Knock Knock

[Ashin Varanin]

Every hyperroute in the Gordian Reach was remotely monitored, especially the lanes leading to the Yavin system. Clan Rekali territory encompassed the Reach and centered on Yavin. The gas giant and its habitable moons, its orbital shipyards, and Yavin IV's Port Shardrock comprised increasingly rigorous levels of sensor awareness.

So when a SFS Scarab-class corvette approached Yavin, entered the system, and touched down at a major temple on the most heavily monitored planet in hundreds of light-years, people noticed.

Within a very short time, Clan Rekali starfighters did a flyby of the Temple of Exar Kun. Minutes later, a Rekali transport touched down beside the jagged obsidian monolith. From it emerged an old man in masked armour, leaning on a staff. He made his way up the temple toward the last place where overwatch had spotted [member="Briga Tiin"] and [member="Safiriel Bane"]. His metal boots grated on the stonework.

Step, step-tap.

Step, step-tap.

Step, step-tap.

 

[Ax'no]

Briga was still in the middle of the lake carefully making her way across the somewhat slippery and moss-covered stones, when she noticed a starfighter careening overhead. The jungle and surrounding grounds of the temple had been quite serene up until now. The presence of the vessel was troubling. The downy skin on the back of her neck prickled, and the Priestess began to pick up the pace. In order to balance better, she counted the stones under her feet. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six…

Until she was finally at the template’s entrance. Two Force signatures could be felt. One that could be described as strong, and the other… well, it felt downright draconian and oppressive. Briga had not felt anything like it before, and she was a slightly awed by the unyielding pressure of it upon her own psyche.

It wasn’t the first time the Caprine would feel out of her depths, and it wouldn’t be the last, but maybe what was about to unfold would precipitate the change for which she longed.

Her yellow eyes landed upon both Knight Bane atop the temple and then Ember Rekali, an elderly figure. Superstitous to the core, she wondered briefly if this ancient figure was the ghost of one of the Caprine Elders she helped to murder recently, and he was coming for her like a dark reaper to strike her down in punishment. His tapping cane echoed around the hushed surroundings of the Yavin 4 temple.

“I have been sent here by Darth Plinior to train with Sith Knight by the name of Safiriel Bane. But you are not Knight Bane.” Quite obviously indeed. “What is your purpose here?” Briga asked. All of her senses were on alert, her countenance humble. She didn’t barge right over and begin demanding information as she’d done with Darth Adekos on Muunilinst – that had only gotten her captured and ransomed.

The situation was delicate and a strange electricity crackled in the air. The Caprine Priestess waited for a response from either Force user.

[member="Safiriel Bane"] [member="Ember Rekali"]

 

[Tanith Alde]

Safiriel remained at the top of the temple, merely watching the situation unfold. Would it come to violence? She doubted it. She certainly hoped it wouldn't. Would it come to biscuits and tea? She somehow doubted that even more.

Slowly she reassembled her lightsaber, and stowed it on the magstrip on the back of her belt, finishing her meditation forms then rising to her feet gracefully. She began her walk down the temple steps, drawing nearer to the two visitors.

She felt the power emnating from the elder, and the anxious feeling flowing through the Caprine quite clearly. If nothing more, this day would certainly be interesting.

Her hands remained politely folded behind her back as she reached the landings of the temple steps, patiently awaiting that either of her guests approach her

[member="Briga Tiin"] [member="Ember Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Briga Tiin"] [member="Safiriel Bane"]

"My name is Ember Rekali," he said mildly, leaning on the staff. "This moon, this system, and this sector are my clan's home." His fist tightened on the staff until his knuckles cracked. Perhaps the strength of his signature in the Dark Side of the Force had made the nearer girl confident enough to name herself a Sith. Rekali territory did not welcome Sith -- categorically. "Not far from here," he said, "members of my family are buried. Sith killed them. Sith are responsible for Rekali graves on more than a few worlds, you see."

He leaned the staff against a black stone frieze and took a seat on the stairs, beside the spot where Bane stood. He rested his elbows on his knees with a clink of beskar on beskar. His armour, if they knew about such things, might remind them of Dathomiri witch aesthetics, Mandalorian beskar'gam, or even the ritual armour of a Draethos Keetael. In fact, it was all three.

"I would like to know what brought you here, Miss Bane, and what connection you each have to the One Sith. I would encourage completeness."

 

[Ax'no]

The Nelvaanian Sith Lord who had sent her to the jungle world said nothing about Yavin 4 being the home of clan Rekali. But perhaps this was all a test designed by Darth Plinror to challenge the young Acolyte. Or maybe he just wanted her killed. She was essentially an ex-Inquisitor, a deserter now from the military industrial complex of the One Sith; it wasn’t a stretch to think she would be hunted down, tortured, branded, or even executed in front of a jury of her peers, perhaps even her former Master.

