Private I Knew Your Father [Kakus]

[Her]

---

---

"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.

---

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

---

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!!!​

---

 

[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]

---

---

"...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.

---

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

---

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 Sancetti 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..."

---

 

[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

 

[Her]

---

---

"Darth Malum of House Marr tasks the Tsis'Kaar to murder members of the Fifth Wing whom he deemed to be loyal to Alicia Drey after he murdered her so that the organisation itself would remain only loyal to him while maintaining it's secrecy within the Empire of the Lost."
-- A brief overview of The First Purge of the Fifth Wing.

---

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

---

While Rellik alluded to the convenience surrounding the alleged loss of control over the Fifth Wing, Her felt something else. Two years of building up the conspiracy which was designed not to destroy the EMPIRE OF THE LOST but was instead meant to bring the forces of the Imperial Remnant into direct conflict with the Sith client state located in the THANDON STAR CLUSTER had all but been lost since the Sartinaynian Crisis.

No amount of spin or manipulation could salvage the work that had been put into it. Not even an attack on THE DIARCHY capital of Bastion was enough to prompt the campaign against THE KAINITE of which Her had been plotting towards since the turn-of-the ninth-century. The only outcome of the crisis and the capitulation of the IMPERIAL OCCUPATION along the Outer Rim Territories was to begin again.

When she was done on Childhood, Her would begin dismantling the organisation known as the Fifth Wing. It had not served it's purpose as was intended. All forms of influence had been cut out of it like a cancer leaving no room for them to do her bidding. Disappearances, murders... They had coincided with the death of THE DIRECTOR. All that was left to be done was to expose the Sith influence which had infiltrated the Empire over the past two years-- their involvement in the attack on the Diarchy, and Bastion-- in a way that would not bring on ruin or catastrophe onto herself.

That would take time, and in this sacred place, this was not the time to consider such plots.

KAKUS was more important, at any rate.

"I never knew your mother," Her revealed. "That came after my time with him." Ignoring Rellik's commentary on her 'mischief' and the idea of 'family' Her looked between the Diarch and the glyphs which were embedded into the Chalcedony as he recognized some of the markings. "Two years after the fall of the Old Republic I came here with a sick woman... They had been infested with parasites and she was looking for a cure. I owed her..."

Her shook their head to dismiss the past. "We transcribed a star chart from a nearby Childhood temple which led us to the Deep Core as we chased the cure. Instead we found a dead city on a barren world and a man who she would refer to as the Nomad..." A sigh released from Her as she recalled the pilgrimage to Childhood which led herself and Darth Ayra to A City Lost to Time. "I do not know if this language-- the Builders, or the Wayfinder-- will lead us to your father. What I do know is that I am out of ideas..."

"I have been searching for him for a very long time. I..." Her hesitated. Was it a good idea to tell this son that the reason why she was looking for his father was so that she could kill him? "...I think that uncovering his past-- to his people, who built this place-- will shed some light. The Nomad... Mendacium... Kakus. He was transfixed on the idea of immortality when I was under his apprenticeship. You see his master spoke of a ritual capable of transferring your consciousness from one vessel to another to escape death but the instructions for it had been destroyed by a Jedi. The very last time I was with him was when he had tracked down the whereabouts of his master, but when he found her, she could not give him the revelations that he sought out."

"When he murdered her he gave me instructions and disappeared..."

Her placed a hand on Rellik's shoulder and gestured for him to turn. Before them was the entirety of the Necropolis and the marked graves of millions who had been buried here during a time of great strife and sorrow. "They say this place was built by the Builders to bury their dead and to provide comfort to those who were being killed by the Gulag disease by bringing them back to the best time of their life. In adolescence perhaps they could find some escapism before they passed."

"For centuries the ill or disabled-- from a multitude of other ailments or injury-- have traversed great distances to come here in search of a cure to find that there was none. But myths do not survive the test of time without being in some basis of truth. We are the only known people in the entire universe who once walked beside a Builder and it makes me think, Rellik. It makes me wonder about it all. Were the Builders the omniscient people that others came to believe them to be?"

"Or were they looking for eternal life, like him?"

Tears welled up in a little girl's eyes as she murmured: "I find the idea very moving."

