I Are All We

[Jairus Starvald]

A M B R I A​

​

[member="Aver Brand"]​

​

There are mysteries between the stars you have no concept of, child, you conquer a sector and you think you have seen it all?

All I see... are children playing a game they have no concept of.

Kill me... yes, end me. I am nothing. You cannot stop the tide. They will return....... and you will all burn.


Never before had Carach been scared, worried or felt powerless, but that moment had been different. He had looked into the mind of the old man, drug addled, frothing at the mouth as his lungs were choked out by external forces for maximum efficiency of destruction, but there had been naught but conviction - which usually did not matter at all, if not for the other things he had seen in his head.

Power; hidden away in the deep pockets where light did not reach.
Enough to sweep the Galaxy away in raging terror or freezing apathy, but they did not do such a thing. Not because they couldn't... because they had been bored for generations and this game of theirs was too enjoyable to simply throw away for immediate results. No, they played their game, played it well and throughout it all they cared little for the results they received.

Any setback was joy as the damage they reaped nourished their apathy, bringing life back into cold, destitute limbs. Every victory bringing smiles of building blocks being pushed meticulously in the foundation they chose.

Xiangu had understood, intimately, immediately, and Reverance had touched his mind before recoiling himself.

Ygdris? Skeptical.

But trusting in something she couldn't see? Touch? experience? No, that had never been her. Even now (after exhausting years of anger on both of them) Carach had vengeance in his veins, flowing strong.

"We are almost there." The Sith Lord told her, just before they reversed from hyperspace. Like a bang the planet of Ambria loomed up into their viewport, too close for comfort, but there was no turning back now. She had to see this for herself. To understand just what there was lying in wait for them, hoping to feast on every last atomic bond in the Galaxy.

 

[Aver Brand]

No response.

Aver just got up, fixing the last of her gear into place. Her home was her armor – that hadn’t changed. But he would find no purchase on her disposition, presence erased by the piece of metal beneath her skin. She used to let him in without pause, but years were now the chasm between the two beasts. They once danced to the same melody, hearts beating to the same rhythm.

Once.

Icy eyes settled on his broad back. Though she’d smiled, all teeth in the Black Feather, Aver welcomed the distance. Even for a creature of violence and apathy, a decade of feelings made for a mighty wall.

With two long strides, she was at his side. The planet below was a desolate rock. Nothing but scorched sand for miles on end. Her lips crooked with mild distaste.

“What’s down there?”

[member="Carach"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

"Sand, dust, winds scorching... heat." He recited one after another, fingers raising up in tune of that. "Cultists huddled together in their realm, gathering strength to try and sweep us all away."

Head tilted, cracking the tension, other side tilted, cracked more.

"If we are lucky they will give us a fight."

Bravado that Carach was not actually feeling right now. She knew his feelings about this entire thing, so she would know it, even when incapable of sending his mind. Not with mountains erected around it, keeping her out, keeping anything out that might pose a threat to him.

A good thing too, for the both of them.

Because that was when it happened.

At the height of their false confidence power shook through the shuttle and themselves. Might capable of tearing down mountains throwing itself into his mental shields, strength enough to pierce the strongest shields puncturing through her armor, a field of raw energy swiping through the shuttle and causing every single system in place to shook violently, malfunctioning without any other leeway possible.

His hands were clutching to his ears, eyes closed forcefully as Carach tried to push the images away.

Pain... fear, but somehow the Sith Lord managed to regain control, just enough to force his eyes open and right the ship just so, making it pierce the atmosphere, instead of dash into pieces against it.

"HOLD ON" Carach roared at the top of his lungs to make himself heard over the whiiiiiiiiiiiiine of the engines fighting against the gravitational pull.

They were going down.

The explosion came next.

 

[Aver Brand]

A split-second warning, and then everything went up in flames. Her mind, her flesh, the ship – Aver gnashed her teeth, grabbing the railing out of pure reflex. Her muscles screamed in protest as explosions rattled the vessel, throwing them about like ragdolls. [member="Carach"] wrested a measure of control from their wild freefall, but it didn’t take a pilot to know they were toast.

Not that the merc saw any of it.

Her knuckles were white, metal groaning under the strength of her grip – the only thing keeping her anchored through the storm.

Blinding white stretched end-to-end in her head, drowning out all conscious thought. Far away, Aver could feel the Ternion burning against her skin, grasping at the vast distances separating the three. The sliver in her spine ached, near-on keeling her in half.

