Dissero
Breaking Even
Velok said:"I was meaning to discuss something with you," he said as the atmosphere fell away. "For once we're done here, assuming we don't get pegged as inventors of superweapons, tarred with the same brush as Umak Leth and Qwi Xux and Bevel Lemelisk and Nasdra Magrody. Assuming we survive this, my hope is that you and I could work together on a different project. I'm a Blackguard, you see, not a Sith. It's an old heretic cult -- I'm sure you've heard of it. I'm the last Blackguard, as it happens. Our core tenet was always that the true purpose of Force power is to attain understanding of the universe. As a result, we've spent centuries cataloging the secrets of other Force sects. I always suspected there might come a time when the galaxy no longer needed a secret archivist such as myself, but a disseminator of information. A father of intellectual freedom, you might say. And your skill with holocron creation, not to mention your encyclopediac knowledge of the history of the Force, might well make you an ideal...business partner. What are your thoughts, Lord Dissero?"
Mandolorian space.
It passed by the viewport of the cockpit without much fuss and the quiet of their arrival brought about an internal parade of questions and curiosities. What sorts did the old Master keep in his pocket that allowed him travel so easily through Sith-enemy space? Dissero could hardly imagine the Whiphid's life story and where it had taken him; all that he knew of Velok was what the archives and fellow sith and the Master in question had offered him.
Questions are dangerous, not curiosity, words of his former Master, Darth Midian, echoed through his thoughts, you can control what your curiosity finds but an answer is as unpredictable as this beast. Ask me how to kill it and I'll tell you what best pleases me.
The Sith Knight held no reservations about his decision to work alongside Master Velok, the opportunity was yeilding far greater results than he could have imagined. What drove his thoughts was a swelling of questions that could not or would not be freed. A Blackguard ... of course, why had he not seen it before? It made perfect sense; Velok's knowledge knew few limits so far as he could tell, and he'd always chalked it up to a ripened age. A man of many experiences and endless tales, it was no small wonder he had stayed loyal to the Empire as long as he had.
Yet even his loyalty was under question. Had he truly been loyal to the Empire or had he simply used it as a means to continue his search for knowledge? Admittedly it was not far from exactly what Dissero had done. Aside from a deep respect for the late Empress Desmius there had been little loyalty garnered from him. He'd stayed for what possibilities awaited him on the tail of such a powerful entity as the Empire, so it was with few regrets that he took his leave when it seemed those opportunities had burned up.
To what end, then, was this venture and who next would he need pledge loyalty to? As he watched the Whiphid work he began to understand that now, more than ever, patience was prudent.
"Master Velok," he spoke up finally from his seat within the cockpit once Velok finished staging the where, how and what of their next stop. Dissero leaned forward in his seat, elbows resting on his knees and fingers steepled at his chin above which a wry smirk stretched on his lips, "let's talk more about this... venture of yours."