Arise from the Dust (Kryptus)

[Ashin Varanin]

Only gods and novices had no fear. Shambleau was neither. But she'd shared a journey with the woman who'd broken her mind; she'd sat in the crosshairs of the galaxy's most subtle Dark Master; she'd defied the great powers and drank from the Valley of the Jedi itself. She could manage fear. She could operate, even knowing that the man in the stone casket could shatter her with a punch and a whim.

She kept her eyes on him -- tall, broad, pale -- as she levitated the casket's lid aside and eased it down. Stone grated on stone as the floor took the weight. She relaxed, shuddering from the effort, and stepped up to the casket's edge.

He's called Kryptus, her master had said. I gave him that name when he was young and I was...not old. He's also called Jacen Cavill. And he has other names, though those are his secrets, not mine. Be cautious when you wake him up. Make no sudden movements. Keep your true form hidden.

Shambleau let out a slow breath and leaned over the rock sarcophagus.

"Mister Cavill. Wake up."

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

 

[Jacen Cavill]

“Mister Cavill, wake up.”

Jacen immediately snapped awake, and sat up. Crystal blue eyes shot open as he immediately searched the area for the voice that had reached his ears. Training, from all corners of the galaxy caused him to snap awake even though it wasn’t in his best interest to do so. Bones that he had no idea were broken caused pain to shoot through his form. “What in the Force?” Cavill’s words were weak and his throat was dry. Sensations of agony kept traveling from cell to cell as he weakly got off of the table he had been laying on, his powerful form feebly making it’s way to escape the “prison” it had been encased within.

Cold stone met his bare feet, and the short, clipped breath that followed told that he wasn’t used to being cold. His broad chest was bare, the pale skin shining through the darkened room. Various rays of light managed to shine through many holes in the wall, and his pupils struggled to adjust. Another cautious step brought him closer to the origin of the voice, even as he surveyed the room. Blaster holes, and burns from a lightsaber were evident everywhere. This looks like the temple I came to searching for more relics for the One Sith. His thoughts continued to finally gather, despite the evidence that he was still suffered from a concussion. Every breath only told him that his ribs were broken, and several of them.

“Who are you,” he called out as he continued forward through the room. “Where you the one who put me here?” The man who went by the name Kryptus could barely stand, and his connection to the Force was non-existent as he meandered closer and closer towards where he hoped the woman who had called to him was standing. Few would have dared challenge him on his best day, for he could have ripped them apart with his hands, burned their skulls apart, or trapped their souls in his blade. Daesumnor was nowhere to be found, he could barely stand, and he couldn’t even feel his own anger.

Much less the power of the being near him.

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

Force, but he could move that bulk fast. Though her true form could have thrown him across the room, Shambleau found herself taking a good few steps back as he rose. Under cover of deeper shadows, the Mikan crouched and rested her elbows on her knees. He was still coming forward, and she stood again as that became clear. Though comfortable in the dark, she held up a glow rod and flinched back from the brilliance. She let him get a good look at her -- wiry, with dusky violet skin that might have been Umbaran or Zeltron. She wore light-eating black, and wore two sabres at her belt.

"My name is Shambleau. I didn't put you here; I don't know who was responsible. I work for Lady Ajira Cardei of Theed." She hesitated, but her master's instructions had been specific: spill the secret. "You know her as Ashin Varanin. The Dark Lord is dead, this time for good. The One Sith are squabbling and killing each other. I have a deadly grudge against them; so does my master. Our revenge aligns with your probable ambitions and inclinations.

"So far, my associates and I have raided almost half a dozen Sith temples and academies. We're looking for more, working our way in toward the Core. Every empire carries the seeds of its own destruction, and the One Sith have been on the way down for years. Their only success has been against an even more worthless government. I'm no seer, but it feels to me like the time is ripe. My master agrees. That's why I'm here."

 

[Jacen Cavill]

Whatever title and name that was first spewed from the woman before him, the only words Jacen heard caused him to immediately stand erect and stop taking in a breath.

Ashin Varanin.

The very same Dark Lord of the Sith he had sworn allegiance to, the one he had watched be betrayed back at Roche. This was the woman who had defied every expectation his world held on the female gender. She had made a thousand star systems hers, and broken many a man along the way to take her rightful place in the galaxy. How fate had worked to help their paths cross, she had even given him the name that the galaxy eventually feared. When no one else saw a true future for the broken man standing in the temple, his eyes poorly adjusting to the light, she had. Whether he was merely a contingency, he knew she had some measure of faith within him to have helped his career and his power in the way she had.

