Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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To Blackwater Reach (Irajah)

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
It was a dark and stormy night when the woman in the hood knocked on the door of Blackwater Reach. She wrapped her sodden cloak tighter around herself as the rain sluiced down. Another knock, louder, as she pressed in under a slim overhang. Irritation and exhaustion warred against a proper cold calm.

She'd come unarmed, armorless, alone, and without a vehicle. A speeder was parked several kilometres away through the hills. If asked why she'd taken the simple approach, at inconvenience to herself, she couldn't have said. She wasn't aiming for elaborate deception, after all, just a simple way of presenting herself layer by layer.

She sneezed furiously and knocked again.

[member="Irajah Ven"]
 
Irajah wasn't entirely comfortable in Blackwater Manor yet. Large portions of the house went unused, furniture covered in sheets and dust. Even with the few servants (she had servants now, how weird was that?) necessary for the daily upkeep of the house and grounds, the Manor was simply too large and too empty for Irajah to fully feel at home there.

She was curled up in her personal study, an old fashioned bound book in her hands. She wasn't really reading it, just looking at the pages as if the words would somehow sink into her mind if she stared long enough. The return from Barkhesh, via Maena, to start a particular project made it difficult to concentrate.

The sound of the heavy rain was muffled this far into the manor, but the storm was strong enough outside that it was impossible to be wholly unaware of.

Meanwhile, downstairs.....

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The door opened for [member="Ashin Karrde"], a slice of light falling on her face. It opened wider once it was clear that a lone individual stood out in the rain, and the bird-like middle aged man ushered her in with a quiet tutting sound.

"You'll catch you death," he muttered, scandalized by the very idea of walking around alone in the rain it seemed.

He closed the door behind her, bowing from the waist in a precise movement.

"Are you lost?" He paused, as if realizing how rude that sounded. After all, no one came to visit the Baroness of Blackwater Reach. And certainly not in the middle of the night during a storm. "Or are you here on business with the Baroness?"
 

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
[member="Irajah Ven"]

The pressure of his eyes and shelter from the rain helped her regain some mental equilibrium. She drew herself up and focused on the ancient Jedi technique called Tapas. Her body temperature and overall feeling of warmth returned to comfortable levels. Some considered Tapas just a minor Jedi toolbox skill, but she’d often found such abilities more useful that the powers that got more recognition and respect. Memory enhancement. Adiabatic shields. Basic Apprentice abilities in certain traditions, but lifesavers in a literal sense.

“Thank you,” she said, pulling down her wet hood. “I have business with Baroness Ven, yes, though she doesn’t know it. We met the other day at a hospital in Avalonia. I’m Grand Admiral Ashin Varanin.” She smiled faintly, thinking of better days. “Retired.”
 
The Senachal's eyes widened slightly at the name. He bowed again, this time less perfunctory than before.

"Yes of course. I will alert the Baroness at once, Madam. Please, allow me to take your coat. You may wait in the library. I will have a tray with hot drinks sent in immediately."

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Clad in darker wood than the rest of the ground floor, the library nestled in the back corner of the manor. It looked well used, unlike the rest of the halls and rooms [member="Ashin Karrde"] had been led through. The volumes on the wall covered a wide range of subjects, and though most veered toward the scientific and medical bent, there was a surprising selection of art books as well. The library led out into a solarium- likely a bright and cheerful spot to sit in the daylight hours, but in the dead of night with the storm raging outside, it was a shadowed place indeed. The rain thundered on the glass, nearly deafening to someone seated at the piano, though the sound was dulled in the library itself, absorbed by soft fabrics and bound paper books.

Meanwhile, in her personal study.....

"I don't recall meeting a..... retired Grand Admiral at the hospital," Irajah mused quietly to herself. The maid sent up to inform her frowned slightly. All of the staff knew that there were certain people who simply would not be admitted without informing their mistress first, and the dark haired woman's reaction here was worrying.

"Was it a mistake to let him in?"

The maid hadn't seen Ashin, and made an assumption.

Irajah shook her head.

"No. No, it's fine. I'll be down in a moment. Tell Terin to arrange for something to be sent to the library?"

"He has already taken care of it Ma'am."

She smiled, looking a little relieved. So that had been the right thing then. Bless that man. Small, fussy and very precise, Raja was certain the house wouldn't run nearly as smoothly without him.

"Thank you, Nina."

