Desecrating What Shouldn't Be Touched

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]

'Perhaps if they had given you more leeway, they might still have you as an asset,' Taeli thought to herself, not wanting to speak that aloud and potentially upset Enyo. Regardless, she was very interested in who might have been holding the woman's leash. They sounded like they didn't know how to handle beings with free will... or a determination to act how they wanted to act. She was about to comment further when the onboard guidance indicated they were close.

The farm appeared in the distance and... she could feel it from here. The peace and tranquility her sister had infused into the place was no longer there. It had been disturbed by the dark side of the Force... and her eyes narrowed. It would be a subtle shift for Enyo to catch, but Taeli's demeanor had shifted from the laid back and curious Jedi Master to something a tad bit more on edge and dangerous.

"Someone has been here that shouldn't have been," she muttered to herself as they came to a stop near the main building. Two beings, one scent was familiar while the other was unknown to her completely.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]


Taeli's thoughts in regards to Enyo's handlers were quite accurate. The clone was probably a perfect example of how ironclad, totalitarian control could horribly backfire. Admittedly the fact that her entire existence was based on lies also played a big role, but this tied in with the first point.


However, further talk on this matter was terminated since the pair had arrived at their destination. In the distance, the farm appeared. The place itself did not ring any bells for Enyo, but she perceived the subtle shift in Taeli's comportment. The Jedi appeared on edge. Lethal and dangerous. Whatever had taken place her vexed her strongly.


"I can sense a disturbance in the Force upon it. It feels tainted. Deliberately so. With all the subtlety of a kath hound marking its territory. No attempt at disguise," Enyo remarked quietly as she disembarked from the speeder. The clone sniffed, as if she could pick up something by smell.


"These are still relatively fresh. There were two of them. One male, one female," she bent down to examine them. Mon Cal feet were flipper-shaped, but could fit into human boots. A competent tracker could still pick up on clues. "These tracks were caused by a cane. The male walks with a disability. Mon Cal." Dimly, the fish's presence felt a bit familiar to her. As she moved towards the homestead, she could see that the stone doors had been crudely broken down.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]

Even as Enyo was discerning what was in the air and in the Force, Taeli's narrowed eyes were looking at the door to the domicile itself. Someone had broken in, with a lightsaber by the looks of it. The air around Taeli started to become charged as her anger engulfed her. She had come here hoping beyond hope to see her sister again, and now it seemed she had not tripped the life form sensor. Oh no, it had been by someone that she was now seriously considering killing.

"Veles," she snarled, not bothering to hide her anger. The presence was definitely his, and while it was several days old, it still held traces of the arrogance that was uniquely his. He and his companion hadn't even tried to hide themselves in the Force once they realized no one was home. There weren't any signs of a struggle, small comfort, but they had been here looking for something by the look and feel of it. They had been excited and wanted to claim the superiority of the darkness over the light by marking the place.

"I should have tried harder to kill him on Lothal," she growled, heading towards the farm building. She wanted to know what they had done and what they had been looking for, and oh she was going to make that fish fry for coming here. She had killed a man with a dark side tendril for simply touching one of her memories of her sisters, this... this was a far worse offense in her opinion.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]


Veles. That name confirmed the sensation Enyo had been experiencing when she tried to discern what lay in the air and the great ocean of the Force. She'd met the Mon Cal and had some dealings with him back when she still associated with the First Order. Back when she was under Archangel's thumb. That was enough for her to feel distaste at his presence. But that was neither here nor there.


She felt the pure sensation of anger and outrage radiate from Taeli. It felt like a force of nature. It was cold, and violent. Maybe you're not that different from me then, she thought to herself, but did not voice it. So Taeli had fought him on Lothal. Interesting. There was a Jedi Enclave there, and the planet's caves were of great importance to both Jedi and Sith due to their Kyber crystals. Siobhan beat him up on Contruum and Archangel sold him a droid army. Small world, she concluded dryly.


