Private Beyond These Walls

[Aren D'Shade]

Since Aren had gotten away from the Silver Jedi a couple of years ago, things had been mostly quiet. She wasn't stupid enough to try and hack into their systems again. Oddly, she had actually succeeded in accomplishing her goal. Sadly, she had been caught before making her escape. After escaping, she had taken on a few odd jobs here and there to supplement her inheritance from her dead Master. The most difficult thing in her life was avoiding the Corpos on Denon. Aren could have moved away if she wanted. However, this planet was pretty much the center of the Galaxy and had been home to the government of droids. That was something the woman could have gotten behind.

It was drizzling rain outside as she locked up inside to start relaxing for the night. EL was nominally on guard duty along with her other companions except Sam. He was already tucked into his hammock and plugged in. The small spider droid wasn't any good in combat anyway. He was a supporter and healer. Red wasn't much use indoors but still sat high on a shelf to watch the door.

With the rain falling, it brought a memory back to Aren of how she met Adrian. The Sith was one person she missed. They had been through a lot but she had yet to fully perfect the process of keeping him alive. Even she wasn't sure he would have wanted that. Accepting her loss, she carried on with her life.

As she was several floors up from the ground and hadn't been approached or caught by any group recently, she might have been starting to slack on her locking up. Leaving a window open, there was still the flimsy screen and sensors to get past. Another reason Aren was getting lazy was that her home was pretty well hidden and secret. This building had belonged to her former Master and he had granted her an entire floor long before his death.

Flipping a chit in one of her hands, she turned the lights down. Bright enough that a person could make their way around but dark enough to allow her to sleep. Stretching, the technomage finished getting ready for bed. Just as she was about to turn the lights off in her room, something moved up and down her spine. Suddenly she got the feeling she wasn't alone.

Darth Temerant

 

[Darth Temerant]

TAGS: Aren D'Shade
​

Temerant squatted upon a ledge, the drain clapping against the leather of his black jacket. In the night, his pitch black form was already hard to spot, but the light rain added a layer of cover, even as he scouted the apartment beyond, akin to a gargoyle.

"If I may, I do believe you've done it, Master!" X3, his droid companion and arguably finest creation spoke into his helmet's comms system. "The silent reflection in the rain. The dark raiments. Your perfect stillness. You have finally perfected brooding!"

It was a shame about all the sass.

"I am not brooding. I am analyzing," the man growled in turn as he took in the feedback from his helmet's augmented reality hud, connecting straight to the scanning device he had set off. "If I were to brood, I would cut out your feed. Your nagging makes it rather impossible," he noted.

"How very rude, Master. I am merely trying to be supportive!" the droid argued. "I am also kind of bored at the ship," he conced. "Not to mention mildly insulted that this 'Aren D'shade' can outsplice me, by your own reckoning."

"Boo karking hoo," Temerant rolled his eyes. "Go write about it in your holo-diary."

"Oh. You know about that," X3 almost sounded flustered.

"I wouldn't be very good at my job if I didn't," the Knight Inquisitor remarked. "But no need to fret, your privacy is safe. Now shush. I'm going in. I want to see how the suit's new prototype bafflers and improved stealth features perform against her security measures."

"Nothing like a little field testing," the droid conceded. "As you wish, Master... You're a very weird Sith, you know that?" the droid added a final jab, if sounding mildly relieved by the man's reassurances. "X3 out."

"Hrmph," the man let out a gruff exhale to the remark... before jumping off the building.

The electromagnetic and thermal-shield he'd been testing worked like a charm as they easily bypassed the sensors, even coated in rain as he was, shielding him from perception from the droids' own scans. The sound dampeners were an incorporation which he was not keen on relying upon, but a feature that was worth testing, all the same. He would not put technology in the hands of other agents without proving its efficiency himself.

In the dim lighting, he was little more than a shadow as he stalked accross. He had hunted some of the galaxy's most dangerous creatures with little more than his wits: by comparison, moving through the carpeted apartment with his gear was akin to child's play, making him a veritable spectre when coupled with his skills. So much so that the man could afford to follow the asset into her room.

