Private The Price of Expertise

[Anet Raine]

Anet paused as Anathemous walked away. It wasn't until the Sith Lord was nearly out the door that the sound of Anet's hurried packing reached her ears, followed shortly by quick steps until they were caught up in the hallway.

A man coughed in a corner and averted his gaze as if to avoid the attention of monsters.

"Wait!" She called out.

Her first instinct was to touch the woman's shoulder - only for her to remember that cold aura she felt minutes ago. Blue fingers recoiled into a fist before finding comfort as they wrapped around the strap of her backpack.

"We'll want to take my ship... It is registered with Shey Tapani... so it will be in their records, too."

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

Anathemous smiled as they walked. Thin, controlled, but victorious.

"Good girl." she said, only loud enough for the two of them.

Her hood was pulled up as they walked, and gloves pulled from her belt, slipped over flexing, blackened fingers. Each step was heavy, too heavy against the deck.

"I will send my droids to guard your laboratory while we're gone, or bring it with, if you wish."

Already she was delivering them orders through a hardlight display on her armored gauntlet.

"Guard these coordinates. Make sure none but my associate here enter."

A low "roger roger." came from the other end before the feed vanished.

"You'll be rewarded of course, handsomely, if you prove useful."

​

 

[Anet Raine]

"Good girl." she said, only loud enough for the two of them.

Anet stopped in the middle of a narrow passage towards one of the main hallways.

"Excuse me?" She did not hide the annoyance in her voice.

The historian grumbled and carried on, "My lab doesn't need protecting. I spend most of my time at dig sites, and I haven't had any issues."

She was unaware of the fact that it was the aura of uneasiness that emanated from the room, or the fact that she seemed largely unaffected by it, which was strange in and of itself for someone untrained in the Force.

The Sith Lord barked orders anyway, causing Anet to grumble and mutter something under her breath.

"You'll be rewarded of course, handsomely, if you prove useful."

'Wait... Was that to me or the droid?!' She thought.

Anet led them through the station concourse, where thousands of bodies moved like herds, until they reached a small docking bay. Inside was a Pathfinder-class scout ship, since refurbished into a long-range shuttle. It wasn't a looker, but it was renowned for its reliability and easy handling.

The interior was fairly cramped with only two seats in the cockpit, one right behind the other. Adjacent to the cargo area was a small living space, a pair of bunkbeds, a refresher, and a small area for sitting or eating.

The cockpit was decorated with trinkets and tracings. Anet took her seat in the back, which rested higher than the co-pilot's chair in the front. Neither was comfortable - both needed replacing.

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

"Oh, but it does." she sighed.

"You have what I can only assume is a Sith holocron, that cube-like device on the shelf." again, whispers between just them.

"I can feel a dark aura surrounding that room. The fact you're unbothered is impressive, actually."

The sith allowed Anet to take the lead—guide rather—towards the ship. All the while kept an eye on her, observed the way she walked, her reactions, her figure for a time. This one was fun to play with, and she enjoyed the brief spikes of dark energy whenever she was annoyed. In time though, she hoped to develop her power in other ways.

A soul corrupted was light snuffed, after all.

"My guess is you've just never run into a thief who knew what he was looking at." she returned to the topic.

"And I think after handling so many artifacts, they've rubbed off on you."

"You're already one step there~" she hummed, climbing into the ship.

​

 

[Anet Raine]

"A sith holocron?" She wondered.

"If it is..."

Anet cut herself off. She had no reason to trust this woman - especially if she really was a Sith - and wasn't sure how much she should reveal just yet. Suffice to say, from the historian's reaction, there might've been more to the holocron's story.

Besides, Anet was more interested in what the woman said after that.

"Dark Aura? And how is it supposed to bother me? It's always been alleged that the Sith left curses in their temples and tombs. Terrible beasts, dark retalations, spells - Sith sorcery - but I've yet to come across anything like that..."

She never had a chance to prove the point. Anet worked alone, relying on droid workers for anything she couldn't do on her own. For one, she preferred it that way, and two, it was a controversial subject matter to say the least. As far as most scholars were concerned, it was closed and shut. To be avoided.

