Birthright. (Atretes Rhoujen)

[Salem Norongachi]

Norongachi was grinning as well, at least on the inside. He'd purposefully launched the second projectile far faster than the first and as Sigma dodged and then caught it in a mental grasp only to bring it back under his control he noted the way his body moved. It wasn't as fluid or as precise as the Omega series but he put that down to lack of practical application from his student. He had the gift, not just with the Force but physically as well. No ordinary human had the reflexes required to avoid an object travelling at such speed whilst adhering to the task at hand.

That should have been enough, he should have stopped then but Sigma had to realize that this wasn't a leisure activity that the skills that Omega was imparting were deadly serious. Most important of all, he had to make him realize his own weakness.

There was no warning for what was to come next. The Master launched one, two, three objects at Atretes and then followed in their wake. Fast, faster than possible without the Force and his augmentations; he was upon him. The mass danced around them, billowing out into a half-sphere that marked the battle ground as Norongachi let a fist fly toward Rhoujens face before diving into a roll to the right when his projectiles caught up to him.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

The flurry was mind-wrenching, but he had a wild thought and stuck to it. He saw the mutlitude objects flying at him and did something against the unspoken rules. Actions driven by instinct rather than thought, but so far his instinct served him sell, and was a very good practicioner in this arena that was [member="Salem Norongachi"] 's training method.

He took hold of the objects in his grasp and hurled them at the objects hurdling toward him, then the corner of his eye saw Salem approaching at near lightning speed. He'd have to take a blow, one way or another. He was not going to be in a position, not with how untrained he was, to effectively counter the simletaneous attacks. Still, he would be able to lessen the blows. He took to the boxes and launches a wave of weak telekinetic energy, given his lack of focus, which slowed their velocity, in the same motion he took to brace against his mentor's impact.

The resulting blow was jarring, and knocked Atretes to the edge of the semicircular 'ring' they foudn themselves in, but he was mostly undamaged. Then the boxes came flailing and hit him across his body and bounced back into the torrent. He let out a groan.

With a jolt, his muscles spasmed and his force signature would have flared. Bruises mended, and a small fracture or two he'd suffered mended in that moment. He was still battered and felt it, but the most of his pain had eased. He brought himself up to kneel and looked up at Omega from behind his veil of hair, which had fallen when his makeshift hairband fell.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Crap!" Norongachi thought as he felt the pain rush through Sigmas body. He was just thinking that he'd hit him too hard, that he wasn't used to pulling his punches regardless if it were a fight or a sparring match when it happened. It wasn't what he'd expected, he'd been fully prepared to get put on his arse by the sudden explosion of Force potential that lay just beneath the surface. What he hadn't expected was it to be turned inward, his natural ability reacting to the wounds near instantaneously.

The ring of upheld objects settled onto the floor as Norongachi got to his feet, exhaling a breath as he released his control over them. He looked down upon him, kneeling and it was remarkably reminiscent of his time as Dark Lord. Not that he required such shows of subservience from those he had trained but the similarity between that time of his life and this jarred him so much so that he motioned for Sigma to rise.

"Your use of telekinesis to deflect the first attack while taking into account the following was well thought out but you let your power out of your control. Even an ordinary Force user can't afford to do that. You have to suppress that urge, keep it chained inside you until it can be used to full effect." He kicked a small crate across the floor as he walked to the edge of the training area. "That's enough for now, we'll start again in the morning." A nod toward the door stamped the clock on their first day. To say that he was excited about what [member="Atretes Rhoujen"] might become would be a grave understatement. If there were more people like them out there, Norongachi would have taken more pupils than he had in the past.

