Becoming a Moff

[Sven Talith]

Sven sat in the cockpit of his and Sable's VCX-820 escort freighter. The small but spacious ship had been their home for some months now. The Cargo hold had been converted into a large meditation and training chamber for the two of them, the passenger quarters had been changed into a single large bedroom and the rest of the ship had been rebuilt to serve as a suitable home for the both of them. All in all the Freighter was quite the home for the pair, and over the past few months Sven had actually grown to love the little freighter...though he wasn't sure if Sable felt the same way.

He frowned slightly, there was something else on his mind besides the freighter. Sven had been made an offer, one that was independent of Sable and her dealing within the Empire. It had come as quite the surprise to the young man, he had not even known his name had been known within the Empire. The offer of course had been given to him by the Moff council, it had been an offer to join them.

Over the last few days Sven had been mulling it over. He had thought of the pros and the cons of accepting such an offer, most importantly however he had thought of WHY they had offered them this. The answer of course had come to him quite simply, they wanted him on the council because of his heritage. Sven was Moridins son, and the former Emperor's name still carried weight. The Moff's wanted to bolster their power, they wanted to scare the new Empress by using Sven as a tool.

It was a brilliant political move of course, and truthfully it was one that Sven agreed to. There were other reason...more personal reasons to accept the offer of course, and thats why Sven had decided to accept the offer. The only issue that he was now faced with was telling Sable, he had no idea what her reaction would be...much less to the other idea he had brewing within his mind.

Sven sighed and then stood from the chair in his cockpit. He walked to the bedroom, where he had left her in the middle of the night. He found her sleeping, calmly for once. Slowly he walked over to her side of the bed and then sat down on it. He placed a hand on her side, and then waited for her to awake.

 

[Cerusia Shamalain]

An icy hand moved to grip Sven's wrist moments after his own fingers settled upon the fabric covering her skin. In the darkness Sven would know that the delicate hand firmly but gently ensnaring him was that corrupted, black mandible. It was always so cold to the touch when she was calm.

"I dreamed..." her voice was breathless and barely above a whisper. Sable moved no more and her eyes did not open, but she was most certainly awake and aware of him, "...about the night you returned and I found you sitting on His throne..."

The hand around Sven's wrist tightened just slightly; not out of anger but out of need. Dreams spooked Sable in ways they wouldn't, or couldn't for normal people. So rarely did she find calmness in her sleep to dream with such clarity, or to even remember them at all after waking. Her nights were often sleepless, especially so when she spent time on Byss. The Force Nexus there compelled the woman with an internal drive that kept her restless and agitated for weeks, sometimes even months on end. But they had been away from the Nexus for so long now and it had been long enough since she'd seen battle that the effects were wearing off. It was hard at times, the withdraw from it, and for a while her sleep had been fitfull and feverish. To a point even sickening.

But it was waning, and this newfound stillness was so foreign to her.

Sable opened her eyes finally and the green of them cast an eery glow in the darkness of the room. She stared outwards as they adjusted before looking up at Sven and slowly releasing his wrist and giving him an apologetic look, "Did I wake you again?" Sable didn't recall having any fits this night, but she wasn't always completely aware during them sometimes.

 

[Sven Talith]

Sven looked down at her, a slight smile on his face. It was a comforting reassuring smile, one meant to make her feel better. The now former assassin moved his hand over to her head and began to softly stroke her hair, another way to comfort her. He truly loved her, everything he had ever done in his adult life had been for her. Every action he had taken, had been for her. This however, becoming a Moff and the steps after that. It would be something entirely different, not necessarily for himself, but for everyone.

The thought terrified him. He would still be there for her of course, he would never leave her side for too long, but he felt he needed to do this. For the first time in his life Sven had found himself a purpose, something that drove him forward. It wasn't a need to protect, like what he had with Sable but a need to evolve.

“No, I woke myself up.” Sven said to her with a slight chuckle as he softly stroked her hair again. He remembered that night well, the one she had apparently dreamed of. It was after a breaking in his life, the day after he had found his Mother Anara. She had been so broken, so lonely, and then she had sent Sven away.

Sable had saved him them, she had taken him out of the deepest darkest pit and brought him back. It was part of why he loved her. She was perhaps not the most affectionate at times, but he knew she loved him. He smiled at her, and then finally spoke again. “I have some news.”

Sven thought about stretching this out, about making this go on longer. He knew he had to end it however, a band-aid. This time of listlessness and doing nothing had to come to an end, and Sven needed to tell her of his new mission.