"And how do I know you're not the thief? How do I know this isn't some elaborate ploy for your droids to rob me? After all... If you are what you say you are," She said as they entered the ship.

The historian couldn't help but internalize the idea that maybe these artifacts were more than a lens into the past, that they somehow carried an echo of what they were into the present, even after all these centuries. The thought that somehow they were 'rubbing off on her' was a cryptic suggestion to say the least, but one Anet was smart enough to chew in circles and get to the bottom of several frightening possibilities.

She had heard of treasure hunters and even other scholars allegedly going mad after encounters in Sith ruins. So why not her?

"You're already one step there~" she hummed, climbing into the ship.

Anet looked over her shoulder with narrow eyes at the tone and climbed into her seat.

After performing her pre-flight checks, the starship defied gravity and began to glide beyond the energy barrier that separated the station from vacuum. The needle-like scoutship soared where the bulkier mining vessels crawled. They even received a warning from flight control to slow their speed - Anet ignored it.

The ship entered hyperspace calculations, and the near-human glanced down at the hooded woman seated in front and below her.

"So... If you're a Sith, why do you need my help?"

There was doubt in the question, though perhaps unclear as to which of them it was directed.

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

"Hmh." she laughed again.

"If I wanted to rob you..." she leaned in, just long enough to be heard, just close enough to feel.

"...You'd be powerless to stop me..."

Then passed just as quickly, finally leaving that regal pose as she took the co-pilot's seat. It squeaked and rattled under her weight, but the sith seemed used to it. As did she to the controls, starting various systems to make the pilot's life a little easier as they took off.

"So relax," she gestured while doing so "You're breathing and your things are safe. Obviously I did not come to hurt you."

"So... If you're a Sith, why do you need my help?"

"That is the better question to ask." she said, leaning forward to watch the stars.

"I study the ways of Sith, Rhand, Nightsisters, dark side cults one and all."

"In my pursuit of power, Zeffo has..." she sighed "...fallen to the wayside of my education."


"I learned from many masters," Kaila repeated.

"And from them I have learned that a master is forever a student of new studies."

Finally the woman turned, regarding the pilot over her broad shoulder.

"...I need an expert..."

​

 

[Anet Raine]

Anet felt mostly embarrassed by the woman's retort. A mixture of fear, certainly, but she caught on fast that this Sith wasn't... What she expected her to be. Though no small part of her wondered how much of that was a mask - how quickly things could turn ugly if only the woman deigned.

As answers turned to her other question, Anet was most intrigued.

"That is... Quite the collection," she wasn't sure how else to put it. "I trust whatever you learned about the Rhand was more useful than their actual beliefs?

"Impressive and terrifying, I am sure, but their intelligence..." She stopped herself there. Unsure how the Sith Lord might take it.

Finally the woman turned, regarding the pilot over her broad shoulder.

"...I need an expert..."

She allowed herself much smug satisfaction. If there was anything Anet prided herself on...

The Pathfinder made the jump to lightspeed - there wasn't a direct route to Lorrd from Bonadan. As was the case with most systems out here, they would need to detour through a more popular jump point. After some time for travel, they arrived in the Thule system. The namesake world was well within view, though tiny.

It would take several minutes for the hyperdrive to cycle for another jump. Looking down at the Sith world, Anet saw an opportunity to not only share her expertise but test the truth of this woman as well.

"Though many prize Korriban and Ziost as the heart and head of the Old Sith Empire, I dare say Thule was always more important. A fortress world that many Sith Empires, cults, and resurgencies have utilized... often on the sly.

"Records claim that terrible weapons lie beneath the crust, in hidden temples, waiting to be activated again. Any world that would be so well-guarded has to be more important than abandoned tomb worlds, don't you think?"

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

"I found them both fascination and disappointing..." she admitted, with almost a growl more than a sight.

