Never a Pirate's Prey

[Armand Temi]

Location: Ruusan atmosphere and wildnerness

Piloting The Celestina, alone in Sith Triumvirate space wasn’t the brightest idea Cath Lorr had, but the head-strong Eldorai hybrid needed to investigate reports that Sith Intelligence had been spying on nearby Tholatin, a rocky planet harboring smugglers, criminals and drug lords due to planetary crevasses such as Esau's Ridge. It wouldn’t take much for Sith to embed themselves, enslave the human and yao population, and then turn the already-violent clans of Weequay into their warriors.
Cath wanted to avoid another Togoria massacre and prevent a second "super Sith prison" from being built.

Of course, she had no idea of the intricacies of the Triumvirate, and the differences between the fractured darksider groups around the galaxy. They all fit one mold for the padawan.

Evil that needed to be eradicated. Peacefully, of course, with violence as a last resort.

But soon enough her vessel attracted unwanted attention. Her ship was hailed and then forced to land in a secluded clearing on Ruusan. While the Peacekeeper Cruiser had defenses, it was no match for the firepower visible on the unmarked freighter which followed her to the surface. Once both ships touched down, Cath noticed there were some white structures which appeared, at first glance, to be abandoned, but it was hard to tell from her view screen.

A gang of Lannik pirates emerged from the freighter and promptly surrounded her vessel. Most of them babbled in their Lannik tongue, but the leader, a large tan-skinned Lannik with cybernetic limbs, said, “We’re from customs and need to search The Celestina. We won’t hurt you, but if you shoot, we’ll have to shoot back.” To illustrate, he hefted a blaster rifle and fired up into the air.

Yeah right. Customs, my choobies thought, Cath. But she was outnumbered and under-weaponed compared to the pirates. Lowering the hatch, the padawan walked down her ship’s ramp slowly. She prepared herself for using a mind trick on them depending on what their next move was.

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

One thought that passed through Vanitas's mind was, oh how much he hated pirates, slavers, basically anyone that was a criminal. They were all the same to him really. All the same in the way that they all needed to be killed and wiped from the face of the known Galaxy.

Or existence.

Whichever happened first.

Having adopted the need to wear his armour underneath a black cloak at all times, the former Jedi Padawan and current Sith Knight frowned at the situation at hand. An uncharted freighter was, what appeared to be escorting another ship to an abandoned area in the Ruusan Wilderness. Far enough away from Triumvirate operations to not draw immediate attention from the new government, but not far enough away to prevent Haytham's undying hatred of them to be escaped.

Already being close by, the Sith Knight's shuttle flew by overhead, on autopilot of course. He can fly after all, he just liked cool entrances.

Likely too many holofilms.

And he landed somewhere between [member="Cath Lorr"] and the pirates.

"Both of you should be leaving from here."

From underneath his black hood, golden coals burned brightly.

 

[Armand Temi]

While Cath was feeling rather dumb right now getting semi-captured by pirates, lucky for her, the Lannik thugs were infinitely more half-witted. The lead pirate, stepped forward, chin up defiantly, cybernetic limbs clicking as he walked up close to the newcomer on the scene. There's always someone on Ruusan wanting to spoil my fun, he thought. The girl was pretty, her ship was in relatively good shape, and she likely had a few credit chits lying around. Between robbing her, selling her to the Zygerrian slavers who had recently established a presence in the Mara Corridor and eventually pawning off the ship, all in all, this was a decent haul.

“Beat it,” said the Lannik leader. “This doesn’t concern you.”

One of the other pirates said, “Boss, I think he might be one of those Sith Triangles.”

“It’s the Triumvirate, you idiot,” he spat. The two began to quarrel, and in doing so gave Cath an opportunity to ignite her green lightsaber, the bright verdancy a tell-tale sign that she was on the Jedi Consular path, even if she could not join the Order yet due to her political role in the Republic’s government schema.

The familiar snap, hiss of the weapon halted the Lannik’s argument, and they stared, mouths agape, glancing nervously back and forth at the Eldorai and the robed man with the glowing eyes.

“He’s right,” said Cath. “Leave now, and you will not be harmed.”

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

He couldn't help but create a grumbling sound from his throat the sound of the snap-hiss of the lightsabre behind him.

Raising both of his wrists, the sleeves of his robe slid backwards and revealed these bracers that were directly over his wrists and over his gauntlets. Humming softly, he shot a look over each of his shoulders to take account of every single one of the pirates before his right arm started to go on a horizontal arc to the right of him until it cleared all of the pirates, and the left mirrored it exactly.

Though, moving his arms weren't the only thing that happened.

Plasma bolts were released from the wrist bracers, after all they were wrist blasters, and they mowed down the Lannik pirates that were visible to him as suddenly as he had dropped down in front of them.