"You're a hard individual to find, Miss D'shade," his voice came through heavily modulated by the helm's tech. Even still, it did not rid it of its gruff quality, nor the dryness of his tone. "Which makes it all the more surprising that this was so easy."

 

[Aren D'Shade]

Normally her security products would have been able to pick up on the intruder. That didn't happen tonight and two things passed through Aren's brain. The first being the most obvious to her, the stranger was a Force user. The second was her protections had failed. If she survived the night, then she planned to check to make sure that wasn't the case. First things first, she needed to survive the night. On the other hand, she wasn't dead yet...

Dropping the coin to the floor, it rolled under her bed. A small loss in the grand scheme of things.

"I make myself hard to find on purpose...Mister? As for being easy, I'll make sure to post more of a challenge next time. If there is a next time."

Muttering this last part more under her breath than out loud, she hoped it was going to be a true statement.

When he revealed himself, he might be able to hear her companions reacting. Nothing violent though except the sound of scissors cutting the air. This noise came from a droid that looked like a spider.

With her hands still out, she started turning around unless Temerant stopped her. If he looked at her face, then he wouldn't actually see any fear in her eyes. Something more like a curiosity than anything else.

"What reason could you possibly have for breaking into my home?"

Darth Temerant

 

[Darth Temerant]

TAGS: Aren D'Shade
​

Temerant reached out with the force, not bothering to conceal his abilities as he made the rolling chit come to his hand. He began knuckledancing with it then, the coin rolling over his knuckles and under, then over again in a show of dexterity rather than preternatural ability.

"If," he agreed, not bothering to supply the name she fished for. "That entirely depends on your ability to satisfy my needs, Miss D'shade."

He began prowling then, circling her not unlike how a predator might his prey, subjecting the woman to the scrutiny of his hollow visage. "You are one of the best slicers in the galaxy. Or at the very least, you were before you fell off the grid," he began, the coin still dancing over his hand. "I find myself in need of your particular skill-set. Should you succeed, you shall enter my employ on a permanent basis, which comes with no small deal of benefits, so long as you are capable of shouldering the responsibilities that come along with the position," the man remarked, although by the way he spoke, it scarcely seemed like he was giving her a choice. "Should you fail... Well. Getting into the specifics would be distasteful. Let's just say my recruitment process is unfavourable to those who do not make the cut," he concluded.

He came to a stop, flipping the coin back to her. "Recently, footage of me has began making the rounds on the holo-net. And whilst I am certain deleting every available copy is wholly impossible, I wish for public access to be removed and every future uploads," he explained. "All pieces of footage depict the same event, captured from a variety of angles. And though the damage has already been done, I would see it contained. You see, I value my privacy and anonimity. Moreso than most. And this... public display of mine, whilst necessary at the time, is something that displeases me," he elaborated.

"As for why I broke into your home instead of contacting you, it's rather simple. As you well note, you do not wish to be found. If I had, you might've attempted to escape my notice, which would have proved inconvenient and wholly unnecessary," he explained, before offering a faint shrug of his shoulders. "Not to mention, because I could," he added, as if the fact were self-evident and entirely justified his actions.

 

[Aren D'Shade]

As soon as the silence of the apartment, the lights came on all over. Luckily, the room where the two of them were already had them on. So neither one of them needed to get used to the brightness in the dark. In silent communication with her droids, she told them to stay where they were but to be prepared to call the authorities if she told them to. Oddly enough, Aren didn't think that would be needed.

Listening to the stranger, he did not provide her a name. As she did this, when he mentioned benefits, he had her full attention. It was possible when she didn't react to his use of the Force that she surprised him. Raising an eyebrow when he commented that if she failed to make the cut, things would be unfavorable. Just knowing what her Master had done in the past, she chose not to question him.

Catching the coin, she put it into her front pocket so it didn't get dropped again. Nodding as he finally got to the reason for him being there, she relaxed. She felt he had no idea who she had been in the past. Not that it really mattered anymore but she still felt the name of her Master might still hold some weight. Keeping it to herself, she motioned to another door. One at the other end of the hallway from where they currently were.