A scream filled her ears. Her or Carach, she didn’t know. Didn’t care. It was all she could do to keep breathing, one flex of ribs at a time.

The atmosphere blew by around them, fire licking the hull of the spiralling ship. They went down, fast. Too fast. Endless desert rushed up to meet them, its maw of sand creaking open with the grinding of bone against bone.

She felt their strength fill her then, springing the trap of phrik around the invading force. Her teeth snapped closed first, and icy eyes flew open.

Without hesitation, Aver pushed off the tilted ground and wrapped her arms around the Sith Lord. “Hold on,” she growled out – her sense of humor would die the day she did – and drove them both through the viewport with a roar of exertion.

In a shower of glass and metal, they plummeted to the world below.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

The wind ripped at them.

His robes anyway, considering the cling of her cold metal against his skin. They were like a brick in the air, falling to their death while openly studying the surface they would splatter against. The planet was getting closer each second, closer and closer, their velocity increasing as somewhere behind them a second explosion roared.

Shrapnel dashed against them, hot, scorching, most of it was covered by her armor.

But some of it found purchase regardless; he gasped as white fire kissed his body, through his leg and arm, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

Just the gritting of teeth and keeping control.

BUBBLE. BUBBLE, FETHER!

Carach groaned, they were so close right now that her residual (strongest) thoughts were seeping in. The adrenaline in his veins were coursing hard now, if he had a heart... it would have probably burst from the tension, but right now if either of them wanted to survive this?

Soon. I need the right moment.

Unyielding voice, calm, devoid of fear or agony.

This was the Carach she recalled from the old days. Who knew exactly what to do, when to do it. His bubbles were strong, but he couldn't keep them up for very long, it wasn't even close to his forte. So... the Sith had to wait just for the right moment, where it would be served right.

Distance closed.

At the back of his head he could hear Vrag screaming at him, but the Sith ignored it. He knew his trade and knew it well, just as she did hers.

Eyes watered as the wind tried to break his skull open, or at least that's how the pressure felt like to him.

Give me your strength. NOW.

Just as the terminal velocity reached its peak a brilliant shine of gold and red burst around them, enveloping them completely and shielding them for what was to come. The complete weight and momentum of their fall crashing against the desert's surface, the bubble powering its way through sand, rock and bedrock.

The bubble's surface absorbing kinetic force.

There was silence... deep silence... then Carach mumbled out in the dark. "I think you can stop holding me now."

 

[Aver Brand]

It took all of her willpower to bite back a response. She had left without a word, a decade ago, because of trust – the utter lack of it. For all their shoulder-to-shoulder in wartime, their shared sweat and breaths and moans of pleasure, Aver never trusted [member="Carach"].

With good reason, too.

That day at the Forge was burned forever into her memory. The sting of betrayal, the enraged scream in her throat. He had never asked forgiveness, never apologized, never made an effort to rebuild that bridge. And so it remained broken, an endless chasm stretching between two prideful beasts.

Give me your strength. NOW.

She wanted to say no. It was the only word in her mind, bright and red and vicious, but she didn’t. Aver was not Vrag, and so she let him sup on her reserves; let him push forward against the encroaching earth, and win.

“I think I will.”

Abruptly, the merc stood, shaking the rough landing from her limbs. Blood clung to the layer of dust on her black armor, and the merc looked down. Frowned. She fished a bacta shot from her utility belt and and dropped it on his prone body.

Aver pivoted on the spot and began to test the walls of their cage. Solid sandstone, here, but further up… she craned her neck, frown deepening. Nothing but sand. The speed of their impact had turned it to gleaming glass, but they were near-on ten meters deep. The weight of the soil was already pressing cracks through the thin layer of crystal.

Without a word, the firrerreo stuck a hand back at the Sith, kicking CERS into gear. The second he’d clasp her palm, Aver would shove off the ground, off the wall, off his broad shoulders, and vault over the edge of the pit.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Mild amusement at her anger.

Why would she be angry? Furious? The rage color her vision red and contemplating dying instead of giving up the strength to shield them both? Nothing came to mind and in the end Carach shrugged, perhaps she was simply pissed that they both got caught off-guard and found themselves with their pants down. After a few moments it became clear that Ygdris was not willing to offer the same assistance extended to her.

Carach sighed.

What a child, she could be sometimes.

He stretched lightly, before calling upon the Force again and then jumped. It was a high jump, very high, but with some purchase from the bedrock wall here and there, the Sith managed to climb-jump-run his way over the ledge, rolling over and stand in one smooth step.

