Panic! In the snow? (Niysha)

[Kamon's OOC]

He didn't remember the last time he'd slept as long as he had after they'd left Obroa-skai behind. Of course it wasn't going to be as much sleep as he wanted it to be, it never was, but it was a lot more refreshing than he'd expected. So when the chime went off that they were arriving, he sat up with a totally sleep covered face and and scratched at his cheek before standing and heading for the fresher. A quick shower would have him back on his feet in no time. Or, rather, a long shower because he kind of fell asleep while standing in the shower.

Either way, he eventually got himself together and got dressed. Being presentable was good. What he hoped was that Niysha had gotten some sleep so that he didn't have to literally drag her everywhere. That would be more than a little annoying. Not that she was large or anything, and even at his size he could probably toss her over his shoulder, but he just didn't want to make the effort to drag her off to do things.

He opened the door to his quarters and walked down the hall to the mess where he grabbed a quick bite, something he could eat on the move, and a large glass of water. Then it was off to the bridge with him, stuffing his face with some sort of delicious pastry before taking long gulps of water to make sure it actually went down instead of sticking in his throat. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if he died of suffocation due to a pastry getting lodged in his throat? Oh he'd never live that one down with Teynara, that was for sure.

"Status?" he asked as he walked onto the bridge while licking his fingers clean.

"We're approaching the world now." The captain looked past him. "Where's your blind shadow?"

"She's not blind. And I'm sure she'll be up here shortly. She'll want to be so she can find out what we're doing next. Not sure she'll be excited, but it's bound of be an adventure regardless."

"Maybe one you wish you hadn't gone on..."

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

One shouldn't have been surprised that, when Niysha walked onto the bridge of the Eidolon, she was carrying a datapad that was holographically projecting her new favorite passtime, Sith history, just a centimeter from the screen. Text was generally easier to read when it took a heavier battery drain to render. Her belly full of slightly tastier slop than she was used to and her mind full of Sith dialects, she'd only barely managed to keep from running into about a half-dozen crewmen on her way to the bridge.

She didn't have to "guess" that that was where Leos was. His aura was the only one on the ship that had that "bubbling magma pool" quality to it. She could See it from a hundred meters away. The Eidolon in general was small enough to allow Niysha perfect awareness of almost every room if she sat in the center and concentrated hard enough, which made it terribly convenient for her. It was also the least intimidating ship she'd been on for that exact reason - she could See the whole thing, and every life within it. It made space travel much less horrifying.

The rest of the staff was already up and moving about. The captain of this ship wasn't someone Niysha had much experience interacting with, unlike the captain of the Mirial Accord. She had no idea what he and Leos were talking about, but it was probably something that "didn't concern her." She'd gotten a lot of that at the academy, generally when it was something that very much did concern her but the instructors hadn't felt like keeping her informed. Not that that was an obstacle, of course. When people underestimated you, it was painfully easy to pry out their secrets.

The young Miraluka wandered onto the deck in freshly cleaned but still featureless black robes. The datapad in her hand made an occasional whirring or beeping sound, and she tapped its screen after about thirty seconds. Eventually, she found her place behind Leos...not unlike a shadow. A blind little shadow. She gave a nod and something resembling a smile, making a conscious effort to turn her head to face Ignus as she did so. "You seem rested, master. I take it that that means we're moving on."
[member="Darth Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"And you seem absorbed in that datapad," He responded when she spoke up. "We are already at our next destination. Arkania."

He didn't know whether or not she knew anything about the planet, or whether she even cared to, but that didn't matter. She was going to learn about it when they set foot on it. First hand knowledge was always the best, and experience always beat out what you could learn from reading. Text never accurately explained situations no matter how hard they tried to do so. It was like a particular disease of theirs that they couldn't shake. He couldn't think of a way to fix it, either.

The crew was piloting the old Corvette down towards the planet after receiving clearance to do so. They need only provide their identification as an Ignus Industries research vessel in order to get landing clearance most places. More often than not they didn't even care what it was that they were claiming to be researching. Most places didn't ask too many questions as long as you weren't an overt military ship. Theirs was a military ship, but it's age made it less dangerous.

"You're going to want some warm clothes and boots. If you don't have any, check with the crew. One of them might have something close to your size."