He slowly turned to the woman he presumed was a Jedi, his array of weapons hidden by his black robe as he crossed his arms over his chest, save for his Tsaisi Magnus belted to his waist outside of the cloak. That golden gaze of his stared at [member="Cath Lorr"] intently, as if waiting for her to deliver an explanation in that instant.

 

[Armand Temi]

Cath heard a rumble, like faraway thunder, but realized it was a noise coming from the fellow Force user's throat. His signature was distinctly dark, but at this point, she was at either the mercy of the pirates or of the newcomer, and she would certainly side with the more sophisticated-seeming warrior. Presuming he was also not her foe.

It began to sink in that he was likely a Sith and likely from the Triumvirate, but even if he was the last type of individual she wanted to run into, the Force would guide her path.

And his, although his path at this moment included swiftly executing all of the Lannik pirates.

Relief washed over Cath, and then a distinct guilt that lives were now lost, the presumed Sith quick to act with violence. Once the pirates thumped to the ground, her grey eyes flit to their bodies to make sure there wasn’t a twitch from one of them, a pulse that quickened again, therefore a life to save.

But they were dead as Honoghr.

She locked eyes with the stranger and said in a firm voice, “I suppose I should thank you, for saving my life. Although their lives did not need to be taken.” And then softening her tone she said, “But you do have my deepest gratitude. Is there anything you’d like in return? I am carrying no cargo but could give you credits.” If he was from the Triumvirate, part of her was intrigued to know more, to collect intel as it were, but the pragmatic survivalist in her was hoping he would take the bribe and let her be on her way.

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham's golden eyes locked on [member="Cath Lorr"]. He tilted his head to the side for a moment, but it soon occurred to him that she was... Bribing him? His brows furrowed once the confusion passed and a part of him was tempted to just split her head from her neck and leave it at that, but the other part of him, the part that wasn't a product of Sith influence and a necessary evil stopped him.

"I don't need your credits." He said in a rough voice. He realized his throat was dry after that, but it wouldn't stop him from getting answers.

"Why are you on Ruusan?"

His perceptive eyes looked her up and down, more as an attempt to discern what she was, rather than checking her out. He knew she had the Force... And a lightsabre for that matter, but Jedi didn't go around bribing you for saving their lives.

 

[Armand Temi]

Cath realized that, yet again, she was not in the safest situation. By the Eternal Core, how are you going to be a good government official if you keep putting yourself in harm's way? This first week of her being the Home Secretary, fresh out of her parent's Bardotta Palace and already she'd been shot at and now this? Your heart bleeds like a river, Cath. Time to close up the dam.

Captured by the Sith Triumvirate was not going to be an option. If she had to leave without any information, she would in order to live another day.

"I'm on Ruusan for a fact-finding mission." Cath sighed deeply, yet her breath hitched in her throat, a slight tremble betraying her fear. "I meant to remain in the atmosphere to survey the trade routes and space lanes between Tholatin and Ruusan after reports that there were encampments of Sith hiding out in at Esau's Ridge. But I was forced planet-side."

The Sith's eyes were a dull yellow-color like ancient amber, unearthed from a centuries-old mountain range. He looked as if he would lop your head off with his saber without a second thought. Cath did not want to let him on to who she was. No need for the stakes to go any higher right now.

"I'm a padawan," she said, hoping by the admission she wasn't sealing her execution. The Eldorai would rather play the innocent dilettante rather than give up her true intention and identity.

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

His golden eyes watched her carefully. His left and right hand clenched and unclenched, out of sync as he thought of how best to get what he wanted from her.

Information most likely.

He didn't speak though, not until she was finished speaking entirely. He wanted to know everything she had to say before he would've spoken another word. His eyes turned to look past her and to the ship that was located behind her. If he had been a space jockey or something along those lines, he figured he'd steal and sell a ship like this. Maybe, maybe it wasn't his style... Though that was probably why he would be selling it.

"You're not a Padawan." He said drily. His head went from side to side as he shook his head, his hood finally falling off of his head as his black hair was shown. "You see, Padawans don't bribe." He raised a single finger to shake it back and forth in her face as if berating a child, or maybe someone he thought inferior to him. "Having a lightsabre doesn't make you a Jedi," he had went on to say before he pushed a hand through his hair that would've otherwise blocked out his eyes.

His hair was growing wild again.

"Encampments of Sith on Essau's Ridge... A place for criminals, no?" He shrugs his shoulders. "The Triumvirate has no need for Tholatin. We only seek to regain the ancient planets that belong to the Sith." Dromund Kaas, his homeworld came to mind, but he left that out of course.

"Besides... You happen to be on the wrong planet to be investigating Essau's Ridge."