*****

A wheeled tray with a selection of hot drinks- tea, coffee, mulled wine- arrived before Irajah did, but only by a minute or two. She stepped into the library, expecting to find some elderly man calling on her.

So there was no hiding the surprise on her face, eyebrows arching up, when she recognized the woman from the hospital, and several pieces fell into place.

"Welcome to Blackwater Reach, Grand Admiral," she said, something wary at the very edges of her tone.
 

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
Ashin’s cloak had taken the brunt of the storm; beneath it, she was merely damp. She’d taken a seat near the room’s heater, a modern appliance that blended neatly with the decor. Steam wafted from her clothes and hair, and she sipped mint tea with satisfaction. The library’s shadows and muffled sound afforded her similar levels of comfort.

“Call me Ashin, please,” she said, wrapping both hands around the teacup for warmth. “And thank you for your hospitality. I apologize for dropping by uninvited and at night, but these days I go by another name in public, and I’ve grown too accustomed to living with secrecy. I admit I was also curious what kind of a person you were. Some might not have responded so well to a stranger knocking on their door after dark.”

She set the cup aside and rested her hands in her lap. “You impressed me at the hospital, Baroness Doctor [member="Irajah Ven"]. Kaine Zambrano, Darth Vornskr, Darth Carnifex, is the kind of man who likes to see people afraid of him. You refused to give him the satisfaction. You controlled yourself.”
 
Irajah moved across the room, leaning over the cart to pour herself a mug of the mulled wine. It had taken some doing to assure the staff that, yes, she could pour her own drinks and no, they shouldn't hover. She wasn't handling the whole 'having servants' thing with as much grace as she suspected the household staff was accustomed to. As she stood up, she absently brushed her fingers across her forehead. A subconscious tic developed over the last months. The motion ruffled the heavy fringe of bangs for just a fraction of a second before they fell full again.

Moving over toward one of the other chairs, she was about to wave the other woman's comments about hospitality and her title away.

But the Please, just Doctor Ven will do died on her lips.

Kaine Zambrano, Darth Vornskr, Darth Carnifex.

Chit.

She froze at the edge of the wing backed chair, standing stock still and staring at [member="Ashin Karrde"].

"You'll find that my hospitality does not extend to his friends," she said stiffly. She had hoped to deliver it with icy assurance. She ended up with something slightly less than that, but it would do.
 

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
[member="Irajah Ven"]

"I hoped you'd prove to have steel when you weren't at the mercy of your fight-or-flight response," said Ashin with some satisfaction. "Rest easy, Doctor. I'm no friend of Kaine's. We've known each other a very long time, all the way back to when he was a civil servant and I was his Empress. As his megalomania grew, when he butchered the planet Togoria, I distanced myself. For years, he went around with half his face burned off; I did that."

She steepled her fingers. "But we largely left each other alone. Then, six years ago, the One Sith captured my wife and tortured her on the Yuuzhan Vong fortress world of Selvaris. I called in every favor I could, and went to rescue her. And who did I sense there but him. He wasn't involved in my wife's torture, not directly, but he certainly knew about it and could easily have intervened at several points. Instead he solidified my opinion of him.

"Around a year later - forgive the storytelling, but the context is important - I made one raid too many against the One Sith, and I died on the planet Lujo. I made other arrangements and considered my options, and his path never crossed with mine until just the other day at the hospital. I prodded at his dignity after you left, made some veiled threats, but let him have the last word. I promised him that someday his relationship with the First Order would collapse, and on that day I'd remember what he'd done or failed to do, and act accordingly.

"Ask me what kind of man he is, Doctor Ven. Ask me where his weaknesses lie. Once upon a time, I knew him better than almost anyone."
 
Irajah listened, standing unnaturally still at the edge of her own chair as [member="Ashin Karrde"]'s story unfolded. She cupped her wine in both hands, keeping her fingers gripped firmly on the mug. The level of candor offered by this woman was a surprise. A welcome one. After her time on Panatha with [member="Darth Prazutis"] and his games, well, she appreciated someone willing to simply be.... up front.... on a matter.

When the other woman finished, only then did Irajah sink down slowly into the chair. She was silent for another minute, absorbing the story and some of the more complicated aspects of it before finally responding.

"You have even more reason than I do to hate him, and far more experience," she said at last, her voice tight, words spoken through gritted teeth.

