Overdue Answers

[Samka Derith]

Spoiler

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Mustafar​

Darth Vader's Castle​

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A lone Imperial shuttle approached the once stronghold of the Dark Lord of the Sith. It descended upon the landing zone amidst sulphur fumes, a hiss of pressure as it clamped to the ground. When the doors opened, the woman who exited may have subverted expectations. Small in stature and petite in form, this was Samka Derith. To most she would be unassuming. Her freckled youthful face to her childish demeanour as she delicately hopped off the boarding ramp made her seem modest. The denizens of this place knew better. This was their Overlord. A young woman who knew how to play to the strengths of her appearance so well that the disguise had blended in with the personality. Where one stopped and another began was a mystery no one held the answer to.

But the man waiting for her might have a greater idea than most.

Boots thudded on the surface as Samka marched forwards towards [member="Kyrel Ren"]. She was still getting used to the man's new appearance, finally healed of his injuries thanks to some bizarre experiment with cloning and his daughter. Immediately she found the heat immense but she made no show of it aside from the sweat already beginning to form on her ashen white face.

"Kyrel!" She called out a greeting to the older Ren on approach. "Always a pleasure to cross your path." She stood on the landing platform, hands held on her hips. "I trust you prepared me a warm welcome," a teasing smirk crossing her face. "Although this planet is warm enough, wouldn't you say? How you spend so much time in this place is beyond me."

She turned her head to the left, looking past the landing platform and upon the magma fields, coal black mountains and piping volcanoes. Extreme the environment may be but she found a certain beauty in it. The lava was captivating in its own way. A pity about the smell.

"You'll be wondering why I've come but let's discuss this inside," Samka's eyes sparked with excitement.

 

[Kyrel Ren]

https://youtu.be/lAttuezmWKs​

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Mustafar had been Kyrel's home since it's acquisition two years ago. Here he had often tried to teach students, a place to study and meditate on the dark side. Vader's Castle, in particular, had been a quiet place for him to live. Away from the eyes of the Supreme Leader or his Brothers and Sisters in the dark side, it was where he could carry out his own plans to benefit the Order, recently returning from a summons on the throne world of the Sith. He had only spent a day in the world awaiting whatever assignment awaited him, but strangely enough, a visitor was coming. He could sense it. The proximity alarm beeped and he could detect a First Imperial signal in orbit. It must have been a Ren, no one had ventured out to Mustafar save for the Knights of Ren.​

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He had waited as the craft landed on the pad outside, Kyrel had stood upon the platform covered in his dark robes and armor, but his mask was off. As most of the time, the mask had often provided him comfort and away from the prying eyes of other's but from the Force Signature he had sensed outside that there was no need for it, not this time at least. The door opened past the platform that had stood in the middle of the Castle, the lava flowing underneath. It was almost as if in the silence he could hear the Dark Lord himself. The figure who could hear greeting him was none other than Decitus Ren. The Overlord herself and perhaps one Ren with whom Kyrel held the highest respect for had come to this place. Why he did not know but he supposed that something must have caught her attention, and it almost filled him with dread as he stepped forth to meet her, his legs moving as her childlike demeanor was ever still prevalent. Despite her age, it was nothing compared to the power she wielded, and in turn, it had almost frightened him or even made him question if he was weaker than her, that question he wasn't planning on getting the answer to anytime soon.​

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He stared at her youthful face answering her slowly in a hoarse rough voice, clearing his throat slightly so his words could come out clear. "Decitus what an unexpected pleasure this is. I would have prepared something if I knew beforehand." As usual, her teasing ways never ended to at times he had questioned whether her childish ways never ended, or if she was half insane at times he would like to have thought the former, but was more inclined to the latter. She carried an excited look about her as she suggested they would discuss this inside. He led her to the platform inside. "What brings you here Decitus?" He had said in a serious tone always the one to get to the point.​

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[member="Samka Derith"]​

 

[Samka Derith]

"So you prepared nothing?" The Ren pouted as she moved passed Kyrel into the Castle's great stone doors, lightly brushing the man's shoulder with her fingertips as she did so. "How disappointing." As ever, the tone of her words were laced in playful sarcasm.