 

[EmKay]

Atretes huffed a breath as he stood, and when he came to fully rise he brushed a lock of hair out of his face. Several crates went flying in a random direction from that motion, and he shook his hand as if to flick off the force energy that had accumulated. Had Salem gone a step further than he had, it likely would've become the catalyst for a much larger play on power. Into the automatic release, and out of his control. He nodded once to himself, though it also coincided with his teacher's announcement that training was over for the day, and he dusted off his clothing. Wordlessly, he trailed off to his room and changed into different clothing, then took a trip to Tatooine to contemplate, and read.
[Filler: A Night of Elegance]

Upon Rhoujen's return, he was more centred, and he waved hello to the camera as it focused in on him. He had a new weapon on his hip -- a slugthrower to replace his outdated blaster pistol -- and a new Speederbike he rolled out onto the hangar deck from one of the compartments of his S18 that was originally designed to house a skiff. He pulled the thin protective material off of the vehicle and grabbed the owner's manual, then rolled the thing back into its compartment and closed it up. Afterward, he went to his room to set the manual on his dresser, and the gun on top of that. Now he wanted to relax. He had a hot shower in the refresher, and then scrounged around for clothing and found clean black uniform pants, a grey T-shirt, and decided to forgo shoes at the moment, though the boots he wore earlier in the day sat at the foot of his bed, beside a neat pile of used clothing.

Now he sat. And thought.

He reclined against the wall his bed was pressed up against, and closed his eyes in a more casual approach to the usual meditative posture. Images flashed before his eyes of events throughout the day, and finally he found himself lost in his own little world. He used this as a retreat a lot of the time, but little did he know that it was truly meditative immersion into the stream of the Force. Until now. Where it was once a black abyss of nothing except what memories he allowed to trickle in, there were translucent, silvery tendrils snaking around his view. He watches as they whirled and shifted, as care-free as the wind and as fluid as a stream. He then realised that all of the local tendrils had a tendency to warp toward him, and when he looked to his feet he saw a massive intermingling of the tendrils. It was as though a writhing ball of serpents made its home on his feet, and every few seconds it would flash with great intensity or diminish into a dim light. He opened his eyes.

Curious, and confused, he slid off the edge of the bed and slid on some socks and his boots, and went out through the halls of the Hand in search of [member="Salem Norongachi"].

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Sigma had left the ship. That was his prerogative. The brief introduction to what lay ahead would be enough to bring him back. That was what always got them, the taste of power, the feeling that they were capable of more. It wasn't a lie, certainly not in Rhoujens case, but it granted him a certain control over those he trained and that number was small.

"Run training scenario 07-X3-Delta." Salem spoke to the all seeing A.I, as he stood in the center of the training room, all clutter moved to the far walls. He was bare chested, his feet naked upon the cold tiled floor and upon his belt not one but many lightsaber hilts. Most had belonged to his brothers, long dead after the final conflict between the children of Talta. Now they were all he had, remnants of a time he could never get back.

"Training Scenario commencing in five, four-" She didn't let him settle into the countdown. The auto-turrets, set upon rails that navigated across the floor, ceiling and walls opened up.

The Force to the Norongachis had always been a song set upon an ocean. A vibrant rainbow of water that was tranquil and calm until called upon. Then it was a typhoon and a storm. It was biblical in its fury, laying waste to everything and anything that it touched. The music rose with his his call, the dancers skipped and spun upon the maelstrom under his control. His mind filled with the power, his body riding the high of the notes and then....

The bronzium saber, which was his own, slipped into his hand and deflected the first bolt of ruinous energy. His body became fluid, like the very waters that were his wellspring of power. Dipping and spinning through the hailstorm of light, barely evading, barely avoiding the searing pain. A dart of energy fell from above as a turret found its mark and Norongachi half flipped backwards-half to the side, his hand slipping to his belt and throwing another hilt into the air. An unseen force touched upon the ethereal, caught it then and set its blade ablaze. He landed and while hands worked through practised rhythms that were as instinct, his mind focused upon the fresh blade behind him. It snapped and hissed, unconstrained by flesh, it spun full circles that would have cleaved hands from arms and repelled the onslaught.