He doubted it, but it was better than nothing. The ship touched down with a light thud against the snow covered tundra. Nearby he could make out gentle mountains. It was a good area to start.

"Meet me at the exit ramp when you are ready."

With that he would depart the bridge and head to put on a few more layers and some boots. He didn't want to freeze. Then he'd head for the ramp and trudge out into the snow a ways, allowing his body to acclimate to the climate change. It was much colder than he was definitely used to.

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

Funny thing about setting up a secret enclave on the frozen peak of a mountain: you tend to keep the protective gear you picked up there, just in case. Niysha happened to have - on-hand, even, in the little bunk she'd requisitioned - the parka and winter boots she'd worn at the top of Kyrikal-17. It only took her a few minutes to get ready, but eventually she showed up at the ramp down in dark colors, datapad and lightsaber concealed beneath an acre of heat-absorbing fluff. When you have the chance, always arrive prepared, whether that means clothes or tools or weapons.

Of course Ignus was already outside. The man waited for no one before trudging ahead to do...whatever it was he wanted to do. Honestly, that was probably the most Sith-like thing Niysha saw in him. He wasn't callous or cruel, he tried to neither corrupt nor oppress the common man, and his bloodthirst was, at worst, contained. The only traditional marker he seemed to ever show was that devil-may-care attitude.

...Which, to be perfectly frank, was a damn sight better than Niysha had ever managed. Whereas Leos barely had anything in common with a traditional Sith, Niysha was the perfect opposite of one. She was supposed to be a lord of the galaxy now, elevated above the masses by her power and talents and passions. Instead, she spent her time blending in and avoiding attention. It was shameful. How no one had killed her yet for tarnishing the very soul of their Order was a mystery.

Collect yourself, girl. Focus.

Niysha made her way off the ship and into the snow, pulling her parka closer around her body as she did so. It was difficult to read her expression at the best of times, and doubly so when contorted in freezing discomfort, but there was an attempt at a smile somewhere in there. "You always take me to the nicest places."
[member="Darth Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"I take you where I want to go and where I think you should go. I'm not here to wine and dine you."

That would not be good of him. No, he'd feel rather filthy if he did such a thing with his apprentice. Seemed borderline criminal, really. Of course he knew there were plenty of Sith that had done such things over the years. Hadn't gotten them anywhere either. But really, he wasn't into that sort of thing. Apprentice poking. Padawan poking. Didn't matter if it was a Jedi or a Sith, it just genuinely seemed wrong unless they had a relationship prior to one becoming the others teacher. That seemed more reasonable. Anyway, here he was getting off on a mental tangent again all because of what she'd said to him. Bad Leos.

"Come along. We've got some trekking to do."

Of course they could have gotten speeders. Or they could have parked the ship closer to the mountainous area. But why do that? Trudging through the snow would be good for her. It was hard work and if there was one thing he had definitely noticed about her, it was that she wasn't quite physically well off. No, he didn't want to bulk her up like a body builder, but he figured she could do with a little more musculature. It would help improve her endurance, which might become necessary for a Sith like her. He knew that he'd used his ability to run to his advantage a few times. Living was better than dying a pointlessly stupid death, after all.

So they'd trudge through the snow towards the mountains. Leos didn't have his lightsaber with him, but he had his swords. He wasn't wearing his armor, either. It might have been a bit warmer than some clothes, but it wasn't built for trudging through snow. No, he wore heavier pants, a long black cloak, thick black gloves, and had his hood pulled up and over his head. Beneath that he wore a scarf around his face, a red one just to counter all the black he was otherwise wearing. Black was good in the snow as it drew heat in. Considering he wasn't trying to hide, he didn't care that he stood out like a sore thumb.

"Keep up. You fall and you'll die out here."

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

Aaand of course he wound up snapping at her. Because why wouldn't he? Niysha was, after all, a useless wreck. She visibly flinched at Darth Ignus' reprimand, pulling her parka closer around her body. It was a futile gesture in her fight for warmth, of course, since this was an ice planet. Still, simple breathing exercises were one of the first steps to understanding and manipulating the Force. Metabolism control wasn't at all Niysha's specialty, and indeed she tended to have the lowest affinity for Control effects, but it was enough to simply improve her body heat and keep her limbs moving.

