Private I Knew Your Father [Kakus]

[Her]

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"A transparent dome made of Transparisteel surrounds a medium sized Necropolis made up of several Tombs, and Graves which line the walkways and levels that can lead up to a Temple at the upmost top of the Necropolis itself, or downwards to most Tombs and Graves where the deceased were lain to rest while under the strange and esoteric effect of temporarily that may turn you back into a child by a light sided Force Nexus."
-- A description of the Childhood anomaly.

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Nespis VIII, Auril system, Auril sector, Outer Rim Territories;
Within the former territories of The Empire of the Lost;
In the weeks following The Sartinaynian Crisis.
Tags: Diarch Rellik

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It was The Nomad who once told to me that destruction breeds creation. I only came to learn that lesson later on in life long after he had departed it.

Some weeks ago two Empires came to their end after the events at Bastion. Historians would later come to call it The Sartinaynian Crisis: the last acts of the Dark Empire and the Empire of the Lost that would later lead to the creation of The Imperial Confederation. But this is a tale that rests somewhere in-between the formation of a new Imperial Occupation made up of the remaining Dark-Imperials of Carlac and the expats from the so-called 'Lost' of Lianna-- a story that delves into the events of the past which shaped the present day for THE DARK LORD OF THE SITH and THE LORD OF THE DIARCHY.

Childhood is a quiet place held in reverence to some in the modern day. It is a place that marks the end of ones pilgrimage as they searched for the cure. Some found out the hard way that there was no salvation here, Her feared. The mythology surrounding this place of remembrance for the dearly departed remains obfuscated, and perhaps lost to time, as it is terribly so. Nevertheless a radio quietly plays beneath veneer of a loud silence as Her sits on the ramparts of a most odd looking ship listening to the demise of a faction that had fallen according to her designs. It is of a style and design of a bygone time colloquially dubbed as the Ufo which she felt was a fitting name to call the ship given it's circumstances. Curiously the same people who had constructed it had built this place where she and Rellik were now upon after they escaped the trap of the seditious, conspiratorial Fifth Wing.

After a long journey from Bastion back to what was formerly Imperial space, the Dark Lord has only just arrived with her quarry whose origins are tied heavily in accordance to the series of events which saw a Jedi Knight turn to the dark side before the turn of the ninth-century. A pair of crimson eyes follow The Diarch as he explores the necropolis with the expectation that soon-- very soon-- they would start a conversation about a man who was once a follower of the Rule of Two and who would later create the tenants and philosophy that could become the cornerstone of the galactic superpower known as The Diarchy.

Her averts her gaze from Rellik up to the see-through transparisteel dome which surrounds the anomaly that she sat on. Above looms the terrifying, awe inspiring view of the planet Nespis VIII. In orbit of the planet was an Imperial star destroyer of House Mecetti design that had been sent to quell the insurrection that had followed the economic collapse of the Empire of the Lost. There was something akin to fate which surrounded this unlikeliest of pairings given the circumstances of their temporary partnership. All around them civilization seemed to be crumbling under the weight of Her machinations and yet inexplicably Rellik had been guided into following her into the dark carried only by a desire and a prayer for answers about the man she had once known until he too had disappeared from her life as he had in the lives of two living sons.

Kakus. Even now the name seemed foreign to Her. After all she had known the man in another life. On the sands of Kalist VI, Darth Ayra had dubbed him as The Nomad during their pilgrimage into the last settlement of The Builders during their chance encounter with the last living Builder. Later, as they were transformed by the power of the Dark side of the Force, he had become Mendacium-- THE GHOST OF KALIST. Born out of the destruction of the One Sith, guided by the truth of his predecessors-- as he was woven into the tapestry of DARTH BANE-- he would consecrate it all through an apprenticeship with the same woman who was now following the footsteps of his agitated son. They shared many things in common but would that commonality allow them to shift through the mystery that was Kakus?

"I remember Malachor," Her said to Rellik as she cut through the tense silence. "Your brother could not be reasoned with. He almost killed me..." Turning her gaze away from the looming presence of a Star Destroyer which drifted off in the distance of a black ink canvas that is space, Her lowered her gaze back to Rellik as she described her confrontation with Diarch Reign . "...There is no doubt that if he was here he would tell you not to listen to me. Resolute and strong in his convictions he would not have your mind clouded by a Sith Lord."

Her sighed loudly-- deliberately-- as she tested Rellik and his morale as they stood upon the site of Childhood. "If only the Force had guided him in the same way as his brother. Then, perhaps, we could have stopped our adversaries and their plot on Bastion. Do you think he would have listened more if I had told him that I knew your father?"

