Private Mother Knows Best

[Alina Tremiru]

All her life she feared her family. Her mother was a ruthless Sith, at the head of the whole Tremiru family. Privy to all the secrets and alchemical recipes that had been gathered by the family over the many centuries. Her elder sister followed in their mother's footsteps. Had her life not been cut short by the Jedi bombardment of Korriban city, she would of been the one to take over the mantle. But with her death, that responsibility fell to Alina. Much to her own horror, and her mother's disgust. Tradition was to be upheld. That was their reputation. The Lady Tremiru could not strike down her own daughter, even if it meant her son would take over.

Alina would either have to have an accident, or her brother would have to kill her himself. Unfortunately, Alina's relationship with her brother was far closer than originally thought. Her brother refused, and so the Lady Tremiru tried to take matters into her own hands. It was the reason why Alina joined the Sith. Apprenticed under Taeli Raaf . Why she met the people closest to her, and why she met the people she hated. The best and the worst moments of her life happened under her training. And now, she felt ready to start standing against those that were her foes. Starting with the woman who started all of this.

Sat aboard a new ship, one given to her by her master, the young Sith stared at the planet of Dromund Kaas. She had no army in which to assault her family's estate. The house guard numbered in hundreds. Hundreds of men and woman warped by Sith magic into obedient soldiers. But magic could be severed. She stood, moving to the center room where a holoprojector had the home's layout up. There were only two she dared to bring along, even if they were likely to become enemies. Arcturus Dinn , a sorcerer. She had some book knowledge on spells, but if she wanted to undo whatever her mother might have laying in wait, she needed an ally who might be able to understand it better. Thesh was one of few she could trust. The other being was the person she trusted most in her life. Darth Strosius . The man who helped her reclaim her arms and find new power in the Force.

The young woman gave each of them a nod before turning her attention to the hologram. "We're going to sneak in. The house guard is not someone I wish to fight, and I'd prefer none, even if they come across us, are killed. My mother has them bound to her will. When the next head of the house rises, they bend the guard's will to their own. It's a cruel thing. But it can be broken. If I remove my mother's influence in the Force before I kill her, they will be free.

The real threat are her apprentices. I don't know any of their names, but they all use sorcery. And once we're past them, my mother. It's not too late to back out."

 

[Darth Strosius]

Of all the times that he had answered the call to run off on an excursion or adventure with Alina Tremiru , this one had been the only one that he had hesitated to come along on. It was risky, dangerous, and could very well result in the deaths of all who participated. That was the least of the problems they faced of course. Alisteri had mixed feelings about the goal of this mission. He held complete faith in his friend, trusted her more than he trusted himself even. To set out to kill her own mother though?

The thought was honestly horrific, not that he was going to say anything on the matter.

He admittedly knew little about the relationship between his friend and her mother, but he was confident that if it had come to this point then it must've not been a very good one. As the plan was laid out before him, he attempted to rationalize what they were about to do. Trying to look at it as simply replacing one head of a household with another was...difficult to say the least. The only way that he could really ignore that they were about to try and kill the mother of a person that he trusted more than any other, was to remember when he had wanted to kill his own guardian. At that point he was glad for the mask, as his sour expression at the mere memory of his owner probably would've soiled the mood even more.

"The apprentices...how do we approach them?" He wasn't going to pretend that the thought of killing fellow Sith made him feel a bit sick. If they offered no other option then he would not hesitate, but slaying more than one Sith apprentice simply to get at their master just didn't sit well with him. "Are we to try and spare them? Or will they prove too dangerous to leave alone?"

Taking on a powerful Sith would be a challenge, but a powerful Sith with backup would almost surely defeat them. They already had an army to tiptoe around after all. Not to mention that every Sith they would be fighting, whether to the death or not, were evidently all sorcerers. That was very concerning to him, as he was far from the most gifted with the Force. Thankfully, they apparently had a helping hand in that matter. He had never met Arcturus Dinn before now in the ship, but he had little doubt that the other man must have been skilled in one way o

They couldn't afford to have anyone here otherwise.

