Private To Infinity...

[War Marshal Helix]

Helix watched the preparations with some apprehension. He wasn't sure why he had complicated matters more by including Lirka Ka , but if it got the wretched Sephi to shut up for a few nanoseconds, then it was probably worth every penny.

The Ka woman had ceaselessly bothered him about visiting Otherspace when he had foolishly let slip that he had been there. Otherspace seemed too innocent a name for such a place, and "been there" was too innocent a way to phrase his imprisonment there. He loathed the place, but he could not deny that there were objects there of some use.

He'd been tossing around the idea of this venture for a while, but had continued to put it off. He hated to admit his fear of being trapped there again, of what his now vastly-greater intelligence would do if it experienced those eons of isolation again. Better to focus on the goal: to sniff around, and set up an outpost there for future and more heavily-armed expeditions.

On this trip was a lone Horla-Class corvette, himself, a few droids, and a slobbering, energetic young Helslug, who seemed happy just to be included. This one was but a pup, and he had already had to repeatedly dissuade it from eating his battle droids. Still, its annoying exuberance was worth it. It was their ticket into and out of Otherspace.

"We will not be here long." Said Helix, addressing the droids. Both physical B1H models and flickering blue holodroids were present, though they seldom got along. The metal droids resented their hardlight counterparts, and something of a rivalry had emerged. He was pleased to note that they were capable of being professional enough to keep the usual practical jokes, hazings, and other nuisances out of his view.

"Just long enough to take some readings and samples, and return. Still, this trip will be dangerous, as befitting its high priority. Lirka Ka of the Kainate will be joining us as an..." he tried to pick a polite word. "...observer. Kindly show her due courtesy, or failing that, keep your commentary to a minimum."

He turned and adjusted some instruments that were monitoring the slug.

 

[Lirka Ka]

Lirka had walked the Galaxy for many, many, years. In those long years she had learned much, witnessed dark relevation, the death of worlds, the collapse of empires. Yet, there was a single piece of wisdom that she had taken to heart in the nigh two centuries of her existence: being a childish nuisance was ultimately very effective if one could be persistent enough.

By all metrics she didn't particularly want to annoy poor War Marshal Helix as much as she had. But the opportunity presented was simply too great to pass up, and there was no better company she could have desired for her most pertinent of pilgrimage. One who knew first hand the depths of nothingness that they dubbed Otherspace, an unknowing herald for another revelation like those she had been gained upon the plains of Rhand.

Yet with thundering metal footsteps on the floor of the Horla. The commodore would be disappointed in Lirka's inability to keep quiet as the monstrous metal goliath entered the bridge. While her emotionless helm may have stayed on, it took only the most minor of observation to note that the Kainite was feeling mighty chuffed with herself for getting this mission on the way.

"Why thank you, Commodore."

She reasonably shouldn't have been on the bridge, distractions and what not. But Lirka did have a nasty habit of going wherever she pleased. Beside, she wanted the best view in the house when they entered the holy plane. Though the form of the Commodore's newest...creation drew the Once-Sephi's lenses for a time. It served as a nice reminder why she enjoyed the Mechanoid, such ingenuity. His art almost reminded Lirka of her own. Almost.

Words hummed from the Kainite's helmet once again, leaving distortion to the side for their little bout today.

"How long till we breach the metaphorical veil, Commodore?"

Nanoseconds was a reasonable timeframe to hope for silence from Helix's newest guest.

 

[War Marshal Helix]

"Not long." He responded, giving the slobbering mollusc a nudge with one metal foot. "The process is extremely safe and stable, but unfortunately not quick. I expect we will be underway in approximately four standard minutes."

As Helix spoke, the slug began to emanate a soft, purple luminescence, visible even through the bridge's ample lighting. Its gaze seemed to unfocus, as if no longer paying attention to what was in front of it. The glow, however, brightened every moment, until it was almost painful to look at. Small arcs of pinkish energy snapped from its form as it concentrated.

"The animal will transport us both to and from the staging point. From there, we will take some scans, observe the immediate area, and depart. This vessel is built for stealth. Let us hope our presence will go largely unnoticed."

Noting the Sephi's barely-contained enthusiasm, he added. "It is a remarkable place. At least to visit. Hopefully you will find our trip instructive, Lady Ka. Should all go well, I hope to establish a permanent presence there. Some of the minerals native to the dimension possess... unique properties. Properties that I have plans for. Of course, any such mining outpost will need to be capably defended. Any future trips will require considerably more force."

