Private To Preserve What Remains

[Darth Strosius]

It wasn't often that the Harbinger of Absolution, nor indeed any fleet from the Order of Wonosa, found themselves over such a quiet world. Typically they were the ones keeping quiet, slinking around and laying in wait. Yet now the thrum of their vessels in orbit proved to be the main activity on Alvaria. Darth Strosius watched as the first round of shuttles veered away from the fleet and down into the planet's atmosphere, splitting into various directions across its surface. The observation deck provided the perfect view from its numerous viewports, and more importantly it was away from any prying eyes or ears unlike those which sat on the bridge.

It was better that His followers weren't privy to this. The masked man had the lower portion of His signature mask in one hand and a swirling maroon cocktail in the other, a substance that filled the room with a metallic scent as He lifted it to His lips and took a swig from the thermos. Intoxication was all but impossible for one such as He but the swirl of flavors within His sanguine beverage still pleased Him. Something to lighten His mood given the grim nature of the task at hand. Malum, for all his faults and errors, had been kind enough to pick up the pieces when He expired and should have been left for dead.

It was only fitting that He return the favor with Alvaria, the world that had provided shelter for His resurrection. That, and His daughter had needed to see the sight for herself. By her own request, He hadn't been a fan of the idea of course but He wasn't going to deny her in this matter. The Order of Wonosa would do what it could to aid the damaged world, helping to find those that hadn't been lucky enough to escape during the devastation. It was all too fitting that the Raid on Fiviune had been a mere ploy by the Kainate, their primary hound a simple distraction so that they could burn Alvaria. He wasn't sure how He hadn't guessed it before it was too late, but now it was. He took another bitter swig at the thought.

Revna Marr / Lina Ovmar

 

[Revna Marr]

Dread had been Revna’s constant companion since the events that transpired on Fiviune reached their conclusion. In the aftermath of the fight, the Tsis’Kaar headquarters had been reduced to rubble, the agents either killed, absorbed by Darth Strosius into the Order of Wonosa, or turned traitor to join the likes of Nefaron. But it wasn’t this that filled her with that icy cold fear - a fear she hadn’t felt since the day Formos was assaulted.

No…it was the echo of suffering in the Force that she had picked up on, the suffering of her own blood - even if distantly related. She felt, deep in her spirit, that something awful had happened on Alvaria…but she wasn’t sure. She wanted to see the place with her own eyes, to know if what she had felt had been real or not. She had practically begged her Father to take her to Alvaria and He had conceded to the pleading easily enough.

It would be easy for her two companions to tell that she was disturbed; Revna paced back and forth, her pulse shallow and fast in her chest as anxiety gripped her heart in its vice grip. Occasionally she would come to a stop before the viewports as they traveled to Alvaria - though there was nothing of interest to see beyond the window. The fires of the battle she’d been involved in still simmered under her skin, a powder keg that was on the verge of being re-ignited at the slightest provocation. It had been a very long time since she’d been like this.

Revna paused at one point to gaze upon the rather stalwart figure of Darth Strosius as He drank from a thermos in His hands, feeling a measure of envy for the way He seemed so composed despite the dread that seemed to linger in the air. For once, the tables seemed turned: normally she was the quiet and still one, and He the one pacing and raging with His volatile emotions.

Eventually, the Harbinger and the fleet of the Order of Wonosa, dropped out of hyperspace before the world of Alvaria. And immediately Revna was slammed by the radiating darkness of the place. She remembered the taint of it here, due to the Dark side nexus that existed on the planet…but the energy here felt different now. Deeper, darker. Something most certainly had occurred here…but the magnitude of it wasn’t unveiled until the ships broke through the atmosphere and revealed a landscape burned and broken. For a moment, Revna’s heart stopped as she beheld the destruction. Fires still raged here and there, their columns of smoke rising into the air to pollute the skies with ash. She could hear the wails, the screams, that still echoed through the Force here from lives long since lost - a cacophony of sound and agony that tore at her mind and heart.

