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[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

The two Massasi moved forward in unison.

They were a pair used to fighting beside one another apparently, their strikes coming almost simultaneously. Vrak did his best to avoid their blades, dashing to the side as one sliced towards his neck and the other towards his feet. He moved to the left, his lightsaber briefly flicking up to deflect the momentum of one of the vibro-swords. The blades clashed together for just a second, sparks erupting for a heartbeat before he quickly moved away from the two hulking creatures.

The Pureblood was given no rest however as the Massassi moved forward once more.

They swiped for him with claw and blade, slashing out and trying in desperation to catch him. Vrak's blade flicked up, slicing through the air and catching one of the Massassi's vibro-swords before turning up and slicing through the creatures hand. It let out a loud roar that seemed to echo in the canyon, though it's companion responded to Vrak in kind.

A hand shot forward unexpectedly, three claws swiping forward and catching Vrak across the ribs.

Blood, cloth, and shredded skin spewed onto the ground as Vrak let out a hiss of pain.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Sera watched as Vrak was nearly gutted by the Massassi, its' claw dragging against red flesh with a violent roar. The Twi'lek snarled at his incompetence, her hand thrusting forward as the violet blade was released, spinning wildly until the plasma beam impaled the beast through its back, toppling it over in an instant. Vrak would have to deal with the other himself however, as the masked man with his Force Pike began a relentless assault of thrusts and slashes towards her chest and legs, forcing her to shift and dodge to avoid Athiss being her death.

Schutta!

It was difficult getting an opening given the reach the Pike had over her own weapons, meaning she would have to find a way to either knock the weapon away and out of his hands, or kill him from a distance.

Distance was preferable.

The pink woman leaped back, a flash and crackle of purple dancing between her fingers before a terrible storm of lightning cast forward, threatening to cook the man alive beneath his robes.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

The Massassi roared at the death of it's kin, it's great maw opening as it screeched at Vrak.

It was a foolish move.

As the creature's teeth snarled and it's spittle flew towards the Pureblood Vrak took the opportunity to strike. The attack was not a subtle one, nor was it particularly graceful, but the wound in his side had made him more than a little ornery. The saber-staff flicked toward, then quickly to the side. One end extinguished, batting away the Massassi's blade from in front of it and redirecting it to the side before it too ceased. The creature's other arm swept up and forward towards the Sith, though Vrak ducked beneath it.

In one quick fluid motion he jammed the hilt of his lightsaber into the Massassi's mouth. The creature let out a confused whimper, and then a loud snap-hiss rang out within the air. The bright crimson beam broke through The monsters skull in an instant, drawing back as Vrak tore free of it.

Blood dripped from his side, his eye drawn to the crackle of lightning erupting from Sera's palm.

He saw the Masked Sith raise his force-pike, the odd weapon breaking to he left and catching the stream of lightning, half of it crackling down the light-pikes hilt. Vrak let out a hiss, saber-staff hooked onto his belt, one hand on his wound while his other extended it's fingers. Another bright crackle of lightning sparked to life, this one hitting the masked Sith directly in the back. Enough strength to knock him out, but not to kill.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

The woman looked over to Vrak, half disappointed that she wouldn't be able to simply kill him, while half glad that they could now be on their way before anyone else decided to show up to this party.

"Call your servants." She barked, her left hand drawing the hilt of her still crackling lightsaber back to her and silencing the twin pair back to their holsters on her hips. "We need to leave."

Kneeling down in front of the masked man the Twi'lek grabbed hold of his weapon, before her hand slipped over the mask, feeling for the latches or straps to release it. It would be a minute or so before the ship arrived to pick them up, and in that brief window of time she preferred to see what it was they were dealing with. Perhaps Vrak would recognize the person, but perhaps not. It could have been just as likely a hired hand that was sent to kill or capture the Sith, or a rival he recognized.

Regardless, she found the latches, two on either side of the back of his head and released them.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

With a labored breath Vrak did as Sera asked, punching in a few keys on his communicator. Back at the Estate his ship would be taking off from the floor of it's hangar bay, reaching them in just a minute or two.

While they waited however Vrak wandered over towards Sera, his eyes set upon the masked man as the Twi'lek began to pull off the helmet. He frowned slightly for a second, peering past Sera and towards the figure laying on the ground. When he reached them a grimace slid onto his face. "Gerith."

Vrak held disappointment in his voice.