"The natives are unfriendly, but I suspect I am also not the first to attempt this. There are any number of hazards, both known and unknown. The reward, however, will be well worth it."

 

[Lirka Ka]

The timeframe of machines was such a fascinating thing. Lirka acknowledged War Marshal Helix with the slightest cock of her head, how quickly did his mind process?

“A most impressive development of travel then.”

Her attention quickly transferred to that of the Helslug’s glow. For all of the ravings about the “certainly of steel” she had heard in her life, it brought her a greatly amused joy that it was the might of bio-engineered flesh that would herald her to the great holy nothingness.

As the glow brightened, shutters flashed down over Lirka’s lenses to shield her eyes and allow her to continue the observation.

“As careful as ever, Commodore. Let us be but another shadow in endless darkness.”

While she was certainly giddy there was a degree to which the Once-Sephi was still keeping some of her cards close. The full berth of this pilgrimage was not something to drop till they were actually in Otherspace after all. Didn’t need to scare away and disturb the poor Commodore with the machinations of flesh just yet.

She gave a small nod, taking a chance to show some of her own understanding.

“The Charon. They who stumbled into the Great Lie. I would like to meet one, eventually. Understand the stories, see what makes them tick. Yet what do us worthy souls care about trials and tribulations? To enter into this holy place is proof enough of our ability to overcome. Even if it is for something as…simple…as mere mining.”

The mask slipped, but at least Lirka was making some attempt to be as close to “nice” as she could reasonably muster.

 

[War Marshal Helix]

"It is useful, in its way." He agreed. "I have come to appreciate that there are some tasks that organics are simply better suited for." The slug, meanwhile, audibly sizzled as its rotund form gathered energy. He figured they would be off in mere moments.

He cast a sidelong glance at the Sephi, his seemingly-solid metal surface shifting noiselessly to better view the creature. Lirka Ka had let slip some seemingly-religious nonsense in their prior meeting, but he had brushed it off at the time. Sith were eccentric: the non-Sith who populated their society were even more so. He was no exception.

"You are surprisingly well-informed on the nature of this place, Lady Ka." He remarked. "But I am afraid mining in such a place is anything but simple, and the ore in question anything but mere rock and metal. Everything in that realm is anomalous, by the standards of our universe."

He was interrupted by a yelp from the slug, and the shuddering of his vessel. "We have just exited that universe, in fact." He said, turning to confirm on a nearby instrument panel. "Captain, I want this vessel's full stealth suite active the instant we breach Otherspace. Holoshields to maximum."

"Roger, Roger." Confirmed the flickering blue holodroid. "Pre-activation procedures complete. Initializing on your mark."

The transit was swift, only taking a few moments. Helix gazed out the corvette's viewport at a sight he had grown all too familiar with. Anti-stars flickered in the distance, sucking in the light created by neon energy clouds and radiation storms. The ship's instruments whined as they reported countless spatial anomalies.

"Now." He said, and the ship flickered out of visibility from the outside. They were now beyond prying eyes, physical or otherwise. "Welcome to Otherspace, Ka." He paused, turning his attention to the viewport again. "It is beautiful, in its way. At least when viewed behind the proper safeguards."

 

[Lirka Ka]

Flesh would always be above steel. Even if the true path demanded the two work in harmony - there was a reason Lirka hadn't allowed herself to become a thing of circuits and mechanics after all.

"I'm glad you would think so highly of our lot, Commodore."

The Once-Sephi jested, Lirka certainly knew she was infinitely more capable of inflicting suffering upon reality than any machine ever could. Droids and their ilk were simply too impersonal, they didn't understand how to really twist the knife, break the spirit. Embrace abject cruelty that programming could only hope to mirror, never truly subsume.

Lirka had become used to sideways glances the more she spoke of the Dark Path in these recent days, the Once-Sephi was growing bolder. Spreading the word like any good preacher should, times were changing. And in these moments of transience, it was the perfect time for her grim enlightenment to try and spread out among the many cults and beliefs that populated the vastness of the Sith. Perhaps that is why she was here today to begin with.

"I have lived a long life. And in a long life, you learn many things. The Charon are an...interest of mine, so to speak."

