Private Rebirth

[Darth Strosius]

The question caused Alisteri to raise an eyebrow but he had no hesitation in answering. Better she be curious about that than the extent of her own power for the moment. "It's a potent alchemical mixture, I threw in some bacta and other healing mixtures to try and speed up the regeneration. I made sure the blood was distilled to provide as pure of an Anima as I could. I figured it would help your body adjust to the new Force Sensitivity." Perhaps it had worked a little too well.

He made a mental note to try and replicate the blood pool for later, personal use.

"Alina that's highly impractical, do you know how much blood you would need for a whole suit of armor?" The Knight actually had a decent idea, he had done some calculations for weapons and dismissed them as too costly and risky. Better to went with what worked and add in blood in small dosages. "I mean it's not impossible but still."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina stared blankly at Alisteri for a moment, brow raised.

"You just told me you could make blood hyped up on Anima to encourage healing for those submerged in it. Make a blood with more steel in it instead. Bloodsteel. I- Wait that might be a thing. Ancient Sangnir did a lot with blood back then." She grinned after a moment, tilting her head to the side. "Maybe that should be our next little adventure. Finding the secrets of the Sangnir?"

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Metallurgy and mixing up a bunch of liquids are not the same thing!" He could say that with confidence, he had tried it. The prospect of such a technique being a reality did pique his interest though. Perhaps he had been too quick to dismiss the Sangnir after all. "I suppose if they can prove valuable then there's no reason not to go hunting after them."

He nodded, pausing and turning as he heard a cough from the door way. A cultist stood their, shifting in place awkwardly and holding a bundle of clothes in their hands. With a wave of his hand he pulled the garments to his own hands and dismissed the cultist, turning back to Alina and offering her the clothes.

"We should be arriving shortly. Get dressed and meet me in the hangar, we'll see what you can truly do to this little pirate menace."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"It's always handy to have a goal in mind, no?"

Alina chuckled as she took the clothing, glancing the cultist over curiously. Hungrily. She could feel their own power, even slight, coursing through them. Was this what it was like for Alisteri? For other Sangnir? No wonder the Red Thirst was such a danger. She didn't bother waiting for him to leave to get dressed, slipping on the provided clothing. Equipment. It felt good to have her weaponry back.

And odd. Sensing the nature of her crystals, her blade, was different.

Shouldering the larger sword though, she grinned again as she walked towards her ally. Her friend.

"Shall we begin?"

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

"That it is." Although she didn't wait to begin dressing, Alisteri quickly walked out of the workshop to give her some level of privacy. Not that she minded. He unclipped his mask from his belt and fitted it back onto his face as she dressed, quickly sending an order for a shuttle to be prepared for departure through his helmet's commlink.

He briefly debated whether or not to get some Legionnaires on deck to assist them but decided against it. The pair of them would be more than enough for some little pirate station. Plus he wasn't sure how close he wanted his cultists when she started testing out her powers in full.

The Knight turned back to face Alina as she approached and nodded, the familiar feeling of the frigate leaving hyperspace briefly washing over the ship. "We've arrived. Let's head up to the hangar and get going."

He turned and began his stride towards the nearest elevator, idly cracking his knuckles. "So what power do you think you want to try first?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina walked in time with him towards the elevator. The almost drunk smile hadn't faded. No, it got that much wider now that they were closing in on their prey. "Which power? .. I don't know. I've no idea what I can do yet. Can I bring about lightning? Can I use sorcery? How much can I enhance myself? What level of control do I possess over telekinesis?" She was, at the end of the day, a complete nerd when it came to the Force. All her life she'd wanted to use it. She looked into everything. Every facet, every obscure ability. All of it.

What could she do now? What powers did she have now that she was in control?

"Let's start simple, I suppose. Don't protect me. I want to see what I can feel on my own."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri widely chose to hold off answering any of her excited questions, mostly due to many of them being answered by a simple 'depends' , and instead merely nodded in agreement at the simple start idea. It was odd to see Alina so ecstatic but he had no intent of trying to stop her now. Better to just let her naturally ride out whatever was making her so jumpy. One push of a button after they arrived in the elevator, the doors slid closed and they were on their way to the hangar.

"You know, you say that like you'd allow me protect with or without powers." He responded with a slight chuckle. "No offense Alina but you're far from the damsel in distress type, and I've never seen you in any princess dress." For as long as he had known the other Sith, capable had always been an applicable term. Powers or no powers.

"Besides this is a bunch of pirates we're talking about. They'll be too busy trying to run away to aim their shots properly anyway."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"I rely more on others than you think. Unseen threats have always been my greatest weakness. Now, perhaps, I can test that danger sense or whatever people call it, yeah?" She made absolutely no mention of a dress. Nope. Their first meeting certainly hadn't been when she was forced to dress in quite the gaudy dress during a life day party. No, such thoughts fell to the wayside as she cracked her knuckles and just stared at the door.

