Private Landfall at the Sith Capital

[Aelor Kyr]

From where they started on Nar Shaddaa, Aelor took the time he did have to rest in his quarters, in meditation. He knew of the Dark Side, as his Master was of the Grey persuasion, and she was not one to pull punches about the truth of the Dark Side. In fact, her philosophies of the Dark vs. the Light were why she could not allow herself to be considered Jedi or Sith, as both "tribes", as she termed them, were too interested in ousting the other to prove themselves as the superior, therefore correct, side. Living on Nar Shaddaa allowed Aelor to see truth in her beliefs, as there were good people forced to do nefarious things just to survive, just as there were bad people doing good for others to build trust and reputation among those they would wish to make into associates. Aelor put himself squarely in the middle: bad enough to cheat gamblers but a good enough person to only take what he needed and chase away those that risked losing their livelihoods over a hand of cards.

He worried about having these thoughts and memories course through his mind, however, in the presence of Danika Leventis, a woman who decided to "rescue" him from the smuggler's moon and truly reach into the Force. While it was something he wished to have, the impact of his Master's words, to seek love and not hate, vs. what actually happened to her as she sent him away, it galled him greatly. Who was she to push him towards a brighter side of the Force as she was cut down by assailants unknown to him? Why would she not let him hate those that took a matriarchal figure away from him? His confusion and curiosity were definitely something to be exploited, but he needed to exercise persistent calm and awareness. He could still become quite skilled in the arts of the Dark Side while maintaining emotional stillness, couldn't he?

As he pondered this in meditation, he could still see the streaks of colours outside and inside the ship. He was concerned about those who, though not sensitive to the Force, were particularly of good nature or evil will. They were soldiers nonetheless, and they served their purpose. But his focus, whether it could be seen as an unhealthy obsession or pure strokes of curiosity, was upon Danika. He was still so very curious as to how she maintained a perfect silhouette in the Force and in his sight, whereas he could see others as blobs at worst or holograms without definition at best.

Danika Leventis

 

[Danika Leventis]

EN ROUTE | DROMUND KAAS
TAG: Aelor Kyr
GEAR: In bio

REST IN PEACE​

Dromund Kaas.

The last time she was on that stormy and historic planet, there had been a great insurgence of an alliance against the Sith. She herself had to maim a Mandalorian that thought it wise to stand in her way.

There was a lot of memories on that planet. Even one that usually walked alongside her, unseen by others. The planet was greatly disputed. And now the Sith have chosen to return to it. What that meant for her, she did not yet know. Only time would tell.

"We'll be arriving into the system within the hour, my Lady." said Captain Stark from the command deck.
"Thank you, Captain. Samron, darling, have the men ready for landfall by then." Danika said as she turned from the viewport.
"Yes, Mistress." said the great Falleen before leaving the bridge for the hangar.

The Lady of Conquest, instead, walked in the direction of Aelor's quarters. She understood the man's desire to meditate when she wasn't drilling him in sword and Force-craft. The training was intensive for anyone. Especially for someone as attuned to the Force as he was. But his quiet time had to be cut short.

She remained outside his door. She knew he'd be able to tell she was there. She'd learned quite a lot of his Force Sight in the time they had travelled from Nar Shaddaa to Dromund Kaas. It was indeed fascinating and would benefit him greatly on the Sith Capital especially.

"If you are done communing with your thoughts, darling, it's time."

 

[Aelor Kyr]

"If you are done communing with your thoughts, darling, it's time."

"Uh huh," he replies, lifting himself up from his seated position and moving to his feet. Aelor then straps his vibroblade to his side and makes his way towards Danika. "I can feel the Dark Side in this place," he says as he girds himself, "but it feels... artificial. While the people here are certainly followers of the Dark Side, it is of a different sensation. There are darker worlds, to be certain; we may find reasons to go there..."

He did not know of the planets themselves; he knew one started with a K and the other was the site of a great battle during the Mandalorian Wars...

"You seem almost troubled to be here," he says as he approaches her, prepared for disembarking when the ship lands. "There isn't so much green as there are reds and purples."

 

[Danika Leventis]

EN ROUTE | DROMUND KAAS
TAG: Aelor Kyr
GEAR: In bio

REST IN PEACE​

"I can feel the Dark Side in this place, but it feels... artificial. While the people here are certainly followers of the Dark Side, it is of a different sensation. There are darker worlds, to be certain; we may find reasons to go there..."

Danika regarded the Miraluka for a second after he spoke, emerging from his quarters.

"It feels artificial to you, as this world has been passed back and forth between different beliefs. For quite a long time, it was under management of the Ashlan Crusade. The Lightsided zealots who purged what they could. The Sith only just took ownership of it again." she finally explained. Then she turned away from him and started to walk to the bridge. "And don't think that I will ever take you to Korriban for instance." The memories on that ancient world were far more numerous and a source of anger to the Herald than Dromund Kaas ever was. Her master's soul chose to remain on the ancient world she had been buried on. She knew that if she returned there, that Era Knox would choose to stick to her side once more.

