Private Walk In the Shadows

[Revna Marr]

Wearing:
Ring || Lightsaber || Necklace || Armor​

The summons had come not long after Revna had spent some personal time on Jutrand alongside a myriad of other Sith and common folk alike, attending an event being held in one of the Arenas. Upon opening the official order, she noticed it was from Gerwald Lechner, one of the Dark Councilors of the Eleventh Sith Empire. He was calling her to his flagship, though he did not specify for what reason. There was no urgency to the summons, nothing saying she needed to go in haste - but the newly anointed Darth knew better than to keep a higher ranking Lord waiting.

That, and she was rather curious to know the reason behind why Lechner would be calling her to his personal ship instead of his Spire on Jutrand, or even the Council chambers themselves. It felt like something official, and yet perhaps personal at the same time, but there was only one way to really find out. So Revna directed the helm of the Vindicator of Faith to change course and sent a response back to the Councilor saying that she would be arriving shortly at the location provided to her.

The Vindicator would drop out of hyperspace a respectful distance from the Dark Councilor’s own flagship, the Vigfjall, and communications between the two were established to ensure hostile intentions were not assumed, given her own starship’s stealth capabilities. With clearance given, Revna boarded her personal craft within the hangar bay and departed her ship for the Vigfjall, landing a short time later aboard the Councilor’s command ship.

From there, Revna was met by personnel and guided through the ship’s corridors and to wherever Gerwald awaited her presence. She still wasn’t certain for the reason behind her summons, but she knew she would learn the truth of the matter in due time. Gerwald was not one to beat around the bush, something for which she appreciated.

“Lord Lechner.” Revna said as she made her presence known, dipping her chin respectfully towards the Sith Lord. “I received your summons.” was all she said as she waited for the other Sith to address her and perhaps explain why he had called her aboard his command ship in the first place. ​

Gerwald Lechner

​

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: This
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
SHIP: Vigfjall
TAG: Revna Marr

Gerwald had chosen the Vigfjall deliberately.

There were conversations suited for the Obsidian Spire, where visitors came and went beneath the shadow of the Dark Council. Others belonged within the Council chambers, where every word carried the weight of office and Empire. This was neither.

The Lord Commander stood before the broad viewport of his flagship, hands clasped loosely behind his back as the Vindicator of Faith settled into position beyond the transparisteel. He had known Revna had arrived before the bridge informed him. The report merely confirmed what his senses already suggested.

Gerwald had been watching her movements.

Not personally. He had neither the time nor inclination to follow another Sith across the galaxy, but his place beside the Empress demanded awareness. Srina had entrusted him with more than a seat upon her Council. Gerwald was the violence held in reserve behind her throne, the answer when diplomacy had exhausted its usefulness and enemies mistook restraint for weakness. He was her wrath, and through him, the wrath of the Empire.

That responsibility required him to notice things.

Ships appeared where they had not been expected. Resources shifted. People moved. Conversations happened behind closed doors. None of it meant much alone, but Gerwald had spent too many years commanding armies and hunting enemies to dismiss a pattern simply because he could not yet see its conclusion.

Revna was doing something.

That did not make her an enemy. Gerwald had no reason to consider her one, but loyalty to Srina did not permit him the luxury of ignoring what he could not explain. Whatever Revna intended, Gerwald needed to know whether it strengthened what the Empress had built or threatened it.

The wolf wanted the truth.

By the time Revna was escorted to him, Gerwald had moved away from the viewport. The chamber he had chosen was removed from the bustle of the bridge, somewhere they could speak without an audience. His corrupted golden eyes settled upon her as the doors closed behind the Sith.

"Revna."

There was familiarity in the greeting. Whatever titles she had accumulated since they first crossed paths, Gerwald had not summoned the Queen of Korriban to stand upon ceremony.

"I did."

He gestured toward one of the seats before taking his own.

"I have been watching your movements for some time."

There was no accusation in the statement. Gerwald simply placed the truth between them.

"Not every step you take. I have better things to do than keep an accounting of where the Queen of Korriban spends her evenings." A faint trace of amusement touched his expression before disappearing. "But enough."

Gerwald leaned back slightly.

"You have been moving with purpose. Quietly. Carefully. Whatever you are doing, you have been deliberate enough about it that most would probably overlook the pattern."

His gaze remained fixed upon her.

"I did not."

The Lord Commander allowed the silence to settle for a moment. There was no threat in his posture, nor did there need to be. Revna knew enough of Gerwald to understand what he was capable of. More importantly, she knew whom he served.

"Everything I do is in service to the Empress and the Empire she has built. That means when something moves within it, I need to understand why."

He did not dress the statement in accusation. Revna had earned more respect from him than that.

"So rather than continue watching pieces move across the board and invent explanations for them, I thought I would ask you myself."

Gerwald regarded her for another moment, curiosity more than suspicion behind his expression.

"What are you up to, Revna?"

 

[Revna Marr]

Wearing:
Ring || Lightsaber || Necklace || Armor​

Gerwald greeted her with familiarity and gestured for her to take a seat within the chamber she’d been brought to. She sat down as the other Sith did, before folding her hands into her lap and crossing one leg over the other in a gesture that would suggest relaxation and ease, even after hearing him say that he’d been watching her movements for some time.

"Not every step you take. I have better things to do than keep an accounting of where the Queen of Korriban spends her evenings." He continued, a hint of amusement laced into his words, enough to bring a faint smile to her own face. "But enough."

Gerwald leaned back in his seat slightly as he continued, his amber eyes settled on her: "You have been moving with purpose. Quietly. Carefully. Whatever you are doing, you have been deliberate enough about it that most would probably overlook the pattern. I did not."