They moved as one, the viridian blade dipping and biting at all comers from the fore while his mind danced the cerulean saber through defensive motions at his back. Feet slid soundlessly across the polished surface, adjusting his stance by minute degrees one second and then taking him altogether out of danger the next.

Emah watched through the eyes of the turrets, the small cameras set atop their barrels giving her the perfect view of her quarry while they slipped speedily across the powered rails and spewed death toward him. A.I’s were supposed to be logical, they were supposed to be ultimately impartial; Emah was not. She knew Omega as intimately as anyone, her databanks had a profile stretching back a millennia, she knew what he could do. She knew what he could handle.

It was time to update her records.

She brought two more turrets online, that made four out of the possible ten, and set them to work. They slipped seamlessly into the ever changing attack patterns of the other two and she gave a digital smile when the first bead of sweat blossomed on his forehead.

His eyes never seemed to rest, constantly tracking, constantly assessing all the while his body moved. The dual blades snapped and hissed while he flipped and spun in the growing firestorm meant to end him. A blaster bolt splashed exactly where his next step would have been and he found his balance gone. His rhythm faltered and as the third blade joined its brethren he ground his teeth, his mind beginning to rail against the strain. It slipped into the forward guard as he found his feet again, its yellow edge cutting down three consecutive darts of energy while the rearguard batted others away, where they splashed against the hangar walls.

He had used this form of combat before but never with more than a single blade. As the infinite limbs of his mind moved and worked he found that he needed his senses more, he needed to see everything at once with his minds eye or the blades would become ineffective. It was tiring him, making his breathing come in sharp fast gasps.

His body was beginning to fail him, slowing every so slightly with every step and soon enough he’d be unable to mount a concentrated defense against the methodical A.I. The yellow saber moved to the right side and then another blade snapped from his belt and took the left, its red light joined the others and now he had a focused 360 degree defensive line. It wouldn’t last long but he was willing to bet that if he took physical movement down to a bare minimum his mind would prevail for longer.

The turrets were moving faster and faster, the whirr of their servos intermingling with the humming of the quad energy blades, and their patterns were ever changing. Emah wasn’t going easy on him, not that he ever expected her to and if he didn’t have the all seeing eye of the Force to aid him he wouldn’t have been able to see through the arcing brightness of his saber shield.

Blaster bolts were raining in toward him from all directions and then back out again as they met his defensive line but he was flagging. A blast near broke through the back before he managed to intercept it, then another from the front while he was momentarily distracted.
“Emah…” He warned through gritted teeth as his hands snapped the green blade of his saber up to deflect. The A.I responded with renewed vigour. The assault intensifying to the point where his mind worked so quickly that it went beyond thought. The Force roared like an orchestra in his mind, a tempest of power smashing against unseen shores and he was at its center. It guided his mind, his hands, his footfalls, as the art of skill became less hurried and more instinct but the mind could only take so much and he could feel his fatigue turning to anger that reached feverpitch when a dart of energy found the flesh of his shoulder.

“ENOUGH!” Omega snarled, the saber hilts of the yellow, blue and red shuddering and then collapsing with a hiss of sparks as they were blasted outwards and the turrets were ripped from their rails in the wake of his rage. “Thats enough…” He panted, his body slick and shining with sweat under the hangar bay lighting.

“Ending training scenario.” Emah responded as the broken turrets screeched to a rest against the various walls of the room. She shimmered into existence before him and through the haze of pain and exhaustion he couldn’t quite tell if she were happy or upset. “You lasted 10.35 minutes, acceptable for a second attempt. Unacceptable given what you should be capable of.”

“Its been awhile.” Salem responded, deactivating his blade and clipping it to his belt before a hand swept through his hair and brought it back into some semblance of order. “I’ll be in my quarters, let me know when he’s back.”

A shower, some food, and a synthflesh application later and Norongachi was back in his dark shirt and suit trousers, sitting upon the bridge of the Star Destroyer and mulling over his previous training session.

