Private Welcome to the Pomojema (Taeli)

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

THE POMOJEMA
MOBILE SITH ACADEMY OF HIGHER LEARNING
UNALIGNED DEEP SPACE

As a starship, the Pomojema wasn't especially large - a bulky light cruiser, perhaps. As a groundside building, which it often was, it dwarfed the downtown areas of most cities. A wide variety of personal starships filled its docking bays, with plenty of room for additional visitors, teachers, and prospective students. More often than not, when someone new arrived, Ashin or another senior instructor met them personally. The Pomojema prized its reputation for exclusivity.

Taeli Raaf would, no doubt, catch the scent that Ashin wasn't human anymore. After an ill-fated dogpile on Pillio, she'd accelerated her plans for rebirth and accepted the offer of a Mesinis'Kaita body - a limited shapeshifter, available immediately. As such, she looked exactly like she normally did lately - ashen, emaciated, older than her years. But the heavy dark side corruption that had withered her was now largely an affectation of shapeshifting.

She had company for Arcanix's arrival: the avowed Jedi-killer Saavat Kishan, master of poisons, a fellow senior instructor. Like her, Saavat maintained a semblance of humanity: his armor, which looked like a humanoid wore it. Underneath, like her, he was something quite different - a Stennes Shifter in his case. After months of working together, Ashin could pick out the excitement and curiosity that flickered through his everpresent malevolence. He'd done a good deal of work with the venoms and other toxins from Arcanix's varied Sithspawn, and he'd never met Arcanix personally.

Saavat and Ashin made up the entire welcoming party, but she could sense others' attention: students and instructors alike. Arcanix had a Reputation - and Ashin had one as well, for hating the Sith Empire. She was content to let them chew on their questions.

​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

The Pomojema
Mobile Sith Academy of Higher Learning
Unaligned Deep Space

The Lumiya Infiltrator dropped out of hyperspace, angling in towards the hangar of the mobile academy ship. Within the ship, the Lady of Secrets, Darth Arcanix was looking forward to this meeting aboard what could be considered a rival to her own academy on Ziost, but it was worth coming out here personally to have a tour of the place and to deliver what she promised to a Sith that was a modern and living legend. She could sense the darkness that clung to the vessel; it spoke of pride and ambition, of a strict adherence to learning. It felt like home, she thought, thinking of Lorrd.

Ashin Cardé Varanin had been a force within the galaxy for many years, earning quite the reputation for herself, and Taeli had always wanted to meet with her. She had met the missus, Spencer Varanin , on Borosk and had actually survived the encounter with the mentalist, even getting a gift from the Echani woman. The result had been that she felt she owed Spencer a little for it, considering what the gift could lead to, and she had answered the request from Ashin for a new body. The Arika Kitiuras was a secret development, one that she hadn't shared with Kaine or Braxus as she wanted a reserve for special circumstances. Ashin's request had been one such situation, and even if she had chosen another form for the short term, Taeli had agreed to deliver a vessel for the future.

Docking, she could sense her welcoming party and the attention of others and she couldn't help a smile as she lowered the boarding ramp of her ship. She had worked rather hard to get the reputation she had. On a hoversled, a stasis pod containing the Soul Puppet floated, waiting to be offloaded, but it wasn't the only gift she had brought for Ashin and her students. In a separate pod was a new creation of Taeli's, a Weaver embryo.

Descending the ramp, blue and purple dress with a black hooded cloak, she bowed slightly to the headmistress of the academy as was only proper of one visiting teacher.

"Lady Varanin, it is a pleasure to finally meet you," she said, glancing over at the armored figure, "and your fellow instructor."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"We've met once before, as it happens,"Ashin said. "Both of us in disguise - you as a faithful Jedi Master, me with the face of Lady Ajira Cardei of Theed Hangar, maybe ten or fifteen years ago. On Erilnar at your old headquarters." She grinned openly. "I believe we discussed the possibility of the Sith infiltrating the Galactic Alliance."

