Birthright. (Atretes Rhoujen)

[Salem Norongachi]

Bad Wulf Cantina, Citadel, Gamorr.


"I'm just a businessman, I move cargo where it needs to go. That's it man." The soulless visor of Norongachis helm kept the speakers gaze firmly fixed. The man behind the mask did not believe him, he'd done enough digging in the gutters in this sector to know when the cargo being moved had previously been on its way to its rightful owner.

"Where did you move it to?" He asked calmly, his armoured right hand resting upon the tabletop while the other sat upon his hip an inch from the hilt of his blade. "Bear in mind that you can have customer confidentiality or working kneecaps."

The threat seemed to give the small, rodent like, human pause and he swept aside lank, greasy brown hair from his face before clearing his throat. "Now that you mention it, the items you are referring too were recently in my possession. As you can imagine I had no idea they were stolen or otherwise illegally obtained from the CIS. I believe they were offloaded at this planets starport whereby they were stored, until the buyer arrives." The import-export mogul said this all with surprising, almost practised, calm.

"Need I ask?"

"No, no of course not Lord Commander." With that said the man deposited a dataslate into his hand detailig the warehouse location and access codes for the doors.

"Next time, if you suspect something belonging to me is on your manifest. Give me a call. We'll work something out." With that said Salem stood from the table and walked right into the bulky chest of a native.

"I'll be sure to do that." Came the sneering response as more of the rat-faced criminals associates appeared from the crowd in the Cantina and positioned themselves around him. A curious thought occurred to Norongachi then and he slipped the dataslate into his wrist mounted datapad. It simply said "Better luck next time." He had to smile at the balls on the man.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Wandering was always so much fun. Not the happy, joyous fun either. It was more the kind of fun you get when a bunch of Uggnauts dig open a lake of lava. Yeah, that kind of fun. The KWS Morvak was a comfortable enough ship, but when the alarms went blazing red with alarm at its big brother, Atretes stared for a moment in wonder. It was a lovely vessel, that Star Destroyer orbiting Gamorr, and warranted the young man have a closer look. He brought his ship in to land at the most likely city any passenger of the warship would have visited, and holstered his blaster.

"Keep an eye on the ship for me, Kawys." he said with a smirk. An electronic sigh came from the intercom system. With a soft chuckle at the irritation of his almost-AI friend, he exited the ship and it locked up tight. After the usual haggling with the port authority, he made his way through until he found a cantina. Always the best haunts, these random cantinas. He didn't pay much attention to this one's name, but chose instead to enter. Once his eyes had adjusted, he was greeted with the most peculiar sight.

A man clad fully in armour was looking at his glowing write while a pack of men who resembled rodents were gathering before him. This reeked of bad business of some sort, but it was one of those bad shipwreck moments. He knew the horrible was inevitable, but didn't dare look away. A little nagging sensation in the back of his head kept trying to tell him something about the man in the armour, but what it was... Artamis didn't know, and he wasn't paying attention at any rate.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"You want to move..." Norongachi said to the Gamorrean. The beast-like sentient merely grunted before raising a short, sturdy club upwards and bringing it back down with surprising speed toward Omegas head. The blast of telekinetic energy that rose in defiance went off like a shaped charge, impacting the arm from midbicep to hand. It exploded in a spray of gore and piggish squeals. The Gamorrean tumbled sideways with the momentum of the attack, falling into shock induced unconsciousness.

To say that rat-face and his companions were a little taken aback by this development would have been an understatement. Norongachi sealed that deal by snatching the golden hilt of his saber from its moorings and setting its blade alight with emerald flame. He turned to survey them. Each held a weapon, blasters mostly, but their bottle had. The only shots they would fire would be in fear induced desperation.

"I want him..." The armoured head nodded to their boss. "The rest of you can go." It was then he felt it, a blaring siren in the Force that made every survival instinct in his body jump to high alert. The t-shaped visor swept through the crowd as he honed his sense on the worrying signal. Their eyes met then and still the Force screamed to him that this was something he had never faced before.

