Kept them secret, kept them safe. [Ashin | Spencer]

[Dissero]

Such powerful little things, secrets were. They weighed more heavily on the mind and soul than the greatest of grief or the most hideous of wounds. He'd been a collector and keeper for years of many secrets, but now it was time to get back to his roots.

Time to revisit the notion of proliferation - a la Blackguard style.

First, however, it was time to see some old friends.


To Her Majesty the Queen of Eshan and her esteemed wife Empress Desmius -

I find myself nostalgic and heavily burdened with memories and secrets. It would be my great honor to meet and share them with you in private before I release them to the galaxy at large.

Coordinates enclosed.

Yours,
Dissero


[member="Spencer Jacobs"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Dissero"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

To the High Archivist of the Sith Empire, greetings.

We would be honored to help ease your burdens, especially when so many of them were placed on your shoulders by us at one point or another.

***​

​

Not far from the proscribed coordinates, a freighter hit realspace in a flare of Cerenkov light. The ship was a modified MCX-1150, unobtrusive and only moderately well armed. It had carved a deniable path in the time since the fall of the Fringe: its pilot had lingered in Mandalorian territory and Wild Space, hunting several Lotek'k and other curious monstrosities. Of its wide variety of false telesponders, the ship currently bore the name Lumiya's Creed.

One scarred finger touched the comlink controls. "Archive, this is Monolith. You around?"

 

[Dissero]

"At your 3," came the response.

Rounding the smallest moon of Thral, The Magnum Opus materialized from the umbrage, drifting like a black cloud searching for a parade to rain on. The ship had traveled from one end of the galaxy to the other collecting and carrying all manner of heinous artifact and item since coming under the ownership of the Archivist. Today was no exception, though it likely had not been so full since the day of the great Rudrig Heist.

"Monolith..." there was a grin in that voice, "apt callsign. Come on in, water's on for tea."

"Is this wise?" Mahet the Noghri turned from the Captain's seat to shoot a narrowed glare at the man standing with his hands on his hips grinning ear to ear.

"What do you mean?" Dissero replied.

"Exposing your collective to this woman...this Desmius. Can you trust her?"

"Mm," the Archivist itched at his beard, grin contorting into a smirk, "only about as far as I can throw her."

"That's terribly reassuring..."



[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer remained quiet through the ride. It had been one of the first trips they had taken together in a long while so the beginning of the adventure was between them taking care of some tension they had been having. After a long nap followed by a snack Spencer remained in one of the passenger seats with her face buried in her gamepad. Looking up over it, she let Ashin finish her brief transmission.

“I wonder if Dissero will ask me to marry him again. It seems to be the thing when we all see each other.” Musing over the last time she had seen the man she chuckled and closed the game she was playing and rested the device in her lap. “Wonder what’s so important that he reach out to us like this.” Her lips pressed together as they drew closer to where the meeting was to be held. “It worries me.”

[member="Dissero"] [member="Ashin Varanin]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"] [member="Dissero"]

"Acknowledged, Archive. Initiating docking approach."

As Ashin steered the freighter in, she glanced back at her nonchalant wife. "If you ask me, I think he's contemplating a change, and if so it's about time. Not much has changed for him since Rudrig, maybe earlier." She refocused on the docking procedure. The ship was no dancer, but that made it easier to handle in a moment like this, when a false twitch could rip hulls. "But you're the sensitive. If you're worried, I'm worried. Not for us, I think, but maybe for him."

The docking collars met and locked, and a new stillness settled over the freighter's hull. Ashin unbuckled and stood. "Maybe he's found himself a girl. Or no, wait, wasn't there a...?"

 

[Dissero]

The scene of the cargo hold was a familiar one.