"But I don't need you to tell me what.... kind of man he is. I know all too well. He and his Uncle both have proven to me that they are monsters, incapable of anything but being just that."

It was harder to tell her own story. And she certainly had no ability to do so yet with the distance and casual tone that Ashin had managed hers. There was also the not insignificant issue that Irajah did not yet trust the other woman. These days, that was a hard won thing.

She had only realized the full extent of what had been done to her after her last encounter with [member="Darth Carnifex"] in that hospital room. That Braxus had not merely taken advantage of the situation, but that he had orchestrated the torture in order to put her more squarely beneath his control.

That was an epiphany that she had not yet fully come to terms with, and sharing it with a stranger? Not possible.

"They tried to destroy me," she said quietly, though there was no tremor in her voice. "In order to use me. And it seems as though they still believe they have some measure of..... influence....." She looked up at Ashin then, hazel eyes glittering.

"So tell me then," she smiled, but there was nothing friendly in the tight expression. "Yes, I will ask you where his weaknesses lie. Though the Zambranos cannot be my sole focus until certain other things are.... dealt with..... I assure you, I mean to see everything they have built in ruins."
 

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
[member="Irajah Ven"]
Despite long years of committing and hearing about terrible acts, Ashin found her own eyes prickling in sympathy. She forged ahead.

“Kaine Zambrano is fundamentally a coward. You’ll never really feel fear from him, and he’d deny it and think he was being truthful, but he goes through life terrified of a loss of control, a loss of his self-image. I believe it stems back to when he was infected and suborned by the machine intelligence Omni almost two decades ago, but who knows - it might go back farther.”

She took up the teacup again and drained what was left, then set it aside and leaned forward.

“His pattern of behavior is to act out, and then hide: to go to ground somewhere untouchable, sheltering under the wing of someone more powerful while he hoards his treasures. He did that with me when my friends and I ruled this territory; he’s doing it now with the First Order; he did it as part of the One Sith; you might even say he did that before he was Emperor of the Sith Empire. He hides in the Pacanth Reach, sheltered behind one fortified hyperroute, and only hops out to snap up forgotten planets or spread indiscriminate fear and death as part of someone else’s agenda. You’ll never find him taking the lead, not after Selena Halcyon broke his regime. He certainly doesn’t collect titles because he likes responsibility or anything along those lines; to him, titles are trinkets. He may be king of this and emperor of that, but he has no aptitude or inclination for leadership or even command.

“I’ve come to believe that there are three kinds of people, and they don’t often know what kind they really are: leaders, followers, and solo operators. Kaine Zambrano is a career solo operator who believes he’s a leader. At some level, he knows the truth, and so he’ll spastically reach out to try and bind people to him in one way or another. Sometimes, as with the Blackblades and his family and his collection of bizarre fanatics, he’ll succeed. Sometimes…” She gestured vaguely at Irajah, perhaps at her forehead. “...not so much.”
 
Irajah leaned forward, listening carefully to [member="Ashin Karrde"]'s recitation. Her fingers played on the warm mug absently- the sensation, as always, ever so slightly different between what she could feel with her own three remaining fingers and the cybernetic replacements.

In a way, [member="Darth Carnifex"] had been a figure that was larger than life. Not merely his physical stature, but as a force of nature. Where [member="Darth Prazutis"] had been insidious, manipulative, Carnifex was the one she had feared.

In truth, she still did, but the fear was drowned out by the smoldering fury.

Though some of the details were scant, Ashin's words painted a picture around the man as she had experienced him, fitting him more manageably into the scale of a world that he hadn't built up around himself. Despite her desire to see the both of them utterly brought to heel, she hadn't, in truth, put much thought into how that could possibly be accomplished. A certain cluster of cells growing in her labs at Maena had been undertaken with little thought beyond 'how very dare', but beyond that?

Gideon, finding a way to survive the virus, had encompassed so much of her attention. And the very idea that she faced not two men, but a Maelstrom.

Ashin's words clarified and solidified the fact that, no, she did not face a force of nature. Monsters, yes. But not gods.

When she gestured in Irajah's direction, she sat back, hand moving reflexively to her forehead. She arrested the motion halfway up, returning her hand to the warm ceramic in her hand. Self consciously, she finally brought the mulled wine to her lips, taking a deep drink of it. In part to calm her nerves. In part to give her a moment to think.