The Marr Estate, Malum’s seat of power as he ruled as Alvaria’s king, was heavily damaged. It didn’t take a scientist to know that whoever had been in there when the place was attacked, probably hadn’t survived. Thoughts zipped through her mind as her eyes took it all in: did her family make it out? Who all was still alive? Who was dead?

Who had done this to her family??

The young woman turned slowly from the viewport to look upon her Father, her eyes reflecting her shock. She wanted to say something but she couldn’t find the words. This place had been a second home to her, a place where she had discovered she was a part of a family, a revelation that had shaped her. And now it lay in ruins, in ash and dust and broken memories.

Lina Ovmar // Darth Strosius ​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Lina stood silent at Lord Strosius's side her eyes tracking the path that Revna carved back and forth before them. She had offered to come for support, but she wanted to see what He had done, to understand the punishment that Carnifex had unleashed upon Alvaria.

Neither Rena nor Strosius knew of her relationship with Malum, they didn't know that it was the cause of her divorce. She wondered how much that slight against the Zambrano family had played into the slaughter, guilt settling heavily in her chest.

As the Harbinger, descended into the atmosphere Lina's sucked in a sharp breath, eyes scanning the destruction that stretched out before them.

"All hail the Butcher King." She sado softly, bitterness in her tone. Swallowing the bad taste in her mouth she turned her attention to Revna who was staring at her father in a state of shock. Anger rose within her, swallowing her emerald eyes in glassy black orbs. How dare they punish her again. Had she not suffered enough at the hands of the Kainites?

Darth Strosius Revna Marr

 

[Darth Strosius]

A grim hum of agreement left Him at Lina's comment, a slight wince cropping up on His hidden features when Revna turned to face them. Eyes full of questions and horror, shock and dread. He didn't much care for seeing such an expression written across her face. He'd seen the same on His own far too many times in the mirror. Darth Strosius swallowed the sip from the thermos that He had taken and capped it, fitting His mask back into place before clearing His throat.

"The damage is most severe around the palace, it was the main target of the attack." His words were gradual and clinical, for clarification rather than comfort. "The garrison held as long as they were able and managed to buy time for most within to escape. Other populated areas across the world weren't quite as fortunate, but evacuation efforts were underway even as the first shots were fired. We're still working on contacting the refugees in order to get a proper estimate." Whether He meant for survivors or casualties was unclear.

"The perpetrators can be of no doubt. The Kainate have played their hand." Disgust seeped into His words but it faded with a sigh. "I have made a formal request to Empress Talon to bring Carnifex and Prazutis to justice, or at least to a trial within the Assembly halls. I have yet to receive a response." Normally He wouldn't have bothered but with the Tsis'Kaar in its current state there was little else that He could do in regards to avenging Alvaria. Short of gathering every vessel that He could and blockading Dromund Kaas until one of the two wretched heads of the Kainate reared their way.

"This won't be the first time that the Order of Wonosa have had to pick through the ashes of a world. Just as we did with Formos, we will help who we can and secure what remains. The rest will be laid to rest properly." The Harbinger itself came to a stop over the scorched ruins of the Marr Estate, the other vessels within the fleet moving past it to attend to the rest of the world. There wasn't much here to be recovered after all.

Revna Marr / Lina Ovmar

 

[Revna Marr]

"All hail the Butcher King."

Revna’s burning eyes snapped towards Lina as the answer to her silent question on just who would be responsible for this mess was revealed. She turned back around to gaze out the viewports to the destruction as a slow burning rage began to ignite deep within her soul. A blackened rage and hatred that drowned out all else for a moment.

So the Kainate had been responsible for this? Had they moved without Imperial consent, or with it? She didn’t like where that thought led her mind; she didn’t want to think or believe that Srina would have given permission for something like this.

She hardly heard the words her Father said over the thundering pulse in her ears - though she heard enough to paint a fragmented picture in her mind. The garrison here had held off the attackers for as long as they could, to buy the inhabitants time to flee. Not all made it out, and many proud and loyal servants and warriors for the Marr household had paid with their lives.

