The Legacy of an Emperor

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

Solan yawned as he sat back in the chair that lay in the cockpit of his personal freighter. It was an old G9 Rigger models, not too powerful and below the radar that should keep them left alone for a time until he found the specific ship he was looking for and that he would call the tow ships for. What that ship was one might ask? Well the answer was simple. The were after the Jagged Fel, a ship of distant memory to most of space and for a time his hands crossed in his lap as he looked over what he could recover about its history. Yaga Minor was his first shot at finding it, if he could find some form of record about it reaching the shipyards there or not that would be great. "Hey, Eula, you coming in here or am i taking off with you running around back there?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"You know, we could have taken my ship," Taeli said, clambering over to sit down next to him. Why she was helping Solan with this, she still couldn't fully say, but ever since Ruusan, she had been trying to prepare things for later. She kept her real presence masked, for now anyways, but still she certainly didn't look like a Sith right now. She was clad in a simple tunic and skirt, a pair of wire-rimmed glasses resting on her nose and a satchel bag hanging limply from her shoulder that she promptly set down next to her. If anything, she looked like an older graduate student now from a university, in a way, she was sort of going back to that. She just had a few new skills to go with it, and she had only brought her shoto saber, leaving her normal one behind to make sure no one would recognize her.

"It's an actual stealth ship, with a stygium cloak and everything," she continued, flicking her long hair over her shoulder. The opportunity to find a ship of some fame had been too tempting for her to past up, even if she was busy with other things. "And I've been wondering this for awhile, what bloody planet has these things called Eulas?"

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

Solan smiled as he looked at her over his shoulder. Unlike her he was hiding nothing about who he was, the scythe leaning against one of teh walls where it was secured by magnalocks and his hands burned as he had been letting them heal naturally and then would patch up the damaged skin after. His eyes remained their still golden color from his darkside corruption though now the corruption no longer ran as deeply and his face remained clear of its damaging marks. His hair was actually in decent shape and he smiled wider when the question came. "I don't know, a voice in my head said this sounded right... Though if you must persist, i could call you by the name Ibis, its a name of a creature whose wisdom is sought after on some planet that never stops snowing. Ill bring you there some time. And no, its not Hoth."

His head turned back as he spoke. "As for your ship, its also recognizable. Today we are simple historians and salvagers and what better a ship than a junker like this. Took me forever to get it up and running but now it runs as well as the day it was made. You've worked on ships enough to know what its like, ehh Ibis?" He smiled as he already switched her nickname on a dime and with a short pause he resumed talking after. "Also, the glasses look good on you, if i didn't know you were a sith i might actually consider asking you out on a date. But alas, mortal enemy and what not." He turned his head like he said nothing, his hands working to get the ship moving into hyperspace and towards Yaga Minor.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"Fair point about the ship," Taeli sighed, pushing the glasses up a little. She really needed to get them refitted, maybe she would deal with that when they got back. "An Ibis? Yet another creature that is probably from some far flung world that no one has ever heard of."

She ignored the comment about how he would ask her out on a date, but then . . . maybe she could surprise him a bit. No one else was around after all, so maybe she could show him something.

"Not so much a Sith any longer," she said, a small half smile on her lips as she let her real presence come to the surface for a bit. Her new light side aura expanded a bit before she placed her shell of darkness over it again. "Some things have changed, and while I might be a part of the Sith right now as a faction, well . . . I wouldn't say that will last much longer once I get everything sorted."

"Anywho," she said with a laugh. "Yaga Minor is our first stop for a ship that disappeared soon after the Battle of Coruscant against the original One Sith. I suspect it's going to be a merry search for this ship."

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

He looked at her as she revealed the presence to him and he raised a brow as he thought about ti before simply shrugging and speaking. "Considering you just told me something that i warned you stopped me from asking you out, you know i cant just leave that bait hanging there." He smiled as he implied his going to ask her out now some time in the future but for now he had business to attend to and it would have to wait before he took that bait so readily.

"The Jagged Fel, a Pellaeon class Star Destroyer that fought in the battle of Coruscant and should have returned to Yaga Minor for repairs. Consiering the fact that not one person has made a claim on the ship's findings i assume it was either A: sent elsewhere or B: destroyed. Our first stop is to Yaga Minor where Deception will give me a look at the Shipyard's oldest records. The old imperial shipyards that is as some are still in disrepair and its likely to take some time in restoring the systems. So i do hope you brought a book to read."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"You can certainly try, of course," she replied with a wink, deciding two could play this game. "Anywho, yes, that is the perfect first stop since that was, other than Bastion, the primary shipyard and stronghold for Roan Fel's Empire-in-Exile."