She wanted out. She wanted to run, wild and free.

"Don't get too arrogant, though. The right wayward blaster and even we can die."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Danger sense? You mean precognition?" An apt word for it admittedly. "I doubt you'll be able to get the hang of it right off the bat. Sensing people is easy, sensing what's about to cut your head off is a good bit harder. I do have a manuscript or two about it if you'd like, it's one of the things I've been attempting to dip into myself."

The elevator doors opened up to reveal the frigate's small hangar, a shuttle awaiting them with the engines already powered on. Asteroids could be seen drifting from outside the hangar shield as the Altorius passed by them, soon to be within striking distance of their target.

"I know I know, but we've taken a lot of blaster fire in our day." In all likelihood Alisteri himself had probably healed from more blaster wounds than most of his veteran Legionnaires had combined. A perk of their biology, and one that obviously came with confidence. "I don't exactly intent to stress test anything you know. This is just a nice and easy live fire exercise for you."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Yeah, that. It'd be nice to be able to just.. Relax. Constantly having to look around so I don't end up with another hole in my chest like I'm paranoid is.. Parannoying. Get it?" No, she couldn't help herself. To her credit she'd regret it if it wasn't for all the signs of life so close around them. Alisteri's Legionnaires. Cultists. She could smell every one of them in a way she never could before. Life.

She was getting hungrier by the second.

"Stress test is next. .. I'm starving, Ali. Let's feast."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

As tempted as he was to burst Alina's bubble about paranoia, he refrained from speaking and merely nodded in reply. Alisteri himself had always been somewhat paranoid, but becoming a Sith and especially a Sangnir had only magnified his worries and concerns. Not that the advantages and powers that had come with weren't worth it of course.

He cast Alina a glance as he strode towards the shuttle, eager to get underway. "You're starving? Alina you've been literally bathing in Anima for almost two days." He supposed that admittedly bathing and feasting weren't exactly the same thing, but still.

In the end he supposed it was merely another reason to go after the pirates so he couldn't complain too much. "You'll get your fill I'm sure."

As the masked Knight stepped onto the transport, the sounds of the Altorius firing off its weapons could be heard as the frigate approached the station. "Oh, looks like the fun has started then. Let's not miss out shall we?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"I know. But all I can smell is how delicious your cultists are." That was a dangerous statement, not that Alina was thinking that way. All she wanted was to kill. Eat. Feast. In the shuttle she was just waiting, her eyes staring out at the void of space. Waiting. Patiently waiting. No, not so patiently. She paced in front of the door. Especially as the laser fire started to impact the shields of the shuttle. She wanted out. She wanted to fight.

She wanted blood.

"Get us on board already! Still waiting. Still waiting. I don't want to wait! Let me fight!"

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Noted." As much as he wanted to get onto Alina for such a remark, more a threat really, he could hardly fault her. It wasn't a thought that any of the cult's Sangnir hadn't had themselves after all so he couldn't blame her all that much. He did his best not to be a hypocrite after all. "Okay okay, we're launching now, just don't tear open a hole in the ship before we get to the station."

Alisteri quickly had the transport lift off and fly out of the hangar, before anyone could change their mind about it, and out into the asteroid belt that surrounded the station. The station itself appeared to have been a small mining outpost at one point, attached to one of the larger asteroids and with barely any defenses that could return the frigate's barrage. The shuttle sped forward to the hangar of the station as the frigate came to a stop with all of the pirate defenses effectively destroyed. Now they would await their master's return.

"I'm dropping the ramp the moment we're in the shield. We're going in hot." The masked Sith called back as he readied himself for the rough landing. Soon the transport flew into the hangar, one swarming with pirates rushing for cover and starting to fire at the ship already. With the press of a button the shuttle's ramp began to open as Alisteri maneuvered the ship to land in the center of the hangar, the sounds of more pirates rushing to try and stop the boarders filling the hangar.

"Go get 'em girl."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

The moment the door started to creak open, Alina was gone. She ripped through the lowering ramp without a care, enough to get free and descend upon the already panicked pirates. They didn't stand a chance. Raw power, untamed and uncontrolled, ripped them from their feet. Sent them flying in different ways. She pulled some to herself where her fist would break bone and shatter skulls. Some scattered to the walls, breaking through doors and collapsing dead.

Some were simply torn in half where they stood, their torsos ripped from their lower bodies from the sheer strength Alina seemed to have.

And all the while she was laughing. Wildly, uncontrolled. Blood scattered over her body without a care in the world. This was perfect.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

The sound of metal tearing and subsequent carnage from below only brought a sigh from Alisteri as he landed the shuttle and slid out of the pilot seat. He supposed he should have expected that to happen if he was honest. By the time that he stepped out of the shuttle with his lightsaber in hand the hangar was bloody and chaotic. Most all of the pirates that had rushed to stop their boarding were dead or dying with parts and blood littering the floor of the hangar.

