I Will Have Mercy And Not Sacrifice (Kiskla)

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Kiskla Grayson"]

I'm told the Council of Reconciliation is led by someone with a spine and a soul. Perhaps you remember me as the woman who you rescued, with Darron Wraith. I went by Ori'vod then, I think -- though honestly, I've lost track of what names I've used when.

I have a story to tell. Perhaps it's vanity, but in every incarnation of the Jedi Order, I like to have at least one person know this story. Darron was the first, Ben Watts the second. Both are gone to parts unknown.

Darron trusted you. I hope I can do the same. Then again, every time I ask someone to come alone I end up having to shoot my way out. So, really, bring whomever you trust to be capable of listening. Meet me on Necropolis, in the Dahrtag system, if you'd be so kind. I'll be waiting at the Crypt of Ajunta Ras.

Ashin Varanin, formerly Ori'vod of the Vagrant Fleet, formerly Empress Desmius I of the Sith Empire, formerly Grand Admiral Shira Karrde
Jedi Knight

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

trust
trəst/
noun;
Firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
"relations have to be built on trust"

Trust was not a word that Kiskla familiarized herself with; in fact in recent years there was only one that had touched this level in her associates. Her revalitized time with The Order had been short, but productive. Being a member who had self-annexed herself from affiliation, she understood the importance of reconciliation; perhaps that's why she headed that council. Being head of that council, meant that all terms of communication reached through her private channel, and her channel alone.
It was this means of communication that blipped an angry alert at her as she returned to her quarters.

A message relayed to her, that touched on the point of knowing her previously and name-dropping the single person that had incorporated trust back into her life. She sat, now recollecting the event in her own memory bank. Yes, she had worked as an evasive pilot at an unknown space station, liberating a woman and Darron from the power bursts of the now emperor. But, @[member="Ashin Varanin"] had appealed to Kiskla's addiction; her curiosity. A story? From the names that the woman had provided, it seemed to be a tale worth listening to.

If she got out alive.
Kiskla stood, patching a command to the control centre to have her Republican transport, Crimson II, prepared for takeoff.

She would get out alive. If it was indeed a request fuelled by vanity, the mistress that had relayed the message to her would see to it that by some means, the Jedi Master would return to maintain the story. And besides, Kiskla wasn't so under confident so as to underserve her own abilities. She had Force gods pulsing in her veins for galaxies sake. But a listener. Who was a good listener?

Trust.

If Ashin explained that she had to shoot her way out of every predicament she initiated, this would be one to add to her story as not having a similar ending. After all, there was a code the councillor had to uphold. The problem with Kiskla was, leaping into this with both feet, she was old enough to know, but young enough not to say no.

​

RE: Council of Reconciliation
TO: Original Sender (@[member="Ashin Varanin"])

I will meet you at your requested venue.
And you won't have to leave shooting.

Sincerely,
Kiskla Grayson
Jedi Master​

------

Guu Run
Core Worlds

It was during her travel from Coruscant, in solitude and mediation, that a smirk tricked her pouted lips. A burial planet. The mistress of the message was requesting that the two meet on a graveyard. Ironic?

---​

Dahrtag System
Necropolis
​

Eerie. The place felt haunting, and it was tangible as soon as Kiskla's personal transport touched down. It was lifeless save for a beacon of simmering power. Milky air swirled about the blonde Master, and she enhanced her own force sight to see through the mist; greeted mostly with shadows from the ruins and architecture that loomed about the landing point she had chosen. It was the nearest to the selected grave point that her GPS would take her, without damaging the sacred land. Again, she was assuming, but she supposed it was sacred land.
She also assumed that the woman she was about to meet was going to go by the name of Ashin, as that had been the first name she had signed off on, and left all her other titles to the former.

The Crypt of Ajunta Ras, hm? Kiskla had done her best to investigate into that person, and the potential significance the name had, but it appeared she could upturn little other than the person's prior dark alignment.

​

 

[Ashin Varanin]

As the mist parted around the descending Republic transport, Ashin walked up a hill to meet it. The Crypt of Ajunta Ras was more of an open-air temple, really, devoted to a long-dead and relatively minor Sith Lord. She pulled down her hood, blue eyes glowing faintly through the mist. She coughed, clearing her throat, and the mist puffed out around her breath. "@[member="Kiskla Grayson"]? I'm Ashin Varanin."