An interest she believed could be heavily maximized for the "good of the Empire", as the reports would have to say if she got her wicked way.

And soon, they were there. In that most holy of reminders, quickly did Lirka turn to stare out of the viewport, excitement emanating from her twisted being...the sky was certainly more full than she had ever expected. Her beliefs solidified even more, the Charon fools. They had chased the great lie, and in response existence still flourished in the wake of morons who wished to rush along the Primordial Darkness.

And now, they were alone. No Emperors. No Dark Lords. No scuttling, wretched assassins looking where they were not allowed. And Lirka could speak freely once again, in the presence of the most-least trustworthy mechanoid she could think of...he was a Tsis'Kaar asset after all.

"More beautiful than you could ever know, dear Commodore. Tell me, what do you see out there? Beyond the veil."

Everything was like some sort of questionnaire when dealing with Lirka Ka. Always probing. Always prodding. Always waiting to sink her claws into someone if they revealed belief she deemed worthy.

 

[War Marshal Helix]

In response, Helix held out one arm. The spined metal surface rippled, then changed. It was a humanoid arm, complete with five fingers and visible blueish veins. "I can be flesh, when I wish. Or at least a near-perfect facsimile." He said. "But there is some comfort in the familiar. I do not need to wear the shape of a war machine from a bygone age. I do it simply because it feels... comfortable. I wear the trappings of meat to blend in, or simply experience how it feels. One must understand flesh to better shape it. Most casual eyes or even scanners would fail to detect a difference."

The fleshy limb warped back into a jagged metal arm with liquid grace, and the colony turned back to the viewport. He was silent after her question for a moment.

"This realm is many things." He said finally. "A useful tool, a repository of voidstone, a sanctuary away from prying eyes. It is also a lesson. A lesson in the utter futility of all that our galaxy strives for. I spent many a long age here, or at least it felt like such. When you stare out into infinity, it rather makes the Emperor's ambitions or the Alliances' ideals seem petty, does it not?"

"That, out there, is a lesson in what power really looks like. Uncageable, unbendable, and utterly uncaring. Destruction without purpose, and a glimpse at the future of our own galaxy, or I'm much mistaken. Nothing lives in that maelstrom save bands of madmen. At least, nothing one would ever want to meet. It is still largely unexplored, to my knowledge. I intend to change that. I will chart the horrors between the anti-stars, pry the gems from their crowns, and from them, create something new."

"As for the natives, they are of little interest to me save as a curiosity. If you wish it, I can see to it that some are captured when a proper mining station can be erected here."

"Sir, our sensors are detecting trace amounts of voidstone nearby. Should we move in for collection?" Whined the same droid from before. Several of the machines were studying the same display screen, one that showed pings all around them.

"Very good, captain." Came the response. "We lack the means to harvest larger amounts, but I believe the Shrikes can retrieve some samples for us. Proof of concept, if nothing else."

The winged droids soon brought in a small chunk of purplish rock, some five inches in diameter. Helix took it gingerly, turning it around in his delicate metal claws. Where the meteor touched him, the voidstone in his own flesh reacted, producing a soft luminescence that was highly visible in the dim light of the command bridge. "An inconsequential amount, but with the proper facilities, I expect far more than this." He held it up so Lirka Ka could see it. "Nothing else really sums up Otherspace quite like this, in its casual defiance of what our universe considers fact and truth."

 

[Lirka Ka]

With every moment passed did the commodore become a greater and greater interest in the eyes of the Once-Sephi. A true oddity, a one of a kind monstrosity: not unlike herself. It was a strange kinship, and one that Lirka would keep silent on for the time being. She enjoyed @Commodore Helix but despite that fact she still wasn’t stupid enough to actually trust the Mechanoid just yet.

Yet her curiosity would not be something kept silent…there was a certain power in dancing between flesh and steel so readily.

“How? If I may be so bold as to ask.”

She understood the philosophy of his words very well - much of why Lirka Ka looked like Lirka Ka was a matter of choice and aesthetic more than the wretched reality of what laid beneath layers of dark plate and stolen flesh.

“I understand the Charon are masters of the biomechanical….yet it would seem from the untrained eye you are perhaps the opposite. The mechanical-bio?”