"So attempting to cut him off from the First Order would simply start the cycle over," she said finally. It wasn't really a question, more an observation.

"I had put..... certain contingencies in place that would potentially upset that balance. Should something happen to me. It would be small consolation, in truth, but better than nothing."

Irajah frowned, looking across at Ashin thoughtfully.

"Why come to me? I am..... despite the empty title..... literally no one. I have no armies, no strength in arms myself. I am a doctor that has been drawn into events that, frankly, I shouldn't have even survived." It wasn't self deprecation, merely accurate assessment. Irajah found herself surrounded by important and powerful people. But she was nothing of the sort.
 

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
[member="Irajah Ven"]

"Doctor, I've trained dozens of people in the Force. Relatively few had intelligence, discipline, or staying power. They were often tools or allies of convenience. The Force can manifest in a myopic moron - consider the recent history of the Republic if you need an example. I prize internal qualities over power, wealth, influence, military credentials."

She hesitated, then shrugged. "My formal secular education ended in elementary school. I studied in a Jedi academy until I was fifteen. You could call me a high school dropout, Doctor. I conquered a quarter of the galaxy with chutzpah and whatever knowledge I could pick up along the way. I have great respect for people who've tended to their inner lives, learned to work, learned to fail. You'd be surprised how uncommon education can be in the circles of the Force.

"There's an element of empathy, too. I know the Zambrano modus operandi, and I spent years covered in so many scars it hurt to run.

"Would you like to die, Doctor?" She gestured at her own early-thirties appearance. "I was born half a century ago. A refreshed face and body, a painless transition. You would owe me nothing: it would entertain me to irritate your torturers."
 
Irajah froze for a moment, and then, very carefully, she reached over to put her mug on the small sidetable beside her.

"You cannot possibly know how much I despise that offer, so I will not hold it against you," she said, her words the clipped, precise tone of a controlled anger.

"You are now the third person to offer me that particular sort of..... fresh start," the way she said those two words made it clear that she thought it was nothing of the sort.

"But I have fought- hard- to live."

She didn't look at the other woman, instead very slowly rolling up the left sleeve of her tunic. Deep, angry bruises traced up her arm. Once the fabric there was neatly cuffed, she reached up, unbuttoning the high neck down to just above her breasts. The bruises continued there, but they were not the only thing. Sith runes, carved directly into her flesh, now mostly healed scars, still red in the places the skin pulled when she moved. The scars from Kaine, but the bruises were clearly a combination of old and new. Those had not been gifts from him, but from a different, continuing battle. The Gideon Virus.

Left hand moved to her right, gently peeling back the synthskin on the back of her wrist- there were no bruises on that side because the arm was not *hers*.

"Even before meeting the Zambranos, I have been fighting to live," she said, her tone level, carefully controlled. "Fighting to live in this body. This body is mine. Perhaps the only thing that is. So no. Thank you. But that petty revenge would not do anything but allow them to take something else from me. Something that matters. Perhaps yours did not, I would not presume to guess. But. Mine does."

Irajah looked up then, and the physical pain she lived with every day reflected in her eyes for a moment as she looked at [member="Ashin Karrde"].

"I will not sacrifice myself on the altar of the Zambranos. Not for any reason."
 

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
[member="Irajah Ven"]

"I can respect that," said Ashin agreeably, at odds with the intensity of the moment. "When I was your age, I held that stance for years, until the cancer won and I faced the prospect of leaving my wife alone. I won't offer again."

Now warm and only a little damp, she stood and went over to the nearest bookshelf. She scanned the titles, getting a sense of Irajah by what she chose to keep around.

"Tell me about the First Order, Doctor. What snared your loyalty? How far will they tolerate our mutual friend?"
 
Irajah didn't know if it was a deliberate kindness or not, but when [member="Ashin Karrde"] turned her attention to the books, it gave the doctor a precious moment to re-center herself in something as close to privacy as one can have with another person in the room. While the other woman scanned the books, she adjusted synthskin, rolled down her sleeve and rebuttoned the tunic all the way back up to her chin.

Having everything covered again was grounding- at least in that moment.

While most of the books in the library were medical texts, or biology treatises, that particular shelf by the heater offered an eclectic collection of books on art and architecture. There were other islands of non-medical topics scattered around the library, but that one was the largest. Only barely visible from where they sat, leaning against a corner near a closed cabinet, was an easel. Unused since Panatha, it still spoke that the woman who lived her did not merely appreciate the art of others, but enjoyed the process of that creation as well.