Of course, she moved in silence. Simply speaking had gotten her barked at. She honestly worried if she was breathing too loudly. Nothing would have given her more pleasure than being able to disappear, to be the only thing not garnering the attention of others, but that was impossible here. There were only two people on an icy tundra knee-high in snow, and Darth Ignus seemed entirely consumed with Niysha's failures...which were myriad.

Fortunately, the little Sithling took being berated very well. It wasn't necessarily motivation for her. It was simply something that was happening. Niysha had long since learned to translate all reprimands as instructions. She had no ego to damage or self-confidence to undermine, so the primary biting intent behind that kind of verbal abuse was simply lost on her. It's impossible to extinguish a fire that died out a decade hence.

Of course, her joints were screaming at her. Her muscles wanted to collapse after what had to be multiple miles' worth of snow-hiking. Had to be. She wasn't keeping track, but it couldn't have been less than...five. Or eight. Maybe a dozen. Her focus hadn't been so much destroyed as aligned into keeping herself standing, which meant her Sight was long gone. There was nothing but snow and ice out here, anyway. The only aura of consequence was barking at her. No need to focus on that.

Which only left her with the pain of constantly-tearing muscle fibers and the searing agony of fatigue poisons setting into her limbs. Also ice.
[member="Darth Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

He was only being harsh to try and motivate her some. Part of it was that he wanted her to grow at least a bit stronger. Even if she ended up being like him, and had a distinct hatred for fighting, she was inevitably going to have to do so. He wanted her to survive such an encounter, which meant she needed to know how, but she also needed the endurance to do so. Running away was acceptable if it meant being able to live. But she wouldn't be able to run away if she didn't have the muscles to carry her. Walking miles through snow was a good way to build muscle, but it was also beneficial to their goals here.

Incidentally, if she did collapse, he wouldn't leave her in the snow. Leaving her to die would be wasteful, and, ironically enough, he had a bit of a soft spot for her. Letting her die was just not in the cards.

They trudged further until he stopped and turned back to glance at her. He felt certain they were drawing near to their destination. Sure enough, he saw a small ship zip over their heads, heading for just over the next rise. You see, a little birdie told him that the hunt was on for Arkanian dragons. Someone had discovered a functioning nest, and, being as they were incredibly rare, had put out the call for people to go and claim them. The problem was, Leos had gotten wind of it. He intended to stop anyone that was attempting it, and secure what he could for himself, partly because he didn't trust anyone else to care for the creatures as they should be cared for.

"Time is of the essence now. I hope you're prepared to fight."

He knew she was either going to groan, balk, or both at that, but it didn't matter. She was going to be fighting these animal slavers because he wanted her to. Trial by combat. Learning from getting some injuries would be good for her. Besides, he could get a measure of how she handled herself, which would help him to help her after the fact. They neared the rise and he looked over. There were about five of them that he could see. They were loading caged dragons onto the ship, and then three of them disappeared back inside of a cave. He turned his attention to Niysha and motioned to the two at the ship.

"Kill them."

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

Niysha did not groan or balk. She'd heard the ship passing overhead more than Seen it, as it was far out of her effective range, and she'd been entirely focused on not falling into the snow and being left for dead. Now she had something else to focus on, so once more she trudged onward in silence. Apart from moving ahead of Darth Ignus, Niysha didn't really even offer any confirmation that she had heard him. Her feet made slow, plodding steps across the ice towards the landed ship.

When she got within line of sight (but not line of Sight), she could hear a mumble ahead of her through the snow, as if someone was speaking on their comlink. Not surprising. She was given to believe that snow was "white" and had ensured that her entire wardrobe was "black" to prevent unseemly fashion disasters. These two colors were apparently opposites, which made hiding a black thing in a white field difficult. She assumed it would be like one Jedi aura trying to hide amongst the entire Sith Order. Fortunately, stealth was not her goal.

Eventually, Niysha came close enough to See one of the men she was being sent to end. She immediately collapsed face-first into the snow, her struggling, plodding steps ceasing in a dramatic way. The man rushed over towards her, because a tiny girl lost out in the snow was bizarre, but more importantly because men as a species had been taught from a young age that women were small and frail and to be protected. Niysha was small and frail. Now she was in danger. Why wouldn't this man rush over to help, or at least check her harmless body for vitals?