Lirka was always a prober. She craved knowledge, knowledge was the true war that gripped life in Sithdom. One lived and died on the back of what they knew, and how well they understood those that were “allies” in the land of backstabbers and liars.

And now, all Lirka could do was listen, and ponder. Lirka coveted knowledge, and there was little knowledge more valuable in her eyes than that of belief and perspective. To understand the mind of the unenlightened was to enhance her own, to expand her vision of the ever complex web of beliefs that was strung across the great vastness of this newest of Sith Empires.

And she listened for those careful words, those that walked the edge of the path. Unknowingly peering over the edge at the primordial nothingness and the truths it would share with those wise enough to fathom its existence. Perhaps @Commodore Helix knew of what he spoke, perhaps he’d merely call her mad like the rest of them. But what was a missionary if not a risk-taker?

“How very wise of you…I would say much of the same. This place remains a precursor, a microcosm, and a warning all the same. You speak of the practical, hiding places, mining zones, and tools. But these are tangible, I reach out to that which is ethereal. That which exists in our minds, of beliefs and understanding of those cosmic forces that underline reality itself.”

Evidently, it seemed the Commodore had gotten her going.

“Futility is oft fundamental to mortality. This Emperor, this Alliance, this Empire, this whole batch of it all. Petty beneath this…vast, endless, nothingness. They are the unenlightened souls, those who have been blinded by the Force. They can not see past the veil to that Darkness beyond Darkness, the primordial nothingness at the end of all things. Otherspace, but a microcosm of what is to come when reality is pulled back to the cold embrace of the abyss.”

She stepped forward now, eyes utterly glued on the entropic beauty of this world between worlds.

“It is the proof of the ultimate power. The power of the Primordial Darkness that destroys all things. That uncaring power that exists far beyond any of us. Yet the Charon have gifted us with any facet of the Great Lie: death crazed fools that herald about their own obliteration, who have lost the understanding that little is more precious than our continued existence in defiance of ultimate power. The survival of the fittest, the glory of the strong. You say all that survives here is madmen, but you survived did you not?”

A humored smile, ever so small, appeared beneath her helm.

“Or perhaps we are merely both mad.”

Enlightenment and madness, so often one and the same. She gave the commodore a slight nod, she was never one to deny the opportunity for new raw materials.

“A gesture accepted gratefully and with many thanks. I always enjoy a new freak to slice open, after all.”

And if she could tap into the secrets of biomechanics…well Lirka already lived so much of her life as a metal brute. The possibilities did not need to be stated. She turned slightly from the viewport, focusing more on her Mechanoid associate now. Voidstone. She had heard of it before, and felt it never. One of the many mysteries of Otherspace and the endless oddities within.

“They say even a fragment can weaken the force - a large scale mining operation certainly seems…dangerous considering our supposed-betters.”

But the potentiality, boundless. Lirka could see flames in her eyes, a playing field evened and the most mighty of tool to show the true meaning of Sithhood. Her slit lenses soon glued themselves to the arrival of the fragment, studying it with a coldness that seemed infinitely more becoming of a droid than a living thing.

“May I touch it?”

Even a fragment that small…she had gained many enemies among the Sith. Before her, she saw the path of triumph now.

 

[War Marshal Helix]

"How? Why, the same way many terrible things begin. In defiance of one's limitations." The creature gave a sort of rasping growl, a noise that might have been an attempt at a chuckle. "I spent a very, very long time here. Back when I was a young droid, fresh off the line and convinced of my own invulnerability. You can appreciate the majesty of what lies before us. Now, so can I. It is appealing in a way that a purely mechanical, programmed mind cannot understand. To such a mind, thinking in 1s and 0s, hard facts and figures, it is horror beyond horror. A creature of logic finds a complete lack of it rather... disorienting."

"I sought to transcend, to understand. And so, I became this. A self-replicating, nano-compound intelligence, able to alter its own molecular structure to make... well, nearly anything. The limits of my thought and experience are now only those which I choose. Of course, freedom comes with its costs. Costs like appreciating the full weight of your actions, when you are no longer simply responding to programming. True sapience is burdening. I suppose it is the height of irony that in expanding my capabilities, I simply acquired new limitations."

The colony shook his head. "In a way, I suppose I am a child of this place. I carry its native voidstone in my very skin. Its trials shaped my actions and destiny in ways I still cannot fully calculate. Part of it is still frightening to me, but I can appreciate its merits on a less calculating level now."