The sight made him hungry but he chose to stave off any feasting for now, lest he get in the way of Alina somehow. Better to just let her have her fun. "Well you certainly know how to make an entrance if nothing else." He stepped over a body and gestured to one of the doors leading further into the station, standing a fair distance away from the other Sith.

"Shall we move forward and find the rest of them then?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

She wasn't listening. Not at first. Alina was mid feast. An almost mindless, drunken act of gluttony as her teeth tore chunks out of her prey so she could devour every drop from them. She wasn't even aware of how much she was actually eating. Pools of blood drifted in the air, her unbridled power draining the precious Anima she'd split all over the walls and floors into her skin. It was horrific.

Especially among their kind.

Teetering on the edge of becoming a Feral her golden eyes, reddened with the over indulgence of blood, turned back to her friend. And her grin only grew. "Wait, wait. You should see this."

It was good he had grabbed her clothing. All at once her flesh ripped. It wasn't a slow transformation like the classic stories of werewolves ripping off their own skin. No, in a shower of gore her warform burst free of the human shape she normally was in. It was too large, easily double her original height. Her jaw cracked and shattered as it jutted out into the wolflike form she'd taken. Fashioned after the Ex Empress at that.

A feral grin took over as she stared down to Alisteri.

"Warform." Then she was gone. The scent of those still living filled her nose, filled her attention. Exactly like the wolf she seemed to become she went on the hunt. None would be left alive.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Disturbing would be a bit of an understatement to describe what Alina was doing. He had seen other Sangnir feast, and feasted himself of course, many times over but this was something else. A gut-wrenching spectacle of what was already a distasteful act. Was this how all High Sangnir fed? On the bright side, at least he wasn't feeling hungry anymore.

His gaze swept over the literal floating blood and he could almost taste the Anima in the air as it all seemed to be directed right into the maw of his fellow Sith. And then she looked back at him with a dangerous look in her eyes. He definitely didn't step back in surprise. Or fear. Certainly not.

Alisteri watched in awe, and a healthy bit of horror, as his friend was torn apart from within all at once and some feral beast took her place. His masked gaze reflected the creature's grin as his hand subconsciously tightened around his lightsaber. Then Alina spoke and was gone right after, off to hunt down whatever unlucky souls were still hiding or running around on the station.

Once he was alone an exhale of relief escaped him as he shook off his shock from the whole affair. "Alina..." So that must be her warform that she was so adamant about earlier. Gruesome indeed.

It took a moment for him to unclench his fingers from around the hilt of his weapon and relax ever so slightly, his instincts still yelling at him to find somewhere to run or make a stand despite any sort of possible threat not really being there. Not a threat that he would admit to anyway. After another few moments of hesitation he slowly started making his way to the exit of the hangar, preparing himself for the no doubt horrific scene that the rest of the station would soon become.

"She's not her when she's hungry..."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina, back to normal, sat atop a mound of bodies. Who remained she'd gathered. Slaughtered. Drained one by one in her gluttonous sate. She took a long drink from the most recently slain being. Or, well. The pirate died as what remained of his blood had been drained into her seemingly bottomless maw. She paused only after there was nothing else coming free and just.. Dumped the body to the side. No longer a person. No longer someone worth anything to anyone.

Her reddened gaze settled on Alisteri as a bright, childlike grin took over her features.

"I might've drank them all. Sorry."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

The little hill of corpses brought another moment of pause to Alisteri, his gaze briefly running over the pile as if to count the slaughter before looking back at Alina and nodding. "No worries. I wasn't feeling all that hungry anyway." Not after the little display in the hangar at any rate. He decided to quickly change the subject before she somehow found something else to feed on.

"So how is it Alina? The blessing of the Force? Is it everything that you thought it would be?" He himself did have some concept of the longing for such a thing, it had been a fantasy of his when he was young after all, but not to such a great and previously unattainable extent like Alina had.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"It's intoxicating." She hopped down, got right into Alisteri's personal space without a care for boundaries. Quickly at that. Blink and you'd miss it quick. She was hyped up, just like she'd be if she was back on spice again. Kinda felt like spice? Alina just grinned, looking over her bloodied hands for a moment longer. "But I have no idea. It's like a blind man seeing color for the first time. I can't put it into words. There's so much I didn't even imagine. Read all I like, a description of the color blue will never explain how it actually looks, right?"

She flexed her hands. Her fingers. Every inch of her body felt like it was alive for the first time.

"Where do we go next? Who can I eat next? What should I try next time? Lightning? I've kinda got an idea on how that works from the gauntlet. Ahh, but not burning myself will be a nice change. Or I could test out sorcery. See if I really can do that or not. Ohh imagine my families face if it turned out I co- Oh! I wonder if I can hear the First for once. Ahh she'll be soo pissed."

Darth Strosius