A Simple Plan

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Darth Valdra"]

There was something about camping out in the woods that always made one feel at peace. Perhaps it was the isolation, or perhaps it was the sounds of nature all around. Or perhaps it was the connection one felt with the living Force when seated on the ground. Regardless it was bliss. The night was clear and warm with a cool breeze that showed itself every now and then.

As Kay was recently unemployed, she had time to enjoy a bit of solitude. No guards, no pirates, no negotiations or contracts to work on. Now she could relax for a bit and concentrate on nothing in particular.

A small campfire was burning, though she didn't watch it. Kay instead kept her eyes on the stars as she sipped her Sapir tea. It was nice and quiet at the edge of the meadow and she was looking forward to a pleasant sleep filled with pleasant dreams.

But it was not meant to be. Being connected to nature and connected to the Force as she was at that moment, she felt the familiar Force signature of a Sith Lord. It had been years since she had crossed paths with one. Her body stiffened a little as she slowly scanned the meadow in the dark, searching for him. Maybe he was just passing by? It was hard to say. Kay refrained from tapping into the Force to find him. Instead she just sipped her tea and waited.

 

[Darth Vaildra]

Darkness was a tricky thing, It had a way of fooling the senses. Some said that in the dark one's hearing increased and sounds could play tricks on you. Backing up though, first how did Valdra, a Sith Lord of the One Sith forces end up in a random forest? He had been looking for a certain tree, a Yeshok tree. He would use part of this tree to form the hilt on his soon to be legendary blade. He had been walking through the forest enjoying the peace of the night. Sure, he was a killer and had done many, many horrible things including the mass killing of a planet. The problem was not that he enjoyed it, but found it necessary to bring about order in this Galaxy. When Jedi, with all their pompous rules and supposed superiority. They saw themselves above emotions, but this also made them slow to act and led the Galaxy in chaos.

Before the Sith became what they are known as today, they were Jedi. Jedi who acted when war threatened, Jedi who wanted to know the Force completely, real men and women, not cowards. While the random killing was not something Valdra wanted, he also noticed the Jedi did not act to stop it which proved they and their ways were useless. Despite all this, Valdra enjoyed the stars, the peace, and the solitude.

It was until light pierced his eyes from a camp fire. He hid himself in the Force, but if she had senses she'd know he was there at first and now he would be gone like a whisper in the wind. The best part is he would reappear, weaponless behind her holding his own cup of tea. At first his Force signature would not flare up and give off his presences. First he would take a loud sip and then his presence behind her, leaning against a tree would be made known.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Darth Valdra"]

First she felt the presence of the Darkside and then it was gone. Perhaps it was just a ship passing by, cloaked so that she couldn't see it as she had watched the sky. So Kay relaxed and had another sip of her tea.

Seconds later she heard the loud sip, or more so a slurp behind her. She turned her head and saw who had caused it. Just as she had predicted, it was a Sith Lord, or at least he looked like one.

Kay turned her body so that she was facing him a little more squarely, though she remained seated. Her satchel lay beside her on the grass and it carried within it a blaster and her lightsaber, among other things. But she didn't reach for them yet.

It was odd that he just stood there and who knows where he got his tea from. Perhaps he had his own campsite nearby and saw hers off in the distance? Who knows? He was probably toying with her as Sith Lords tended to do. At least the ones that she ran across a long time ago did.

But after what seemed like too much silence, Kay bowed her head a little and spoke up first. "Nice evening for a cup of tea under the stars, isn't it?"

 

[Darth Vaildra]

"Not quite my cup of tea. Leave the leaves in the water too long and you ruin the taste." Darth Valdra took another sip, he wasn't a huge fan of tea, but could never resist such an opening. He studied the woman from his spot against the tree. Her frame and size suggested she was not a fighter and her hands looked soft from where he stood so that suggested at the most light worker. He had nothing to worry about at the moment. "So, are you a Republician? I hate to kill on a night like this."

It was true, Valdra loved fighting, but killing was a different story all together. He only did it as a means of survival, not pleasure. His blue eyes with their piercing green bore into the woman before him as the light flickered off them from the fire.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Darth Valdra"]

"You can remove the tea leaves from the water as soon as you get the taste you want, you know. It's a little trick every tea drinker should know." She wasn't being disrespectful at all, she was just stating what should have been the obvious.

As his eyes bore into her, she returned his gaze, though her eyes were a deep grey, almost absent of colour. She had been through a lot in her lifetime and her eyes showed it as they are the windows to the spirit within.

