Family

[Darth Prazutis]

​Onyx Citadel, Panatha

​It was rare that he got the chance to visit home.

Since House Zambrano officially relocated to Bastion assuming their mantle as leaders of the Sith Empire. But even in their absence panatha wasn't left without their family's blood to lead them. [member="Ara Zambrano"] was the daughter of one of Kaine's sons, a Master of Ren and distinguished fighter in the dark side. Although her allegiance to the Ren and their twisted following as slave soldiers to Sieger Ren was a concern Ara seemed independent, different from the rest.

There was some hope.

So she was chosen by the two monarchs to be the new more public face to the galaxy at large to take over after the family left, in the complex plot woven through it all. Even while performing his duties as Shadow Hand among them his direct control of the military as Supreme Commander he still constantly kept up on his great niece's reign and her achievements. She managed to build a new stronghold for herself choosing to relocate the family seat from the infamous Blacktalon Peak to one lower in the flatlands.

​Nothing was more defensible than Blacktalon due to its location and the only nonhazardous pass to get an army in and out being blocked behind the massive stronghold that was Fort Zambrano, but to each their own. A different queen and a different face for the galaxy at large to look upon when they saw the homeworld of the most powerful Sith family the galaxy had ever seen.

A lone heavily modified, black Omnicron-Class Command Shuttle dropped out of hyperspace in orbit greeting with security already. It dropped down low into the planets atmosphere escorted through traffic by fighters from the first order navy before it came down onto a landing pad. Once there the Shadow Hand emerged with a full entourage of officials complete with an escort of Crownguard. The great cabinet of officials was necessary especially on extended journeys he needed to remain plugged in to his empire at all times day and night, attendants brought with them everything necessary to carry out their duties including state of the art anti surveillance devices ensuring nothing in the arsenal of the First Order could eavesdrop on classified Sith affairs.

Not that he didn't trust Ara but then again he trusted no one, except maybe one or two individuals in the galaxy.

 

[Ara Zambrano]

The request had arrived and been accepted with a small sliver of surprise on the part of the new monarch of Pantha, an unexpected visit by a member of her extended family, [member="Darth Prazutis"] , Arch-Prince himself. And so she stood on the outskirts of the landing pad watching the approaching vessels descend, Prazutis’ personal shuttle accompanied by a small contingent of First Order ships, an honor guard for their honored guest. The wind of their descent whipped at the hem of her rather simple gown and the long curls that lay unbound across her back, a small gold circlet keeping the wisps away from her face.

Her own Queensguard spread out around the landing pad, two at her back. Mixed among them was the gleaming ivory and onyx duraplast armour of the First Order’s Stormtrooper Corps, blasters ready and voices crackling with the harsh mechanical tones of the imbedded vocalizers nestled in the smooth domes of their helmets. In the shadowy darkness of the Panathan evening, the shadowy figures of a pair of Death Troopers could barely be spotted in the gleam of the bright landing lights of the rapidly approaching shuttles.

A carefully neutral expression settled onto her features as she watched the proceedings, her hands lightly clasped in front of her, a soft smile curling the corners of her mouth up as his retinue began disembarking. Eyebrows rose in surprise, a rueful smile replacing the easy greeting as she noted exactly how many of his cabinet and guard he had chosen to accompany him. As the cloaked and armoured figure of her great-uncle emerged from the depths of the craft itself, the Arch-Queen finally broke her stoic positioning, stepping forward to greet him personally with a small bow of respect and gracious welcome.

”Welcome home, my Lord. It has been far too long, Uncle.”

Letting the Sith Lord fall into step beside her, she led the rather large processional up the path to the towering structure known as the Arch-Queen’s Spire, her guards falling into easy formation around the group.

”You surround yourself with quite an entourage, I must say. One might suspect you do not trust your own kin.”

Accompanied with a softly teasing laugh, Ara cast a glance at the looming figure of Prazutis, her expression open and devoid of any true insult or concern. The easy wave of a hand belied any rebuttal he might offer, the small crinkling of laughter evident around her eyes.

”They are welcome to use the Guest Quarters in the Citadel itself,” A sharp nod of the head indicated the small stone mansion erected at the base of the Spire itself, the building serving as home to the Ren and her personal guests. ”Or, if they prefer, they may have the run of the guest suites on the second and third level of the Spire. Whichever you find to your liking, it is yours to use for the duration of your stay.”

A pause as the path forked, one direction leading into the heart of her court, the other winding away towards her home, allowing the Epicanthix to choose a path as he wished.