So to hear her name after his slumber immediately put him at ease. Though small, the woman before him did look dangerous. Under normal circumstances, he would have welcome battle. On this day, the Force and his body were not cooperating, so he merely slouched and considered what he had heard as he slowly lumbered over and sat on a nearby stone. Taught muscle flexing and relaxing as he adjusted himself slowly, pain racking his nerves. "Rewind it a bit, my brain isn't quite catching everything." Every syllable pained his broken ribs. "The Dark Lord is dead, and Lady Desmius sent you to come find me?" Cavill knew better than to ask too many questions, this woman didn't leave him here nor do this to him. "The One Sith are essentially spinning their tires, and you need me?" Notes of curiosity laced his weak words, the lure for power was always one he would follow.

"What does she require of me?"

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

Shambleau let the glowrod dangle from her belt. The shadow of her body dimmed the light and cast flickering edges around the chamber. She crouched in front of him again, elbows on knees, and looked up at him.

"Lady Desmius, as you call her, died as well, in the process of destroying the Sith temple on Lujo. She's living in a new body, with a new name and station. She's regained her power, but she has the opportunity to work more subtly now than she used to. And though she's comfortable with putting on a mask and wrecking the occasional target personally, she wants the worthless elements of the One Sith dismantled. That takes a more hands-on approach than she can give at the moment. I don't mean to make her sound lazy. We're talking about the largest and most powerful government in the galaxy. She can't do it alone."

She stood and folded her arms. "What she wants from you is for you to do what I'm told you've done before. Break fools, gain a following, become a name. The One Sith very recently suffered a three-way coup d'etat attempt -- that's how the Dark Lord died. I believe the loyalists are in power, but the fracture lines, the...shatterpoints...are all the way through the One Sith. Waiting for the right...impact."

 

[Jacen Cavill]

His pupils weren't adjusting, bringing forth the weakest embers of anger. His banged up face didn't show it, instead he let that anger power him. Cavill didn't focus it on petty things such as healing, no he reached out and let her words and her intent wash over him. Resurrection and new bodies weren't really that shocking given the circles he traveled, nor could he judge her for taking a new name. How many credits did I make under the name Cade? A weak smile crossed his face, how much interest has accrued on all my savings accounts and what do my stocks look like presently? Money unfortunately could make his mind wander, so he focused instead on the apprentice before him. That is what she is right? Jacen couldn't gauge power without feeling his own, so he was effectively blind.

Except he knew he was being told the truth.

"I understand she's busy, she always did have her hands in many cookie jars." He made no move to stand, he merely let her look him over. "I'll go back to them, and do what I can." A small whimper of pain escaped his proud lips, he had tried to stand but it was too much. "Transportation is needed as well as healing, because in this condition I'm afraid I wouldn't last for long." Memories of being marooned on Korriban nearly thirteen years ago reminded him of his weakness then and how he had vowed to never feel such a way ever again. Cavill's head fell, and his gaze merely stayed on the floor as his mind pondered just what would happen if he wrangled control of such a powerful, if fractured government.

"She knows that I won't tolerate a fracture, nor will I stand idly by if I get control. Many will die, including innocents." Jacen weakly looked up at the woman, and almost offered his throat. "If you and her are both okay with the cost of this, then lead me out of here, if not you will only get this one chance to take my life so easily."

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

For a long moment, Shambleau watched him, her thoughts whirling. At last she pulled a leather pouch from her belt and opened it in her hand. "Mister Cavill," she said evenly, "I have no intention of giving you a play-by-play of who I am, what I've done, and what the One Sith took from me. But take my word for it: I am on the Dark Side. Committed. Collateral damage will happen no matter what morals or ethics we espouse, no matter how carefully we try to save the innocent, and whether we engage with our problems or run from them like pacifists do. There will always be collateral damage. What matters is what's accomplished alongside that damage."

She reached into the bag and procured two small bluish nodules. "Kolcta geltabs. Eat one, and rub the other on your more serious wounds." She closed the bag and handed it over with the geltabs. "In there you'll find false ID, nutrient pills, and the command key to a nondescript starfighter in my hangar bay. Come aboard if you like. My ship has-" She smiled faintly. "-functional showers, and HoloNet news access, and better food than the pills. Lady Cardei's instructed me to offer you all possible hospitality. Alternately, feel free to take the fighter and get started with ruling the galaxy."

Her ship, a similarly nondescript freighter, sat parked just outside the Sith temple. She'd taken the opportunity to fill certain compartments with artifacts and chalk rubbings from this temple -- one more contribution to her master's growing library.

 

[Jacen Cavill]

Showers weren't really something to look forward to, even though his body was rapidly healing. The geltabs had alleviated the concussion and his minor cuts and abrasions. The deeper, internal injuries were slowly healing. Simple movements such as washing his hair, and scrubbing the dirt of his body had been painful and time consuming. Drying off and slowly getting dressed, in plain travelers clothes no less, hadn't been fun either. The satchel the woman had given him was full of everything he would need to travel in relative anonymity. Keeping it on his person, he had listened to a bit of galactic news while getting clean and dressed. Same old politics and struggles, even the Sith are weak these days.