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

While the other two plotted, Thesh was making the finishing touches to his masterpiece.​

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For the entirety of the journey over here, he'd been hard at work. To an onlooker it might have seemed as though he was childlishly playing with clay, but one who was in touch with the motions of the Force would hopefully know better. ​

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The crystal he'd also had in his possession was missing now, lost amidst the clay, buried somewhere at its heart covered in all manner of runes and pulsating with faint life. And as they came to a halt in orbit of Kaas he simply nodded his head in satisfaction. He closed his eyes, muttered a string of words in some archaic form of sith, and then slowly began to breathe out over the clay creature.​

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That small modicum of life throbbing within began to grow to consume the entirety of his creation, a soft and perpetual hum coming from within. He watched as one by one its limbs began to move of their own volition, and then he grinned.​

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"Hello, little one," he mused, tone clearly humoured by that which he had done. Alas he had run out of time to actually put it to good use, so for now he picked up its small form and carried it to where the other two stood. It was time to join in the conversation, he supposed.​

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Alina had produced a holoprojection of the house in question, and began to explain the plan. Stealth... goodie! That allowed him to expand upon the lessons he'd received from Arthos Vynea which until now had sat dormant in his brain, just itching for a chance to shine. The stranger he did not know seemed concerned about the Apprentices, and in truth Thesh could not help but mirror his thoughts with a soft hum.​

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"It is a shame to waste such potential," he mused, lifting a hand to scratch across the right of his jaw, "Could always incapacitate them. Surely if the Guard will fall to Alina's beck and call, they ought to too? If not? Well, the Academy could probably find use for them."​

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A compromise to be sure. Eliminate their immediate threat, open the way to the mother, and add to the strength of the Worm. What wasn't to like?​

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Though the fact that he knew nothing about this other Apprentice meant there was a good chance he was not beholden to the Worm. That had him frowning. Well, at the very least they could try and make them answer to Alina. Best of both worlds.​

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Alina Tremiru Darth Strosius ​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Like the guard, I'd like them incapacitated. They're loyal to my mother as any Sith apprentice would be. Temporarily." She opted out of mentioning one of them was her own brother. The two hadn't spoken in some time, but they had been close. He refused to kill her. Hopefully he still felt the same way. "There should only be one person that dies today." Alina emphasized that. Arcturus Dinn and Darth Strosius weren't being brought along to die. She trusted them to both survive and not kill anyone in her family's home.

The young Sith reached up to point at a balcony on the hologram. "This will be where we land. This ship's stealth functions will let us get close, but once we drop it will have to leave. No going back." That was another point she wanted to emphasize. This was for her. They didn't have a stake in this, and she wanted to make sure they knew they had an out if they didn't feel comfortable with the plan. "Just inside is my mother's study. We'll pass through there for the stairs down. That's where the Archives are. Her apprentices are likely going to be down there training. Our goal is the inner sanctum. It's her room, and hers alone. We can use one of the acolytes to set a trap. Lure her there, and strike."

 

[Darth Strosius]

He merely offered a nod in response to the other two, although he did feel relieved. At the very least they would only be aiming to kill one Sith this day, and he could live with that. Hopefully these apprentices would be easy to defeat then, the last thing they needed was a drawn out fight before they even got to their actual target. Alisteri ran his gaze over their path several times, committing it to his memory as best he could. It seemed relatively straightforward, which was good.

Get in, get it done, and hopefully we won't need to run out.

With any luck, this would go off without a hitch. "I don't mean to spoil the mood and throw a wrench into all of this...but what about your mother?" There was the big issue at hand of course. "She isn't exactly on our level, and who knows what sort of tricks she has up her sleeves that we don't know about. I get that we're hoping to catch her by surprise, but what do we do if we don't get her first try?" Getting away from the compound and trying the plan at another day was a less than preferable option, they needed to either get this done or not do it at all. And he knew that they had to do it. Otherwise they'd all have a target on their backs, and that was if they got away.

