Not the best of Reunions

[Zagara Vao]

Although back on her native homeworld of Ryloth, Sonorous felt like an alien - and to no surprise. The other patrons in the bar knew better than to get in the face of someone in Mandalorian armor, even if the helmet had lekku protruding from it as well. Fully kitted and looking like she was ready to jump onto a Besalisk War Droid and jump right into battle, she simply stood there - part waiting for something interesting to happen, part waiting for her drink to arrive, part relishing the homeworld after years spent lightyears away.

Her dark grey and crimson red armor was chipped and scraped across - little blaster burn marks and the occasional slash scar could be observed from her suit, and from her utility belt a lightsaber dangled, clinked and clanked. On her back she carried her beloved Baragwin Assault Blade, crossed with her repeating blaster rifle. Holsters on each side of her utility belt carried a Mandalorian blaster each, and those were only the weapons visible to the naked eye. There was the ugly business of the Mandalorian utility gauntlets as well. Yet despite all this, she was just another average grunt to the clans - nothing quite to her name just yet, and everything to prove and showcase. Admittedly coming to shady pubs like this one seemed beneath the more fastidious and hardline-conservative Mandalore, but it was often a good place to get leads on bounties, or in Sonorous' case, good Pazaak games.

"Looks like things haven't really changed much", she mumbled to herself with her helmet comm unit off so no one else could hear her. She was in no position to really help, but maybe, just maybe she thought to herself, that she'd be back someday to do just that. Mandalore and its clans were her home now, but that didn't rule out acting honorably on their behalf from time to time at the very least.

"Hmmmmmmm."

She pondered to herself as she stood in silence by one of the pub's corners, between two small atria that each had a table already occupied by the regulars.

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

The Cantina had not changed in the past two years that had gone by. Jaryn had no idea why he had come back to the place,maybe it was rather sentimental of him to do so. It still looked like a festering dirt hole still offering liquor and the Twi'lek exotic dancers,and as usual there were still drooling idiots of all races fawning over the attractive women. Jaryn of course could understand the feeling if he disliked the fools. He remembered being aroused by one particular Twi'lek who seemed to enjoy the attention,and than he also remembered that the Twi'lek had a spark of force sensitivity that remained unlock,and had cunning that was almost worthy of being a Sith.

Than after sometime after that he had found the same slave girl on Korriban where they dueled for the right to become an apprentice to a Sith Master. He had beaten the girl to a bloody pulp,and he had not seen her in the past two years. He had went to the bar,and ordered a shot of Corellian Whiskey he noticed a Feminine looking figure who was covered in Mandalorian Armor with two lekku sticking out from the helmet. Jaryn knew about Mandalorians and there long time feud with the Sith. They were at first allies in the Old Sith Wars Thousands of years ago when the Mandalorians were allied with Exar Kun,but since his treachery there was a longstanding feud that had lasted millennia.

He than sensed the same Force Signature that he had sensed two years ago,and was quite surprised as he gulped the shot down he gave a grin and said. "Well. Look what we have here. If it isn't the Slave girl that i crushed years ago. What you couldn't unlock your true power so you throw your lot in with Mandalorian dogs."


[member="Sonorous Daemon"]

 

[Zagara Vao]

Sonorous looked over the the counter from the corner where she stood, and shook her head all the same. "I remember you", she replied as her helmet-comm finally activated. "Tell me, Jaryn, has your shoulder healed since then?" The young Mandalorian then approached the bar as she took a seat beside him without saying any more, and then slowly removed her helmet. Her face was a little older now - her skin seemed sand-blasted but still attractive nonetheless to the common galactic scoundrel, but it was evident the rigidity and brutality of clan life had molded her into something else. She seemed leaner, not quite as sultry anymore.

As her held her helmet on her lap, she ordered a Corellian ale for herself, and only spoke to him again moments after taking her first sip and putting the glass back down. "Stooping as low as back-handed compliments, are we?", she continued with a smug grin as she licked her lips and turned to her left to face him. "The Sith had what I thought I wanted. The clans gave me what I never knew I needed. So did you end up getting the apprenticeship?", she then asked almost mockingly.

Around them, some of the barkfolk and even the barkeep were starting to grow uneasy.

[member="Jaryn Starkiller"]

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

Jaryn could see how she was enjoying every second of pushing his buttons,,and knew by the way she was talking about his failed attempt at getting a master,and was even tempted to reach in his robes to get his lightsaber and cleave her head right off. But he had shown restraint and replied in a deadly calm tone. "You do realize i can just strangle you with a mere movement of my hand,or even a thought for that matter. He knew that Zagara was a fool when she left the sith. She could have had the chance to unlock true power,and that power was ultimately the Dark Side. During there duel she mostly used gadgets in there duel which was nothing compared to the power. of the force.

