Smells that Warp the Mind (Radon - complete)

[Ashin Varanin]

Falleen

There were few clues, in the end, to the location of Radon Mont. Ashin's association with Darron Wraith had shown her precisely what the Falleen Sith Knight was capable of, but he always kept himself aloof. His facilities generated whispers, nothing more. No actionable intel.

But when one hunted for a man like Radon Mont, the process of hunting was itself the bait. She sensed, in the deep currents of destiny, when things began to shift -- when her efforts caught his attention. And so she left a message with certain people, and waited at a certain upscale restaurant, sipping from a mug of the finest hot chocolate in ten sectors.

 

[Radon Mont]

A human. There was a human on his homeworld, looking for him. Not just any human, though, but a Master and a representative of the Empire. It left a sour taste in his mouth. Having only arrived a few days prior, the human had a fortuitous stroke of luck that he was around. Word had not yet gotten out on the world that he had returned. If it had, there would be a significant buzz on the world. At the moment, there was nothing, and Radon was more than happy with that fact. He didn't want to be swarmed at the Palace when Lenne was trying to get herself comfortable with their situation. She was an outsider too, but she had something going for her that Ashin did not: she had Radon's child growing within her, as well as his love. That was enough to make people accept her.

But when word reached him that someone was looking for him, he was curious. Curious enough that he forced someone to go in his stead while he lingered not far away, listening in through a wire that the person he sent in was wearing. It was obviously not him that walked in and sat down across from Ashin. The only way it could have been was if he had somehow miraculously grown breasts, which he most certainly had not done. Needless to say, Ashin was no doubt aware she was speaking to a proxy. "I understand you wish to speak with Prince Mont. Unfortunately, he is not here at the moment. I have been asked to speak in his stead. You may call me Inira. Now, what did you wish of the Prince?"

Radon shifted. He wasn't very far away, and he wanted to keep his eyes on the Dark Jedi Master. His presence in the Force was hidden, cut off as he watched from where he stood. Humans were disgusting. He wanted to kill her immediately, but he had decided to find out what she wanted with him first. Curiosity might be the death of him someday, but at least he mitigated it with caution.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Ashin breathed in, tasting the balance of pheromones in the air. Her grandmother had been a Zeltron, and her former Master was possibly the greatest living wielder of pheromones. It was a form of communication that appealed to her somewhat.

"Simple enough. It's a job offer. Prince Mont is known as one of the best organizers and most cunning Sith in the universe. I need him. Specifically, I need him to help run the Sith Empire when I kill Darth Moridin next week. In return I offer...well, use your imagination."

 

[Radon Mont]

Inira shook her head a bit and clucked at the woman. "Prince Mont is not a Sith. Your ancient religion does not appeal to him, I assure you." Radon smirked a bit as he listened. Incredible. This woman was going to kill Darth Moridin, the Emperor of the Sith? And she wanted his help in running things after she did so. Admittedly, he found the possibility of it intriguing. There were many ways he could use a position in the hierarchy of the Sith to his advantage. Especially so in the future when it came time to make bigger moves than the ones he had been making. So far he'd only been out to slowly weaken the galactic governments. Little terrorist actions. Maybe not so little to some, but in his mind they were paltry attempts at disturbing the upper echelons.

"Tell her that she is, by her very existence, a disease upon this galaxy, and ask her why she thinks I would want to work for the lowest of life forms this galaxy has to offer." The relay worked two ways. He'd trusted Inira up to this point, but his intrigue was mixed with mild annoyance at the presence of the human on his world and it was time that he feed her a few lines. "What I do know is he thinks you're a disease; that all humans are a disease. I'm sure he'd like to know why you think he would want to work for someone whos very existence he abhorrs." This was rather fun. It was like playing a game of chess with a woman that would surely try to kill him if given the chance. Truth be told, Radon had every intention of killing her at the moment, he just wanted to play with her a bit first.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Her phrasing was...a little odd, and a little at odds with how Ashin perceived her. And Ashin got a subtle sense that this woman's attention was divided. There was a chance that Radon himself was listening. But that was immaterial.