She was right, Ashin knew what he needed to do.

Coming to sit in the common area to join his "rescuer," Jacen grabbed some food and quickly started eating. Being a man of his size, and in his physical condition demanded that he eat a ton. Add in nearly a year of being in a coma, and the Sith Lord was ravenous. Color was returning to his face, and his power was slowly starting to manifest again. In between bites, the former noble managed to look up and force himself to stop eating. "So this force that Ashin commands now." Wheels were spinning, his keen mind working for the first time since he had been awoken.

"How massive is it, and can it be bought?"

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

"Bought away from her? Probably not. Hired job to job? Certainly. Ke'dem, it's called. I'm a longtime member." Shambleau looked up from the charcoal rubbings of the temple inscriptions. He didn't clean up half bad, for a humanoid. "A good-sized paramilitary outfit, with a disproportionate number of Force-sensitives. Minor Dark Jedi gleaned and trained from species that have good reason to hate the Sith -- Togorians, Mon Calamari, Mirialans, Selkath and so forth. We use replica Krath cruisers; they can fit far, far more starfighters than any ship their size has a right to carry. So far we've staged smash-and-grab raids, infiltrations -- one time, one of our contractors even stole an entire Force academy. I don't mind saying that Ke'dem has had some success. [member="Sochi Ru"] has been known to raid with us, and [member="Seren Ordavo"] too, if you know of him. We're not a front-line military force, but if you need to drop a few dozen disposable Dark Jedi on a target, we're who you call."

She returned her attention to the charcoal rubbing. The ship trembled; a hyperspace course adjustment. "One thing we lack is comprehensive, solid intel on which worlds have Sith temples and academies. Those that we've hit, we've found piecemeal, by accident or interrogation or logic. Do you have anything useful?"

 

[Jacen Cavill]

"Well, I'm going to have to be a bit demonstrative at first if I'm to take control." Cavill waved his hands around, to show he didn't approve of such theatrics. "It's not enough to go in and break the man in charge when assuming leadership, one must make sure to have a sizeable force and followers. The second ingredient is that they must all be present, and thirdly you must break your opposition with little struggle." A glimmer of a smile formed on his lips at the thought of breaking bone and flesh again, and memories of conflicts in the past made joy and power surge through his veins. "I'm going to need your whole entirety of your force, all hands on deck for this when I call on you."

Her absent-minded request brought a thought to mind.

"I'll give you all the vaults that I personally own, and I'll even give you the mask of Darth Nihlus himself if Lady Desmius will appear for my coronation along with your army."

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

Shambleau slid the rubbings aside carefully. She leaned back in the chair, resting one ankle on the other and lacing her fingers across her stomach. Her hairless eyebrow ridges rose in thought.

"She was right. You do think big. That reminds me of when she brought four thousand Mandalorians along for her own coup -- I'd imagine that's intentional. I'll have to confirm with her, but if I know her mind at all, I suspect she'll say yes. If you're going that route, though, just remember that she'd already won when she entered that throne room. She had the public backing of the strongest Masters around, and plenty of them showed up. Asemir Lor'kora. A young Kaine Zambrano. Sirella Valkner. She didn't win the throne with a duel; she won it with meetings.

"I don't have authority to speak for all of Ke'dem, Mister Cavill, but I can tell you that most of the Ke'dem contractors I know will be interested in your offer. Interested in the opportunity. You give them the chance to shed a galactic quantity of One Sith blood, and they'll deliver. There's no question in my mind about that."

 

[Jacen Cavill]

"Good, and I read exactly what she did during those days. She was the one Sith with which I respected and followed, the only other to come close is dead." [member="Mikhail Shorn"] had gained his respect, but he was of no use to him now. A list of names began to form, and he began to file those away in his brain. "I'll make sure to gather a sizeable force before I go in that room demanding that they cow to me and my brutal ways." Jacen rose, slowly, gathering his possessions before pulling out a datapad and typing in a name on it. Setting it on the table and sliding it towards her, he made his way to the exit.

"Thank you for the food, and for rescuing me. I look forward to hearing from you or your Master. You have my sincere gratitude and I personally owe you a favor that you may use in the future." Cavill turned to the door, his back to her. "In the future, call me Kryptus. That's the name that will be uttered in fear soon. The name on the datapad is the quickest and quietest way to get in touch with me. Keep it a secret, or I will find you."

On the tablet it read two words.

Cade Lee

Without a word, he was gone.

[member="Lady Shambleau"]