She ascended to the level of the vessel's ramp. Those Bando Gora-blue eyes flicked past the Jedi Master's shoulder. "Thank you for keeping your word. It's a rare quality among Jedi these days. When I was a Knight in your Order, well, that was not the case." Impatient with the fog, she flicked out her hand. It dissipated to reveal a morose landscape studded with tombstones. "As you can see, I, too, have come alone.

"Tell me, Master Grayson. What do you know of Ulic Qel-Droma?"

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

The lone figure of the woman appeared, and Ashin was just as unguarded as herself.
"You'd be surprised how often I hear of different days in The Order." Kiskla commented, revealing what had been on her mind as of late. To her, it wasn't a weakness nor a bait to drop that; it was mostly common knowledge. Many people, within the order and outside, were in disagreement with the present operation of things. Maybe that was too assumptive of her, but too late, the words were out now. Just as they were, exposed to one another on conflicting fronts but maintaining a peaceful balance that weighed on levels of insight and curiosity. Ashin had something to say, and Kiskla would be a vessel to know what it was. She wondered though, if there would be more of a catch than just turning away after the blonde left; or if she truly would just wave goodbye and they would part. Again. Clandestine conversations rarely went any other way.

@[member="Ashin Varanin"] got right to the point. Kiskla, impatient by nature, appreciated that.

"The Knight?" The blonde repeated; hollowed by her own inability to recollect the information that would be pertinent to this transaction. She wasn't strong in the history of people. "Mostly that he was a valiant warrior for a majority of his life, but left a controversial impact." So in truth, not much.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Kiskla Grayson"]

"I see," said Ashin after a beat. "The Dark Age strikes again. Well, my only source for this was a man who lived before the Gulag Virus, so perhaps it's not as verifiable as I would like. Ulic Qel-Droma was a Jedi Knight who made the fatal mistake of trying to infiltrate the Krath, a Sith cult, five thousand years ago. He was discovered and dosed with a Sith poison which filled him with anger and virtually guaranteed his fall. He became a conqueror in love with his own power. Eventually, a Jedi managed to sever him from the Force in a moment of weakness -- I believe it was when he was overcome with guilt at having killed his brother. He became a hermit, an exile.

"That, at least, is the story as I heard it. That poison is important, Master Grayson. Many cults and sects have tried to replicate it, sometimes succeeding. Ten years ago, when I was a Jedi Knight, one group managed to surpass it. They created a substance that, when metabolized, cut its subject off from anything but the Dark Side." She grimaced faintly. "The details are not important. Suffice it to say, my Padawan fell afoul of this group. Both our families were murdered, as was he, and I was dosed with that particular poison. The finest Jedi healers failed to remove it from my system. Every Jedi enclave where I took refuge -- this was before Teferi and Watts united the Order -- every enclave got hit. People died for my sake.

"So I ran. Spent a year avoiding the Force entirely. In that time, more of my friends died. It was a long but quiet war, in the Unknown Regions. I took refuge on Trevel'ka, in the slums, trying not to use the Force at all. That's where they found me. Not the enemy, but people who had acquired a substantial following of Darksiders and needed someone to teach them the rule of law, order, justice, teamwork. I took the job.

"To make a very long story very short, that's how I became a Sith. But what none of them knew, and still don't know, is that when it became clear that I would never be able to touch the Light Side of the Force again, I was guided by other Jedi toward one final chance to do some good. Ulic Qel-Droma's path.

"I've been a Jedi sleeper agent for eight years. I'm the Dark Lord of the Sith...but I am also a Jedi Knight. And I am more tired than you can possibly imagine. You're now one of three living Jedi to know this. Darron Wraith, I told at Roche. I showed him how I'd turned the Empire away from vulnerable targets like the Mandalorians, and toward the only people who had a chance of breaking them -- the Republic. Ben Watts, I told on Tython. I told him that I wouldn't reveal my secret -- what a public relations disaster for the Jedi, if it came out.

