A step back, for a leap forward

[Malok]

If it were any other man, Darth Metus...would have understood completely.

In fact, he did, as they had both walked an identical path. The words of [member="Adron Malvern"] took the Vicelord back to the very beginning of his journey...He remembered when a young Mandalorian died and a new Sith was born. On that day, as the gold-clad warrior knelt before his Master, servitude was demanded in order to protect his home. To end the bitter hatred between the Sith Empire and the United Clans. To bring peace...to bring safety to his home.

He could feel [member="Srina Talon"] prodding his mind as he recalled...Pushing him to accept this reality. She knew him, more so than any other person among the stars. She had resided within his mind. She had witnessed his memories and his dreams - his past and his secrets. Have you not done the same? The gentle chime of her voice brushed against his mind, causing the memory to flicker and repeat.

She was r-

Silence.

A new vision danced before his mind's eye, prompted by her touch. He had...never been here, but knew enough that this was what his Apprentice had seen. What she had experienced. A distant voyage - for what, he did not know. She had been at the mercy of his blade. A wrathful choice and he would have lost her. The average soul would have seen this...and saw better of the Imperial standing before them. But. The Sith saw this as an affront.

How. Twice. Was he not pushing her enough? Was he not training her hard enough? The questions burned through their bond as his fingers yet tightened upon the arms of his seat. He said nothing, yet listened to her words. To her reasoning. Ah, Srina, ever the logical one. Ever the political one. Always smoothing the wrinkles with tact as opposed to swinging the hammer. She was so like her Master in many ways - but in others, they were as different as fire and ice.

She wanted him to believe that he was not their enemy. That Adron Malvern was a changed man. A man who was lost and could prove himself worthy of a home among them. A man who, if nothing else, deserved to live because she wished it. Just as Scherezade lived because his niece wished it. The wrath never wavered from his expression.

He had half a mind to let her take Scherezade's head right then and there.

Turning, the storm of his eyes met her serene expression. Only. Because it means that much to you. The words would boom within her mind, like thunder crashing in the heavens above. He was angry...wrathful...but it was never with her. No. The wrath was inward. Adron Malvern was responsible for putting her in that bacta tank - but who was responsible for making certain she could best him? That would be addressed all the more now.

His attention found the Imperial once more.

"You have left quite the impression on my Srina." he began. "And if she has offered you a chance...a home...then I will honor that opportunity."

Ascension gripped him thus. The Storm of his wrath yet lingered as he moved around the desk and towards the Imperial. He came to a halt only a few paces off. "You and yours will be given clemency. You will be debriefed - we will know everything you do about our adversary to the East." A huff escaped his nostrils. "Your home. Where is it?"

[member="Srina Talon"], [member="Adron Malvern"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

Adron glanced between Darth Metus and Srina. He was rather surprised when Darth Metus had decided on accepting him into The Confederacy. A soft breath was exhaled as he realized he would not die, at least not this day. However, the next question that was formed by the Dark Lord was one that caused a scowl to form over Adron's face. His home. He didn't have a home anymore, it was a shallow memory of where he had grown up, yet when he did return to the world, he would make it his home again.

"Serenno." He said, speaking plainly as he divulged his heritage. "My name is Count Adron Malvern, I am the lord of my House."

"Or I was." He said, biting the words as they escaped him. It was all so damn embarrassing to admit. To admit he had allowed his world to fall, yet in the end he knew he had no choice but to reveal what had happened. "My family was betrayed by the other Houses. When the Sith invaded, the forces they were supposed to commit to our defense were turned against us. They handed my world to that bastard, Carnifex and my family was exiled for being loyal to our people. What was left of them." The anger that swelled from Adron projected itself through the Dark Side of the Force, and though Adron tried to temper it, much of it dripped through his own barriers.

There was a noticeable silence as Adron stared at the Dark Lord before him, his eyes locked on the Sith. It was almost a look of disdain, that was accented by Adron's hands tightening into fists. It was Sith like him who killed his friends and family, and leveled his home. He hated everything the man was, only because it was all he knew, hate. However, with all his hate, Adron was still nowhere near as powerful as the man before him. A harsh reality, but a reality none the less.

"Take me as your apprentice." He spoke the words without thinking. How could he think? If he had actually taken a moment of consideration he would know it was perhaps the stupidest thing he could do.

"I want to learn to fight like a Sith. That is the only way I can kill them." His eyes held the truth behind his words, or at least the truth as he believed it. However, not for one moment did he advert the gaze of the man before him. Even when his heart skipped a beat from the fear that had built in his mind.

[member="Darth Metus"]
[member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Srina Talon]

Location: Geonosis - Golbah City - [The Citadel]
Tags: [member="Adron Malvern"] | [member="Darth Metus"]

​

There was more to the vision than [member="Darth Metus"] would want to acknowledge. Not just the act of Adron refusing to kill her, not simply the denial, but the pain she had witnessed while he was crouched in the mud. It was humanizing. It forced her to see him as he ought to be seen, as an individual, not as a gear, or a part of the clockwork that kept the Empire running. Silver eyes widened, briefly, when he seemed to have the adverse reaction. Her head tilted away, briefly, as his inquiries burned through her veins like wildfire. She felt his anger and it startled her. For the first time, perhaps, it was directed entirely at her.