“Atrestes is looking for you, I’ve informed him of your location.” Emah spoke, interrupting his analysis.
“Good.” He replied, scratching at the synthflesh upon his shoulder wound beneath his shirt.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

When he passed the training room, it had the distinct odour of seared ozone. He wondered if even [member="Salem Norongachi"] still had training to do, and thought that that was quite an interesting thought. There was also some hint of solace in that: even masters have more to learn. He shook off the distracting thoughts, especially when the Hand's AI spoke to him, informing him that Salem was on the bridge. He nodded in the general direction of the nearest security camera as thanks, and followed the hazy mental trail to the bridge. It became easier as he neared, his furthered connection to the Force allowing him to follow the undulating vines that couldn't decide if they wanted to converge upon him or his teacher. When he reached the door to the Bridge, he closed his eyes out of curosity and set to seeing the Force by itself again, and the creeping tendrils that consisted of its flow were no in fluid lines. With master and apprentice in close proximity, the Force twisted and interrupted its flow in a confused attempt to converge on one or another. To either side the Force was moving normally, but in the space between them it seemed like it didn't know who to favour. Ultimately Salem won out due to his experience and control, but the sight was still interesting to the young man. His curiosity sated, he entered.

"I have a question," he started, not even with a hello, as soon as the durasteel barrier had slid to the sides, "Normally, when I was younger, I would sit and calm myself and simply recount memories as a kind of... well, meditation." he began his short little story to preface the question.

"When I attempted that upon my return to the Hand, I found something that was never there before," he took a breath so as not to ramble incoherently and continued, "Tendrils. Vines. Nearly an interconnecting web of pulsating power, and even now I can see ghosts of it in the back of my mind, ensnaring and twisting around us both," by this time, he was standing near Salem, "as if inexorably attracted to us." he finished his story, and description, and now came the question.

"What exactly is it?"

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Just as [member="Atretes Rhoujen"] saw the world beyond as snaking vines radiating with power Norongachi saw the rolling waves. A bright and luminous body of water stretching to infinity, its very make up atom thin strands that were beyond counting, each representing and holding what they knew as existence together. It thrummed in his minds eye, his students own presence within it brightening above the others.

"Each of us sees the Force in our own unique way. Perhaps our minds take something we recognize to represent it or perhaps its as much a mystery as the Force itself. What you are seeing are the base building blocks of the universe. I am not as you see me now, here in the flesh, as you are not as I see you with my own two eyes. We are energy, brilliance, we are connected as intimately as one could possibly imagine in a chain that spans the cosmos. What you have done, finally, is take a step toward communing with it on a far deeper level. As your connection grows you will see further and more, you will strip back the drab façade of the Universe and see it as I do." His eyes lost focus then as he took in its majesty, reminded once more just how infinitesimally small he and everyone else truly was.

"Our path has been decided." Norongachi stood, a slight wince escaping his lips as his shoulder began to ache. "Today you learn to see beyond what's really there."

 

[EmKay]

Atretes nodded slightly as he took in this information, understanding that he was unlocking more secrets, however miniscule they were on the grander scheme of things. It made him feel some degree of accomplishment, and a little more whole. With greater understanding of what he saw, he wondered if he could use the visualisations to help him focus his power. Time would tell. As [member="Salem Norongachi"] went to stand, his suspicion that the elder man had been training was confirmed by the slight vocalisation and minor wince of the features. In an attempt to lighten the weighted air, Rhoujen spoke.

"Auto-turrets, huh?" he inquired with a bit of a grin.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Auto-turrets Sigma," He returned his smile, as a hand rubbed his shoulder. "I just wish the queen wasn't so accurate."

"I was aiming further south." Corrected Emahs disembodied voice. Omega ignored that, trying to keep the imagery from his mind as he and [member="Atretes Rhoujen"] made the familiar trek back down to the training area. The droids had been out he noticed, the small astromechs clearing the mess from hours ago and repairing the damage he'd done.

