Private Pedestal

[Arris Windrun]

CORUSCANT
IN ORBIT, MERCY'S FLAGSHIP
Mercy

The shuttle landed aboard Mercy's new flagship - an experimental pocket dreadnought, from what Arris could tell, not that she was an expert on warships. She moved from the hangar to the command deck, into a room that now served as Star-Arm's throne away from throne. A graspborn guard threw the door open.

"Typical," Arris thought. Of course, Mercy of all people would opt for manual doors and undue gravitas. Even dignity was a trophy to her.

The cyborg's lifeless eyes followed the length of the floor up to the throne, and finally, the Titan seated upon it.

"So," she broke the silence. "Already planning a trip?"

Arris fished for an explanation as to why Mercy was already back in orbit when there was a perfectly good world to 'rule' from below.

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

The throne was angled in such a way that she could look right out the viewport.

Seeing the whole of Coruscant all at once.

Hers.

All of it hers. The first time the realization hit, it made her teeth clatter, her hands shake, and she had accidentally broken one of her training beskads clean in half. No nerves, only excitement, at the amount of power just at her finger tips now. People always pretended... like it was not a big deal, that it was natural, but Mercy knew better.

She had actually been born in a position where she would have inherited a modicum of power. It was different to earn it, to claim it with bloody fingers and broken claws.

"So," she broke the silence. "Already planning a trip?"

Mercy's head tilted and then she turned to take Windrun in.

"Is there a better way to try and get perspective than to see a whole planet stretch out in front of you?" Her eyes drew up and down the cyborg with interest.

"Don't think we have managed to chat since the invasion. How are you?"

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy

The cyborg's eyes followed Mercy's from the view beyond to the glass until their gazes met in the middle. It was quite uncanny, the severe accuracy with which she could track something.

Arris stepped further into the room - the door closed behind her. She considered Star-Arm's first question as rhetorical, even if it wasn't, only considering the second. Her anger in the Force was palpable, but neither of them was quite the type for such perceptions. Perhaps it seemed as if the room grew a little colder, easily chalked up to a malfunction with the air control.

"I've been better," ain't that the truth, "are we stopping here?" Her voice was calm.

Coruscant may have fallen into the Covenant's hands, but it remained entirely unclear what happened next.

Hands on her hips. She waited to find out why Mercy had called for her.

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

Mercy had no idea Arris was pissed off.

On a good day she hardly knew what was going on with the people around them. More often than not they weren't... real to her, only when she was fighting them or speaking directly to them, was she reminded that they existed.

But even if she had known, it may not have changed much.

"I've been better," ain't that the truth, "are we stopping here?" Her voice was calm.

"There is no stopping it, not anymore..."

There was hunger in her eyes.

The hunger of a woman who had believed herself invincible and unstoppable... and the world had just confirmed it to her, in the grandest way possible.

"But what's wrong, darling?" Mercy purred softly. "We won, they broke, their Empire in tatters." Leaning in there, elbows on her knees. "Tell your friend, your best friend, what she can do to paint a smile on your face."

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy

Arris recognized that hunger in Mercy's eyes... It was in her behavior, her tone, every knee-jerk little twitch. Honestly? In hindsight, it felt rhetorical to even ask. Of course it wouldn't stop at Coruscant.

Her thoughts stopped, however, when the self-made Empress called out to her. Mercy may have changed, but you wouldn't know it from her sweet talk.

"What's wrong?" Arris pretended to mull it over.

In truth, she was bitter, and she was angry. More than that, her actions on Coruscant had broken her. There was a disease that twisted up inside of her. One without any cure... Insidious in nature, it sought to consume Windrun in her despair, and she was powerless to stop it.

"Well," she continued, "while you've been getting perspective, I've been following up on ISB, putting out fires. I've even brought in some outside help because apparently we have a fucking mole problem... Oh, did you know about that? The fucking Empire did, before us."

She felt so... Out of place. Having this conversation. She was supposed to be in pit fights not... Chaos be damned - was Arris Windrun running a fucking empire?!

A wave of anger spilled forth from the mere thought, palpable it was, not unlike that time at the Red Ronin.

"Yeah, I dunno, Merce. You tell me. How're you gonna put a smile on my face?" She scowled.

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

Mercy was a straightforward person for the most part. If you told her something, she believed you. Not because she was naive but because she had no desire to do additional emotional labour for other people's feelings.

Either say what you mean or stay quiet entirely.

"A mole problem..." Mercy murmured there, thoughtful as she leaned back in her throne and watched Arris. "There are always rats, Windrun, cowardly and pathetic creatures who need to work from the shadows. Envious of power, but too weak to grasp it themselves. Why would it surprise you that they infiltrated our ranks too?"