Her hand left his shoulder.

[member="Darth Metus"] listened to her secret whispers. Through the ether, her mental murmurings would wrap around his disappointment. A cooling wind, to best the flame, to leave it ash instead of an inferno. She owed [member="Adron Malvern"] nothing. She had no allegiance to him. She had no lost love, merely, a sense of what was right. The reaction from her Master left her cold—as if his displeasure had been a well-aimed slap to the face.

Did he not trust her as he claimed? Did he not have the faith in her that he so touted to any of the Viceroyalty that would dare question her?

Their eyes met. His a burnished and fully corrupted gold, and hers very much so, beginning to match. She saw a storm in his iris. But, she also knew, that it would not be released in this room. No. Adron Malvern would not die today. Something else had transpired, through the wrath of her Master, whether it was directed inward or elsewhere…They would eventually need to talk. Her gaze flickered before she prepared to withdraw… ‘Your word. That you will not harm him or the men loyal to him. I would have it.’

The elegant Sith Apprentice stepped away when her Master rose to approach the former High Moff. They would have much to discuss. Hopefully, he would come to see what she saw. Adron was not only an asset, but if the visions held true, he would be so much more. So very much more than he currently was. She turned toward the chair that she usually occupied to the right of the Vicelord’s desk and moved her cloak before taking a seat.

From here, she could watch, and mediate if needed—but would let them have their moment. She was not surprised by the angst and self-loathing that rolled through Adron at the mention of Serenno but it did cause her to raise an eyebrow when the man asked to be taken on as an apprentice. She did not speak, or react otherwise, but only because it was not her place.

Who her Master took or did not take as a student was entirely under his purview.

His request made sense, however, was this truly what Adron wanted?

 

[Malok]

Your word. That you would not harm him or the men loyal to him. I would have it.

At times, the little that the Echani asked felt like a monumental request. She...was so much better than her Master when it came to looking upon others. She was able to see through national loyalties and transgressions past when the situation demanded it. She was able to see [member="Adron Malvern"] as a living, breathing Human being - and not simply another part of the Galactic Empire. Try as she might, what the Apprentice saw and felt...would not immediately sway the Sith's personal perspective.

He was a narrow, short-sighted man at times. His way was to see those who transgressed as deserving of wrath and nothing more. There was no forgiveness. There was no seeing the enemy as more than an opponent. And he would be damned i-

A huff escaped his nostrils when the Echani looked away. She lingered, if only for a moment longer, before stepping away from her Master's side. As she moved, his sword hand caught her fingertips - as gingerly as her would a newborn Yorshi. This...I do not like this. The fury of his thoughts wavered ever so slightly. This...Is the second choice of yours I have ever disagreed with. But as with that damn chain that Jedi shackled you with...I will trust you. He raised his hand, pressing his lips gently to the back of her hand.

My word is yours.

When he eventually came to look the Imperial in the eye, the answer to his question...caught him off guard. His eyebrows, briefly, ascended at the mention of the distant world. Oh the woes of Serenno, he knew firsthand. As a former child of Mandalore, he had been at the front when the planet first came under their occupation so many years ago. He then heard the brutality that their people unleashed when the nobility dared to rise up against the Mandalorian Clans years later. But it seemed that this was but the prelude to a much larger, much more painful story of agony.

Adron Malvern had every reason to Hate. And though he tried...the Darkness slithered forth from every word. His pain. His frustration. His grief. His rage.

These were but the kindling to the fires of a Sith.

When Adron made his request, he was met with silence. Darth Metus placed his hands behind his back and moved, stepping in a rough semi-circle about the Imperial. His thoughts...were a cacophany. As a creature of vengeance, the Sith understood the man's plight intimately. But as one who had been betrayed far too many times...Darth Metus was justifiably skeptical. With Srina...her arrival was an act of Providence. A reality that he had resisted initially, but found himself drawn deeper into with each passing second. The Bond they shared was the foundation of their relationship as Master and Apprentice. Between them, there was never a secret. Never a question of loyalty or intent. They, effectively, were One.

And because Srina Talon was Darth Metus, he had every reason to impart every shred of knowledge, power, and skill he possessed. He had every reason to trust that she would never betray him, nor his secrets - even when she allowed a tie to a Jedi to persist. But the Imperial was a stranger. Divine hands worked no spontaneous bond between them. There was no intimacy. No trust. No certainty that neither Master or Apprentice would die before bringing the other harm. And thus...they were no different than the Sith of old. One to Wield Power, the Other to Crave It.

The Sith came to a halt once his train of thought screeched to a close.

"I am familiar with your Home. And I will make no promises about her fate. I will not promise a Confederate driven liberation. I will not promise sponsoring rebellion against the Sith Empire."

