Private Think It Still Works?

[Darth Strosius]

Scattered reports were still finding their way to his office, mostly updates revolving around repairs and arrangements for training areas. They were necessary to skim over and sort through of course, but they were far from the most interesting of reading material he had on hand. Keeping up with their new allies was fairly important of course. The 67th had already proved themselves invaluable within the first few hours of their arrival, having already begun preparation for repairs by the time they had alerted the Altorius to their presence.

Alisteri drummed his fingers on his new helmet as he read over a report of their restored weapons systems, courtesy of the 67th of course, until the intercom crackled to life. "High Priest, we have an incoming vessel. The 67th ships have confirmed that it belongs to their Mistress Tremiru."

Now that made him pause.

"She's finally returned hm? Give her a place to land and tell her to meet me in my office, oh and be sure to thank the 67th for their assistance again." Alisteri set the datapad he had been reading aside and pulled his helmet on as he stood up from his chair. "As you wish High Priest." The intercom fell silent again and the masked Knight quickly cleared off his desk before brushing himself off to look more presentable.

He then sat back down and settled into his chair as he waited for Alina's arrival.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Almost everything was progressing smoothly. Almost. Alina stepped into Alisteri's office, calm as can be as she set down what remained of the Thought Dowser she'd obtained. It was ruined. No energy remained inside of it after Amani Serys had split it apart. She didn't seem to be bothered, though. If anything, the Sangnir seemed oddly excited. She plopped down in the seat she sat in before, a wide grin on her lips.

"It worked, Ali. I could use it, and it worked."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri blinked in surprise as he looked at the ruined artifact, glancing at Alina's smiling face with confusion. Surely she should be at least disappointed that it wasn't in working order? He shifted in his seat slightly and nodded as she spoke, a small smile appearing on his face for a moment. Nonetheless it had worked at one time apparently and she seemed excited about it. "Excellent! How was it? What did it do?" If it could be fixed or at least remade was another question, one best saved for later.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"With just a thought, I controlled the minds of dozens. They, without hesitation, pulled their firearms on themselves. Killed themselves. Well, one did. A Jedi interfered, hence it's.. Not quite mint condition." The briefest of a pout took her lips, but she pushed that aside. She was, honestly, far too ecstatic on just what she was finally able to do. She could glamour, as a Sangnir, but it had it's limits. Eye contact, couldn't make them kill themselves, they could break free.

This was.. Well. Ulimited.

"I don't think we'll be able to repair it. When it was destroyed, it blew up as if a powerful Sith had died."

 

[Darth Strosius]

He was glad for his new helmet blocking his expression, because his jaw dropped at the description. Dozens of people under direct control and made to do whatever the user wanted them to was indeed dangerous, but all artifacts were to some degree. The sheer power that this one apparently used to wield was as fascinating as it was horrifying. A combination he was very familiar with.

"That's disappointing, but it does make sense." Alisteri nodded and grabbed the ruined remains of the Thought Dowser, looking through them fervently. "To use such a power it would almost have to be imbued with a measure of strength equal to that of a powerful Force User. I can only imagine how such a power was captured and stored."

Hopefully he wouldn't have to merely imagine for long. "I'll see what I can make of the remains, surely there will be something to learn from it still. Did you find anything else on these artifacts?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"No, unfortunately not. With it's destruction this was all that remained. I bought at a black market auction. Well, stole it more accurately. There was nothing on the seller for me to.. Interrogate. But!" As she spoke, the frown settled back on her lips. Disappointment after Disappointment, on her part. Arrogance certainly had gotten the better of her. For all intents and purposes, she failed.

But there was no master to punish her. In a way, that was freeing. And it's not like she didn't learn more about it, or the Jedi.

"There are inscriptions. Not Sith, I don't recognize them. If we can solve who the makers are, perhaps we can find another of these. Or something more.. Powerful." Her eyes practically flashed with her desire and excitement. Everything that had been out of her reach, here. In her reach.

"Up for a study sesson?"

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

He didn't seem too dissuaded by her apparent failure, both in bringing back a working artifact and to try and find out its origins, as in his mind they had what they needed for the time-being. The fact that they were real and physical was almost good enough for him. "Inscriptions? How curious." Alisteri knew few languages himself, but between the two of them and whatever database or holocrons they could use he was sure that they could find out what they were. Somehow, someway it would work.