Helix was quiet as Lirka Ka explained her philosophies, only responding with the occasional nod. "Perhaps we are mad." He agreed. "I think one would have to be to survive here, to truly understand what it is. I suppose I cannot blame the Charon for their behavior."

"I find your beliefs logical enough. It is not, perhaps, an appealing philosophy to many, but it is a nearer stab at truth than most. I will always choose truth over falsehood, and I suppose that is what makes me stand apart from the rest of the Order. Out there... that is truth. Not the truth I would have chosen, but that's how it all too often goes." The apparition shrugged. "If one cannot understand, then Otherspace has a way of forcing them to. The... Primordial Dark, to use your term, is not a gentle tormenter. But in torment comes understanding. Few lessons worth learning are entirely painless."

In response to her last question, he tossed the tiny chunk of rock over to the Sephi. "Keep it." He said. "There will be more to come, should all go as planned."

 

[Lirka Ka]

She saw it, that glimmer. If he was trying to manipulate her, he was certainly doing a damn fine job. Defiance. The foundational tenet of worthy life, the defiance against the end. The transience of birth into something beyond what nature intended. They were the same beast, Lirka knew that well. She had seen the glimmer the first moment they had met and now in this moment shared between monsters in the lifeless void. Two creatures bound by an Empire, pushed off the production line for Confederacys long-dead. Freaks that should have been dead a long, long, time ago - taken into the cold embrace of Primordial Darkness.

Yet

Here they were, where none should be. Lirka's hearts thumped, and the brand upon her head itched. She listened to the Commodore's words, even through the growing twitch that writhed through her unnatural flesh as a giddy zealotry grasped around her being. When she spoke, it was distant - as if in some bizarre prayer.

"In suffering, we find the catalyst of transcendence."

Lirka was a creature of strange emotions, alien in the way they coursed through her mind. She felt what might have been the veneer of empathy, the Dark Path was not an easy one after all. Helix had certainly grown well beyond what he was meant for, enlightened himself even, but it was a mother's nature to sympathize with all those who must suffer so greatly to attain such an elevated state of being.

His power was certainly a curious one, and one Lirka could only fathom the raw potentiality of it all. He was frightening in many ways, yet Lirka Ka feared nothing. War Marshal Helix was the truest of allies, the rarest of monsters cut from the same cloth as herself. She would not squander it.

"The paragon of otherspace, one who has walked down the Dark Path and reaped its cruel rewards. I thank you for humoring my curiosity, dear Commodore."

Silence was a dangerous thing, but Lirka hoped he would simply understand as she had understood after her moments of revelation. Perhaps he would not spout the mantras or follow the truth as she did. But that did not matter, to simply know, to acknowledge the existence of that Primordial Darkness and the power it held was worth more than anything else. For that was the first step of walking down the Dark Path with purpose.

"Enlightenment and madness, so oft one in the same to the uninitiated. It is reasonable to fear the unknowable, but it is the mark of the worthy to overcome such a thing...considering where we are: I'd certainly say you have managed your fear."

Her chest puffed in belief, Lirka was certainly a very self-assured preacher like any good zealot was. Fear. Such a driving force of the Galaxy. Fear and ego, all the enablers and false-gods, too afraid to bow their egos to the notion of something beyond their control. A weakness Lirka did not share.

"Do not share your pity with the Charon. They are as idiotic as the Rhandite savages, unworthy souls who had failed on the Path. A thing for us worthy beings to remold and use."

Evidently, Lirka certainly had more beings in this Galaxy she disliked beyond just the Charon. One did not live as long as Lirka Ka without picking up more than a handful of... eccentricities. One of which just happened to be a certain penchant for hate. It was odd to be met with something resembling acceptance for her Path, but she welcomed it greedily. Potentiality was everything, and today oozed raw potential.

"Truth is truth. It is not pretty, it is not kind, and we do not choose it. But it is true. I suffered greatly to feel the Primordial Darkness upon my being, as have you it seems. Have you felt it, Commodore? Those claws scratching at your back, waiting to bring about your end?"

An ever-important question, to feel Darkness was to know it. It was the ultimate crucible of enlightenment.

