Private The Old Paths

[Voph DeVylen]

Two weeks. Travel time. Not a lie directly. Not intentionally.

He'd be a day or two late. Not that such a thing would be new and exciting. It was one of the deepest character flaws his wife had come to expect from him. Once Voph caught a scent, he wasn't eager to let it rest. And caught a scent he had.

He'd parted ways with his son on Odessen, and now set out on his own to cover the Old Paths. Back to where it'd all started. The Tyrant emerged from hyperspace a ways from Commenori sensor range. Not that Voph was trying to remain undetected. But old habits die hard. He stared blindly ahead as the sapphire sphere slowly filled his viewscreen. In spite of everything, he couldn't forget that horrible moment. The gasping for breath, the sound of a medical sensor going critical in the background. The pressure in his head as the panic consumed him. The realization that he was alone in the galaxy. All his work for nothing, all his sacrifice meaningless.

The planet below had been his first step into a new world. Fitting, then, that it was the place his search would begin. Voph stirred from his memories only to pull the ship into a wide arc. Commenor was not his goal. Not today. His trajectory settled on the moon of Brelor. Upon a time, it had been a favored vacation destination in the galaxy at large. The first place he'd called home since...

He drew a breath. Since Siegebreaker. A wave of nostalgia crashed over him, but such was a thing he could not afford to dwell upon in the moment. He guided the Tyrant down to the surface, transmitting his typical IFF codes and obtaining all proper clearances.

Name: Tyrant of Hunger
Pilot: Darth Voph
Affiliation: Null
Purpose: Private
Authorization: REDACTED

In, Out, and Gone before any of these reckless upstarts had a chance to cause problems. Not that he feared the Sith. But he knew their ways better than most. Such was his business.

Things certainly had changed, Voph thought. The coordinates led to a patch of wilderness that was overgrown with no signs of civilization. Not surprising, since that had been fifty years ago. And still, old habits died hard. Voph pulled the ship down to a nearby clearing, and set down. As he stood to depart the ship, he could already feel the hairs standing on the back of his neck. Someone was coming to investigate. As anyone could expect. He pulled his faceless helmet down over his head. If not the name, the title certainly drew attention from any Sith. Particularly from a nation that hadn't existed when last Darth Voph graced this planet...
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Lily Rhodes

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[Lily Rhodes]

Tags: Voph DeVylen​

Vess had deliberately chosen their place on Commenor for its location, far enough out in the sticks that the danger of them ever being disturbed was minimal, that the two of them could enjoy the quiet and each others company without the dark reminder of whatever the Covenants next move might have in store for them, or more importantly, what Arris’s next move might have.

Because that was the only reason Lily had stayed, for better or worse, she was here because it had been Arris that had extended the hand.

Vess was out, having been pulled away for some one on one time with the cyborg which Lily was fine with, though everytime they were apart it left something hollow in her chest. She’d been sat on the patio, legs tucked beneath her nose deep into a book when the ship passed overhead and made her jump, the caff in her hand sloshing everywhere, staining the book pages and the blanket covering her lap which she promptly threw off before the liquid could seep through and scald her.

Muttering curses under her breath she set the cup and the book on the bistro table and rose, peering between the trees to see where the ship had gone. No one ever came out here…so what were they doing out here? She watched it lower a few clicks away, sinking out of sight beneath the trees and began to chew the inside of her lip.

It could be nothing.

It could also be something.

As insignificant as Commenor was in the Covenant’s grand scheme of things, it was still within the Covenant’s borders.

Lily ducked back inside the house, snatching up the lightsaber from the countertop where she’d left it, slipping it to her belt and grabbed her jacket off the back of a chair, pulling it on as she stepped back outside. It wasn’t far, but distance had stopped being a problem for her. The force folded around her and she left the cottage behind, teleporting just shy of where the ship had landed, her sudden appearance spooking a deer that bolted through the underbrush away from her. Lily ducked low and crept towards the clearing edge and the lowering whine of a ship powering down.

 

[Voph DeVylen]

Voph stepped out into the cool morning air, his helmet angled upwards to look at the trees around him. The man now stood encased in his armor; old, weathered plates with the occasional hint of some eldritch rune from a bygone language. The dark cloak that hung from his shoulders was old and tattered, mended time after time against the inevitable decay of Entropy.

