Reunion of Old Enemies [Vaulkhar]

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

The Battle of Balmorra was a vivid memory from Avedia's seminal life. The battle waged between the armies of the Republic and One Sith had produced a duel to the death within the droid foundries, as both sides waged for control of the factories capable of producing a legion of battle droids. She remembered watching the Jedi Grandmaster, Corvus Raaf, disappear over the ledge of the railing under the machinations of Darth Vornskr. That had been the first time she had given into temptation. And it had cost another man his arm, when Avedia's hate had boiled itself to the surface.

"Look after the ship," Avedia said to Arsix. A soft bleep emitted from the astromech in response. Nodding, Avedia departed the Initium and stepped out into the Mos Eisley spaceport. She was here for Vaulkhar, the man she had cut down on Balmorra. The same man who had tried to save her in the Black Pyramid on Coruscant a couple of years ago. Back then, she had been the Jedi Knight known as Ella Nova. She was a different woman now.

Entering the cantina, Avedia propped herself at the bar and ordered a Gizer Ale from the bartender. It's candy, yet alcoholic taste would do well to keep her occupied until Vaulkhar revealed himself to her.

 

[Vaulkhar]

Vaulkhar remained silent within his meditation as his ship flew through the atmosphere of Tattooine, in the direction of the Mos Eisley spaceport. His eyes remained closed and his breathing steady as he went through his various breathing exercises and basic meditation routine for the morning. His ship was currently being piloted by his own astromech, allowing for Vaulkhar to go about his routine in relative peace. Eventually the sound of other ships could be heard by the blind man as his own vessel began to land within the port. Standing up, he moved towards the ramp beginning to drop to allow his departure from his vessel.

A series of loud beeping and whirring became audible as his astromech rolled over towards him, beeping furiously. Vaulkhar turned his head downward to look at the little droid and grinned slightly, not surprised whatsoever. It became somewhat of a ritual between him and his droid. The little astromech always showed concern for his departing master, whom always told it not to worry. It was growing on Vaulkhar.

"I'll be fine, TL. Just keep the ship ready for departure if necessary. I'm apparently meeting an old friend, if that's what you could call her. I'll be back soon."

Before stepping onto the ramp, Vaulkhar pressed the panel activating the ramp. It began to ascend back into his ship as he simply dropped down into the sandy, dry atmosphere. He frowned. Then sighed. And then frowned again. The last time he was on Mos Eisley he nearly killed a Jedi Knight in order to protect some random bounty who ended up latching onto him like a lost puppy. Odd times for him.

Shaking his head from the revere, Vaulkhar focused on the force and pulled it about himself, concealing himself from the vision of the force before activating his stealth unit built within his armor, beneath his robes. This way he would go unseen to those looking for him through the force or tracking software. It wasn't something he was necessarily worried about, but if she who summoned him here desired to trap him or do something more heinous, he'd prefer to be as safe as possible. He turned down an alley and moved towards the most popular Cantina within the city. That being the Mos Eisley Cantina of course. He stepped in and moved towards the bar. Immediately his gaze caught that of Avedia whom was sitting at the bar. He moved towards her and sat down beside her, raising a hand towards the barkeep.

"Tea, please. Something bitter."

The bartender nodded and sauntered off, returning a moment later with his tea. Vaulkhar smiled, nodding his head and handing him the appropriate credits before lowering his hood. He turned to his side, looking at the Sith Lady who summoned him. His lips curved into a half smile.

"I must admit, I was surprised that you summoned me. How can I help you today, Ella?"

His blind gaze peered out from behind his tattered, brown blindfold.

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

Lifting her gaze to Vaulkhar, Avedia held the glass of Gizer Ale in between both of her hands. She lifted the basin to her crimson lips, sipped a little and allowed the concoction of candy and alcohol whirl along her tongue, before swallowing. As the fiery aftereffects of the drink threatened to make her cough, she somehow stopped herself and instead lowered the glass back onto the bar. Propping her elbow onto the side, she lowered my chin down onto her palm and leaned her head on her hand as she observed the man who sat before her.

