Private Meditations on Charity

[Alessandra Io]

Location: Dojo - Absolution of Loste
Attire: xXXx
Armament: House Io Citizen Energy Sword
Tags: Percival Io

He might have thought that Alessandra had given him the silent treatment.

However, the truth fell between the extremes of passive-aggressive silence and pensive disappointment, albeit veering more towards the former than the latter. Alessandra had invited her brother inside the dojo to spar, knowing that eventually, their blows would transition into words. So far, they had been training for a little over 20 minutes in relative silence, with neither showing signs of slowing down, though Alessandra was the slightly lesser sword duelist of the two.

Nevertheless, the two Chaplains held nothing back against each other.

Their last round was the closest, as Alessandra brought to bear everything she had learned in sparring with her brother over the last 20 minutes. Unfortunately, while she failed to beat him, the Chaplain was at the very least relieved to see the sheen of sweat on his pale skin (it turned out that water’s heat capacity made it a very good coolant, even for Bio-Organic Nuetralizers), along with a few bruises which were healing before her photoreceptors.

Then, after deactivating her energy sword, Alessandra gave her brother a shallow bow, before her voice finally cut through the relative silence that had existed between them for too long.

“How is Rebecca?”

 

[Percival Io]

Like many Neutralizers, Percival approached combat from an analytical and almost detached perspective. What was the quickest, most efficient way to take down his opponent? What was the safest, most surefire method? What weaknesses did his foe possess that he could exploit, and what weaknesses did he have that he needed to make up for?

Today his rival was Alessandra. While she was a Chaplain like him, she was smaller in stature, but nimble and quick. He tried to be faster. She was evidently not as competent a swordsman as he, so he took advantage of the weak points in her technique.

But his focus was single-minded, and his reaction times were perhaps a split second or two slower than hers. She soon learned that he could be deceived with a well-executed feint, and in the final round of their sparring she succeeded in making him prepare for an attack that never came. He caught her blade before it could meet its mark, but it had been close. Too close.

At the end of the session, Percival mirrored his sister, deactivating his blade and giving her a small bow. Quicksilver leaked from a wound over his eyebrow. While it healed rapidly, the cut sealing shut and his other bruises fading, the spilled blood remained. He turned away to grab a towel and clean himself off.

That was when she asked about Rebecca.

Percival froze, the towel still pressed to his face. The question itself was not noteworthy. Rebecca was a House Io citizen, a high-ranking one at that, and she lived aboard the Loste. Alessandra would and should know of her, as well as Percival’s handling of her case. What gave him pause was that she had broken the long silence that had hung between them by asking such a question, rather than cutting straight to the heart of the matter, the root cause of her giving him the cold shoulder—his meddling in her attempt to bribe the cartels.

He lowered his towel. “For a woman in her position, she is as well as can be expected,” he replied. “I continue to minister to her as needed, but I believe she will recover psychologically in due time, hopefully shortly after the birth of her child.” Things could go wrong, of course, but he was confident in his ability to deal with any issues that might arise in the future. Sometimes he felt more like a doctor treating patients. Perhaps he should have been manufactured as a Medical Neutralizer instead...

Glancing back at Alessandra, he asked, “What about your penitents?”

Alessandra Io​

 

[The Amalgam]

Following: Nuetralizer Model 1 (David)

The ship was familiar. Mother had had it before Sarka. Before she had rebelled against the Jedi.

The Nuetralizers had not been present in the Jedi days, but they all knew Mother's ship, a heavily modified Imperial Surveillance Gozanti. It had been her main ship asset in the old days, get in, get out of nearly anywhere.

She had celebrated their first victory, at Generis from outside of this vessel on a lonely planet at the edge of CIS Space.

Even the fething CIS had fallen. Now the board was being divided by fanatics on all sides. Mandalorian Fanatics, Jedi Fanatics, Imperial and Dark Side Fanatics.

What did that make House Io?

David wasn't sure. It had been very simple in Mother's mind when it had all started. So simple.

So complex now. Mother's ambitions had evolved. Partly out of necessity, partly out of Mother's overwhelming hatred for the other factions, but particularly Jedi. House Io's hatred for the Jedi Order burned in its veins like fire, and echoed in their teachings. (I could listen to Kreia all day!: 90 XP)

David had been a Berserker type when he started like all Nuetralizers. Sarka was their first taste of real, genuine defeat. He had been forced to deactivate after being buried alive, and had made his way back to literally being in Mother's arms.

But before that, he had been isolated. On the run. Hiding, fleeing from both Soldiers and Jedi in a badly damaged state. Running for weeks...

He had left his brothers when they were a warband and come back when they were a faction, with a crest and everything...

David didn't fully understand what he had come back to. He had been so eager to get back to his family away from the misery and fear of a world where he was on his own, where people either hated or feared him, or tried to exploit him.

Mother had determined it was for his own Psychological health that he stay somewhere familiar, and somewhere he could acclimate to all the changes that had occured in his family.

Even back then, Model 1's had quirks. As their sense of self had developed, they had started to collect stuff they didn't understand. Baubles and such from society. Mother hadn't fully understood society or it's purpose back then, and neither had her children. Both couldn't understand why people would rather die than work with Sith, why they would ignore every other calamity going on to defeat them. She seemed to have latched onto the answer of it being Fanaticism, refusing to consider it any sort of moral integrity when the result was so much death and chaos that was unnecessary.