Picking up her mug when she had finished setting herself to rights, she took a long sip of the wine before answering.

"I first came to Dosuun, to the Order, to offer my son a more stable life," she said quietly. Obviously too young to have an adult child, so where were the signs of a child in this quiet, empty manor? "The First Order offers a stability and safety to its citizens that I have found to be severely lacking in other corners of the galaxy. Education. Medical care. A fierce protectiveness. Firm, without being oppressive. They didn't snare my loyalty- they earned it at every turn. As for the Zambranos....."

She paused standing herself now. The petite doctor paced across the room, frowning to herself as she thought out loud.

"You must understand that what little I have been involved in the politics and machinations of things here has been largely coincidental. Being landed by the Grand Moff, my status in the military medical community- accidental. Simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time to make a difference. And apparently some sort of impression. But what I do know..... the Zambranos are a powerful ally to the Order. At least, potentially. But I believe they pose a risk that is not being considered. The bloody history of that house is not unknown. It's only a matter of time before they make a move that the Order simply cannot ignore- that will paint the Order with the same brush, if they do not distance themselves. Braxus is patient, yes. But I suspect it is only a matter of time before Kaine steps too far, assumes too much of the tolerance and commits an act of butchery that the Order will be forced to respond to."

Hazel eyes looked up at Ashin, but it was clear her mind was elsewhere.

"At least, if the First Order is everything that I hope that they are," she said quietly.
 

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
"I'm not surprised to find your thoughts match mine." Ashin flipped through a medical textbook, back still turned. Every page held brick walls of words and labels and citation conventions beyond her experience. Back on Zonju Five, as Ajira, she'd sat in on a high-energy archaeological examination of an unidentifiable artifact. Academic language, at a high level, in a specialized field, never failed to make her feel small. Piece by piece, her studies helped her whittle away at the gaps in her knowledge.

She closed and shelved the book carefully and resumed her seat. "Confederations of free worlds dominate the galaxy, and not a one of them attends consistently to things as basic as sentient rights, health care, and education. The Alliance, Silver Jedi space, and the Outer Rim Coalition - even the Republic before it fell - all take a lazily hands-off approach. It's comparable to how the Fringe Confederation ran, but we were neck-deep in the Unknown Regions with finite resources and pressing enemies.

"The galaxy needs consistency. Governance needs to keep planets from falling through the cracks. The First Order, as far as I'm aware, is more successful at that than any of its competitors. Freedom is a nice word, but it needs to exist in balance with the rule of law. I came here hoping to find that balance. So far, results are positive.

"As for the Zambranos, I think there's value in sharing our resources. Kaine is a low priority for me, but I have no objection to giving you what I have and helping you coordinate with useful people." She pulled a data chit out of her pocket and placed it on a coffee table. "I spent the last five years in a position of access within the Galactic Alliance, and a good bit longer as Ayden Cater's infrequent pen pal. He and a man named Jorus Merrill infiltrated the Pacanth Reach and scanned Kaine's fortress, preparing for an operation that never happened until recently. These are the scans - old but partially updated. Fortifications, dungeon layouts, outbuildings, surrounding structures. It's a start."

[member="Irajah Ven"]
 
Irajah didn't sit again when [member="Ashin Karrde"] did. But she did pause, giving the chit, and then the woman who had desposited it, a thoughtful look. At least, she gave Ashin a thoughtful look. The look leveled at the data chit was more the way one might look at a dead bug that, despite its disassembled state, required identifying.

"While I was on Panatha, I had full access to certain parts of Vain Hollow," she said finally. "Primarily the labs, but also certain parts of the residential wings. I am very familiar with those areas at least and may be able to update some of your information."

Very familiar.

"For a time I was the personal physician and researcher for [member="Darth Prazutis"]," she continued, her tones clipped and distant. In truth, she had been far more than that, but that wasn't something she had any interest in sharing with this near stranger. Whatever this meeting was, or would be, it was not a confessional.

"While at the time it seemed unfortunate that I made little progress on his.... pet project.... you can imagine that now I am rather pleased I never found him the answers he needed."

Needed, not desired.