Why Lirka Ka seemed so frightened of Rhand that day, she'd never know, but Kaila hoped that was not an ill omen she'd underestimated. No, thinking on it, she really ought to pay the Perann Nebula a visit sometime, just to be sure...

The ship lurched into realspace, jolting the woman from her thoughts.

"Is that...?" it was. "Mm."

Kaila hummed at the confirmation that she was looking at Thule. She leaned forward again, fingers steepled, chin resting atop them. Anet seemed fairly knowledgeable about Thule's past, though there were some gaps in the recent descriptors, she thought.

"You speak of the Dark Reaper." she said, almost bored.

"They've been trying to find it for ages. I'm not sure they ever will."

"You're right though, it's quite important. Many credit the survival of our order to that world's oft hidden nature."

"So important, actually, the Banites allowed it's populace to know of their existence."

The only practical thing they'd ever done, she thought.

"But you're wrong about Korriban." her finger raised.

"It is far from abandoned. Darth Caedes is king of that land, and recently marched it's dead host to war."

"Jen'ari, they're called." she said, closing her eyes, remembering that day with Revna Marr .

A faint smile.

"And they are magnificent."

​

 

[Anet Raine]

Anet was rather pleased by Anathemous's knowledge.

She also found herself intrigued again, this time as the Sith explained the current state of Korriban. She was aware that the current Sith Empire ruled that sector of space, but for someone like Anet... someone who studied the ancient Sith with an almost obsessive attention to detail... it was difficult for her to believe they could truly be Sith.

How could they compare to the lofty empires of old, the days of Naga Sadow, Tulak Hord... And the Jen'ari? Invoking the name of Ajunta Pall... The historian practically radiated with anger.

It didn't help what happened next.

Two heavy starfighters appeared on the sensors, and they closed in fast. One hailed their comms.

"Attention undeclared vessel, this is System Authority. Your transponder is off - this is a violation of section 35 Aurek dash Esk. By the authority of the Mandalorian Empire, you will submit to an inspection. Prepare to be boarded."

Anet let out a frustrated groan. "Chaos! I don't have time for this..."

Darth Anathemous would be able to monitor the near-human's actions on the co-pilot display. All power diverted from shields to the engines.

"Hold onto something."

A few seconds later, she slammed the accelerator. Although refurbished, the Pathfinder was still a scout vessel of considerable speed as it entered a full burn. The heavy starfighters struggled to keep up, and Anet scrambled to finish the calculations.

"Fuck!" She exclaimed as the ship finally made its jump.

Anet sighed as soon as they were under the glow of hyperspace once more.

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

Well now she's just weird, Kaila thought.

Satisfaction, then anger, the force felt as though a switch being flicked back and forth. Her eyes widened when another set of emotions joined the fray.

"Attention undeclared vessel, this is System Authority. Your transponder is off - this is a violation of section 35 Aurek dash Esk. By the authority of the Mandalorian Empire, you will submit to an inspection. Prepare to be boarded."

Anet let out a frustrated groan. "Chaos! I don't have time for this..."

She closed them just a moment, the air growing subtly cooler as her senses expanded outward like icy tendrils.

"Two lifeforms... two fighters."

"Hold onto something."

"Wha-"

Kaila was slammed into the back of her seat, which groaned under the weight. It actually made the young Darth flinch, until the ship entered hyperspace and G-force released it's pull. She glanced to her left, realizing the thing she'd grabbed onto was Anet's boot. She let go with a sigh that could've been a growl.

The sith leaned forward again, running gloved fingers across her golden scalp.

"Where..." she groaned, but not in pain, not physical, at least.

"Where the hell did you send us to so quickly...?"

She pulled up the navigational display, trying to figure out where they were headed.

All the while she held her arms close to the chest, as though warding a cold that did not exist.

​

 

[Anet Raine]

The scholar seethed with anger, "I am sick of those volatile ingrates! If the Alliance wasn't tearing itself apart, they ought to send a fleet in and extinguish the problem altogether!"

She was ready to blow it until Anathemous's 'growl-sigh' as she released Anet's boot... earned a smirk from the latter.

