Private Valley of Shadows

[Ra'Shayne Vorr]

VALLEY OF SHADOWS | BLACK LIBRARY
TAG: Darth Hydra

​

"Acolytes!" the sith woman snapped angrily as she stared at the frozen feline form of one of her followers. The younger of the two Cathar was only here because this specific temple needed two dark siders to enter the inner sanctum. Now look at her. She had placed her hand into one of the openings in the polished obsidian walls to retrieve some promised bauble and had paralysed by an ancient trap. The most stupid thing was though that there wasnt even anything in there, it was a trap, intended to slowly pick off the weakest willed leaving the stronger members alone and unable to proceed.

Well it worked.

Ra'Shayne sniffed her acolyte closely, she looked alive but the sith could scent the subtle changes in chemical release caused by death. Her heart has immediately been stopped by whatever poison had been deployed. Shay could remove her, or she could leave her here to rot. The indiginity of the latter would serve her right for her stupidity, and she would rather not touch a cathar that was currently contaminated by an unknown poison. So she walked away and continued her path. She wouldnt turn back yet, there may be some way of accessing that door without an ally.

She wanted the secrets kept in that vault.

The Cathar moved quietly, with the natural grace of her people. And it allowed her to hear... something? Was it a voice? She wasnt sure. Some of the words sounded Sith, but she couldnt feel anything pressuring against her potnent mental defences. Was someone else down here.

She reached out in the force, the person might repel her message out of concern for attack, but she could probe.

Telepathicallt she greeted him in Sith, then continued in basic. "Greetings, I am real, are you?"

 

[Darth Hydra]

Hydra was taking a break from the constant Sith events he'd been reluctantly obliged to attend recently. It was out of his character to be so… sociable with other Sith. Oh he was perfectly fine killing crime lords, it brought him a nostalgic kick to his time as an apprentice. At the time he'd been too busy fearing his masters wrath should he fail. Now he looked back on those missions with the same fondness a human might look back on their energetic youth.

The invasions however had grown tedious. Hydra understood abstractly that defending and expanding Sith space was important even crucial for the survival of the Sith, particularly as a force to be reckoned with in the galaxy. It was however… bemusing. Hydra was unused to working in large groups. The personal sense of freedom he gained from working alone or in pairs was not easily forsaken.

Hydra took a breath.

Ah well, it is necessary.

Hydra had come to the conclusion that his isolation was a weakness, and weakness was an anethma to the Sith. Isolation meant it was all too easy for the Jedi or other factions such as the Mandalorians to hunt you down while you were alone and vulnerable. Hydra was confident in his abilities, but numbers mattered. A team of Jedi could prove a challenge, and army of Mandalorians was not to be taken lightly.

Regardless Hydra had decided a small mission to reconnect with his own preferences was in order. He'd discovered a Sith tomb on Tund. A simple Tomb recovery mission. It should be… fun. The concept of fun was an amusing concept for him. Fun required discipline, focus and the will to claim power for yourself. Hydra wondered briefly if most Sith believed in having fun, or were they so obsessed with power and themselves that they forgot to apply that power for their own enjoyment.

Hmm. I'll have to relay the importance of using your power for your self with discipline in my next lecture.

Hydra felt a presence in his subconscious distracting him from his own inner dialogue.

"Greetings. Darth Hydra of the Korriban Academy. To whom am I addressing?"

Ra'Shayne Vorr

 

[Ra'Shayne Vorr]

VALLEY OF SHADOWS | BLACK LIBRARY
TAG: Darth Hydra

​

She felt the reply come to her from the unknown stranger and she thought, was she simply reacting to an apparition and playing the games this place wanted. Maybe. Play she would though. She whispered the words as she replied.

"Equinox, of Cathar and Coruscant, it is a pleasure." she allowed her darkness to seep through her telepathic nature like a calling card to declare what she was.

"I assune you are here for the same reason. Now, if you are real and not some trap, and you will understand my scepticism, perhaps we shall rendezvous... two minds, as it were." she tried to sense if there was another with him, if, like her, he had been let down by an acolyte. Or more amusingly, he had come unprepared.

She gave him the mental image of a room she had traverse. A large cylindrical room with a small cylinder in the very centre connected to archways on three side by narrow elevated walkways. Below those, far below those, was the feeling of utter loss, not death, something worse.