“I was offered a seat on the Moff Council, and i'm going to take it.” He wanted to gauge her reaction to that first, then he would tell her the rest.

 

[Cerusia Shamalain]

Feeling a small sense of relief, Sable shut her eyes again and let his touch put her back into a lull. She listened to him speak and breath and let her senses enjoy his presence. The smell of him, the warmth of his body, the sound of his voice and even despite being a void within the Force, she could still feel him there. The stilling qualities of his existence on the entropy of her own would never be overlooked. He was good for her, and she did indeed love him for it in a way that she could not love her brother. The bond she shared with Sirada would never be replicated, but where her brother awakened in her a beastly need to claim and protect, Sven calmed those instincts.

Sable's eyes opened again at his words of news and watched as he collected his thoughts. She waited quietly, patiently as ever with him, and frowned as he informed her of the recent development.

"Moff Council?" the Dread Lady rolled back a bit to see him better and paused a moment to collect her own thoughts. Such a position would require Sven to travel and to make his own appointments. While the two had worked separately plenty enough, there had never before been a reason to keep them apart for long. This title of his would put a wedge between them and she felt for the first time in a long time the unnerving knot of uncertainty grow within her chest. The desire to protest was there, and had he made the decision a month earlier while she was so unstable it would have very much so been voiced. But for now the voice that spoke was that of reason. Sven had helped her through many things both painful and difficult - it was her turn to help him.

"I think ... you would do well," she wet her lips, looking away to choose her words, which was difficult given the well of emotions she had to filter through. Looking back Sable gave a slow nod, "in a position such as that. If it is what you want, tell me what needs to be done to make it so."

 

[Sven Talith]

He smiled slightly as she voiced her support even though he could hear her hesitance. She wouldn't like what came next, but he had to tell her. Sable was a part of him, she was his other half through and through, she needed to know. First however he had to assure her that nothing would change. Even if he became a Moff, if he were to become a King, an Emperor, or a God Sable would still come first. She was the light of his life, and he would never let her grow dim.

The Dreadlord's son stroked her hair, and then moved his hand down to her cheek. He kisses her forehead and moved closer to her. Moff would be easy, he could stay close to Sable most of the time. Bureaucracy had always come easy to him, his mind excelled at routine tasks and the like. The next step would be much harder. “Nothing will change, I promise you that. I will always be there when you need me. The Moff Council, The World's ill control, the Empire itself is nothing next to you, the entirety of the galaxy is nothing next to you”

He paused again, then got a sad look in his eyes. He knew that the next step in his plan would upset her, but he needed to tell her, needed to have her know the danger he was putting himself in.

“But I need you to know. I'm not stopping at the council.” Sven paused, there was a slight crack in his voice. He could not tell if it was because he was afraid or because he was anxious. Perhaps a mixture of the two. He looked at her, and then slid his second hand onto her face. He held her and then looked her in the eyes. “Sable, I'm going to overthrow the Empress.”

 

[Cerusia Shamalain]

Sable's black hand found his as she wallowed in his affections. The ghost of a smile graced her lips fleetingly at his kiss and for a few moments the Dread Lady knew the simplest of joys. She didn't pick up on the subtle changes of his demeanor, but Sable had never been very emphatic. Those skills, alongside many others, remained solely with her brother. She looked up at Sven as he announced his final intentions and felt her brow sink low in confusion.

"Sven... why?" the danger of the plan wasn't what initially struck her. She shook her head slightly, "What would you do with an Empire?"

 

[Sven Talith]

Sven looked at her, and when she asked he couldn't help but smile. In truth he had expected her to ask, he had known she would be confused. Sven had never been like his father, nor had he been like Sable. In truth he was far more like his Mother, he cared. He cared about people. He cared about Sable, he cared about his mother, and even his father, but he also cared about people he had not met, and that included those within the Empire.

“Sable. I'm not like you, nor am I like my father.” He paused for a few seconds, not sure how to go on. “I am not a Sith. I would never judge you for your actions, nor judge anyone else for theirs. But I stand by, and I watch what the Sith do every day. What the Empire does every day, and I cannot stand it.”

Sven told the truth, for perhaps the first time to anyone. He honestly cared for the people of the Empire. Perhaps it was not his place, but he did. The Dreadlord son looked at his love, and there was true pain in his eyes. He wanted to fix the Empire, he wanted to make it into something better, and he would do all in his power to do so. “I can fix it Sable. I know I can.”