"I wanted to talk with you because, frankly, the Republic has perpetrated more despicable plays, heavy-handed assaults on justice, and flat-out atrocities than I ever did as Sith Empress. And I'm no longer afraid of hurting the Jedi with the truth. So I want you to talk me out of going public. In the Fringe, I'm surrounded by people I can barely control, some of them true monsters, some of them the finest individuals I've ever known, people who might follow me if I went to the Light. The poison, incidentally, has been gone since about a year after Roche. I know what would be best for me, but it would destroy people who rely on me. I need options that don't end up with my friends and my peaceful worlds destroyed by a Jedi crusade while I sit in a Leth cage waiting for a verdict."

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

Kiskla listened with impressive politeness. For one so young, she exemplified a type of understanding well beyond her years; where this cultivated, that was unknown. Maybe it was just as inherent as her budding benevolence.
Cut off from the Force, entirely for a year? Kiskla almost shuddered; nay, she did shudder at the thought. The Force was her ally; even now it was working, churning the molecules on her skin that concealed her facial tattoos.
Eight years. Eight years -- that was almost half of Kiskla's lifetime that @[member="Ashin Varanin"] had been fighting as someone she was not; hiding her resolve. She maintained a calm façade, although the Jedi was both appropriately impressed and humbled. It was funny that the Dark Lord mentioned her actions being a public relations disaster for the Jedi -- Kiskla wasn't certain if this was in humour or not, but it did remind her of another conversation she had with another Sith Lord (my my, the company she kept!); The difference between Sith and Jedi, Kiskla, is that the Sith care not for the greater perception of those too weak to defend themselves he had said.
Her words were like daggers of reality. How she had directed The Empire's mighty hand to those that could return the attack with an equally strong hand; paralleled to the multiple invasions lead against crumbling factions today. The Republic was a megalith of power; and would it be so harmful to be in stasis mode instead of hammering so-called democracy into the foreheads of already fallen factions? Kiskla was not here to be corrupted, and she doubted that was the outcome Ashin wanted for her either; in fact, Ashin revealed what she wanted Kiskla to do.
A mere treaty would not be the option.

“Balance is important to you.” Kiskla commented, thinking out loud as she formulated an opinion. The Dark Lord didn’t want someone to talk her out of going public, much to her admittance. She wanted someone to reinforce her decision to do so; someone who didn’t know her, nor those she affected. Kiskla Freya-Grayson was a balance individual, in fact, she’d been commissioned with balance between the two forces of the Force itself; rival sibling entities that were contained in an alchemic cuff hidden beneath fabric on her left wrist. It was this insight that allowed her to make decisions that were strategic beyond The Republic, The Protectorate, and herself.

Roche. She knew about Roche from Darron’s tales and experience; he’d shown her and spoken about it. Her arms folded and she fastened her own cerulean gaze with the woman’s constantly glowing eyes; she was keenly aware, they both were, that the Republic’s expansion could only mean that it would collapse into itself one day. Too much power in one hand or the other; the same could be said for the Empire if the tables were turned.

“And from the sounds of it, you’re not afraid of hurting the current condition of the Jedi with the truth.” Kiskla said pointedly. “But perhaps,” her tone slowed and she frowned “Actions without words. Your transference to the light does not need to be immediate. From your story, you’re a patient woman.” Kiskla was keenly aware at this point, that she was a channel for development, a catalyst with a voice. “From my understanding,” Knight Varnin? Darklord? Master Varnin? Ashin? She ignored the name hiccup and continued her thought “It’s not in terms of if, it’s in terms of when you reveal yourself.”

 

[Ashin Varanin]

When it came to trading secrets with a Jedi Master in no-man's-land like Necropolis, Ashin didn't miss much. Her head tilted just slightly, those not-quite-human eyes flicked to the cuff of @[member="Kiskla Grayson"]'s robe, and when the Jedi Master fumbled for lack of an obvious name or title, the corners of Ashin's eyes wrinkled in what might have been a smile.