As the stone flew to her, her hand flashed out, and the bauble quickly disappeared into some unknown compartment within the power suit. Lirka felt the alliance solidified with that most simple of gestures - yet the danger was palpable. Sith certainly didn't enjoy voidstone...then again: did the Sith really enjoy either of them? These outsiders that stood so far apart from the Order that was supposed to be their home.

So she asked another question, with mind towards the voidstone between them.

"Do you see it, Commodore? How so many of these Sith look down on us? The outsiders, those unblinded by the Force...the division of sorcerers and warriors."

Otherspace was the perfect spot for heresy, after all.

 

[War Marshal Helix]

Helix did not share any such fear of the Sith or their supposed powers. A few he rather liked, a few he called friends, the rest were convenient allies on their best day. There were few alternatives. His methods would not be tolerated by most in the galaxy.

"The Sith look down on everyone." He answered frankly. "Including other Sith. It is one of their most devastating weaknesses. Each one thinks they are untouchable. I have become very wealthy and very powerful by tickling their egos." He fixed her with a dissecting gaze.

"Let me be very clear, while we are being honest with one another. I would like my chances in a struggle to the death against most, but it is impolitic to say so. Not to mention bad for business." That dissecting gaze deepened. "I have something of a disdain for sacred cows. Idols exist only to be smashed, brought low, and reminded that greatness is transitory. Nobody's seat is ever truly secure, and nothing in this universe brings me deeper pleasure than handing out the occasional reminder. Call it a personal hobby, if you like. The only ego I respect is my own."

He held up a hand, forming a tiny voidstone pebble within it. Two fingers held it up before his compound gaze, where it was inspected dispassionately. "I am power without ambition. That leads them to either disregard me entirely, or fear me. I am comfortable with either outcome. People are very easy to manipulate when you allow them to feel superior to you."

"I can steal away body and mind with but a touch. One brush of my finger, and..." he made a "poof" gesture with both hands. "Nothing but mindless service forever, if one is lucky. If one is unlucky..." he tossed his head toward the slobbering, mindless servitor beast that had brought them here. "The first of that species used to have a name, some Hutt title I could not be bothered to memorize. Wealth. Power. Prestige. Until I decided he did not, and that he was more use as a living appliance. Yet, all I do with this power, this potential, is to keep to myself, steal what I need, and build. I could ravage unchecked across the stars, consuming everything in my path to replicate my cells endlessly. The Sith Order, like most organizations, exists at my pleasure and sufferance."

"Which is why I must confess to surprise at hearing you speak such words as you do." He continued. "Your master cannot be pleased that you come here. Such disloyalty is not something he would tolerate. One more reason why the Kainate is a stain upon the galaxy." An odd, metallic noise emanated from the colony, perhaps an equivalent of a scoff.

"So tight is their grip that you must be in another universe to dare speak against them." He shook his head. "Yet, do not think I criticize or belittle you. Not many see through the veil as you do. I do believe you strike nearer to understanding than most others in the galaxy. It is... curious that I can agree so much with one so different from myself." A brief suggestion of confusion in the colony's voice, a stark departure from his usual arrogant confidence.

"Is that was this was truly about? Why you fought so hard to come along on a tedious recon flight?" Helix felt an infinitesimal flicker of something. Something that, if he were organic, or even just a less monstrous droid, he might have been able to correctly label as "empathy". He felt he truly understood the creature before him, in a way. She was mad, unquestionably, but so was he. One did not survive the touch of this place entirely intact.

He wasn't entirely sold on the more mystical aspects of Lirka Ka 's stated philosophy, but there was unquestionably a core of truth to it all. Everything slid towards its end.

"If you wanted me to help you, you only had to ask."

 

[Lirka Ka]

For all her boisterous attitudes towards reality, Lirka Ka was a beast driven by fear. A paranoid monster that saw assassins in every shadow, a creature that thrived off lies, deception, and could barely fathom another lifeform not being just as much of a self-centered liar as she was. Perhaps that is why she stayed in the company of Sith for the vast majority of her life, so often did they prove to be very much just like the Once-Sephi.

War Marshal Helix spoke the truth, though it was a truth that was not particularly difficult to reach. Lirka had done similar in her life, to feed the ego of the Dark Lords was to invite power into yourself. In both a metaphorical and rather literal sense.