Stacks of crates and storage boxes. The detritus of the Sith Empire and Dissero's expanded collection littered the space before him. It wasn't everything, not by a long shot, but it was a lot of everything he no longer had need for. All manner of important artifacts had been copied or duplicated in some form. Holocrons had their secrets pilfered and recorded, tomes - their passages memorized. The rare artifact was, indeed, also present. Ship sat off in the corner, emitting a ponderous aura as to the goings-on. In certain nondescript boxes some priceless pieces of history sat waiting, their presence masked by the curious lining of their housings. Only for today.

Only for this meeting.

Dissero took a seat on an aged mechno chair, setting an ornately carved box atop a stack of crates at his side. In his other hand a thermos of steaming tea.

Mahet would be there for the pair as they embarked upon the Opus, greeting them with a bow and leading the way. It was a short walk to the hold.

[member="Spencer Jacobs"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer nodded answering her wife. "I am worried for him, this seems so sudden that he'd contact us. Either way, it will be good to see an old friend." They arrived and were greeted with crates. Spencer remained at Ashin's side as they were greeted and lead towards where Dissero was. Spencer kept her eyes peeled mostly curious as to why Dissero felt the need to begin shipping off his collection. The man didn't seem to be the type to do sorts of things without a very large reason. A hand reached out and grasped Ashin's for a moment, then pulled away after a squeeze.

"He has so much stuff."


[member="Dissero"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Dissero"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Dissero's Noghri aide had never been obsequious, per se. Almost an old-style butler with a hint of assassin, though that hint might just have been Ashin's preconception of the Noghri. She grunted in agreement with Spencer as they followed Mahet from the airlock into the cargo hold. Ashin whistled low, scanning the piles, before her eyes settled on Ship. The meditation sphere stirred in recognition. Their relationship had never been especially friendly -- one of the many reasons she'd passed the sphere into Dissero's care. Not hostile, not as such, but Ship liked its Sith purer and more malleable.

"How are you, Dissero?" Ashin looked away from Ship and focused on the archivist. "Cleaning house? I'm more than a little curious what prompted all this. Contemplating life changes?"

 

[Dissero]

A wane smile behind the beard met the two women. Hands on his knees, the man made a noncommittal sound, "I've done enough taking and keeping for now. Time to start ...giving back."

Dissero stood and moved to meet them between two stacks that stood taller than even he. A hand was offered first to Ashin - a former mentor and sovereign of his youth, still idolized in many ways. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her and for certain she looked different, but that was hardly cause for concern. Ashin had gone through quite a few changes in her own life, not all of which he'd been privy to, but enough to take it in stride.

"It is good to see you both again. Ashin," should she take his hand to shake he'd also reach to grip her shoulder in a firm squeeze, "Spencer," his faint yet warm smile turned to the blond as he took her hand and planted a kiss on her knuckles. The exchange with each woman was brief, though he lingered before Spencer for a moment.

"I have something for you. Come," with a gesture he lead back towards the center where the mechnochair sat in aged abandonment. Dissero carefully took up the ornate box and turned back to the Empath, expression level as he lowered himself to a knee. Here it comes Spencer - the ultimate proposal with the ultimate ring.

"Spencer Jacobs-Varanin," a dubious seriousness that couldn't be held, he broke into a grin and chuckle, "feth I'm a twit. Ahem, this is actually very serious," he opened the box lid, an outpouring of power from within suddenly filling the hold. Within the Aing-Tii Codex sat in a bed of red velvet, "this artifact was entrusted to me by the Aesir Inari many years ago. It would ease a great deal of burden from my shoulders to pass its care on to another. One more deserving. Will you accept?"

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]
[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

As always, Dissero had his way of making Spencer blush. The man made the woman feel like she was 15 again. Of course her love and loyalty would always be Ashin’s, but Dissero just knew how to work it. A coy smile and the freshly kissed knuckles made their way to Spencer’s face as she watched the man move about his belongings to fetch something of importance. A box. Spencer of course being known to fiddle with many holocrons had a thing for things that kept other things inside of them. Even with just the box her features lit up right away.