He was different. The last time she had seen Vaulkhar, it had been in the prison cells of the Black Pyramid. By that time, he had already lost his limb following their duel on Balmorra, but he hadn't been blind. In her seminal life, she might have felt compassion for the man and his losses. She had felt incredibly bad after cutting off his arm with her Lightsaber, and had vowed to help Vaulkhar as much as she could, as a form of compensation for his injury. She would have felt compelled to ask how he had lost his eyesight, and would have offered help, if he needed it.

Instead of doing all of these things, the Sith Lord ignored the mans misfortune. She did not care that he was blind, or that she had taken his arm once. But he didn't have to know that. "I have left the Jedi. You were right. You can help me by fulfilling my full potential, Vaulkhar. There are some people that I need to kill, and I want you to help me do it."

 

[Vaulkhar]

"Extracurricular killing, outside of my own work. My master would love that."

Vaulkhar couldn't help but chuckle as he took a sip of his tea. Taking a moment to simply enjoy the bitter taste as it slid down his throat and beyond. Living in the moment had become somewhat of his specialty. Every activity had taken on something more than just menial needs, as many would call them. With a sniff of his tea and a nod to himself, he returned his empty gaze to that of Avedia. She was different, he could tell just by the energies that surrounded her. The warmth of the light side has left her being and now she was surrounded by the cold embrace that was the dark side.

"A pity, really. The warmth that once surrounded you nearly changed my life, Ella. For sometime I worked beside the Silver Sanctum Coalition in order to make amends and right my wrongs. Real pity."

Dropping the force cloak, his energy became more apparent. Like hers, it was of the dark side. He also deactivated his cloaking device set into his armor, deciding to relax rather than sit on edge, worried for his life.

"I suppose I can help you, it wouldn't necessarily bother me in the slightest. Though I must ask, who do you want to kill, dear Ella?"

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

Avedia decided to ignore the recall to the light side. She had been naive. Unfocused. Driven by a belief in a system that had never worked. She had paid the costs for that, and the evidence was scarred into her flesh. Averting her attention away from what Vornskr had done to her, Avedia listened to Vaulkhar's question. Wetting her lips with her tongue, she replied: "Two women and a man have something that belongs to me. And I will have to kill them, because they won't give up what they took without a fight. I will begin with the man. He is a Mandalorian Warlord by the name of Draco Vereen."

 

[Vaulkhar]

"That's good to here, for a moment I was worried your male target might of been my Master or father. That would not of ended well for either of us."

Vaulkhar's experience with Mandalorians have never been too worrisome. They were skilled warriors and he respected their people for that and with the growing power and control of the galaxy, it was becoming increasingly more clear the Mandalorians are more than just dangerous; they are worrisome. Whether or not they succeeded in killing the Warlord, there was potential here. Which was something Vaulkhar was willing to work with.

"I'm in, but if I'm going to help you, I want something in return."

The goofy half-smile returned to the young man's face and for a moment, there was innocence.

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

So now it was a negotiation. The terms had been set, interest had been garnered and now it was time to reach a settlement. Avedia had never attended the meetings that her Master had oversaw, during their dealings with the various corporations and businessmen they had met with, so negotiating a deal was something new to her. She supposed that the training she had received during her youth, where she had been taught to pursue all other avenues, in order to avoid using violence, gave her something in this scenario. Hadn't she tried to reason with reason with criminals in the past, through the use of Form Zero?

"I'll give you something to work for," Avedia said softly. Raising her body to sit upright in her chair, the Sith eyed Vaulkhar with her upper lip curled. She detested anything that had a semblance to her past, but Vaulkhar wasn't the type of man to respond to the use of violence, and so in her own twisted way, the Sith continued the negotiation without using violence to her advantage. "Would you like a purpose, Vaulkhar?"

