Eclipstica: Shade of the Past

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

Two weeks later, and Mara still got the shakes thinking about her meeting with [member="Darth Ayra"]. She still remained unconvinced that she'd gotten the better end of the deal. She'd ended up placating Ayra with more information than she'd expected to give. Not about anything critical, of course, or even risky, but still. It put her on the back foot with the older (and more powerful) woman, and she didn't much like that. Not at all.

It wasn't the only problem, either, not when it came to reclaiming some of the vault ship's records. Rave's files were incomplete and poorly organized. For all Mara knew, her aunt might have reclaimed her vault ship at any point in the years since Romeo Sin took it. And Sin himself might be a dead end; Mara's only clue to his location was his history with the planet Eclipstica.

She'd flown here in the Bullet Time, separate from her dubious and lethal ally of convenience. Now the little blockade runner orbited the dark world that had been the capital of the Shadow Empire. Mara could almost taste the Force distortion from here. Eclipstica, it was said, boasted a nexus of a dangerous kind. Temptation might be heightened. She would have to watch her thoughts.

Naturally, she'd made sure that her parents and [member="Kaili Talith"] knew where she'd gone. That was as much for her safety with Ayra as it was about the hazards of Wild Space.

She sat in the Bullet Time and waited for the Sith Lord.


[member="Romeo Sin"] [member="Darth Raijin"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] | [member="Romeo Sin"] |

The Initium wasn't built for speed. It was the top of the range stealth ship. That was it's main function. To hide it's occupants and whatever else was inside. In many ways, it was like a poor mans version of the vault ship that Darth Ayra was looking for. After years of searching, trying to gain a lead on where the ship ended up, she finally found it in the unlikeliest of sources.

During the two weeks since she had met with Mara on Obradaan, Darth Ayra had spending the majority of her time near Lorrd and Bimmiel. The MZX32905 system was set to become a place of research and the site where she would bring her apprentice, [member="Joon"], further into the fold. She had also come here with the meeting on Obradaan in mind. It was an educated guess that Eclipstica would be somewhere on close to the Outer Rim Territories, with it more than likely to be in the Unknown Regions.

Several new star systems had been discovered since the turn of the century, as the Galaxy raced against one another in the pursuit of new resources, territory and power. Nearly all of them had been discovered on the outer edges of the Galaxy, and with the Home resting nicely on the side of space, it made sense to be there- at least somewhere close- for when Mara made contact. Chandrila and Sojourn- the systems that Ayra normally operated in- were a long distance away from the Outer Rim and Unknown Regions. As the saying went, two birds, but with one stone.

When Mara made contact and the coordinates to Eclipstica was transmitted to her, Darth Ayra made sure to let her apprentice know where she was heading and why. If her Master did not contact her within a day after arrival at coordinates Mara had given, then JN-4 was to send an anonymous message to the Black Tie Syndicate, explaining that Alicia Drey was missing and that Mara D'Lessio Merrill was the individual responsible.

Two weeks later...

The Initium dropped into real space. Eclipstica loomed in the horizon. Watching it momentarily, Darth Ayra powered down the hyperdrive. Averting her gaze away from the planet and down to her dashboard, she opened up a hailing frequency to the Bullet Time. "It's Ayra. Are you there, Mara?"

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Darth Ayra"]

The Bullet Time's sensors indicated what the Initium's design already implied: if the ship hadn't just reverted, uncloaked like all reversions, Mara wouldn't have seen it coming. Not in a technological sense, anyway. It remained an open question whether her instinctive astrogation could really handle a cloaked and hostile ship -- especially with a Sith Lord at the controls. Mara shared a glance with her comms officer, who'd been with her forever, and he patched the call through to her headset. She sat in the pilot's seat, at the centre of the miniature blockade runner's cockpit-slash-tiny-bridge, and kept an eye on the long-range sensors for company.

"And here I was catching up on my knitting. Welcome to Eclipstica. Still waiting to see if we get any attention, though it's pretty dead down there."

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

Darth Ayra had never visited the Shadow Realm before, yet, she could feel the pull of the dark side. If things ever escalated between her and Mara, then she firmly in her element. She felt that she would be stronger and more powerful down there, if it ever came to a fight. The Initium had no weapons systems. That wasn't the point of the ship. It allowed her to come and go from star systems, where she was rarely- if ever- detected by customs planet side. It wasn't a particularly fast ship either, in comparison to the Bullet Time and unlike the Bogan Beauty's, it was small. Just big enough to, say, carry a dozen holocrons, but nothing of size, like a bulky weapon.