Those amber orbs saw more than the mountain ever let on.

Raised up with the Echani, she could read posture like others read books. So even if she couldn't sense it in the Force, Mercy could read the fury coming off of Arris in waves anyway.

"That's a good question... How do I reward a creature such as yourself?" She was thoughtful there for a moment.

Just as theatrical as Arris mulling something over she already knew the answer to.

"Empress Teta is a right mess, you know." She murmured finally. "More than any other world in the Core it swallowed the Imperial propaganda hook, line and slinger..."

See, Mercy thought she knew people. Oh, Arris would get even more pissed off at being given another thing to do.

But Mercy knew almost certainly that if she gave her a title the same way she had Meliant , it would come to blows between them again.

And it was unclear to her if she'd be able to get her to stop a second time.

"I have decided that you need another title, darling. A title worthy of Empress Teta."

She stretched there, eyes warmly on Arris.

"Welcome to nobility, Princess Arris of Empress Teta."

 

[Arris Windrun]

That was Mercy's response to their spy problem? That?!

Arris was stumped. Truly. Sure, she kinda understood the Titan's point, but, really?! On Talus, where she grew up, everyone was a rat, but... You belonged to your pack. If you showed up in another nest and started pretending, you got found out real fast, and made an example of.

Still - she took that answer as Mercy's way of saying 'fuck if I know, figure it out if you care.' Not a challenge or a dare, just a dismissal that it was ever her problem to begin with.

Besides, it seemed Mercy was far more interested in teasing Arris in other ways. At first, the mention of Empress Teta sounded like a chore. Something that needed to be done, same as Tapani or their invasion of the Core. But as soon as Mercy mentioned bestowing titles, the Talusian found herself confused once again.

"Welcome to nobility, Princess Arris of Empress Teta."

Arris literally brought a hand to her head as if nursing a concussion.

"Pr-Pr..." She burst out laughing like a maniac, nearly screeching, actually, and it lasted uncomfortably long.

Her eyes shot back at Mercy with a piercing glare. One cybernetic arm stretched out towards the viewport, and through the Force she found the emergency ejection latches for the glass.

"Sick joke," she spat. "How about I space us both right here? Wouldn't that be funny?" She grinned something sick.

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

Her eyes slowly scrolled horizontally by the length of the arm and then the viewport.

Mercy didn't respond immediately and instead hummed softly to herself, again thoughtful, then shrugged and looked back to Arris again.

"This would be a good day to die as any." She pulled her pipe out and gestured towards Arris.

"You mind if I have one last smoke before you get this out of your system?"

Mercy wasn't sure if she could survive this. It was possible. She had heard tales of Jorus Merrill surviving the deep vacuum of space and even jumping through hyperspace in nothing more than a regular space suit.

She was no Jorus, but she could probably maintain her physical integrity in space for a while.

The real issue would be burning up in the atmosphere or surviving an orbital drop with no preparation.

"It wasn't a joke though." she began to stuff her pipe unless Arris objected.

"You seem angry with me. I don't know why, since we met you have gone nothing but up. But it is your right to feel whatever you feel." She paused and their eyes met.

"Then again I only ever give you the work I know you can handle. With fitting rewards attached. Triumvir, a royal title now. Tell me, darling, where exactly did I do you wrong?"

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy

Of course... Mercy didn't flinch.

That was Windrun's error, and - were it a hat - she would've eaten it.

Arris threw down her arm in frustration, causing a few of them to pop just for thrills. Enough to crack the glass with an audible hiss of depressurization before the shutters slammed down. At the very least, she'd rob Mercy of that view.

"You know - how it all went down?" She looked to where the view of Coruscant was, then back to Mercy. "How am I to fathom that I am responsible for so much death?"

She didn't mean the invasion itself, of course, but her little ruse. Using the Empire's own contingency as a distraction? That was deeply fucked up. Surely, even someone like Mercy had to see that. Maybe she didn't care. Maybe her feelings wouldn't get all wrapped up in it as Arris had. But, she had to see it, right?

So, anyway, Arris pretended that her guilty conscience wasn't the problem. It was easier to fall back on and blame something believable.

"Doesn't feel like I've earned that, y'know? I haven't had a good fucking fight since Genarius, and even then we had to book it."

She was pissed enough to internalize and believe her own lie. "That Dark Side Elite I fought on Chandrila? She was pathetic. I had to help her hold her own lightsaber just to fight me, Merce. You could've just sent me to Coruscant, and the result would've been the same."

