The Resurgence

[Onrai]

[member="Maja Vern"]

"I did... I found my next wife after she had killed a villager. She was an energy vampire, and had no food whatsoever to enjoy - that was why I brought her in. She died too... After having our son, whom I have yet to name." He sighed, then turned and smirked at her. "I have awful luck, but you know what they say - third time's the charm." He leaned back drunkenly, thinking over what he could do in order to further impress her.

"You wanna see my sword?"

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja mused that this guy hadn’t had much luck in his life. No wonder he lived by himself. Everything he touched seemed to die or at least be troubled.

Third time’s the charm? She suppressed a smile. Not from where she was sitting it wasn’t. And the offer to see his sword. She was almost frightened to answer, given the heavy double-entendre, but she was a little merry, so went with the flow.

“Yeah, why not. Show me your sword.”

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

Over the main mantle piece he stepped, reaching into a primitive wooden box before pulling out a slightly curved Sith Sword, one that radiated the power of the Dark Side. "This weapon was forged many many years ago by a Sith Lord. His name, his purpose, I do not know. Or perhaps I merely care not to know... Regardless as to how one looks at it, I nearly used this weapon to kill the then-heir of the Shan force dynasty before being put into stasis and exorcised. The weapon has been mine for a long time." He put it back where it was, smiling.

"What about you? Do you have anything from your past like that?"

[member="Maja Vern"]

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja was certainly interested by the sword - and was mightily pleased it wasn't a euphemism. It radiated darkness and as such was highly valuable but also enticing. She could imagine many people trying to steal it once they knew of its existence.

"Me?" She was initially reticent to share but perhaps it was the wine talking as she opened up. "I have this." She unclipped her saber from her belt and exposed the two crystals. "One's just from a kinrath egg, but the other is special. At least to me. I'm still not sue if I found it or it found me, it seemed to help me as I sought it out. Even helped he evade a Jedi at one point. You see...it's Bane's Heart. Darth Bane gave it to Darth Zannah. It then travelled the galaxy and ended up in some odd places before I secured it. And now it answers to me."

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Maja Vern"]

"So you now wield influence over a Dark Side artifact of significant power... Intriguing." He nodded, staggering forward a bit. "Woah... I'm a bit tipsy." A laugh elicited from his lips as he shook his head once more, trying to regain stability. "I'm not a regular drinker, so I lack tolerance... How about you? You drink much?"

His mind fluttered about in several ways, working to continue his dialogue with the pretty lady.

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja shrugged. “I’m not sure who exerts power over who if I’m honest.” It was true. Sometimes she felt the influence of the crystal in guiding her actions. Not control. Definitely not control. But persuasion, certainly.

“Let’s just say we’re a team,” she decided – the drink had certainly gone to her head. “Nope, can’t say I drink often.” She spent most of her time alone, and so rarely drank alcohol. And when younger, she couldn’t afford it, so could not be considered a drinker by any stretch of the imagination.

She smiled. “So what kind of drunk are you? Happy, sad, argumentative? I’m…melancholy I think.”

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

"I... I dunno." He staggered forward, trying to get to a reasonable talking distance, but his legs seemed to be loathe to move in the direction he wanted them too. "This is, um... The first time I've ever gotten inebri-hic!" He tripped forward over his own two feet, falling towards the woman in question before looking up and carefully trying to arise back to a stable footing.

"You're... Really hot, I gotta say."

[member="Maja Vern"]

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja could never be described as a prude - but she normally expected some chemistry before committing herself to someone. And they seemed to have gone from discussing his dead wives to a rather clumsy inebriated pass.

And as much as she didn't want to offend him, she wasn't quite ready for this either. His intentions were clear and given the situation, not reciprocated.

"I...um...appreciate the compliment. You seem a...nice man yourself." And she put her drink down - determined not to touch another drop until the storm had passed.

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

"Tha... Thanks." He closed his eyes, trying to focus as best he could, to purge the alcohol from his system. In the small sobriety of his subconscious, he knew he had to start acting more rational... and when his eyes awoke, he gave a sterner glance. "...ugh. I need to never indulge in alcohol again. Sorry if I did anything stupid, Miss Vern..." He sat down in a wicker chair, trying to fully recompose himself. "There we go... I suppose we might as well see how good you are at what you do. I have a cache buried on this planet - some artifacts I want to keep to myself. Any chance your divining skills could point out where it is located?"

[member="Maja Vern"]

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja was pleased the conversation was turning to a more sensible level.

