Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Darth Baras]

Darth Baras turned to the Jedi and said, “Are your people in need of our aid, Master Jedi?” His mask hiding his face and shielding his emotions from view.

[Tethys Carrack]

"You were a friend of Mr. Varliss, I think I recall. Once." Tethys gives the masked woman a measuring look.

"Strange if it were a coincidence, yes. But we have felt something is... coming. I'm not surprised the Sith feel it too." Tethys nods. There's a note of curiosity alongside the wariness in her voice; she wonders what the peculiar feeling is like to these Dark Side users. Luth's phrasing doesn't suggest thrilled anticipation, so perhaps the Sith don't fully understand this dark current either. Or at least any that do have special knowledge about it aren't sharing widely with their peers.

"Once indeed," she replied, tone distant. She doubted she had any friends but Zeno left in the Republic. Ties cut out of what had felt like necessity then. To protect them from the man who had just arrived.

[imperial_march.mp3]

Luth straightened as soon as she sensed his approach, well before he arrived. When he finally did, she turned and bowed. "I am pleased to see your safe arrival." She turned toward Tethys. "Darth Baras. A powerful dark lord of the Sith, and my master, though I am sure his reputation precedes him."

Darth Baras turned to the Jedi and said, “Are your people in need of our aid, Master Jedi?” His mask hiding his face and shielding his emotions from view.

"Darth Baras. This is quite an unusual" no, not honor exactly "--circumstance." Tethys isn't wearing a mask, which means it's clear enough that she recognizes the name Baras and that his reputation does indeed precede him. Her brows twitch a bit. "You wouldn't happen to have a facility-scale power generator in that shuttle, I suppose? Otherwise, I strongly suspect your people and mine all need much the same things right now."

The Jedi's body language is deliberately clear, the 'neutral negotiations which can't be guaranteed not to turn aggressive' stance she's developed over years of wandering the Rim. She's calm but energized, ready to move in an instant if needed.

"We tracked quite a few pods that hit atmosphere further from this beacon, so we expect many more crew coming in here." A free offer of information... and also a warning that the Republic castaways will be a hard meal to swallow if the Sith choose to take a bite. Tethys nods at Luth. "Your associate says that will not be a problem."

[Darth Baras]

Darth Baras responded, “It may be possible to fulfill that need, Master Jedi.”

“You have nothing to fear from us, we are both flat footed. Cooperation serves our best interests.”

[Tethys Carrack]

“Fear is a choice, Darth. We have no need of it here anyway.” Tethys half-shrugs one shoulder. “My side won’t make the first hostile move. If you can contain yourselves, I see no reason we can’t share this space with you until everyone can get out of here.”

Her dark-eyed gaze sweeps the masked figure of Luth and the ever-incongruous Zeno. “It seems you have some inside understanding of Republic emergency procedures on your side, so that should make this easier.”

And vice versa, maybe, though to the best of her knowledge Zeno hadn’t ever been as fully integrated in the Sith rank and file (such as it is) as Luth Khalan had once been in the Republic military.

[Zeno Thul]

Feeling the eyes on him from Tethys, he looks to her and nods. "I know the standard procedures for Sith emergency recovery. Learned all about that stuff during pilot training before the academy. If we get my ship fixed up a bit, it has longer range sensors which should help locate tracking beacons. I could pinpoint individuals and send back specific coordinates."

[Darth Baras]

“Fear is a choice, Darth. We have no need of it here anyway.” Tethys half-shrugs one shoulder. “My side won’t make the first hostile move. If you can contain yourselves, I see no reason we can’t share this space with you until everyone can get out of here.”

"I shall relay that sentiment to the Empress upon my return, I am sure she will be elated that the attempt on her life was just a reaction to her ascension, Jedi killing children, how novel," he responded.

[Zeno Thul]

Zeno understood that she wasn't really a child. No, she was created using the Void Engine. And had she been Zeno's daughter he wouldn't have said anything, but people make decisions and decisions have fallout.

"Child? Not really. Though her mother explained it all to me before the Empress was conceived," he says, shrugging at the idea that it was child murder. Clearly he was more aware of the Empress's nature than probably most people are.

[Darth Baras]

"Well it's easy to see how the Republic justifies their actions," he said with a wave of his hand.

[Zeno Thul]

"Oh noooo..." Zeno responds with sarcastically feigned worry. "A Sith claiming moral superiority to make someone else feel ashamed. I've never done that before."

Zeno rolls his eyes so hard Baras can probably hear it.

"I'm going to get to work. Have fun in here."

With that Zeno takes his leave, going to find something more productive to do.

/exit

[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys nods in acknowledgment of Zeno’s suggestions. She’ll need to talk with him later; it sounds like he probably would have a better grasp of Imperial procedure than Layne, whom Tethys is pretty sure wasn’t any more of a rules-follower on the Sith side than she later became on the Jedi one.