"If we are going to share information, after all..... the research I was doing for them was to find a way to stem the flow of, and if possible, reverse the damage done by the corruption of the Darkside. Kaine's uncle, at least, is in fairly significant stages of it, and hoped to find an answer. From what I know of Kaine, I don't suspect that research interested in much, but I have all of my data, including work on his uncle's samples. If you think any of that would be of use to you."
 

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
[member="Irajah Ven"]

"No, thank you," said Ashin absently. "The ability to take a new, fresh body is extremely rare. Kaine certainly has it. I wonder whether Prazutis does. If not, that could be a weak point between them. More likely, though, he's just too weak to face up to the inconveniences​." She looked down at her hand, made a fist, relaxed it. "Re-training muscle memory. Feeling your knowledge and memory lose their sharp edges with every transition. Watching clone lines degrade, or living with someone else's face in the mirror. And of course, handling the abject fear of being bodiless during transitions, sometimes for months or years depending on where and how you died. It's a vulnerable state. I don't know Prazutis as well as you do, but I could well imagine Kaine doing everything in his power to ignore the downsides of immortality." She raised an eyebrow in question.

"How much do you know about Sith alchemy, Doctor? And how much do you know about what objects the Zambranos keep on them, personally?"
 
Irajah's eyes were elsewhere as [member="Ashin Karrde"] described the barest hint of what such a transfer ultimately meant. Quiet and thoughtful. After making the decision to not sacrifice [member="Xena Amonali"] in search for her own cure..... despite her strong response to Ashin's offer earlier, Irajah was all too aware that these were details she would be required to face in full. Hopefully later rather than sooner.

She turned her thoughts back to the topic at hand, dragging her attention from where it had momentarily slipped to the Gideon virus coiling in her system, and back to the taller woman.

"Unfortunately, very little," she said with a grimace.

Now she did move back, perching very lightly on the edge of her chair.

"Until recently my focus was far more on the mundane. Though they offered to teach me, it was.... not a high priority with the other hurdles before me."

It was clear that while she regretted the decision in hindsight, she also wasn't consumed by it.
 

Ashin Varanin

Professional Enabler
[member="Irajah Ven"]

"Sensible enough. I doubt their teaching would have been of much use to you anyway, for a variety of reasons." Ashin steepled her fingers, watching Irajah's subtle shifts in mannerism. Clearly enough, she had a lot on her mind.

"Maybe fifteen years ago, Kaine had an alchemist named Rave Merrill make him an amulet that could hide his presence in the Force. I glimpsed it around his neck at the hospital. I'm sure you've seen it - an oblong silver pendant with a reddish gem in the middle. It's quite a good little piece, from what I've heard. Kaine has a penchant for nice toys...amulets, swords, gauntlets, crowns, all the trimmings. What he may not know, and what I learned the hard way, is that every single minor Sith Amulet, and any similar object, can explode. There's a good deal of energy bound up in their creation, and that energy can be lethal if the object is destroyed - it's all in Palpatine's secret notes. I had access to a partial copy once upon a time, before the Sith Archives were stolen.

"In short, most Sith who love their toys are carrying small thermal detonators around unwittingly. The right trigger can set them off. We're not talking a bang and a crack, either. If even a minor artifact is destroyed in the right way, its explosion is lethal throughout a radius of a couple of metres. I've tested it myself on some old odds and ends. It's a special thing. One you could possibly learn to do." She shrugged. "Or I could give you the means to do it."
 
That was the second Merill she had mentioned. It was a minor detail that only caught a small sliver of Irajah's attention, but she filed each name away for another time. In truth there was something far more immediately interesting being offered.

Irajah's eyes glittered, something not entirely pleasant flickering through them as [member="Ashin Karrde"] spoke.

"I tend to prefer a..... pragmatic.... approach," she said slowly, each word measured and catalogued before being spoken. "And that is a skill that greatly appeals to me indeed. The wording of your offer.... I take it to be difficult to learn? But there is another option? I have never shied away from something difficult, if you would be willing to take the time."

The Doctor didn't have a concrete series of steps, of plans to one day topple the foundation upon which the Butcher King sat. But every tool she could gather was potentially of use. Each could chip away at one more corner, one more brick.

After training with [member="Carach"] on Azure, she had paused in her studies in order to focus on finding a permanent solution to Gideon. Working with the Force while also using it to battle the virus inside of her was a fraught path, one that had led the last time to Gideon gaining ground.

But for this?

It would be worth it.
 

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