"I'm not registering any traffic either. This systems seems dead. Perhaps you led us to a dead end?" Ayra said and she made no attempt to hide her annoyance with her question.

 

[The Red of Sinner]

[member="Darth Ayra"]
[member="Mara"] D'Lessio Merril

The Ryuk was a ship that could not be found through mere scans of other ships, no it had to be visually found. This, however, did not stop it from scanning other ships, so when it found two unauthorized ships in the system, it stayed behind the planet to hide visually.

'Unauthorized ships, you have one minute to power down, or you will be shot down.' The Ryuk would broadcast.

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Romeo Sin"] [member="Darth Ayra"]

Active scanning always, always compromised the stealth of the ship doing it, if the targeted ship had a captain who knew what she was doing. In fairly short order, Mara had a decent idea of the transmitting ship's location, clear on the other side of the planet where passive sensors wouldn't have done him a bit of good. Not remotely close enough to shoot them down, and her gut didn't suggest immediate danger, at least not within the next seconds. So she eased power to the engines and turned her low orbit into a higher one with a Hohmann transfer course, arcing around the planet toward the source of the scan. Maybe Ayra would cloak; that was her business. For Mara's part, the Bullet Time had no stealth apparatus whatsoever. What it did have was a particular set of skills.

"Unknown ship, we're looking for Romeo Sin. Give us his location and I'll forget you just threatened to fire on me." Her Warden hackles were up. Wardens weren't big on armed and arbitrary control of space travel; that was sort of the point of Wardens.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] | [member="Romeo Sin"] |

Darth Ayra reclined in her seat, as the Ryuk joined in on the hailing frequency between the Initium and Bullet Time. She watched on the dashboard, following the progress of Mara's ship as it begun heading towards the source of the transmission. Consulting the Force, Darth Ayra would stay true to the nature of the dark side. She would be subtle in her efforts, unlike the brash and brutish thug that she had been as Pandeima's Apprentice, which had led her to this moment and the rope that Mara effectively had to hang her.

Rising from her seat, an idea came to mind. The custom made PDF device that she invented and installed on board the Initium was initially made to make the ship neigh undetectable, when it was activated alongside it's cloak. But she had never been in this particular scenario, where she had the choice of what to do next, and from that came her idea.

After activating the PDF, a dampening field was erected around the Initium, making it impossible to be scanned. Effectively, on the sensors of the Bullet Time and Ryuk, it appeared that Ayra's ship had powered down as she had been commanded to do. Seemingly complying with the Ryuk's demands, the Sith Lord lowered herself back into her seat and spoke into the intercom: "I have powered down, as instructed. Awaiting further instructions."

 

[The Red of Sinner]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

(My apologizes has I have been on my phone at work)

The Ryuk would slowly pull around the planet, all weapons ready to fire when necessary, Romeo himself sat at the bridge, watching as two ships came into view, two very small ships compared to the Ryuk. The Dark Jedi Master smiled to himself. Jenan, his first mate, piped in. "Sir, we have received a confirmation that one of the ships has listened to the orders while the other believes it can...shoot us down." Romeo busted into laughter as the star destroyer was now fully in view to both ships of unknown origins. Romeo had the upper hand here, what bridge was he at? Superior power, and numbers at the as the Ryuk held many starfighters waiting to be launched for battle. The planet was told to be quiet, to keep to itself, least unwanted attention be gained, but here it was anyways. Nothing to big for Romeo to deal with, but [member="Darth Raijin"] probably wanted to know why two ships were here, and soon the Vahla would hear a message from the Shard. Oh how fun that would be.

What the man did not know, these people just wanted to talk to him, or something along that manner, for reasons unknown. Depending on this outcome, he may never know. The Dark Jedi stood up in his white phrik weave robes, his mask dangled from a clip while both sabers sat on his hips waiting to come to life.

"Well...let's say I know where Master Sin was, what would you do with him?" He would answer back to the threat. "Unknown ship that has listened to the orders given, you may turn on your engines, and drift towards the Ryuk for docking. You will be heavily escorted to the bridge. Ship who has not turned off your engines, you now have ten seconds to power."

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Romeo Sin"] [member="Darth Ayra"]

The scanning vessel's particulars, extrapolated from visual-spectrum sensors by Mara's crew, rolled across one of her screens. Star Destroyer, unknown make and model, bristling with every defense emplacement but the kitchen sink.

