Retreat in the Nebula (Valeria Ilara)

[Yasha Cadera]

The Nihil Retreat.

Last time I was here, Lucien Cordel had just decided not to kill me for being an ex of his wife, Jared was sharing his penthouse with a very nervous and jumpy me and Kitt was feeling nauseous about the choppy flight. Heck, last time I was here we found a fragment of the Taurannik Codex and my piloting skills kept us all alive.

Thank goodness I have a droid for that now, I'm pretty sure my piloting skills were some of the reason we nearly died in the first place. For months now I've been meditating in my sphere and seeing image upon image of the Nihil Retreat and it's time to start figuring out the pieces.

My abilities might need a boost for the rest of the pictures in my mind to clear and to do that there's something I need from the Retreat. Today I've brought [member="Valeria Ilara"] along on my ship the Sumatiyara. I hear the woman has a talent for the forge and other such useful things, and more then that she's a new face in my beloved Fringe. Nothing says 'get to know you' like bringing someone along on a wild and crazy adventure.

Here I am sitting on the Bridge, my faithful droid Bucket checking its favourite scattergun. "What kind of resistance you think we'll get, Councillor?" Bucket asks.

I shrug. "Dunno. What do you think, Valeria? Ever been to the Retreat?"

 

[Valeria Ilara]

"Not even once," commented the would-be conqueror. She honestly hadn't even heard of the place before. Intergalactic adventures aside, this place was fairly out of the way for her. Such things did happen; she'd seen the bright lights of Nar Shaddaa and the wondrous oceans of Mon Calamari, to the starships of Corellia and the shipyards- excuse me, former shipyards- of Druckenwell. But to be this far out in the Galaxy, well, she didn't have much expertise there. Once she'd done something with a thing and led a Fringe army on the back of a dragon, but that was a long time ago.

She reclined in her seat, unused to the travails of hyperspace without her beloved dragon. Mer'ax'ys was sitting this one out, back at home, very far away. Anxiety bubbled through the dragon knight, missing her bonded partner; they couldn't be apart for too long otherwise things would go terribly downhill for everyone. She fully expected a rampage by the time she got home.

"So what is it we expect to find? Resistance, enemies - or is this just a blue milk run?"

The question needed to be asked. Under her seat was her trusty lightsaber pike, a weapon designed to pierce the hearts of enemies atop the back of a dragon. However, even on foot, she was still a lethal weapon.

[member="Anders Sivas"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

"Well this is gonna be fun." I am going to get her killed. Us killed? Gee, how morbid. I don't know much about dragons other than my time with Faenrovon the Council Dragon now Vault Master for the wealth of the Lords of the Fringe. I do know much about jitters and bonded hearts missing their other pieces. I don't know [member="Valeria Ilara"] well enough to pass more than a casual sensation of her emotional net. I let Bucket continue checking its' guns and order my Echani Mimic Battle Units Tyr and Tus around in the background. Between the three droids, Valeria and I should be able to grab the supplies that we need from the Retreat.

"Have you heard of the Rhandites?" I put my boots on the console and glance over at Valeria from my dirty blond hair scattered over my face. "The Sorcerers of Rhand are a group of powerful leaders who command the Nihil Retreat. They use mind control to keep their minions in line and they are incredibly dangerous. Light, Dark, the sides of the Force are meaningless to them, they worship a more primordial force.

The force of Destruction. Nihil Smokestone is our objective. The Sorcerers use Smokestone as a way of enhancing their mental connection and domination of their subjugated Rhandite servants. I'm a Mentalist and I want smokestone. There's not much of it available and it's a rare find. We can believe the Rhandites will defend their mine. We need to get in, grab enough smokestone for the cargo containers carried by my droids Pax and Giblet and get back to the Sumatiyara before we get overwhelmed.

Course I'm hoping none of the main sorcerers will be there. If it's just mind-controlled mooks we're golden. Let's hope for a blue milk run and prep for a danger zone."