---

 

[Diarch Rellik]

Rellik was already in thought when HER mentioned she did not know his mother. He heard it but decided to pay it no mind. If she did not know, than there was no need to press the matter. What did catch his attention more was the beginning of her next words. You are from the time of the Old Republic. He kept the thought to himself but did recognize it when she said it.

Immortality. The Nomad. Her search. The master Kakus killed. Who the hells is this woman.

Still, he waited in silence as she spoke. A piece of him wanted to say something. To ask what she would do if she found what she was looking for. Instead, he stayed still. Listening. Watching. Waiting to see if she even knew the answer herself.

When HER placed a hand on his shoulder his fingers moved. Subtle. Reflexive. Brushing the curve of his saber just enough to feel the weight of the hilt. It was instinct. He still did not trust her. He did not trust this place. His gaze was cast over the Necropolis. Even in the stilled light of Childhood, it was a graveyard. One no amount of adolescent illusion could soften.

"Since I do not see any builders here to greet us I believe they tried to hold on," he said at last, voice sarcastic at first before being steady at his next words. "Father chased myths endlessly." He stepped forward. The echo of his footfall, light and padded from his younger form. "And all it ever bought them was a planet full of ghosts dressed as children."

He looked directly at HER now when he spoke. Not annoyed but overall curious. She had a history. Her master was his father. Who knew how long their history lasted and if he abandoned HER at his peak of being a part of the dark side, she might have more anger towards him than he does. After all, she did not seem to feel or acknowledge Rellik offering that olive branch of family. Kakus was not known for his "nice" demeanor, at least not until the final years.

"Looking around us, this planet is unique though. That much is evident. They were probably on a path to immortality, we just do not know if they took the right turn. Kakus, might have that answer."

He turned back toward the glyphs once more, approaching them not as a pilgrim, but as a man returning to rewrite the story of his youth. To see the lie and confront it. To mark it with truth.

"I don't blame you. But when I die… I won't cower and throw myself at any ritual I can find. Childhood may be a comfort for the dying… but I am not here to be comforted. Nor will I need it when death is at my door."

With that, he began reaching out to the force. Hoping to feel anything on what appeared to be an abandoned world. He was met with fragments of feelings left behind by the dying: hope, regret, terror, release.

Rellik's reach collides with an artifact, resonating with an Echo still despite however long this place had been abandoned.

"I do not know if you feel it but I am drawn to something on the far end of the graveyard. We should cautiously pursue it." He paused for a moment. Another boyishly mischievous smile on his face. "After you, mi'lady."

Her

 

[Her]

---

---

"This device was constructed by Darth Ayra the Afflicted to carry on her legacy, thoughts, beliefs and powers. Following the collapse of the One Sith in the 851 ABY-- combined with the indoctrination of her Sith Master, Darth Pandeima-- Darth Ayra sought to reconstitute the Rule of Two and begin a new lineage of Sith Lords to follow in the footsteps of the original Order of the Sith Lords. Although she passed away before she could take on her own Sith Apprentice this Sith Holocron was discovered by the Nomad: a mysterious Force-sensitive Humanoid who lived on the planet Kalist IV somewhere between 855 ABY and 881 ABY.

Upon discovering the device the Nomad was turned to the Dark side of the Force and adopted the moniker of Darth Mendacium the Betrayer. He then took on his own Sith Apprentice and taught Her the Rule of Two thus creating a new lineage of Sith Lords who adopted the pathology and beliefs of the Sith'ari-- Darth Bane-- thereby commiserating Darth Ayra as the first in the new Order of the Sith Lords."
-- Excerpts describing the history of The Sith Holocron of Darth Ayra the Afflicted.

---

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.
Tag: Diarch Rellik

---

"After you, mi'lady."

Her turned to follow Rellik through the necropolis as the Force guided him, and as they traversed the haunting spectre of a seemingly endless site of graves, the childlike Dark Lord found herself in a moment of nostalgia and melancholy. It had been a lifetime ago since the funeral Darth Ayra as she had been cremated in A City Lost to Time. But for Her it might have been just yesterday. Caught in the chambers of cryostasis, under the lock and key of the GALACTIC ALLIANCE for half-a-century, she had been incarcerated in the dying days of the Old Republic to wake up in the desolate days of a galaxy still reeling in the aftermath of the SECOND GREAT HYPERSPACE WAR with memories and a lifetime of experience that was as vivid as they were ancient by the time she had been revived at the end of the eighth century.