"Call me Ashin, Master Grayson. You see to the heart of the matter. When is the question, absolutely. Haste will break things, leave my friends out in the cold. Delay will leave me where I am when the Protectorate comes calling again. We repelled them at cost; if they hit us again, Atrisia or the Republic will see us as weak, and attack -- if they're not planning it already. One never can tell with Kahoshis or Chancellors. Or Grandmasters, for that matter." She smiled, and this time it didn't reach her eyes. "Master Grayson, between a Grandmaster whose criminal record with the Jedi Shadows was released to Republic prosecutors without effect, and a Jedi Master whose mass murders at Metalorn resulted in a few weeks of imprisonment despite public protests outside the Temple, not to mention the fanatical youngsters who seem to be calling the shots in the Council...and considering the immense amounts of Jedi who've left the Order in protest as conscientious objectors, including the last two Grandmasters and Wraith's heir apparent Ravos...you can understand why I hesitate to entrust myself and the fate of my people to the Jedi as a whole, at this stage. So 'when' really is the question. Frankly, I'm only approaching you now because Darron trusted you and because the Force whispers that I'm running out of time.

"I don't know if I have it in me to abandon my people and my worlds. Every monster that threatened to bullrush out of the Unknown Regions, slaughter my planets and pile-drive into the Republic -- me and my people have broken them all, conquered them." Something like desperation came to her face then. "We just came out of a Dark Age, Master Grayson. I've personally brought order and galactic connectivity, communications, transportation, to a full one-quarter of the galaxy. If I follow my conscience for myself, or if the Republic invades, all that might collapse. The good that I've done at the cost of my soul -- do I have it in me to risk that?"

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

Kiskla was cautious. She could easily offer to be a puppet to the mistress, but she worked on her own accord. Always had. Always would. Nobody else had considered to reach out to the former Grandmasters of The Order; those of which Ashin referred to.

Kiskla had not voted for Selena as grandmaster. She had attended her trial and she did not know of this Ravos heir Ashin spoke of. More and more, she was motivated to take an action not particularly against, but not for the council either. There were members on there still pure; Carn for example. And Phylis wouldn't hurt a fly. She hadn't acted until recently mostly because things were happening so quickly around her, and she'd been rather disinterested and unmotivated for the most part, but as the whispers grew, so did her agitation and no longer could she participate in invasions with a clear conscience. These meeting would be the fire to her seat.

She shifted the subject, only ever so slightly in order to make more sense of her upcoming answer "This Ravos you speak of, heir Grandmaster. He is with you now, part of The Fringe?"

Kiskla pinched the skin on either side of her nose, between her eyes. Ideas of mutiny were not the way to go, she needed to digress immediately. But without mutiny, there would be no progress; it was just the fortune of time an inability for voice that Selena sat in the seat she held now. Had Kiskla known better then.. perhaps she would have said something, but even she had been on rocky terms at that point.

Even she had been on rocky terms at that point.

And no more than a month later, she was sitting on the council. The lightly tanned girl almost paled and she dropped her hand; still waiting for @[member="Ashin Varanin"]'s response as to Ravos and his departure. "I don't see where the risk is, if The Republic supports you." There would be no need for any of her abandonment if there was an extension between the two; Ashin could be light and Kiskla could easily represent her. She had a knack for turning tables "It sounds like you agree with the sounds of a revolution, Ashin."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"A revolution? I've always favored more gradual change - though I did once drop five thousand Mandalorians on Dromund Kaas to help me pull off a coup." She smiled faintly in reminiscence.

"But no, Jaxton Ravos isn't with me. He would never join the Fringe, not considering some of the evils I have to turn a blind eye to in order to keep my worlds safe. Jaxton Ravos, or so I'm told, was part of Adamant Company -- Darron's elite squad, his answer to my Sith Masters. Darron, Ben Watts, Jaxton Ravos, Seroth Ur-Rahn. Seroth is another one who would never join me. He's opposed me, from time to time. I repaid him by naming my deadliest warship after him, as an honored enemy. Like Ravos and Watts, he left as a conscientious objector. My intelligence on them is limited; they're my enemies, but I'd trust them much farther than I'd trust the current Council. They associate with, let's see...Rosa Mazhar, Captain Jorus Merrill, Boolon Murr, the Rebel Alliance to some extent, leftovers from the Vagrant Fleet. They make it their business to stay out of my sight, and probably for good and valid reasons. But they're who you want to talk to, if you're serious about making change. I've even heard that there's...a group. A very quiet, very unassuming group of former Jedi who visit the Republic's war zones and give medical assistance after the Jedi forces have moved on. My gut says that a Third Great Schism might have already happened, and the good side was just too humble and unassuming to let anyone know.