The snow was unbearable, covering and surrounding her body for the half-minute or so it took the approaching poacher to reach the prone Miraluka. When he did, Niysha still made no movements. He fiddled with her for a moment, attempting to find the proper place to grab, then lifted her up...

Snap-hiss!

A shining, blood red blade emerged from the hunter's back as Niysha took a quick scan of what he had on him. No grenades, which was unfortunate. If she recalled correctly, a blaster energy cell could be charged to explode with proper tampering, but she didn't have that kind of time now. He had a survival knife on him, of course. She could use that. She was far beyond the effective range of an untrained shot with a pistol. Her fingers tugged at the knife to pull it from the man's belt, then she reached up one weakening leg to kick him off of her lightsaber.

The man's living partner started shooting immediately. Fortunately, blaster deflection primarily hinged on one's ability to be guided by the Force, which was one of Niysha's standard five senses. She didn't feel like she had any particular need to worry about it at this range, but he would eventually get lucky. Niysha's concentration focused almost exclusively on her Sight, expanding it a few meters beyond where she was standing. She took a couple of steps forward, another blaster bolt flying wild, this time to her left. Mentally, she tracked the trajectory of each shot to a source point. Another bolt, this one close enough to threaten her. She rode the eddies of the Force on a wave of precognition, her lightsaber moving into position to deflect the shot before the man had even fully pulled the trigger.

A third shot was all she needed to find out where he was. Niysha brought up the knife with her free hand and hurled it, then left her hand extended as she guided it directly towards the man who was shooting her. Precision came easier than power. Targeting a small object was every bit her forte. The blind Sithling was rewarded by the sound of pain a moment later. She received a quick premonition and ducked to one side, her lightsaber maneuvering into position to deflect another lucky shot. Then she charged as the man tried to remove a knife from his...ribs, probably.

Her Sight picked up on him after about five sprinting steps. Niysha immediately altered her course, closed in, and took his head (and shoulders, because sloppy cut) from his body. After checking for a moment to See the light fading from his aura, she retracted her lightsaber and collapsed to the boarding ramp of the ship, gasping for air. It was warm inside. So, so warm...
[member="Darth Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

Leos was actually a little surprised that she didn't say anything or at least groan. The surprise only lasted for a minute, though. Niysha had the mental fortitude of someone much greater than the other Sith. When they'd been like her they'd have probably been complaining. That was how many apprentices ended up dead. Only the ones who learned to do as instructed regardless of how much it hurt managed to survive. Wouldn't be the case with him and Niysha because he knew she was physically never going to match the other Sith. If he expected too much from her he'd end up ruining what she could become, and that was more important than physical nature anyway.

He watched from a distance as she approached them, waiting until she could be seen before falling face first in the snow. That had to be cold, but the effect was immediate. A smirk touched his lips. Clever girl. He watched as one of the men trucked his way over to her and began examining her before lifting her. He shook his head when Niysha's lightsaber suddenly protruded through his backside and his aura in the Force was extinguished. She'd played to the male sensibility towards frail young ladies. That was definitely clever and he liked that.

The second one had ducked for cover when he'd seen his friend brutally murdered, and then began firing shots at her. She deflected the shots that got near and then threw something which glinted a little in the light and the man cried out in pain. He could only guess it was a knife, but he wasn't certain where she'd gotten that from. Was she carrying knives around now? That didn't seem likely, but then again, how would he know if she was or not? Not like he searched her or anything. Either way, he shrugged and watched her walk over and slice the second man in two. She'd clearly meant to go for his head, but ended up slicing more or less through his upper chest instead.

That was going to need some work.

It was then that she walked to the ships ramp and collapsed. At this point he moved forward, because there were still three others lurking about. When they came out of the caves and found her lying there and the other two dead, they'd end up killing her. As he approached her, he reached out towards the entrance of the cave system and pulled snow and ice down to collapse it. Would it keep them from getting out? No, they'd eventually dig their way through the snow, but it would take them a while, which meant that he was free to walk over to where Niysha had collapsed and crouch down beside her.

"Tired?"

He reached down and gently nudged her head down so her chin was touching her chest.

"Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. You'll get more air in that way and it'll help calm you down."