Even in this cold, eerie place, Her could still feel the nearby embers of flame as they burned away the desecrated flesh of THE BUTCHER OF KASHYYYK upon the pyre that she had constructed to lay her enemy to rest. The smell of smoke and something else left a bitter taste to the mouth, Her recalled. During the One Sith wars they had been enemies, and then they were not. So much time had passed and yet they were still connected through Ayra's powers in the dark side as they chased THE GHOST OF KALIST in an attempt to delve into HIS seminal ties to the ancient race known only as The Builders.

At the time, as Ayra was laid to rest, Her had been under the impression that she had claimed the Holocron. It had only been after the incident on New Alderaan (which led to her subsequent incarceration) that she had realised that KAKUS had taken it from her. When he had revived Her, and taken them from the clutches of the alliance to swap her for the strand-cast Alicia Drey , Her had put it altogether. In a moment of reverence for her fallen enemy-- who had saved her from the One Sith at the end of the war-- THE NOMAD had stolen the Holocron, uncovered the secrets within and had been transformed into the SITH LORD who would later induc Her into his apprenticeship just before the turn of the ninth century to begin a new GRAND PLAN to destroy the Sith and Jedi.

Power had been hers for the briefest of moments until he had robbed it, and through his powers in the dark side, Her had had no choice but to serve. To this day she had yet to uncover the secrets of her adversary, her enemy... her saviour in the form of AYRA. Just before the fall of the Empire of the Lost, Her had instructed Maldor Sancetti to enter into pilgrimage to the planet KALIST VI to take the holocron for himself. Later, when he had successfully extracted it, she had planned to use her position as his SITH MASTER to take the device for herself only to discover that he had defected to THE DIARCHY before she could complete her plan. Thus, the power and knowledge within continued to elude her to this day.

Now, on Childhood, she traversed the necropolis at the side of her master's son. The Force-- the power of the dark side-- held connections and strands which tied so many together each enamoured with their own purpose. For Her it had been about guidance from the Sith Lord who had started it all, and for Maldor it had been accumulating power to protect himself, and now for Rellik it was about discovering the fate and origins of his father-- to piece together the complicated web of lies and deceit which obfuscated fact from fiction that even for Her, who had been an architect in some of it, was a little lost out here in this most haunting of places.

"When I was younger I found a recording that I believe to have been made by a Builder," Her muttered as she followed Rellik. "I don't understand most of what she said but between her words there was some basic. She spoke of guidance..." As they walked through Childhood, Her played the hymn and as they followed Rellik's guidance it played quietly beneath the veneer of the loud silence which surrounded them.

PLEASE GUIDE US.
​

---

 

[Diarch Rellik]

The hymn played softly, almost too softly to catch at first. But as they moved through the graveyard, its presence became impossible to ignore. It lingered in the still air, woven through the silence. A woman's voice came through in whispered delicacy.

Relliks steps slowed and something inside him shifted. A sudden chill along his spine. The sensation of warmth where there was none. Like arms once around him. A rhythm once shared. His lips parted slightly, but no sound came. The language in the hymn no longer felt foreign. It felt… familiar.

"Ami'ven… shari-tha... nar'uel..."

The words floated through the hymn again, and this time they echoed inside his mind.

A vision flashed. Brief. Impossible. A woman, faceless and undefined was humming as she traced something across her belly with glowing fingers. Glyphs. Builder glyphs. Her other hand resting over her heart. Whispering to him through amniotic darkness.

Tears welled in his eyes as he heard her voice. Soft, sweet, loving. It was something he had never experienced. He listened to it. Cooing in his ears in the most gentle way possible.

In the same way the vision came slowly and peacefully, it faded out. Leaving the warmth and love he felt behind as he was placed into the world.

Now he was returned to the graveyard before him. An influx of emotions filling him. Rage, Sadness, and his confusion only made it all worse. His non-saber hand gripped the cloak of his father. As if he could hug the man himself.