Alina Tremiru was a good fighter of course, but her mother was evidently powerful in sorcery. His own skills were...well to say lacking would be an understatement, and even with Arcturus Dinn and his apparent skills, if that odd...construct was any indication, to his knowledge they had no real way to beat her other than surprise or attrition. "Do we have something to guarantee success? Everyone has a weakness, maybe some sort of injury that we can exploit?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Good" he said, with a nod of his head, as he set the golem down and pointedly gestured for it to remain exactly where it was. Without any other instructions to fulfil it plopped down to the ground and simply sat there, earning it a pleased nod from the boy. He could test it out wholeheartedly later, for now they had a task to complete.​

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He drummed his fingertips against the lightsaber on his belt and pondered words uttered by Arthos at the end of that lesson he'd provided. It was more difficult for one such as he to carry it out, too seeped in the darkness to wholly make ones presence unknown, but he felt confident that in a place such as this, where darkness was already seeped into the heart and soul of the world and its denizens, he could make do with having the smaller ebbs and flows apparent if one truly looked for it.​

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Closing his eyes, he drew into himself his presence in the Force as he retraced the steps taught to him. Art of the Small was no simple feat, and while under its influence he'd be incapable of doing much else through the Force. But that was fine. He was able to bide his time, and once they were spotted anyway he could relinquish his control over it. Make use of grander feats!​

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When he opened his eyes again it would feel as though Thesh wasn't there at all, though to look upon him he was still evidently present. He was not invisible, after all. He hadn't learned anything to assist him with that just yet. But he could blend into the background and surely that would be enough.​

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The stranger echoed the only concerns he had, so Thesh remained quiet and waited to hear what Alina might say in response. His gaze fell over the holo-blueprint of the building once more, and as they waited he tried to set it to memory. To figure out other avenues they could utilize should they need to make a quick escape...​

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Alina Tremiru Darth Strosius ​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"She's a Sith Lord with a powerful assortment of spells. The kind that can rend mind and body with only a couple words if you're not prepared." There was no sugarcoating it. Alina's eyes hardened after a moment, staring at the estate itself. "If we can't get surprise on our side, she'll kill us all. But she's arrogant. Play to that. Play yourselves weaker than you truly are, and she won't expect much from you. That's the only way we'll be able to beat her. That, and." She pulled up a pack from under the holotable and set it down. It was pretty obvious the pack was heavy and full of something metal.

"We can use these to set traps. The less we destroy of the archive, the better, but she couldn't fathom anyone wanting to blow it up. She won't even look for bombs." Alina's gaze lingered on the pack. She wasn't exactly uncertain on what she wanted to do, just. It still was her mother that she was plotting to kill. No matter how many times she'd been on the receiving end of her mother's wrath and almost killed, it was still her mother. She cleared her throat before standing straight again, looking between the other two.

"If there's no objections, we'll head down now. It should be about dinner time, which will let us hopefully slip into the archives without needing to deal with her apprentices. She's a creature of habit, so we might get lucky enough to set the trap before she comes down."

Darth Strosius | Arcturus Dinn

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri was admittedly not the most knowledgeable when it came to matters of sorcery. He found himself studying and learning about other methods of using the Force, the sorts of things that he knew that he could do. As such, sorcery was a mystery. Evidently a very deadly mystery. "...Hm. Rend body and mind with a couple words eh?" That certainly didn't sound good. It sounded absolutely awful if he was honest. He blinked in surprise as Alina Tremiru set the pack on the table, his gaze on the pack narrowing slightly as she explained what was in it.

Bombs. She brought bombs. They were certainly unexpected, and the idea of blowing up some sort of archive in any capacity made him pale a bit. A lot of good information and valuable secrets could be lost if they weren't careful. He hoped that her mother was easier to take down, both for their sake and for the sake of that poor archive.

