First Reply The Hunger That Speaks

[Astrea]

The Hunger That Speaks
Ziost​

The cold, dead plains stretched out before Astrea, twisted husks of trees tangled up and flanking her path. The ship that she had used lay abandoned, a good while back. It wasn't her own, she'd just taken it, as she'd been told to do. The girl she was before might've asked, or paid for such a service. Astrea would not. Astrea was Sith, and Sith took what they wanted by force. Overwhelming the pilot had been a trivial matter, even for someone as nascent in the Force as Astrea. Weak minds provided little resistance.

But no real Sith could be satisfied with little minds. No. The hatred inside her dwelled eternal; a well of stagnant, oily pain that would never drain, never heal, never die. It demanded satisfaction and there was only one way she could do that. Astrea needed to grow stronger. So began her visits to the old Sith worlds. The remnants of a crumbled Empire, dusty odes to hubris and decay. Within them, there was still power to be found, and she would find them. It might've taken her a little time, but those familiar Whispers inside her guided her. Showed her. Pushed her.

She was close.

Carved deep into the side of a hill stood a doorway. Sealed shut, words etched in the Old Tongue of the Sith. Twisted expressions formed in relief, swirls of madness surrounding the images of long dead slaves. Her mind briefly cast back to the slaves on that refinery platform. No care for the lives that'd been lost. They were weak. Instead, she stepped closer, running her gloved fingers along the dark stone. Even through the fabric, she could feel it. The tingle. The cold. The power.

Closing her eyes, the Apprentice pulled on the coils of the dark around her, as the choir of Whispers inside her cooed in appreciation. Cold, cloying and oily, tendrils swirled in the living Force as she eased the stone apart, urging the stone to pull. Beads of sweat formed on her pale forehead as she gritted her teeth, summoning all her energy to open the hideaway. With a horrid screech of stone-on-stone, she managed to wrench the doors open. Just a little. A thin slit into the darkness within.

And the treasures and powers that dwelled deep inside. She knew she wouldn't have long. Ziost was close to the Imperials, as well as the Crusaders. Astrea knew she would be with company soon enough.

 

[Turranis vulcun]

Nevermind

 

[The Human]

Ziost​

Personal Equipment: Force Armour and Mask, Two Lightsabers (x) (x)
TAG: Astrea

Dalos had arrived hours beforehand in the area, having landed in a nearby field with his starship, cloaked into the night. It was rather old fashioned but, sometimes it was the best course to avoid suspicion. His activities here would not take long to be discovered, nor noticed if he did not hurry with his task. Each step he took, the Humans pace would quicken and his heart started to race. Soon, he will have answers he been looking for, who he was, why he was the way he was. Arriving at the location, he pulled out the datapad and looked for an access point, walking back and forth till finally he picked up a signal. It requested a password and with some knowledge, tried one that was in the back of his mind. "Tamai".

The password accepted and slowly, part of the ground opened up before him, leading him downwards in a small spiral staircase, going down into the ground. Blinking a few times, he would slowly descend as the ground swallowed him up, closing the camoflaged hatch doors. As he descended, lights would spring to life, showering the staircase with life till he finally got towards the bottom as it shimmered before making a large activation. Inside was a large cavern like structure, surrounded by light fixtures, containers and floor panels.

Small creatures would run against the ground as he noticed how old the place was, as if it was thousands of years old. What was he doing here? Why was there such...equipment in this area? Carefully, he walked around as many containers nearby was listed with some legible, such as Songsteel, Force Artifacts and...spares? Going towards the spares container, he got to the interface as it asked for a password and tried the same one from earlier. This time...it did not work. Giving a frown, he tried again and again, not knowing that there was multiple entrances to this place...a place, that was once his own.

EDIT: Did not see a placeholder but leaving this here if you wish to use it. If not, that is fine!

 

[Astrea]

Within the darkness, there countless pinpricks of light. Cold, small beads of cobalt blue and green; the unblinking eyes of many creatures. Either they'd managed to create some sort of sealed ecosystem within the place she'd gained access to, or there were other entrances. As her boots quietly padded against the stone, the beads would scatter and dash, clearing a path that sloped downwards. Cold stone and distant echoes. Scrapes and whirrs. She'd believed there was something there... and it appeared so.

It wasn't too long before the path flattened, guiding her forwards. The ancient, carved and sculpted stone started to change, becoming rougher and newer all at once. The intricacies of old Sith art merged with something else. At the end of the path lay a sealed metal door, something akin to a bulkhead. Astrea placed a gloved hand on it, checking for signs of life. Energy. Anything. It was powered, though she could not say from where. However, where technology proved an obstacle, time had proved an ally. Just beside the door, a crack had formed in the stone. Something had been placed there, once. It'd worn away, leaving weakened rock half-turned to dust by moisture and centuries. She tested it with one finger, feeling it crumble against her light touch. With a smirk, she pulled her hand back and closed her eyes, drawing on the Force around her. She held it in her palm... then shoved.

The crack exploded with the energy, worn stone tumbling and sending dust through the forgotten hallway. Light bled in, nearly blinding Astrea. She held up a hand as she stepped through, finding herself in the upper parts of a large, cavern like chamber. Undoubtably, her efforts wouldn't have gone unnoticed. There was someone else there.

Astrea leaned over the edge, surveying the man below quietly. Trying to size him up, make sense of who he could be. Without much in the way of surprise left, she tried the obvious.

"Who are you?"