Then it was gone, that frightening aura of power diminished to almost nothing. Norongachi shook it off, as curious as he was about his sensory misfire he had a task to complete. When he looked back around, the goons had all but fled only two remained to block their previous employers hasty escape from the cantina.

"Pl-please! I'll tell you! It was a mistake! A misunderstanding! Surely you can see that!" He screeched, flailing in the grasp of the two men who slipped away as Norongachi's armoured hand wrapped around his targets neck, lifted him and slammed him onto the tabletop.

"No, friend. The easy way passed you by." The Force Master took the index finger of his glove between his teeth and pulled it off. The Force sang its sirens song in his mind, offering up its power it great draughts that he swallowed down greedily. His grip reaffirmed itself on the small mans neck and then his naked palm touched his captives forehead. The energy surged down his arm like a 100,000 volt charge, reached his palm and frayed into billions of microfine strands that burrowed into the skin unseen. Like a hoarde of parasites they slipped inside the brain, winding through cells and synapses until it found the memory centres of the mind. There they anchored and began the transfer, syphoning every event from his victims mind into his own.

Norongachi's eyes glazed over, the influx of information flashing across his mind until he found what he was looking for and he broke the connection. A sigh escaped his lips and he released his grip upon the now drooling man. The visor looked down at the wide eyed, empty expression of what had been Taylor Swyft and shook his head before turning and walking toward the door.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

The entire event sent chills down Atretes' spine, then a subtle creep back up it. He found himself from standing by the door to sitting in a corner before the events had all transpired, and realised that he had no clue how he got there. His attention was focused upon the other man since their eyes briefly met. It was some alien familiarity, and oxymoron of the humours, that set his mind in confusion between whether to consider this stranger a friend or foe. So he watched.

There was already a significant crowd around the scene. A Gamorrean's arm explodes, a bunch of pathetic humans flee, and then a man looks like he's having some sort of seizure then like he's been robbed of his brain... yeah, that draws a crowd. It was making Atretes a little more anxious as well. The chatter was becoming hard to think through, and people were certainly talking now. The wonder started to dwindle and he felt his awareness fade as he withdrew from the reality of things, but broke himself out of it before it got too bad. He told himself he needed to control these flaws. He stood, perhaps a little too suddenly, and slipped out the door before the crowd grew too thick. He was sure that once the obviously-powerful individual moved the crowd would disperse and pretend nothing happened, but that wasn't the immediate situation... and he also wasn't entirely sure how safe it was to be here.

One outside, the mild panic withdrew and he took a long breath. He leaned against the front wall of the cantina to recollect himself, and a sharp movement caught his eye. The other metaphorical mice were trailing down the road, checking every direction for people watching them. When they spotted Rhoujen looking, they hurried a little to be unseen.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Norongachi exited a minute behind him and stopped. That feeling crawled back into his mind, one that an apex predator felt when it met one of its own calibre. He was afraid, unsure of his next act and it was only when he turned to look at Atretes that it faded once more as if it had never been. It was beginning to piss him off more than he'd ever say to a living soul. He'd met others more powerful in the Force than he was but none, not Tigon not Daragon or Lore had ever had that sense of latent killing power that he was feeling. It were as if he were looking upon the very shadow of death itself.

"Who are you?" Was all he found himself asking of the enigma leaning against the wall.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Atretes jumped within his skin at the random voice after he was scanning the distant road for those other men, but life aboard a pirate vessel usually dictated 'don't show you're scared unless you want to get beat'. So, naturally, the younger man covered up his jitters with a relatively casual mask. The question was a little... odd, for a random encounter. The good thing was that Atretes had not made any sort of name for himself, so his name alone wouldn't trigger any sort of recollections.

"Atretes Rhoujen, at your service." he said. His usual terms of phrase were perhaps a bit outdated, but when you're raised first in a science exhibit and then with pirates... it's a wonder he doesn't spew quantum mechanics in a bad accent.

