Seats of Power

[Vrak Nashar]

Athiss
[member="Neesa"]

The weight of time was crushing to some.

It pressed and push upon your shoulders, forcing you down and ensuring that you bent knee. To most the passage of time was a nightmare, something to be ignored until it couldn't any longer. Months, years, decades, all of them were to be feared. The older one became the weaker they grew. Power slipped away, desires ebbed, and everything became a little bit more gray.

That was how Humanity viewed age.

Yet they were a futile and broken species. A race that neither deserved longevity nor received it. With the aid of the force they could extend their life, but it was a lie. Most of them fell before they could reach any understanding, their life too brief for them to gain even a modicum of what true power was. In a way Vrak pitied them, yet in so many others he was simply disgusted by their very existence.

Purebloods, his people, had received the gift of life from the force itself. The Darkside pulsed through his veins like blood. It gave him strength, speed, but above all the longevity that so many humans craved. Vrak nearly sixty years old now, old for most humans yet he had barely entered his prime. Some members of the Council had sat upon it for centuries, their lives extending through even the Gulag Plague. The darkside fed them, sustained them and allowed them to survive.

It was this quality, this longevity that had allowed Vrak to rise to where he was now.

There had been no rush to find his place on the Council, it had always been inevitable.

"Are we ready?" He asked the Servant standing at his side, the young Twi'lek Woman glancing towards him with a slight frown on her face.

"Yes, My Lord. Though some may try to stop you on the way to the chambers."

That was predictable. Even after Siedra's death there were many still who thought they could oppose him, though they were wrong of course. "As expected."

The ones who got in his way would be dead, it was that simple.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

Neesa gave the two massassi who blocked her path a withering stare. The slip of a girl looked up at the towering brutes with enough conviction that they moved aside. They knew well enough who she was but had decided to front up for some reason.

She found Vrak with some of his most trusted advisors. One of them looked in her direction with disdain as she approached and have a curt bow. She etched a name into her mind.

"Rathelsa won't be getting in the way," she announced. "My Lord has forty of his best in place near the chambers, but the others will remain neutral." Still, one less obstacle was another step closer. She still though Inthep was a coward who would turn as soon as Vrak made a show of force.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

If Vrak was at all concerned he didn't show it.

"There isn't anyone else left to stand in my way." He told the Assassin quietly as they began to move. The city streets of Xera'Ul were mostly abandoned, left bare by it's people. They knew what was about to happen, what they were about to witness. Many of them were afraid, either of Vrak or the remaining four Councilors. "They can only delay the inevitable."

Still, a delay would be regrettable.

"I will sit upon the Council before days end." Who was going to stop him at this point?

One of the other Councilors could perhaps but why would they? Vrak was the only truly worthy candidate now left. Siedra was dead, and the others were broken images of what a Pureblood should be. The Council knew this as well as he did, as well as anyone did.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

He did like to state things unnecessarily sometimes. Vrak had always been confident in his convictions so she often wondered whether it was to draw those around him along with his conviction by making these books assertions?

Neesa was no leader. She could coerce people into doing what she wanted but it was never through eloquent speeches or a display or leadership. She found a weak spot and she pushed until it gave. She doubted whether the work she did would ever be spoken of within a council chambers on Athiss.

Just as long as there were hushed, fearful whispers in the halls of those who opposed her.

"A few of Siedra's supporters have the crazy notion they won't last long if you get the seat. They'll try to ensure you for before you get there. I have few specifics; it's a hasty plan."

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

Vrak nodded to himself. There were undoubtedly hundreds of Siedra's former supporters that would much rather see him dead than on the Council, but only a few would actually have the audacity to move against him. Most would be fleeing the Expanse or somewhere else distant, perhaps even some off world. That still left a few troubled souls of course, but Neesa could handle that. Not to mention his own recovery from his fight with Siedra had gone quickly.

"We kill them all." She might have already assumed that, but this city was supposed to be sacred.

At times in their history there had been bloodshed within these walls, but Vrak knew that wasn't an option today. Those that would stand in their way would do so until their dying breath, mostly because none of them actually had a choice in the matter.

"Anyone who stands against us dies." He turned to the two hulking Massassi. "No matter what they are."