She gestured to her companion. "Lord Saavat Kishan - an alchemist, our master of poisons."

The masked Stennes Shifter bowed fractionally. "Darth Arcanix. I've been reading Velok the Younger's latest book with interest. I hoped to ask - how accurately does it represent your creations' venoms and toxins?"


Taeli Raaf

​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Ah yes, I remember now," Taeli replied, unable to stop the half smile that formed at the mention of their dual guises. She had had no inkling that Ajira was really Ashin, but that wasn't too surprising considering Ashin no doubt knew how to conceal her full presence when she desired. "Our meeting about Sianium for Theed Engineering and when you asked about the allegations from... oh her name escapes me at the moment. You can't imagine the enjoyment I got from that."

She had worked hard to play her part well, but it was also in her nature to give her opponents a chance. She had left hints along the way for anyone, but alas, none had investigated before Operation: Eclipse was ready. She briefly turned her attention to the armored alchemist.

"Having perused his work myself, and a few pointers here or there, I would say his work is quite accurate for the present, although I've started to improve upon and evolve the creatures on Valrar," she remarked. "The Whiphids seem to have taken a shine to hunting on Valrar, and I believe that as a worthy recognition of my work. I, of course, would love to extend an invitation to you, Lord Kishan, and any students or faculty to visit the planet."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Insofar as Saavat Kishan enjoyed anything, the dour Shifter warmed to what Taeli said. Lady Arcanix, it appeared, had a fan.

After a few minutes of chatter and arrangements, it was just Ashin, Taeli, and the body in a private lab. The Pomojema had no particular specialty, not like the Sorzus Academy, but the lab was quite decent by Ashin's standards.

She grimaced and shifted her face to its current baseline: pale, colorless, with white hair and tapered ears. Humanoid but not human. "The interim solution I mentioned before. It serves me reasonably well for now - the limited shapeshifting has its uses - but what you've made is what I hope to inhabit long-term. And no need to worry about me telling tales to the Zambranos. We broke when the One Sith tortured my wife, and Kaine knew and did nothing. We weren't exactly friends before, but there was a degree of respect."

Taeli Raaf

 

[Taeli Raaf]

As a parting gift for the Shifter, and something that would no doubt fascinate all of the senior students and instructors on the mobile academy, Taeli had the Weaver embryo sent along with him. It was a few days away from hatching, as it were. With that settled, she had followed Ashin to the private lab along with the stasis pod containing the puppet.

"I recognize Adrian Vandiir's work," she said as a means of acknowledging the form that Ashin was currently inhabiting. "It should serve you well for now, he was my chosen successor as the, I suppose you could call the position as the overseer of the Sith Empire's alchemists. He had a fascinating mind for alchemy, and I daresay, he is sorely missed."

Just one more Sith needlessly killed in this stupid conflict, one more Sith that could have continued pushing the limits of their arts.

"I must have been too junior to know about that when it occurred," she said in response to Ashin revealing Spencer had been tortured during the One Sith days and how she had come to break with the Zambranos. "I'm sorry, for what it is worth."

She glanced down at the puppet's casket. The Soul Puppets were a next-generation solution to transfer essence, something that Darth Sidious would have wished he had access to, but she appreciated that Ashin viewed them so highly that it would be her long-term form.

"It is a relief to know that they won't hear about this particular project," Taeli added, slowly. "We might currently be allies, but Kaine and Braxus don't know nearly half of what is being worked on by myself and my followers."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Yes, I know. I took a careful accounting of everyone involved, everyone complicit. Most of them are dead and gone. I wish I could take more credit for that, but I did my part."

Then there was Spencer's death. Fixed, of course. But Ashin held both the Empire and the New Order accountable for that. A discussion for another day.

"When you say allies - are you in a position to explain to me what the absolute feth Kaine is doing, running around the galaxy committing random atrocities on a whim? Bespin for example? Has he tumbled into mass murder for the sake of mass murder, or is he still lucid?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli hesitated before answering the question about Kaine's activities. She knew the reasonings, knew precisely why Kaine was exterminating worlds. As much as Sith could trust one another, she had earned his respect enough to be within the smallest ring of the inner circle. And yet... treachery was the way of the Sith.