Once upon a time, when The Brotherhood had been in it's infancy on Taris, they had gathered in hollowed halls and chanted passionately with a booming noise which had shaken the very walls and floor as they threatened to break the dyad of the Jedi and the Sith. As Her eyed Rellik the Force itself flowed around them and they too could almost hear that certain chant carrying itself along the air...

KAKUS... KAKUS... KAKUS!!!​

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[Diarch Rellik]

He traced the stone of what he deemed a necropolis beside him with two fingers. He could feel the script more than he could read it. Yet he did feel it to be familiar. It reminded him of the little figures his father would draw in their sand garden with him. He always thought it was just practice for movements with a blade.

HER's voice lingered like old incense, fragrant with subtly and laced with something that made his nose cringle. Rellik did not respond at first. The silence between them was not unfamiliar, they had rarely spoken on the way to CHILDHOOD. Rellik was busy meditating and ensuring he was not about to be poisoned or stabbed un-announced. He looked up, just barely to the same piece of the dome HER was looking at.

"Reign never needed the Force to know when someone was lying. He told me what happened on Malachor. He also told me you tried to sway him with reason. He's a difficult man to move when he's made up his mind. Perhaps he might have given more weight to your words if you spoke of our father. Although, I would say he would still attempt to strike all the same."

A small calculated pause breathed between his words.

"It's strange," he said, as he peered toward the transparisteel dome. Hand un-consciously etching the architecture of Childhood still. "Standing here. On a world I have never heard of. Speaking to an enigmatic woman who came to me conveniently with a deal. All while it centers around my father. - I can assure you I have weighed the aspect of convenience with the attack on Bastion. It was not the force that guided me. Yet, here I am. I have a feeling that you should be proud in that regard."

He looked down now directly at HER. Expression not mad nor in disgust. He seemed calmly happy. He was attempting to keep his poise for the most part. - Under the surface he was tense, raddled by the weight of this new world and what it might mean for his history. All on the heels of his capitol being attacked.

He gestured lightly to the necropolis. To Childhood. "So tell me, if you do know him. Why are we here, what piece of this puzzle do you need from me and what does its solution give you. Once I know that I will have one final question before we begin. Who are you and what was my father to you."

Her

 

[Her]

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"...It is also speculated that the alien race that constructed Childhood were also responsible for the creation of the Force Nexus which may give the strange and esoteric effect of turning an adult male or female (of any known race from across the Galaxy) temporarily into a child once they cross the threshold of the Orb and enter the Necropolis. The common consensus among researchers and others who have visited Childhood is that the aliens wanted to give the sick and dying respite from the effects of the Gulag Plague by bringing them back to what everyone commonly agrees upon as the best time of their lives but- again- this is a mere theory to explain the oddity of the Force Nexus which permutates this location..."
-- Excerpts of Childhood's history.

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Nespis VIII, Auril system, Auril sector, Outer Rim Territories;
Within the former territories of The Empire of the Lost;
In the weeks following The Sartinaynian Crisis.
Tags: Diarch Rellik

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As the Dark Lord listened to the Diarch, Her pouted their lips in thought. Rellik had been a beautiful boy, she thought to herself. Through the strange, esoteric anomaly of the nexus here upon this satellite they had both been inexplicably reverted back to their days of adolescence. Oddly she found herself thinking about those days of childhood. Would their lives have been so different if they had known each other back then? The idea was destroyed by the reminder that they both came from different eras. Only the cold, harsh tomb of cryostasis had kept the likes of Her trapped in a state of purgatory as she went to sleep in the dying days of the Old Republic to wake up to the advent of the CORE WARS at the turn of the ninth-century.

"It was me who leaked the whereabouts of the Ashlan Vault," Her revealed. The words sounded strange in the air. They were calculated with the air of an adult and yet sounded childish in this place to make them sound not right. She shook her head to concentrate on what to say next. "I did this so that the Wayfinder that the Imperials were holding could be taken away from them. At the time it felt like a good idea to meet your brother as well. We both know how that went..."

A small tiny fist pointed to the esoteric markings that Rellik was worming his hands over. "This is why we are here. When the N.I.S.B attempted to crack the Wayfinder-- the one that your people took from the vault-- they discovered that the language stored upon the device was not Sith but belonged to a race of beings that they called the Builders. The same people who built this place."

Lowering their arm, Her explained: "After the Malachor skirmish the Bureau conducted an intelligence operation on the Diarchy to find out more about the people who had attacked the Empire. At the time they were unaware that members of the Fifth Wing were in their ranks. It was later discovered that the same glyphs found on the Wayfinder and Childhood were carved into the walls of the Crucible of Order. You should have seen the chatter in IRCs as they debated whether or not you, Reign or someone in the Brotherhood knew how to translate the Builder language. We all wondered whether or you could use the Wayfinder and bring us to where it leads..."