Arrogance tasted better than piss. Arris clenched her right hand so tightly that a piston snapped.

"Honestly?" Laughed again. "You've spoiled me too much already. Ever since Ruusan, I haven't found a satisfying fight."

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

Arris threw down her arm in frustration, causing a few of them to pop just for thrills. Enough to crack the glass with an audible hiss of depressurization before the shutters slammed down. At the very least, she'd rob Mercy of that view.

And that did get an annoyed sound out of her.

"You know how long it takes to get those replaced?" She paused. "No, seriously, do you? I have no idea."

She was happy to see the Graspborn hadn't moved a muscle from the doorstep. It was bad enough they had insisted on foisting themselves around her neck as an 'honor guard'. It would be even more disgusting if they started to pretend like she needed them in any real capacity. That might have actually pissed her off.

"How am I to fathom that I am responsible for so much death?"

She turned that question around in her head. Arris would see it in her eyes, the way she was mulling it, instead of just disregarding it with a casual Mercy glib response.

What could Mercy tell her that would help her in that moment?

"I might be the worst person to ask this, Windrun..." Finally said as she lit up the pipe. Honesty might do here. "I don't imagine mothers and daughters and sisters and children and souls behind each death. I just see numbers and I make the conclusion that every death on your hands is one less follower of our Covenant dying by their guns."

She drew from the pipe, making a pleased grunt as it kicked in.

"They'd die either way, darling, this way we conquered the Core with substantially fewer losses than anyone expected. Bravo to us."

Her tone was sardonic by the end and they both knew why. Mercy had disliked the stratagem, had pushed back hard against it. Claiming that since this was a War, it was her sphere of influence and neither Vestra Tane nor Arris Windrun should be butting into her domain. But they had made the strong argument that Intelligence, Counter-Intelligence and Spycraft were not her domain.

And this stratagem rested solely there, so she was not allowed to have a veto.

She had grumbled, she had broken a table, but in the end Mercy relented. What was the point of splitting your power between three, if you disregarded them at every turn?

But to now have it come back to her in this way was nothing if not ironic.

"Honestly?" Laughed again. "You've spoiled me too much already. Ever since Ruusan, I haven't found a satisfying fight."

"Teta will be a fight you might enjoy then. Break their noble families. Erase their worship of the Imperial creed. Consider it a test run before Humbarine. Indeed, I haven't forgotten that thorn in our side. That Bao schutta might be gone, but her dogs are eager to prove themselves. Show me what the Princess of Empress Teta can do, darling, sink into it. Really bare your teeth... no limits, no leash, do as you please with them."

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy

The way she responded to Windrun's moral doubts was... understandably in-character, first of all, but deeply disappointing nonetheless. And second of all, it may've had the opposite effect from what Mercy expected. All it did was internalize what Arris already felt. Gone were the times that these two 'buddies' were playing games in the mud with the rest of the players. Now they brought the games to the rest, the ones who never wanted to play.

This was no longer about having fun, even if Mercy found fun in the reward. This was terror pure and simple, and if they - The Covenant - were 'us' then the whole galaxy was 'them.' It defeated the scale at which Arris could view everything through the lens of gangland. A street rat's logic, rationale, and worldview no longer prospected a future worth living in.

But live she would - because Arris Windrun was...

Unkillable, Kirie thought to herself. It was the only explanation.

When the conversation turned back to Empress Teta, Arris shuffled in place as if brought to attention. Bullshit if Mercy believed Arris cared about the 'challenges' of an entire world. She was still, in her heart of hearts, a scrapper who felt most alive at the edge of her fists. Mercy of all people knew this, but...

"Okay. I'll do it."

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

She breathed out the smoke and watched it curl in the air.

A whiff of it might reach Windrun.

If it did, she might feel... a temporary weakening in her connection to the Dark Side and the Force.

"If there is anyone I can count on in this place, it is you, Windrun." Mercy said approvingly as she glanced back to the viewport. Now closed off to her, Coruscant no longer witnessed. It made her feel better, in truth, because that infernal circle should have been a sign of her victory. Instead... it was a sign of things changing.

Not necessarily for the better.

Eyes resting back to the 'honor guard' at the door.

Then to Arris.

"Anything you want to discuss still? Now is the time. You have my undivided attention in a way we haven't had time for since the Red Hand."

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy

"You know Tilon counted on me too," she offered innocuously.

"Anything you want to discuss still? Now is the time. You have my undivided attention in a way we haven't had time for since the Red Hand."

Yes, was the answer. But Arris actually sat there and considered. Not whether it was worth it, but whether she wanted to do this here and now.