[member="Cath Lorr"]

 

[Armand Temi]

The dark-haired Force user’s eyes burned into her, his gaze unwavering. She shifted nervously for a moment, her long pale gown rustling, and then she stood straight with her chin up, trying to look courageous. Yet Cath was not sure if her act would be convincing enough. If the young man truly was a Sith, and she was quite sure now that he was, like a predator senses fear, she was more than certain he could feel the anxiety radiating from her.

“As I said, I was forced down to the surface by the unfortunate Lanniks,” said Cath with a strong voice now, one that did not tremble. She was going to give this performance all she had. “And I prefer to think that I was giving you a gift. For saving my life,” she said. “But it sounds as though you have no need for presents or credits at this time.”

The Eldorai Jedi did not de-ignite her lightsaber, still clutching the hilt tightly as it hummed reassuringly in her ear. And as he gave up information, she considered telling him who she was as well. Perhaps if she came clean, he would give her more.

“Perhaps the reports of Sith at Essau’s Ridge were just rumors. Or perhaps they were purposefully started to send the Republic on a wild goose chase. I mean, you can certainly see why the Republic is frightened by your encroachment in the Mid-Rim. We just lost Togoria to the north and with the Triumvirate to the east…”

Her grey eyes connected with his yellow ones. “What else do you seek besides the ancient planets?"

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Presents.

Did she see him as some child that required a reward for doing something good?

He huffed, moreso at his own offended thoughts. When had he become so easy to rile? Inadvertently especially...

"Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps." He waved a hand at her, dismissive in nature. Vanitas simply didn't care about these rumours. She clung to them as if those alone would be the reason why he would let her live. He stared down at the green lightsabre, humming lowly along with her lightsabre before he said, "The Galactic Republic is nothing. It was once the superpower that crushed the Sith Empire, but no longer. It's been crushed by the One Sith many times over." He said with a single shake of his head. "Did they even win? Once? Twice? Not even that many," he said, his dry throat hitched and he turned his head away for a moment as he coughed.

He may have been a killer, perhaps a monster in her eyes, but it certainly wasn't polite to cough in someone's face.

What would Kiskla Grayson think of her Padawan now?

"I know you just lost Togoria. I was planetside." Getting his ass kicked. But that wasn't something she needed to know.

"I don't believe that's how this works," he said shaking his head at her final question. He of course wanted Sith artifacts, but he didn't want them for the Triumvirate. He wanted them for himself.

[member="Cath Lorr"]

 

[Armand Temi]

The Sith appeared insulted, and fleetingly, Cath worried that she’d said something to upset him.

Silly girl, she thought. You did nothing. The darkside of the Force creates this type of anger, envy and outrage among the Sith. Insulted and affronted was probably his normal state of mind. But perhaps she could disarm him if they began to talk like civilized galaxians and not the enemies they truly were in theory.

“What’s your name, Sir? Mine is Padawan Lorr.”

He hadn’t attacked her yet, so she also now, carefully, turned her lightsaber off, the green flare extinguished. Her heart-shaped face was now bathed in a more golden light, rather than the verdant glow from her saber.

“Yes, and what was done to Togoria during the invasion and afterwards was quite deplorable. The One Sith built a gigantic prison, which I think doubles as a crypt for Togorians at this point. They are either sold as slaves or worked to the bone by the Sith until they expire. That’s no way to live.”

She breathed to control the tone of her voice, to mask the anger and bring the tense atmosphere around them to a calm and peaceful place.

“I agree that the Republic is not a super power. It’s a torch for peace in the galaxy. Whether we’re burning as quietly as an ember or sending a fireball towards our enemies with our allied support… the One Sith and the Triumvirate will be vanquished.”

“You may think it’s a matter of time, but my friend, I have nothing but time to see that peace is restored to the galaxy.”

Quite lofty goals for a young Jedi, Cath thought. Hopefully her speech would not betray the fact that she held more of an official role in the Republic than one of padawan learner.

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

He blinked at her, those golden eyes disappearing for a moment.

"Darth Vanitas." It was time that he started referring to himself as such, as a Sith anyway. He wasn't a Jedi Padawan anymore. He wasn't Haytham Kaze anymore. He was stronger than the Padawan that had been Haytham Kaze, stronger than even this girl. He rose a hand subconsciously, and when he realized what he was doing, it was between his face and the girl and he looked at her through those gloved digits. With a single flick of my wrist... I could snap her neck, he thought to himself, tilting his head to look at her in a new light. To look at her as if he were a God and she were a mere worm that was breaking the surface of the ground for the first time.

It would be... Easy.

He shook his head, though he found himself agreeing with what [member="Cath Lorr"] had to say.

