Private The Apex

[Arris Windrun]

​

EUFORNIS MAJOR
Lysander von Ascania​

Humbarine... Abregado-rae... Western expansion.

The Sith Covenant was kept quite busy by war and conflict; for Arris Windrun, she was beginning to face certain realities. For too long, they've relied on independent war bands, imperial defectors, and surplus leftover from the previous powers that ruled the Core Worlds. Inherited fortress worlds and depots were useless if the Sith Covenant did not adapt to the situation.

That is why they've been building an army.

A new model, developed to meet the Covenant's needs.

And now, on Eufornis Major, they were debuted. Thousands of soldiers - veterans from the Core Wars; conscripts from the most brutal worlds; mercenaries and freelancers. The Sith Covenant turned away very little. And these were just a fraction of what was on the way.

She stood above as they gathered, watching hawkishly from an observation room attached to the command center.

The door opened behind her. "Lysander von Ascania - just the man I wanted to see," Arris said, looking over her shoulder.

She turned around and lit a cigarette, took a long drag, then offered it.

"Y'know, we missed ya on Abregado." She said in her Talusian drawl, an accent she slipped back into when she was distressed or with people she knew. "Of all the Sith who were made on Desevro, you were something of a frontrunner... A lot's changed, huh?"

She walked back to the window and crossed her arms. "There's another army like this, under the command of Varin Mortifer." No 'fire boy' this time. "Sith General."

Arris looked at Lysander. "When I watched the races, I was always rooting for the underdogs, y'know? The best victories come from behind. And Lys..." She snickered. "Can I call you Lys? Ahah - Well," she went serious again and stepped closer. "I think you've started to fall behind, and we're just about approaching the straight."

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Arris Windrun​

For all his time within the Covenant, for all the blood spilled under its banners, Lysander found it odd that so little familiarity had grown between Arris and himself. Stranger still was the caution the cyborg inspired. The Duumvirate carried a particular talent for unpredictability. Testing limits came easily to him. Anyone who knew him well could have named it among his more persistent flaws. Ironically, it'd also brought forth some of his more obedient behavior since he'd begun his studies in the Dark.

At her offer, two curled fingers waved. "Only natural herbs for me." Everything else never offered him enough to justify the damage. Beyond one shared joint with Lily on Throneworld, indulgence was a road rarely traveled these days.

His gaze moved beyond her to the army gathered beneath the observation room. There was that word again.. Abregado. That one bounced around his skull daily. The direction of the conversation was slowly becoming obvious. Whether it would become a painful conversation was anyone's guess.

Her mention of his brother brought a crisp nod. "He'll be good at it." No bitterness in that statement. Lysander would congratulate him eventually. Competition mattered.. but support cemented alliances. Half a dozen names there, no more, deserving of that respect.

Being called Lys caught him off guard. The only person who'd ever called him that was Naniti. Before a response could form, she continued.

Slow breath parted his lips; cheeks tightened, and no hint of mirth followed. "I'm not sure if I'm running toward the same finish as everyone else, Arris." The admission was unfamiliar on his tongue. Every Sith probably dreamed of the crown, or some hollow taste of ultimate power, some grand proof that the galaxy recognized their 'importance'.

"I convinced myself that while everyone else chased glory, my value lay in keeping the whole damned thing from collapsing. While packs of idiots were competing to see who could burn brightest.." His emerald eyes remained on the army below. "I wanted to be sure they didn't burn our house down too."

Was that too virtuous a position for a Sith? Structures could always be rebuilt.. ash answered no one.

His hand lifted again, palm open. "That vision hasn't changed. The Covenant just makes it difficult to preserve at times."

Only then did he turn fully to Arris. "Tell me what you really see then?" The lift of his chin invited judgement. Surely, it couldn't be any worse than what he'd already heard from others. "I'm well aware that I fucked up."

 

[Arris Windrun]

Lysander von Ascania​

Arris dragged her cigarette; she listened as Lysander spoke.

His answer was a little surprising. But maybe that said more about her than it did him. He asked her a question, though, and she'd answer.

"There's a finish line - the long and narrow. But it ain't everything, is it? There's dunes and mountains beyond the racetrack. An entire world to get lost in."

She stepped away and leaned her back against the glass.