And in the deep recesses of Sigma, the hint of familiarity bubbles slightly. It was that same confusion, a stranger but still recognisable. Like a distant relative that you know you're related to but don't know in the slightest. It set Atretes' gut to get particularly fluttery. His mixed instincts said "investigate" and "run like a scared Jawa" at the same time. He was pretty much mounted to the ground.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Okay Mr Rhoujen, let me rephrase. What are you?" The man was cocky but beneath the veneer of cool lay an unsure heart, it fell off him in waves. Anxiousness, fear, curiosity all intermingling in Norongachis otherworldly sense. The mans emotions seemed to mirror his own and yet he could not see what Omega had, could not recall the terror of a few seconds before. Or perhaps he could, on a level below the conscious. Hands reached up and slipped the helm from his head and set it under one arm, letting the emerald green of his eyes fall upon the enigma without a barrier between them.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

The question caught Atretes completely off-guard. The smart-assed Pirate-influenced part of his mind wanted to retort with 'What do I look like, an obese Hutt?' but given the previous display, that kind of attitude would probably have made him rather... dead. Instead he played it cooly still, hoping that the underlying source of his being wasn't the topic in question.

"As far as I know, I'm human..." he said, perhaps a little quieter than his initial dialogue. He was aware, somehow, of what this stranger actually meant. He just tried to avoid that topic. After all, if he was wrong then 'I'm a genetically-engineered and highly attuned Force superhuman with zero training' would have been quite outlandish and would land him in a looney bin.

When the helmet was removed, the pigment of the man's eyes startled Rhoujen. Though not as varied as his own eyes were, the pure piercing green was quite startling. Nearly unnatural. A face behind the mask also helped set his mind at ease somewhat, adding a visage to the threat that this man could pose. Honestly, the guy looked like he'd been through a lot.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Dance all you want Mr Rhoujen..." Sal reached out with the Force then and spoke into his mind. "But you can't hide from my all seeing eye." Dramatic, to be sure but Norongachi had little time for games and less time for mysteries. What stood before him was something he did not understand and he hated not understanding, especially when it came to the powers of the Force.

"I see what you are, I can feel it." He spoke aloud, slipping his helm back onto his head. "The only explanation I can think of as to the fluctuations I can feel emanating from you are that you are somehow untrained. I can't see how this could be possible, I would have felt your presence from the other side of the equator. So please, tell me if I've missed a step at any point won't you?"

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Now what does one say to that? When a person delves into your mind and pulls out what you try to hide, it renders the hiding moot. It did simplify matters, however. It assured that if he was crazy, they were both crazy.

"Well, I suppose the cat's out of the bag," he muttered almost-bitterly before regaining his composure and reintroducing himself, "Project Sigma, creation of science for the hope of the perfect Force being, at your service." he gave a bit of a sarcastic bow at the introduction of the only name he knew for most of his life. Then he continued.

"And as far as the "Somehow untrained" bit... the most I can do is this." with that he nodded over to a rock at the ground, flicked the air in its direction, and the rock went tumbling. The most rudimentary display of Force power ever. Because Sigma got the feeling the obviously more powerful man wouldn't believe him, he added to the end.

"Feel free to search me and see if I'm lying about that. Just I'd prefer you didn't leave me a twitching lobotomy victim." he gave a little smirk at the end, trying to add a badly-written joke into the mix. Lighten the air, keep things from becoming too tense.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Well then...that complicates matters..." Norongachi thought, if Atretes had seen his face he would have easily noted the surprise. It did explain the feeling he'd had since meeting the man, as untrained as he was he was no doubt conditioned and raised with one sole purpose; to kill. Much like Omega had been on the Worldcraft Talta, it was all he had known for the first ten years of his life. It came now as easy as a breath, that kind of machine like regard for taking a life left its mark.

"The Universe has a quirky sense of humour..." He commented, almost to himself. Tens of thousands of worlds and he finally, after all this time, met someone like himself on Gamorr of all places. If he weren't utterly sure they were alone in the darkness of the street he'd half expect a holo-camera crew to spring out and reveal he was on a holo-show. "Omega Zero-One, bastard child of the very same experiments." He watched the stone wobble and fall over, that he was even able to do that much without any training was a good sign but he had a ways to go before he reached his potential.