 

[Vaulkhar]

"I've never been one for negotiations, you know that." Vaulkhar smiled once more, seeming to be enjoying himself. "I was a member of the One Sith after all. Our negotiations were just take planets and slaughter. But I do know one thing." He took a moment to sip his tea, once more enjoying the bitterness that was both the tea and the current interaction between the once-Jedi and himself. "Usually you do not want to show open dismay towards the person you are negotiating with."

"There is nothing you can offer me that I'd desire, Ella. I will work with you. Ignore my earlier statement, I'm not sure you have what it is I require anymore. Where do we begin?"

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

Avedia thinned her eyes. Is he playing with me? was her first thought. But after a moment, she came to realize that this man didn't know what he wanted. Was I the catalyst to this? After all, in her seminal life, she had worked hard to turn Vaulkhar away from the One Sith. It seemed that she had had an affect, because Vaulkar would later work with the Silver Jedi out on Voss. But now, here he was on Tatooine, seemingly no longer aligned with neither the Sith or Jedi. Reaching out into the Force, Avedia felt conflict residing in the man.

"We begin with the Knights of Ren."

 

[Vaulkhar]

Vaulkhar simply nodded.

"I've heard of this group, apparently growing in power. I've never bothered reaching out to them but if that's where we begin, I shall follow you."

He raised the tea to his lips once more and finished it off. Setting the tea down with a slight sigh, he pushed out the stool and stood up. His attention was turned back to the woman beside him, where he took a moment to study her within the force. She was cold and as far as he could see, lacking any semblance of her past life. It was somewhat depressing to him, as she was the one who made him question his place within the galaxy as a simple warrior.

"Once again, I will follow you to the edge of the galaxy if need be, Ella. Helping you in your quest will answer the questions I've found myself answering as of lately."

The smile once more crept to his face.

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

Lifting her chin up from her hand, Avedia pushed herself up from her stool and stood up. She grabbed the glass of Gizer Ale and quickly drained it. Perhaps a little too fast. Lifting a fist to her eyes, she dried the water that had risen in response to the fire that burned her throat. She cleared her throat, then looked up to the man. "Your loyalty is appreciated. It will be rewarded."

 

[Vaulkhar]

"Oh, that's what I want."

Vaulkhar turned towards the Cantina exit and began walking towards it. Looking over his shoulder, the smile was somewhat amplified by the light upon his face.

"All I desire is the ability to refer to you as Ella. Give me that and I shall serve."

Not waiting for an answer, he strode towards the exit of the Cantina. The events that had transpired today were surprising. He had not expected the woman to of fallen to the Dark Side, but considering what probably happened to her at the hands of the One Sith, he could not say he was surprised. He tried to save her, he failed, and he fled. It seems to be a miserable series of events that consistently transpired in his life. Try, fail, start over. And here he was now, aiding her in the hopes of trying to turn her back to a path of the light, so she would not have to live within the cold embrace of the dark side as he did. At the exit he turned back towards her, leaning next to the frame of the large opening, arms crossed over his chest.

"Would you like to take my ship to wherever it is we're headed? Or would you prefer to send me coordinates and I can meet you there?"

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

It didn't matter what Vaulkhar called her. Avedia Lacroix was just another name to her as well, to conceal her true identity until it was time to reveal herself to the Jedi. She followed Vaulkhar, offering no protest to him using her seminal name. "We'll be flying to my ship. Just follow my transport, when we take off."

Exiting the cantina, Avedia made her way back up the spaceport, to where she had parked the Initium. Climbing aboard, she ignored the greeting of Arsix and lowered herself into the cockpit, sitting down. She opened up a transmission with Vaulkhar, so that he had something to follow. Then she retracted the landing ramp and shut the shuttle bay doors, taking off.

She cleared customs, and was back within space. In a low orbit of Tatooine rested the Ayrix, which had taken her to the Sistooine system in the first place. Opening up a transmission with her ship, she allowed herself to be guided into it's hangar bay via it's tractor beams.