"I know that Sith. Awfully full of himself. He associates with the First Order, or at least he did last I knew. Often commands their Ren since they don't seem to have any actual Masters of their own." The taint the homestead's desecration had caused invaded her nostrils when she approached the farm building. The clone was sensible enough to let Taeli take the lead. "This place means a lot to you. What makes it so important?" This might not have been a good question to ask.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]

"This was my sister's home... before she disappeared," Taeli said, entering into the main room of the home. They had been searching for something, if all the thrown open doors indicated anything. A mixture of pure hatred for those who had violated this place and forlorn sadness at her sister not being here, reinforced by the holo-picture they had taken on Ossus sitting on the small table. "I had hoped... when the sensor was triggered... she would be here."

Almost in a daze, she moved to her sister's bedroom. The closet was open, the dresses they had bought on Corellia before the Akala Incident still in their wrappings. Memories were everywhere, even though the rooms were sparsely decorated. Here and there though would be certain things that made Taeli think of her sister... and just how much she missed her. There was something else in the air, besides the presences of the two Sith that had been here. Another presence, far older than them... far older than many things... and fully mindful. Braith had been here, but briefly, and very distantly in the past.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]


Sister.


Enyo had one. Her name was [member="Amara Zarides"]. They were not sisters in the biological sense. One was the clone of Siobhan Kerrigan, the other of the Battering Ram's dead nemesis Kaelin Isandros. Archangel had created Amara to serve as another weapon and further bind Enyo to the machine cult. Both had been conditioned to see each other as siblings.


However, along the way, the bond between them had become real. Organics were unpredictable that way. They were polar opposites, yet it did not make Enyo's love for her any real. Amara was probably the only person the broody cyborg cared about other than herself.


So despite her own cynicism, Taeli's words struck a chord with Enyo. She furrowed her brow, feeling lost and uncertain what to say. She was not experienced in social customs. The clone felt out of place, like an intruder. "I'm sorry for your loss," she finally said, tone strangely soft. She reached out and gently patted Taeli on the shoulder with her metallic hand. The gesture was more than a little awkward, but she kept her touch light.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]

"I thank you," she said softly, allowing one tear to slip through her closed eyes. Just one. When those eyes opened again, they were as hard and cold as the sharpest gemstones. "And now that fish and his accomplice have defiled her memory, the home she built by hand. The last time someone even touched one of my memories of my sister, I killed them. He was a Sith Lord, and he didn't stand a chance after he did that. This..."

Words couldn't accurately reflect her feelings of anger and hate she was feeling for Veles right now.

"I want to know what they were looking for," she said, moving out of the bedroom and towards her sister's workshop. If there was one place that Corvus or Braith would have hid something valuable, it would be there. The Sith wouldn't be interested in Obi-Wan's holocron, deeming it beneath them. No, they had to have been after something her sister took from the Sith. The remnants of the uninvited house guests grew stronger as she neared the workshop, their excitement palpable.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]


"I'd kill them slowly. Painfully. Death by a thousand cuts seems fitting. Or suffocation in ash." If it was my sister. Clearly Enyo had a vivid imagination when it came to coming up with ideas for how to torture someone in excruciating ways. Anger and hatred continued to radiate from Taeli with palpable intensity. Enyo soaked up these dark emotions like a sponge. Darkness permeated the air of the tainted homestead.


However, she did not miss the last words Taeli had spoken. Taeli or her sister must have been hiding something valuable here, which the Sith had sought. Presumably an artefact of some sort. Perhaps I shan't end my association with you so soon. You have power.


She remembered all too well how Veles had snatched a Sith holocron on Dromund Vatsu after letting the Ren do his dirty work. She'd been a naive little girl back then. It makes sense. This homestead is out of the way, on a Forceforsaken shell of a planet that has little of interest, she surmised. But this place's sole shield was its obscurity, she followed the Jedi towards what appeared to be a workshop. With every step of the way, the echo of the two intruders grew louder, for they'd caused strong ripples in the Force.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]

"I have something far worse in mind," Taeli said, but not elaborating. Enyo might have an imagination in how to deal with enemies, but Taeli also could be quite imaginative when the time called for it. She had never really been one for sadistic pleasures... but she would make an exception this time. The workshop looked as searched as the other rooms, but the invaders sense of glee was too profound... and the darkness in the Force too pronounced and focused.