She sat back and listened and nodded. “Sure. Tell me whatever you can about them. What they look like, who owned them, their history. Anything and everything and then I can get to work. Sometimes it happens in a day, other times it takes a week. I simply get clues and then use a computer to cross-reference them until I have a location. But if I’m close, sometimes I can just see them. It’s not an exact science but it works every time.”

“So…what have you got?”

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

"Inside is a statue of the Panacaea, a sacred artifact of ancient Widek society, along with pottery shards made of fireproof clay unable to be manufactured by modern means." He nodded, trying to think of whatever else he could recollect. "That's really all I remember... It's been forever since I checked on the box."

Unfortunately, such was true. And if the Zahat found the chest...

[member="Maja Vern"]

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja closed her eyes and focused on what had been said. She was soon in a meditative state and the first images that flashed in her mind were star maps. After an hour or so she opened her eyes once more and made some notes before consulting star charts.

Her first effort was a dead-end. What she’d seen was the Farlax sector, including the Koornacht Cluster. Appraising the data said that the Widek system was part of the area – hence her vision. It wasn’t entirely a wasted effort but she hadn’t progressed as yet. But she’d learned patience and so bid her host farewell and returned to her ship. Here should would be able to sleep and work around the clock.

Three days later she had something concrete to work on and returned to meet Vitor.

“The thing you seek is no longer where you left it – at least that is what I am seeing. My visions are of a person. I believe his name is Tehaz-en. He has your statue and is displaying it as some totem of power. Does that sound feasible?”

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

"Why am I not surprised..." He brought a hand to his face, slowly running it down as he grimaced in agitation. "You have no idea how hard it was to acquire the Panacaea. I almost got crushed by a massive boulder. Not to mention the wide variety of other traps that were in there..." He shuddered, remembering the half-decayed skeletons of natives still mostly preserved on the spikes of a pit trap.

"It was utterly horrifying."

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja smiled. He sounded...squeamish. "Don't tell me, you'd like me to go with you and get it back?" She cocked her head to one side. There was something vulnerable about the man that was in some way appealing to her.

"So when do we start?" Mentally she'd already resigned herself to the fact she'd be going along. Anyway - she liked a challenge.

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

"I personally would prefer that you come with me... It would be useful if you were able to correlate locations and individuals to your visions." Such would prove itself far more ergonomic than going alone without her input.

"If you want to stay here, though, that's alright..."

 

[Darth Zilti]

"Nah," she said nonchalantly, "I'm up for the visit. You'd be best to point me in their general direction and I can pick up the scent from there." She tapped her nose. "Not literally of course, but my images will make more sense once we're local."

"So what's the best way to travel?

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

"I have a ship... Old Corellian freighter, YT class. It's been heavily modified, but it's still in good enough condition to fly people around the galaxy. You want to hop on board with me?" He smiled, preparing for a wonderful adventure - the ship was a far easier way to travel halfway across the planet than relying on a speeder bike, after all.

Not to mention he had company... company he hadn't had in a very long time.

[member="Darth Zilti"]

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja nodded. She'd flown in more ships than most would in a lifetime and she was not exactly old. She was familiar with Corellian technology - they made good ships. "Why not, and I'll see if it needs any work on it whilst we travel."

In truth the journey would not be long enough to effect any repairs, but she could run diagnostics. It had been ages since she'd had her hands on an old ship and a strange feeling of nostalgia was building within her.

So she grabbed a bag of essentials from her own ship - including some replacement candy bars and followed the Jedi to his ship.

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

The vessel slowly hummed to life, lifting off from the jungle floor of the planet below as it slowly set a course towards the location of the shrine. Perhaps they would be able to share a meal before landing on the world. "Well, as you're here, is there anything I can get for you? A quick bite to eat, perhaps?" He smiled, turning away and looking through a cabinet to see what the meals were that he had available.

Perhaps there would be one to her liking.

[member="Darth Zilti"]

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja was a girl of simple tastes - and that applied to food too. Until her late teens, she'd only known basic ration bars.

Then she'd been taught how to cook an omelette (after a fashion) and this was broadly her staple diet - other than candy bars. She spent hardly any time planet-side and so almost all of her food was designed to last for years in space.

Nothing on offer leaped out as exciting - but as long as it wasn't meat, she was flexible. "Surprise me," she offered. "I'm a vegetarian, but otherwise will eat pretty much anything."

She decided to slip a candy bar into her pocket, just in case the offered meal wasn't up to standard.

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]