Honesty was an amusing concept in an Empire that was built upon the backs of the lies and deceptions of politics. It made honest converstation a potent thing to covet, Lirka listened intently to all the words that hummed out of the Mechanoid's form. A chance to understand that which should have been unknowable was a chance that Lirka would never squander. Another opportunity to see what common ground lay between the unlikely pair of supposed allies - she could agree with him on most of it, idols, messiahs, all the like were a foolish thing made only to feed ego. All things were transient, power was a shifting thing that rose and fell like the crashing of waves.

And yet...

"Power without ambition..."

Lirka rolled the words around in her mouth, pondering the concept. It was a funny notion, she looked the colony over a few times. Grinning beneath her helmet in amusement and coy jest.

"...I don't believe you. You wouldn't do all you do without ambition for something. So much voidstone harvested for the Empire of force-blind fools? So much wealth acquired by the stroking of egos. To what end? Just because? I'd not think so little of you."

Power without ambition. It was an unfathomable concept to Lirka Ka, she who understood that ambition was synonymous with survival when living in Sithdom. Always reach higher, always fighter harder. Climb, climb, climb, till you fall into the abyss and do it all over again. The endless struggle of power.

The power of Helix was a disturbing thing - the sort of chaotic variable Lirka did not enjoy. She looked to her metal form, pondering briefly, yes he most likely could have broken away her second skin rather easily. Brawled with the foulblood within her veins and turned her into something not totally dissimilar to the servitor beast that served as their ferry. An unpleasant prospect, yet a reminder to dance in the metal monster's good graces for as long as she could. The idea of his murderous galaxy-marring rampage was a prospect that seemed grossly...counterproductive to the machinations of the Dark Path - if she got her way, she'd be able to throw him onto it as well and make the notion of such a thing a grossly unlikely possibility. But Lirka Ka was a woman who liked to consider she could get plenty of people to follow in her murderous shadow.

But of course, she was distracted by the quibbling of Sith politics. So often did people scorn her master and his allies. She couldn't help but let out a belly laugh, it was a rare thing for Lirka Ka to actually laugh - and it sounded utterly unnatural.

"Please, dear Commodore. You are spending too much time around your Tsis'Kaa scyphants. Have you ever met the Eternal Father before? His reach his wide, Helix. Quite wide. If Kaine desired it so, he will know all that transpires here today. For my eyes are his eyes, his eyes are my eyes. Such is the nature of our marriage of flesh and blood. So one must ask, why does he not strike me down? Why do I feel his ichor in my veins, his mark upon my head, rather than his blade across my neck?"

Rhetorical questions, of course. Lirka had been given quite a long time to ponder such things, Darth Carnifex was an interesting man after all. His machinations ran deep, the leash he gave was held tight or incredibly slack - of course, Lirka had little intent to keep her leash on for that much longer. What she'd do in the days to come would be of her own volition.

"He is the great enabler. He who facilitates evil, he who allows the scuttling things in this Galaxy to grow majestic and dark. All one needs to do? Pay homage when the time comes, do not nip at his ankles, do not undermine his dark dealings. For in the success of the Kainate? The Primordial Dark's path is laid bare, and the mighty will rise up from the ashes of the great suffering he perpetuates. You may even like him, Commodore. I'm sure he'd be plenty interested in your myriad of creations."

For all her dealings in the shadowy places of the universe, preaching of potentiality of the next age of the Sith. A new transcendent belief, she would always love the Butcher King in her own wretched way. She owed much to him - and so many of her dealings would all run back to the vast grasp of the lord of the Kainate.

"I do as I do, because he has allowed me the ability to. The shadowy serpents of the Order will rally against him, for he is the great choking evil of days past. But it is he who understands strength. The strong will do as they do, the weak will suffer what they must. As the saying goes. He has enabled me to see through the veil, his teachings that lead me to Holy Rhand, to reaching out to the Darkness beyond Darkness. Scorn him if you wish, it is ultimately not my place to care, Commodore. But, do not be so quick to discount his place in all this."

Her words steeled once more, humor dissolved and Lirka Ka turned back to just Lirka Ka.

"It is our many differences that bring out this Empire's true strengths."

Lirka Ka was not one for standardization. Let the mighty stand on their own merits rather than be choked out by the authoritarian yoke of standardization that so often choked out these Empires that rose and fell. How much different were they from the myriad of different raiders and marauders that plagued the Galaxy from the end of the day? She looked to Helix, pondering her answer for a brief moment before answering with some modicum of honesty.