[member="Sonorous Daemon"]

 

[Zagara Vao]

Zagara smiled and chuckled a little as she took another gulp of her Corellian ale, not bothering to make eye contact with the Sith as she wiped the foam from her mouth with her armored forearm. "Ah, I always loved the banter from you Force wielders", she calmly said as she finally turned to Jaryn by her side. "Oh I know you can, Starkiller, I know that every second I spend breathing right here in this chair is only because you choose to let me live. If you wanted to kill me, why haven't you yet? Likewise though, if I wanted to kill you, it'd take less than a heartbeat for me to unholster my blaster and put a searing hole between your pretty yellow eyes and out the back of your skull, core-worlder. You wouldn't even have been able to finish that petty little threat you think would faze a Mandalorian man, let alone a Mandalorian woman."

Another swig of her ale as she maintained eye contact with Jaryn, finishing its contents before putting it down and slowly starting to chuckle. "It's good to see you again, warrior." Her facial expression lightened up and she quickly turned to the Twi'lek man behind the counter, gesturing with her glass and pointing with her eyes at Jaryn's for a refill. Just before he could not and turn away though, she stopped him and instead handed him her helmet.

"What are you doing?", the Twi'lek barkeep asked,

"Your glasses are too small. I can't even taste the ale before it all goes down. Fill this instead."

"That's.. that's not a pint, Zagara."

"It is where I'm from now, Sohka. Now fill 'er up."

She then turned back to Jaryn, stoic as ever but on a lighter note by now. "I take it then the affair with Abyss didn't go as planned. So what's your plan now?"

[member="Jaryn Starkiller"]

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

He chuckled as he poured himself another round he replied as he gulped said round down his throat savoring the burning liquid and almost laughed when the bartender was told to fill her helmet with Corellian Ale. He gave her a smug smile. "Oh trust me i Can take down a woman alright it really doesn't matter to me,and why don't you just go back to exotic dancing it was what you were good at anyways." He than was confused by the niceties she was displaying to him,and he did not want to mention the details of the duel so he just said this. "Well i still plan to find a Master and that is what i intend to do." The bartender brought him the rest of the bottle and he filled another glass.

[member="Sonorous Daemon"]

 

[Zagara Vao]

"Hey, you just met me - you wouldn't know", she joked as she drank out of her helmet, not maintaining eye contact at this moment but smiling nonetheless. "Most men can take down most women for sure", she agreed and nodded, "but that's only because they haven't met me." She then leaned closer, reached down with her other hand and grabbed the lightsaber hanging from her utility belt, and put it onto the table - pushing it towards him before continuing her story, as the Mandalorian fancy for telling epic tales kicked in.

"You see this?", she asked him with a smug smile of her own as she grabbed it and pressed down on the activation stud to make the blade go active - a bright, almost white lightsaber out of the blue startled nearly everyone in the pub. "Picked this off a Padawan who got a little too cocky while his master was busy elsewhere. Long story short, he thought I was easy because I was Twi'lek, he's now dead, and I now have his weapon. See what happens to people who still think I'm like that? Tsk.", she grinned as she deactivated it and handed it to him.

"Keep it", she continued, "I doubt the Mandalorians would be impressed with it anyway. You might be able to use it more - I certainly won't." She then looked at it quickly. "I broke it open by the way - I put it back together of course, but since I'm no fancy Force User, you might want to test it before using it so it doesn't blow up in your face and make you look like a complete Gamorrean. Oh and by the way, if you're wondering, it's Firkrann. Effective against droids."

[member="Jaryn Starkiller"]

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

He hooked the saber to his belt,but he had doubted that he would need a jedi weapon. He hoped to one day pass the use of such weapons relying solely on the dark side. He than glared at her saying that females were superior to men,and his a blood was boiling the former slave was rather arrogant,and he replied irritated. "Well Schutta is that a challenge i hear,because if you think females are so superior than prove it." He than sipped another shot while grabbing the bottle,and taking a long swig looking her in the eyes.

[member="Sonorous Daemon"]

 

[Zagara Vao]

"When did I say all females were superior to all males? You think I'm from the Matriarchal Empire or something?", she scoffed and laughed as she took another huge gulp from her helmet, now emptying it and wiping it with one of her utility fabrics produced from her pocket. "For the record, I don't believe that. What I said was that maybe you're right - maybe it is easy for males to take on females. I wouldn't deny it - it's probably true. But there are a few equalizers, Jaryn." She smiled now as she fastidiously put her helmet back on and reactivated the comm unit, allowing her to speak to him. The time for eating and drinking was over, so the helmet came back on.

