take her body for herself.

She had succeeded, but the costs were great. All the resources and influence that she had built over a lifetime had all been lost with her demise. She couldn't simply turn up to Chandrila, under the disguise of a Jedi Knight, and lay claim to the companies that she had cultivated for many years to help serve her plans to destroy the Jedi. The apprentice that she had been training to succeed her- [member="Joon"] - had also been lost. Perhaps that was for the best, in retrospect. Eager to succeed her Master and begin her reign as a Dark Lord of the Sith, had Ayra taken an apprentice too early?

Realizing that she could now act under the pretense of a Jedi Knight, Ayra had ventured to Jedi enclaves and met with Jedi Masters, with the ulterior motive of pushing the Jedi into conflict. Chaos and disharmony was how Ayra would fracture their order enough to break it. But such was the reluctance of the Jedi to wage war with even their most ancient of enemies- the Sith- that Ayra had left them in self imposed exile, a Jedi rite willed by the guidance of the Force... As if she would be ruled by a power that served her.

The smell of grilling flesh woke Ayra from her stupor. Leaning forward, the Sith claimed her meal and begun to eat away at the carcass of the Neek she had caught earlier that day for supper.

 

[Onrai]

Vanessa’s motivations for coming to Lake Natth were a combination between corporate and self-serving. Lake Natth was a poisonous, festering buboe of a Dark Side stain upon an otherwise cleansed and unblighted world. Vanessa’s intent was to mark the world as a place for the Water Sucker to go. As well, the minerals in the water were suitable for luxum crystal production. The ionizing effects of the crystal would serve quite well against droid enemies.

As her fighter landed near the shores of the lake, she sensed something. A presence she had... not expected to feel. Ayra was gone. Lost to the Sith, and to her. Yet here she was, the sensation of her being unmistakeable beyond all compare. Vanessa’s absence over the decades made her question how it had been, what she had done in the intervening timespan.

But she was no longer a Baneite. Hopefully Ayra was not either.

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

The sound of an approaching shuttle forced Ayra to lower the Neek from her lips. Her face was covered in a mixture of leftover Neek, grease and saliva, such was the ferocity that she had used to begin devouring the animal's flesh. Lifting her arm to wipe her face and mouth (failing to clean her face entirely), the Sith rose to her feet. Dangling from her waist was a Lightsaber. The weapon had been on person right after she had woken, mere moments after the Essence Transfer ritual had been complete. It was not an extraordinary weapon, and when ignited, it shone blue: a Jedi weapon. Practicing with the Lightsaber, Ayra had found that the hilt was built to suit her new hands, but lacked the ferocity and power that her previous weapon had held.

She had not been in a real Lightsaber duel for a long time, and she had wondered how she would suit in such a confrontation. In her seminal life before the ritual, she had fought aggressively and with ferocity, using the dark side as a weapon to drive her enemies into an early grave. But now her body was more nimble, faster, but smaller and more susceptible to being overwhelmed by a more physical opponent. Since arriving on Ambria, Darth Ayra had practiced day and night, re-learning how to fight again. But she did not know how far she came along until a true challenge had revealed itself.

Perhaps that challenge had now come.

Standing at mere meter and a half in height, the short and scrawny features of Ella Nova looked beyond the fire that cackled at her feet towards the arriving ship. The presence seemed... familiar.

 

[Onrai]

There it was. She looked out the window and saw it - someone had an encampment there. A place on the planet below where they were located next to the lake in question. Perhaps this person was the one she sensed, the familiar presence that resembled an old associate. Slowly the shuttle descended a few hundred yards away, Vanessa soon exiting while wearing a standard simple tunic with a perpetuating lightsaber at her waist.

She stepped out of the ship, slowly walking towards the encampment with as relaxed a demeanor as she could manage. A hand was raised - not only as a sign of peaceful greeting, but as a way for her to prepare and use the Force were it to come to that. She did not have any desire to harm whoever this was. Whoever it was that felt like Ayra. Her Ayra.

"Hello there!" She called out.

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

The encampment consisted of three tents. The first was the largest, where Ayra slept during the night, and where most of her belongings were held. The other two were much smaller, originally designed for one or two people to sleep in each, but had been converted to hold foodstuffs: one for vegetables, the other for livestock that Ayra had hunted, butchered and skinned for their meat. A fire was situated in the center of the camp, with a boiling pot situated over it that was used for cooking. The surrounding area was full of sand and dust, save for a small mat that had been positioned near the fire. Alongside the cackling and fierce winds that blew around that night, the sounds of Lake Natth's water trickling along the shoreline was heard.