Dalos Cameron

 

[The Human]

Ziost​

Personal Equipment: Force Armour and Mask, Two Lightsabers (x) (x)
TAG: Astrea

This was soon becoming a large problem. Each time he had tapped on a new password he could think up, it was denying it which became a bit stubborn. Think, what possibly could be a password you had, from all the memories I seen? Tapping the touchpad of the interface, the Human glanced to the side as small rodents passed along his legs. How in the world did he even imagine this was a livable place to be in? The walls were written in some foreign language he knew from long ago, but it was not relating to him currently. Dalos was here only for himself, for his past, he had no true use for anything in this room except information.

Then there was the gust of wind up top, the shot of paranoia he been feeling for quite a while now and his sense of danger enveloping him. An intruder.

Tapping the consoles controls without much thought, it gave an affirmative ding and opened up. The Humans right hand reached into the container and once the person started to come into view. Fumbling to grab the possible weapon, Dalos turned and grabbed it with his left hand, pointing it directly at the figure up top with a most dangerous...power cell. If anything, at this very moment, he looked rather foolish and the person declaring his name be given, meant he possibly was surrounded. Not being able to see well from up top, his eyes were squinted against the light as his voice echoed into the cavern, the power cell being tossed aside.

"Dalos Cameron, Final Dawn Operative. Now your turn."

In another life, he might as well beat the crap out of himself for revealing who he was, or even lied out of this. Somehow though, this did not feel like the right situation to do it in.

 

[Astrea]

The man brandished the power cell with intent, which caused Astrea to raise her eyebrow curiously. Quite what he intended to do with that, she wasn't sure. As inexperienced as she was, she thought it was at least within her capability to defend against that. The reveal of his name and station came with a small amount of relief. An operative of the Final Dawn. An ally, or as close as you could get to one within the Brotherhood's twisted structures.

"Astrea. Acolyte of the Final Dawn." She hoped that the title would need no further explanation. Deep down, she enjoyed the aura of secrecy and suspicion that accompanied her minor position within the Brotherhood. They were the hidden web behind the whole horde, the subtle strings pushing and controlling everything.

Instead of elaborating, Astrea began the descent. Her gloved fingers ran along the railing as she moved to descend, following the gangways and walkways around, towards the stairs. As she walked, she never took her eyes off him. Regarding him curiously, just waiting for him to try something. Waiting to see his reaction. Besides, he seemed to know plenty about this place.

"What is this place?" she asked, her gentle voice carrying in the cavern with an eerie certainty. "The outer layers seem much older than here. There is something here."

Power. Power. Power...

"This was once part of the old Empire," she said, remembering what the other Sith had told her of the so-called 'Great' Empire. Full of decadence. Riven with strife. Turgid, overblown, weak. "Were you?"

Dalos Cameron

 

[The Human]

Ziost​

Personal Equipment: Force Armour and Mask, Two Lightsabers (x) (x)
TAG: Astrea

Acoylte? What in the world was someone untrained possibly this far out in the galaxy? Well, then again, he was almost as equally untrained in the Force though had more of the ability to wing it as one could say. While his eyes trailed her movements for a moment, he soon cast them away to look towards the containers again. One labeled as lightsabers had another set of passwords, only this time it had an imprint function which made his brow raise. At the very least, from just looking at it, he had at least somewhat of a human hand, at the very least eliminating any strange species he could have been. Tapping at the console, it would reject him as he did not have the proper fingerprint to scan on and was simply defeated, by technology older than he was right now.

"Just once, can something of technology just work with me?

Then he heard her eerie, gentle voice, asking what the place was. His memories flooded with something rather old, he had felt like this question had not only been asked before, but he could feel that his life was here for an important moment long ago. When she spoke of an old Empire, Dalos was walking towards one of the nearby desks, feeling that part of his life was related to a certain moment. Hearing if he was once part of this great Empire, Dalos gently touched the desk and brushed the dust off, speaking in a more curious voice than anything else.

"I do not believe so, my memories...are in this singular area. I been drawn to this area since I found out about this planet...I just cannot understand really why. I done something here, long ago and-"

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"Come on Enforcer, we have much to do."
"Please slow down, this is not a race!"

Reaching towards the bottom of the old stairs, he noticed flickering lights all around and multiple containers lining against the area with some entrances around them with hanging lights. At the bottom, his accomplice jumped up onto the desk as the darkness shrouded the area, only the visibility of yellow eyes and a wicked grin.

"Oh? I thought your species enjoyed dark climates like this...thought you be home in this."
"I was not born in caves, remember? I seen the Sun more than I saw the Darkness. That my desk you are deciding to sit on?"
"Yes it is. There is no chairs, could not get the requisition forms for them so...wherever I can sit, I am sitting on."
"Perhaps I should conv-"

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Dalos had been standing in one spot for several seconds, his mouth hanging open. Memories had assaulted his mind once more, the Human lost in a sea of thought until his eyes started to return to their normal size. Glancing quickly side to side, he breathed out and looked towards the desk again as he spoke out loud, figuring a few things out.

"I was here with someone...a woman. We had to get authorization to come into this place...I am not familiar with the robe designs we were wearing, they were red and black but had some form of steel interlaid with them. I may been...intimate with this woman. I did not see any form of true conclusion but, the two places...there and there, had lights over them. We began our search in those areas, the lights either been removed or fallen off from time...my mind at least can say one of the areas in Sith...Natura an Kuts, meant Life to Death. Perhaps the rise and fall? "

Pointing at two of the entrances from afar, he noted one of the entrances as his mind remembered the name and kept pointing at that one for a brief time before lowering it. Leaning onto the desk, he rubbed his forehead as he felt exhausted for a few moments. Memory trips often caused a bit of exhaustion when it involved someone emotionally, he could always tell as his heart felt like tearing into pieces. Shaking his head, he merely glanced at Astrea as if for input, he seemed rather lost at the moment.