Closing her eyes, she focused on that darkness, casting her senses out before her eyes snapped open.

"There was an illusion here," she said, pointing at a spot near the back of the room. "Covering something... old in nature, the spell would likely predate the Sith. My sister had... a friend who was from ancient times and she must have chosen this place to hide something."

She would probe the remnants of the spell, looking along the tattered strands as only a sorceress could do. Veles had forced his way through it, brute force spell to tear it down instead of unraveling it. Amateurish. Using her command of the Force, she started to reconstruct the illusion and more importantly a feeling of what it had been covering. She got the sense of a pyramid like object... she withdrew her mind from the remains of the spell, allowing the tattered edges to disappear. There was only one thing Sith would be interested in that was pyramid shaped.

"A Sith holocron," she surmised. "Likely a powerful one, judging by the lengths went through to conceal it."

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]


"I may just start to like you. Kind of." Enyo muttered. She was not a sadist per se. Archangel had trained her to kill cleanly and efficiently. She revelled in combat and probably enjoyed it a bit too much, but did not make an opponent suffer more than necessary. There were exceptions to her usual cold efficiency though.


To her naked, untrained eye, the workshop seemed normal. But she could hear the echo of the intruders' gleeful pelasure and satisfaction, and feel the powerful aura of darkness that seemed to have this chamber as its focal point, which meant that appearances were deceiving. Unlike Taeli, she could not unravel illusions or construct them.


"I've heard of such illusion spells. I've never seen them in action until now though," Enyo spoke. She recalled that one of Siobhan's allies, [member="Coryth Elaris"], was a powerful illusionist. "A holocron? Figures. What are the odds your sister's...ancient friend put a blood trail on it?" The holocron probably contained something as dramatic - and self-defeating - as the 'secret to eternal life'. Sith were obsessed with that. At least the clone thought so. Would she still get paid, even though there had not been skulls to crack? She crossed her twin metal arms. "So what now? Going after the fish?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]

"I'm intimately familiar with how such spells work," Taeli said. She didn't feel the need to elaborate on her being a Sith or her training with the Fallanassi or any of that. No, she was more concerned about teaching a lesson to those who would dare defile this place. "I am unfamiliar with her full skill set... but we should operate under the assumption that she did not. Always best to look at the worst-case scenario first then work up from there."

She would reach into her pocket, pulling out an untraceable credit chit and handing it to Enyo.

"There's two million on that chit," she said. "That should provide you with plenty to get by with, however... you are right that the fish and his accomplice need dealt with. So, I would like to propose something to you. Bring me Veles or his accomplice, alive, and you can keep whatever you find in their possession and I'll pay you a further two million. I don't care what condition they are in besides them still having brain function and able to breathe."

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]


"Thank you." Two million credits! That was probably pocket change for Taeli or Siobhan, but an awful lot of money from Enyo's perspective. She did not care for material possessions, but it would go a long way towards supporting herself and Amara.


Then there was the prospect of a Sith hunt. "I'll do it," she said. "I'll need all the information you can give me on the fish, since you're familiar with him. His strengths, weaknesses, resources and so on." Since his accomplice was still an enigma, it made sense to focus on him. Enyo had briefly seen him in action on Thakwaas and Dromund Vatsu, but then he'd only fought against substandard minions.


Archangel had a dossier on Veles but she no longer had access to their records. They'd sold him a droid army once. Wouldn't it be nice if she could hijack a few of those HRDs? After all, the machine cult was hers by right anyway. It would be best to confront him outside of First Order space, since then she would not have to potentially deal with Ren and Stormtroopers. Of course...she did have a certain murderous droid on speed dial...

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]

"He's a strong duelist, focuses on the Makashi style," Taeli said. With Enyo accepting, Taeli was quite happy to provide what she knew of the Mon Cal and she knew quite a bit from how long she had known him. "His lightsaber is slightly longer than a normal length blade so he can have a length advantage in a duel. He's strong in the Force, but he doesn't have the same strength or command over it as someone who focuses more heavily on that in combat. He's also been dabbling in sorcery, but he's never been one for the darker arts of the Sith. As far as I know, he only knows the spell to conjure a dark side net."