"Who goes there?" Ayra asked the woman as she approached, studying her attire and seeing the Lightsaber which hung from her hip. Likewise, the Sith's was clearly visible, and unlike her previous interactions with the Jedi, she was not concealing herself in the Force. The dark side flowed through her as much as it did in Lake Natth, and it showed with two, fierce yellow eyes that glared down upon Vanessa, which threatened to call upon a fury that only one had survived in the past.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ella Nova"]

"Vanessa Vantai!" She replied, still moving closer to the woman. The presence grew more and more unmistakable as she studied the glare, the hatred focused upon her very being. There was only one who could ever truly have such towards her - the one she had broken in the past, when she was younger and more foolish than now. She decided to play ignorant for now, though she wholeheartedly expected the woman to call her out as the name she had gone by before.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked. "They don't normally camp this close. Not... Jedi." She looked at the yellow eyes. "But you're a Dark Jedi. Or a Sith." She thought for a moment how to best tiptoe around things.

"Who are you?"

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

Pouting her lips, Ayra ignored the question and repeated her previous inquiry: "Who goes there?"

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ella Nova"]

"Vanessa Vantai." She said. "Owner of Defiance Consolidated Multipurpose Manufacturing." She sighed. The last thing she wanted was to get in a duel - that would be most improper all things considered.

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

During her seminal life, Ayra had kept tracks on all the major business corporations in the galaxy. She had even acquired the service of a Muun called Serj Sularis, embedded in the mid ranks of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, who had funneled information and opportunities that few could gain through his contacts in the clan. But she had never heard of this woman, or her business, despite feeling a sense of familiarity around her.

"My name is Nova," Ella replied, the pout disappearing from her face. "You are a long way from home, Ms. Vantai."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ella Nova"]

"Nova. A nice name." She said. "I'm actually out here on company business. Checking the lake to determine whether or not the minerals in it are suitable for use in the creation of crystals." She replied. "What about you? What are you doing here?" She was almost one hundred percent sure that 'Nova' was just an alias for Ayra herself. That said, she was more than interested in what her former apprentice was doing here, assuming it was her.

These sorts of meetings weren't exactly common after all.

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

"I live here." Turning away from the woman, Ella made her way back to the fire situated in the middle of the camp. Lowering herself down to the mat placed before the fire, she folded her legs together and left her hands on her lap. Her gaze stared up at the owner of Defiance Consolidated Multipurpose Manufacturing. From their brief interaction, Ella had learned that this woman possessed knowledge on the Force. She had guessed that either Ella was a Dark Jedi or a Sith. Vanessa was well trained.

Another long gust swept over the encampment, sweeping up Ella and her guest. Once upon a time, the former Jedi Knight had short, mouse blonde hair that had fallen just above her shoulders and neck. But now it was matted, dark and as dirty as the camp was. Her hands were filthy, covered in stains of the meals that she had eaten. A self conscious person might have felt embarrassed by this, but not Ella. She did not care.

"I will not intervene in your work."

 

[Onrai]

“You know, you remind me of someone I used to know.” She said. “That said... you look like you’ve been through a lot. Perhaps I could assist you. Would you like to come with me? I can get you cleaned up, give you a better life than this - and someone like you shouldn’t have to live this way.”

How charitable. Perhaps it was an opportunity to bring Nova into the fold, give her another chance at life. Or maybe it was a bit of remorse, for Vanessa’s actions had helped lead this woman to the place she was in now. Either way, she came even closer. “I could use the help of someone like you, after all.”

She sighed for a bit. “There won’t be much here when my company visits - we’ll be doing some serious work after all. It would probably unintentionally affect you if nothing else.”

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

Ella stared at the woman before her for a long time. She only broke her gaze when an itch at the back of her head distracted her. Running her blackened nail along the back of her scalp so as to satisfy the itch, did she break her silence. "It is possible that we have met in the past, or that you heard of me. I was a Jedi. I served the Republic during the One Sith Wars." Lowering her hand back down to her lap, Ella averted her gaze from Vanessa to the fire. "You offer assistance to a stranger you barely know. Is this your way of getting me to leave, so you and your company can mine the crystal you spoke of?"

 

[Onrai]

"I also participated in the conflict." She said. "Was once a friend of the Grandmaster of the Jedi." Technically true - she was an ally of Taeli after all, though their relationship had cooled down drastically since she defected to the Jedi. "Now how shallow would that be of me? To try and get you out of here just so I can exploit the world for my company's gain. No, I care far too much about you for that." She said. "I merely want to help a former Jedi who's fallen on hard times out by offering her the opportunity to assist me in my endeavors."