With equanimity, she says as Zeno’s departing stomps echo in the icy space, “It is true, some members of my order have made decisions in the conduct of war that I could not support. Perhaps they will again in future. I expect I don’t need to tell a high official of the Sith Empire about the conflicts and disagreements that inevitably appear in very large organizations.” A thin and mostly humorless smile crinkles the corners of her eyes for just a moment. “You must have many more vivid experiences of that than I do, in fact.” Notably, Jedi disagreements are both rarer than Sith ones, and don’t usually result in piles of corpses and planets on fire.

“But right now none of those Jedi are here, and I am. As are several others whom I know and trust,” she concludes. “So I speak with confidence.”

[Darth Baras]

"I meet very few, if any, Jedi that I like, Master Jedi," he responded. He leaned forward to speak more softly, "But you are on the path to breaking that... tradition. I have complete confidence that we can maintain this amicable working relationship."

He straightened and added, "If I have any concerns in the future, I know I can come to you to hash them out."

[Luth Khalan]

Luth inhaled and exhaled slowly, restraining her reaction. To the production between Baras and Zeno. She narrowed her eyes behind her mask as he leaned forward and spoke. Wasn't a fan of that... for some reason. Still, things seemed to be simmering down, and it was a relief. Carrack was more reasonable than she'd come across initially, echoing Luth's own sentiments. "I'm glad to hear that." It was a general response. Both things expressed were a positive toward survival.

[Remmington Balmung]

Remmington personally thought Baras was stretching that out a bit much. He watched Zeno march off with some interest. He looks back to Luth. "Nice to have a new face in the crowd. Well new to me at least."

[Luth Khalan]

Luth let the tension drop slightly out of her shoulders as she was addressed. "Oh. Yes! It's nice to meet you. Same here."

[Remmington Balmung]

"You seem familiar with a lot of people already but I don't think we've ever met. If I am wrong, I apologize for not recognizing you." Remmington replies.

[Darth Baras]

"You seem familiar with a lot of people already but I don't think we've ever met. If I am wrong, I apologize for not recognizing you." Remmington replies.

Darth Baras spoke, “Have you insulted my apprentice?”

[Remmington Balmung]

Remmington shakes his head. "Not at all my lord. I am not sure if I have ever met her before or not."

[Darth Baras]

Remmington shakes his head. "Not at all my lord. I am not sure if I have ever met her before or not."

"Then why are you apologizing, are you not Sith, are you afraid of her rebuke? Are you a child controlled by fear?" he demanded.

[Remmington Balmung]

"I am being polite." Remmington answers.

[Darth Baras]

"That better be all it were, men with too many apologies are the first worms to show betrayal," he said tersely.

[Rumun Gol]

Ah Darth Baras, being Darth Baras. The tall alien looks the back and forth between Remmington and the Dark Lord of the Sith without interveening.

[Tethys Carrack]

"I meet very few, if any, Jedi that I like, Master Jedi," he responded. He leaned forward to speak more softly, "But you are on the path to breaking that... tradition. I have complete confidence that we can maintain this amicable working relationship."

He straightened and added, "If I have any concerns in the future, I know I can come to you to hash them out."

"I'm glad we have this understanding, then," she says with a smooth nod. Whether or not she can actually credit the claim that he likes her, or might--too soon to tell, really--she's too honest to return the compliment, but she's also diplomatic enough to accept it peaceably. "Please do."

Ten years on, Tethys is still the same person who had once cut comms on the brutal Eralynn Varad--but there had been nothing good to gain from those talks, only Varad taking pleasure in her own cruelty. Baras needs something from the Republic force at the moment--and, at the moment, doesn't seem inclined to be unreasonable about that, or actively engaged in doing harm.

She offers a nod to Luth as well when the masked woman expresses approval of the temporary truce(??), then watches the interaction between the three Sith with the air of a xenoanthropologist unexpectedly tossed into a field observation... which perhaps this is, in fact.

[Luth Khalan]

Luth nodded in return to Tethys before observing the... exchange between Baras and Remmington. It wasn't the first time she had been present when he came for someone like that, so it didn't ruffle her anymore. Intervening when he was in this mindset was dangerously close to looking like countering, though, so she just let out a soft breath within her helmet. Better to break the tension and shift the conversation.

"More of us all will be arriving soon. Probably with the Republic's commanders."

[Tethys Carrack]

"I expect so, yes," Tethys agrees. As a veteran of many diplomatic conversational re-directs, she can't fail to notice this one. That's interesting. "There will be a lot of work to do shortly, and much to discuss." Her brows arch with a complex blend of emotions: mild amusement at how much of an understatement that sounds like once she's said it; worry for the others out in the blizzard; skeptical curiosity about her new, temporary Sith neighbors, and more.

"Master Khalan, as you are Darth Baras's..." subordinate? apprentice? evil henchwoman? human property? 'My master' was rather ambiguous in the Sith context--"associate, I'm sure we'll need to talk further soon enough," she adds, in a mild and almost offhand tone.

[Remmington Balmung]

"Manners are important." Remmington replies.