Well, that was a horse of a different colour.

Mara's chances of taking that ship down solo were slim to none. As a man's laughter rolled through the comm, she yanked up on the stick and goosed the engines, turning a Hohmann transfer orbit into a course away from the planet and the Star Destroyer.

Out here on the raggedy edge, powered down meant dead if someone so much as looked at you wrong. Life was cheap in Wild Space. Ayra had chosen to power down, clearly enough, though Mara was sure the Sith Lord had any number of options up her sleeve. Mara, having made herself the aggressor, no longer had that option. The most probable future she could see, at least of those that involved Mara's continued survival, involved the Bullet Time leaving the scene and Ayra getting the information solo. Which introduced all manner of problems.

Tightbeam comm was Mara's first thought, but Ayra had powered down. With a grimace, she reached out gingerly and touched the Sith Lord's mind as the destroyer's captain ranted. I got us here. Your turn. I'll be watching. Telepathy was an art, and though Mara was very good at empathic techniques, actual words were something else.

The Bullet Time flickered away in a microjump, reverting about forty AU from the planet, way too far for sensors -- hers or theirs.

 

[Raijin Arashi]

Raijin had the Ryuk's comms tapped. Why would he not? The feed into his droid brain had woken him up from one of his so-called naps, but he wasn't overly annoyed. More interested in why there were a couple of random ships hovering over Eclipstica. He hadn't exactly been quiet about recruitment lately, but he supposed the area itself looked like enough of a dead zone to rest in. Letting out a metallic yawn, he got up and walked to the throne, where he keyed the comm array online.

"You said you wouldn't scare my students off... Mister."

However awkward it sounded, the sentence was both a question directed at the identity of the ship, and a confirmation that he'd understood Romeo's wish not to be immediately identified. He could understand that, especially since it seemed like the two ships hadn’t planned on landing, which meant they probably weren't students. It was up to Romeo to figure out who in his long list of acquaintances was on those ships... Oh, there went one of them... He sighed and muted the comm so he could talk to Firecracker, who was giving him a questionong look.

"Don't worry about it. Romeo and I are just playing around. Get everyone awake and about, would you?"

She nodded, rolling her eyes. The Masters really were stupid, sometimes, messing around so early in the morning.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] [member="Romeo Sin"] [member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Darth Raijin"] | [member="Romeo Sin"] | [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] |

Darth Ayra nodded, although Mara would never have seen it, given their respective locations. She also remained silent, both in the Force and along the comms. She liked the fact that Mara was on edge now. It was a brief, momentary bout of satisfaction crippled by the realization and reminder that, whatever happened next, Mara still had the rope tied around Ayra's neck, and at any given moment, she could hang her out to dry. I have no choice but to continue this... Alliance, she thought as she maneuvered the Initium towards the Ryuk.

As the Bullet Time got away, the Sith Lord entered a course that would take her to Romeo Sin and his Star Destroyer. As the ship flew forward, she deactivated the PDF and the dampening field around the ship dissipated, allowing the Ryuk to get a lock. Guided into the the Star Destroyers hangar bay, Darth Ayra lowered the landing gears before touching down, deactivating the ships engines and powering down the Initium, for real this time.

Her robes, providing a sense of power, hung from the Sith Lord as she appeared on the threshold of the entrance and exit to her ship. Hooded, Darth Ayra lowered her gaze to the amassed guards that had been prepared for her arrival. Climbing off the Initium, the landing ramp behind her close and the ship sealed itself with the security protocols the Sith Lord had activated prior to her exit. Should Romeo and his Dark Jedi get brave, the self destruct mechanism on board would be activated, for a counter of five minutes and the only person in the Galaxy capable of deactivating it in time was walking to meet him, heavily escorted as promise.

Brought to the Ryuk's bridge, Darth Ayra lifted her gaze to Romeo. Hands clasped in either sleeve, she said: "Romeo Sin. It has been a long time. Do you remember who I am?"

 

[The Red of Sinner]

As the powered down ship complied, the other ran. Coward, Romeo thought to himself. Essentially, he had no plans to harm anyone here, why would he? The man was far from being a cruel being, and was not the same as he was then. When the ship finally docked with the Ryuk, view screens switched to the hangar it found itself in. It took everything Romeo had not to groan out loud.

"Oh, Drey. It has been sometime has it not?" Romeo said as he watched her being escorted. Memories of a ship of beskar, and a insane A.I. flashed in Romeo's eyes. Alicia has used Romeo then, just like she was probably preparing to do now.