This seemed very familiar.

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

Ella nearly laughed. It was the most ludicrous thing she had heard since [member="Darth Abyss"] had called himself her Master. "You are a follower of the dark side," the former Jedi replied, whilst keeping her solemn gaze upon the fire. "It isn't in your nature to help others. Not unless they help you for some ulterior reason." As Ella thought about it, this woman had offered her a place in her company, to help her in her endeavors. She had sought to recruit her almost immediately upon contact, guided by some sense of feeling given to her by the Force.

"Your offer to help me is nothing but an illusion. You think I can be useful to you. But I have seen through you." Lifting her gaze back up to Vanessa, Ella was more somber and more calm. "You were wrong about this place. This place is more than just some commercial venture that will generate you immaterial wealth. It is a place of power. That is why I am here."

 

[Onrai]

"Of course I am. No lightsider would ever attempt to actively exploit a place of such dark power." She replied. "By offering you assistance, I intend to both satisfy my own needs and those of my company - as well as those of whom I choose to align myself with." At this point she figured it would be a matter of time before the dots were connected - if she chose to take Nova back with her, to Malachor V, then it would become immediately obvious as to who she truly was given who formerly owned the Trayus Laboratory.

"Of course I think you can be useful to me. And I would rather see you being of some worth to me than languishing here on the edge of a lake like this." Vanessa sighed. "I know it's a place of power. I also know that much of the power is in the water itself. When I drain this lake of its water, cleanse the water of mineral impurities... then I will have an extraordinarily exploitable resource. The water can be bottled and sold to Sith - or used in dye to make Natth Cowlings. The minerals can form luxum crystals, which I can then convert into energy crystals, focusing crystals, and much more." She replied.

"How does that sound?"

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"] | [member="Darth Ophidia"]

As Ella listened to Vanessa explain her motives, she felt a disturbance in the Force. Expanding her senses beyond that of the Lake and her guest, Ella felt her. In her seminal life, she had kept tabs on the cult that called themselves the Sith Assassins. They were led by a Sith Lord called Darth Ferus, a Zabrak that she had known during her earlier days before she had discovered the truth of Darth Bane. Ferus had taught her how to master the Lightsaber, teaching her how to master every form and sequence that he himself had mastered as a Blademaster.

On several occasions, she had reached out to the Assassins, attempting to guide them from afar in a secretive, manipulative plan to undo her enemies. Before she could complete her goals, however, Ayra had been struck with the obelisk plague and the rest was history. But now, with the Holocron of Heresies luring Ophidia to the shores of Lake Natth, Ella's renewed interest in the Sith Lord and her present day activities had brought them back together.

For so long, the two had worked in the shadows, sometimes passing each other, until now, where they would be brought out in the light of Ambria's star, and it's greatest tragedy.

"What you speak of is the dilution of power," Ella replied, lifting a small hand into the air and gesturing to the Lake. "You speak of the immaterial. This place is more than crystals, or dyes used to create clothes. There is a power trapped beneath these waters, held at bay by the light side. Your commercial interest and exploitation is irrelevant to the power of the Force."

"You speak of your company, of satisfying my needs and desires, without even knowing them. What do you have to offer me, other than your credits or immaterial goods?" Ella desired influence, power, information. Things she could use to exploit her enemies, so as to avenge her losses. The Merill's. Taeli Raaf. Joon. Vornskr. The One Sith. They would all pay.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ella Nova"] [member="Darth Ophidia"]

Vanessa felt the disturbance too. It was a familiar presence, somewhat - she recognized it as that of someone who regularly participated in the Sith subjugation of worlds. She could not place a face or name to the presence, though it was just something she recognized tremendously. "There is a power trapped beneath the waters. The power itself corrupts the waters and makes them what they are, which is why I have come to exploit them." She replied. "My commercial interest is not the only thing I have here - a personal interest is involved as well." She said.

"What do I have to offer you... Access to resources you would otherwise never have the ability to influence. The opportunity to utilize the information I regularly acquire as your own. After all, it's the least I owe you, all things considered." She sighed. "So many mistakes... so little time to rectify them."

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

"Owe me?" Ella said, narrowing her eyes at the woman. What she could possibly owe? They had just met...

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ella Nova"]

"Yes. Owe you." She said. "And considering the circumstances, it's a lot." She said, sighing. "After all, you're more familiar to me than you realize." She focused for a moment, a form shimmering over her own, taking an appearance that she once held, an appearance that the woman would find far more familiar. It was now or never.

"Second chances are something I rarely give, Ayra."