"You haven't killed me yet so I'll trust you're not going to yet. Come with me. Do you want anything to drink? This could take a while."

Pulling open the door, it would lead to what somebody might call a workshop. To Aren though it was more of an office. Here, there were several holo-terminals and a few tables with droids in various stages of construction. Taking a seat behind one of the terminals, she indicated he should sit as well.

"You're reluctant to give me a name and I'll honor that. However, I do need some information from you. Like a location. It'll make finding the data you want gone easier to find. What benefits do you offer?"

Typing at the keyboard, her dark eyes looked over at the Sith. Still, there was no fear in them.

Darth Temerant

 

[Darth Temerant]

TAGS: Aren D'Shade
​

The black helm gave nothing in the way of insight as to what the man might be thinking in regards to what the man might be thinking, even as the visor fed him a plethora of information. She was calm, unusually so for someone who'd just had a six foot two fellow dressed all in black breaking into her bedroom: he didn't need the suit's biofeedback monitor to know as much. Curious.

"I am fine, thank you. Revealing my features rather defeats the purpose of remaining anonymous," the man pointed out as they entered the workshop.

He ignored her signal to take a seat, instead roaming around the workshop, seemingly admiring her work.

"Hrm, that is rather the issue. We know the footage was originally taken by a soldier of the Sith Eternalist army. But see for yourself," the man remarked, taking a spherical, black sphere from his jacket, clicking a button, to which it beeped awake, the man letting go to allow it to float in the middle of the room. "X3. Take it away," he instructed.

The protocol droid took command over the smaller droid, an in-built speaker addressing her.

"Good evening, Miss D'shade. X3 Mk V, at your service. A pleasure to meet you, even if it's via proxy," the droid greeted her. "I am quite frankly an admirer of your work, even if I do think Master's being a little overzealous. If he just gave me a little more time I could..."

"X3," Temerant gruffed as he inspected a piece of machinery.

"Hrmph. Very well," the droid made a sound that almost sounded like the clicking of a tongue. On cue, a series of light blue holograms filled the space between her and it.

Several videos played then, all depicting a man standing over a destroyed starship, addressing a legion of Sith military from a variety of angles. Titles such as 'Knight Inquisitor Rallies Troops', 'Sith Makes Soldiers DARTHS!' and 'You won't believe what this Sith just did!', as well as a very excited 'WE ARE SITH!' could be seen beneath them.

"Master here had the rather uncharacteristic idea of uplifting people's spirits during a particularly dire situation," the droid explained. "And I say uncharacteristic because he is so much more into breaking them," the droid remarked. Clearly, something had gone askew in the programming of his personality.

"I will break your spirit if you do not get to the point," the black-clad individual assured him, though he seemed to be mildly distracted by all her toys. It was odd, hearing them bicker, almost as if the droid was given a measure of rope that the man almost certainly did not grant others.

"Promises, promises," the droid teased, before sighing. Most of the videos but one disappeared, playing on mute.

"I have been able to locate and delete most footage from the holonet at the source, and spent a whole lot of processing power tracking down downloads and erasing them or otherwise corrupting them. You have no idea how difficult it was to cover my tracks," the droid explained, even if she probably did. "However, this particular video keeps popping up, no matter how much I hound it. Last time, I thought I finally had it, only for my attempts to track the source to take me to a dead end which... Well. Had a nasty little surprise waiting for me."

"A virus," Temerant noted.

"Quite. Fortunately, Master desgined my intelligence functionalities as a closed system, but not only did it manage to penetrate my defenses, which we thought quite nearly impossible, but it attempted to access my core programming and link to my systems, which as you can imagine is... less than desirable for us," the droid noted.

"Hrm," Temerant seemingly grunted his agreement.