Rellik began walking, this time with purpose. Not driven by mystery or suspicion but by the need to complete the sentence he had just remembered starting in the dark.

His voice returned to its usual gravity as he glanced sideways toward HER.

"If you still want to find him… come on."

The words on the graves was beginning to become familiar. It was not the memories of swordplay in sand with his father. It was the hymn matching soft words his mother spoke to him in the womb. He was remembering, from before birth to now. It was becoming clear.

Her

 

[Her]

---

---

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

---

PLEASE GUIDE US."

The smaller girl looked up to the taller boy as she followed him through the necropolis. It was clear to Her that as they walked together Rellik had been deeply moved by the hymn and the unknown, alien language of the woman as she spoke that the Dark Lord summarized was some type of transmission originating somewhere during the Four-Hundred Year Darkness when the known galaxy had been afflicted by the disease historians and scientists dubbed "THE GULAG PLAGUE".

Perhaps it was childish naivety brought on by the strange anomaly of this ancient place, or the feelings of nostalgia encouraged by the playing hymn, but as Her walked beside Rellik-- following him to where he was going-- she did something that she felt like she would no longer need to do for the pathology of the dark side, and all those who follow it, is to embrace the loneliness and solitude of a life built in the darkness where no friend or companion was there to listen to your sorrows.

"In Lianna City I used to sit for hours listening to the hymn with Alicia while we watched the traffic," Her explained as she reminisced about the former, deceased Staff Director of the New Imperial Security Bureau and believed leader of the Fifth Wing deemed responsible for the recent attack on Bastion. "I never got around to telling her the truth, and now that she's dead, I suppose it doesn't matter anymore."

When Rellik turned to look at Her she grimaced and flinched. Pausing to stop, Her revealed: "In a way your father was the man behind the curtain of the Fifth Wing. After all he was the one who made the Director before the turn of the century. Director Drey died never knowing that she was just a tool of Kakus."

"Just like us."

Two years before Operation: Absolution.
​

Two SITH LORDS stand within the bowels of CORUSCANT in the heart of the GALACTIC ALLIANCE. In the wake of the SECOND GREAT HYPERSPACE WAR, the Imperial Remnant have been scattered across the far reaches of the known Galaxy, and yet there are rumours of a new dawn coming as the eighth century draws to a close. As they stood before the cryo chamber Her averted her gaze away from the cell hosting Alicia Drey towards the other occupied by Lord Letifer and asked: "Why didn't you duplicate this one instead of her?"

"It would be discovered," replied DARTH MENDACIUM as he held his gaze upon the prisoner held in ice before him. "Besides. . . Today I eliminate a rival and turn them into a weapon to be used. Darth Bane would approve of our work."

"Is it really Ayra?" Her replied with an air of uncertainty as she looked back to her Sith Master. "I thought she was killed by the infection? Isn't that what happened?"

"The truth is uncertain. . ." Lifting a large, spade like hand forward Mendacium initiated the cryostasis procedure. There was a pause in the giants words as he considered the possibility of discovery by the JEDI. The moment passed when the security systems of the alliance prison were not activated. ". . . Ah. Your contacts on Etti 4 paid off."

Over the years Her had not once received a compliment from the man. Mere acknowledgement was the closest that she would ever get. Besides that there was some satisfaction knowing that a man like him was uncertain in a place like this. "Thank you, Master," Her responded as she observed the cryofreeze within the chamber beginning to wear off as it's occupant was unfrozen.

For decades the Dark Lord (or Jedi Knight) within this cryochamber had languished beneath the gaze of the Jedi Council to serve for her crimes which were committed almost half-a-century ago in the wake of the ONE SITH WARS until now as the GHOST OF KALIST found her to cast aside doubt in place of certainty.

The intelligence that had been put together to explain the oddities surrounding the origins and true fate of Darth Ayra had not exposed much. In her time Mendacium's predecessor had discovered the Holocron of Heresies but the subsequent tale that it had once fell into the hands of a Jedi Master (therefore leading to the damage and subsequent loss of the transfer essence ritual invented by Andeddu) suggested that they could not have possibly survived the infection that he had seen first hand back when he had traversed Kalist VI as a nomad lost to time. Yet the existence of the Creatura suggested that Ayra had the means of repairing the damage to the holocron, and therefore unlocking the secrets to immortality of which the ancient Dark Lord of the Sith-- DARTH ANDEDDU-- had transcribed into the matrix that would later house his very soul to teach those worthy of his knowledge.