 

[Vaulkhar]

Vaulkhar nodded to her as they departed one another's company. As she went her own way to a separate hangar, he went to his own. Stepping into the hangar, he handed off a small box of credits to a man, garbed in brown robes and a head guard. The greasy hand took it and grinned, the foul breath of the black market member whom Vaulkhar purchased this hangar from causing his lips to curl in disgust. Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, he stepped into the ship, being greeted by his astromech and protocol droids. Motioning towards the control panel, he sat down and the astromech connected to the panel.

"Keep your attention on that of the transmission, TL. We're following our mystery girl to her ship." He turned his attention to the protocol droid. "Kayle, send a message to Lord Ferus, let him know we're following up on our contact. Find the location and send details on the ship and coordinates of it to his ship."

"Yes my lord."

The protocol droid began it's work as the astromech piloted the vessel after that of Ella's ship. Bringing up his datapad, Vaulkhar quickly typed up a short message and sent it off.

"The vessel has been identified and coordinates have been sent to Darth Ferus."

"Thank you Kayle, feel free to get back to cleaning." Vaulkhar looked over towards his astromech. "Guide us in to the hangar and like I said earlier, keep the ship ready for departure in case of an emergency." The serious of beeps following his orders resulted in a nod from Vaulkhar as the astromech did as ordered. The ship was safely and easily guided into the hangar of the large ship. Vaulkhar's ship gently set down upon the hangar floor and Vaulkhar departed from the inside of his ship, moving towards Ella's.

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

Landing the Initium inside the Ayrix's hangar bay, Avedia powered down the ships engines and climbed out of the cockpit. She opened the shuttle bay doors, and lowered the landing ramp, before stepping onto it to walk down to the surface. Arsix whirred somewhere just behind her, rolling after his Master. Turning, Avedia watched as Vaulkhar's ship was brought into the Ayrix as well. Her dark robes bellowed in a soft gust as Vaulkhar's ship blew the artificial air through the hangar bay in her direction. She waited for the man to disembark and find her.

 

[Vaulkhar]

As he moved through the hangar Vaulkhar looked about with a perked brow. It was impressive, to say the least. While he couldn't make out the greatest of details through his force sight, he was capable of making out the general make up as well as the design. It was a nice hangar, nicer than most. Then again, just about anything beats a hangar on Tattooine. Shrugging away his silent considerations, he looked around once more before noticing Ella hanging off to the side, waiting for him. Raising a hand in greeting, he moved towards her quickly, not wanting to waste anymore time.

"Apologies, lot to take in. Lead on, Ella."

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

Turning, Avedia lifted the cowl of her robe over her head, concealing her face from the crew that made up the Ayrix. She led Vaulkhar through the ship, until they reached the observation deck, where they could take. By the time they had reached the deck, Tatooine was a small blip off the backdrop of space, as the Ayrix moved to the calculated jump point to the First Order, where they could begin their work. She conversed with Vaulkhar as they walked.

"The Knights of Ren are in service to a man that I have not met. The Supreme Leader does not show himself. In many ways, the Knights serve in the same capacity that the Jedi served the Republic. In other ways, they are the antithesis of what it means to be Jedi. I should know, seeing as I used to be one."

"They are their own Order. As far as I am aware, they follow no real code, unlike our former Orders. Everything they do seems to be done in the name of the Supreme Leader. They are enforcers, bodyguards, assassins, and commanders when it comes to military matters. Their goals remain to be seen."

"But I know that they are interested in learning the ways of the dark side. It seems to be one of their objectives. To study and learn. In the time since we last spoke, I have discovered information leading to the whereabouts of Sith Holocrons. These are what Draco Vereen and the other gatekeepers are guarding from the likes of us. But there is one Holocron that they could not find."