"He serves one of the Councilors." So it hadn't been Siedra.

That didn't come as too much of a surprise, he'd thought Siedra would have been more subtle than sending a small army to attack him. Likely a few of the assassin that Sera had killed belonged to his rival, but this man? He was just a pawn for one of the leaders of Athiss. Likely the Councilor, a man by the name of Cirin had eyes on Vrak's estate, mostly for it's location. The Sith Pureblood shook his head as engines began to roar above their heads, The Hississ Class quickly touching down just a few feet behind them.

"Get him onto the ship." He told the servants that wandered down the ramp. "Make sure he is secured."

There was still much he could tell them.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"Sith politics. Senseless."

Sera shook her head. All politics were beyond her comprehension, but Sith politics made no sense to her. Everything was a visage, everyone wanted everyone else dead. Those were the only two never changing aspects of their world. Leaving this planet would not be heartbreaking for her. The servants from the ship quickly loaded the man named Gerith aboard, searching his person for any hidden traps or gadgets before restraining him with a pair of lovely Force restraints.

"I don't think you've made enough enemies."

She paid no mind to his wound. It would either heal or he would die. It was that simple. Turning, the woman strode aboard Vrak's ship, sitting herself down. The veil obscuring her face would remain, whoever this other Sith was did not need to know any more about her than what he had seen on the surface of the planet. Her anonymity was important, after all.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

"Oh I'm sure I'll make plenty more by the end." Vrak assured her as they wandered aboard the ship, ramp closing behind them just as the now maskless Sith was dragged aboard by his servants. The engines rumbled loudly for a moment as they were pushed from the surface, the ship dashing towards the atmosphere in a matter of moments.

The Pureblood doubted that Gerith would voluntarily give him any information. The man was well trained and well conditioned. Most of the Dark Council's servants were either completely brainwashed or so loyal that trying to interrogate them was like trying to bend a durasteel beam with a foam bat, it simply wasn't going to happen. Luckily Vrak didn't need to interrogate anyone. The knowledge that he wanted was easily accessible within the mans mind.

He would leave him a shattered husk, but that would hardly matter.

As the new prisoner was dragged away Vrak followed, Seraphina moving in front of him and eventually sitting herself down in the all too familiar interrogation chair. He smiled slightly, then glanced towards her for a few seconds. "There won't be any talking this time."

Vrak had been incapable of doing this with the Muun months ago, mostly because of the detail of the information that they had required. With this? All he sought was general knowledge of Athiss, he wanted none of the Council's secrets.

He knew enough of those.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"If that's your wish." She said simply, crossing her leg over the other to watch.

Seraphina was a master mentalist herself, having been trained by a Jedi Shadow by the name of Kian Karr many, many years ago, though the nature of that training had now been thoroughly washed away by the corruption in her mind. Still, the ability to do so was there, but if Vrak preferred to ravage the man himself, who was she to say otherwise? It wasn't as though she particularly cared about his well being or anything. It wasn't as though she was worried about preserving anything here.

She stretched out, legs and arms extending before settling again. "I'll watch."

It wasn't as though she had anywhere else to be, or pressing matters to tend to.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

Vrak paid her no mind.

To her, he was sure, his technique would look immensely sloppy, damaging, and outright wrong, but this was how his father had taught him. Knowledge had always been a sacred thing to the Nashar family. They were historians, holding no real power save for what they could gather from others. This ability, to take from others, had been one of the few things passed down through the ages. Vrak slowly wandered behind Gerith, pulling back the mans hood and placing a hand on his forehead.

His eyes closed.

The Darkside of the force surged through him in an instant, power streaming through his palm. It pierced and plunged into Gerith's mind, hooks digging into his thoughts. They seemed to settle into place, folding around him, and then Vrak simply ripped them free.

The unconscious man seemed to awaken as he did so, his eyes opening and his mouth letting out a half gasped scream as his mind was torn into pieces. Flashes of memories, thoughts, and even ideas streamed into Vrak, his own eyes closing as he struggled to reign in the man's consciousness. It continued on like this, a torrent of information that flooded into him until eventually...it stopped. Gerith slumped to the side, falling out of his chair with a loud thud.

Vrak frowned for a moment, then turned his gaze on Seraphina. "Things are worse than I had thought."