"Pick a spot, any spot. You said you could reach a meditative state before, I'd like you to do that now." He spoke as they entered the hangar.

 

[EmKay]

Atretes disregarded the AI's dialogue, though he stifled a chuckle.

The walk to the training room seemed considerably shorter now that he'd gone the same route a few times. How familiarity quickens time. He immediately took to his instruction, though one would think he were prowling the area. He examined every spot for somewhere he could feel comfortable, and finally decided on a bit of an unorthodox setup. He'd used a mixture of physical lifting and telekinetic ability to move crates into a kind of dais with a backing. He took a rubber-like mat and set it on the centre, and took a rolled-up one to use as a backrest cushion. He climbed and sat upon it, and found himself gazing out past the ray shielding and into the endless stars. He closed his eyes.

The benefit of the back, aside form having something to recline on, was that he didn't think that [member="Salem Norongachi"] was watching. That benefited his nerves and he was able to relax. Slowly, he eased himself into a deeper trance than his usual relaxing meditation, until the dull roar of the engines replaced the Force in the back of his mind. Before him, the intersecting rivulets of energy flowed, twisted, converged, and flowed again as though it were a digital ocean left unrendered. A thin fabric, fluid yet tangible, and somehow alive. It was mystifying in this deep on an immersion, though the call to go even deeper pulled from the farthest reaches of the universe, in places he was fearful to explore in this state.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

The Master looked on. Observed as Atretes' breaths became shallow and then almost non-existent, the mans body and mind slipping into the web of power that they had been gifted. He remained quiet as this happened, knowing that any disruption could shake loose the calm that Sigma was trying to attain. It was only when Omega was sure that his student had attained stability did he speak.

"Find me Sigma. See me. Find my essence in the Force. Observe and tell me what you find." Were his instructions as he stood, hands clasped at the base of his spine.

 

[EmKay]

Some echo of [member="Salem Norongachi"]'s voice streamed through Rhoujen's hearing and into his thought, allowing him to hear the instruction of his teacher. He took a breath, though whether it was a physical breath or a breath of thought was unclear to him at the time. He changed his focus. It was difficult at first, rotating his focus beyond the constraints known by his field of vision, but inch by inch he succeeded in seeing beyond what he could see until he had, out of both curiosity and instability in control, taken a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the area. Now he had to focus. Slowly, carefully, he panned it back behind him until he could see the distortions in the flow, the vined mesh narrowing on a certain point. He focused more upon that spot, there the Force converged, and was greeted by a focus of energy that reminded him of himself. The tangled mass appeared again, but instead of the wild morass that existed around him, this was smooth and refined. There was always a flutter, but Salem's experience was, in a way, proven to Atretes in that moment. It took some force of will, and even then his voice sounded like it came off from miles, but he spoke as per his instructions.

"As though you were nearly a reflection of myself, only more focused. More controlled," he said as he battled to keep focus on both his sense and speaking at once. His sight wavered for a moment as the view of the Force faded to the black of his eyelids and back, "It's becoming a little hard to see, but the Force seems to flow around and with you more easily than it does me." he said, his voice becoming slightly tense from the effort. He could nearly feel the kinks of the Force snapping in and out of place, the ethereal muscle straining as the entangled mass of the Force were subdued only slightly. Allowing that small amount of control.

Then something new happened. That nearly insignificant drop of Miralukan blood, that gift that ensured his survival in Project Sigma aided him yet again. As the initial view of the Force faded, a new perspective arose that showed the world around him in a darkened grey-scale. A monotone realm where the flows of the Force traveled in the same vines, only now they were colored with energy and shone brightly like laser fire. In this new realm of his ability to see and sense the Force, Salem was a bright nova.