"Indeed. I did not believe you would listen to me without the view of this holy and wretched place as an example, without the company of the void, the enlightenment of Darkness can feel rather mad. Such is the nature of revelation, I suppose. Your help may come in time, Commodore, for now, I care about what you believe. If you can see what I see. You speak of the Sith and their many shortcomings, but look out, ye' who has power-without-ambition. Can you see a new age, a new Sith? A Sith Transcendent, a Sith that has risen out from the blinders of the Force that cloak their vision? A Sith who understands the darkness of a place like this?"

She was giddy. Her heresy revealed in its entirety now.

"A Sith for people like you and me?"

 

[War Marshal Helix]

"My only ambitions are small ones, Lady Ka. An oxymoronic concept perhaps, to one like yourself, one with great potential stifled by the culture of our little empire. I built all of this when I was yet a mind of metal and wheels. I built it because that was what I was created to do. Build and maintain armies. Now, I take advantage of it for very different reasons. I have only very recently been able to explore what it is that I want."

"What I want, as it turns out, is to explore, experiment, test the limits of this galaxy. To peel back its skin and play lovely melodies with the gossamer strands of its neurons. To understand, and to enjoy the understanding. There is a certain pleasure in understanding, and pleasure is something very new to me. I am old, and yet in many ways, I am still an infant. The politicking and throne-stealing means very little to me, when placed beside all this..." he gestured to the void outside "...and what wonders I will be able to create and experience from it. I believe that my nascent personality is that of the creator, for only in building do I find purpose. Who I build for is of little consequence."

"The quiet joy of the painter is hardly ambition, and yet, I suspect he finds more fulfillment than emperors and kings, when they discover that the throne is more burdensome than glorious. Not many within the order are content not to strive ever upwards. Of course, I have made a career of propelling those who do feel such things along their way. I feel a sympathy for the despised, the lowly, and the different. Little surprise then, that I surrounded myself with those like Haxim or Calis." Or like you. The unspoken implication hung in the air. "I do what I can to soothe their sufferings, and aid them in their little climb to the top. I will also be there when they topple from the peak and into the mud one day, where I will pick them up, dust them off, and send them climbing up again."

"It pleases me to unseat the powerful, as I said. It also pleases me to put the lowly in their place, for without evolution, there cannot be growth, and without growth, there cannot be life. To stagnate is to die, Lady Ka, and the Order is in the latter stages of stagnation. The rest of the galaxy is little better, so I do my part, here and there. I do not possess ambitions, so much as facilitate the ambitions of others, in my own small way. It is enough."

"This voidstone is not for them, Lady Ka. It is for me, and of course, for you. When it is refined and subjected to certain... improvements, I believe great things may be done with it."

"I mean no disrespect, of course. I'm certain Lord Carnifex is an... interesting patron." Helix could no more wrap his head around that sort of existential reverence than Lirka could understand his own relative laze in the grand scheme of things. If he was to worship anything, it would be his own image in a mirror. Nothing in the universe save his own all-consuming ego was of much lasting worth. It would hardly be politic to argue the point further, however. Lirka Ka 's eccentricities were to be tolerated, not antagonized.

"I am also equally certain that you could surpass him. Given time, and given ability. I must confess, I had you written off as a simple brute when we first met, but you have continued to surprise me. Surprises are too rare a treat at my age, when you view the universe as a string of statistically-predictable numbers. Time has little meaning when tomorrow's events are as set-in-stone and humdrum as yesterday's."

"That is what I believe, Lady Ka, if it may satisfy your curiosity. From chaos comes flux, from flux comes life. That road is long, paved with pain and soaked in blood, but the alternative is to never walk it, and simply rot in place. Rot is a revolting thing, a thing I will not allow to happen to those few in the universe that I deem worth investing in. Some, like yourself, have the tact and insight to avoid the curse of stagnation and weakness on their own. Not all are so lucky."

"Your vision of the universe is an appealing one, to one who values truth. Destruction is a far kinder fate than decay, in the end. What's the saying? Better to burn out than fade away?"

He looked back to the black anti-stars and swirling nightmare storms outside. "Would that such a Sith would rise." He said, fully aware of where this was going.