"Then tell your master that my grandmother was a Zeltron and my blood runs with five kinds of alchemy. I'm no more human than he is. And honestly, if that's his sticking point, my impression of him must have been misguided. I was told Radon Mont was calculating, logical. To be frank, this is the sort of opportunity I would normally offer to a Sith Master. Is your master sufficient for the job, or isn't he?"

 

[Radon Mont]

I care not who your grandmother was. Human blood runs through your veins. You are a disease and your presence on this world is offensive. Of course he could hear everything she said, and he was smart enough to have figured out that she had figured out he was listening in. Clearly this woman was clever enough to understand her surroundings better than he had assumed she would. Radon spoke to the woman using the Force, conveying thoughts from his mind to her. "Inira, you may leave." The Falleen woman nodded to Ashin and then stood to walk away. This left the human alone, but Radon was not through with her yet. He could see her through the glass from where he stood.

She was right that it would be a waste not to take this position, but it wasn't likely for reasons that she would suspect. If he didn't take the position, he gave up the chance at taking control of a powerful set of assets. In reality, he would miss out on the chance of taking over the Empire and using it to begin his conquest of the galaxy once he'd purged it of weakness. First, though, he had to see if this woman was truly worthy of having him work for her. She wasn't by nature of blood, so she would have to be tested to see if her strength in the Force was great enough. Through the connection to her mind he used to speak to her, he attempted to draw out her greatest fears and render her helpless. Force Horror was stronger than Force Fear, it could make her relive her worst nightmares.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

As Ashin sat alone, waiting for Radon's next move, she began to relive certain moments with unusual potency. The coincidence was undeniably not, but that did little to blunt the force of the memories.

Her apprentice, Temap, dying of poison while she lay paralyzed beside him, another poison burning away her connection to the Light Side.

Blood shed and rape barely averted on Arcanix. Murder committed.

Watching the Jade Empire burn beneath the guns of the Uul'ba-Rai and the Xen'Chi, deep in the Unknown Regions.

Ripping the Force away from one of her oldest friends and students.

But mental influence had been a specialty of one of her most influential Masters -- not just mind tricks such as this, but mental influence combined with powerful pheromones. Ashin's apprenticeship with her had taken place while Ashin was already a Master, and her training had been appropriately difficult. She had taught herself how to think past and dispel such things, even the more powerful Sith spells that provoked horror by altering the reality of her mind itself.

Her hunger burned cold, devouring the energy of the Force Horror. The restaurant shuddered, and the influence ceased. Her lip curled in a sneer.

"Congratulations, Radon Mont," she said to the stunned room. "You have my attention."

 

[Radon Mont]

That was an unexpected way to deal with his attack on her mind. Clearly the woman had experience dealing with mentalism, which was good, and yet also disconcerting. If she could deal with his mental attacks, he wondered if she could deal with his pheromones. He found that combining the two strengthened his ability to influence the minds of those around him. It was how he was so capable at controlling people. Falleen were good at it on their own, but their pheromones would only influence people into their favor. He had been taught by his master to use the Force to attack someone's mind and dominate it. Coupling it with the pheromones made it less likely for them to shirk his control, because it influenced them to like it.

Good. Now I want you to listen to me very closely. Demands were going to be part of the bargain. It was something Ashin would have to get used to if she wanted Radon working for her. There are a couple of conditions to my working with you. For one, you will never talk down to me. Respect me and who I am and I will respect you enough to tolerate your humanity. Lastly, you do nothing to ever cause harm to my family or my people. That includes my soon to be wife, do you understand? They were simple terms. Like it or not, Radon was a sort of Xenophobe. He hated a lot of alien races, but he liked his fiance's race and his own, plus a few others. The Empire he would build in the future would preserve and protect his people as the true pure species of the galaxy, and he was going to make sure that started now.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Ashin continued to speak to the empty air, regardless of the patrons' fear and attention. "I accept your second condition without reservation, so long as you tell me who, precisely, I am not supposed to harm. The first, I also accept. As a rule, I talk down to nobody except fools who prove they deserve it. For example, I talk down to Reyven Samoth because he's remarkably easy to manipulate and entirely overconfident in his frankly limited power. If you perform as advertised, Prince Mont, we will have no problems whatsoever."