Perhaps the most notable feature of the man's apperance was the weaponry. Seeing a lightsaber upon his belt came as no surprise. The three others complimenting it were a rare sight. A saber staff hung from his shoulder, and twin Shotos with curved hilts hung to his left hip. Upon his right? A greatsaber. One that lacked the polish and sheen of the others. His supplemental sabers were new. Pristine. Flawless. The greatsaber had hardly known peace for decades. Old. Worn. Chipped finish. Dull coloration. This was a weapon that had seen an impressive amount of use.

The man almost seemed lost in thought, so motionless did he stand. The only signs that he were not a statue were his cloak and faulds stirring with the wind. The only sound he made was the soft hissing and clicking of an onboard rebreather. The faceless helmet did not turn, yet the modulated voice rang out across the clearing.

"If you've come to gawk, do it quietly. If you've come to fight, leave before you get hurt."
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Lily Rhodes

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[Lily Rhodes]

Tags: Voph DeVylen​

Lily’s eyes moved over the armoured figure, obsidian plates glinting in the early morning sun, detached in places with runes she didn’t recognised and scarred from battles. If the armour wasn’t enough of a warning, the weapons he carried should have been.

Lily counted four sabers, a couple of shorter curved shotos and staff on his back, this guy was either expecting trouble, or he was trouble. What in the hells was out here that someone needed to come in armed to the nines like that?

That should have been enough for Lily to call it a day and decide that she’d never seen him and let him be someone else’s problem. But curiosity was her greatest vice and his appearance raised so many questions that walking away simply wasn’t an option for her.

She shifted adjusted carefully, quietly in her hiding place, waiting to see where he was going.

Lily blinked.

How the fuck?

Her gaze dropped to the fangrawl tattoo on her arm then back to him. It wasn’t a foolproof method, stealth didn’t do much against sensors but she should have been small enough in the force to pass unnoticed for longer than that. She exhaled a sigh and stood up, dusting leaves from her trousers and stepping to the clearing edge resting her shoulder on the nearest tree.

“Pretty sure I was gawking quietly.” she replied dryly, eyes trailing over the ship's sleek darkened panels.

 

[Voph DeVylen]

Voph turned, the twin gleaming streaks of light along his face focusing on the girl now standing in the treeline. "Then you're wiser than most."

He reached into his belt, and withdrew a small probe droid of some kind. He tossed the device gently into the air, watching as it hovered for a moment, then it began to project. Stiff, angular walls began to form around them, projections of a mansion that once stood upon the grounds they currently occupied. The man watched for a moment, then tapped a series of buttons on his wrist. The image shifted to the left by nearly a meter. A satisfied huff slipped through the modulator attached to the helmet as the man turned back to the girl.

"Well?"

He didn't wait for a response. He turned, moving across the open ground until he pauses a few meters from where he began, head tilting to the side as he does. For all the world, he looked like a confused hound with his head angled so. After a moment, he took another step, then two more. Finally he knelt, a hand coming out to brush across the top of the grass. It pauses, and his fingers curl slightly as the sound of creaking metal fills the clearing.

Voph stopped, then reached up to clasp both sides of his helmet. A series of soft pops and snaps followed, and the seals disengaged as the helmet was removed. Voph attached it to his belt, turning his head back to the girl watching. Without his helmet, several things became obvious. He was old. Perhaps two, maybe three times the age of his observer. Greying stubble decorated his jawline, while his grey streaked black hair was pulled back into a loose knot at the back of his head. Most telling of all was the small plate of intricately carved bone resting upon his brow where his eyes should have been.

"I cannot decide. Curious child, or complicit informer?"
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Lily Rhodes

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[Lily Rhodes]

Tags: Voph DeVylen​

“Pretty sure no one has ever called me wise.” she replied. A wise person would have ignored the ship, got a new blanket and fresh cup of caff and carried on with their day and filed it under someone else’s problem. But Lily clearly decided that it was her problem to investigate.