And the innocents in the neighboring towns and villages? Laid to waste.

Butchered.

Slaughtered.

Revna closed her eyes as memories of what transpired on Formos ripped through her mind. It was like she was reliving that tragedy all over again. Her Father had always made it so clear that He didn’t want her to go through or experience the same heartaches and horrors He had faced - but it appeared that she was doomed to live through similar experiences herself.

How cruelly ironic.

"I have made a formal request to Empress Talon to bring Carnifex and Prazutis to justice, or at least to a trial within the Assembly halls. I have yet to receive a response." Darth Strosius said and despite the rage that blanketed itself over her, she felt a twinge of surprise upon hearing that. Her Father was not really one to make formal requests, so that part surprised her. However, she was disappointed to hear that He hadn’t received a response.

“Oh you best believe, when we are done here I am marching straight to that throne room to make a personal visit and inquiry.” Revna growled. “Unlike You, I have no issue with speaking to our Empress in person. I want to hear from her own lips what the feth happened here.”

No doubt, her Father would tell her not to bother, but He should know that she was stubborn and she would do things her own way, despite His urges or caution. Perhaps that was the reason why she was doomed to relive the things He had in His past.

She returned to her silence as the Harbinger came to hover over the broken and charred wasteland that was the former Marr estate. Revna turned her head to glance at the Sith Lord over her shoulder when He spoke again, listening to what He had to say. "This won't be the first time that the Order of Wonosa have had to pick through the ashes of a world. Just as we did with Formos, we will help who we can and secure what remains. The rest will be laid to rest properly."

She sighed heavily, the weight of her emotions filling the exhale. Revna looked over the broken palace, and knew that there would be next to nothing to salvage or save.

But they had to try.

Without a word, Revna turned and stormed away from the viewport and past the two Sith Lords, her own cloak billowing behind her with her somewhat limped gait as she made a B-line for the Hangar Bay. She wanted to waste no further time, as she could help no one while standing aboard the Harbinger. She hoped Lina and Alisteri would follow her - for she knew that she would need their support for whatever was to come next.

Darth Strosius // Lina Ovmar ​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Lina watched it all unfold, watched Revna's anger become sharper once she knew who the culprit was, listened as Alisteri offered facts and not comfort which only seemed to stoke the fire. Was it deliberate? They were Master and Apprentice before they were Father and Daughter. Lina wasn't sure, but she kept silent, her eyes drifting back to the palace beneath them as Revna swept out of the room.

A weight of sadness settled on her chest as she turned to face Darth Strosius, the obsidian melting away from her eyes, the emerald as always seeking to pierce what was hiding beneath his mask. "Whatever Empress Talon does or does not do to punish Carnifex does not matter. He does not ask permission, nor does he seek forgiveness. He simply does not care."

She looked to where Revna had disappeared through the doors. "Revna keeps being punished, for the actions of others. First yours, now Malum's."

Not just Malum's. Hers.

Guilt knotted in her stomach, and she swallowed. She needed to collect the last pieces needed for the curse, she needed Kaine to suffer like he was making those he deemed beneath him suffer. She had promised to take everything from him, and she would do exactly that, one tiny piece at a time.

"Come on, she needs us." she said after a moment of quiet before following where Revna had gone.

Darth Strosius Revna Marr

 

[Darth Strosius]

Darth Strosius clicked His tongue at His daughter's immediate remark on marching to the throneworld to demand answers for herself, not bothering to hide the distaste that such an action hinted at. There was absolutely no chance that He'd let her just waltz into the belly of the beast like that. Even without her still somewhat needing to recover. "My dear, the Kainate happened. There's nothing more to it than that." Indiscriminate violence was simply part of their designs.

They were beasts propped up as dictators and figures of authority but as they kept proving time and time again they were little more than miserable wretches beneath all that luster and military hardware. No wonder they got along so well with the likes of Raaf, they were essentially just one and the same. How very fitting indeed.