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

The woman watched while Vrak made a mess of the man's mind. She felt the energy surround him, dig into him, destroy him. She felt that same energy transfer, feed into Vrak, before the sudden rush of the Force ceased, punctuating the moment with the man's body falling limp onto the floor like a sack of rocks. Seraphina made no sound, spoke no words, didn't try to stop him or aide Vrak in any way to perform his task in any less of a barbaric manner. It wasn't her concern what he could or could not do with the Force. Even if she had, he likely wouldn't listen to her instruction regardless. Sith pride and all.

"And those things are?"

Things being worse than he thought was hard to grasp for her. He'd quite literally lost his home while he rotted away in a Naboo prison. How much worse could things be?

"Did that little girl from Naboo put another bounty out for you already?"

He might have real cause to worry at that point. He'd already made a fool of himself once, trusting some lowlife.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

Vrak offered her a disapproving stare. The little blonde schutta had not placed another bounty, nor would she have the opportunity to do so. She was one problem that he would have to deal with, something that he rather looked forward to.

Above all else Jamie Pyne had earned his ire, and she would pay for doing so.

”Siedra is using my disappearance to push back the reforms I put in place” Athiss had been isolationist for night on four thousand years. His people had hid themselves away and claimed xenophobia above all else. Vrak had tried to stop this, to ‘open’ his world to the galaxy. It had been a difficult fight but he'd slowly started to win as of late.

Now? Now his work was being undone.

”I will have to strike faster.” He mused for a moment. ”Perhaps keep Siedra occupied somehow.”

It was a thought.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"And your plan for that?" Sera was curious. This back and forth between him and his old mistress amused her, if nothing else because it was in part similar to this relationship between herself and Vrak now. Mutually accepting of one another, though wouldn't hesitate to see the other burn if it guaranteed them whatever it was they desperately wanted. For Vrak, he had faltered at some point, seizing a moment that was not optimal, and paying for that discretion by making a lifelong enemy, one that now sought to see the very essence of his life stamped out, and every avenue he walked stripped away.

It was quite amusing to her to see him writhe in his own hatred for both this girl from Naboo and Siedra.

"Collect an army of servants and wage war on your home? Find someway to blackmail every single person in power? Poison them all?"

The possibilities of his vengeance rattled off her tongue rather quickly.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

Vrak turned towards Sera. ”I cannot build an army, not in my current state.”

That was the issue.

”Poison would not be successful, at least not any grand scale.” Not with how the entire place was set up. He frowned for a moment and turned towards Sera, his eyes following her as she sat smugly within her chair across from him.

He slowly wandered towards her.

”I will have to create a war.” He told her as though it were simple. ”Spark a flame.”

It would weaken Athiss, but allow him enough time to seize what was his once more.

Difficult but not impossible.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"You?" She looked skeptical, her eyes raising to the crimson skinned man standing in front of her.

"How will you start a war, when we are aboard a ship, fleeing the very place you intend to take control of?"

Wars generally required several things to be in place. Conflict, credits, interests, and an army. Sera could only find Vrak in possession of one of those things, credits. And she was even more skeptical of him having enough credits to fund such a war. Though to be frank she hadn't the slightest clue what the population size of Athiss actually was to begin with. Were there only a few thousand of his people? A hundred thousand? More? The more there were the harder it would be to seize control or gather people to your cause.

"And if you succeed, who will rule Athiss? You alone? Surely you don't trust anyone else, but you can't rule single handed either."

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

”My people have been fighting with each other for as long as we’ve existed.” Sera was no stranger to the idea of Sith fighting, even the ones who weren't Pureblood did it almost all the time. That was their nature, simply how they had been taught since using the darkside of the force. ”Athiss is no different.”

His homeworld had only stayed in peace due to a small balance of power upon the Dark Council. Once that balance was knocked off course, starting a war would not be difficult. It would also give him the armies he needed to conquer his homeworld, at least once he had the virus.

There was no need to build an army when his enemies could do it for him.

”The Dark Council is controlled by five councilors. Three hate one another with a passion. The other two keep them in check. Together they have enough strength to stop the other three. One alone?” He didnt have to continue for Sera to understand.

”I still have allies.” He told her quietly. ”They will aid me when Athiss is mine.”

He turned smiling at her slightly and gently tracing the back of his fingers over her covered cheek. ”Or did you have designs upon the throne besides mine?”