She watched the droid fly up, pushing herself upright from the tree as it began to project what looked like a building, it was only then that Lily noticed them. They would have passed as rocks any other day, half buried in the ground and mottled by lichen and moss but the more she looked, the more foundation stones she noticed.

Well?

Was that an invitation? Hell she took it as one, now she was doubly curious, for the stranger and for whatever he had uncovered. She wondered if there were more places like this in the forests around the cottage. She followed, careful to keep distance enough that she was out of arms reach. She learned that lesson from Mercy .

Excitement skittered up her spine as he knelt, the distinct sound of metal cracking beneath his fingers filling the clearing. What was it? A hidden basement, a safety deposit box? Then he stopped and took off his helmet and Lily felt a jolt of impatience until he turned his gaze on her.

He was old, but that didn’t bother her half as much as the fact that there were no eyes to look at her, just an intricately carved piece of ivory settled over where they should be. Lily was fairly certain there were eyes behind it but she couldn't know for sure. It was deeply unsettling and she found herself fighting the urge to reach for his mind to get a gauge of his intent. People armed to the teeth generally didn’t approve of wily girls prodding in their brain, but no eyes made him harder to read. She began to chew the inside of her lip nervously.

She bit back the retort of ‘I’m not a child’ , people generally associated child with underestimation and she was definitely tired of being underestimated.

“Both, if the price is right.” she answered, folding her arms.

 

[Voph DeVylen]

Voph huffed quietly. Perhaps a gesture meant to imitate a laugh? "I did not say wise. Just wiser than most."

Voph stood, recalling the probe to him with a lifted hand. The holo image of the impressive structure vanished, leaving the pair once more standing in an empty clearing. He turned the probe over in his hands for a moment, as if inspecting it. His thoughts wandered to a time well before. A time long enough ago that his observers parents may not have even been born. "But let us assume the price is wrong. A curious child, then."

His blind face turned back towards her. "And one, I suspect, that would not be deterred by fantastical concepts such as logic and reason?"

The man's stoic face shifted as the ghost of a smirk graced his features for but a moment. A jest, perhaps? But his demeanor quickly returns to serious. His head canted to the side as he studied the girl. Young, perhaps the same as his eldest. LIkely impulsive and brash, same as any being of that age. Young, dumb, and ready to fight the galaxy. Maker knew he'd been no exception. How long had that been? Voph banished that thought almost immediately. "Since I can conclude with a good deal of certainty that you would be unwilling to listen to instruction to leave, I will instead ask you to keep your wits and blade about you. Maker only knows what horrors may await below."

The man turns back to the spot he'd knelt over and stretched out his hand, fingers clenching as a metal hatch ripped free of the undergrowth, revealing a darkened stair below. It was narrow and unadorned, the kind reserved for emergency purposes or maintanence access. He waited for a moment as if he expected something to leap at him from the shadows below. But nothing happened. Nothing but the call of distant birds and the buzz of local insects. Voph drew one of the shotos, a brilliant red blade springing to life as he ignited it. "Stay close, little one."
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Lily Rhodes

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[Lily Rhodes]

Tags: Voph DeVylen​

Lily had to remind herself that he was old, that the term child was literal in his eyes…or whatever he had beneath that bone mask. It was the same tone Velok would have used with her. She took a deep breath and let out an annoyed huff, not because he’d called her child, or quietly mocked the fact that any logical, reasonable person might have kept their distance and stayed away. It wasn’t even because he was making decisions for her within moments of them meeting.

It was because every single one of them was correct.

She absolutely was not about to leave when something mysterious lay beneath their feet, and even if she had, she would have come back later to investigate herself because curiosity was her greatest bane.

The sound of tearing metal and established grass roots was loud in the clearing and Lily was certain the noise had travelled, but whatever caution flare disappeared when she peered into the darkened staircase beneath them, a trill of excitement running up her spine. For a moment there was no movement, no new noise, just the hum of the forest around them.

Snap-hiss.

Lily's eyes lifted to the crimson shot he had ignited and then to his face, a grin flashing across her face as she drew her own saber, ready to follow him, her amber blade snapping to life in her hand.

“Lily.” she told him. “My name is Lily.”