Her tone was suddenly much calmer. "We're headed for Lorrd, as intended. I may've been a little hurried..."

Anet pulled up her own charts to double-check, but sure enough, they were on the right course. Perhaps a bit amateurishly, but the risk of catastrophic destruction was very low... between 1 and 1.5% - still a chance they might die.

"We did end up on the longer end of the timescale, though. It'll be a while."

Pale blue eyes glanced down.

"Are you okay?"

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

"...my master tried already..." she muttered.

The anger should have pleased her, watching Anet slip further down the dark path. She didn't notice, glowing eyes tracked the data feed with predatory focus. Deliberate, distracting focus.

"Are you okay?"

Kaila did not answer, not at first.

She continued to glance at the list of potential stops, seemingly mouthing the names of various planets, hyperlanes and shadowports along the way, but not any order, and not with any interest. It was just there, and it was just something else besides here.

She blinked once, then twice, as the words processed.

A glance thrown over her shoulder, at a question she'd never been asked before.

"I..." she quickly looked away.

"I don't like starfighers." she confessed, sounding confused that she'd even answered.

"I don't like starfighters..."​

​

 

[Anet Raine]

This was... unexpected. Anet wasn't sure how to respond.

In the short succession of moments she had met and known her, Anathemous had the opposite power imbalance. She immediately recognized the signs of PTSD, being an academic - a worldly one at that - offered a certain awareness.

Anet sensed the Sith Lord's fear. Her actions to get them into hyperspace so quickly had incidentally summoned 'supernatural' aid, and it seemed that connection lingered. It was a terrible experience. That fear overwhelmed and filled her with a sense of dread, yet the sympathy in her washed it away.

Despite a shaky voice. "You're okay... The starfighters are gone. We are in hyperspace. They can't get us here."

There was no point staying in the chair. Anet swiveled out of it and gently stepped onto the grated metal floor so as not to startle the woman.

"I'll make us some caf in the back, okay? Come find me there when you're feeling better."

The pale blue woman sauntered into the back.

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

"Yes..." she breathed "yes, of course."

She scratched the back of her neck, at the base of her skull, and unbeknownst to Anet unless she was looking very closely, traced the scars where her old implant had been removed from beneath her hair. She never wanted to interface with another starfighter again. She didn't want to even experience that kind of G-force again, and she hardly wanted to be in this cockpit. It was only tolerable because it reminded Kaila of her starcourier more than that thing.

"I'll make us some caf in the back, okay? Come find me there when you're feeling better."

She blinked, threw a glance over her shoulder, but never answered.

This was kinder than she'd expected, even if she could feel fear on the air still. Not just her own, it seemed. By the time she processed it all, Anet was already gone.

And only when she was gone did Kaila release a shaky breath.

She quickly flicked through a few switches, running diagnostics, searching for damage. The engines especially, that was not a mistake she wanted to make again. She nodded slowly when all systems reported normal.

After a time she slowly stood, pulling her collar tighter, and went to find Anet.

​

 

[Anet Raine]

Anet was busy fiddling with an all-in-one Caf maker she 'borrowed' from the University. The device looked worn and was stained with the remnants of untold Caf cups gone by, and smelled strongly of the stuff. She filled it with distilled water, added the grounds, and waited for it to cook.

The space they were in wasn't very comfortable at all. It barely fit two people as it is - it was kind of a headscratcher as to how the vessel might fit a crew of four, but the life of a spacer wasn't always easy.

To the Caf maker's credit, it only took a matter of seconds to do the job, and beeped as soon as the Sith entered.

Anet poured one cup and looked over her shoulder. "I don't keep sweetener or anything."

She offered the hot cup, then poured her own.

The historian leaned against a wall and blew on her drink. There was still a wariness to her expression, and she tapped the cup like a nervous tic.

"Not everyone likes to fly..."

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

"Thank you." she said softly, genuinely.

Kaila took her caf in both hands, pressing it to her lips. Though steam rolled off her tongue, the young Darth seemed unaffected by the heat. She seemed more affected by the bitter taste really, lips twisting bitterly as though the warrior was somehow unused to drinks without sugar.