"And yet here you are... back on the track. Even if you say you aren't trying to cross that line."

The cigarette burned idly between her fingers. Her eyes never left him. She was appraising him, weighing options.

"Look - I'm probably the last person who can help you figure out what kind of Sith you are, Lysander. I dunno if that's even the question you need answering... but I know what you are... and that's useful." Arris said.

"I don't know what Mercy and Srina said - I'm not sure it's important, but I don't think you fucked up... I think you've lost your drive, and I want to help you get it back."

She turned back to view the army and put her cigarette out on the glass, leaving a black smudge behind.

"You say you want to keep this from collapsing, that you aren't here for the same reasons as your peers. Then what moves you?"

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Arris Windrun​

Part of him braced for some sort of barbed reply. But none came. Most of what had led to his capture could be traced through a chain of choices finally presenting their bill. Another Sith, at least, saw past the vertical obsession, beyond the endless ladder where someone always stood above you until they weren't. Progress did not always demand you climb over another's back.

"There's truth in that. Sometimes I think a finish line only matters if you mistake it for the edge of the world. Or galaxy, really. Doesn't tell you what you were running toward." The next thought was less comfortable. "At the same time, getting lost isn't always freedom. Could just be a prettier path to nowhere."

Calling his return to the Sith a relapse would've been convenient. Too many faces lived inside the decision, and too many turning points.

"Useful. That's one word for someone who keeps turning up where things are burning." No malice tinted the observation. "But I won't argue with it. At least it gives me ground to stand on while I figure out what comes next."

His attention followed Arris's gaze back to the army. Easier that way. The sight was striking. More so when compared to the Covenant's origins on Desevro.

"Continuity," Lysander answered at last, plainly. More honesty there than was safe; the Sith were often skilled at turning it into control. "I chose the Covenant after convincing myself I'd left it behind. Because I can't pretend the people beside me are interchangeable."

 

[Arris Windrun]

Lysander von Ascania​

Her eyes never left the army below. Soldiers clad in new model armor that better reflected the Sith Covenant's tactics. Again, Lysander mentioned burning. Arris wondered if that was self-blame, an observation, or a critique.

Because I can't pretend the people beside me are interchangeable.

That stood out to her.

Whatever thoughts or questions she had about the rest shrunk as she chewed on those words.

Arris looked at him, and this time there was an energy. "Exactly - What we are, what the Sith Covenant really is, is..." She tightened her fingers and looked back out the window. "I mean," she gestured towards them. "They are resources." She said.

"But us, Lysander?" Arris turned back towards him and pointed at her chest. "What we are is a family." She threw her arm towards the glass. "We spend that to serve them. And that is the future of the Sith, isn't it?"

Whether this was the direction Lysander had in mind, his words activated a part of the cyborg that she largely reserved for conversations with Lily. She had tried to have them with Acier, too, of course. But he never listened... or rather, he refused to listen.

"Everything - this world. The galaxy. All people. All resources. It exists for us to claim, conquer, spend. The only thing that matters - the only thing that's truly sacred is us. The people we care for. A Covenant of selfishness that will fight, gain, and sacrifice together.

"There isn't room for wasteful competition or unnecessary theatrics - I don't care for any of that shit that old, decrepit Sith Lords stand for. Just as I don't care for the coddling of unearned privilege in the Republic."

Arris stopped and took a breath.

She realized this was a moment of vulnerability for her. She had just opened up.

So she turned back to the glass, as if there was actually anything left to be studied by soldiers who drilled or stood at attention.

"You understand me... Don't you?"

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Arris Windrun​

The hum came out of him almost like an apology; it was soft and short, and underneath that, was a different thought already clicking into place. This one was easier to hold, because it had a floor and a roof.

Some of the smoke from her cigarette still hung in the air, drifting toward the vents. "I walked in expecting an ask. A favor, a confession.. I don't know, something with a hook in it." Lysander exhaled through his nose. "Strange, having your own conviction handed back to you. Stranger.. that it fits." It was a truth he'd been circling since his time on Korriban.

A moment passed, and the comfort didn't fade. "What I like," he continued, easing one shoulder against the wall, "is that it doesn't need anyone to be a saint. Loyal to whoever's in the room, ruthless about whoever isn't. A person can actually keep that in the middle of a war. Most of the loftier ones.. well, they never last long. And the people who believed in them go down right alongside."