She didn’t dare interrupt him as he continued on about the box. There was something odd about his actions. She had seen the whole one knee thing in many holofilms, usually the man was the boyfriend or the long lost lover of the heroine of the film. She continued to blink in rapid succession as she continued to watch him and at times glance over to Ashin with a confused look on her face. He said her full name like the guys in the holofilms and all the little lights in Spencer’s head started to flicker on as she started to make the connections on what was happening.

Again, before she could say anything about the sanity of the man on his knee. The box opened and Spencer forgot everything she was going to say and just stood there with her mouth open. The Aing-Tii Codex was something she coveted, she had always wanted it - to learn and to discover more about the Aing-Tii and their culture. Forgetting how to breath, the woman turned to Ashin and then back to Dissero. “Amazing!” He offered it to her and she just stared a bit dumbfounded and awestruck. After several moments, she snapped back to reality and nodded quicky. “Yes! I’ll accept it and never let it out of my sights. Dissero - thank you so much...you know me far too well. Thank you Thank you!” Lunging forward carefully, she wrapped her arms around the man’s frame and hugged him tightly.

Upon release she would take the box and the codex and hold them tightly. She as curious on what he was giving Ashin, but she felt somewhat guilty not giving him anything. Looking towards the ground for a moment, she once more moved forward. Lips puckered they aimed for his cheek - it was the least she could do since he was always kissing her hand and then now giving her something she had always wanted.
A kiss on the cheek seemed fair...right?

[member="Ashin Varanin"]
[member="Dissero"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Dissero"] and [member="Spencer Jacobs"] got what was probably a tolerant smile as Ashin took the Archivist's explanation in stride. She crouched between piles of objects, any one of which could be worth thousands or millions to the wise or the foolish. Psychometry was outside her skillset, and flow-walking worked more for locations than for people or object. The Force offered little insight.

But she'd been a holocron caretaker herself, ruled and accumulated and distributed collections -- she'd been Jedi Watchman of Korriban, Sith Empress -- she'd been around. The Force might not tell her about these things, but in a real way she didn't need the Force. That piece had Dromundi aesthetics, this one was a Rhen Var derivative, over there was the personal sigil of Ludo Kressh...

Thirty-five thousand years of history's castoffs. To some eyes, and maybe to hers, a thing of beauty.

"I'm not much of a collector," she said over her shoulder, running a hand along Ship's hull. "But you make me wish I was rich, Dissero, you really do."

 

[Dissero]

The hug illicited a startled laugh from the Archivist and he sat for that short moment smiling tight-eyed into her wheaten hair. The weight off his shoulders was an indescribable relief - the Aing'Tii Codex above all held the most value in his mind. Inari had made it perfectly clear that it could not be returned to its origins and must find a new home. A new keeper other than herself.

If not him - well, he'd spent plenty of sleepless nights wondering just who. It wasn't until a short revisit to the Phobis Holocron that he knew just what person it would be. Dissero watched Spencer with a doleful expression as she released him.

"No, tha-" she smooched him on the cheek and for a fleeting second he was but a boy caught in the affections of a pretty girl, "...thank you, Spencer," and then the man returned and he was grinning, fangs and all. Ah, if only...

Those blue eyes drifted from the glowing Empath and followed the sensation of Ashin's darker presence, finding the woman standing by Ship, "I didn't invite you to brag, Ashin. Half my riches are a direct result of you," he lifted a hand, motioning to the whole of the horde, a veritable treasure trove of timeless, priceless things that could no longer serve him, "I am compelled to repay a debt to you that I've never felt rich enough to fulfill. Take it. Any of it. All of it if you wish. I will sleep easier knowing you don't feel cheated."

[member="Spencer Jacobs"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Dissero"]

"You are the epitome of honour," said Ashin. "If the Jedi had men like you, I'd have tried harder to stay one of them. Or I wouldn't need to have tried so hard. They could learn a thing or two from you about adulthood, I think." She folded her arms and turned back to the stacks.