And there he'd wait for her to get her breathing under control and relax for a moment. He had every intention of going into the ship to see what had been brought in so far, but not until she could propel herself inside. This day was about working on her strength and stamina. He could carry her, but that would defeat the point. After all, he wouldn't always be there to help her out.

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

The edges of her Sight twitched with a presence. Any flinching in terror Niysha might have done was nipped in the bud the moment she Saw the first whisps of a familiar aura, and she continued her attempt to defrost in the climate control of the ship without a word. As Darth Ignus approached, the Miraluka continued to let her heart rate settle a bit. Miles of hiking in the snow and ice followed by a fight for her life had taken its toll.

When he spoke, Niysha was half expecting Darth Ignus to mock her. 'Tired? That was only round one. Get on your worthless feet and go kill a dragon.' Instead, he offered pithy advice on how to increase her oxygen intake and physically manipulated her body against her will. As always, Niysha was not terribly fond of being touched, but as always, she was in no position to argue, complain, or object. The only way he'd likely let her up was if she did exactly as she was told, too.

Whenever Darth Ignus decided he was finished holding her head down, Niysha fought her way back to her feet again to wander into the ship. It was much, much warmer in there. She could thaw a bit, which would make it easier to do whatever ridiculous things Darth Ignus required of her next. The fact that she had just killed two people lingered in the back of her mind for a few minutes, but nothing came of it. She'd done much worse in the name of survival before, and that was all that mattered.

Survival. Not power, or prestige, or influence. Those were a means to the end of continued life.

It took Niysha several minutes of wandering the ship to work up the nerve to speak. When she did, her normally whispery voice was cracked with strain and disuse. "What are we doing here?" On this planet. On this ship. Murdering these men. Darth Ignus was measurably insane, but even this seemed a little out in left field for him. That meant he probably had a reason for putting Niysha's life on the line rather than just for his own amusement. Then again? He was Sith.
[member="Darth Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

Eventually she got the strength back to stand and walk further into the ship. He followed, but while she wandered her stood by the line of crates that he could feel beings within. Arkanian dragons were not huge. By comparable standards they were more of dragonlings than dragons. They only had two legs, even. They could easily fit within small crates like these, though it was insanely brutal to do that to them as they likely couldn't move much within such a confined space. He could feel their hurt and if she took the time to reach out through her feelings, she too would understand what was inside the crates.

"While we slept on the ship I got notice that someone had discovered this nest. Collectors are clamoring to add to their collection and now people are coming from all corners to try and nab themselves a pet."

He rested a hand on one of the crates and felt the powerful, but small, entity inside.

"We're here to stop them. But I also wanted to see your skills in combat and figured that this would be a good way to do so."

Pulling one crate down, he walked to the edge of the ramp and set it down. For a moment he remained crouched beside it, unmoving, with just his hand on top. In reality he was using the Force to call to the creature within, an usher in that it was being let go. Then he opened the crate, and the small dragon climbed out, unfurled its wings, and flew out of the ship to disappear from view. Unlike most Sith, Leos actually valued life. What point was there, anyway, in controling a galaxy if no one was alive within it? Killing off mass amounts of people and species for fun was such a waste, and in reality proved those Sith to be weak. They were scared of numbers.

"These creatures are semi-sentient, Niysha. They can think, and they should be free to do so."

He kicked the empty crate out of the ship and returned for another.

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

It was all that Niysha could do to keep from correcting her master. Semi-sapient, if they were capable of thought. She wisely kept her mouth shut.

Of course, the Miraluka didn't have to reach out with her feelings to do anything. Auras were auras, no matter how smart the creature that was giving them off was. She had to invest no more effort into this than she did into breathing, but that also meant that she had known about the boxed lizards for several minutes now. Frankly, she didn't care. She'd faced worse in her life. She'd faced worse today. A bunch of mini dragons with the intelligence of a three-year-old were hardly important in the vast scheme of things, whether or not they were being held against their will.

So now, she was crusading across a frozen wasteland, fighting poachers and hypothermia, just because her self-appointed mentor was an animal rights activist. Niysha's face showed a rare bit of very visible emotion, her lips curling down into a frown. "Master, I don't doubt the strength of your convictions, but how much of this trip is just because you want a dragon for a pet?"