"You're right. It is, enslaving the Togorians - anyone, is wrong." He watched her, golden eyes simmering. "There is none here, Cath Lorr." He didn't care for her name, and that was evident enough in how he had spoken it. But as far as he knew, those who worked in the Triumvirate was paid, and whether that thought was wrong, he didn't care to find out. He chewed on his cheek. "When are you saving them? If you don't, you're cowards and I'll personally see to cutting you up in enough pieces to send to each and every remaining Republic planet. Tell me, you're going to free them."

He paused.

Kark slavery.

"Don't think to lecture me about the Galactic Republic. If it is a torch, then the One Sith is a bonfire that lights the Galaxy." He steps towards her and then past her, uncaring of the danger she could potentially bare him. "If the Republic comes for the Triumvirate, you will be crushed between two Sith nations. Like. A. Sandwich." He clasped his hands behind his back after, closing his eyes as he focused on himself, calming that inner rage within him. "I should kill you even thinking that the Triumvirate is the same as the One Sith." Huffs.

"You're an idiot if you think the Republic can win against the One Sith. And your 'allies?' They'll lose too." He shook his head. "I'll tell you though, the only chance you'll have at victory is reuniting under one banner. One name. I had that idea once, I was a Padawan just like you when I had it."

That was a life time ago.

 

[Armand Temi]

Darth Vanitas. The name had not registered on her list of The Galactic Republic's Most Wanted Sith, which of course, she checked every morning as the Home Secretary. Oh wouldn't the galaxy like to know who was on that list? Cath would never tell. Not right here on a random Ruusan hill, discussing politics with a Sith Knight.

"The Togorians are being monitored and when the time is right we will right the wrongs inflicted upon them. But I cannot send any able bodied men and women to their deaths right now. Not without a plan."

Vanitas's snarled at her, his anger clear and rising by the moment. Cath remained poised and confident, but inside she could feel her calm demeanor cracking. Every barb by the Sith Knight caused another rift to form. Luckily the Eldorai was made of stone and not porcelain.

"Your insults don't rattle me, Darth Vanitas," she said. Padawan Lorr needed to make a decision before the situation escalated. Either try and leave now, her hide intact. Or converse more with the Sith, find out exactly why he shifted from Padawan to darksider. Or did the Darkside of the Force consume him like a tsunami against a powerless shore?

"Do you want to go somewhere to continue this conversation? Perhaps those buildings nearby are inhabited, and we can share a stimcaf and discuss why a Padawan such as you became an unyielding Sith."

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Darth Vanitas hmphed after she had answered him about the Togorians. The Republic wasn't going to save the Togorians, they couldn't, not anytime soon anyway. They would've had to clear the entire planet of Sith if they wanted to help them, and the Republic had just lost against them, why would they mount a counter-attack for the same planet? He shook his head. All she had told him was that it was going to be a long ime until they saved the Togorians.

"The fact that you have to tell me my insults don't rattle you, lets me know that they do bother you in some way." He shrugs his shoulders as he glances over his shoulder at her. "You want to know why I became a Sith?"

His black mane went from side to side. "I'll tell you here." He huffed.

"I'll give you the short form. The Galactic Republic couldn't win against the One Sith. Do you know how many Jedi Masters and Knights I saw you leave the Republic's Order to go rogue and to either join the Sith or another Jedi Organization?" He shook his head again. "I decided to become like those cowards. I wasn't corrupted, I made the conscious choice of joining the Sith. This is the only path that'll allow there to be peace in this pathetic Galaxy."

Against his better judgement, he walked away. Towards one of the abandoned buildings. She could leave, or follow him. Either way, he was planning to put her life to an end after he found out who she was.

[member="Cath Lorr"]

 

[Armand Temi]

As she watched Darth Vanitas walk towards the abandoned building, Cath became suddenly conflicted. A woman of her word, she really did want to have stimcaf and a conversation with the Sith Triumvirate Knight. But pragmatism began to take over as her primary emotion. And it wasn't as if they were set up on a blind date. Mother of Kwath, he'd just murdered three pirates without a second thought!

First of all, you are not going to convince him to go lightsided, thought the Eldorai politician. The odds were looking increasingly against cheating death for a second time, although she desperately wanted to hear of his fall from the light.

The information you seek can wait, she told herself.

Cath turned the other way and sprinted towards her ship as fast as she could. She opened the hatch and climbed into The Celestina firmly locking the hatch behind her, although she supposed if the Sith Knight really wanted to chase her, he may be able to rip the hatch off with Telekinesis.

Do not be ashamed you ran, thought the prideful elvish Princess. There is courage in determining when a situation may be too dangerous for you.

Vanitas would hear her power up the ship as she intended to lift off again.

[member="Haytham Kaze"]