The corner of his mouth climbed. "The old Lords want worship. You're offering people who'd bleed for each other. I know which one I'd die for." He shrugged. "The galaxy can be as big as it likes. I don't need it kind. I just need to know who's at my back. And who I'm willing to put in the dirt." Then, plainly. "So yes, I understand you, Arris. I'm a rather terrible liar around people who open with the truth, so you may as well have the rest of it."

Emerald drifted to the black smudge she'd left on the glass, and Lysander studied it. "Where does that leave me then? In the circle, or close enough to feel the warmth? Or.. is it something I still have to earn?"

 

[Arris Windrun]

Lysander von Ascania​

The cyborg kept her gaze beyond the glass. Expression stiff as Lysander spoke. Inside, she felt relief at his words. He understood.

When he asked where he stood in the order of things, Arris turned back and reached to place a hand on his shoulder.

"I just got done saying you're family, didn't I?" She recoiled her hand - whether shrugged by her own accord. "Whatever happened on Jakku is behind us... That's why you're back, right?"

Her eyes lingered on him a moment longer before she smiled a little and turned towards the door, waving Lysander a long. The ride down the lift was long.

"I'm at your back, Lys."

He hadn't told her not to call him that. Yet.

"So is Mercy. Varin." She looked at him. "You were with us since Desevro. You know more than most what we've all been through. What it took to get here."

They reached the bottom, and the door opened. Arris walked on through the grand concourse and exited outside, where the march of soldiers was thunder.

She raised her voice, if only so he might hear her.

"That's why I know you'll have what it takes to get us further. Varin has raised an army. I think he'll make an excellent leader, don't you?"

She looked back to the masses. From where they stood, they were among them, if at a distance. But no longer did they have the eagle's view. From the ground floor, their scale presented differently. More fearsome - Arris thought.

"They need leadership, too." Another glance his way. "They're yours if you want the challenge. Drill them. Mold them. Give them an identity.

"Extend your reach."

She scanned their rows of glistening armor.

"We're surrounded by enemies. Some find us disgusting... Others want what we have. Plenty are just afraid. But it's us - and them."

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Arris Windrun​

His reflection hung in the transparisteel, a ghost over the marching ranks below; Lysander studied it as if the man there possessed some answer he’d overlooked. Overthinking again. It had become a habit lately, and a rarely useful one. He kept returning to it the way a tongue returns to a chipped tooth.

"Suppose you did. And yeah, Arris. I came back for my people." He caught the shift of her shoulder, the implied departure; his boots pivoted with a sharp click against the floor as he followed.

For a span of seconds, the only thing in his ears was the rhythm of his own breath. "Feels like another lifetime, doesn't it? Desevro." The familiar shortening of his name caught his attention, but he let it pass without comment. "I've never forgotten any of it. We've come a hell of a long way."

His thoughts began drifting to some of those faces that weren’t here anymore. "We've lost a few good ones long the way." He turned his head toward the cyborg again. "I'd rather not lose the ones who are still here."

Lysander fell into step alongside her, his gaze tracing the lines of soldiers. "I do. I think he'll do well." He'd always believed there was a great deal of potential in his brother, even when circumstances hadn't given Varin much opportunity to show it. They'd taken different paths in the past year, but that had never diminished his confidence in him.

"He has a sharp mind, and the troops will be lucky to have him leading them."

He clasped his hands at the small of his back, one hand holding the opposite wrist. "Quite an offer, Arris." The corner of his mouth lifted. "And one I'd be glad to take you up on."

A thoughtful hum escaped him; he let his attention drift across the formations a while longer, considering what an army of this size might accomplish beyond another battlefield. Building something instead of leaving scorched ground.

"There are already some plans in motion for Brentaal IV. I've also been giving Selvaris much thought lately." He glanced toward Arris again to measure her reaction before continuing. "Not entirely on my own, either. Had a few promising conversations about what we might accomplish there."

"I'd like to see us strengthen our position along the borders, particularly where we brush up against Republic space. We've spent enough time reacting to what everyone else does. It's time we start setting the tempo."