| [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Kaira Ignis"] | [member="Malok"] | [member="Boo Chiyo"] | [member="Chaon Vel"] | [member="Alana Vettry"] |
As Alana approached Avedia, Arsix bleeped to indicate that someone was approaching them. Avedia nodded quietly having already seen the arrival of the aspiring Sith, a pang of annoyance coming to the fore through a frown at the astromech's unnecessary warning. She wondered why she kept the little droid around her at times like these. He was useful, that was for certain, but Avedia did wonder if the decision to keep the droid- at least for he moment- was from a place of sentimentality tied to her seminal life. Running her finger tips on the rim of the droid's dome head, Avedia decided that she would ponder on this after this recent excavation into the past.
"Welcome," Avedia stated to Alana when she came to a stop. Dropping her hand from Arsix's head, the Sith Lord turned quietly and waited for the others. Following soon after Alana was Chaon, who had accepted her invitation. She did not know anything about the individual, unsure of their gender, ties or beliefs, unlike the Sith Acolyte who had arrived just before them. She at least understood Alana's ulterior motives to a certain degree. Avedia assumed that as someone who followed the ways of the dark side, Chaon was here out of some curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Such is the way of the dark side. She would learn more about him by the time they discovered and left Rhand.
Looking past Chaon, Avedia settled her gaze on Boo Chiyo. She had heard that this boy was a prodigy of some type, and feeling through the power of the Force, Avedia decided that there was some potential in him. Since the demise of her Sith Master a year ago, Avedia was on the search for her own Sith Apprentice to teach and train in the ways of the dark side. Whilst she coveted power, Avedia knew that the tales of immortality were a pathway to insanity. Eventually, for all her machinations, she would one reach her demise. Perhaps at the hands of the Jedi Order, or some other enemy she would create along the way, but if Avedia could orchestrate events in accordance to the teachings of the Rule of Two, then she would die to the hands of a superior foe that would take her place as the Master and continue the progression of the Grand Plan after her death.
As she looked upon the Pantoran, Avedia was unsure whether the boy was a suitable candidate. The Apprentice that she desired had to have the potential in order to surpass her, both in strength and intelligence. As she mused over the criteria that she looked for, the Sith Lord was undecided on the three individuals that stood before her. With more to come, she would watch them closely over the next few weeks, learning their weaknesses, the extent of their potential and whether they possessed knowledge on the ways of the dark side.
Speaking of individuals who had knowledge on the dark side, Avedia settled her fiery gaze on the behemoth known as Malok. She had first met him on Tund, during a similar excavation into the Sorcerers of Tund, as the head of a security force known as ApeX. During the excavation, Avedia had seen right through the beast. His hunger was something akin to that of an animals, intertwined and mixed with enough sentience to give him a rudimentary intelligence that could prove most useful to her. His knowledge of the dark side was limited to instinct. He possessed enough hunger to drive forward his ambition to learn more about the dark side. Through strength, I gain power, Avedia thought to herself.
"Welcome, Malok," Avedia said to the behemoth, acknowledging him with a bow of her head. Unlike the others here, Avedia had respect for the beast that stood before her, having already proven his usefulness. Furthermore, Avedia understood that this small sign of respect would go a long way to further gaining the allegiance of the beast. Whether as her Sith Apprentice or some form of subordinate that she could manipulate, misdirect or command remained to be seen, but with the power of the dark side at her control, Avedia would plant the seeds to Malok's use over the next decade or two.
As the group waited for the last two to arrive, Avedia remained stoic and silent. She did not want to talk much to the others until they had left Dosuun. Aware that she was likely being watched, Avedia did not want to reveal much whilst she and her ship was in Avalonia. It would seem counter-productive to invite members of the Order of Ren to her venture if she did not want to be reported on, but Avedia was aware that with enough cunning, and clever use of misdirection, then the information that funneled back to Natasi Fortan and the other cronies that sat at the top of the First Order would be limited. Furthermore, the Sith Lord was aware that the dark side served only the individual. Granted with enough enlightenment to the power of the Force, then the individual members of the Ren might be enticed to serve their own interests, rather than feed information to the government that they were supposed to serve.
As it should be, Avedia thought. Those who follow the ways of the dark side only to limit themselves to one idea, one government, are doomed to failure. An individual who wishes to study and gain the power of the dark side must first acknowledge that the dark side is a pathway to freedom. So long as these Ren types are bound to this Supreme Leader and the likes of Fortan, then they will always be limited. Having been limited once as a Jedi Knight, Avedia had experienced that it was like to realize that she had served an institution that had limited her understanding of the Force, fighting battles that had ultimately been pointless in the wake of the Galactic Republic's fall. She had lashed out with her full powers for the first time in her life, gaining the attention of a certain Sith Lord that had enlightened on her the ways of the dark side.
Pushed in the right direction, the likes of Boo Chiyo or Zmej Ren could be exposed to the full power of the dark side, rather than the limited, narrow ways that they currently followed. The Knights of Ren remind me of a bastardized version of the Jedi Order. They may study and use the dark side, but their understanding is limited. Quite disgusting.
When Kaira and Zmej finally arrived, Avedia turned to climb up the ramp of the Ayrix and looked down at the group of individuals that stood before her. As she climbed up the ramp, her robes fluttered enough for Zmej's eye to catch the pommel of a single bladed Lightsaber that hung from the Sith Lord's hip. Little did she or the others know that Avedia's twin-bladed Saberstaff was sheathed beneath her left sleeve, concealed by the dark fabric and her powers. Now that she could address them all, Avedia raised her voice.
"Welcome to the Ayrix. Today, we will be leaving Dosuun and setting course for a star system that I recently discovered. My discovery leads me to believe that this world holds lost knowledge on the Force, as well as some other historical findings that could prove to be most enlightening. With the passing of the Four-Hundred Year Darkness, much has been lost in today's galaxy, so excavations such as these are good as we gain further understanding of what the Force is, and who we are as individuals."
"Make no mistake, however. This journey is dangerous. I have learned through my own studies of the dark side that rarely does anyone leave unchanged. You might be standing next to a stranger right now, but over the next few weeks, we will get to know one another. You might be standing next to someone who could finish this journey very much dead. You yourself might die. If you truly comprehend the dangers of this journey, then climb aboard my ship and we will leave Dosuun. But only climb aboard if you are ready to follow the ways of the dark side, a decision not easily taken and only taken by the strong. Only a fool would come here without contemplating the dangers of this excavation, and if there is a fool among you, then sooner or later, we will discover them. Weakness, above all else, will not be tolerated."
Turning on the ramp, Avedia made her way into the cargo hold with Arsix rolling alongside her. The astromech bleeped and blew a raspberry, the closest a droid could do to scoffing at her speech. She frowned for a moment, then laughed at the droid's continued audacity and realized that, even now as a Sith Lord, he was still of importance to her.