"Because, let's be real, Master Grayson. It's one thing to convince a single Jedi Master that I want to come in from the cold. It's quite another thing to know what stance the Republic will take." She chuckled hollowly. "I don't even know what stance they should take on me. Ask any undercover cop. They'll tell you that months or years in another life blur the edges of your identities. Force help me, I don't know for sure whether I'm playing you or being sincere. That scares me, and I've taken a swan dive off a five-thousand-kilometre cliff while fighting a planet-sized mechanical monster. I don't scare easily."
@[member="Kiskla Grayson"]

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

"Leaving doesn't bring change." Kiskla commented, almost in a sickly manner of distaste. Her reason for leaving the order was not because she disagreed with it per say, but because she felt she didn't deserve to be aligned with it. Ashin had a lot of knowledge on her enemies; and it intrigued Kiskla to consider how much more the woman had on her allies. This could indeed, be a revolution of sorts. "And I was thinking more of a domino effect. Imagine if your enemies, powerful Jedi, see your reformation; don't you think that would work more as an attractant? I don't mean you coming straight out of the cold to The Republic." Gears of change need to start their rotations somewhere. She didn't want any impetuous actions to take forth, and she doubted that Ashin would allow that, even.

In regards to Ashin potentially two-timing her, Kiskla's wit chimed in; "Maybe you should take your Jedi trials again." The blonde offered a warm simper to the woman who had obviously been through quite a bit; and didn't mind weaselling in boasts of her stories. She supposed @[member="Ashin Varanin"] had earned it. "And I sincerely doubt there'd be any adrenaline present in your re-introduction to The Republic." This comment was to complement the diving while quarrelling reference as an analogy to the Lord's fear.

"I don't believe you'd waste your time reaching out to me if your core didn't believe you wanted to return to what you've held on to for so long. You've claimed many titles in your years, and yet, you still hold on to Ashin Varanin, Jedi Knight." She paused for both effect and thought "There's a reason for that. You believe it as much as you want me to." Kiskla wasn't sure if she was convincing herself, or the brunette across from her now. Either way, she hoped it was working because her tone was infallible and quite worth listening to. "Perhaps it's not The Republic you need to convince first, but those enemies of which you speak. The puritans of the former Order."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Kiskla Grayson"]

"'Puritans' is a loaded word. Many unpleasant connotations." The Dark Lord of the Sith folded her cloak tighter around herself. "It's a word I'd rather apply to the current regime, though only a Sith deals in absolutes, as they say.

"You're right, I know more about my enemies than I let on -- and more than I would ever use, for the simple reason that I respect them and have no incentive to wipe them out. They keep me and my people sharp. That said, I don't know where they operate from, what name they use, who leads them, or what structure they have, if any, so my sources aren't that good. The only one of the conscientious objectors who's closely associated with a location is Boolon Murr, a Priest of the Mother Jungle on Ithor. Perhaps you saw his meltdown on GNN recently. It's a sad day when the Order's most outspoken critic is an Ithorian pacifist. They say he was the Jedi Order's worst duellist before he left. He was one of the healers who tried to help me when I was poisoned, the better part of a decade ago, even before he'd formally joined the Jedi. For what it's worth, he was also the one who told me to do good where I stood -- to do good with the resources and opportunities at my disposal, wherever I wound up. He was a Jedi Shadow and a seer.

"I've messaged him recently; he hasn't messaged me back. I suspect he considers me one of his great failures, seeing as I took his prophecy and went conquering with it. But he might respond to you. I heard tell that he spent the last couple of years before his departure searching out all the conscientious objectors, every former Jedi he could find, even the real hardcases like Siobhan Kerrigan. If there's an answer to be found, he'll know where to find it."

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

Ashin blatantly ignored the councillor's reassurance, which made her even more cautious to the woman's wiles. The Lord was deflecting Kiskla now, suggesting alternative routes for the Jedi to pursue in a quest that @[member="Ashin Varanin"] had instigated. That wasn't to say Kiskla hadn't subconsciously volunteered.

Her light eyes looked beyond the mistress to the landscape of tombs. All of these people had fought for something they believed in at one time or another, and now they were dust. Has they made their time count?