With that he continued on.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

Neesa didn't entirely agree with the sentiment. She felt that if a few of the more prominent ones vanished them the others would tow the line. But in the end it wasn't her risk to take. A mistake in the matter would end in Vrak meeting an unpleasant end, not her.

They moved from roughly hewn corridors to smooth walls with intricate carbines. The closer they came to the council the further they moved from the worn and weathered exterior of Athiss to the culture and history that laid within.

They moved through an open hall as a tight group. She kept right behind the two lead massassi as the crowd parted before them. Some turned to stop. Her agents in the crowd kept moving and paid them no need. Neesa watched them in her periphery. They would have signalled her if anything was out of the ordinary.

They left the hall for another corridor. This one much broader than the last. Even the largest Massassi could have marched down here six abreast. A commotion ahead drew her attention. Ten massassi approached in two neat rows. They wore robes the same colours as her own. Navy with scarlet trimmed with gold.

She took a few steps ahead of the others. Sitas had said he would place his own men nearer the chambers, not meet them here. Each soldier carried an ornate double handed sword vertically, tips nearly touching the ceiling.

She came to an abrupt halt. "Where is Hiradahl?" She called out, asking for Sitas lead guardsman. No reply was given.

Neesa drew her blades. As ambushes went this was better planned than she had expected. A good last roll of the dice to deck out elite massassi in Sitas' colours and equipment. If they failed whoever had arranged this - and she would find out - would be first to go.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

At times Vrak wished that it could have been simpler.

He liked the combativeness of his people. He enjoyed the battle and the slaughter, he even liked the lies. The games they all played in order to rise to the top, but it became tiresome. Eventually one had to know when they were beaten, when there was nothing left. Purebloods as a rule could not comprehend this, they couldn't understand when to simply give up. It should have been endearing in a way, but now on the eve of his ascension it only annoyed Vrak.

He scowled.

The Pureblood's fingers wrapped around his saber-staff, the weapon snapping up and springing to life in an instant. He could hear the slight panic in Neesa's voice, or perhaps it was the same range that now pulled through him.

It didn't matter.

They had decided to stand in his way. To fight one last time. They were loyal to whomever, but it didn't matter at this point. They would die, and Vrak would find his way to his seat on the Council. The Pureblood didn't wait for the ambushers to make the first move, instead he charged forward. His Crimson blade bit into the first Massassi within a heartbeat, the great beast roaring as it's brothers charged the small group.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

Neesa had expected something more subtle than this. A poisoned dart or a malicious spell. This seemed too obvious and doomed to failure. Even if they had succeeded in the ruse and surrounded Vrak's force he likely would have escaped at the cost of his guard. Were they being delayed or was this the first part of a larger plan.

Above them Zaknerain was having very similar thoughts to Neesa. This was the final roll. He had been too well entrenched in Siedra's organisation. Numbers and risks were his game. He knew the odds. Most of the financial information Vrak and Neesa had stolen had been his doing.

The massassi above played their part, changed the odds. Funnelled them towards the trap or fixed them in place. The kilos of baradium that were now anchored beneath the tunnel containing Vrak and Neesa was the true roll.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

Vrak didn't know about the explosives of course, he couldn't have.

The force, as much as people liked to brag, didn't suddenly make you all knowing and all seeing. It was simply a way to augment the senses one already had, and since Vrak was a Pureblood not a bomb-sniffing Nexu he wasn't aware of the charges right beneath his feet.

Of course it didn't help that his focus was on the Massassi before him.

The Pureblood had grown tired of interference, of constantly having to fight for what was his. It showed in how he fought. All grace was gone, every sweep of his lightsaber was quick and brutal. The weapon flicked high, then low, then sliced up. It didn't matter what was before him, Vrak simply killed. There was no mind to it, there was only the goal of getting his seat on the Council. He scowled as more Massassi came down towards him, an unseen Zuguruk above preparing to detonate the charges.

Vrak scowled, then leaped forward.

His blade sliced into a Massassi's soldier, his hand dragging the red hulk down to the floor with a heavy thud.