Ah dinner time, the perfect time to attempt to assassinate someone. That was what he told himself anyway, they would need all the perfect that they could get if they wanted to pull this off.

He spared a glance at Arcturus Dinn , idly noticing something off about him that wasn't off earlier, before looking back at the bag, and then at the hologram. It was all or nothing indeed. He leaned back in his seat and took a quick moment to stretch before nodding. "I'm ready."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Death...​

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Truly it would have been a shame to die so early into his studies. With so little knowledge in his noggin, with so many projects left undone. His eyes drifted back to the golem, it had taken him many days to craft the creature, to imbue the crystal at its core and give life to the clay. To most it wouldn't seem like much, but that construct existed without mechanisms to move its limbs, without a brain to direct it. Just clay, and a crystal, and his will.​

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It was only the beginning.​

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But all the same, Thesh was not afraid of death. He'd looked it in the eye countless times over his life. He'd seen the Netherworld, walked among it and its shades. Perhaps he could even fight his way back out again if he had to. Unlikely, but he'd done it once before alongside the others.​

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He checked that he had that which he needed upon his person, and then nodded toward Alina.​

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"Alright," he said, with a loose shrug and a carefree grin, "Now's as good a time as any. Lead on, Alina, you know this place better than we."​

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Alina Tremiru Darth Strosius ​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Then we begin." Alina clicked off the hologram and practically ran from the room. Her mind had been made up, but there was still that moment of grieving. The sadness that this had to happen. Alone she let her expression fall, no longer hiding the sorrow that had been building up in her. Yet there was no hesitation as she punched in the commands for the ship to head down.

It was a relatively quick trip down to the surface. Her ship was fast on it's own, and she knew exactly where she wanted to go. The cloaking was engaged the moment they got into atmosphere. She took a couple minutes to herself as they descended. She needed to be okay. Her mother would easily use that against her otherwise. The young Sith pulled out the family saber that she'd been using since her sister died. The badge of office, so to speak. A mark for death in her mother's eyes.

The blade was hooked beside her new saber. The one made from the crystal Arcturus Dinn had helped her to collect. The lightspear would be left behind. She knew how tight the quarters might be to fight her mother. They'd need that on their side. Back into the room she'd give both men a simple nod.

They were here.

Alina led the way to the ramp as it lowered. While the ship was hidden, the opening would be as clear as day. She was quick to hop down onto the balcony, yellow eyes already looking around for potential threats. To the left, a pair of the house guards were on their way. Not in a hurry, so the trio hadn't been spotted yet.

But that wouldn't last forever.

She rushed inside through the double doors that lead to the balcony. It wasn't locked. Her mother refused to lock it. No one should be up there, and she'd use it as a test. The Lady Tremiru always knew if someone went out there. Alina had found herself punished on several occasions when she was younger for daring to try.

Inside was the study, just as the hologram showed. She looked to the door, feeling out for the flow of Anima to make sure no one was there. So far, clear.

"The stairs are behind that bookshelf. But there is a.. Code. The books have runes. I could never do anything with them, but maybe you can?" She cast a glance to Thesh curiously. "Figure it out, and she won't know we're here yet."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri blinked in surprise as Alina Tremiru left the room in a hurry, nearly about to hop out of his seat to run after her before he stopped himself. No...give her time. He reluctantly left his seat and opted to occupy a spot near a window as they began their descent. It was always an odd feeling for him, entering atmosphere. A mixture of anticipation and fear, the fear being especially prevalent this day.

The ship was fast, it left little time for him to prepare himself for the task ahead.

Still, what few minutes he did have before the ship got too close to the Tremiru estate were spent well. He was tempted to strike up a conversation with Arcturus Dinn but he decided against it. Better to leave the other Sith to do whatever sorcerous preparations that he wanted, and he certainly wasn't going to get in the way of that.

Better to play on the safe-side for now.