"Now it's... different," Atretes said after a long time of silence, "the world is dark, colourless, lifeless, save the flows of the Force and things it focuses on." he said, the confusion at his change of perspective evident, yet not in such a way that was troubling.

"You, Salem, are as bright as a sun in this view." he finished. Now he felt it was time to experiment.

Taking another deep breath, he willed the two different views to mesh. His facial featured twitched and contorted as he forced the different aspects of his being to cooperate and mesh together. Miralukan sight and Sigma's perspective wound together like twin serpents around the vessel that was Atretes. As he worked it, his signature in the Force fluttered and hummed as he united different parts of himself to work under his control. Soon, he saw the world in the monochrome, but still saw the flow. Still saw the tendrils, the intersecting wave-like manifestations. He was still bound to the hangar for his distance of sight, but now he felt confident in his ability to sense in his immediate area. He was fascinated by this, but a chill up his spine warned him of the call of the universe. The vast expanse that threatened, no, beckoned him to go to it. Called out to him to venture deeper, to the unfathomable reaches of the Force where he would surely lose himself at his level of experience.

He resisted the siren's call and focused on the now, awaiting any further instructions.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Now that was interesting. That Rhoujen could see the Force in two very different ways wasn't something he had come across before. Something they did to him in the labs, perhaps? Norongachi couldn't say but it did little to impact their training.

"Experience is al you lack Sigma, I have fought side by side with the Force for longer than you will ever know. Across battlefields on countless worlds and against monsters the likes of which few have seen. Time, that is all you need to sharpen the edge." His eyes turned toward the ray shielding and the stars just beyond it but always did his minds eye remain upon Atretes, viewing the subtle shifts in his essence and how it waxed and waned although not as drastically as it had first done when they met. Progress, greater than he had imagined.

"Somewhere, somewhere close, is a lifeform. Find it, tell me how feels to you." A womp rat had somehow got onto the ship and as big as the Star Destroyer was he had little inclination to hunt the vermin down.

 

[EmKay]

The words came to him clearer as he was further acquainted with this way of experiencing things, and he found himself more easily able to glide the edge between worlds, so to speak. He listened to his new instructions and gave a tiny twitch of the muscle which resulted in a nod, then he slowly, carefully expanded his sensory horizon. It was like a blind man testing the ground before him to check for dangers. Every metre further out he sensed, he waited to become used to the extra perception and then he moved forward. The expansion of his sight was gradual, and it was at first as though he were walking the halls though he knew that his body remained sitting in the hangar-turned-training-room. The Star Destroyer seemed much larger this way, as navigating took much longer than normal. He was so very tempted to just blaze through and gain perception of the ship in one fell swoop, but that call still nagged at him to go to it, and he feared that if he became reckless then it would be a doomed endeavour.

So he pressed on.

It may have taken a few moments that were merely exaggerated in his concentration, or it may have truly been hours, until he had explored every nook of the Star Destroyer before he focused on his objective. With the ship known to him through the Force, he was able to pan out in his mind's eye and view the ship as though he were viewing a schematic read-out. In one of the hangars he saw the glowing signatures of himself and [member="Salem Norongachi"]. Near engineering, and moving quickly along small pipelines, was something else. Something dim, that moved and scurried. He focused in on that. Slowly he zoomed in, as a predator stalks its prey, until he was following along with it in an over-the-shoulder view. It was simpler, baser. It didn't have a multitude of tendrils interweaving itself with it. No... it was alive, and connected to the Force as such.

"It's small," Rhoujen finally spoke, his voice laced with curiosity, "it's such a simple creature, and the Force flows through it as easily as it fades through the hull of this ship." he was interested in this, so he continued following the little rodent until told otherwise.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

In a way Norongachi was following his students gaze, his mind wandering along the same pathways of the Force toward the rodent that his ships A.I had declared her nemesis. He could not see what Sigma saw, the Force did not grant such power but the bane of Emahs existence, the chewer of wires, gave a small start as its animal instincts sensed it was being watched and he knew Atretes had succeeded.