The masked man's hidden gaze followed Revna's stride out of the room before very slowly swiveling back to regard Lady Ovmar to meet her emerald eyes. "I don't need her to punish him, whatever she would order wouldn't be enough anyway. I simply need to remind the rest of the Order that none but those whom brush elbows with the powers-that-be matter in the eyes of our supposed 'superiors'." It was perhaps a fruitless exercise but one that needed to be made regardless, to prove a point if nothing else. He certainly knew better than to expect any results of note.

The reminder that His daughter had been made to pay the price for His own failures drew a deep sigh from Darth Strosius, His gaze sinking to the floor as He idly swirled the thermos in His hand. It was simply the curse of being above the corruption and degradation of the rest of the Sith. Being the only ones willing to try and stem the tide meant getting caught in the current and reaping what few threads one managed to sew. He had known this well enough for decades yet Revna was still discovering the full extent of it.

He wished that the reality of the matter was anything different.

A hum of agreement was His only response after Lady Ovmar broke the quiet moment, tucking the vessel into His robes as He marched alongside her after Revna. By the time that any of them arrived in the hangar bay most of the shuttles had already been launched and many of them were making their landings down below them, but of course there were a handful waiting in reserve. One was rather quickly designated by a pair of the Prophet's guards standing outside of it who would offer salutes to the Disciple of Faith as she approached and then the same for Darth Strosius Himself.

Revna Marr / Lina Ovmar

 

[Revna Marr]

Revna didn’t bother to respond to the comments made by Darth Strosius, she didn’t see the point in it. She already had the feeling that He would say something as a rebuttal, or tell her how her efforts would be in vain - but He didn’t know that she was in good standing with the Empress. In her anger, she had already given away a clue that she was more comfortable with the Imperials than she let on - at least comfortable with Srina.

She could feel the Sith Lord’s eyes follow her as she stormed from the bridge and headed for the Hangar Bay, but she didn’t spare Him a glance. She was a woman on a mission, a mission to take assessment of her old family home and try to help those she could. A couple of other fleets were already there too, lending aid where they could and for that she was thankful. The people of Alvaria, the survivors anyway, would be taken care of.

Upon reaching the Hangar, the young Vahla woman could see that most of the ships had already left, but there were a handful yet to depart. A pair of Kaar Sergeti guards standing outside the ramp of one of the waiting shuttles caught her eye, and she set her course for that particular ship, knowing that it would be the one that her Father took when He arrived. The two guardsmen saluted her as she made her approach and she glanced at both in her way of acknowledging their shows of respect.

Once inside the shuttle, Revna found herself a seat and waited to see if her Father and Lina would join her. She didn’t have to wait long, for both Sith Lords were not too far behind her, joining her aboard the shuttle. Though clearly still emotionally elevated, she was doing a rather decent job at keeping herself together, though the cold aura that seeped from her was a sign to all that she was still rather outraged.

Though she didn’t verbally say so, Revna was rather thankful that both of them were there with her. Despite her anger and standoffish demeanor, Revna shifted from her place to find a spot beside Lina, silently seeking comfort in the presence of the other woman. She really didn’t want to face whatever was to come next, alone.

"What is the order of business once we touch down?" she asked them both, though her attention was settled upon Darth Strosius. "Having some sort of direction will help us deal with...whatever mess is going on down there."

Darth Strosius // Lina Ovmar ​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

As ever, Alisteri's solution was to stir unrest, one that would likely not be met with anything other than more ire than he was capable of managing. No, there had to be another way, all systems had a weakness, it was just a matter of finding it and the only way to do so, was to get inside it. A prospect that did not fill her with any level of joy. Just because she could play politician, didn't mean she had any love for it. But to protect the people she cared about? there was very little she wouldn't endure.