He idly wondered what they were going to do when they had defeated the infamous Lady Trimiru. If the guards and the apprentices didn't swap their loyalties as planned, then they would have to battle their way through to wherever the ship would be parked. He supposed that he should say 'if' rather than 'when' but optimism was key.

Soon enough he found himself quickly following after the pair of them, opting to watch the rear just in case. They couldn't afford to be anything other than careful, not at this stage anyway. Thankfully the only obvious threat was a pair of guards that the three of them managed to slip by fairly easily. He did take a moment to appreciate the study but he didn't linger in the entrance long. The way he saw it, he'd have plenty of time to have a good look around the place after they had succeeded.

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Alina left soon after, and Thesh remained where he was. The haste at which she'd left them was evident of the fact she wanted to be alone. Far be it for him to deny her such. Instead he slipped into a seat and waited for the descent to end. It didn't take them a particularly long time to reach their destination, though he had pulled open one of the books he'd brought for the longer part of the journey and eyed a few key pages all the same.​

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Then they were disembarking.​

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He joined the pair inside the study once the coast was clear, and watched as the ship disappeared from view once more as Alina had said it would. Their one safe means of escaping gone... No turning back.​

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Thesh glanced over the room as Alina spoke to him, and informed him of the hidden door. Books, runes, a code... He hummed under his breath, closed his eyes, and felt through the Force. Whatever he had done to previously guise his presence was momentarily lost, he could not do both. Nobody could do both.​

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Then he turned to the girl, and gestured for her hand. As he did so he pulled free his sith dagger and twirled it in his other hand.​

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"Gonna need just a drop of blood," he informed her, voice low, hoping that she'd be willing to comply. He could do it with his own, but he knew it would be far more effective if the blood of Tremiru was utilized. This was, after all, their abode. Their spells had been worked into the mechanism.​

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Alina Tremiru Darth Strosius ​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Her blood? She raised a brow curiously as she watched Arcturus Dinn pull free the danger, but she didn't waste any time. Instead she held out her hand, watching the acolyte closely. "I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised." Everything was about the family. The Tremiru bloodline. There was a slight worry that her. Change might affect something, but she doubted it. She was still Tremiru. Her gaze shifted to Darth Strosius .

"Check the door, would you? I don't think there will be anyone, but you never know."

 

[Darth Strosius]

He blinked in surprise as the dagger was pulled out, idly giving the other man a look of confusion. Blood? Blood powered mechanisms of any sort were foreign to him, but he didn't doubt their existence. With the Sith, there tended to be many macabre devices. Alisteri glanced between Alina Tremiru and Arcturus Dinn before nodding.

"Right." He'd rather not see her bleed anyway, if he was honest. He pressed himself against the door and listened carefully, trying to catch a glimpse of the outside via one of the windows.

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He didn't take much from her at all.​

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The sharp blade barely touched her skin before it loosed a few crucial drops, then he settled his free hand just under the wound and applied a little bit of pressure. Caught the droplets on the blade itself, with a satisfied nod. Once he had what he needed he shifted that hand some and pressed over the wound itself instead, stemming some of the blood flow with a surprisingly gentle touch.​

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"There," he said, before releasing her entirely and turning toward the bookcase. There were a few books which stood out to him. He closed his eyes, breathed in, and directed the blood their way through the Force. As he did so his lips moved, strange words caught upon his breath though only one was truly uttered. The air in the room felt thick for a moment, and his ears rang out with the sweet, haunting symphony he had come to expect. The others wouldn't hear it, of course, they couldn't.​

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But for Thesh it was that last push he needed.​

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He opened his eyes as the mechanism began to release, and as it did Alina would feel an odd sensation through her veins. Only for a moment...​

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Alina Tremiru Darth Strosius ​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

The pair of guards continued their way by, at least from what could be seen of them from the window. From outside, at least, no one was the wiser to the trio within the study. Footsteps could be heard outside the door. A ways away, but slowly approaching. Alina wasn't phased at all by being cut, though did raise a brow curiously at how Arcturus Dinn sealed the wound. Interesting. Not that she had time to ask. The odd sensation made her brow furrow as she stared at the bookcase.