"The Force comes to mind, or the female could be Mandalorian, and particularly me", she said, shrugging and tilting her head to the side a little - the playful little Twi'lek was still in there, for what it was worth. "I don't normally go around picking pointless fights in pubs, palaces or cantinas, but I've seen my fair share of scum thinking they can best me. Heh." She then chuckled and shook her head. "All dead or had to be put in bactas. I'm no Force User, Jaryn, but I know you're smarter than trying to cross swords with a Mandalorian."

[member="Jaryn Starkiller"]

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

He put the bottle down.and replied "You still forget your fancy armor,and weapons are nothing in the face of true power. How would you even like to settle this little dancer." He let his hands off his hilt,and wondered what her expression was behind that T vizier helmet. He honestly kinda liked her better when she was a dancer,or even an acolyte now she was cocky,and arrogant which seems to Aggravate the young Sith,and wondered what would happen on this day.


[member="Sonorous Daemon"]

 

[Zagara Vao]

Sonorous laughed and hit the counter lightly - startling the others again before she replied stoically and calmly. "You Sith bite at every bait, don't you?", still resting her elbows on the bar but now her helmet turned sideways to face him. "And that's rich, coming from you. Fine, say that we took away my armor, my weapons and left me naked - what about you without the Force? What are you?", she then leaned in close until he could almost see her eyes through her helmet. "You can comfort yourself in knowing that yes, you can kill me with the Force just as easily as you and I both know you can. That doesn't bother me. What I find funny is that you can speak of the Beskargam that way when you hide behind the Force like the angry little boy we both know you are. Take away my armor and my weapons, and I can still kill. I'll survive. I'm Mandalorian. That's what I do. At the end of the day, the armor's symbolic of what's in you", she said as she patted her chestplate, presumably where her heart was. "What about you - where would you be without your hokey religion and your mystic powers? You speak of true power like you understand it - you don't, because all you Force Users are the same. With your power comes your dependence on the Force - your greatest strength, is also your greatest weakness. Without it, you're nothing."

She let a few awkward seconds pass before she pulled away, chuckling as she turned away again to look behind the counter. "Maybe someday you'll understand that. When you do, and realize you really want to know what it means to fight, I'll save a training cell on Mandalore for you."

[member="Jaryn Starkiller"]

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

He stared right at her hoping that his yellow eyes were staring right through her helmet. He grabbed one of his sabers out,and stuck the emitter right under her chin,and said in a passive aggressive tone. "Yes,but you would never understand what it means to wield such awesome power. And if i didn't have such powers i Would have served as an Imperial Pilot,but that was before i Murdered my so called Family and became Sith. So tell me what shall we do now,and why should i not activate this blade huh?"


[member="Sonorous Daemon"]

 

[Zagara Vao]

"You can try", she simply said with a grin through the T-visor of her helmet. "I don't think you're familiar with Mandalorian iron, are you? Besides, it's evenly matched." Her helmet nudged downward, gesturing towards her heavy blaster that was already unholstered and aimed straight at his viscera.

"This suit's plated with the toughest steel in the galaxy - courtesy of the homeworld. You won't be the first lightsaber-wielder to think he can cut through the pride of my people, and you won't be the last. Exar Kun thought he could, and he barely scratched it. The mesh and fabric under the armor plating is a cortosis-beskar alloy especially woven for me by a very special Meran mechanic. You can certainly try pressing that activation stud, but one of two things happens, considering the nature of this alloy. Either your lightsaber fails to penetrate my suit, or the cortosis-weaving shuts your lightsaber off completely. Either way, that's more than enough time for me to pull this trigger, and scramble your innerds faster and harder than a Rancor through a Ronto." Her voice was almost a whisper as she spoke under her voice, not showing the least sign of intimidation.

"I'm going to give you one chance, core-worlder. Lower the blade and you live. Unless you're Darth Plagueis, you're not going to walk away from this one."

[member="Jaryn Starkiller"]

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

Jaryn was angered,but had to think of course he could kill her with a saber but it would be more fun to do it with the force anyway. He reluctantly pulled his saber away from her chin and hooked it back to his belt as he gave her a hard stare. Jaryn didn't like to be defeated especially by some Twi'lek he humiliated two years ago. Many of the patrons were staring but the Sith could even careless. He replied irritated taking a swig from his bottle before speaking. "Well it seems we have reached an impasse. To be honest i liked you better as a dancer than this."

[member="Sonorous Daemon"]

 

[Zagara Vao]

"I'm sure most people do - having a pretty little exotic dancer always seems like a better companion for a drink."