"Very mature, darling." His voice and presence rolled across their distance, before studying their surroundings. Planes of desert sand all around them.

With the ship blown to pieces... it would be a challenge to track down those karking cultists.

 

[Aver Brand]

“Feth off.”

The merc paid him no mind as she assessed their surroundings. Nothing but more sand, pockmarked here and there by craters and jutting bits of ex-ship. Great.

Her annoyance prickled, hackles raised. Licking her lips, Aver turned to face [member="Carach"] with slow, deliberate motions. Briefly, she contemplated shoving him back into the hole.

“What are we looking for? They have any tech I can track? Communications?” Heat signatures were as useful as tits on a K’lor’slug in this desert.

“Elsewise it’s all on you, Mr. Mentalist.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Now she was just being rude.

Well, admittedly Carach had started it with the darling, but that was just because pettiness was sometimes very satisfying, especially when it was concerning Vraggles.

"No, they are completely off-the-grid, the Force is the only tool they are allowed to use." How they managed to get from one planet to another was a concern for a different day, or perhaps there were loopholes for their rules. The Sith Lord did not know and right now it did not matter.

What mattered was wiping them all out and get another piece of the puzzle.

"Before we go wage war against these bastards," His head tilted in curiosity. "What possible reason could you have to be angry with me?"

It was clear from his tone that Carach only considered himself to be a wronged party here.

What would there possibly be that she could be miffed about after all.

 

[Aver Brand]

[member="Carach"]

Features froze over. Teeth turned to ice. Glacial cold settled in her gaze. Even the scorching haze of the desert seemed to wilt around her.

“What possible reason—”

Aver gutted her sentence out of sheer indignant fury, fists squeezed tight at her flanks. It was so fething tempting. All she needed was a stride, and she’d catch that grinning mug of his under the jaw, send him sprawling into the sand.

“Carach.” A beat. “Irani.”

“Ring a bell, frakface?”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

Carach blinked.

...That?

"Hold on a minute." The Sith Lord leaned back - there was no trace of a grin anymore, or anything else. Stoic cold and staunch. "After ten years that is what is bothering you?" He had even forgotten about it, until she brought it up just now. It just seemed so... irrelevant in the space of all that they had been through. All that they had done together, all that they had faced and experienced. But it was bothering her and for some reason Carach didn't enjoy that.

Didn't matter that he was pissed off at her as well.

Had this been ten years ago, he would have told her to kriff off and grow some hair, but... it was ten years later. Salt mixing his hair, maturity aged and made him see things differently. Carach had cared (still did) about this one.

"You never brought it up after that? We fought, bled, karked together and you carried that around until today?"

 

[Aver Brand]

Aver seethed. “That’s not the fething point, is it!”

Her voice was climbing in pitch, and the merc stopped again, drawing air deep into her lungs. Clean, clarifying. She closed her eyes, willed the tautness from her body. Not you.

“Try to understand, just for a fething moment, where we were, yeah?” Another breath, another layer of calm. The glacier remained, but its pressure was gone.

“A Wrath and a Hand, two of his most trusted servants next to you lot. We were deliberately betraying one of the most powerful people in the fething Galaxy, Carach. One thing – one fething thing had to go wrong, and we were dead. Gone, done, ashes-scattered-through-Netherworld dead.”

Aver stepped forward, stabbing a finger into his chest. “And you— you dare be offended we didn’t tell ya? I couldn’t fethin’ trust you to tell me your Force-damned business alias, Darell.”

“The only one I knew you wouldn’t stab in the back was Matsu, but hey, at that point she’d already karked off to another dimension, and even He wouldn’t look for her there. But we? We were getting out, [member="Carach"], one way or another.”

Licking her lips, Aver looked away with a long sigh.

“And you’ve always cared for power more than either of us.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

She wasn't wrong.

Sure, right now Carach was feeling indignant just of the suggestion that he would have betrayed him, but if he was honest?

Really honest with himself? With her? Then the memory the Sith had of himself was dominated by a hunger for power, domination, blood and destruction, he had always been less obvious than his... companions but his influence had always been more insidious. The soft whisper rather than the sword. Could Carach truly blame her for thinking he might betray both of them, if it meant stepping over their corpses and ascend up the ladder?

Hell.

Would he have done that, if the moment was just right?

"Ten years." Carach said quietly. "I didn't tell ya right off the bat, yeah, didn't bring it up when it was time either- I always kept my shet close to my chest, but I did show my hand." Oh, there was that skeptical set of the shoulders and the stray thought radiating astonished disbelief. His hand was raised before she could counter that. "Oh step off, you think that if I didn't want you to know, I would have revealed myself? I kicked arse as Irani with a gorram shotgun before Carach ever took the stage."