"There's no need. You'll tell me what I want to know." By now Rhoujen must have been just as curious as Norongachi was. "My shuttle is not far and my ship is in orbit. We can talk there." The helmed head tilted upwards, knowing that somewhere up there was a black star destroyer waiting for him.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Atretes nodded about the universe's sense of humour, though 'quirky' wouldn't be what the younger man would have classified it as. Perhaps 'mad' would have been more appropriate. Still, especially for his almost-pirate mentality, this was quite the turn of... luck? Perhaps. Whatever it was that enacted this encounter, it had potential. Potential to make a nobody into... well, a much less helpless nobody. Atretes, to some degree, enjoyed his anonymity. If he made a name for himself he wouldn't be against it, but the longer he remained out of the galactic limelight the less he had to worry about.
Or at least, that's what he told himself.

"My shuttle is not far and my ship is in orbit. We can talk there." the man, Omega, had replaced his helmet at some point during Atretes' musings. He noted to pay more attention to his surroundings in the future.

"Ah, I have my own ship if you don't mind me bringing it along," he jabbed his thumb in the general direction of the port he'd landed in "It's rather nice, and I'd hate to lose a perfectly good ship." he leaned off the wall, surprised for a moment that he'd regained control of his muscles. The tension his brain had wound itself, and his nerves, into had eased for the most part. He wasn't so much prepared to flee as he was more watchful and expectant of some strange turn of events that decided that this was all some ruse and he'd soon and up more well-done than a poorly-prepared nerf dish.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"As you wish." Norongachi responded with a nod, turning and beginning to walk down the street toward the starport. "Don't take too long." He added without looking around. If the younger Sigma caught the hint of a threat or not it didn't matter to Omega, one way or another he would bring this new variable to heel, by force or coercion. It was all the same to him.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"].

 

[EmKay]

Perhaps his schedule was tight.

Atretes was under no self-appointed illusions that something wouldn't go awry. Threats, no matter how veiled, still appeared at such whether intentional or a result of his trepidation. Nothing could be certain right now, but it was at least more direction than he'd previously had. That was good. He needed goals and a purpose. Drifting through the space lanes was taking its toll on his health and sanity, and he was near the breaking point where people start drinking more than they can afford. Spacer life. He didn't want to be there.
Yes, this was good...

Some few minutes later, and with some arguing with the large, black Destroyer later about docking permissions (a note he slipped into his mind for later conversation), Atretes was marveling at the vast chamber that was the Star Destroyer's hangar bay... and how devoid it was of any sort of ships aside from his dagger-like KWS Morvak and Omega's shuttle.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"He's here. I'm leading him to the bridge as we speak." The A.I informed Norongachi, who had watched the freighters approach through the bridge viewports. The Lord Commander nodded and swirled his whiskey around his glass before downing the rest of the amber liquid in one swallow. His armour hung on its rack in his office/quarters and he wore a black shirt, with suit trousers and synth-leather shoes that could have used a polish. It had only been a little under half an hour since they had parted ways upon the planet but Norongachi's mind had been constantly at work, assessing the ramifications of his discovery and also the best way to deal with it.

If left unchecked it would only be a matter of time before someone discovered Sigma as he had and took him to train. The thought of a monster like them being under the direct tutelage of a mainline Sith or Jedi did not sit well upon his shoulders. The other scenario was snuffing out the flame before it burned too bright but that also had its drawbacks. Short of being a waste of many brilliant mens time and effort it was also a waste of a potential resource.

"Only one thing to do then..." He spoke to the emptiness of the bridge.

Meanwhile the blue holographic form of Emah waited for Atretes to depart his freighter, with growing impatience. "Any time today, It isn't like I have a whole Star Destroyer to run!"

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Atretes twitches a little. Arguing with, apparently, an artificial intelligence was not how he'd anticipated his arrival. He scowled as he made his way through the cavernous hangar bay, through several complicated halls, and up a few turbolifts all at the near-condescending 'guidance' of this particular... woman. When he finally made his way to the bridge, he was to the point where he wished the intercom had a mute button. He choked down the frustration, however, if for no other reason than to maintain appearances.