Sonorous retracted her Westar 35 and holstered it once more, taking a quick glance at everyone staring to gesture at them to mind their own business. "Most people don't really like the idea of not being able to control something", she answered back lightly as she turned back to the counter and left a little credits on its surface: payment for the drinks - both hers and his. "I haven't forgotten how to dance - I don't think I ever will. But when I put this on, I made a solemn vow."

She then stood up quietly and turned to face the door, her head tilting slightly towards Jaryn as she spoke a little more: "The next man I dance for, entertain, or please, is going to be the man I marry."

[member="Jaryn Starkiller"]

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

He walked towards her following her. He said to her in a light less irritated tone of voice. "You do realize i still sense the darkness within you. No matter how hard you try you won't escape it forever i'm sure it still gnaws at the back of your head every single day. Even though i may want to kill you allow me to accompany you i'm sure you wouldn't mind." He ignored the stares from the other patrons and some of the dancers as well,and moves up to walk right beside her and out of the entrance. He had to admit he kinda have liked the dancers and when he made that previous statement to Zagara was probably because like the rest of the morons that were watching he was attracted to her even though he would never admit it of course due to his pride.

[member="Sonorous Daemon"]

 

[Zagara Vao]

"Hmm. Letting the man who wants to strangle me to death with the Force accompany for a stroll? How could I refuse?"

And yet a few minutes in, she was telling tales again of what she'd been up to since he decisively curb-stomped her on Korriban. "[...] That Jedi sure was something. In the end she got away, but boy was that a fight. She pulled off an impressive trick where she could throw her saber like a tribal weapon and ultimately find its way back to her. Pretty unreal. Do you know this technique?"

The two were walking through the decrepit streets of Lessu - Ryloth's capital for what it was worth, but the scars of the Galactic Civil War could still be seen on the blaster marks on the adobe buildings' walls, the occasional crater, and the generally sorry state of the population. "During the war", she began again, "my homeworld was bombed so bad they could have glassed it and the end result would have been the same. The separatists, mainly the Trade Federation, segregated my people into concentration camps like animals. After the war ended, the Republic 'liberated' the planet, only for the syndicates to roll back in. Slavery all over again."

Zagara sighed. "Even until today." She then looked at Jaryn walking next to her. "Jaryn, if you were put in charge of a planet like Ryloth, how would you run it?"

[member="Jaryn Starkiller"]

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

They both walked out and Jaryn let out a chuckle at her sarcasm leaving the bar behind. He replied upon hearing her story about taking down a jedi he said flatly. "Well that is a very crude form of Saber Throw it is an easy ability to use." They walked together along the city streets Jaryn was taught to be an Imperial before becoming Sith,and when he heard the Twi'lek's question about running the world like Ryloth he didn't know what to say except this. "I Would run it like the Empire did. Except i wouldn't have made a lot of mistakes that Palpatine made,and just lure the people in with kindness while keeping the dictatorship the Empire did and not let Slavery run rampent unless it was a time of war than use the Enemy for Slave Labor and that would be the only exception in matters like that.

[member="Sonorous Daemon"]

 

[Zagara Vao]

"So you think the Emperor made a lot of mistakes too?", she queried as she kept walking, her attention drifting from house to house as the two walked past several fruit stands, peddlers' carts and run-down housing apartments. "Well, I suppose he did. He died in the end anyway." They eventually reached the spaceport, and after a quick round of preliminary inspections and her showing her license of ownership of the Mynock to the local authorities, she turned to Jaryn again. The life of the Mandalore had hardened her, for the most part. She was still a blabbermouth by Mandalorian standards, but she was learning to restrain herself more and more with each passing day - progress, for what it was worth.

"So, you have a ship? Or you fancy tagging along for something I have to do?"

[member="Jaryn Starkiller"]

 

[Jaryn Starkiller]

He replied thinking about what he said,and than turned his head to look and said. "Of Course he did. He was one of the most powerful Sith of all time,and fulfilled the Grand Plan laid out by Darth Bane almost two thousand years ago. But he was also a Megalomaniac who didn't see the threat of the Rebel alliance as serious,and Violated the Rule of Two which Vader also did but he should have ruled instead of Lord Sidious."

He managed to reach the spaceport with her,and noticed a few poor hungry kids fighting one another for a meal,and ignored it. He suffered a similar past as his parents were spice addicts that abused him daily. He enjoyed killing them for how they tortured him and he did not regret it once. He snapped out of his reminiscing and said to her. "I have a Sith Infiltrator although i do not mind tagging along if you can trust me that is" He slightly grinned underneath his hood when he finished his sentence.

[member="Sonorous Vao"]