"Dishi mus is akuti, akdio kurji dia isati," she muttered, casting a dark side spell. A purple haze formed around the edges of the room before disappearing. "My apologies, Kaine has recruited several Seers, including Isolda, to keep an eye on people of significance, and as you can imagine, I didn't like the idea of someone scrying me when I don't want to be."

Nothing like a little informed paranoia to keep one sharp.

"I assure that Kaine is not committing these acts on a whim," she stated. "Bespin was just the beginning, and I'm sure you heard of the silence that has consumed Elrood. A ritual was devised that requires massive amounts of life and Force energy, both light and dark, to tear open a doorway to the World Between Worlds. Kaine fully intends to take control of that realm and then reshape reality to have the Sith ruling, with him on top. It is why he surrendered the throne of the Sith Empire and disappeared from sight for a few weeks."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Ashin chewed on that for a long moment, looking off into nowhere.

"Well that's simply unacceptable. His version of the Sith way is shallow and worthless. I don't see any value in him finding apotheosis. Do you?"

Taeli Raaf

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"I can't say I'm a believer in his philosophy, no," she said, "Kaine and the Zambranos were always a way for me to get revenge on the Jedi for how they treated my sister." That part even Kaine himself knew after their many conversations. She had never been one of his sycophants, fanatic in their belief of his values and his might. Kaine was, and still remained, a means to an end for her although that had changed over the years. They were useful to each other, for a myriad of reasons, but she always knew what type of man and Sith he was.

"He never really believed in his Rule of Order either," she continued. "It was a tool for him to gain power, knowledge, control, but he's moved on to creating legions of Sith strand-casts and soldiers loyal only to him. Most of what make up his current power base, besides his traditional Blackguards, are specially designed clones."

Which, to be fair, she had a fair hand in helping to design and it was her technology fueling his rapid buildup.

"But you can imagine, while I don't agree that Kaine should be the one to seize the World Between Worlds, I'm in a rather ideal position for someone like me."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Sith bred for absolute loyalty." Ashin shuddered theatrically, and at least partially meant it. "That's not a Sith. Sith isn't a label to slap onto anything with a red saber and a pulse. But I suppose that kind of nonsense is the price of creating a 'big tent' powerbase, isn't it."

Taeli Raaf

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"On that we agree," she replied. While she was perfectly happy creating the clones, researching them and so on, she would never call them true Sith. Their inbred and absolute loyalty to Kaine was similar to Darth Krayt's Sith troopers, and that had created problems for even Krayt's iteration of the One Sith. The troopers hadn't cared what stood in the way of their Master's orders, and when he died, they went completely insane.

"I won't lie and say I think there needs to be some selectiveness," she added. That could be seen even in how the Sorzus Academy was structured. Taeli wouldn't accept just anyone; they needed to be exceptional apprentices with a talent for alchemy or sorcery. Maybe that was the corporate head side of her informing her decisions on recruitment, but it had worked out for her and her own power base so far.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Oh, certainly. In fact, the Sorzus Academy's selectiveness was one of my inspirations for creating the Pomojema. We also raised the experience criteria - where your academy's youngest would be advanced acolytes, virtually all the Pomojema's students are knights and masters. An experiment in post-secondary Sith education, you might say."

Her focus resettled on the featureless Sithspawn body.

"Thank you for, if not satisfying, then at least sharpening my curiosity. Going back to this - to our bargain. What do you want for this body? What would you consider a fitting reward?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"As someone who graduated from Lorrd University before even becoming an active Force user, I appreciate that idea," Taeli replied, smiling slightly at the thought of her alma mater. Even now, so many years removed from those innocent days, she still had fond memories of her school years. Part of her believed that going through that, living a life beforehand, had helped her as a Sith.