Finding the ship, or even just the schematics for the Pellaeon would be a true coup, a warship like that might make for a significant advancement for Krayt . . . or whatever she decided to rename the company once they were fully established elsewhere.

"If it was destroyed, the schematics for the ship class would be the next best option for us to recover," she continued. "I suspect that it wasn't destroyed though, considering the Imperious is now a part of the Sith fleet. Probably ended up in some pirate's hands once the Gulag Virus hit and has traded hands ever since."

Yaga Minor would still be the best place to start though, so she twiddled her thumbs while she waited for him to make the jump to lightspeed.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"If such a notable ship had fallen into pirate or salvager hands i can assure you that is something i would have come across... no i suspect it made it to the shipyards and was repaired. Why it vanished i can't say and thats what im hoping the shipyards tell us. Worse comes to worse, it crashed onto Yaga Minor itself and we have to cart away what we can..." He tapped his hands and looked at her with a smile. "Another ship im curious on is something in that brain of yours called the Dragon Class Star Destroyer, perhaps we can talk about that later and see what comes of looking over its schematics in making a newer version of the great Sith weapon."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"I don't know if you would have heard about it though, you generally don't give criminals much time to talk beyond screams," Taeli quipped. And then he mentioned the Dragon ships from Krayt's old empire and wanting to do something based on those. Force almighty, this guy really wanted to build a powerful war fleet.

"I wouldn't be opposed to looking over the Dragon ships' schematics and developing something based on those . . . but as you said, that would be a conversation for another time," she continued saying, still waiting for them to actually jump to hyperspace. It was going to be an interesting adventure, she just had a feeling she was getting herself into shenanigans.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"True, but i get them to talk first and if not i pull the information from their minds by force, you would be surprised how many criminals never expect to leave up mental barriers against something like that." He looked up at the view infront of him and began to push in the coordinates that would lead to the planet in question. "What ive been looking over is a certain technology that i had gotten my hands on that very few people used. Masers, weapons of great kinetic force yet still made of tthe same thermal energy that could lead to high damage. Ive been curious what would stop them though, ray shielding or particle shielding... you don't happen to know do you." He smiled and turned his eyes on her as he sat there and stared at the woman while he asked his question and the ship moved through the tunnel that was hyperspace.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"Masers? Like what the Chiss use?" Taeli asked, tapping her chin. "They act much like turbolaser, but they have a bit more kick to them so shields collapse faster and they do far more damage when they tear into a hull. If one had to protect against them well, they would need both layers of shields. One would probably collapse rather quickly, especially given modern shield tech doesn't account for masers. You would need to develop brand shielding tech to counter them efficiently."

And, there went her mind as it started to ponder that. Her fingers were halfway to her datapad, her brow scrunched up in thought when she stopped herself.

"Sorry, my mind is trying to get me to write down ideas and that would be rude to do right now," she said apologetically.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

He watched her run off on a train of thought about Masers and couldn't help but laugh to himself as he spoke to her and watched the lines of hyperspace. "You forgot their potential against sabers, holding so much punch that it blow a saber out of someone's hands. I plan to adapt the tech to a hand held pistol and then use this for when i need an upperhand. I need a Terentek bone grip though before i go about adapting the technology. Don't one of our kind gripping at it without me being bale to shoot them full of it first. No?" He smiled at her as he showed his own understanding of the Technology. "So if it wasn't clear enough, rant on all you wish Ibis, i can promise you that it is something that i have done to others enough that i can take it."

His body leaned back as he looked looked up at the ceiling and smiled. "Oh, right. And i got the bow replaced, so say the word and i can annoy you once more." His eyes opened for half a second, both a taunt and a joke about his love for the instrument.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"Your playing of the violin didn't annoy me," she said, laughing a little. "But rant done besides they really aren't my kind anymore, Mr. Shade."

There was a teasing quality to her voice, it seemed turning back to a lighter side of herself had once again unlocked another side of herself she thought lost on that horrible day on Lorrd. The teasing and flirting side, the one that wasn't as nearly easy to anger or annoy. It felt . . . nice to be back to that when not in the company of her fellow Sith.

But were they really her fellow Sith now? She didn't really consider herself much of a Sith anymore. That fire had died away with everything that had happened in her life.