"Why did you choose this place?" Kiskla asked suddenly. Perhaps if she could know more about the woman across from her, she could better assist or revoke. If Ashin was Darron's enemy, why did she trust Kiskla? It's not that the blonde couldn't comprehend mutual respect between enemies, in fact, she had a relationship similar to that with Lord Ashmedei who in some twisted fashion, considered himself her mentor although he was one of the darkest beings she'd ever met. He believed that the galaxy was starved for great Jedi and she was using that to fuel her actions for remedying that belief.

It seemed Kiskla could define trust, but could she define Jedi?

Jed·i
ˈjedˌī/
noun; a member of the mystical knightly order trained to guard peace and justice in the universe

"I want to help." Nowhere there did it mention anything about the current, oppressive state of The Order; consumed with burning heretics. Kiskla didn't believe in pacifism either.

"The case is, there will always be defections. History has always had them, something will always rub someone the wrong way. I'm sure even in The Fringe there are those -- you mentioned monsters perhaps they're enough to turn you away, visa versa" she held up her hand and picked away a strand of blonde hair that had dampened against her forehead from the bit of mist that was crawling back after Ashin's initial dismissal of it. "You want to return to your beacon, but your beacon is different. It's more aggressive, not what it was when you were forced to leave; do you think your reintroduction will be enough to make people stop and reconsider? Make those enemies of yours turn their heads and be interested to see that you are the Knight you were, but with more knowledge and experience?" Then her mind reverted back to the peaceful worlds Ashin had mentioned. "They surely wouldn't strike your peaceful worlds or your friends, and nor would The Republic. I think it would be a uniting gesture, and one that brings you closer to the peace you've been hiding for eight years."

"People always fight what's going on outside, but if things happen from the inside, people are slower to react."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"I chose this place because there are only so many worlds between Republic and Fringe space, and because it's one of the few I know to be free from innocent bystanders. Any symbolism was purely subconscious.

"And yes, there'll always be defectors, losses, people who fall away from an ideal. Sometimes we care about those people. Oh, it's easy enough to divide the Fringe Confederation -- we're mostly democratic, as it happens; I was building a Republic out here, not an Empire -- it's easy enough to divide the Fringe into people who might follow me even if I wasn't some uncompromising conqueror, and people who just want to watch the galaxy burn. On the one hand, you have people like @[member="Jared Ovmar"] and @[member="Sargon Vynea"], neutral Force-users, benevolent administrators, good men -- or my wife Spencer. On the other hand, you have people like Shinju Ayasha, a cannibal Sith Master who carries a chainsaw sword and helms a prison ship full of torture chambers. A fairly clear distinction...but I dislike speaking in absolutes. Because in the middle you have people like @[member="Penumbra"], a good man and a loyal helper, loyal to his homeworld, but venial and amoral and even brutal. @[member="Lucien Cordel"], a villainous type but a man so polite he once let an entire landing force touch down unopposed for fear of blowing up the man to whom I'd promised safe passage. Cordel and Penumbra are my people. But I don't know if they would follow me if I told them the truth. I came...very close to telling them once, but the timing wasn't right.

"I know you're trying to get me to talk about me, and trust me, I can wax eloquent on the subject, but what sticks in my mind, what holds me up, isn't me, it's them.

"But you ask whether I think my hypothetical return to the Light would be enough to make our mutual friends in the Council reconsider their position. After a term as Sith Empress and another as the next best thing, if there's one thing I know, it's close-minded pride. Path dependency. And yes," she said with a sigh of fatigue, "yes, they would strike my worlds. Because my space may be peaceful, but I'm running out of targets for the monsters and the ambitious. I was trapped on Mugg Fallow for a month, and they invaded Atrisia just for something to do. The Omega Protectorate tried and failed to take Kayri, out of nowhere, and I have no choice but to turn my people loose on the Protectorate in turn. The Confederacy recently tried to drop a starfleet on my head, and I mean that literally. War is trivia today, a pointless obstacle to real business, and you can appreciate why I'm scrambling for options.

"If I surrendered to the Council of Reconciliation, the Republic would take one look at Shinju and the Atrisia battle and what my people are about to do to the Protectorate -- and invade in a heartbeat, just as soon as they're done eviscerating Kaine Zambrano. And how could I change everything without blood, one way or another? How could I reform my worlds without exposing them to the monsters? How...how can you have so much trust in the Republic, after all the things they've done stretching back to Cato Neimoidia? If they would invade for tariff reasons, how much more would they invade a government that has given refuge to the worst of the worst?"