This, combined with the tales surrounding Ayra's master (a Sith Lord once known as Pandeima, who was rumoured to have 'inhabited many different bodies') cast doubt and aspersion upon whether or not Ayra had truly succumbed to Nadd's weapon when she had attempted to raid his tomb on Dxun. The Rule of Two states that the master confers all his or her knowledge to the apprentice as the former covets power, and the other craves it. If Pandeima was capable of transferring herself from one host to another-- a power said to have been created by Andeddu-- then it was plausible that her apprentice (Darth Ayra) had also learned how to as well leading to the conclusion that, perhaps, she had survived the subsequent infection wrought by the parasites that had latched onto her flesh after the failed incursion on the Demon's Moon.

The possibility that his predecessor could have repaired the damage to Andeddu's holocron, therefore granting her access to his transfer essence ritual, and the rumours surrounding Ayra's Sith Master, led Mendacium Kakus to the conclusion that, perhaps, she had not succumbed to the Orbalisk infection as he had been led to believe. Had it truly been Darth Ayra who had been burned upon the funeral pyre, when Ella Nova put her to rest in the desert, or had it been a cunning lie designed to deceive their enemies into thinking that she was dead? Now that he had discovered Nova's prison here on Coruscant, and exposed the secrets of the Jedi Council, the doubt made by the possibilities and permutations of his predecessor were set to be put aside by cold vengeance and hateful intent.

"A master never reveals him or herself," Mendacium Kakus taught. "The nature of the dark side is deceptive. As Sith we surrender ourselves to the power of the dark side, and in turn we make the Force our property. I watched Ayra's cremation at the side of her enemy. Yet the signs have led us here to this place where it could be that Nova was murdered long before she and Ayra discovered the relics of the Builders. It is possible that her master had used her to cheat death. There can be no room for error, and in the dichotomy that we share, there is no place for a rival."

"There can only be two, my apprentice."

SNAP-HISS!

A Lightsaber activated before the Dark Lord as he considered the prisoner-- nigh, his adversary-- who was being unfrozen from cryostasis before him. Her lowered her gaze to the weapon and then back to the cryochamber as she tried to make sense of the story that Mendacium was telling, and the lessons he was imparting. It has been fourteen years of apprenticeship learning under his wing while the galaxy lamented the end of the SECOND GREAT HYPERSPACE WAR and prostrated itself before its victors in the form of the decadent Galactic Alliance, and yet she felt as if these lessons were merely becoming the instrument to which Mendacium prevented his inevitable demise at her hands.

The end of their time together was close.

"Regardless of whether or not this is Darth Ayra, or if it was really Ella Nova captured on New Alderaan, my thoughts remain the same: this woman is a rival, and a risk to us being discovered by our many enemies. Her elimination completes the cycle of master and apprentice while serving our cause in death. Through their destruction I breed creation. The beginning of a new Grand Plan begins today from the hallways of our enemies. Watch me my apprentice..."

As Mendacium Kakus finished his lesson the cryochamber vault opened. The hydraulics hissed and vented gas while fluid oozed onto the floor as it's occupant flopped down onto the cold, harsh, unforgiving ground beneath them. Motioning the tip of his Lightsaber towards her Mendacium Kakus illuminated the face of the prisoner and found himself staring down at the same Jedi Knight he had warned all those years ago in A City Lost to Time.

"You may talk like the Sith that you just buried, but you are still a Jedi. A Knight of the Republic you may not be. Yet you are still You."

Thunderous gasping rasps filled the prison corridors as the RULE OF TWO looked upon Ella Nova. Her watched as the taller, giant Sith lowered himself down to her height and turned back to look at his victim. Eyes narrowing in shock Her found herself looking at a woman who looked just like her while Nova tried to gulp oxygen into a body that hadn't been freed to move or function in several decades.