"You seem almost troubled to be here,. There isn't so much green as there are reds and purples."

That stopped Danika in her tracks.

She should have known that it would be nigh impossible to hide it from the man. He would see it while others wouldn't.
"I used to be a Sith Apprentice. Very many years ago. Until the day my Master sent me away and she was executed as a threat to the Emperor at the time. I've been hunted by the very people that I once served ever since." she finally started explaining, turning to face him. "Dromund Kaas used to be a place or residence when we were not out in the Galaxy, taking what we wanted. I do not know what or who we'll encounter while here, especially the underground library. They can be alive or dead, it would make no difference. They'll still pose a threat." That was all she was willing to say on the matter.

Her past was a dark one. A helpless one.

A weakness she would not repeat again.

 

[Aelor Kyr]

"Dromund Kaas used to be a place or residence when we were not out in the Galaxy, taking what we wanted. I do not know what or who we'll encounter while here, especially the underground library. They can be alive or dead, it would make no difference. They'll still pose a threat." That was all she was willing to say on the matter.

"And they shall pay for their insolence," Aelor says coldly. In fact, it was the most frigid thing he had said in his entire life, and he knew that. Something about this world, this woman... they brought out the chill of bringing death to those who deserved it. His vengeance felt closer and it felt empowering.

He had heard the Sith Code before, in passing, but one of the lines stood out in this moment, in this little segment of time that held them still, together, on the bridge of her ship as they passed into the planet's atmosphere.

"Peace is a lie," he says, standing next to her. "There is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Forgive me for rhyming off Sith rhetoric, but it is a nice reminder that, though serene you may be, there is a boiling cauldron of weaponized emotion in that pretty chest of yours. You know what to do best with it, as I have my own. Having held to the tenets of, for lack of a better term, Greywalkers, the artificial nature of the Dark Side's grasp here, it makes me want to do much more with it: less computer simulation and more being gripped with its raw power."

 

[Danika Leventis]

EN ROUTE | DROMUND KAAS
TAG: Aelor Kyr
GEAR: In bio

REST IN PEACE​

"And they shall pay for their insolence,"

The Herald turned her head towards him. She could almost smell the need for vengeance on him. It was near palpable. She knew that drive well. It's what drove her in the beginning, just after her master's execution. She had been on the other side of the Galaxy when it happened, but it didn't diminish the sound of the Force's scream at the Lady of Night's death. That want for vengeance had been the base of her success. But to this day, she had never gotten it. She had stopped seeking it after many years.

The question now was - would it fuel him or consume him?

Only time would tell.
"I you do end some of them, just do it quick and clean." she told him, avoiding encouraging his anger too much. Emotion was definitely power, but too much of it could be one's undoing. She would definitely keep her eye on that. It would be a shame if his fire burnt out before he had gained enough power.

They stood in front of the viewport as the stormy planet came into view. And then Aelor spoke up again, reciting a part of the old Sith Code. It had been a long time since Danika had adhered to code other than her own. It was strange to hear it again. Something she had known by heart a very long time ago. But when he finished speaking, her demeanour changed.
"I may have emotion, but I do not let it define me." she told him, the air growing cold around them. "It fuels me, but it will never control me. Do not let it control you. It will get you killed. And avoid Codes and Tenets. They only mean to limit you in whatever way they choose best." she added, the air still frigid, the echoes of the dead could almost be heard. Then she walked off in the direction of the hangar as the destroyer halted its approach to the planet, just outside of the gravity field.

"I only want the Hellions with us upon landfall, darling." she told Samron as they entered. "We rely on stealth, not conquering. Only when we need it." she added.
"Yes, Mistress." said the Falleen. "Moving down on your own or joining us on the commute?" He always asked, knowing full well she sometimes chose to travel with them.
"We travel together. I want our approach masked. We'll travel to wherever we have to be with my means." Danika said. "Load up."
The specialised squad loaded into the dropship. Danika motioned for Aelor to do the same. She knew he'd be able to see it. Then the Lady of Bone herself stepped into the dropship.

The time had come to return to Darkness.

 

[Aelor Kyr]

"I may have emotion, but I do not let it define me." she told him, the air growing cold around them. "It fuels me, but it will never control me. Do not let it control you. It will get you killed. And avoid Codes and Tenets. They only mean to limit you in whatever way they choose best." she added, the air still frigid, the echoes of the dead could almost be heard.

"The emotion is not what defines you in the Code," Aelor says, his calm to temper what felt like almost a distress from her. "The emotion is what empowers you, separates you from the Jedi. From what I heard, from what I've seen, they are stoic dungheaps; a tribe so obsessed with the fear of emotional release that it is only natural for them to fear what they see when they look into a mirror."