This is where she intended to meet her new potential allly, or adversary. Either could prove entertaining. She started walking down her own corridor towards where she would possibly meet him. Her tailed swished back and forth and her black painted claws dragged along the cold stone walls.

 

[Darth Hydra]

Hydra sighed at her intrusion into his mind. It was in his opinion incredibly rude to impose oneself on anothers mind, assuming one wasn't intending to dominate it anyway then it was just a challenge of power to be met with in kind.

This Equinox seemed to use it as an opening greeting, casually expressing her power or so he supposed. Hydra was neither impressed nor intimidated, he kept his mental defences up prepared to meet out a swift and brutal response should the touch on his mind become aggressive in anyway.

He got a flash of a room, he recognised it the large cylindrical room, a small cylinder in the centre bridged to archways via narrow walkways. He supposed it was as good a place as any to meet her.

As he walked with calm purpose to the room in question, he pondered that this could indeed prove to be a fortuitous turn of events. Hydra had come to scout the tomb, to get a sense whether it was worth bringing another Sith or acolyte to open it. Perhaps this was the Force's act of providence. Hydra needed another Sith and one appeared.

It put a slight pleased smirk to his face as he meandered the halls. To a Sith such as himself this tomb was as soothing as a clear meadow was to a Jedi.

Hydra entered the chamber.

"Perhaps it is you who are the apparition? Or perhaps I am after all. It would seem to me that a handshake would help determine for each other if we are illusions or not."

Hydra bowed and offered a handshake.

Ra'Shayne Vorr

 

[Ra'Shayne Vorr]

VALLEY OF SHADOWS | BLACK LIBRARY
TAG: Darth Hydra

​

She looked at the taller dark sider as they approached her, her eyes glowed and her ears twitched as she tried to size him up. A feeorin, interesting, she had no opinion of that species having encountered them very infrequently.

Perhaps it is you who are the apparition?

"Now wouldnt it be a shame for the galaxy If I turned out to be the one who was not real?" she said with playful narcissism. She looked at his outstretched arm, looking for anything that might be a trap, a poisoned barb, a stun gauntlet, but she felt no specific malice towards her and without risk there was no game.

She put her smaller hand into his and shook it. Her fur was soft and grey and her claws, while partially retracted, showed their jet black colour, although it was hard to tell if that was their natural colour or if she painted them.

She released his hand and looked around them, she pulled a small dropper out of her pocket and held it up to her glowing green eyes. Her hair bristled as the glitterstim hit her bloodstream. And she snapped her head around towards him again. "You are alone?" she asked. "I was not, but I have been... disappointed. Perhaps.... hmm" no, she would wait to see if he had more to say before she offered an arrangement.

 

[Darth Hydra]

Hydra flickered a soft smile at her self indulgent joke. Too often Sith lost their sense of humour as they delved further and further into the dark side, or perhaps only relied upon amusing themselves with the torment of others. Personally Hydra only gained that sort of pleasure from defeating a skilled opponent in battle. Otherwise Hydra enjoyed a good joke, even if he was rarely if ever so uncouth as to laugh uproariously. A true warrior philosopher maintained decorum at all times, even when it came to the simple joys of life.

Still Hydra rather suspected that while in others the joke would be sarcastic or self deprecating, there was an edge to this Cathar's delivery that suggested a part of her genuinely believed it. That she was a gift to the galaxy. Very well. Blatant narcissism didn't have to equate to incompetence, perhaps her self confidence was well earned. Hydra didn't need to assess her psychological well being so long as she was capable and useful.

Hydra flickered a small smile and a raised eyebrow while he waited for the stranger to break the silence. Hydra didn't mind waiting. A patient hunter was used to waiting for his prey to slip up, to make a mistake. Sometimes Hydra spent years trailing a target before he was ready to confront them. Studying patiently for any weaknesses.

In the mean time Hydra decided to meditate, letting the essence of the Sith tomb infect his very being like a glorious dark infused mist, the pain, the passion, the power. It was like taking a tingling hot bath, even as it was slightly painful as it course through his body. True power came at a cost, pain was a small price to pay for it.

So Hydra meditated and waited.

Ra'Shayne Vorr