She racked her brain for other information. Anything she could share would help Enyo bring the fish to her and then... the real fun would start.

"I'm unsure on what resources he currently has, but considering you said he is working with the First Order, he probably has access to some of theirs," she mused. "He's a Sith assassin as well so he loves to use stealth techniques, and if he is still using it, he has a Phasma Infiltrator... which I designed for the Sith Assassins before the Akala Incident. He has a cybernetic eye and arm, but I'm unsure what their exact capabilities are. He has a sense of superiority based on his view that anyone who doesn't proscribe to his interpretation of the Sith are simple Dark Jedi that should be eradicated. He thrives on pain if our fight on Lothal is any indication. He also has a love for tea."

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]


Enyo absorbed the information with a thoughtful expression written across her otherwise impassive face. Veles was a powerful opponent and it would be foolish of her to take him lightly, but he was by no means indomitable. She'd observed him use the Force to cloak himself on Thakwaash and display advanced telekinesis on Dromund Vatsu.


But she also knew of his duel with her mirror on Contruum. Enyo was not a long-ranged AOE fighter like Siobhan, but they were both battering rams. The gears in her mind were churning like cogs in a machine as she went over possible scenarios and the arsenal that would be required to take down the fish. Sith Lightning is a problem, if he's able to summon it, but I can take precautions to protect myself. He did business with Archangel, but doesn't know I freed myself from their grip. This may work in my favour, she considered.


Taeli casually mentioning that she'd designed a stealth ship for the Sith Assassins in the past did not escape her attention. Puts your rivalry in a different light. I suppose I should explode in hypocritical, moralistic outrage and preach, but I just can't seem to care, she thought dryly. Jedi, Sith, Dark Jedi, they're just meaningless labels. After all, she'd marched on Korriban alongside [member="Matsu Xiangu"] and the Sith jihadists.


"I see. That's useful information. I have super-enhanced strength and possess techniques that I can utilise against his cybernetic implants," she remarked. She did not see the need to elaborate more on those techniques. Mechu-deru was a very useful skill that had practical uses beyond creating hordes of technozombies. Her phrik limbs would be able to resist lightsabre strikes, to a degree.


"I can use his arrogant preconceptions against him. I wonder how he rationalises losing to a Dark Jedi on Contruum when he considers himself the One True Sith. Or that no one else has recognised him as the 'messiah', but I suppose every would-be Jen'ari believes that," she added very, very dryly.'

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]

"As I was unaware he had lost to a Dark Jedi on Contruum, I suspect he took that oh so well," Taeli responded, smiling grimly. It didn't escape her attention that Enyo had stated she had increased strength and abilities from her implants. It was something she was exploring, secretly of course, in developing... something stronger than normal. But she wasn't about to mention that, as Enyo didn't strike her as the type to care about experiments being done in shadowy corners of the galaxy.

"If I had to guess, he would rationalize it that he was being a gentlemen and he let her win," she continued, shrugging. "At the point that he is in with his personal dogma, he would say anything to himself to keep his illusion of superiority in place. He seemed to take offense to a few easy barbs I made at him on Lothal. If I might suggest something, procure some Forcebreaker grenades and such. I know, common sense and all, but Veles prides himself on his connection to the Force. I'm not sure if he even can operate without it."

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]


Enyo scoffed. "Reminds me of someone I fought before. So strong in the Force, yet so weak and unable to cope without it." Though that opponent had taken the precaution of wearing fully sealed armour with a helmet. The clone prided herself on still being a formidable fighter without having access to space magic, though she seemed to suppress the fact that she needed her implants to survive.


"Regardless, I believe that information suffices. I'll keep my eyes open for him and follow his trail. If I catch the fish, you'll learn of it.I'll need a number to contact you under. Let us depart," she gestured to the speeder. Darkness was slowly descending upon the desert. "I shall leave Tatooine. There's nothing keeping me on this desert rock anymore."