When she was finally escorted to the bridge, the chair he sat in turned to face his guest for the time being. Her words, and face, were still as pleasant as ever, making Romeo sigh playfully. "Alicia, Alicia, Alicia." He clasped his hands together, his senses screamed to run as she walked in, but he removed the notion from his head. It was a Sith trick. Nothing more.

"It's been too long beautiful." Romeo waved a hand, signalling the guards to leave them be. "She is a honored guest of the crown." At one point Romeo wished death upon this person. Now, he didn't care. "Well...you found me!" Romeo opened his arms wide. He removed himself from the chair to walk towards the woman, the tension of evil spewing from her being.

"Now that you have me, what will you do with me? Hopefully something...even I....can enjoy?" His voice seemed to cut off as he walked around her in a circle, inspecting her. Indeed, she was still just as desirable as before. "You're...partner as left you to my devices, but I promise you, no harm will come to you so long as your feet are on this ship. The coward...on the other hand...I can't promise their safety."

[member="Darth Ayra"]
[member="Darth Raijin"]
[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Romeo Sin"] | [member="Darth Raijin"] | [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] |

Darth Ayra watched the guards as they left with her eyes, but her thoughts were on the name. She had forgotten that the man that sat and cooed before her knew her identity also. The list is growing bigger, she thought quietly. Another person to deal with. Thoughts well guarded, the Sith Lord finally settled her gaze back on Romeo. Lowering the cowl of her robe, she allowed herself to be revealed. There was no point hiding anymore.

"I am here for the Bogan's Beauty. The ship that you salvaged and where we first met. I saved your life that day and you saved mine, but there are forces larger than you that are at work. Powerful people are catching up to you, Romeo."

Ascending the steps, Ayra walked to the side of Romeo's chair. Settling her eyes upon Eclipstica, she ignored Romeo as he begun to encircle her, choosing to take the higher ground, both figuratively and metaphorically. She watched the world spin in the horizon, memorized by it's pull. She spoke whilst following it's progress. "The other ship you detected is piloted by Mara D'Lessio Merrill. She's a relative of the original owner of the Bogan's Beauty. Rave Merrill left behind a will- or some kind of record- that is now being used to retrieve the property that she lost. The Bogan's Beauty was a vault ship, containing several rare pieces that are now being hunted for."

"When I helped you salvage the Bogan's Beauty, we tried to access the AI, but it denied us. It was because we didn't have the key. Mara is the key to unlocking the secrets of the Bogan's Beauty and the records that it held. We will know who boarded the ship that day and what the Bogan's Beauty was guarding. That is why I am here. You are going to let me and Mara board the Bogan's Beauty and speak with the artificial intelligence, alone and without interruption from you and your cronies."

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Darth Raijin"] [member="Darth Ayra"] [member="Romeo Sin"]

From forty AU away, in the outer system, Mara pondered the Force and pondered what Ayra could be saying to the Star Destroyer's commander. The powerdown suggested she'd had greater confidence in the situation than Mara did. Perhaps she even knew the ship by sight, or its commander.

Despite Mara's final words to Ayra, she didn't have the skills necessary to keep an eye on the situation from this far away. Farsight, visions, flow-walking -- not her department. At best, she had to rely on secondary indicators, primarily her unique instinctive astrogation. If she started to feel like the best course was as far away from here as possible, she'd get out of Dodge. Otherwise, all she could do was wait for Ayra to finish talking.

[member="Romeo Sin"], [member="Darth Ayra"] - Go ahead and have your conversation; don't wait for me to post.

 

[The Red of Sinner]

Yes, that was right, of course she was here for something long lost to him, something, he was certain, no one would understand was no longer in his possession. But, they didn't know that. Who ever this Mara was, or the Merrils in general, Romeo didn't really care. Threats of powerful beings, and wills did little to ensure such cooperation from his part was set and stone. Romeo could care less about Alicia, less about Mara, and even less about things being at work. He stopped his course to being back in front of her, his violent eyes looking into hers.

"Pray, tell me," He turned his back towards her as he moved to the windows, by now, Romeo was drawing in on the darkside, culling it for it's power. He indeed was a very different being then Alicia had lost saw him. "Why would I give up such a prize? What threatens my welling being so that I would willing give it up without any fuss? You know me, details, details." He placed a hand on the window. The star looked brighter than normal this time around in the Shadow Realm, a sign perhaps?

He turned now to lean against the window, his eyes, again, meeting hers. "What's in this for me, Sith?"