The Pureblood snarled, then continued his assault, never aware of what was about to happen.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

The dice were rolled. Across the table they tumbled as Zaknerain put himself far away from the scene. He didn't have a reputation as an important man, because that was exactly the sort of reputation he was desperate not to cultivate. He knew that you could never truly fix the dice, just stack the odds. Today wasn't one of those days, everything had been rushed. It was a desperate roll.

The dice came to settle. The result was not what he would have wanted.

Slaves with experience in setting baradium charges were in previously short supply on Athiss. The right amount would have vaporised Neesa and Vrak in a heartbeat. Unfortunately only a third of the charges went off and out of sequence.

Neesa ducked and weaved between two massassi. One of them came close to cutting her off with its two-handed sword, but she halted her momentum. Two red gashes exploded on its forearm as she struck almost as fast as the eye could follow.

She backed away rather than press her advantage, sensing imminent danger. She looked back and forth for the new threat, expecting a more dangerous for to appear. Instead cracks appeared overhead, a brilliant light and a wave of intense heat breaking through.

A huge slab of stone broke free. The massassi before her vanished in an instant, but the weight also cracked the floor beneath them. Her feet danced on the ground but it started to fall away from her. With a group of massassi and a few tonnes of rock she went tumbling into the corridor below them.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

Vrak tried to cover himself, tried to break away, but the sudden landslide of rock and stone caught him almost completely by surprise. Panic crossed his face and he tried to back away, his arms coming up the force kicked in around him.

He didn't create a bubble like Siedra had, rather he lashed out. The force broke form him in a torrential wave, pressing outward and throwing debris and rock away from him. He heard the cry of a Massassi behind him, the yell of one of his servants. He scowled slightly as he fell into the corridor below, his hand unfurling from the lightsaber and dropping the weapon. He reached towards the edge of the broken floor, his fingers just barely catching the edge of the now broken stone.

For a second he managed to hang on, a roar escaping his throat.

Then the stone began to crumble.

Vrak cursed as the broken rock gave way, his fingers slipping as he fell into the black corridor below. He heard a thud as one of the Massassi landed on the ground, then another, then another. Then he himself landed. A crack rang out as he crashed the ground, a body breaking his fall.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

Her head was ringing. Painfully blinking the grit out of her eyes didn't offer a great advantage as the air was opaque with a thick cloud of dust. With a groan she rolled onto her front and pushed herself up to her knees.

Through the dust she saw a silhouette rise shakily to her side. It fell upon her suddenly, Neesa catching a glimpse of Sitas' colours. The massassi growled and snarled as it bore her to the slab of rock they'd fallen upon.

Neesa desperately tried to wriggle free, to find some purchase on the ground. It wrapped both arms around her and slammed her back down into the ground, knocking the air from her lungs.

She managed to plant one floor and twist her right arm free. She struck the massassi's head three times. It barely seemed to notice. It rolled, dragging her down the slope with it.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

Vrak stood, slowly. He glanced first at the body that he had landed on, a Massassi whose skull had been crushed by falling debris. He scowled slightly, disoriented. He felt dizzy, his head hurt and his vision was half blurred. The Sith frowned for a moment, glancing around the darkened corridor.

He reached for his lightsaber, finding it gone.

Commotion pulled behind him, Neesa struggling with one of the Massassi. Through the darkness he saw nothing, even with the force filling him. His scowl deepened, and then suddenly he heard a growl behind him. It was guttural, deep within the stomach. His lip twitched into a snarl for just a moment, and then he turned. Vrak didn't give it a second thought, without a weapon he only had one option.

A burst of power flooded from him.

The force erupted from his fingertips, bright purple sparks that jumped forward and illuminated the darkness. A ear shattering howl echoed through the darkened corridor a second later.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

It was hard to concentrate with all the weight dragging her down. Over and over they rolled until they came to a stop. It squeezed with both arms. Squeezed and squeezed until she couldn't force a drop of air into her lungs.

She drew on the Force for strength. It came easily with the surge of fear that she was about to have her life extinguished but was not so easy to control. She bucked and twisted in it's grip until she was nearly face down with the beast behind her.

With one knee dragged up she gave herself a tiny bit of room. This time when she struck it was swinging back her elbow. It connected with the massassi's head with a satisfying crack. Then again and again. The edges of her vision started to go dark and still it didn't loosen it's grip. She could feel its hot breath across her scalp, hear it softly growl with the exertion .