 

[Radon Mont]

Come outside. He stepped out from where he was hiding and walked across the walkway to stand outside of the building that Ashin was within. Still, he kept himself to the side and out of sight so that she wouldn't be able to see him until she came outside. Clearly she wanted this thing. She wanted to control the Empire on her own, which was good. If she had the manpower to actually do so, then he would be able to see it through and take his position within the Empire. As such, he would then have the means, and the future opportunity, to take her down and make the Empire his one day. That was his goal, now. If he could take the Empire and make it his, he could use those resources to turn and conquer the galaxy.

He waited for her to come outside. When she did, she would have no trouble finding him and he stood there with his arms across his chest at her approach. "This world is mine. You will harm no Falleen as they will not harm you. My people generally keep to themselves save for their customary journey and I will trust you to respect that. The only other person you will not harm is Lenne Fayth. She will soon be my wife and the Princess of Falleen. She is a Zabrak and carries within her a child that is the perfection of our two races. Your willingness to accept these two terms means I will assist you in running your Empire."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Done and done. And of course, if I become weak, feel free to attempt to overthrow me."

In person, he was tall, physically competent, with impressively direct eyes. She met his gaze directly.

"I'll expect you to avoid talking down to two people: Anaya Fen, my lieutenant, and Spencer Jacobs, a Jedi prodigy who has proven useful in several conquests. Anaya is Twi'lek, but Spencer is human and, for the moment, a lightsider. Restrain your contempt. Anyone else is fair game."

 

[Radon Mont]

In fact he did loom over her. Such was the nature of being a Falleen. Humans were pathetically small by comparison. The mention of dethroning her should she become weak almost brought a smile to his face. Almost. The experienced diplomat in him knew better than to smile at such an offer. It would indicate that he had every intention of doing just that, which would in turn undermind everything he was going to be working on. Besides, killing her would be more fun if she never knew that it was coming, which he would make damn well sure that she did not. In spite of all of this, he was not going to give up his projects or his efforts against outside Forces, but that was going to remain his secret.

The mention of the two subordinates, one a Human Jedi, drew a bit of a sneer from him but he shook it off. "Very well. Those two shall avoid my ire. Jedi padawans can be useful, even if they are human. My fiance used to be one." He stared down the bridge of his nose at her, not flinching in the slightest. Radon had confidence and lots of it. Not overconfidence, just confidence. He knew his limitations and abilities and did things to compliment that. He was also very adept at building an army of resources to be used whenever and wherever he wanted. "I will want to meet these two as soon as possible so I know who they are. And how do you plan to proceed from here? Darth Moridin seems to have a stranglehold on the Empire at the moment."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"I'll arrange that meeting, yes. Ultimately, the plan is none of your concern. I've made my arrangements, cemented my alliances, manipulated whoever needs manipulating. Feel free to participate as you see fit, but your position will be purely after-the-fact. I've given you enough time to...shall we say, get your affairs in order. The plan is relatively complex, but the crux of it is fairly simple: A duel, combined with irrefutable evidence that my foreign policy is superior."

 

[Radon Mont]

Radon lifted clawed fingers to scratch idly at his chin. "You presume you are capable of defeating him in combat. Either that or you have a card up your sleeve that you haven't shown yet. I'm willing to bet the latter. Foreign policy amongst Sith generally consists of conquering. I'm intrigued to see how your views will differ." Yes, Radon had a somewhat astute understanding of the Sith: want power, want control, kill all who do not submit. From what he'd seen, or rather heard, that was the same policy that the current Empire was undertaking. Perhaps this woman would be more subtle in her affairs, which would certainly be better. He knew a lot about doing things without people knowing who did it. "Very well. Send word to the palace here when it's done. I'll inform Lenne of the change in plans for the immediate future."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"So be it."

As Ashin departed, she took care to keep her perceptions attuned. One did not wisely turn one's back on Radon Mont.