Ah, fuck it.

"I didn't like that you interrupted Vestra and me." She said. "I didn't like it that you interrupted us, either."

"When you come back, your shit is in check or we will go for the Core without you."

"I didn't like how you fucking threatened me about it, neither."

Then, she paused, if only to brood a little with eyes cast down to the floor again. When they rose again, there was a cold rage in them.

"And I don't like that you're sending me off to play Princess when you should be asking me if I want to punch your damn face in."

Metal fingers curled and scratched against the inside.

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

"You know Tilon counted on me too," she offered innocuously.

Mercy smiled, teeth sharp, predatory, leaning in just a touch.

"No, darling, Tilon trusted you to be good." She purred softly. "I on the other hand, have no illusions what any of us are." In that sentence was no declaration that Mercy didn't trust her. That would be silly. The Sith Lord did trust Arris. She trusted her to be a self-serving, little whiny cry-baby that needed to be dragged into the fire at every opportunity.

Because if she was left to her own devices she'd either shoot herself in the head or revert back to gangland, because instead of ambition she possessed a self-defeatism that rivaled some other emotional Sith she knew.

This wasn't a charitable interpretation. But realizing that Arris was mad at her didn't leave her in a charitable mood. It hadn't been the plan to make her a Princess after all.

She would have been Lord of Teta, if not for how petty Mercy could be, when she felt wronged.

"I didn't like that you interrupted Vestra and me." She said. "I didn't like it that you interrupted us, either."
"I didn't like how you fucking threatened me about it, neither."
"And I don't like that you're sending me off to play Princess when you should be asking me if I want to punch your damn face in."

She stretched before standing up. Slow, indolent, like a predator preparing for the moment.

"Tough." The Sith Lord finally said as she stepped down the Throne and one of the stairs. Her weight causing the steel under her feet to groan by impression. "Your inability to get your shit together was getting in the way of our plans. You keep telling me I can't go half-cocked and do shit the way I wanna do them, fine. That's the consequence of sharing power. But I am not gonna let you tear through Vestra, just because you didn't like how fucking cheery she was. Anything else... Princess?"

So Mercy was petty.

That's because it wasn't fine.

She hated them for it, even as she adored them for other reasons.

Love and hate were close to one another. It was why in one hand Mercy could carry the desire to tear Windrun's head off and root around her circuitboard with her fingers. While in the other hand, Mercy wanted to pat her head and tell her everything would be okay. That committing mass genocide wasn't the worst thing they would do in this new game they played.

Vestra Tane

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy

Arris hesitated when Mercy redefined her betrayal of Tilon.

"You've got this," he said, unsure if she could hear him.

All she could remember was the faith he placed in her. How he helped guide her, answered every question. There was no reason for it - her betrayal. Why would she take someone's willingness to lift others and turn it into murder?

The cyborg barely kept her chin up as Mercy continued to talk down.

"Anything else... Princess?"

Her eyes rose again. One clenched metal hand didn't feel tight enough anymore.

When she looked at Neriah now, she realized something. That all of this was disgusting. That they - She, Mercy, Vestra. All of them. The whole fucking Covenant needed to be put down.

And since her ugly moment with Neriah, the cyborg had allowed herself the intolerable suffering of human feeling.

Arris drew her pistol and was ready to point it at Mercy, but then something inside stopped her.

Arris looked down at the weapon in her hand and felt disgusted again, but who did she feel bad for? Was it the broken girl on the duracrete before her, or was it the one whose shell she was trapped within?

'Don't pretend like you're not one of them, Arris. This is your party.'

Arris Windrun, human cyborg. Stitched together by wire, spit, and trauma. That's who she was.

She twirled the weapon in her hand and threw it back into the holster.

"Okay." Ace said. "You're broken. Everyone is, in some kind of way." His mouth twitched, humorless. "So what, misery loves company? 'Cause everyone else here's screwed up in their own special way too?"

"No," she answered calmly. "Nothing else."

Then, she turned and left.

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

She watched Arris walk away.

A scowl on her face.

She had been eager. The blood starting to grow hot at the idea of a pitched battle. Maybe it would all end in blood after all, she'd be able to leave the throne behind and start anew. Either on the Field of Blades or elsewhere. Instead the cyborg reconsidered. By the time she had left the throne room, she'd hear a crashing sound and a shattering of duracrete.

Mercy having thrown something or broken something in her anger.

Half an hour later, Arris would receive a text.

Anyway, you wanna go for a drink and get shit-faced together? I heard of a good bar down on Coruscant, was meaning to try it out.

As if nothing had happened at all.