"I wonder if they're some sort of runes to give it power, or maybe a sort of manufacturer's markings." It didn't really matter of course, knowing what the inscriptions meant was secondary to who wrote them. "A study session is exactly what we need! First let's dig into whatever digital archives and databases we can access, see if there's any similarities we can spot quickly."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Someone who could make an item like this, I imagine it's a bit of both. Their own runes that serve as their mark. At least, that would explain why I've never seen them before." That was an arrogant statement, but she thought nothing on it. In her time of growing up and trying to find a way to use the Force, Alina had come across nothing like this. If it was a whole language, she should've at least seen it in passing. But the mark of a secluded group of artificers?

That made more sense.

She clicked on a holoprojector, one that had just been brought in. Literally just been brought in. One of her Guard carried the machine into Alisteri's room, casually setting it down between the two before leaving. Alina didn't think anything of it, instead just pretending that it was normal as she clicked on the screen to start scrolling through the archives that had been digitized before her Estate's.. Unfortunate fire.

"Let's see.."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Right you are." Alisteri nodded and quickly reached over to pick up the datapad that he had tossed aside earlier, barely noticing the holoprojector until Alina was already using it. He gave it a double take and tilted his head in confusion. That was...new. "How did...nevermind, more important things to worry about." His question turned into a mutter under his breath as he tapped on the datapad.

The Altorius was far from any sort of library or real repository of knowledge, but every downloadable or recoverable database that they had been able to get ahold of had been introduced to the ship's existing database. Much of it was simply a trimmed down version of the once great Sith Empire's own military and scholarly databases, but they had spliced into plenty of pirate and smuggler stations and ships over the years as well. It was far from a grand archive, but it would do.

"Okay, let's start by seeing if these symbols match or resemble anything. Here, you take this group and I'll take these other ones."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"You've been collecting information from where you can. Since the fall?" Ah, studying. It'd been a long time since she last sat down and went through an archive. Though, Alisteri didn't have as much as she was used to. Such was the way of her family and their hoarding of information. She hummed after a moment, then changed over the projector. No longer scanning through information, instead downloading.

Updating.

Darth Empyrean had been kind enough to give her access to whatever archive she might want. Now she'd share that with Alisteri.

"There. That should give us more information.." She was talking to herself at this point. The remnants of the artifact were placed over the projector to be scanned while she went about her own reading. It'd been a long time since she last felt this interested in history. For once, it could be of use for her.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Collecting was a word, stealing or scavenging would work just as well if he was honest. "Well someone had to try to preserve the archives of the Sith Empire. No sense in letting it all go to waste." He shrugged and continued trying to copy the inscriptions into the datapad. Art was not one of his strong suits by any means, but copying something down was within his abilities.

He raised an eyebrow as Alina actually scanned the remains of the artifact, glancing down at his copies of the inscriptions and clicking his tongue. That had been much easier. Alisteri made a mental note to install one of those in his office at a later date. "Wait, I think we've got something." Against the odds his datapad had produced a result, although it wasn't too helpful as it was only a single word.

"What the feth is the Ascendant?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

For all the technology and wealth of information she'd gotten, Alisteri was the first to get a hit. She raised a brow, glancing to him, then to the word. Ascendant? Alina scanned through the archive she'd brought in, humming softly. Plenty of Ascendancy, from Chiss to Sith and even the newest of the CIS remnants. But.. Nothing specific on that group. No, wait. She found something.

A warning.

"Whoever they are, the Sith have warnings against using these tools. Interesting.."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

His posture changed slightly at that, looking almost excited. "Something the higher ups don't want us to use? These artifacts seem to be getting all the better by the minute." The warning only emboldened him and he quickly attempted to find any references to the Ascendant in his own archives, unfortunately his turned up even less than Alina's had. All of it was outdated references to the Chiss and Sith, nothing on the group they were looking for other than a recognition of their apparent signature.