As I talk, Bingo the pilot droid touches down on the moon in question, I toss my boots off the console and shove a pistol into my thigh holster. "S'go."

 

[Valeria Ilara]

The tale regaled to her, having never heard of Rhand or its sorcerers, was interesting to Valeria. Keeping people mind-enslaved had certainly crossed her mind as carving her first dominion and beyond, strongly contemplating the way in which she would make herself known to all things and keep them in line. After all, the truism of 'first, a person, then a community' and so on, was such a standard Sith line that she couldn't help not doing it.

It seemed that this little empath had something in mind for their catalyst. Valeria wasn't complaining. She would be glad to help out in any way, shape or form. Nobody messed with she who would sit astride the Galaxy and reshape it in her image.

Rising from her seat, Val conjured her saber-pike to her hand, whirled it behind her, and followed along behind Anders. Every step was a plated clank of battle-hardened flight suit, an armoured flight suit that when coupled with her Force powers could allow her to breathe indefinitely in space. It was the secret to righting mighty Mer'ax'ys, and that was enough for Valeria. Now, however, she was more a force to be reckoned with that she was on the ground, able to impale her enemies and see the terror in her eyes as she tore them to pieces.

The ebon-haired Sith looked back to her compatriot, clearly curious. "I'd like to know. What do you plan to do this smokestone?" she asked. Obviously, Valeria didn't need such a trinket. However, she was interested to hear how it could be moulded and shaped-- inevitably how she would be doing it.

 

[Yasha Cadera]

Hopping down from the Sumatiyara, I am immediately surrounded by Bucket in front and the EMBU's Tyr and Tus. Tyr has in its sheath the Sith Alchemized blade Viper. It sings of the Dark Side, its emerald and ruby inlaid handle slides beside mechanical fingers that were as eager as an electronically created mind could be to slice and dice what threats come to our way. What can I say? Tus lost the Thumb War.

The surface of this desolate world reminds me of the dangers of any who follow shadows into the Perenn Nebula. "I'm a Mentalist and Empathic Healer by trade. Gonna craft the Smokestone into a Necklace to enhance my mental acuities and keep focussed. Hoping to pair the Smokestone with Force-Imbued crystals and even the playing field. It's a practice run for a present I'm making for my boyfriend. I'm a sculptor and artist, not an Alchemist."

As we walk, I feel the crunch of slate rock slabs under foot. They crack under my and the droids' boots, thin slices crinkling in a line from the ship. The sound is beginning to put me on edge. It reverberates across the canyon, what other sounds can it be masking? I begin to reach out and feel for personae and the puppet masters who make them sing. "I've got an idea. . . and I don't like it. This slate? Look around. It doesn't match the mountains. They look like granite. . . So why fill an area with crunchy rock?"

A shadow flickering across the sun pulls me out of the reverie and into the prevailing sense of impending danger. "Oh wonderful, I love when questions are answered."

[member="Valeria Ilara"]

 

[Valeria Ilara]

[member="Anders Sivas"]

"I hope you realise that I'm not a true alchemist myself," Val said with more than a little emphasis. "I'm a weaponsmith. I mean, I can try, but I can't exactly guarantee success on this one." Better not to lie on this one - if she couldn't pull it off, then she couldn't pull it off. No big deal. She'd try her absolute best to make this a thing no matter how it went down. If Anders wanted a necklace, well, Val could probably make a necklace and imbue it with a rock. Maybe it wouldn't be too hard to pore over and draw out.

As they moved, Val was keeping a close hand on her weapon, then realised - this wasn't right. She realised it probably around the same time that Anders said something, flicking her saber-pike to life in doing so - the brilliant violet blade cast its glow over the area, already ready to go to war. No point holding it back.

"This question better retract itself before it ends up with a hole through the heart," promised the dragon queen. "I'm hungry."

The dragon spoke a little there - not a surprise. She was a vicious wench, this one.