Wearing:
Dark Gladiator Armor
Armed With:
Burning Hatred
Earlier...Oyokal.
The rampage through the Vong Prison had not been satisfying.
She sat upon a pile of sliced up Maw corpses, picking her teeth, covered in blood. Every GA avoided the creature that had become known as the Demon of Jedha. A monster that hunted all worshippers of the three Avatars with a zeal that was nearly unmatched. Her massacre of the Mawites at Jedha, Epoch, and Metallos had cemented her as a severe threat to the Brotherhood on a ground combat basis...and had given her a decidedly mixed reputation with her GA "Allies", whom she rarely interacted with anymore. On the one hand,
feth the Maw. Anything that could be used to kill them was an asset.
On the other hand, she was so horrifyingly cruel and brutal towards them that she threatened to become a constant PR Nightmare. More than one Jedi had called for her detainment, expulsion, or both. The GADF still kept hiring her, and the fact she was only charging them seven credits for Anti-Maw operations meant whatever threat she might possibly pose when there were no more Mawites would have to wait until
after there were no more Mawites.
She had lazily drifted through the aftermath of that great battle in the Vong Prison Camp, having finally bored of her surroundings and deciding to wait until the
real operation...the journey to Exegol... began.
She felt it in her Organic databases, past a long lingering Droid Madness brought about by trauma she suffered when the Maw invaded Coruscant...that what was coming next was the
end. Of herself, the Maw, or
both, she couldn't tell. To be honest, she didn't care. Because it would be
over.
Lynda was finally approaching a sheer burning out in her madness. If she survived this battle, the only thing left to do was hunt Laertia Io down, drag her ruined body before the GA, and find
some way of saving House Io's Droid Population from itself.
She wandered away from lingering GA operations near the prison, wandered the planet itself, and what a mess the Maw had made of it. Mass Graves, Minor Factories, Torture Facilities...typical for them.
SISTER
Lynda stopped, flinched, bloodshot eyes darting around as
Laertia Io
called out to her via technopathy.
Where are you? Lynda called back, drawing her sword.
Close. Too close for their
comfort.
Find me.
Lynda journeyed far from GA operations, simply walking deeper into the planet's land mass, now very far away. She spotted a cave mouth guarded by purple fire and went into it.
She found an immaculate looking Laertia Io in a flesh colored Catsuit with white boots and gloves. Her face was free of scars. She rested on a throne of stone in a lake of purple flames. Lynda crossed the lake easily.
"You
dare show yourself here?! You're even crazier than
I am." Lynda snarled.
Laertia shrugged. "It's good to see you Lynda. I am
reborn. I am now known as The Parliament."
Lynda, in spite of her blood madness, felt a twinge of pity and sympathy for her one-time sister. The last shreds of her sanity had given out.
"I am sorry to hear that. I had hoped to speak to you one final time by yourself. Before your
skull became occupied. Tell me...is The Amalgam in there, with you?"
The Parliament shook her head. "Dead as a doornail. Deader than dead."
"It is a pity you didn't kill her when I first suggested it. Begged it, really. But I'm glad you finally overcame your attachment to her."
"Sister--" the Parliament began...
Lynda took a step back.
"We haven't been sisters since you betrayed House Li-Ves. You've even forced my mother into hiding."
"Your
mother tried to sell me out on a
jungle moon!" The Parliament snarled back. "Gave away my position to an SJO task force. A
vampire, who thinks to lecture
me about what's moral and what isn't. The Jedi would destroy you both if they knew what you were. The GA would
dissect your sorry ass, and
you know it!"
Lynda said nothing, only glaring at her with a blood gaze.
"What's in store for you? In this coming attack on Exegol? Say you survive? Now what? Not gonna be much but a few scant Mawites left. And when those are gone? GA is gonna be looking to trim the fat, if you catch my meaning. They may need you now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out. Like a leper. (Ahead of the curve: 700 XP)."
"I'll deal with the consequences. I ain't got much of a life these days anyhow. Part of me suspects I won't mind dying if it comes to it. At least the images in my head will stop." Lynda replied, wincing as her murdered pets played out in her mind.
"Well, as it stands, I personally, happen to be a huge fan of your work." The Parliament said. "And I want to make you an offer. Join with House Io."
Lynda laughed. "You're serious? After all the
chit you have pulled?"
"Why not?"
"You're a
terrorist!"
"A description that could easily be applied to you. You've just been showing more discretion in your choice of victim. But your violent delights will soon be over with the Maw..."
"There's always the Sith Empire."
"The one that I told them they would never get rid of. And just like I predicted, they were back in half a decade. A new monster to feel heroic while defeating. Or an old one. We're practically their
job security at this point, it's so pathetic..." The Parliament snorted.
"Why the hell would I wanna join
you? You betrayed my trust! You used my mother's knowledge,
the very programming and technology that created me to make your wretched army!"
"
Don't call your own nieces and nephews,
my children,
wretched..." The Parliament replied in a low key, dangerous tone. "They helped prevent the destruction of Sev Tok, Korriban
and Tython alike. They assisted in the Destruction of two different superweapons. It was
us that smuggled a Nuke into The Avatar of war, and one of ours who detonated it.