When one is shown nothing but the worst in people, one expects nothing but the worst in people. Niysha's own life had been a parade of doing what was necessary to subsist in a galaxy hellbent on getting her killed. She had seen greed, pointless violence, and countless other crimes of passion. There was no conceivable reason that this wasn't just more of the same. Leos was hardly a freaking saint, and when a Sith stood to make a personal gain nothing would stop them, least of all morality.
[member="Darth Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"About fifty percent of it."

No use in lying about it. She knew his love of creatures and having them as companions and pets, so saying otherwise would just make her mentally roll her figurative eyes at him. So yeah, he believed in the animals rights to freedom from other people, but he still wanted one. So he continued opening the crates in the same manner that he had the first one, intending on finding one that would stick around and take an interest in him. Maybe one would take an interest in Niysha too, who knew? Creatures such as these were almost as interesting as the rest of the people in the galaxy in how they reacted to situations.

"The other fifty percent is equally divided between wanting to kill the poachers and wanting to keep the dragons safe."

He opened up one crate as soon as he touched it, frowning. Inside was a very dead dragon. She appeared to be wounded. There were distinctive criss crossing burns on her body indicating she'd been caught in some sort of energy webbing. That bugged him. The fact that they couldn't even catch the dragons without harming them meant these guys were amatures. They'd probably just been in the area when the call had gone out and wanted to make a windfall of creds. Disgusting, really. He sighed and set the crate down on the ground before going on to the next one. This one had a very faint and small life force within it.

Curious, he opened the lid and found an egg inside. Interesting. If they were stealing the eggs too, then they really were craven. Growing a species such as this in a confined environment from birth was brutal. He supposed that would make it more docile, but they were dragons, not cats. He gently set that crate aside as well, leaving a small handful of remaining crates to be opened, so he set about the task of opening them.

"What's your interest in life, Niysha? What's your view on its worth?"

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

Well that was a deep question. Niysha leaned against a bulkhead, crossing her arms and letting her currently-wet frizzball of hair rest against the ship's walls. How does one value life? What is life? Is it our continued existence from day to day, or is it the myriad of experiences we achieve every waking moment? Is it memories and thoughts and emotions we can look back on after years of breathing and thinking, or is it the act of breathing and thinking itself? Taking all of that extremely heavy topic at face value, how could anyone know how they really felt about life?

Niysha did, because her motivation was singular. "There's one life in the galaxy that matters to me, and that's my own. Everything else is secondary." She physically turned her head to look towards the gore she'd created by the boarding ramp. "That man's life got in the way of mine, so I removed it. It lost any value when it became an obstruction to me waking up tomorrow." She didn't shrug, or smirk. There was no flippant disregard here. Niysha had very, very few principles, but she stuck to them. This was simply a statement of her credo.

"If you want to help these critters, then I'll be helping. If not because you want me to, then because you pose a very real threat to my life, and the main way that I circumvent that threat is by doing what you say." The Miraluka reached up one hand to flick a dribbling bit of water out of her defrosting hair. "But this isn't my crusade."

After a moment, she stood up properly and half-looked back over her shoulder, focusing her Sight towards the cave. Still nothing. The rest of this crew weren't going to be in there forever. Eventually the shit was going to hit the fan, and Niysha would get caught right in the middle of it. The best she could hope for was to protect herself while Leos took care of the imminent threat...or, if she got the chance, to try to bisect some poor fool who tried to rush her down. Fortunately she had a few more minutes of peace before that happened.
[member="Darth Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"Why should your life matter?"

Her response had come with a smirk from him. So, after all, deep down inside of her where it didn't come out often, there was indeed a Sith lurking about. He'd known that, but he wasn't sure what it would take for her to express it. Either way, like all Sith she valued her own life above the lives of others. Therein was the difference between the two of them. Whereas he did value his life above others, he also valued the lives of others, at least some, as equal to his own. Teynara, for example. And the value he placed on his life was directly connected to the need he saw in the galaxy that no one else was pursuing.

That being said, he valued Niysha's life because of the potential she had within her to be of benefit to himself and his cause. The reason he'd asked why her life mattered was because he wanted to know why she felt she was worthy of being valued. If it was nothing more than she was she, well, then she was no different from every other being in the galaxy. Everyone valued their life above others ultimately. Self-preservation was an integral part of everyone's mind.