There it was again. The Fifth Wing-- the ones behind the Sartinaynian Crisis. As she brought them up to Rellik she considered the rawness that would still be there given the circumstances. They had almost killed Lyssara Thrynn ; brought destruction to Bastion; and had set up a trap which had almost culminated in Rellik's capture only to be thwarted by the enigmatic woman-- no, the little girl-- who was sat upon the ramparts of a most alien looking craft in this strange, eerie esoteric place.

"Yes..." Her spoke solemnly as Rellik was brought around as to the true reason as to why he and his people had been attacked by the Imperials. "...They created the right conditions to accomplish many things on that day. To capture you, your brother and it would seem that the Fifth Wing is also behind what is happening right now in Imperial space. But you have to understand that although I was involved with the organisation at the beginning their actions as of late were not because of me. After The Director died I lost control of it. I could only save Lysarra and you on that day..."

Standing up, Her walked over to Rellik to gaze up at the glyphs above them. It felt so odd to be this little again. To possess all your memories, knowledge, skills and everything which told you that you were older than this and yet to be standing here as a child talking about such things felt so odd. Trying to maintain their composure, Her said: "When I found out that they were using Lysarra to capture you I stepped in because I knew whoever was in control of the organisation were against my ideas. I can't say for sure why they were trying to catch you or if it was about the Wayfinder. It doesn't really matter anymore, to be honest..."

The Empire of the Lost was no-more. So too died the Dark Empire. There would be many on Bastion that would be scarred for life-- some quite literally-- after what happened a few weeks ago. But the past was the past. In the end they would rebuild what was lost, and The Diarchy would be stronger for it. The Fifth Wing had failed to capture either of the SONS OF KAKUS and what was happening in Imperial space was not their business. What was done is done/

No doubt Her was behind a lot of it. You need only ask Maldor Mecetti to confirm some of it, and yet, in the end, as they had stood upon the bridge of The Quest-- while it was being destroyed all around them-- Rellik had left in tow with the Dark Lord to answer the most important question of all...

"...Who are you and what was my father to you?"

"There was a time when I knew your father," Her said again as she looked up at the taller boy. "We met at a funeral that was held in a Deep Core system called Kalist. He began instructing me in the ways of the dark side of the force. Ayra had called him the Nomad. When I think about it sometimes I still call him that in my head. After she was gone he crowned himself as Mendacium-- the liar. The Ghost of Kalist. Together we plotted against the Jedi and Sith for years. Building towards their demise..."

"The last time that we were together was on Coruscant. He left me a few instructions... Years passed by with no contact. I used my connections in the Imperial remnants to create a program of surveillance and began searching for him. I found out about Taris... I discovered that he had become Kakus... and that he had two sons. The mystery grew when I found out that he disappeared again. I think that we can find him if we work together..."

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[Diarch Rellik]

"Of course," he murmured. "Just in time to lose control of your conspiracy… and just in time to rescue me from it."The words weren't sharp. They were fascinated. As if they were as esoteric and mysterious as the glyphs before him now. He was still lacing the glyphs with slow fingertips, like a man trying to wake a dream that had slipped just beyond the reach of memory.

"My father rarely spoke of his past. He was strong in the force so I had figured he had a storied life, full of danger and death. I used to think his silence was some measure of stoic uncaring of his past or grief for my mother." He stood straighter with one arm behind his back, the other brushing dust from his fingertips, posture too refined for a boy his size. The physical regression hadn't dulled his authority.

"He never spoke of my mother either. Only that she died giving birth to me." He let the air between them linger. Quietly hoping HER might know something about his mother as well. Alas, he did not let the thought linger for long.

He looked at her again, head tilted slightly at an angle. A young boys misbehaving smirk on his face. "You know, there's a part of me that enjoys how mischief clings to you. The way you move through the galaxy like it's a grand deception, and everyone else is playing catch-up. In that way you remind me of him." As they traveresed the nexus that was Childhood, Rellik would question her more about the teachings of Kakus. About his time with her. "If he had brought you with him I might think of you as family. Our dear father figure abandoning us both abruptly. Perhaps he is off with a new daughter somewhere." He laughed slightly. It would not be out of the realm of possibility he thought.

He returned facing the entirety of CHILDHOOD. "I recognize them, the markings. They're like the ones he'd draw in the sand when we trained. I thought they were just ways to move a blade or to move your body in rhythm. A code for war. I never realized they meant anything more."

Now walking slowly down the line of carved symbols, his voice was now more inquisitive, as though speaking aloud to a lesson he was now remembering.

"So. These glyphs. You think they'll guide us to the truth to where he went, or what he became. Then let's begin. I need to see more of them. I need... to remember some things from long ago."

Moving down the line of stone he looked for symbols he recognized. Hoping to remind himself of times with his father where they spoke while making the markings. hoping to remember what was said or done at the time.

Her