His words were not laced with danger, his posture did not indicate he was threatening her. He was simply being honest and up front about what he had noticed, and Revna had expected one such as him to notice such things. It was part of his duty for the Empress, after all. She held his gaze with her own, her facial expression relaxed and perhaps even calm. Sith could say one thing with their mouth, but say something different with their eyes, the way they shifted their body, the way they sat, how they breathed.

She had learned and picked up these cues over the years, and she read Gerwald even now - enough to know that she was in no direct danger, or trouble for that matter. He was not accusing her of anything, but came forward with…curiosity.

"What are you up to, Revna?" He finished with a probing question, and she felt the corners of her lips lift a little higher.

“Oh a little of this and pinch of that…” she started, a flicker of amusement dancing across her features, before she settled into something more serious. “I have been seeking opportunities for myself, Gerwald. Chances to grow in power, expand my influence, and rise above others who are too afraid or who lack the willpower to seize those opportunities for themselves. I have been seeking and making allies with whom I can build a strong foundation with, who will aid me should I have need of it. And because allies are useful, for a variety of reasons.”

Revna tilted her head to one side, almost in a predatory fashion, as she regarded the Sith Lord across from her. “I am not content to sit on the sidelines and do nothing with what little power and influence I have amassed. So I suppose that is what I have been ‘up to’, as I move quietly from here to there.”

Her smile returned, sharp and calculating, if only briefly, before it returned back to something more serious. “If you are concerned or worried that I am trying to undermine or move against our dear Dread Mother in any way, shape or form, then I can assure you that I am not. I share a bond with Srina, and I would not betray that. Loyalty means something to me - I am just trying to find ways to make myself more…useful…to her, in my own small way.”

​

Gerwald Lechner

​

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: This
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
SHIP: Vigfjall
TAG: Revna Marr

The answer earned a quiet huff of amusement from Gerwald. Revna had grown considerably since the woman he first encountered years ago, though some things remained familiar. The ambition she described did not trouble him. Quite the opposite. Sith who lacked ambition had no business calling themselves Sith. Power was meant to be pursued. Influence was meant to be expanded, and opportunity belonged to those strong enough to recognize it and bold enough to seize it.

Gerwald listened without interruption, his expression revealing little as Revna explained herself. It was only when she spoke of the Dread Mother that something shifted behind his corrupted golden eyes.

The Dread Queen.

That was what Srina had always been to him.

Long before the Eleventh Sith Empire existed, before Srina took its throne or Gerwald ever stood upon her Dark Council, their history had already been written elsewhere. It was forged through battles fought together and losses endured long before either of them held the titles they bore now. Their bond belonged to another time, another life, and it had survived everything which came after.

The throne had not earned Gerwald's loyalty. Srina had.

The Empire had simply given that loyalty a greater purpose. Gerwald served the Empress because she was Srina, not because an Empire had placed a crown upon her head. He had stood with her before the throne existed, and he would stand with her if the throne disappeared tomorrow. Whatever the Empire required of him, whatever violence needed to be visited upon those who threatened what she had built, Gerwald would answer. He was her wrath before he was ever the wrath of the Empire.

“I know who you mean when you call her that.”

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“She has always been the Dread Queen to me.”

There was more contained within the words than Gerwald cared to explain. Revna had her own bond with Srina, and he would not diminish it by comparing one against the other. Neither would he pretend his devotion began when Srina became Empress.

“And no, I did not bring you here because I believe you are plotting against her.”

Had Gerwald truly believed that, this conversation would have been considerably different. There would have been no invitation to sit and no quiet conversation aboard the Vigfjall. Revna would have discovered precisely what it meant for Gerwald to be the wrath standing behind the Dread Queen.

His expression hardened slightly as he leaned forward, his forearms settling against his legs.

“Ambition does not concern me, Revna. I would be more concerned if you had none. You should seek power. You should build alliances. You should make yourself impossible to ignore and take every opportunity lesser Sith are too timid to seize.”

There was approval in the way he said it. Gerwald had never believed strength was something to apologize for, nor did he believe the Sith should wait patiently for power to be handed to them.

“But becoming useful to the Dread Queen requires more than accumulating power.”

His gaze remained fixed upon hers.

“You have a crown, and you have Korriban. You are building relationships, gathering influence, and becoming stronger. Those are things I would expect from you.”

Gerwald leaned back once more.

“What I want to know is what you intend to do with it.”

That was what had drawn his attention in the first place. Revna was not simply collecting titles or surrounding herself with allies. There was purpose behind her movements, even if Gerwald had yet to determine what that purpose was.

“I am not asking about whatever passes between you and Srina. Whatever bond you share with her belongs to the two of you, and if she has entrusted something to you, then it is not mine to pry into. I want to know what you intend for yourself.”

Revna had said she refused to remain on the sidelines. Gerwald believed her. Everything he had observed suggested the same, but ambition without direction could accomplish very little.

“You said you refuse to sit on the sidelines, so don't.”

There was no challenge in his tone for the sake of challenging her. Gerwald was offering Revna exactly what she claimed to want, an opportunity to demonstrate that her ambition had direction.

“The Empire has enemies beyond the Blackwall. It has worlds that need to understand what Sith rule means, and there are Sith within our own borders who have grown comfortable beneath the protection the Dread Queen has given them. There is no shortage of places for someone hungry enough to make herself useful.”

A thin smile pulled at Gerwald's lips as he regarded her.

“So tell me where that hunger is taking you.”