"I've got nothing on my end. Seems like either they didn't care for finding these artifacts, well either that or..." Alisteri paused and set the datapad aside, opening a drawer on his desk and searching through it. "Clearance. They don't want people using these, so why keep it open to those without the proper clearance for them?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Clearance? Do you- Ah. Right." Scavenging for information would only reach those kinds of walls. At least, the way Alisteri had been scavenging. She reached up, thumbing through her holoprojector before sending some files to his datapad.

"Here. Unlimited access to the archives Maliphant saved." How she got such a thing she didn't bother to elaborate on. Instead, she got up to sit beside him, peering at the datapad. He'd gotten them this far.

"What do you think?"

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

His search paused for a moment as she spoke, turning to peek up at her in confusion. "Maliphant? That greasy Sith Eternal guy?" Alisteri had no idea what could be on the archives of said Darth, and even less idea how Alina had gotten access to them, but it couldn't hurt to sort through them. At the very least anything that was stored on Korriban would probably be in there.

"Aha! Found it!"

Finally his searching bore fruit and he pulled out a computer spike from somewhere within the confines of his desk. Without much delay he inserted it into the datapad, the emblem of the Sith Empire briefly flashing on the screen alongside the words 'Access Granted.' "Slicers, what would we do without them eh?"

Now that they had access to more than a couple good archives, they could make some real progress. "Alright let's see here, Ascendant..."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Greasy? .. Heh. I'll be sure to call him that some time." Alina gave Alisteri a smirk, playfully waggling her eyebrows. "For the moment, he's one of my allies within the Sith. We both very much know should the other get in the way we'll eliminate. But for the moment, well, I don't have that kind of power. And having access to these sorts of archives is handy." She pointed towards the room, shortly after. Giving her fellow a knowing smirk.

"Don't worry, I won't let him have eyes in here."

But sure enough, the information on the Ascendant came up. And immediately she let out a sigh.

"A long dead cult who used to make these items. Sith used, some. The more.. Deadly artifacts were forbidden. But they're not here any longer."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

"...As long as you know what you're doing I suppose." Being in the company of any Sith higher than a Knight was still a foreign and uncomfortable concept in his mind, especially a notable Sith like Maliphant. Alina's assurance was welcome, but he knew that it hardly mattered. He knew that a far greater threat had eyes all over his vessel somehow.

Thankfully though he had a distraction from such a dark thought, in the form of their search turning up more results.

The news was admittedly not what either of them had been expecting, but Alisteri could work with it all the same. "Long dead just means that we'll be grave robbing instead of stealing. Digging up the remains of these Ascendant shouldn't be too hard, if we can find them that is."

Delving into tombs and ancient ruins was like a walk in the park after all these years. "We still need more information. Maybe another one of their artifacts can give us a clue to finding where they worked. Think those remains can be scanned and identified material wise?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"If it reaches the point I'm out of my depth, I'll let you know." It was the last she'd say on that particular topic. The last thing she wanted was to think about just how outclassed she might be in this game. Without the Force, well. She was certainly handicapped for this game. But, grave robbing. She let out a sigh, nodding. "Just like old times, then?" Except now it was for both of their benefit instead of just her own.

She hummed, glancing to the object. Then nodded. Shifting the holoprojector to scan the material instead of the runes.

Sure enough, it got a hit. Alina blinked in surprise, staring at the screen.

".. Interesting. It's uh, the material is actually something unique. Not even something alchemized. I'll set a scan to see what worlds even have it."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

He merely nodded, seemingly satisfied by her response. Playing in the political games of the Sith had never appealed to him, not that he ever had the opportunity either of course. "Just like old times. As long as you didn't forget how to lift a shovel during your time away we'll be fine." Now they just had to figure out where to go digging. Perhaps that was something easier said than done.

"Something unique?" That wasn't too surprising admittedly, but it not being alchemized in some way was odd.

How in the world did it have power then? "If we can nail down a list of likely planets that it came from we'll be able to find something more, how unique is the material? We talking about regular rare or 'only present on a couple planets' rare?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"My time in a castle did teach me how to be more of a princess." She clicked her tongue once, scanning through the list. Waiting for the planets to pop up. There'd probably be several they'd have to go through, right? What ever this ore was couldn't just be found everywhere, but it couldn't be that rare. Maybe it was the process the Ascendant did that empowered them so drastically. Maybe.

Oh.

Alina blinked before lifting up a single finger.

"One world. Bar'leth."