Might not have been planned, but if Ygdris knew anything about Carach... it was that he always knew how to turn a situation to his advantage. The fact that he had revealed himself as a Dark Lord of the Sith, while he could simply have stayed in character? That showed trust. As much trust as one could expect from a Sith Lord set in his ways, who had been young, ambitious, hungry and not yet mellowed after years of loss and passive defeat.

"I karked up and should have told you directly, yeah, but ten frecking years- you could have told me afterwards, when it didn't matter anymore. Could have told me after the Dark Lord fell. Could have told me when the karking Sith Empire in the Core fell and ate itself up, while I was on Ruusan."

 

[Aver Brand]

He held up his hand, but he needn’t have – he’d listened to her. She would afford him the same courtesy. None of them were young anymore. Wild tempers had mellowed, burning fury reforged into long-lasting fires. Names and identities abandoned, changed, left at the wayside.

Time was more powerful than any of them.

“Well— I didn’t.”

She snorted. “I met Adekos back then, you know? Feth. Not that he knew who I was.” A shake of her head. “Ten years, yeah. I knew you’d be pissed, you entitled kark, but I ain’t gonna apologize for surviving.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, [member="Carach"]. Like I followed your fethin’ career. I was done with that – busy taking out the trash and setting up a business. Then Matsu came back, and those First Order karkers went and put themselves on the map. Life got in the way.”

“If it wasn’t for this cultist bullshet,” she gestured to the wide empty desert, “for Irajah… we never would’ve had this conversation.”

No beating around the bush. They were too old for posturing and pussyfooting – better to be harsh, but frank, rather than spend another half hour bickering over semantics. Aver held the silence a moment more, picking her words.

“That said,” quieter now, with the hint of a smile, “I’m not sorry we did.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

Ten years ago it would have made him even more pissed - hypocritically, considering he never had offered an apology of his own.

But that was ten years ago.

No compromises.

Take what you can, give nothing back.

No, in truth Carach hadn't been expecting an apology, not from her, not from Reverance - even though the Wrath had apologized... in his own deliberate way - but they were all different people. It was what bond them together through more than just words, it was more complicated than that. Always had, always would be. He didn't apologize now either, but Carach let go of his anger and Aver would be able to sense it, as the festering rot poured away from him and left but the clean storm, unyielding, but pure in its conviction.

"Neither am I." The Sith responded, lips turned upward to echo hers. "Haven't broken skulls with ya in ages."

The distance between them was cleared, what little there was and for once in his life the former Voice of the Dark Lord extended his hand... first. Uncaring that gave Aver a clear advantage, a show of trust, a sign that he was willing to move forward if she was.

"Truce?" The Sith would have said peace, but there was never peace. Not between them, not between their allies, every step they took brought conflict with them. But that conflict did not have to be between them. Together they had been strong once, forging ahead, burning opposition down by the strength of his voice and the power of her arm, it had gone from four to two to three... but maybe now it would return to four?

Who knew, maybe the Fifth would join them soon.

 

[Aver Brand]

Laughter came easy as she gripped his hand, firm and warm. The desert heat had nothing to do with the ice melting.

“Sure, if that’s what y’wanna call it.” Aver grinned, releasing his palm. “Said something about how tough these karkers are, yeah? Sounds like a challenge to me.” Blue eyes glinted behind the faceplate, alight with excitement.

With that, the merc pivoted in the direction of the main crater. Smoke was rising in tall black columns against the azure sky from the wreckage below. Looked like a god had brought his fist down on the ship – burst it like an over-ripe fruit. Aver took a deep breath, then whistled, loud and long and ear-piercing.

The only movement was the shimmering air above the scrap metal. A beat, two, then something stirred. A black blot, too large even at this distance, scrambled from the ruins and kicked up sand in great curtains.

Aver’s smirk grew.

In but a few seconds, the shadow gained clear features – spined back, toothed maw, a sharp red gaze. Her paws pounded the dunes at a great speed, and when she was just a few meters away, Puppy leaped.

She knew the beast well, and ducked aside with fluid grace. [member="Carach"], stood just behind her, would not have such luck.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

For a moment it felt like old times.