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

The Twi'lek scoffed. "I have no desire to sit on an uncomfortable chair looking down at peasants that I could kill half paralyzed." Her nose twitched, almost nauseated by the idea of ruling something. "No. You can sit there, point to your miserable, insufferable people and tell them what's what. I will do what I do." Kill, and remain in the background. It was a simple life, one that afforded her a great many comforts. So long as nobody caught on to who she was, everything would remain just wonderful.

Her hand lifted and swatted Vrak's away, as if indignant that he would think to tantalize her with such an offer.

"This dark council sounds about as idiotic as the rest. A group of people plotting to kill one another while smiling in a circle towards one another. What makes you think this will not be the case when you rule? Or do you have some master plan that will ensure your survival from someone like you, plotting the very same thing?"

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

"Well I suppose you can always sit on my lap then." He told her as he slowly stood, offering her a smile before slowly turning away.

She had a point of course.

Sith Society was entirely about competition, about bringing down your betters and proving that they were inferior to you. That was the basis of who they were. On Athiss that had changed, it had become twisted and broken. More than half the Council stood in inherited spots, not because they deserved it, but because their fathers or mothers had given it to them. That was what bothered Vrak so much, that was why he'd brought all this up, why he would take his world.

"It will be the case when I rule." He told her as he wandered out the door, motioning for her to follow. "My people by nature are combative, scheming. We need competition. We need to fight and kill."

It was who they were. "Even when I got to conquer, even when my Empire takes system after system they'll try to kill me."

Hubris speaking once more.

"But I'm better than them." He turned as they reached the bedroom. "I'll be stronger than them, I'll have more resources."

He smiled and suddenly rounded on her, his hands pressing on her hips and shoving her up against the door. A new sort of vigor seemed to run through him a strength that he hadn't showed before. His muscles flexed as he half lifted her, a smile crawling over his lips. "I'll have you."

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

The pink woman snickered at the comment. "Most pay for my people to sit on their laps, you know. The ones that aren't slaves, that is." Even some that were tended to be paid for their work, though the credits found their way to the masters of course. But the point was still there. The implication. She stood as he willed, following the Sith out and listening to him talk and gloat and scheme about taking back Athiss from the ruling society, to returning his people to their barbaric roots.


It seemed rather pointless to her. But it wasn't her business, nor her desire, to care. If he wished to die with a knife in his back by his own kin, it was all the same to her.

Eventually one would inevitably succeed. Probability always came around sooner or later.

The Twi'lek could practically feel the ego in the air, taste the pride on his words, smell the arrogance.

A crash rang out as her feet were shuffled backwards, her back and head slamming against the cold durasteel door of the room. Her lekku curled around her shoulders. The woman hissed, baring her teeth as he lifted her from the ground. Her hands, fingers wrapped around his wrists as he held her against the surface, deep green eyes glaring down.

"You hope." She said with a snarl.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

"I Know." He corrected.

In the end she was probably right of course. He would die at the end of some knife, stabbed in the back or with his throat slit, but Vrak intended for that to happen decades from now. He would always have people after him, that was a matter of fact. Even if he left now, even if he stopped, there would still be people trying to kill him for the rest of his life. That was the way it was, that was the way it would always be. The Pureblood was destined for war and conflict.

Just as he liked it.

A small smile crept upon his face. His fingers pinned her in place even as she clawed at his wrists, his lips pressing against hers in a bruising kiss. "You won't let me die."

Vrak had no illusions about how Sera felt. He didn't think she loved him or held any great affection for him, but he knew that she wanted him alive. If that wasn't the case she would have killed him a long time ago, she would have let him die via that Massassi back on the planets surface. No. Whatever her reasons, she wanted him alive.

"And as long as you don't." He pressed his body against hers, holding her in place even as one hand slipped down her body. "I'll fulfill every wish you have."

His teeth bit into her lip, subduing any protest she might give.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Piercing green eyes remained open throughout his kiss, as if she partially expected him to try and rough her up in some way. "I won't?" Let him die was a subjective term. Let him die to save herself? Definitely. Let him die to some worthless creature for no reason and no benefit to herself? Not so much. What was the point in that? She would get no pleasure in someone else ending his life, and no benefit to it. So in that aspect she wouldn't let him die.

If his death benefited her more than his life though? Perhaps that would change things.

But for now, no, she wouldn't let him die.

The Twi'lek pulled back, tilting her head to pull her lip away from his teeth, thereby forcing him to draw blood as she tore away. Her tongue flicked over the small blotch of red, before dragging across her teeth.

"I have many wishes, you'll come to find."

[member="Vrak Nashar"]