"I assume you'll do this, make this offer, for the best of those whose treasures you've kept. I assume you'll keep the things that absolutely need to be kept - Velok's supernova crystals and so forth. I assume, you being you, you'll look to distribute what knowledge you can, possibly in a mischievous way. Rudrig alone speaks to that. Those three processes ought to take care of everything important that you've decided to part with."

She turned around. "Leaving just the dross, the accumulated odds and ends with minimal significance. The junk drawer, the boxes of broken curios, the half-finished manuscripts of dubious provenance." Her voice had a self-mocking twist. For all that her careers had spanned the galaxy, she didn't like to get wordy unless rebuking someone who needed it. Why she was resorting to long words and jokes, she couldn't say-

Unless it was just her discomfort at the infinitely rare occasion of being thanked.

"The mess that's left after all of that. That, I'll take. I've got uses for it, I think." Teaching Ibaris to research properly, maybe, or... potential others. Half-formed ideas flitted through her head. "Basic training tools, basic instruction materials, the dross that goes a decicred a dozen."

 

[Dissero]

"No wonder I made such a terrible Sith."

Dissero did not believe it was possible to feel chastised, defeated, and yet strangely honored all at the same moment. Yet here was [member="Ashin Varanin"], proving once again that nothing was truly impossible. She'd figured him out--dotted every i and crossed every t. Feth, was he losing his touch or was Ashin just that good? Maybe his rare lack of paranoia about the former Empress had something to do with it. He'd never felt a need to keep things from her nor had he ever been as unpredictable in nature as Velok; the old whiphid still had him beat and likely would for all the years to come. Something about his devilish, conniving nature that Dissero couldn't fully subscribe to. He still had his regrets, his fears. This wasn't part of them, though.

Dissero frowned into his hand, stroking his fingers along his beard.

"The dross is yours," admittedly he was feeling somewhat disappointed she didn't want more. It struck him as unfair that she should want for nothing when she could likely have or take anything. There were no grand delusions within the Archivist that he could best her in a duel, keep her from what she so desired. He'd witnessed her take half the galaxy already. He moved towards another stack of crates and pulled open the topmost box, revealing other small chests nestled within Force-dampening material inside.

"and this," Ashin Varanin's personal holocron sat between the twin holocrons of Velok, brought together by the regrettable passing of Rave Merrill, "it's not mine to bandy with and I will continue to safeguard it, if you wish, but I'm sure you probably have better uses for it beyond sitting in a box. For what it's worth it has been immeasurably helpful for my projects."

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer remained aside from the other two, she had something she had only read about in books and studies. The codex was something more valuable than many of things that Dissero had, she wondered why he had offered it to her for safe keeping. The small pyramid in her hand reminded her of the Kaiburr crystal, another artifact that she owned with Ashin. She held the codex in her hands as she watched Ashin and Dissero discuss things that she was only vaguely familiar with. The two had history along with the Sith Empire, brief and somewhat happy memories flooded her mind as she remembered her time as the First Apprentice. Dissero had his own group of memories, mostly filled with his requests for her hand in marriage, but one memory in particular made her chuckle. Their raid on the Jedi Archives with Velok was something. Spencer continued to look around wondering what else was found during that raid, if he still had any of it.

Spencer made her way towards Dissero and looked into the crate where Ashin's holocron and Velok's resided. Looking back at Ashin she shook her head and then looked back towards the holocrons. "I am sad that Velok passed these to you, I always assumed I was his favorite." Her nose wrinkled as she chuckled. "If you have no use for them, I'd love to have them even Ashin's I can't help it I'm a fan." She looked at the crate and then wondered where another item was. "The Phobis Device, what have you done with it?"

