Private For the Spiral Castle

[Lunafreya Solidor]

The droids were easily destroyed. Shattered parts scattered across the lugubrious scene, Zozo kept kneeling on the floor, breathing heavily under his helmet while Calis still remained lying in some dark corner. New lights came on in the factory, all focused on a corridor above them, connected by metal stairs, focusing entirely on the figure of Gentiana and Lunafreya Solidor, dressed luxuriously in rich costumes of exemplary cut.

On his thin lips an amused smile hovered.
"I believe this will suffice.", She started to say. "Thank you for your effort, Zozo. And you, Calis, stand tall for before another job well done.", The woman stood up without making a sound or even making a sound while doing it so. Twisting her head to the side, cracking the bones under the black armor, she rose again, restoring her composure, bowing elegantly and left the factory. The trandoshan removed his helmet and kept his gaze focused on Maro, with a curious expression on his face. Maybe with hurt pride or maybe he was just amused by it all, she couldn't say.

He got up and left shortly thereafter, leaving only Gentiana and the two organic beings. The farce, if it could be called that soon as it could be revealed in front of Muun when Lunafreya left behind the curtain to reveal her finger in everything that had happened. She chose an honest tone of voice, calm and pleasant to hear.

"I must say that I am impressed, Maro. Not because of the way he dispatched the droids, although Zozo is a tremendous warrior for his people and Calis is not an easy thing to go down. But... I had my doubts on how you could have faltered in front of Bowen, or that you could have asked Zozo to do something about it, but to have killed the neimoidian in front of Cariveau? Now that was shrewd of you." She allowed herself smile for a moment more. "Was there ever a time when you had any suspicion that I set Calis up to do nothing about Bowen? To see how you would react?" The objective had been this, to see what he would be like in the face of fear and the improbable, if he would be able to compromise and get his hands dirty for something.

Darth Argentum

 

[Darth Argentum]

The expected betrayal did not come. But Argentum was not so quick to lower his guard. He watched both Calis and Zozoped leave and waited a long moment before turning to regard the Duchess. Finally he extinguished his weapon but he pointedly didn't put it away.

"I suspected she'd been bought off," he said with a thin smile "Every being has a price."

He tilted his head as she listed her doubts about him. The Muun loosed an elaborate sigh and rolled radioactive eyes.

"You forget that my people are often considered the finest lawyers. Why you'd think that a fat, up-jumped slug would intimidate me is baffling."

He cut his eyes back to the entrance from where her two servants had exited.

"You and I both know the power of the Force. Your Trandoshan would die and our dear Calis...well...there are some fates worse than death...."

His thin smile grew into a ghastly grin. It was really the fault of the one being driven mad. They, after all, housed their own nightmares. He only brought them to the surface. Just as well for her that it hadn't gone any further.

The Muun looked back up to Lunafreya Solidor and still retained his grin.

"A test, was it?," he asked "Well, my dear Duchess, I have passed. Unless you have something else planned. But do keep in mind that I don't take well to betrayal."

His tone was cordial enough but he still hadn't put away his weapon....

 

[Lunafreya Solidor]

She allowed herself to return the same smile to Muun to the same extent. This should be the first time Lunafreya has expressed any kind of smile for him since they both met. A hard figure who was bathed in arrogance was the one that Lunafreya really was.

"A test, yes.", His lips commented in a casual tone already going down the last step of the stairs. "For fidelity.", This was a subject much sought after by herself, with little belief in loyalty or even mundane things like morality. Although it could be said that she had principles of her own, whatever those were. Loyalty to Lunafreya was all that really mattered in such a vast galaxy.

"I have to say that paranoia is not something that suits you, Maro Dansk. Search your feelings and you will know the answer for that. Betrayals belong with the Sith. I do not believe in those ways unless they suit a very important purpose, which you can be sure doesn't exist in this matter.", Her response was calm and very patient, her face turned to the side where there was nothing but darkness and the emptiness of that factory.

"Look around you, always pay attention to the surroundings and to the smallest details. Because each one of them matters in any matter that we face, as now... See this empty factory, the first of many where I intend to fill your void with machinery, I will place slaves and droids to build the largest private army in this galaxy. And you will help me do that...", the face turned back to Muun, his violet eyes seemed to sparkle in that low light. "I want you to divert as much funds as you can from the NIB and also from the New Imperial Order so we can build this army, arm it and recruit its numbers.", the Solidor gave him a moment to ponder on this matter before proceeding. "These imperials are nothing more than humans."

Talking about it was dangerous, but in her system she had control. Under a steel fist, ruled with strength and fear, she kept her inhabitants under her control. The reptiles of that world owed her life and served her loyally, the humanoids learned from the sound of their growls and the crack of whips and she had already begun to tire of those humans.

"Fearful of powers greater than themselves, weak in the face of true strength, corrosive to everything they touch and everything they occupy. They are nothing but a plague, a cancer on the stars, on a level equal to the Bryn and Yuuzhan Vong of yore."

Darth Argentum

 

[Darth Argentum]

The Muun grew to understand as Lunafreya Solidor spoke more. What she told him was audacious and tantamount to suicide. That was if he chose to inform the government of her plans. But he wouldn't.

A private army could only mean one thing. She was serious about her plans to seize power. Unless it was a trick from the NIO itself. He couldn't fully bring himself to trust this new empire. Perhaps they were drawing out traitors.

They certainly wouldn't have been so welcoming had they known of his true identity. Sith were barely accepted at all within these borders. Hence his tenuous position and dependence on this female. It may have been that they were looking for a pretext to eliminate him.

It galled him that he had to play second-fiddle to her. His success in financial matters meant little to his desire for power. True power. But he allowed himself his sinister smile and he put away his weapon.

"So it begins, then," he said "I'd begun to wonder if your plans upon our first meeting were going to happen."

Lunafreya spoke of fidelity. She said she was no Sith and that much was apparent to him. Darth Argentum would continue within his role. For now, but a thing about the Dark Side these pretenders didn't understand was this: the road to power was not through loyalty.