@[member="Kiskla Grayson"]

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

Ashin had just unloaded a dose of reality on Kiskla, and she took her humble pies with a grain of salt. "If a former exile can get off the podium and become an elected grandmaster, I have confidence that there will be a buoy in the system once again." Divisions were infinite throughout the galaxy -- if there were a way to bring everyone together? It's not as though she anticipated Ashin to link hands with Jedi Master Apparine and circle around Coruscant merrily, but there were terms for unification.
A small smile tugged at the corners of the blonde's mouth at @[member="Ashin Varanin"]'s idealistic speaking of her people and who they were. Individuals. Individuals composed around an idea -- it was proof itself that all ends of the spectrums could be shoved into one little area of agreement. She was talking about them in terms of savages, though. People who needed to be exercised, run around in order to release their pent up energies in the most brutal of fashions; invasions, dominions, and war.

Options. Ashin wanted options. Kiskla was a Jedi, and not just any Jedi, a councillor that the woman had herself reached out to in effort to reconcile. Maybe. Kiskla really didn't know Ashin beyond her politeness and self-made legacy; perhaps if Darron were present things would be different. Atrisia and The Fringe; both worried factions when it came to The Republic. Heck, The Jedi and Republic were megaliths of the galaxy right now and here Ashin was appealing to Kiskla's sense of trust and soul.
There would need to be a path paved for Ashin's re-introduction, even though the Republic tended to be dealing in immediacies these days. Korriban would soon be in their clutches--then what? The entire Jedi Order had taken on her nickname, wildfire, and they were spreading, fanning out to wherever the Sith were and driving them out of their comfort zones; where would they run to? Where would they hide?
Balance. Again. Balance was demanded. One could not exist without the other.

Balance! Balance had focus. Focus that was currently not on Ashin, even if she was a prodigal conqueror. If she went public with her secrets, it would only accelerate her being a target of the Republic; which she could not afford given the strength of the faction right now. A strength that would make them a primary target when the Empire fell. If Ashin wanted to return to the light, but was worried about members of her current faction. Kiskla could easily offer to warm the waters for a treaty between the Fringe and the Republic. That would offer assurance to both factions; but that's not what the Dark Lord was looking for, Kiskla finally perceived. That's not what she had sacrificed for. She'd worked for more than that, to see that being a Jedi still meant something integral. Something she would not find right now, during The Order's transition.

"You need to wait." Kiskla finally said, no doubt skating on thin ice. It might not have been what the woman wanted to hear, but it was what was…unfortunately the circumstances. "Coming in from the cold now, will not give you the assurance you've been waiting eight years for." It pained her to say this, but it was the reality. It was the very reality Kiskla was covertly working to overcome; Ashin's name dropping had just given Kiskla a pocketbook more of contacts to reach out to.

"I'm sorry. Going public is not in your interest either. As strong as you and your people are, your pronouncement would accelerate you being a target of The Republic. You want to protect your people? I'm afraid silence is in your best interest right now." Kiskla held up her hands and closed her eyes, inhaling slightly as she continued to dispel all the conclusions she had reached "This is not a threat." Blue eyes opened, stomach knotted "In this moment, the timing is not right. But that's not to say it won't be soon." With the right person reforming the Jedi Order, perhaps the gears of change could start their spin. And Kiskla had already taken it upon herself to contact the former Grandmasters of the Order as an investigation.

"I told you I want to help, and I will -- you need to trust me on that, as much as you trust me to keep your confidence." Kiskla was not a passive person when it came to make an action of one sort or the other. Yes, she had been involved in both recent invasions on Ossus and Dac, but she'd grown from both. Hardened in a way she couldn't have imagined from merely sitting on her chair in the council, or throne on Kiffu.

"I might not be able to pave the path for you my own though." Kiskla admitted, her experience was limited in this sort of thing, but she was a fighter to her core for what she believed in; she just had to have a strong enough doctrine and reason. Her hardened gaze softened, suggesting that she'd need assistance in certain areas, just as Ashin apparently needed too. Everyone needed a stepping stool somewhere or other.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Kiskla Grayson"]

"You're right," she said -- and her comm beeped. "I apologize. Only two people have this emergency number."

A message scrolled across her screen.