Either way, he opened the next crate and was greeted by a larger, pink dragon which looked about and spewed fire at him. He staved it off with the Force and the dragon whuffled at him before flying around the crates. First it settled near the one with the dead dragon inside. It stared at it for a moment and then flew around the crates some more before settling on the edge of the one with the egg inside. It breathed fire into the crate, and Leos moved over to peek inside, but the egg was fine. The dragon screeched at him, but he didn't back away from it. Instead, he settled down beside the crate and stared the dragon in the eyes.

"And who do you think you're the master of, dragon?"

He smirked a little, staring the beast in the eyes. Time to tame a dragon.

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

Finally - finally - Leos managed to get a diffident shrug out of Niysha. It was a pretty pointless question. With a few suicidal exceptions, everyone wanted to continue living. There wasn't any real reasoning behind it. There was survival and instinct, and that was it. If there was any way that Niysha felt she differed from others, it was only because her perceptions were the only ones she was in any position to attribute direct value to.

"Why should any life matter?" The Miraluka asked while unzipping her parka, since it was getting a little warm in there. "The number of people in the galaxy capable of anything truly unique in the history of forever can be counted on one hand. Darth Revan, the Jedi Master Yoda, Hutt crime lords...none of them achieved anything that couldn't be achieved by someone else who was put into similar circumstances. Everyone is an accident. My life has no more or less value than any other life according to the Force."

The little Sithling finally found a place to sit, on top of a box that was devoid of auras. She felt the biting need to rest her legs for a long moment. "And since no one else is going to do me any favors, the only one left to keep me alive is me. I matter to me, because no matter how much anyone else might care about my survival, they'll always throw me under the bus if it comes down to it." And she'd do the same. It was only fair.

Leos was...busy. With his lizards. Fortunately, Niysha could See in two different directions at once without much effort. She could watch him and the entrance to the ship at the same time, though one of those was moderately more interesting than the other. To be perfectly honest, Niysha had pulled off mind tricks on very much sapient creatures before. This was nothing fancy. Beasts were beneath the mental facilities of most people. It almost felt pointless, to be frank, but everyone had their moments of sentiment. Niysha liked holding onto the memories of Adekos, Leos liked playing with cats and dogs. It was whatever.
[member="Darth Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

He smirked a little at her response, though his eyes never left the dragon.

"Those aren't accidents. Those are the influence of the Force. Not just anyone can do what they did. A lot of sacrifice went into the efforts of people like Revan and Yoda. Not everyone, not even those like us, are willing to make those sacrifices. We do not exist without reason. We each have our own parts to play."

It wasn't the playing with cats and dogs. She might not realize it, but though he did have a soft spot for these creatures, everything he had obtained for his bestiary was dangerous. Every single creature. They weren't just pets and companions, they were guards. In essence, he was building an army of beasts that he could rely upon to defend him if he needed them to. It wasn't about playing with creatures. It was about power in his own way. If he could command armies of beasts against his brothers and sisters, especially beasts like Maalraas, resistent to blaster fire and with bones that were resistant to lightsabers, then could anyone really stand in his way?

But he did also like the creatures. Their affectionate nature was actually rather pleasing. It was forcible taming, and that honestly didn't bother him, but it was taming nonetheless. This dragon in front of him, however, was proving a challenge. It's ability to understand made it harder to confuse. He had to decide on a different tactic. In this case, he decided to try and query it, showing it imagery that would draw the emotions of kinship and bonding, and applying it towards the dead dragon in the box nearby, trying to gauge what relationship this dragon had with the now dead one. The relationship with the egg was easy to understand so he didn't need to question it.

"The other three should get throw the snow barrier soon. I'd suggest a trap if you can devise one."

His eyes never left the dragon as he spoke, and he wasn't making any moves to do anything about those that would break free soon. The ball was in her court. She'd already shown she was capable of thinking above and beyond the normal. The more she did that, the more she'd realize that combat wasn't just about strength, and that a strong mind could defeat any opponent. If she learned that lesson, really understood it, he was confident she'd be able to survive without his presence.

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

Niysha entirely ignored all of the motivational nonsense Leos tried to ply her with. Whether or not he was right didn't matter, because all of those people were long dead. Their destinies had ended, and frankly that didn't make them the best of role models. She could think of much better things to do with her time than to worship old dead people. Chief among them, of course, was postponing her own demise through making sure this madman playing with lizards didn't have any reason to kill her.