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

The massasis fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

It's body gave a wisp of smoke, it's shriveled and burnt skin filling the narrow corridor with a scent akin to a mound of burning bodies. Vrak wrinkled his nose for a few seconds, his lips turning to a scowl as he realized he wouldn't be getting away from the smell anytime soon. The Sith half turned, his gaze attempting to peer through the darkness of the corridor. Lips quickly thinned as he realized that he had absolutely no idea where he was, nor did he know where his retinue was.

"Neesa!" His voice echoed within the dark.

He had elected not to take Ryal or any of this others retainers with him on this trip, mostly because they were ensuring that the assets he had seized from Siedra were falling under proper care. This was supposed ot have been a victory lap, not another battle.

The Pureblood let out a sigh, then slowly stalked forward into the dark.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

Growls became groans. A race to see who failed first. She felt each strike becoming weaker as she was starved of oxygen. One more swing of the elbow and the beast loosened its grip. Her gasp was audible as she sucked in air. Rage poured through her veins as much as a fresh supply of oxygen.

She found the strength to take most of its weight with the Force and twisted in its grip. Her hands found the hilt of a blade tucked into the small of her back beneath her robes. The massassi started to pushed itself up, to find the room to swing its fists down and crush her skull. Neesa plunged her blade into its neck and yanked it free.

It couldn’t stop the ichor torrent with its hands. Neesa was soaked through as its lifeblood ebbed away. Vrak would find her covered in gore, breathing hard and trying to pull herself free from the weight of the dead massassi. She heard his call, but could not yet spare the breath to call back.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

Vrak eventually found her, the heavy breath passing by her lips being enough to locate her even within the darkness. The Pureblood scowled slightly, wandering forward until he hit the edge of the slop she and the Massasis had stumbled down. For a moment he lingered within the dark, and then his palm slowly crept up.

A light began to form between his fingers, small sparks of Lightning that continuously bounced and crackled between his finger tips. They seemed to drone on in a slow hum, singing his fingers but apparently not harming him. The Pureblood peered down at the Nagai, watching the bloody mess she had become. For a moment Vrak said nothing, simply glancing at the dead Massassi before looking back towards Neesa herself. He scowled again, and then finally spoke. "Pull yourself together."

He told her.

"We have to kill whoever did this." That was the only logical outcome.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

Neesa risked a look bordering on incredulous as she pulled herself out from under the Massassi. As she brought herself to her knees she extended both hands. A scrape of metal on stone, a glint in the settling dust and both swords thudded into her palms. She glowered as she stood up. Not at Vrak, but at the formless notion of whoever had orchestrated this cowardly attack. She could hear voices now. Not the angry barks of soldiers, but the curious murmurs of purebloods who had come to see what the commotion was.

"They will be a long way from here," she reasoned. "I will find out who is responsible."

Her blades were sheathed after a moment of looking through the settling dust for any more threats.

"Do we continue to the council chambers?"

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

The crackle of lightning continued between his fingertips, Vrak scowling slightly as he looked down at Neesa.

The question was a good one. This was supposed to have been his day of triumph, the day where he left behind all the broken ebbs of chaos and ascended to new heights. Yet here he was, barred from entry by a cowardly strike against his life. The Pureblood glanced up for a moment, trying to spot the glint of light that would show them a way out. "Yes."

He finally settled.

"Once I ascend to the Council we'll move on them." He told Neesa. "Whomever it was..."

Vrak trailed off as he turned away. "I can do far worse to them from there."

Less limits holding him back.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

There was a crack as she tilted her head to one side and unlocked some stiffness in her neck from being pressed into the ground by a three hundred pound massassi. She didn't reply at first. The dust was starting to settle and she could see more. She darted back up the slope she had been dragged down. Above the debris she could see the corridor they had fallen from above. Scarlet faces looked down at them. Above that was a dark hole where the rocks had fallen from some triggered explosion above.

"Wait here a moment?" she asked. She lowered her weight and then exploded upwards, landing neatly in the corridor they had been in.

"Move," she stated. The civilians who had come to gawp saw the blood drenched robes and shifted aside as Neesa scanned for threats. "We should carry on," she called back down not seeing or sensing any immediate danger.