"Kaine Zambrano has been captured. The Jedi have moved on Korriban." She raised an eyebrow and offered half a smile. "Apparently some brute named Krag is Emperor now, minus the Obsidian Throne, which some Mandalorians melted with thermal detonators. That's endgame. Checkmate. Which means...I am out of time, and I have only one viable option.

"The Fringe Confederation's member worlds are, mostly, democratic, though I won't pretend our governance is anything but an oligarchy, even with an elected advisory committee. It's closer in form to the Republic than to the Empire. In fact, we modeled our growth after the Omega Protectorate almost exactly. When they attacked us, they might as well have been punching a mirror." After a long examination of the misty necropolis, she turned back to the Jedi Master. "I wanted to wait to see if a better chance came along. This could break everything. But...I'm going to endorse elections. I'm going to recuse myself and my wife from running.

"I'm going to turn the Fringe Confederation into a democracy. And I want Jedi -- you, or people you trust -- to set up election monitoring."

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

Shavit.

The Jedi hadn't been able to feed the monster, nor had she been able to tame it; the Council's aggression was growing and Ashin was unsatisfied with waiting. Her time was shorter than her leash. Kiskla would not be a puppet, but she also would not idly standby and refuse an invitation that could hold merit throughout the galaxy. Who did she trust? Very few. Very, very few.
Her next suggestion was that Ashin consider an heir, but her writer must have backspaced that from that novella of a post. So, she bit her tongue when the woman mentioned she volunteered to take herself out of an election she would instigate.

"I suppose your time of giving and exploring options is over." Kiskla commented after the silence, already surmising this trait from their brief interaction. @[member="Ashin Varanin"] wouldn't give any options, because she was out of them. There was something absolute, yet something marvellous about the Jedi Knight. "Since I said I wouldn't breech your trust," Damnit, Darron "And you've no doubt considered the implications of this action, I'll assist." But she wouldn't overstep her bounds and dedication to The Republic; megalith that it was. She could, however, outsource from some members who were perhaps who had a mutual disappointment in the way the Galaxy was revolutionizing. It would also mean she could maybe, just maybe, keep an eye on the churning rise of Fringers.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Kiskla Grayson"]
It could not, of course, be that easy. But then again, she'd thought the same when she met with Ben Watts, and he'd done right by her. Perhaps she actually could trust that a Jedi would do just what she said she would. Either way, she had no words of much significance.

"Well, thank you," she managed at last. "And I mean that, Master Grayson. You have my gratitude. It's entirely possible that you're about to save billions of lives. Of course we'll submit a formal request to the Chancellor, and sooner rather than later -- it's important that these things be public, for purposes of showing my people that I'm in earnest.

"Good luck hunting for the real Jedi, Master Grayson," she said. "And thank you, as well, for keeping your word."

The mists began to fold around her, and she put her hood up. If Kiskla had something to say, some further statement or question, now was the time.

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

Yes, Kiskla could warm the waters for @[member="Ashin Varanin"] in the eyes of The Republic, but she couldn't do all of the leg work; as she had mentioned. She would vouch for the validity of the Dark Lord's request so long as it did ring true.

Ashin had her contact, and she had hers. Maybe not the private channel, but she did have a way of reaching the dark master; similarly to their earlier digital correspondence. She needn't request contact information, and to go with Ashin? That would be taboo, and not an effective use of her own time. She had people to reach out to, people that would not wait. The falling of the Emperor, and the Jedi's advancement on Korriban meant more than clicking rocks for Ashin and her wife.


"And to you." Kiskla merely nodded, considering it appropriate given the dismissal of the dramatic mist curl. The blonde turned and walked right back up the ramp she had descended from not long ago. She was a firm believer in redemption and reconciliation, and she'd need an associate in this whole..managing things. And who better than the most placid person she knew?

The Jedi Master took a seat in her Defender-Class Corvette and took it out of stand-by mode, glancing only briefly out of the windshield toward where the woman she had been speaking to had stood not long ago. Privacy and solace was what Ashin was seeking, and Kiskla in her youth, would assist in setting that up. Everyone deserved something in their lifetime; something that they didn't have to fight for. She didn't linger much longer before opening a communication channel to the most point-blank individual she was associated with; @[member="Marcello Matteo"].

[Takeoff.]