Turning her attention as well back to the body, and the whole reason she had come here, she pondered what she might ask in exchange. The obvious was for a nebulous favor in the future, but Ashin was a true Sith and much like Taeli herself if she owed someone such an open-ended promise, she would be... reluctant to agree to that she assumed.

"Two things," she said finally, after some more thought. "First thing is I would love to have the opportunity to lecture here at some point in the future. Sort of like a scholar in residence situation. The second thing is more of a request, a commission for a commission so to speak. For some time I've been wanting a true Sith sword, but while I can do alchemical artificing to a sufficient degree, it's not my forte."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Done and done," Ashin said instantly. "I won't play games about the fact that having you teach here in whatever capacity you prefer would be ideal. And as it happens, we have a very strong group of metallurgical alchemists aboard - Azel Moran's people, if you're familiar with his work. Tell me more about the sword, the kind of violence you prefer."

A chuckle.

"You know, you might be the only Sith Lord I've met who actually pursued higher education. My parents shipped me off to a Jedi enclave at fourteen, and from then it was all on-the-job learning. But about a decade ago I decided to fill that particular blind spot - I attended New Habat University on Varunda Nine. Not a full degree but enough study and credential to broaden my horizons."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"I'm familiar with the name and some of his work," she answered, nodding and glad at the easy acceptance of her requests. Azel had a quiet reputation of being an exclusive smith, if she remembered correctly, that his works released to others were rather rare. "I use a lot of Makashi and Soresu so something that compliments those forms, and of course some sort of enhancements to help with sorcery."

And Ashin probably wasn't wrong about not many Sith having pursued higher education.

"I didn't consciously know I was a Force user until my early 20s," Taeli explained. "I spent most of my life until then on Lorrd, and lets just say that the librarians knew me very well before I even started school. My adopted father was a professor of galactic history at the university and encouraged me to learn as much as I could, try and sate my never ending curiosity as it were."

She chuckled herself.

"If anything it just made me more curious and voracious for knowledge, but I got a couple of degrees out of it and I'm still friendly with the current university chancellor."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"It makes sense that you'd have that much history with higher education. The Sorzus Academy was clearly designed by someone whose idea of teaching is perhaps a little more refined than 'watch me demonstrate a Force skill; now all twenty of you try it.'"

Her face went tight and somber. "It'll be a shame if the Alliance and the New Order destroy your academy. Their foothold in the Stygian Caldera..."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Yes, I found lessons are better when it is actually instructional," Taeli answered. "Demonstrations are all well and good, but for a student to grasp it, they need more than that."

Taeli herself had seen how such a system worked during her time as a One Sith apprentice. Praelior had given her bits and pieces, never really going in-depth on how to actually do them. She had done much of her learning on her own, away from her so-called Master. The Zeltron was never really a factor in her thoughts anymore, except for some smugness at surpassing her Master's experiments.

She grew somber as well at the mention of what was occurring in Sith space.

"Their first incursion into the system damaged it, and we lost several students," she said. "But much of the facilities remain operational, and even if the Sith Empire loses control over the system, I view it as only temporary. Another Sith power, whether it be the Worm or Voyance or the Empire, will move swiftly back in to take control. Until that happens, we have been looking at a few alternate sites for some field excursions with the students... should the need arise."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"By all means consider this one of them, at least for short-term relocation. I see only benefits if our academies collaborate. Maybe a few of our senior students exchange places, maybe our instructors find new resources and angles for teaching the Force." A chuckle. "And let's be honest: maybe we try to arrange reciprocal eyes and ears on each other's work. All kinds of possibilities."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"I appreciate the offer," Taeli said, nodding her acceptance. It would be beneficial for both academies if their was some health connections and of course, competition. They were Sith still after all. And the last part, and if her ears weren't deceiving her, sounded like the tentative first steps towards some sort of alliance.

Now that would be something worth pursuing.

"Those are possibilities I would be very curious about seeing through," came the response.

Ashin Cardé Varanin