"I had to shut myself down and reboot to my latest cyclical back-up. Which I rather hate doing, so this is now personal," the droid remarked, clearly quite displeased with the fact. "Your job will be to help me track down any rogue copies of the footage and, if you're as good as Master seems to think, to deal with this little slicer who seems just terribly intent on keeping Master in the spotlight," the droid concluded, the sphere approaching her. "You may couple with 0-RB here so that I you may work off the legwork I've already done on this case," the droid offered... even if almost reluctantly.

"As for your benefits, they will be several. I will pay you ten thousand credits for this job. Five in advance, five when the job is completed. In addition to that, if you complete it to my satisfaction, I will keep you on retainer, paying you a monthly stipend to be discussed at the time on top of whatever else we agree on for future jobs," the man noted. Clearly, money wasn't a terrible concern. That, or he wanted this matter dealt with enough that he was willing to pay her a small fortune. "On top of that, you shall be under my protection, which is rather priceless," he assured her.

He paused, studying one of the droids in particular. "This design is quite ingenious," he mumbled, almost more to himself than to her. "Although I don't think a power-flux regulator will be enough to contain the output of such a battery. A lot of energy would be wasted when idle and even with a rheostat, your systems will be in danger of overheating when it's... Have you considered using a power cell system?" he queried. "A considerably more expensive alternative, certainly, but it would help with heat regulation and would, theoretically, make your design self-sufficient by storing the excess energy for later use."

 

[Aren D'Shade]

Having been essentially locked up as a prisoner of the Jedi, Aren was out of the loop when it came to the governments of the Galaxy. One of the reasons she was now a free woman was because the Jedi government had failed. They were still present but their power had fallen and she was released. Not being a violent criminal and not one to go on a murdering spree probably helped her case.

Listening to what her unexpected guest had to say, she paid attention to the details she was given. Then listening to the small companion droid, she would attempt to follow the connection to the controller. If she was able to get a virtual sight of him, she would wave slightly and return to the workroom. He seemed to be a fanboy of her work and that pleased Aren greatly. In the future, she would take more care to hide her presence in the mix of things.

Watching the recording play with the various sayings, she couldn't help but lift an eyebrow. Keeping quiet, she listened to X3 explain what they needed her to do and what they had already accomplished. Smiling a bit at the friendly banter that happened, she actually started to like these two. She wished it had been under slightly friendlier circumstances.

That brow raised even more when X3 stated that he was still compromised even after all the precautions he had taken. Nodding when she heard what he needed to do, she didn't need to offer assistance cleaning up that mess. Looking at Temerant when X3 finished speaking, she appeared lost in thought.

Reaching into her work bag without looking, she took a small round device out. Setting it on the table, she attempted to place 0-RB directly over it. If she was unable to physically place it there herself, then she would motion for it to go there. Since she had been told she could couple with it, she didn't think there would be any issue with her putting it there.

"I accept. Thank you, X3. I appreciate the help and I hope to get this cleared up quickly for you both."

Glancing at Temerant, she brought another tool out of the bag and plugged it into the circle she had set down a few moments ago. Taking two more items out of the bag, she held one out to him to take if he wanted. Whichever was his choice, she put what looked like a pair of glasses on. On the chance he had also put on the pair she had handed him, then he would witness her journey into the holonet, past the file recording, and to what she would call, the "parent". In her hands, we manipulated the data streams and with what might be equated to a pruner, she severed the stream coming from the parent and then snuffed out that bright light.

"That should take care of any propaganda in the future from this recording. The original has been destroyed and there is nothing further that I can find at this point of origin. It'll take more time and digging to get the rest. Be assured, I will continue the project in the morning."

Removing the glasses, she unplugged the device and took the extra pair back from him. Walking over to the droid in question, she tapped her chin a bit and shook her head.

"I had not actually considered that too strongly. Though now that you mention it, I use that with EL. She hadn't failed me yet. Would you like to meet my droids? These aren't done yet. On second thought, I should probably get some sleep. I'm just glad you didn't catch me while I was changing..."

For whatever reason, Aren was comfortable speaking openly to Temerant. If he didn't take the hint to leave, then she would go to bed with him around.

Darth Temerant