Kay finished her tea and then slowly put her cup inside of her satchel. With his question about whether or not she worked for the Republic, everything from his stance and his stare was almost hoping that she'd say yes. Instead she had to disappoint him. "No, I don't work for the Republic or any government for that matter. Not directly anyways. Where do your loyalties lie, sir?" Of course it was easy to guess but she had to ask as it wasn't always safe to assume.

 

[Darth Vaildra]

"Do I strike you as an avid tea drinker?" He tossed the remaining of his tea into the woods near him and tossed her the cup expecting her to catch it. He smirked and moved from the tree and more into the light taking a seat on the other side of the fire on a log. Her eyes appeared grey and worn like that of a sea captain near the end of their career. She also appeared younger than him and Valdra had seen many wars and traveled to many places and yet his eyes were full of life.

"My loyalties? That is the interesting question isn't it? Currently I am loyal to the Dark Lord and One Sith themselves, but as a whole I am loyal to surviving. War is inevitable and I want to bring about the end of it and bring order to the Galaxy. Despite all the things I must do which some I very disagree with, the Sith are actually doing something towards it. Sometimes evil, in certain amounts can bring about change. So many think the Jedi are this good force, yet when they are being killed they realize the Jedi sit on their kasses and only talk about helping. My loyalties is to this."

He was leaning on his knees and then moved one of his hands out, but not very far and then made stirring motions towards the fire which caused it to rotate like a tornado, but then shaped it into strands the that danced within itself moving like serpents weaving in between each other. Fire was one of his specialties and was both beautiful and dangerous.


[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Darth Valdra"]

She caught the cup in both of her hands and then placed it beside her. If he wasn't much of a tea drinker, then it was very odd that he was indulging in her addiction just a few minutes ago.

And then he spoke of war and trying to stop it. Part of what he said, she agreed with, while others, not so much. And she didn't know who the Dark Lord was, yet she didn't fancy a meeting with him either.

She watched as he controlled the flames. Great. Another one that can control fire. Kay had ran across a Sith Lady that could do the same. Her and her lover used to torture Kay both physically and mentally, often using her for their experiments. Thankfully with the help of her late husband, she was able to escape all that.

She couldn't watch the fire for very long, for the flames always reminded her of her husband's funeral pyre. "Evil can bring about change, but it isn't always good. And some Jedi have...lost their way and kill whatever Darksider they come across. I don't like that just as much as I don't like war. My late husband and I used to stop the conflicts before they started. For a time there was peace and balance in certain parts of the Galaxy." But no more. Different factions and groups have kept everyone isolated, each scrambling for dominance over the other, a never-ending cycle.

 

[Darth Vaildra]

"Good, then they wouldn't call it evil. Good and evil are merely perspectives. Take the Force, light and dark side, who is to say one side is more right than the other? Can a Force Push not send someone off a clif side to their death? Can Force Lightning not provide power to a city? It is all about how you use it. Look at the Galaxy, everyone claims good or evil, but do they act any different? All parties want planets and territory, they all seek power. Only the Sith actually move though. Their methods can be barbaric at times, but they control the most area and keep growing and with that kind of territorial real change can come about. I am a necessary evil, not a chaotic evil."

Valdra saw her slight reaction to his fire and decided to form the fire into many little birds that flew around them. Even the most dangerous things could become beautiful. "What do you fear?"

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Darth Valdra"]

"I agree with your perspective of the Force, but I don't agree with the Sith taking over. Many of them are cruel and unyielding. It's bad enough out there with the Jackals and the Hutts spreading their territories enslaving and killing those they kidnap. The Galaxy doesn't need more of that. The Galaxy needs less, or there won't be much of it left in the end."

The flame birds were....pretty, yet dangerous. She looked at him as he asked his question and for a moment she didn't want to answer. But that wouldn't be very helpful. "I am supposed to say that I fear nothing, but that would be a lie. Although what would stop you from enacting that fear once it's learned? I still have yet to learn why you have come here in the first place."

Did he come to fight? He didn't appear to have any weapons, yet his whole being was a weapon. If she had to, she'd protect herself. Though she had never killed anyone, she certainly wasn't planning on doing so now.

 

[Darth Vaildra]

Valdra laughed a little, "You have nothing to fear of me, I am here simply looking for a tree that will provide the hilt to my sword." Valdra's birds bursted and returned to the fire that continued as if nothing happened. "You have met very few Siths, sure we can be killers and conquers, but many of my fellow Sith Lords would agree it is better to pay workers and they work twice as hard than promote slavery. War is going to happen regardless of who is in charge and the Sith methods may not be widely accepted, we don't enact war for fun, but freedom. The Galaxy should have the freedom to understand the Force fully and not fear criminals. With the Sith at the helm we will stomp out rebellion and criminals, but order would be known in this Galaxy and in order there can be freedom. Someone must be willing to get their hands dirty if change is to really come about."