[member="Darth Ayra"]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

[member="Darth Raijin"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] | [member="Romeo Sin"] | [member="Darth Raijin"] |

"Your life," said Darth Ayra coldly.

 

[Aedan Miles]

Aedan Miles lounged in the command throne of the Krayt-class Light Cruiser that he had bought absently drumming his fingers on the arm of it. He looked up and finally stood as they came out of hyperspace near Eclipstica and made a swift gesture he and his crew were here to do some absent pirating. At his gesture two Dire-class patrol ships dropped from their docking places on the ship shaking his head Aedan sighed. It had taken scrapping the places for the light freighters and a few of the drop ships to get those there. As well as those a pair of Devastator-class heavy fighter squadrons dropped as well moving into formation as a broadcast went out on all channels. "To those of you who don't know me let me say this. Power down and stay where you are now or else you will be fired upon and you WILL have a few hull breaches opened on your ships. This is not a threat but a promise. Do not think you can escape as I speak gravity well generators are going up on this ship. I repeat power down and don't try to run." With another gesture a channel was opened that was set up to give Aedan a link to the Ryuk if it were in system. "Sin this is Miles if you are in system send me a burst on my com link with your location." Aedan moved the two dire-class deeper into the system while keeping the Kryat-class on the outskirts waiting to see if anyone would try to run.

[member="Darth Ayra"] [member="Romeo Sin"] [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] [member="Darth Raijin"]

 

[The Red of Sinner]

Romeo's finger tapped against the window with a large smirk on his face while the woman spoke one sentence. It was short lived, this threat, as Aedan's voice boomed over the intercoms. A nod let Jenan know to send the Ryuk's position to the Mando.

"I'll say this once, Alicia, just once. Drop your weapons."

Another nod and tractor beams would activate, removing the ship the Sith had came in.

"There is no escape for you, and there's only one way you leave with YOUR life. My way. Aedan, I believe there's one more out there...a Mara Merril."

The tapping on the window never stopped.

[member="Aedan Miles"]
[member="Darth Raijin"]
[member="Darth Ayra"]
[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aedan Miles"] [member="Darth Ayra"] [member="Romeo Sin"]

Hyperspace reversion alarms twittered repeatedly -- a whole flotilla was dropping out of hyperspace, very very far away from where Mara's microjump had taken her. But very close to where Ayra's small ship had gone aboard the unknown Star Destroyer. Mara sat upright. These were distances that would take ships weeks at sublight, even relatively fast ships like the Bullet Time​. From here, her normal sensors couldn't see the new arrivals in any serious way, nor could they see her tiny ship from forty AU insystem. Probably.

Her comm fuzzed, picking up an incredibly distant broadcast. "...know me...pssss...down and ssssss....and you WILL...breachessssss...ity well generatsssss...."

Gravity wells, really good big ones, could blanket an area with a radius a dozen times larger than a planet. That was still several orders of magnitude smaller than the distance that Mara's microjump had covered. No, he probably wasn't talking to her. Which meant he was likely talking to the unknown Star Destroyer. Mara frowned in thought. Much as Ayra flat-out terrified her, letting her temporary partner die wasn't ideal on a human level. Nor would it help recover her aunt's ship. Mara began considering her options.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] | [member="Romeo Sin"] | [member="Aedan Miles"] | [member="Darth Raijin"] |

The Initium was an incredibly smart and sophisticated ship. It's security protocols covered a lot. If Romeo and his men tried to board the ship, then the self destruct mechanism would activate and the timer would begin to count down. But Romeo hadn't tried to board the ship. Detecting that it was being thrown out into space, it engaged it's defensive protocols. Lunged into the void of space, the ship activated it's cloak and PDF systems, becoming undetectable to the naked eye. Attempts to the scan the ship would be unable to get past the dampening field either. Only the crystal grav trap was able to find the Initium and that technology was extremely rare. It would remain in that state, drifting in space, until it's Master return to retrieve it.

Darth Ayra remained as silent as she was stoic. Her eyes were looking at Romeo, but they were seeing beyond him. Considering greater, larger things than the pretender that stood before her. Her purpose was greater than his. The dark side was with her. Fixating her eyes on Romeo, the Dark Lord of the Sith delivered her ultimatum.

"I didn't come here to escape nor do you have the means to end my life. You will tell me where the Bogan's Beauty is or I will kill you." Lightsaber dropping into the Darth Ayra's left hand, her thumb hovered the ignition button.