 

[Cerusia Shamalain]

"I don't understand," the woman replied, seeming to stumble over her thoughts. Her expression grew muddled and she looked away. Being so young and reared at the side of a man who's own morals were exceedingly loose, she struggled to grasp the idea that perhaps how things were, were not the most ideal. To Sable the Empire did what needed to be done and that was just simply how things would be. It never occurred to her that it was wrong because her own sense of right and wrong, good and bad, was completely incomplete.

Perhaps, she thought to herself, she wasn't meant to understand. Sven could grasp these concepts so easily, much like she could grasp control over the Force. Sven would never understand how she did the things she did just as she might not understand why he sought change. The fact that Sven could not use the Force never mattered, so why should this?

She shook her head as if to dismiss any attempts he might make to explain himself further. It wouldn't matter anyways.

 

[Sven Talith]

Sven smiled at her, a sort of sadness in his eyes as he looked at her. He simply looked at her, her thoughts were probably right. She didn't necessarily need to understand why he needed to do this, he just needed her to support him. Sven knew he could not do this without her. He could fight the fights of course, he could kill, he could maim, and he could gain victory after victory. However it all meant nothing if she was not there besides him.

If she was not there to push him forward, to press him into victory, everything was done for nothing. Sven needed Sable, almost as much as he needed the very air.

“Maybe you don't have to. All I need you to understand, Is that I can't do this without you.” He paused for a second, in thought. He really did need her, she was just as much as a pillar to him as he was to her. Together they kept each other from falling down. “I need you Sable.”

Sven spoke calmly, still staring into her eyes and softly stroking both of her cheeks with his thumbs. “Without you, I am nothing. I can do this, I know I can. The Empress, the Moffs, the other Sith. They're nothing to me as long as I have you by my side.”

 

[Cerusia Shamalain]

Seeming to consider everything for some time in silence, Sable did finally reach up to take hold of the hands that clasped her face. She slowly pulled them down to the bed where they settled within a firm, reassuring squeeze. The coldness of her corrupted hand had dissipated by now, but it always left behind a strange tingling sensation where her touch lingered too long. Dark powers worked within her being that likely only one man alive knew the reasoning behind. For many the sight of her marred, blackened, cursed flesh was disturbing, perhaps even repulsive. Sven had never seemed to care - in fact the man shared this common thing with her, though it did not haunt him like it did her.

"I will help you," Sable nodded as she released her natural hand from around his and began to trace the line of a dark scar along his forearm, "you are right, you cannot do this without me." The woman looked up at him again, brows raised and lips turned in the faintest of smiles. Humor was not something she excelled at, but every now and then she could pull a sly comment out of left field. Of course with her, there was always that uncertainty of if the humor was there, or if she was simply being forward and honest. It was more likely a combination of the two.

She leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips, lingering only for a moment before pulled away and shifted to slide off the bed and to her feet. Sable eased into a stretch before languidly stalking off to the wardrobe. Even in the darkness of the room the fair flash of skin contrasted sharply against the marring of her Darkside corrupted scars. They riddled her body now, and the unholy blackness that encompassed her entire right arm was now slowly crawling across the back of her adjoining shoulder. She never gave these marks a second thought - they had been as much a part of her as her own hair or fingernails or eyelashes.

"What do we do first," the woman asked in a low but clear tone as she shrugged into the first of many layers to her black Sith robes.

 

[Sven Talith]

Sven smiled and in his head he was dancing. As long as Sable was on board with the plan he could do this. There was no question in his mind that he did not have the strength to complete this task, in fact he knew he could. The Empress was a force user, not only that but he had heard that she was far from a blademaster. Sven could take her on, and beyond that he knew he could gain the support of the Moffs and any other non-force users.

Idea rushed through his mind, paths and plans that he could take. Before long the Young man would know everything he needed to do. In a fluid kind of slipping motions Sven pulled himself from the bed, before Sable could completely re-dress herself Sven slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

He let out a soft breath on her neck before kissing it, then he spoke quietly into her ear.

“First, we celebrate.” Sven said it with a smirk as he slowly slipped his other arm around her waist, pinning her to him. “Then I contact the Moff council and tell them of my intent to accept.”

After that things would become quite a bit harder. He would have to take over a sector within the Empire, and then bureaucracy would take over. Sven would become a busy bee over the next few weeks, but in the end it would all be worth it.