Samka loudly exhaled from her mouth in relief entering the Castle, the atmospheric controls adjusting the temperature to a more reasonable level. It was still hot but no longer did the heat blister on her snow white skin. "I love what you've done with the place," she drily commented as she regarded the entrance hall. She hadn't been here since the conquest where she'd led the Knights of Ren in her first official leadership role among the group. Now she realised the purge of the Jedi residing here had been a test by the Supreme Leader. The fact this castle was in their hands now was a testament to herself. Herself and her allies.

She glanced back at [member="Kyrel Ren"]. He too had been there that day. In fact, he might well have saved her life. She lodged the topic in the back of her mind for later, for now they had other matters.

"It's rather impressive now, isn't it?" Samka smirked, looking up at a large blood red banner showing the First Order's emblem draped across the Entrance Hall. "Much better than the decrepit ruin we found. A true place to be proud of. Lord Vader's legacy is safe with us. A great man who deserves to not have his halls tainted by Jedi vermin, wouldn't you agree?"

She wormed the conversation back around to him, turning away from the banner and back to face Kyrel. The Sith Lord, Darth Vader, has been Kyrel's inspiration for so long and yet here the man stood, having shed that image for one of his own. Samka had never known exactly why this change had transpired. "What happened to you, Kyrel?" She asked gently, her large eyes promising understanding, coxing secrets to come spilling forth. "The return to flesh and bone?"

 

[Kyrel Ren]

As the walked the Obsidian floors that had made up most of the Castle's structure, in the years that had followed since the Battle of Mustafar, Kyrel had made it his duty to watch the Castle preferring to not let the Home of the Emperor's Enforcer, the Chosen One. He had not let it fallen into decadence, often requesting a wing of TIE Fighters to be installed into the Hanger Bay and it was often rumored that the captured Jedi's screams never stopped even after they died as if it echoed across the halls. Across those very halls First Order banners could be seen in every corner, and if one could even hear closely one would think the breathing of the Dark Lord could be heard through the steam that had risen from the magma that had flowed through the Castle.

Standing over a large banner and reminiscing of the Battle that the two experienced Knights had fought in. Kyrel faced his true trials as a Knight of Ren at the time. At the peak of his obsession with the Dark Lord, he had entered originally for the armor of the Dark Lord, still a damaged mechanical monstrosity. He had left the battle a changed and perhaps a being that was more powerful than when he had entered. Facing off against Sith training droids, Firemane, Jedi and an ancient Sith to which the battle between Light and Dark had awakened. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Decitus to which he replied. "Yes, the Jedi would only leave this place as a ruin, rather than a monument to the Dark Lord and a place of power."

Kyrel could sense that Decitus had questions to which he would answer, and just as he knew it she had asked what had happened to him. It had made him raise an eyebrow in a curious expression. For a moment there was silence, and then Kyrel spoke his tone cold and icy. "Back when I was in a living hell. I was feared yes, anyone who had dared to defy me would die. Such as Vader had once done. I strived to be him, my obsession grew beyond more than that of an academic quality. Yes, I relished the power that I wielded, but in the end, I had to evolve, to move past my obsession. I would not reach my full potential if I did. Thanks to the technology of the Yuuzhan Vong, and Tmoxin Temi's cloning labs on Kamino the same one where my daughter was created, she was able to regrow cells and flesh. Applying it to myself making me whole once more. Make no mistake Vader deserves respect, but in the end, we have to evolve to grow beyond what we were. If we do not then we are forever bound to our limits and can never let the past die."


[member="Samka Derith"]

 

[Samka Derith]

"Mm," Samka nodded in thoughtful understanding. "Evolution, we change to become what we were meant to be. Although I'd advise staying away from Vong technology in the future," she added, "Things can get messy when that's involved."

"Walk with me!" She said, a sudden spring in her step and daring smile on her lips. "I'd like to see a certain room!" Samka hopped towards [member="Kyrel Ren"], closing the gap between the two Ren. She placed an arm on the man's elbow and led him towards a corridor on their right, relinquishing her touch soon after to let Kyrel follow at his own pace. They descended further down into the castle depths, following the very same path Samka had trod when they had first seized the Castle against the Jedi.

As they walked, the girl rubbed her chin for a moment of thought. "Tell me something, Kyrel? To pull us back to our previous conversation." She sounded unsure of herself for the first time in their meetings, "You've watched me from afar for a few years now. Have I evolved? Have I changed? Or have I stagnated?" A small, amused snort followed. "And do be honest." The man feared her, she could tell despite his stoic attitude. She wanted the truth, from his perspective, and not whatever he thought she may want to hear.