Stepping onto the deck, the hooded woman made her way around to the center of the deck. It was constructed off from the bridge, requiring a member of the crew to climb three flights before arriving on the summit. Darth Ayra had purposefully had it constructed in this way, so that when the Ayrix was making it's way in between star systems and sectors, the Dark Lord would be secluded from her subordinates. She would study the stars with her yellow eyes, meditating on the Force and contemplating the complexity of the Grand Plan. Now, her apprentice stood in the same position, for as Ayra had taught her: you keep what you kill.

Adorned on the walls of the deck was a mannequin, from which hung the robes of Darth Bane. Resting beside the mannequin was a table, where his Lightsaber rested. Beside the ancient weapon was the Apocrypha of the Horde. But Avedia paid no attention to these things, moving to the center of the deck. As she walked past Vaulkhar towards the plinth erected in the center, the Ayrix slipped into hyperspace on course for the First Order. Reaching forward, Avedia pulled the cloth that hung over the glass orb, and resting on top of it was Darth Revan's Sith Holocron.

"This is how I will bring the Knights of Ren on side. It will be in their self-interest to find Vereen and the others, so that they too can take their Holocrons for themselves."

 

[Vaulkhar]

Vaulkhar immediately stepped forward as he looked upon these items. Peering upon them through the force gave him a greater understanding of these items then most. And he was astonished. They were thousands of years old from his understanding, but they were still strong with the force. The energy they gave off he could see in waves, waves that crashed against him in all their splendor. It had been years since he sat down and actually studied into the past. But he greatly remembered the legends of Darth Revan and Darth Bane. Two of the most powerful Sith Lords in history, both of which were legendary for their accomplishments and the tales that followed them.

The smile returned to his face after a moment.

"This is a good plan, I must admit. Offering all of this to the First Order will most certainly get their attention and possibly their loyalty. But how do you know they won't just take these items and slaughter you?" Vaulkhar moved towards Darth Revan's holocron and reached out to it, but through the force. The energy extended towards him slightly, but not enough to do anything. He visibly shivered as the cold embrace of the dark side gripped his body. "Would it be possible for me to study the holocron? Before giving it over, that is."

That same grin was plastered on his face, but his empty gaze showed something for the first time. A general interest in what was before him. A spark of emotion beyond cynicism and sarcasm. It showed excitement and curiosity.

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vaulkhar"] |

Avedia walked over to Vaulkhar, standing opposite him. Lowering her gaze to the Holocron that stood between them, she lifted the glass up with the Force and lowered it to the floor beside him. Lifting her gaze up from the now exposed artifact, she locked eyes with her old enemy now turned ally. "I could let you study from it's contents. Few have ever had the opportunity since Darth Revan constructed it. But why should I let you? You have already pledged to help me with Vereen and the other gatekeepers."

 

[Vaulkhar]

"I mean, there is always my personal favorite reason of; why not?"

Vaulkhar chuckled as he looked away from the artifact that was now upon the floor and instead turned his attention to Ella. He didn't necessarily have a reason beyond his desire to do so. Revan had always interested him, he felt a certain kinship to the man who never realistically knew where he was going in life. It was almost poetic to him, that such a problem has plagued others, even one as powerful as Revan. Lowering himself into a meditiative position beside the holocron, he simply stared Ella in the eyes.

"To be honest with you, Revan is someone I can relate to, weirdly enough. The man was like me. The only path he chose led him down a long life of questions that lacked answers. When he turned, he found another problem. He is someone I can relate to. I just wish to learn more about him and his power. And besides, you already have my loyalty, it's not as if I'll turn on you."

The smile returned to his face as he looked to the holocron. The desire of any Sith to always have a reason bothered him. Always planning ten steps ahead, always analyzing each and every action. It wasn't the type of person he is. Vaulkhar lived in the moment and enjoyed what came to him.

"You already have my loyalty, Ella. And I would gain nothing out of betraying you or killing you. I do not pose a threat."

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]