It slid up almost immediately once the mechanisms went to work, opening the path down. Alina nodded her head to Darth Strosius . "Alright, let's go." She rushed down the stairs into the next room. A sparring room, by the look of it. Or more likely a test chamber? The scorched walls made it hard to tell one way or another. She glanced around, frowning. Truthfully she'd never been down here. "The archives are ahead. But we could use this room for the trap? Depends on if we need space or not."

 

[Darth Strosius]

His gaze narrowed on the pair of guards as they slowly made their way to and then past the door, quieting his breathing as they passed. Not that he was that scared of attracting attention, he was sure that the three of them could handle two guards easily enough, he just didn't want to be the one to feth up the plan so early on.

Besides, it always paid to be careful.

Alisteri's gaze swept over to the bookcase as he heard it move, a brow raising in surprise as it slid up and revealed a path. ...Huh. Neat. He gave a small nod of respect to Arcturus Dinn before leaving his spot at the door and following Alina Tremiru down the stairway. There was a moment of pause as he admired the room that the stairs led to, idly noting the scorched walls with a wary gaze. He could only guess how those had gotten there, but he knew that he didn't want to be targeted by it.

"Any room can be a trap Alina." That was about all the advice he could offer, setting up traps wasn't his specialty. He was far too occupied with inspecting the scorch marks regardless.

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

It had worked.​

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He had hoped it would, poured his very will into the moment to ensure it would, yet he could not help but feel elated at that fact all the same. He was still new to all things relating to Blood Magic, that aspect of sorcery was not a thing he'd even considered until his lessons with the strange Sith lady. He'd done research since then, delved further of his own volition. Such was the way in which Thesh did things. Taught the basics, experimented with the rest. He couldn't help himself. That was simply the way he learned best.​

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The boy followed them down the flight of stairs without a word, cleaning off the stray remnants of blood from his blade as he did so. Once at the bottom, in the charred room, he drew his presence in on himself again and made it as small as he could. To any onlookers, indeed to those in the room with him now, it would seem as though there were only the two of them. Alina and Alisteri.​

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To further heighten that, Thesh chose to hang back some. To be a fly on the wall until needed...​

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Alina Tremiru Darth Strosius ​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina looked around the room for a moment. Debating. It seemed she made her choice as she unshouldered the pack of explosives. "Take some, set them around the corners and the walls. Out of sight if possible. If we don't strip her of the Force first, killing her will likely have the whole guard after us." There were too many moving parts in the plan in the young woman's opinion, but it's what they needed. She'd grab a couple of the charges and make her way over to one of the far walls, silently setting them up.

She was stressed. Incredibly stressed. She still hadn't gotten over the reality that she was here to kill her mother. She paused midway through setting up one of the bombs, just staring at it. She was setting bombs in her home. It was a surreal feeling. She wasn't going to blow the estate up or anything, but she felt more like a terrorist than a Tremiru.

A shaky breath later and she moved on to another of the bombs. There wasn't any room to turn back the moment they got off the ship.

Darth Strosius | Arcturus Dinn

 

[Darth Strosius]

"...Right." Alisteri didn't bother questioning how the strange...control or whatever it was that Alina Tremiru 's mother held over her guards worked. Such matters of the Force were out of his realm after all. He grabbed a couple of bombs and set to work laying them on the other side of the room, doing his best to position them to where they wouldn't be too noticeable at first glance. There were only so many ways that he could try and hide them, given the circumstances.

Had it not been for the task at hand occupying his mind, he would've probably been laughing at how ridiculous this whole situation was.

Laying bombs in a noble estate just to supplant said noble with her daughter. Who would've thought? It was almost an achievement if he thought of it in that manner. He did his best not to think about the difficulty of what they were about to attempt. They still had apprentices and the Lady Tremiru herself to deal with. For all intents and purposes, this was the easy part of the plan.

Arcturus Dinn