Still she continued to sip, leaning back against the wall not unlike Anet.

"Not everyone likes to fly..."

She took a glance over the rim of her cup, and a longer sip than before, giving her some silence with which to think.

It couldn't hurt, she supposed, to talk a little. She had this woman at a disadvantage, and it was increasingly clear she could do nothing to hurt to the dark lord.

"...I was shot down over Brosi, a few weeks ago..." she admitted quietly.

"It's... it's different, you know... up there, among the stars, I'm just like everyone else."

"Like you, perhaps."

Another sip, slower, grounding.

"I've not felt that way in a very long time."

​

 

[Anet Raine]

Anet wasn't familiar with Brosi, but she imagined it was some kind of conflict given the way this woman talked about it.

The thought that Anathemous felt as vulnerable as her, up here in the stars, it was...

"I never thought a Sith to experience such fears."

It was a kneejerk statement, and her tone mirrored earlier skepticism about the woman's 'Sithness'. She took a sip of her caf and did anything but make eye contact with Anathemous.

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

"Hrmh..." the force rippled in anticipation.

But her narrowed eyes never lifted from the caf.

"Fear is... like iron," she explained.

"It comes from deep within, useless and dirty. But put through the crucible? it becomes hate."

"Both valuable materials, when harnessed correctly."

Another sip, then a shift. She pushed off the wall, holding the cup behind her back as she re-assumed that regal posture. She was approaching, slow, wolf-like.

"I sense much fear in you."

​

 

[Anet Raine]

"Of course I'm afraid," she said with a bite.

"I am accompanied by a Sith who has revealed so little, and yet acts with certainty that she belongs... when you grabbed Sallow's lightsaber through the Force... when you talked over me and ordered your droids to guard my lab... more than once now you've mentioned how I feel."

Her nails scratched against the hot cup. "Do you know me so well that you get to thank me one moment, then weigh my potential the next? I know what Sith are - I know what they... what you do." Anet spoke with such unguarded envy and annoyance.

The Force swelled in the room. The lights began to dim. Anet's anger was self-evident in expression and the Force. Nails still scratched the cup, loudly, causing her finger tips to bleed, and then she crushed the plasteel cup in her hand. It was an accident, judging by her visible shock and a pained gasp as hot liquid burned her hand.

"Fuck!"

The scholar fell to a crawl just as suddenly. Her whole body felt heavy... or weak... she didn't know which. When she turned her gaze back to Anathemous, she was shaking - that fear dripped off of her.

"What do you want?!" Anet snapped angrily. "I hate being left in the dark, I hate not knowing! Tell me!!!"

Her tone quieted. Somewhere between a whimper and a whisper, though what she said was inaudible. For herself alone, perhaps.

Darth Anathemous

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Anet Raine

So she had some spine.

Anathemous did not stop her approach.

She soaked in the anger and fear both, let it invigorate her. The envy though, it tasted sweetest. When the light flickered in and out, the fiery glow in her eye only seemed brighter for it. Even as Anet's fingers bled, the intensity did not ease, it only invited the dark lord in.

And gods was she in.

She stopped before the now crawling historian, glanced down at her burning hand. She... should have felt something for her. Kaila did, but it was muted under Anathemous' vicious cloak.

Instead she lowered herself again, and let it burn a moment longer.

"I want you to acknowledge what I am." she said, deceptively calm, but there was an edge to it.

"What you could be."

"But I still feel doubt in you." and she hated that doubt. Because it was directed at her.

And herself.

She reached out, grabbed her burnt hand. It would sting for a moment, undoubtedly, but a glimpse of Kaila shone through. Warmth spread from her fingertips like green fire, but it did not burn. It soaked into the woman's skin, comforted where fire should burn, and took her pain away as though it never happened at all.

Her other hand rose, a single finger under her chin.

"...I want to forge your fears, and doubts, into something new..."

Then a whispered breath;

"...I want to see the Sith in you bloom..."

​