She shifted her pace as they drew near the hangar, allowing him to take the lead as she followed him into one of the shuttles where Revna was waiting. The Vahla was composed, for the most part, but Lina could feel the fury coming for her, barely contained like a beast pressing against the bars of its cage. As Revna settled next to her, Lina slid her hand into hers, giving it a gentle squeeze and placed a soft kiss against her temple.

" Nu shiyi j'us, ki ardira" she whispered softly.

The question she asked was directed at both of them, though Revna's gaze shifted to Strosius, as it should. He was her Master after all. "We start at the beginning, where the Kainite first began there assault and we work our way in. Let the other shuttles focus on finding survivors, if they find any of your family, they can notify us, but the reports i have indicate all the Marr's were evacuated. Let us understand the detail of what happened here."

Revna Marr Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Darth Strosius settled into the seat across from where Lina and His daughter had sat together, taking a moment to appreciate the sight before the jolting of the ship taking off and Revna's question reminded Him of the task at hand. He nodded at Lady Ovmar's answer and leaned forward to sit up and rest His hands on His knees as the shuttle carried them out of the Harbinger's hangar bay. "Indeed, getting a proper sense of scale and the extent of the damage will make the job of finding survivors and rebuilding efforts more focused and precise."

There was another order of business that He fully intended to accomplish by the end of this dreadful excursion but for the moment He bit His tongue out of fear of spoiling the mood with it. While Alvaria hadn't been the main organizational heart of the Tsis'Kaar, given that it served as the primary abode for its now absent leader and as a meeting place for its more influential and prominent members there was still valuable intelligence and data to be recovered. Out of respect and simple decorum He had forbade any of the other teams from scouring the palace for such information, reserving the task for Himself.

Any records or archives which had survived the assault could very well be irreplaceable and otherwise unavailable elsewhere in the Tsis'Kaar's remaining strongholds. ensuring that it was recovered personally was paramount. But of course Revna would have her time to pay her respects and grieve for the lost estate, ideally without even knowing of His true purpose for coming to the palace. Really it was quite convenient that Lady Ovmar had agreed to come along in the end, another shoulder for His daughter to lean on whilst He did His work in the background. "Is there...anything in particular that you wish to visit or see, my dear?"

Revna Marr / Lina Ovmar

 

[Revna Marr]

Lina’s hand sliding into her own, as well as the soft kiss pressed against her temple, allowed some of the fury that burned within to dissipate. Her whispered words in High Sith caused Revna to squeeze Lina’s hand a little tighter, as a certain tightness filled Revna’s chest, around her heart. Hearing Lina call her 'my child' stirred an ache in the younger woman's heart that she had tried to bury for many years, and it made her want to hold on tighter to not just Lina, but Alisteri as well.

Lina was the first to respond to Revna’s inquiry on what was to be done once they touched down on Alvaria’s surface, and Alisteri seemed to agree with what Lina said. There was some relief upon hearing that the Marr family had at least been evacuated; she didn’t know what she would do if she saw some of her own family members dead.

Revna nodded with quiet understanding as both Lina and Alisteri said the same thing: understanding the scope of the situation would allow them to better assist others that needed a helping hand, or frankly do whatever else that needed to be done. She knew that Alvaria had been home to many important artefacts that rightfully belonged to the Marr family as well as to the now all but dismantled Tsis’Kaar. There was a stirring concern in the back of her mind that if the Kainites had truly been involved here, then no doubt they would have sought such things as well.

The only way to know for certain, however, was to get their feet on the ground and take stock of the situation themselves.

"Is there...anything in particular that you wish to visit or see, my dear?" Alisteri asked her. Revna was silent for several moments longer, deep in thought as she rested her head against Lina's shoulder before responding.

“The Gand Library; there were many tomes and holocrons and datacrons there that can’t be found anywhere else, some that were even connected to my ancestor. I also want to ensure that any family heirlooms are accounted for. There are things Malum had that were connected directly to Darth Marr that should stay with the family and not end up in the hands of filth like the Kainate or whoever else plundered this place.” ​

Darth Strosius // Lina Ovmar ​