When he entered the bridge, he'd expected to see a walking suit of armour menacingly silhouetted by the glowing atmosphere of the planet below. Instead, he saw a well-dressed man with a semblance to what he may have expected from what lie underneath the armour, but his mind still had a little trouble prying off the tin can. He felt significantly under-dressed, in only his black cargo pants, high militaristic boots, crimson shirt, and black overcoat. In fact, 'significantly under-dressed' may have even been an understatement. Pushing such vain and frivolous matters aside, he took a few steps onto the bridge proper and gave a clear of his throat, as he was accustomed to for people who didn't automatically know where he was.

"Hello." he said. Not exactly formal, probably not as respectful as he should have been all things considered, but nonetheless it was better than remaining silent. Even though silence was often his method, he felt that some sort of energy into the air would spark the next step of whatever Omega may have had planned.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

The truth was that if [member="Atretes Rhoujen"] had been wearing a stealth field generator Norongachi would have felt his presence. It was in his mind now and like a blood hound he would never lose that scent again but appearing at least partially fallible might put his guest at ease and so he waited until he cleared his throat and offered a greeting before turning to acknowledge him

"That'll be all Emah," He said to the hologram behind Atretes. She tutted like a teenager that had just been sent to her room before the holoprojector in the celling winked out and she was gone. There was a table bolted to the floor next to the long rectangular viewport, two chairs were placed besie it and an arrangement of drinks sat atop with a small tray of glasses, each upended. Norongachi took one of the seats and slipped his empty glass onto the dark tabletop. "Drink?" He his fingers dancing across the labels before settling on old faithful; Corellian Whiskey.

 

[EmKay]

Atretes could hear the almost-whirring buzz of electricity flick off when the digital apparition vanished. There was a certain sense of relief when it... she... did, though he could still feel eyes on the back of his neck. Watched, by at least one 'person' on-board the vessel. This would be quite the interesting experience to be sure.

"Drink?" Omega offered. Out of politeness, Atretes accepted as he walked over and took a seat. He was careful in his movement as though afraid blinking the wrong way would incite some manner of offence. He was, after all, the guest. He waited a moment to either be served or serve himself, and with glass of amber liquid in hand he took a sip he instantly, and temporarily, regretted. He'd never been much of an alcoholic, and it showed in that instant as he choked to suppress a sputter that threatened to rob him of his breath. Whether it was actually strong or not didn't particularly matter. He was a lightweight in every sense (though he did have a hardy stomach).

"Th-thanksss," he coughed out after he managed to retain some oxygen. With a deep sigh, he managed to continue "I'm sure we both have plenty of questions, but since you own the place... you go first". He didn't know where to start, honestly, so passing the burden of first inquiry to the elder man was in part to make things easier.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Would you prefer water?" Norongachi smiled at the reaction and to punctuate his jape he swallowed back half his glass with a sigh of relief. Silence fell for a second and Salem's eyes remained upon Sigma, watching, reading, gauging. It was not by gift of the Force that he had attained this skill, it was experience in a galaxy full of liars and murderers that fostered it in him almost a millennia ago and he hadn't been able to shake the habit.

"Where did they create you?" It was a little more macabre than the standard 'Where were you born?' but if the shoe fits, as they said.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Atretes gave a wry grin at Omega's jest. Water would have been nice, but judging by the display on the table it wasn't likely something that was frequently kept in stock. When the other man went for the cut and dry root of the matter, his grin quirked and threatened to fade. Instead he gave a hearty sigh and downed the rest of the contents of his glass. He choked, swallowed again, and when the burning passed he spoke with a croak, cleared his throat and continued.

"Aaig- I was refined on... what did they call it," he rummaged through his memories, tugging the strands for a name, "Ah. Sigma Facility on Bestine IV." he said after a few silent moments of thought. "Where I was physically born, I don't know. The records said they found me as an orphan and 'adopted' me." he finished. The one thing he didn't even tell his dear Captain back on the Riposte was now out in the air. Truth be told, relaying the information seemed to take a certain weight off his shoulders and he didn't feel as self-contained. Perhaps, if things didn't turn sour, this would be a healthy meeting.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]