She seemed determined to punish them for it. From what he could tell, the hatred was mutual. The Jedi had been opposed by her violently and maliciously again and again, and were determined to end her judgement of them and go back to being the Judge of others. He had always perceived that her calling them evil for what they had done had struck some sort of raw nerve in a lot of them that they weren't even aware they had.

David had seen it in many Jedi he had engaged...the condemnation. The arrogance. Mother's worst arrogance was thinking she could make them give up with enough casualties. Once she realized that couldn't and wouldn't happen she settled for traumatizing them at every opportunity out of pure fething spite all throughout the third Imperial Civil War. Even now, she was known to occasionally capture a ship or two of Jedi and sever them from the Force, unwilling to cease punishing them for what they had done to the Galaxy by not fighting who they were supposed to.

The Mother he had known had been frustrated with the Jedi, but he had gone offline before it had morphed into the loathing of the Order it now was.

David searched through his old stuff, which after his weapons was little. It could fit in a shoebox. Old strange coins and a Sith Lightsaber. But the real treasure was the photos.

David studied them trying to better recall the Mother he had seen with the Mother he saw now.

He fell upon one particular photo in the lonliness of his quarters. It was her and Syd standing in front of a small army of Nuetralizers after Dubrava, where they had engaged and slaughtered the Bryn'adul for the first time. Laertia's hand had been entwined with Syd's. Now Syd was an enemy. When a Model 1 had told him the reason he understood why.

Mother had looked happy being around her. Knowing he was staring at the one who had murdered Mother's bio parents made him want to crush her throat.

Still, the Photo was useful as memories. He was in the background with other Model 1 units. It was Laertia's first 'Family Photo' with the Model 1 units.

David put it away and stood up. His silvery chassis gleaming in the low light, free of the war paints of others yet with mild scratches and scuff marks. He decided to venture out into the halls of the ship trying to seek out what else had changed.

The only weapons he had were the ones built into his chassis as he walked the passages, passing by Nuetralizers he was totally unfamiliar with the Model 2 and 3 units reminded him of his brothers design but bigger than he was. The Model 2 units especially were larger, had a far more durable chassis.

"Greetings, Brother." a Model 2 unit said in passing.

"Hey..." he replied back. The Model 2 units were sapient but he noted they learned slower than others and lacked the Nanite blood.

The Model 3's, on the other hand...

He had taken the time to talk to one a few days ago. Those learned fast, talking a million kilometers a second, and seemed eager to talk to someone who was essentially the Droid Version of Rip Van Winkle. The 3 Unit had eagerly rattled off details about what had happened since he had been inactive, teaching him new pop culture jokes and forms of Hot Takes. David, bewildered, had remained silent and listened, taking it all in.

The blue banners of the House, that strange triangle crest was new. A lot of it looked the same...

His photo receptors spotted a familiar face. Familiar in a way that was unfortunate to him.

The Amalgam, clad in her Resistance Epidermis, ate an apple, leaning against the bulk head.

"Ah, the long lost Veteran from Sarka..." The Amalgam said.

His databases still carried active warnings and suspended kill orders for her.

"Ah..." David trailed. "The Witch..."

"Acclimating well?" she asked, taking a bite.

"As well as can be expected." David muttered. "There is a certain hilarity in all this..."

"Oh?" She asked, dead purple eyes raking him over.

"The hilarity that you and Mother are closer than ever while Syd is the fugitive from Mother's wrath. I must compliment your tactical and Psychological maneuvers, if nothing else..."

"Thank you, David. But for some reason I cannot place, it is not as hilarious as I thought it would be..." The Amalgam replied, taking another bite.

"I remember you from Generis. We could have used your brutality at Sarka..."

"I would have showed but your Mother was basically on a Date with Syd, and I get terribly jealous..." The Amalgam replied, grinning.

"You always were a sick feth..." David said acidly.

"Thank you! I do try!" The Amalgam shot back, blushing slightly.

"What are you doing aboard?" David asked.

"I'm an Advisor to your Mother. I go where I please. But to answer your question, I'm here to scout for a little 'operation' for Dromund Kaas. See which of the Bio Nuetralizers is best suited to it. Gonna take a few of the Mechanical Nuetralizers also. There is an excellent chance to observe which, if you'll head to the training area...I have to be elsewhere..."

"Sure. Why not. I have yet to see one fight..." David said, curiosity overriding his distaste towards her.

The Amalgam began walking off.

"I'm curious about something, Amalgam..."

The Amalgam turned. "Oh no need to be so stuffy. Amy will do just fine...what are you curious about?"

"Fine, Amy. It could not have possibly escaped you that Syd Celsius was once Darth Phyre. Why did you say nothing?"

"Because I wanted originally to have that love reach soaring heights and then tell her, and get her to embrace the Darkness. But as hard as this might be for you to believe...or anyone else for that matter to believe...as time went on...I kept making excuses to myself not to..."

"Why?" David asked.

"Because I loved Julia more than even I could admit to myself..." The Amalgam answered, striding ahead.

David split off from her, disturbed that his interrogation protocols could detect no lie in her statement..

David entered the training room that Percival Io and Alessandra Io were in after a few minutes, studying the pair of Chaplains, who he had never seen up close before.

"Pardons... may I observe? I've never seen your model fight..." David confessed. "I'm David, by the way..."