As she walked away, the voices of the dead wafting away like the smell of an exotic perfume, Aelor followed, his hand rested upon the pommel of his vibroblade. He observed Danika, seeing that she wanted to avoid any and all unnecessary confrontation. Perhaps that's something he would relish in. He felt... bloodthirsty. He wished for a group to accost them upon their arrival, more Force Sensitives like him, but misguided into thinking that Danika and Aelor knew nothing. They would fall, and Aelor would seize their weapons, cannibalizing the parts for his sword, or perhaps taking lightsabers and seeing how much their crystals would be worth to him.

He had heard of the bleeding of kyber crystals, as he pondered this while following Danika to the dropship, buckling in. He wondered what it would take to do such a thing. But any Force Sensitive not bearing a Sith title would not be smart enough to tell the difference between synthetic and kyber.

 

[Danika Leventis]

EN ROUTE | DROMUND KAAS
TAG: Aelor Kyr
GEAR: In bio

REST IN PEACE​

This was it.

The moment the gunship started hovering within the hangar, Danika tapped into the arts that she had learned decades ago on Dathomir, masking the ship's signatures as they exited the hangar and dropped into the stormy atmosphere of the dread planet.

They reached the surface sooner than expected, despite the turbulent descent. It was still a way out of Kaas City, in an inconspicuous area that was still quiet. The squad and the two Force users all exited the ship.

Danika looked thoughtfully at the forested landscape around them.
"We're exposed, Mistress." Samron finally said, standing next to her as always.
"You're not, don't worry, darling." she answered before turning to Aelor. "Your senses have to work overtime while we're here. This is not a planet with zero population anymore." she told him. "Be ready to use that sword of yours if you have to."
With that, she led them into the woods surrounding the city.

"Show me the map again, darling." she asked Samron after a bit of trekking.
The Falleen called up the holomap from his vambrace. "We're here currently." He motioned at an area of the map just outside the city walls.
The Herald looked at the map for a heartbeat. "There's an underground passage leading into and under the Citadel. I need to get to the buried archives." she said. "I have no idea what will be roaming in the passage and in the archives itself, but be ready for anything. The Dark One does not take chances."
"He's here?" Samron asked.
"Yes. His presence is like an overwhelming stench."
"Won't he be able to sense you too?"
"Probably. If he does show up, get yourselves out." She turned to Aelor. "That includes you. Without question." she told him. He'd probably ignore it, however, and get himself killed before reaching his full potential. No one ever said men were smart.

Before long, she stopped them in front of a smooth cliff face not far from the walls. Summoning the Force that was never far from her grasp, she then probed the cliff face with it. After a bit of coaxing, a slab moved back slightly before raising, opening a dark passageway for them. When Samron stepped forward to lead them into it, however, she stopped the General. She then looked at the Miraluka.

"Your Sight would be much more valuable here. After you."

 

[Aelor Kyr]

"Your senses have to work overtime while we're here. This is not a planet with zero population anymore." she told [Aelor]. "Be ready to use that sword of yours if you have to."

"My sword is always ready," he says to her. "It may not smell like blood now, but it will when the threats make themselves known." Aelor continues to walk with Danika and her litany, silent and stoic.

"Probably. If he does show up, get yourselves out." She turned to Aelor. "That includes you. Without question." she told him. He'd probably ignore it, however, and get himself killed before reaching his full potential. No one ever said men were smart.

Aelor nods to her as he listens to the anxiety in her voice, tasted her fear. "If that's what you want," he says, "I'll leave you to him. I won't stand by as a distraction."

Before long, she stopped them in front of a smooth cliff face not far from the walls. Summoning the Force that was never far from her grasp, she then probed the cliff face with it. After a bit of coaxing, a slab moved back slightly before raising, opening a dark passageway for them. When Samron stepped forward to lead them into it, however, she stopped the General. She then looked at the Miraluka.

"Your Sight would be much more valuable here. After you."

Aelor nods, taking a deep breath as he steps into the cave. It was exactly as she described: pitch black. However, in the oppressive darkness, Aelor had little trouble traversing through, stepping over rocks and avoiding any stumbling points as he clears a path.

A path, he thought, that would be so much easier than this. He extends an arm back, accidentally touching Danika in the darkness; he shrinks his arm back in response.

"This cave is laden with traps," he says, looking back to the group. "Most of them are lasers, some seem to be infrared. It's like looking into a spider's web."

Without any hesitation, he removes some of his garments, knowing the hanging bits of leather or cloth would get them caught; he also held no modesty with Danika, as, if she wanted, she could have taken him if she so chose. Still dressed in his undergarments and a tighter shirt, he picks up his sheathed sword, bundling the strap in his hand, before continuing.