Hoth: Blood and Ice

Luth had promised to protect Arymis and look after her while Syl was gone. So, for the second time in her life, she found herself functionally living on his ship. The bit with being responsible for a preteen was new, though. Dinner had been made, served, and Arymis was well asleep by now. She had time to decompress after the damn trial.

The perfect time for Luth to attempt something that was almost certainly ridiculously stupid with what had been seen. But, with people going to what might be their doom on Nathema.

She sat down to meditate.

Let's hear the voice again... To confirm it, or even communicate...

She reached out to the Force.

Force Check - Meditation: 2eF 2 Light Side, 1 Dark Side


1 strain to access the Dark Side, +1 Conflict

The voice returned, "Rudimentary creature of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding. There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. You fumble through the sea of ignorance; inarticulate, incoherent, and unrefined."

"As long as you cling to your primitive philosophies you will never achieve perfection."

Yes, you are far beyond me. Probably far beyond what any of us can even conceptualize as a possibility. Though it does make me wonder why I can comprehensibly touch your mind at all? I've already heard you more than once, and you sound... familiar. The philosophies around me have very little to do with what I do, though.

So are really you the being Zakuul called Emperor, then.

There was really no guarantee someone like this would deign to engage in conversation. It was worth a shot, though.

"I had many names, titles, and roles... in the end I could not escape the entropy that poisons this universe. My great works unfinished," the voice responded.

What were you actually trying to accomplish? These great works seemed to require your actions in the blood and flesh world, she asked. It seemed like some of those names, titles, and roles were simultaneous. Though you said yourself that time is not a river... perhaps that perception was different for you.

Had he just been... out there wherever he was and no one had even tried to talk to him? Or maybe they had all just been too smart to run the stupid risk she was.

"I was seeking my destiny, and no sacrifice was too small to achieve that destiny," the voice replied.

I tried to seek what my own was in that cave. All I found was a vision of myself rising to the Eternal Throne. If Sylvain's vision is anything to go by, merely as one of your puppets in the material world.

She frowned.

Where do Senya's children figure into all of this? One of those great works or meant to continue them?

"Every man seeks a legacy, even in my perfection I fell victim to that vanity and Senya... oh Senya can be enticing," the voice responded.

"I do enjoy the old songs."

That's... surprisingly understandable, she found herself thinking. She was singing when I met her.

She tried to remember it, replaying some of the song in her mind out of habit to do so.

Luth Khalan wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 23, 2022 5:20 pm

That's... surprisingly understandable, she found herself thinking. She was singing when I met her.

She tried to remember it, replaying some of the song in her mind out of habit to do so.

"I see, amusing, so is she still beautiful?" the voice asked. "her departure was expected, but still it left a void."

An image of her came to mind, not for the person she was speaking to, but just because they were on the subject. Yes, she is very beautiful, she admitted. I don't know what she looked like when she was younger to say if it's still as much so, but some women do age like wine.

"Of all my projects, Zakuul was the most..." the voice trailed off into silence.

"The most impressive and closest to my designs. But I was a pragmatist, and I never like to keep all my cubs in the same nest. Other works paled in comparison. In time I outgrew them."

What was it missing that would have brought it closer? When Luth had left the Empire for the first time, insatiable curiosity had led her to try and repay her benefactors by working in intelligence. It hadn't faded much.

"My own shortsightedness, I had outgrown the primitive Sith philosophy," the voice replied. "In Zakuul, I achieved everything I needed. But alas, it was my own imperfect creation that was my undoing. Ironic."

Like stepping on something left out of its place, she mused.

... I'll probably come back to that important stuff, but I have to ask... Why have I been hearing you? Why did you answer me when I reached out? Why hasn't anyone else heard you? You weren't exactly out of reach. She didn't want to say all of that, but it was easier not to say things than it was not to think them.

"You seem willing to listen," the voice replied with mild amusement.

She considered what he said, nodding to herself. Well... For as much as you are an enormously powerful transcendent Force being, you're also an interesting person. I'm enjoying learning about you. And if you wanted to do something, it's not like I could stop you, so there's no point in being afraid.

What... happened with the twins and Vaylin? Senya mentioned they chose you.

"My children have my ambition, they chose the path of power, it was inevitable," the voice replied. "I made sure to give my sons nothing, even the dirt had to be earned and they thrived through conflict. My daughter, well she had to be brought to heel."

"Children are an extension of our will, sadly they do not always know what is best."

I suppose that's true, even for those parents who don't necessarily seek to control them as such.

Brought to heel? What made her different than them? She asked curiously.

"I feel you slipping away..." the voice called softly.

I feel it... You're distant. I'll reach out again soon, she promised before finally opening her eyes, taking in the Nighthawk around her.

Life really is full of surprises.

Draahg lurked and said from the shadows, "Impressive performance. Even our Master had to acknowledge you."

"He will strike soon."

She rose and turned toward him, shaking her head. "The thanks I get for making sure Layne kept her mouth shut."

She rose and settled herself onto the seat of the freighter's lounge area. "Why now?"

“If I understood the mind of Darth Baras I would be the Emperor. I just feel the change and I always trust my instincts. Maybe I am just paranoid, but he never intended for Layne to be a useful tool, merely a distraction,” he said calmly but softly just for her.

“Did you learn anything useful from the Zakuul woman?”

There could be multiple reasons at this point. It boggled the mind. Perhaps he'd heard about her conversation with Tethys. Perhaps it was something else. Whatever it was, she was a long-distance fighter, not a master with the lightsaber. If he turned on her suddenly, where she couldn't escape to a distance, there wouldn't be much she could do. "Well, she was definitely a distraction.." Something occurred. "Maybe not just for others." Of course, Draahg could also be just trying to play her and Baras off of each other for his own gain and trying to goat her into a preemptive strike.

Goad. This kriffing planet was getting to her.

"She's so focused on the subject of Vaylin and what to do about her that it's difficult to get much else out. So not an enormous amount of immediate use."