They were not completely the same yet the resemblance between Her and Ella Nova was uncanny, and as Mendacium Kakus checked over his would be victim, as she struggled to breathe, the Force told Her there was a connection between them and Alicia Drey that went beyond the rumours, superstitions and lies surrounding Darth Ayra which had led both of these hooded Sith Lords into the bowels of the Galactic Alliance to risk of persecution from the New Jedi Order while Darth Mendacium Darth Kakus maneuverered to eliminate his rival in the dichotomy that is the RULE OF TWO!

"Master. . . Wait," Her managed to say as the Dark Lord prepared for a kill.

"Do not ever think to ever give me an order, apprentice!" Mendacium Kakus snarled back. "Remember your place!"

As his apprentice fell silent, Mendacium Kakus turned back to look at his victim. Nova was trying to speak yet there were no words that were coming out of her mouth ruined by years of cryostasis while she served in time as punishment for crimes committed on New Alderaan during the fall of the Old Republic. The affects of cryostasis had made the former Knight of the Old Republic weak-- so much so that she could not even talk to the man that she had known in a past life as THE NOMAD and the woman standing somewhere behind him. It brought little solace to Kakus that the subsequent murder he was about to perform was a blessing in its own way given the state that she was in as they crumbled before his might.

Regardless of what Ella Nova was trying to say, Kakus had already made up his mind.

For a Sith only deals in absolutes.

"I warned you, didn't I?" Mendacium Kakus snarled cruelly at Alicia Drey as she rasped and gasped at his feet. "That you would fail. But you did not hear me. It has been almost fifty years since you put Ayra to rest. Yet the Rule of Two has persisted. The Star Wars that you fought to end continue, and a new one begins soon." With a stabbing motion Mendacium plunged his Lightsaber into her chest, and held it there while all the life was drained from her eyes. "You die underneath the city you failed to protect. The Republic you loved died a long time ago while the Jedi Order you believed in kept you prisoner for almost fifty years. Your failure is epic. Die in solace knowing that those who ruined you will soon be dead."

Her watched as the life was extinguished from Ella's eyes. To the Sith Apprentice it looked as if that she was looking right at Her as if the old, disgraced Jedi Knight had been trying to say something to Her before Mendacium Kakus had committed to the kill. Her didn't know why she was crying. Since Mendacium Kakus had taken her under his Sith apprenticeship fourteen years ago she had seen many acts of violence since her early days of adolescence to the point that they usually didn't bother her anymore. Her held no real ties to this relic of a bygone era-- a fallen hero who should have died with the Old Republic only to see herself become a disgraced criminal at the Summit of Governments-- yet the sheer and utter sensation of loss gripped Her in ways that she shouldn't be feeling and therefore did not understand as Ella Nova was killed right in front of her.

"What are you doing? Prepare the module for transfer before we are discovered," Mendacium Kakus hissed at his apprentice. As the Lightsaber blade extinguished, and the corpse of Alicia Drey fell to the ground, Her turned to begin the transfer process of the clone from the module behind them so that she could replace the dead Jedi Knight with it in the cryochamber. As the transfer begun, Her watched as Mendacium Kakus destroyed the body with a disruptor pistol and as he did the cryochamber vault door closed in front of both of them as the freezing process began to freeze an adult copy clone of Ella Nova so that she could continue to serve the machinations of the Rule of Two in spite of death.

Drawing upon the cowl of his robe Mendacium concealed his weapons and turned to his crying apprentice. Without hesitation, or mercy to her tears, he snarled: "Return to Lianna and instruct the Eggman to continue preparations. The weapon is now in play. Our actions today must remain obfuscated. If they were discovered by our enemies then all our work will be for nothing. Failure is not an option. Now we must escape Coruscant before the Jedi discover us."

​

Six years after the death of Ella Nova, the artificial genetic Strand-cast that would become Alicia Drey formed an organisation known as the Fifth Wing: a conspiracy founded within the Empire of the Lost which culminated in it's downfall and the subsequent crisis at Bastion which would later lead to the formation of the Imperial Confederation and the pilgrimage followed by a Diarch and the quarry who walked in his stead as they tried to find clues and avenues of exploration into the whereabouts of DARTH KAKUS-- founder of the THE DIARCHY and Sith Master in the RULE OF TWO!

"Rellik?" Her asked as she looked up at the boy. "Where are we going? Where are you taking us? Do you... Know something?"

---