Us. No one else. Even the Mandalorians didn't get as far as we did." The Parliament snapped. "If you only
knew what it ended up costing me, personally..."
"You've spent the last
decade murdering innocent people
daily. I'm not like you. The lives I have taken? I
try to remember who the real enemy is..." Lynda spat, hand gripping her sword tighter. "Any collateral kills was due to being too close to the enemy, or not being able to be certain who
was an enemy and who
wasn't. Fog of war chit..."
"They won't care about such nuance. They're puritans.
Everybody's gotta be squeaky clean, or victory means
nothing to them." The Parliament countered. "You have no future amongst them. They
let you get away with butchering Mawites, but it will be different with a Sith Empire. They
have to look good in comparison to a Sith Empire, or the stupid-ass public that has the memory of a fethin'
Tach Monkey starts that annoying whine about
what-makes-you-any-different? Watch. It'll be like
clockwork."
"It does beg the question though. What
does make you any different?" Lynda asked, scowling.
"I have created a society that can tell these bastards
no. What use would a Jedi be in House Io? We right our own wrongs. We do as we please. Even the lowliest citizen can tell me to
to my face to go to hell and not be punished for it. Even the Janitors can murder a Soldier easily. All it takes is a little sacrifice, a little
wrath..." The Parliament replied with a casual shrug, the light of the Unholy purple flame dancing on the surface of rotting sulphur orbs for eyes that had no pupils.
"You would be happy amongst us. We could be a family again."
Lynda blinked back bloody tears of anguish and heartbreak. At that moment, she hated The Cult of The Brain Demon more than she hated the Maw.
"And what of my Mother?"
The Parliament sighed.
"If you could persuade her never to betray me again, I would overlook her treachery this one time. But House Li-Ves must
never battle House Io again."
Lynda frowned.
"Even in my madness, I will not make my family subservient to yours."
"Who said anything of subservience? I want you as partners. Openly. You're a House full of monsters like we are. Why not own up to it, at long last. You know you will be driven out of their corner the moment they figure out you're a vampire, that your whole house is filled with vampires. They'll never separate you from your food source. They cannot or will not compartmentalize as we do."
The Parliament rose from her stone throne, immaculate and pale.
"Your skills as a killer would be celebrated. And I have missed you so..." The Parliament trailed. "We were inseparable once. We created a
race, you, Vera, and I. A
race that
revels in war as you do. Stop fighting it. Choose to be
happy..."
Lynda gave no response, lip trembling. The Parliament had touched on every last doubt she had been having the past few months. She was still suspicious that the GA had bombed her along with The Maw warlord she had been fighting.
"And if I say no?"
"Then you and the rest of House Li-Ves are free to stay out of our way. I don't need to be distracted by your efforts to
atone." The Parliament replied.
She sighed. "Tell you what. Sleep on it. As a token of my good will I present to you a gift. For your coming battle. There will be many Sith on Exegol. The Dark Side shall be strong there."
A boiling black portal opened to her left and a group of witches in white catsuits marched out, carrying a set of dark vambraces and a Katana.
"Something from our private treasures, and something stolen from Jedha...
The Burning Hatred." The Parliament explained. "I assume you can supply the armor..."
"Why should I accept this?" Lynda asked. "For all I know, you might have cursed these things."
"I despise such methods. I prefer someone choose to fight beside me willingly. Besides, if we must fight, I must know once and for all who is the greater swordfighter. I cannot do that by cheating."
The witches retreated back to the portal.
"You know...you inspired me." The Parliament confessed. "You were a monster that was at peace with it, whether you knew it or not, when I met you. When we butchered the Sith Mythos brought to Atrisia. We were both
weapons...such grace, such conviction. It's become a living
hell, hasn't it?" The Parliament asked, approaching through purple flames. Lynda went on guard.
"Are we truly so different? We are both products of egomaniacs playing God..." The Parliament observed, a disturbing expression that resembled almost pleading.
"You're one of a kind. More advanced than even Vera herself possibly. So was I. I have grown beyond my limits. You could too."
The image of The Parliament, her throne, and the lake of purple flames vanished, leaving Lynda alone in the dark cave...
Present...
Forbidden District...
A falling Maw ship was always a sign of her arrival. No one ever figured out how she kept boarding Maw Vessels.
Only that a small ship, usually a gunship, would suddenly tumble out of the sky and violently crash into the most concentrated groups of Maw, already causing a violent mess.
A terrible blade of burning oranges ripped open the Hull, and the Demon of Jedha's blood curdling roar made curious Mawites just instantly start shooting as Lynda burst out of the ship, flying in a dark, hoplite armor, a side effect of using these Alchemized vambraces rendering her skin corpse pale and her eyes two orbs of pale white, like golf balls.
She dived for them, the Katana known as Burning Hatred contemptuously tearing through Mawite scum's armor.
KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL--
Her malfunctioning database ran this singular command in her head over and over as she started to butcher her way to the shipyards...