But then Aver mentioned the cultists and nostalgia faded away for reality. He had never known fear, never before in his life. (short as it may be compared to some), but this was different now. It wasn't true fear. Not yet, anyway, not until Carach faced those they fought. Not these cultists - they were pawns, pions, they were powerful, yes, but they were a quantity known. Powerful men and women with strength that could be quantified by experience and measure.

Not so much the beings they served.

"Aye, they are-" 900 lbs of muscle, anger and teeth barreling straight through him, sending him flying to the side. Carach was strong, strong and big and powerful, genetically perfect through experimentation and then biochemical cybernetics to finish off the entire thing.

But momentum was a fine thing and not even the Sith could stop that dead in its tracks.

Maybe if it had been Aver- her entire forte had been strength focus. "Pfffttthghtn." Carach spit out some sand, crawling slowly back on its feet, while puppy curled up self-satisfied some distance away, while watching them. The large tuk'ata even seemed to purr at the back of her throat, beautiful beast, it even managed to make the Sith forgive her for this entire episode. "Beautiful," Carch mumbled, before gesturing towards her with his head.

"What's her name?"

 

[Aver Brand]

She put absolutely zero effort in holding back her guffaw. Seeing [member="Carach"] knocked down like an oversized domino was certainly the highlight of the week. Snickering, Aver stalked over to the beast licking its paws and gave it a congratulatory scritch beneath the ears.

“Puppy,” the merc replied as the Sith Lord found his feet again. Force, how she hoped the sand got into his robes. “Also Raz, Shai, or Lying Hound. Lots of names, this one. Just like me.” She grinned, bending at the knees to give the tuk’ata a proper kneading.

Leaning close to speak into her ear, Aver continued. “You’ve been itching to stretch your legs, haven’t you, Puppy? Haven’t you?” The beast let out a deep chuff, rubbing her spined head against the plates of her shoulder. “That tall dude is Carach. A total nerf herder, but he grows on you.” A pause, a raise in pitch – making sure he could hear her. “Like fungus.”

“Anyway, we got a long trek ahead, and I figured—” Puppy perked up, growling slightly. “Oh? That right?” The massive hunter gave a slow nod, then went back to licking her paws. “Alright, Shai. You’re the boss.”

Aver stood, waving Carach over. “Puppy says you can ride with us under one condition,” she smugged, ignoring the fact that it wasn’t even a verb. If anyone could do it, it was Ygdris.

In a smooth, practiced motion, the merc sat astride the beast as she rose from her rest. Leaning forward she gestured to her maw, entirely too full of fangs.

“She’ll carry you. Like a pup. By the scruff of yer neck.” Aver shrugged a languid shoulder, drawling every word. “Or, you know… you can always chase us. Through the desert. On foot.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

"Is that a fact." Carach mumbled while approaching the beast. She growled, the deep sound emanating from the depths of her body as a warning not to come closer, but the Sith Lord was not one to be intimidated. Not when they had been fighting the Akure Leviathan on Teta (as large as a skyscraper and powerful enough to wipe cities out with four breaths), not when he had been facing an army of darkness on Kashyyyk before stealing it for himself...

Not with a large, beautiful lionness.

Instead of retreating Carach growled back at her, deep rawr from his lungs scratching through his throat enhanced by the Force itself, he had not been named Voice of the Dark Lord for naught after all.

Puppy stepped back in surprise, before tilting its head slightly. In the meantime the Sith's hand suddenly rested gently on her head and that caused Puppy to freeze. Sniffing after one moment - a lot of things could happen now, maybe she would try to bite his hand o- no, she just nuzzled it.

Well, okay then.

"I like her, why not."

 

[Aver Brand]

“Great. Bend over, darling – we’re taking that fine ass of yours for a ride.”

Helmet or not, there was no concealing her grin. Aver was enjoying this, though really, it shouldn’t surprise the Sith Lord. She’d always had a penchant for his sculpted behind. While ten years might’ve changed many things about them, those cheeks were as firm and taut as ever.

“Lead the way, Mr. Mentalist. It’s scream o’clock.”

And they were off.

​

A fine film of orange dust covered the trio head to toe. Aver, on her perch upon tuk’ataback, had avoided the bane that is sand in robes. [member="Carach"], carried but a few inches above the scorching ground, wasn’t afforded such luxuries.

But hey. They were here. Or… closer to where they needed to be, anyway.

There was something on the horizon. Temple shaped, the merc quickly found with some help of her HUD. With a sharp whistle, they came to a stop.

Puppy unceremoniously opened her jaws, and the feared Voice of the Dark Lord, accomplished sorcerer and illusionist, faceplanted into the dune.

Aver dismounted.