His sulfuric gaze found the man's face. "What I can promise is an opportunity to have your revenge. By your own power. I will grant your request. I will show you my ways - and how to destroy others like me. But."

"Should you betray me, I will kill you."

"Should you jeopardize what I teach you...the secrets that I share...by opening your mind to Bonds or Lovers, I will kill you."

"And if you ever, ever, raise a hand against my Srina. I will not only kill you - I will turn your soul into a pair of boots for her to enjoy."

"Do we have an understanding?"

[member="Adron Malvern"], [member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

The silence that fell over the room could have drowned Adron away. In that moment when Metus peered down at him, the dark Jedi stayed true to who he was and did not back down. When Darth Metus spoke once again, he veered away from the topic of Adron's training, and instead spoke again of Serenno. Adron drew his lips into a thin line before his eyes fell to the ground for a fleeting moment. "I'm not a fool. I realize who holds my home and where it is. There will not be a liberation, not now." Not while I am still weak. He mused, his thoughts burying themselves deep within him.

And then it happened. Darth Metus. A Sith, a Mandalorian, a man whom Adron had every single reason to hate, had become his master. It was sobering. Through the Force, Adron had not had a Master since his days as a Jedi and those were far gone.

The threats were met with a stoic gaze held behind a wall of silence. It kind of went without saying that betrayal would be punished in the worst ways imaginable. It did not faze Adron, not the way it should have, he had heard it all before. There was a momentary pause before Adron did something that even he found....difficult. Bending at the waist he bowed his head in deference to the dark lord. "As you will." He said, raising his eyes to lock with the Sith's.

Recovering from the bow, Adron glanced over to Srina. He had not told her of his intentions. Partially because he did not entirely understand the decision himself, and mainly because it was a mostly last minute plot he had come up with during his meditation. Reverting his eyes back to Metus, he took in a fresh breath before his voice found life again. "What happens now?" He asked, curious as to the next step.

[member="Darth Metus"] [member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Srina Talon]

Location: Geonosis - Golbah City - [The Citadel]
Tags: [member="Adron Malvern"] | [member="Darth Metus"]

​

[member="Darth Metus"] caught her fingers, briefly halting her retreat, and she dutifully held her position. She did not look at him immediately as his voice moved through her mind. It was not an intrusion, not an interruption, but more than anything created a sense of nostalgia. Her Master had always moved freely through the thoughts that lingered on the top of her mind. In this moment, he left her feeling uncertain, as if she had done something wrong. In her core—she knew she had been right.

[member="Adron Malvern"] belonged with them.

He lifted her hand to press a kiss to the back of it as he made his concession and silver eyes flickered, hoping, that he understood the severity of his promise. She would hold him to it. The small woman did not need to remind him of the Force Bond that she also shared with [member="Aryn Teth"]—as he was keenly aware of its presence. She did not have the words to describe how it differed and thusly did not try. They had different views on how to deal with the intrusion. Srina had grown accustomed to it, over time, and truth be told could scarcely imagine not being tethered to either man. They kept her grounded.

‘Thank you.’

Her words were gentle, a mere whisper in the back of his mind, that would soon become lost amongst the restrictions he volleyed toward Adron. There had been none of that when she came to stand at his side. The Force had pulled her toward him, mercilessly, and after an initial misunderstanding had been cleared they’d been nigh inseparable ever since. Srina had a hard time adjusting to the concept of the Sith. Mirvak, as she had been told, in trying to destroy their Master had been acting as True Sith do…

By ending their Master. By replacing them.

Srina could never bring herself to raise a hand against her Master, not with intent to harm, and certainly not with intent to kill simply for the sake of power. The notion that Adron could one day be her opposition drew a sigh from deep in her chest. It was not the future she had foreseen. It was not the future she believed in—yet time was ever changing. Fluid.

Her expression remained silent when the former Imperial bowed in deference to the demands that the Sith Lord made. Silver eyes flickered, reflecting the light, meeting the fathomless blues that Adron held as he looked in her direction. The pale-skinned woman could not discern his intent, however, she understood the reason for his request. The Force was a tool. Adron Malvern intended to learn to use it.

A ghostly smile crossed her achingly beautiful features, quiet, and full of repose. What now? The hard part was over. She had secured the most precious thing in the Confederacy on behalf of the man who had run her through, the word of the Vicelord, and he had agreed to the terms and conditions of his transition. “You will be settled into quarters befitting your station in Golbah City. Tonight—you should get to know your new home with the men you bring you with you. Many things will be different.”

“Tomorrow, once you have rested, and are well, we will begin your debriefing and the relocation of your people. After that we can discuss your rank within our borders. Does that sound amenable?”

She asked both Adron and Metus, knowing, that regardless of her pleasantries—it was less of a request and more of a statement. The former Imperial had truthfully surrendered his rights to say no at this point but she respected him enough to treat him as an equal, versus a subordinate, in any situation. “I can see him settled, Master, if it pleases.”