But Ember Rekali appeared to be only investigating the interlopers on his turf with a calm and quizzical countenance. Still, the Sith were especially egregious offenders, and again the statement about his family being killed by Sith allowed the memory of the recent slaughter of elders in her own temple to come back to her unbidden.

What’s done is done, Briga, she thought. You must move on and heal. The Elders took advantage of you and you had always known that they would pay the price.

Thankfully, the Rekali clan leader addressed Knight Bane who appeared to have taken up some type of semi-residence in the temple. But the Caprine mystic would answer the question posed to her, and in a rare expression of honesty, she admitted: “I am no longer associated with the One Sith. While I was in the past, I recently left their ranks.” While it may not absolve her of any kind of impromptu justice at the hand of Rekali, if her mind was probed by a competent mentalist, they would know that she was not lying.

[member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Safiriel Bane"]

 

[Tanith Alde]

[member="Briga Tiin"] [member="Ember Rekali"]

"My assosciation with the One Sith is noexistant, I am hated among their ranks" Was her simple reply to the man's question. "As to what brought me here.....It is a neutral pace, far from the core worlds, isolated yet habitable, a perfect place to meditate, to teach, and to learn"

It was why the Assassin did so love the temple filled world of Yavin IV

"There is so much history in this temple alone, I could spend a lifetime just studying it, and not having come close to learning all of it's secrets"

A wistful smile lit up the Echani's lips as she spoke of her truest passions, the long forgotten lores and mysteries of the past

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Briga Tiin"] [member="Safiriel Bane"]

He sensed no deception or disrespect. No need to kill or enslave them, then. "What you say has the ring of truth. I hate the One Sith for what they've done to my family over the years." Ember leaned back and turned his face to the warm sun, closing his eyes. "I hate the Sith philosophy and identity. Sith have cost me a great deal, and I've made them pay in blood.

"Tell me, the two of you. Have you ever fought against the Mandalorians? Did you come here knowing that my clan controls this place, or was it an honest mistake? How recently have you come from the One Sith, and what can you tell me of their internal politics, their power players, their academies and temples, their forces and disposition?" He opened his eyes and took up the staff, standing. "And what do you know of the Force? Why do you follow the Sith way?"

 

[Tanith Alde]

[member="Ember Rekali"]

"I have not fought the Mandalorians, and I had not thought this place Inhabited. I had believed it long abandoned, which is why I came here. I can tell you nothing, as I was never truly a part of them. What I know of the force? A great deal, and that is why am here, to pass it on to those that wish to learn. And I do not follow the path of the Sith. I do not believe in good nor evil, in a 'light' or a 'dark' side of the force. I believe only in the Force, and that Man's perceptions about it are warped by those that use it, for 'Good' or for 'Evil' To me, there is no such thing. The Force simply -is- "

 

[Ax'no]

The cruelty of which Elder Rekali spoke about, savagery inflicted by the Sith on his loved ones… Briga had lay witness to that as well. And not only witness it – the Caprine participated in it quite gleefully at times. But now, away from the dark whirlwind that was her brush with the Zambrano dynasty at Vain Hollow, Briga had time to reflect reflect on the torture she’d inflicted on her handmaidens. They were almost her family. Not slaves, nor servants. Saira, Livna and Toole were nearly like sisters to her at one point, providing comfort and advice when no one else could. And yet the way she had treated them…?

She'd been as terrifying as a Chrysalide rancor and now suffered for it. Her maidens feared her, no longer confiding in her or allowing her close to them unless by force.

After listening to Knight Bane’s explanation of why she was inhabiting the Temple of Exar Kun, she waited until it was her turn and began.

“I know one Mandalorian very well,” said the horned mystic, not sure what type of reaction she would get from uttering his name. “Draco Vereen is someone I would call a friend. But I’ve never fought against Mandalorians. I am a Priestess based on Iktotch.” The question about why Briga used the Force was much more complicated. Most beings didn’t understand or believe the fate that she was the reincarnated goddess of her race. But if the Force existed in all of its arcane mystery, why couldn’t the horned Caprine be the living embodiment of a deity? No, she would remain quiet about that for now. “Do you want us to leave?” asked Briga, her amber eyes landing on the wizened Elder.

[member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Safiriel Bane"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Safiriel Bane"] [member="Briga Tiin"]

"No, neither one of you will leave for now. You're in the tall grass." Ember eyed them both, pondering. One Potentium-follower and one priestess defector. They might be useful; they might still be liars, but that possibility was fading as he got the measure of them.

"Tell me," he said to Safiriel, "why she called you a Sith Knight earlier, and where you received your training. A Sith Lord recommended you as a teacher. Why?"

He turned to Briga. "Only a fool would name Draco Vereen as a reference if she wasn't being honest. His isn't a name to drop lightly." He smiled faintly. "As it happens, I too consider Vereen a friend. So, friend of Vereen: why did you leave the One Sith? Do you still consider yourself a Sith? And what can you tell me of their temples and their leaders?"