[member="Dissero"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Dissero]

"Only one of his twin holocrons was passed to me," the man said, reaching in to pluck Rave's copy from the setting, "the other was given to Rave, which I then inherited upon her death. So I was only half his favorite," blue eyes examined the piece in his hand as he held it up towards the light and then proffered it to Spencer, "I'm sure you were his actual favorite and that his adoration for you could not be made manifest. But since Rave is no longer with us to use her own I see no harm in passing it to a new keeper until such time she deigns to rejoin us in one form or another. If I see her I'll let her know it's in good hands. I'll be keeping my copy for...sentimental reasons."

"As for Ashin's," he looked to the woman, "the fate of that holocron is hers to control, not mine."

Hands loosely clasped at his back, he watched the pair with an easy gaze, eyes half lidded. A certain sense of comfort was growing in him, a bit like easing into an overstuffed armchair in front of a fire after a long, arduous trek across the galaxy and back again.

"The Phobis Device. What have you done with it?"

"Hm?" a brow lifted, pulling up with it a faint smile, "What Phobis Device?"

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]
[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Dissero"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Ashin held her holocron up to the wan light of the cargo bay. There'd been a time when this thing -- its construction, its updating, its safeguarding -- meant a great deal to her. Now, she found she valued it primarily because of how she and Dissero had shared it. "I'll take it," she said, "and thank you for keeping it safe. I'm glad it was useful." She chewed her lip, thinking. Something of a premonition, maybe, though it refused to take form. The same elusive thoughts that had prompted her to ask for the dross. "And I suspect," she added slowly, "that I'm going to find uses for it soon. Don't ask me what."

There were no intuitive ways to hold a holocron apart from in an upraised palm; they were designed to demand your full attention. Fortunately, Ashin had long since mastered the art of crossing your arms and nestling a holocron in your hand and elbow. "I seem to recall that you had interests on the Coldharbour, or maybe that was someone else. I'm afraid I've lost track of it." The wandering Dark Side bazaar had been one of her anonymous pet projects back in the day, a retrofitted Republic star destroyer.

 

[Dissero]

A nod. Blue eyes followed the procession of the Holocron in the hands of its Maker, thinking that it looked particularly content there, where it belonged. There was never something quite as powerful as the feeling of returning home, to the source of it all.

"Coldharbor..." his brows perked in thought, head dropping as the memories of the place flooded in, "that was me. Shared a shop with Rave back in the day, when AEL was just starting up. Haven't been there in a while. No matter, just some supplies and basic sword crafting materials there. More dross." Though the prospect of having lost Coldharbour was a curious one. He made a mental note to add its recovery to his long list of things to do when I should be doing other things.

"How holy do you feel, Ashin?"

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Dissero"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Ashin shook her head with a self-deprecating half-smile. "I left holiness behind a very long time ago." Though not without regrets. "I hope this isn't a leadup to a pun. If you need a hand with anything, I'm more than willing to lend it."

There'd been a time when she'd have been more hesitant to give out a carte blanche commitment. Times when her actions had carried implications for the welfare and safety of trillions. Now that she had freedom, it didn't feel terribly relaxing; it just felt like she could lend aid when she felt like it. Aid or destruction, and the Venn diagram of those two was getting ever closer to circularity.

She glanced at Spencer, met her eyes, and shrugged. It was a What have we got to lose? kind of expression.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer bit her tongue on the Phobis device, she knew of its creation and decided to take Dissero’s comment as a sign that it was something they should both forget about. He was someone that she could trust and was probably the only other person after Ashin that was still alive. Still, she was nervous about the entire situation and would question him further later. Her eyes caught Ashin’s as her and Dissero spoke about Coldharbor. Spencer remembered the weapon and once again she didn’t know how she felt about the weapon just being out there.

Folding her arms, she looked at Ashin and Dissero and sighed softly. The look was returned to Ashin as to say to lose? nothing. Their child was grown and in safe hands with some baby faced Mandalorian, there was nothing more they could do for the girl. A smirk spread across her face while she laughed under her breath. “So what’s going on Dissero?”


[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Dissero"]