"It doesn't feel the Force and thus, unlike you or I it will never shine like the embers of a star. Remember this skill Sigma, remember it well. It will save your life again and again." He turned his full attention back to Rhoujen then. "When we are finished here today, I want you to employ the techniques I just showed you every day until they are instinctual, until your mind is inexplicably tethered to the world beyond the material. Now stand, we've covered the very basics of viewing the Force and as expected, you have done beautifully." A hand slipped into his pocket and produced a cigarra which be proceeded to set between his teeth and light with a burst of pyrokinesis.

"Lets grab a drink Mr Rhoujen, all this teaching has made me parched." A jet of smoke issued from his mouth before he turned and walked toward the exit.

 

[EmKay]

As though he were summoned, the whole of the image siphoned away like a finite hyperspace tunnel. His vision blackened until it was the darkness of his eyelids, yet now he could still feel the background hum of the Force. He stood per instruction and stepped down, a sweeping motion of his arm slowly pushing his little meditation stand thing to the side and giving him more direct access to the door.

"A drink sounds quite nice, Salem." he said with a grin as he followed after [member="Salem Norongachi"] to, likely, the bridge. He never acknowledged that he was complimented in most cases, choosing instead to perhaps smile and/or nod but say nothing relating to it. Just like now. His demeanour was a bit happier, and the pride threatened to well up, but he was outwardly more focused on the bit of break time.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

The bridge was a correct assumption. For all its size and the myriad of rooms upon rooms, Norongachi found that he rarely, if ever, went further on the Star Destroyer than to the training room below. There was no reason to, everything he ever needed was right here upon the bridge of his beloved ship; A beautiful woman that took none of his crap, booze a plenty, a bed that he never used and enough cigarras to give half the outer rim cancer.

The table was as he had left it. An ashtray near to overflowing, an empty bottle beside a twin while an unadulterated one sat upon a shelf above them. A hand called it down as he sat in his usual throne. He unscrewed its top and then poured them a generous helping into fresh glasses.

"So where did you go? If you don't mind me asking." Norongachi said as the first swallow slipped down his throat.

 

[EmKay]

Atretes moved to a vacant seat and pulled out himself a glass and poured the contents of an arbitrarily chosen bottle into it. He took a sip as he made an "Nn-nnh" noise and shook his head. After the initial cough, he set the glass down and spoke.

"No, I don't mind at all," he started before answering the question, "I found someplace I thought would be good to wind down in on Tatooine. Turned out to be run by quite the interesting woman, but I only needed a brief reprieve, so... nothing interesting happened." he explained. He found that his voice echoed uncomfortably on the bridge, and as a result he spoke in quieter tones than he would in the training room. He took another drink, and looked out the viewport into space, recounting the events of the day in his mind. It had only been, by now, about forty-eight hours since he was whisked aboard this vessel and already he'd learned more about the Force than he'd imagined.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Dark eyebrows rose upon his forehead and a silent "Ohhh.." fleeted across his face before a smirk settled on his lips. "How interesting?" Omega asked, draining half his glass afterwards. "And its good to get away. To take your head out of the game for a bit. Hells, if I'd done that maybe things would have gone very differently. Never think the simple pleasures in life are expendable Mr Rhoujen, down that path madness lies."

"And didn't he know it.." He thought somberly as the other half joined its liquid brethren in damnation.

 

[EmKay]

Atretes stopped in mid-drink at the end of Salem's bit of speech and looked over to him, then let out a half of a laugh and took his drink.

"You didn't call me Sigma that time," he said as he poured his next drink, then went on to sate the elder man's curiosity, "A high-end businesswoman that actually appeared to be human." he said simply. It was the best way he could explain how an owner of a brothel had what appeared to be an emotional breakdown. He shrugged to himself and took another drink. Then he took a deep, calming breath.