"So what else have you been up to beyond trying to hunt down this ship?" she asked, bringing out a datapad and typing away on it.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"Lets see... hitting on people, burning up my arms with napalm to the point they are scarred, dealing with the annoyance of a VIP thaat for some reason deserves to be protected. The Rebels certainly are taxing people." He sighed and leaned back before grabbing at his gloves and pulling them off slowly to reveal the intensive burns as he stared at the hands. "Used to be able to heal these and keep them healed. But the Darkside's version of the ability is only able to work as long as you can keep up the energy. Problem is that once you stop feeding the power energy, you lose all the healing properties so it took a rather large amount of bacta to heal it back to this point. I could have gone through the remainder of the healing in a tube but seeing as the nerves were fixed i can live with the pain. Past that i took over Kesh recently and returned to my home on Eclipstica for a bit.... You know. Romeo's kids are fatherless now... i met his daughter a while back." He looked at her, but wasn't accusing her of anything past something that now became clear. "You should visit her and apologize for what happened."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"I should," she whispered, nodding. Just one more thing for her to atone for, even if it had been a life or death struggle. "I'm trying to atone for everything that I did, which to be honest, is not much since I was never evil like my . . . colleagues." Colleagues was said with a hint of disgust in her voice. "I am truly sorry about Romeo, and I'll tell her that in the end, he died without anger or hate."

Taking a breath, she sighed it out and looked at the blue tunnel of hyperspace, before giving a sidelong glance at Solan.

"I was thinking about eventually learning Force Healing, just something that piqued my interest," she said, smiling now. "Might help if you have someone who can put up with your shenanigans who might, a teeny bit anyways, who would be willing to patch you back up after you blow yourself up again and again."

There was that teasing tone again.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"Oh, and who is it you are suggesting Lady Raaf? Hmm?" He grinned as he looked at her and slowly placed both hands behind his head, wincing for a moment as the skin was touched but eventually setting in and looking over at her with a curios look on his face. He wasn't sure if there was anything else to say, and as became of times like this he had nothing to say or anything to flirt about with her, he kind of just sat there and smiled as he imagined a violin in his hands and his fingers moved as if he was playing it absentmindedly, placing down fingers where notes would be.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"Oh just an offhand comment, take it as you will," Taeli said, smiling as she leaned back in the chair with her datapad. There was still so much to do for her plans, but they were coming along and soon she would be free to do what she really wanted. Looking over the assets and information on their target, mainly stories on the Pellaeon-class, she was having idea after idea.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him fiddling in the air as if playing his violin. Smiling a little more, she went back to what she was doing while they waited for the hyperspace jump to be done. One thing she did add was she started humming to herself, conducting with one hand while typing with the other.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"I see, i will take it as i wish dear Raaf." He smiled back and opened up his eyes just in tim to see her humming as she conducted an invisible orchestra with her one hand while the other continued to work and he spoke up as he started to laugh. "No no no Taeli, if you are going to relax you got to do so completely. Deception can fly the ship if anything happens during the hyperspace jump... here..." He smiled and started to stand up, going into the ships depths for a few moments.

It wouldn't take him long to find what he was looking for until finally he came back with the single most recognizable thing about Solan with the exception of his scythe. "Ever play a Violin before?" He grinned as the implication was clear, if she wanted to keep her hands moving it would be doing something that did not involve work. Hell, Deception could get him from here to Yaga Minor and then to Endor with its eyes closed... or what ever qualifies for a Virtual Intelligence's eyes that is. "Well?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"I've dabbled here or there," she replied, taking the offered violin and setting her datapad down. Setting the violin in place, she took the bow and slowly slid it across to elicit one beautiful note.

"Sorry if I'm a little rusty, I haven't touched a violin since college," she said, a small smile on her lips. Drawing the bow across, she started to play a slow and light song, something that would remind someone of a Naboo spring rain. She had been in the orchestra in college, and the choir, but almost no one knew that, not even her sister. It was a hobby of hers, music, and one that she hadn't had time to pursue as a Sith.

Still, always good to get back in practice, she thought, playing the song. It was a long trip to Yaga Minor after all.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

He smiled and turned to look at the holographic projection that was Deception, saying not a word though his hand moved to signal him to keep on course and be careful. Solan didn't need to be shot down midway there and so he leaned back and stared up at the ceiling of the cockpit, the music flowing like a river as its notes sounded clear in the confined space. Reverberating and echoing yet still sounding no more perfect than they would anywhere else. He loved the sound of it, like a soft voice or a weeping creature, beautiful and sad, or sometimes rapid and powerful. The instrument was a varying and adaptable as its users and Solan would never trade it for near anything.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

As she finished the song, she smiled sheepishly and took the violin off her shoulder to hold.

"Sorry, I guess I'm still pretty rusty with it," Taeli said, looking over at her datapad and using the Force to press a few keys to log a note away. "How did it sound?"

She was curious as she wanted to keep practicing and they had time before Yaga Minor still, not much, but some.