Valdra could feel her fear and it felt directed towards him, "I am not here to kill you, but if you draw that lightsaber or blaster I will not stay my hand. Come, let me show you something." Valdra stood and offered her his hand to help her up and then turned to head East.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Darth Valdra"]

"You contradict yourself a bit sir. Yes, the Galaxy should better understand the Force so that they don't fear those that use it. But stomping out rebellion as you say, is stomping out their freedom of choice. How can one be free if they must obey the order that is given to them?"

Kay didn't fear him exactly, but more so what he could do. He was a stranger and she didn't know how he would act or react to certain things. But at least she was able to speak her mind. As he held out his hand, she took it, grabbing her satchel with her other hand as she got to her feet. She slung it over her shoulder and walked along with him. "What is it that you wish to show me?"

 

[Darth Vaildra]

"Contradiction only depending on how you look at it. A train without tracks is in free fall, a train with tracks is free to move. A person without rules is free, but the lawless will only plunge the word into chaos again so yes we will stomp out anything that get plunge us back into chaos. Freedom always comes with a price." He let go of her hand and now walked in silence as they moved through the woods. He knew what he planned to accomplish and there was a reason he had never asked her name or given his own. His silver hair swayed in the wind as they walked with only the sounds of the wind coursing through the trees and the moonlight to light their way. She followed him, a complete stranger which told him she sought what he had. Though her past made her fear what a Sith could do, she could rewrite that past and use the power of the Sith to bring about a true Sith Empire.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Darth Valdra"]

"Well I wasn't referring to complete lawlessness, but what if your rules and laws become too strict? It's quite easy to get carried away with power." Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Kay held onto the strap of her satchel as they walked. She didn't follow him to turn to the Darkside. On the contrary, she followed him to try to figure him out. He wasn't the first Darksider that she had befriended and he wouldn't be the last. So far her plan at this point was working. She seemed to be gaining his trust, yet she wasn't sure how much she could give him. Each of them were testing the waters with eachother.

He didn't answer her question from earlier, so she asked it again, just in case he didn't hear. "What is it that you wish to show me?"

 

[Darth Vaildra]

"Sometimes, Tyranny serves it's purpose." He still ignore her question and kept moving through the moonlit night. They came upon the end of a cliff that stood over a battlefield that had war machines still, but covered in moss. "This was a battle, a battle that the Jedi started to kill Sith. That is how it has always been, this war that has gone on since the beginning of the Republic and it is a war of fear, fear of the dark side. The Sith are made out to be the bad guys, but really we are trying to save it from the Jedi who are the real Tyrants, but without order. Still in this battle, the beauty of the moon shines on it. This is why I am Sith." Even as he spoke, he did not fully believe it and knew he was only a Sith to gain the Dark Lord's trust and then kill him

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Darth Valdra"]

Kay furrowed her brows and then stepped back from the cliff's edge after she had had a look. "Not all Jedi are killers like that. Not all Jedi think in that way. I don't believe in killing someone just because they serve the other side. Maybe that's why I have never killed anyone." She stepped even further back. "There are extremists on both sides of the Force. And then there are those that hate both sides and want to destroy us all too."

She shook her head, hoping that he was understanding her points. "And that has nothing to do with a lack of order."

 

[Darth Vaildra]

"If there was order and understanding why would this battle have had to happen? Valdra was understanding her, but just like there were Jedi who were killers there were Sith who weren't. Valdra had killed, but he did it to better the Galaxy, not out of hate for the person. He then began to even wonder what he was doing, where this discussion was going and what his purpose was. He looked at the moon and began to remember who he was before the Sith. His time in the Sith had changed him, he never wanted it to, but it had and he hated who he had become, but the Dark Lord could not continue.


[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Darth Valdra"]

"I don't really have an answer for that. I consider myself a nice person that tries to do good for others and help the Galaxy. But just like if there was another Empire like that one from long ago, that tried to impose their laws and rules on everyone that had to be obeyed....I would probably rebel against it. That much power only corrupts people and governments. History has shown that time and time again."

Kay scratched an itch on the back of her neck. "But look at us. We are not governed by tough rules and threats of death. And so we are able go have a discussion, rather than try to kill eachother outright as many would expect us to do. Doesn't that show you that there are other ways to bring about peace?"