Earlier Niysha had disregarded overloading blaster energy cells to create impromptu explosives as it would have taken far too long to set up. This time, she had no such time budget. As she walked out of the ship, zipping her parka back up to shield against the ice and snow, the Miraluka yanked the knife out of the decimated corpse's ribs and pulled his blaster from his belt. A few moments of tinkering - opening the side of the blaster and jamming the knife softly into its energy cell - created a jury-rigged pressure-sensitive mine that would detonate the moment it was subject to an appropriate amount of force. The spark from the ruptured energy cell would engulf all of the tibanna gas in the blaster's chamber and fire off with about the same force as a low-grade plasma mine.

After hiding the mine on the shortest path from the cave to the ship, beneath a gentle layer of snow, Niysha repeated the process with the other blaster nearby, taken from the first man she'd killed. This one went right next to the boarding ramp. Sometimes one used the Force to guide one's hand, but most of the time an analyst's mind would work just as well. When she was done, Niysha carefully boarded the ship, avoiding her second plasma mine.

"Trap's set, master. Try to be careful walking out of the ship," she said simply, returning to her previous position on an empty crate. "Or, better yet, just don't go outside. Wait for them to come to us. That's...probably safer."
[member="Darth Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"Safe is good. More fun to make them freak out over their dead friends and come to us, anyway."

Yeah, he was still a Sith. Anyway, back to the dragon, he'd managed to deduce that the one that was dead was this one's mate. The egg, as he knew, was its only offspring. He had a suspicion that the dragons mated for life, but he wasn't entirely positive of that and wasn't sure how it was that he would ask. He pondered, but came up with nothing direct, so he tried to convey the message of this dragon mating with another dragon. The result was a breath of fire in his direction once again. Quite warm, really. He did make it disperse around him for the obvious reason that he didn't want to become a crispy Mirialan.

Either way, that answered his question. Clearly the dragon didn't want to mate with another of the dragons, which meant that it was going to be overly protective of this egg. So, he couldn't separate them. That was fine. Just meant he'd either have to raise the egg himself, or find someone to raise it. He briefly considered Niysha, but quickly dismissed that notion. She had no love of life as he did. It's creation and nurturing. She wasn't suited for the role.

Instead of focusing on that for the moment, he inquired of the dragon what it would do now. The response was disjointed and confused. It didn't know, so it was just going to stay with the egg. That would have meant it would remain captured were it not for the fact that he and Niysha were there and were taking care of the poachers that had come for the dragons. Speaking of which, they'd managed to bore a whole through the snow using their weapons, and were now walking out with a hoversled that carried more crates, presumably also filled with dragons and eggs and such. Greedy bastards were probably trying to take the whole nest.

"Showtime. Let's see how your trap works."

Next time he'd bury them deeper.

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

It was probably a good thing that hover sleds, y'know, hovered. Otherwise there would be quite the nasty surprise awaiting a whole bushel of dragons when the cave wall finally came down. Niysha had focused her Sight far enough away that she could easily track who was going to step on what first. The sled came last, of course, and stopped the moment the Sith could hear the first blast. Rudimentary though it was, it was still a plasma mine. When one of the poachers planted his foot on an idle snow drift, he didn't have enough time to even notice the heat before his leg was incinerated from the knee down.

The panic was immediate. Niysha couldn't help but smile a bit at the chaos, less out of sadistic glee and more because her plan had worked, at least a bit. Within a minute or so, the other two poachers stopped their panicked attempts to help their legless friend and looked around, noticing the corpse in the snow, and the half-mutilated hunk of flesh by the door of their shuttle. They backed up and drew pistols, calling on their comlinks to find out what might have happened, but there wasn't much around to hear them. Two dead men, two dead comlinks.

Eventually, one dug up the nerve to run back to the ship for medical supplies. The second blast was much louder since it was right outside the boarding ramp. This one was less lucky, as the angle he stepped on the blaster sent the plasma scorching backwards instead, catching both of his feet in the blast. Knocked violently onto his face, he fell chest-first onto the boarding ramp.

Inside, Niysha cocked her head to one side. "All three are still alive. One's uninjured."
[member="Darth Ignus"]