Private Prodigal Daughter

[Lirka Ka]

JUTRAND SPACEPORT

The Galaxy had an odd way of drudging up the specters of the past. And Force knew Lirka had plenty of specters ready to come back and haunt her.

The privileges of being a Grand Moff in the olden days in Carnifex’s Empire of yore had made Lirka a very busy Sephi in her past life. One of the most grandiose of her projects, and one of her grandest failures, had been her spawn. Clones made in the image of the woman she once was before her evolution.

Her aspects made manifest, her pride, her madness, the sternness of her Good-Imperial-Servant farce. All but one, there was one last spawn Lirka had kept close to her chest. The last aspect.

The monster she had become.

Nova Ka she had dubbed her beastly daughter, her killing machine. But her monster had been finished too late, her genesis heralded by the death of the Empire Lirka had served for so long. By the failures of her siblings, the traitors Lirka had slain with her blade, and the loyalist who had been burnt away in the fires of war. A loss that told Lirka there would be but one Ka, one worthy soul.

So she gave her monster a ship, and a Herculean task, to go out to the unknown regions and kill. To dig through the muck and the mire, as Lirka had done. To be a headtaker, claiming great warriors and monsters as proof of her valor. A death sentence.

And so, with no tethers to this world. Lirka had left, and walked the path of dark enlightenment. While her spawn killed, and destroyed, and did as her mother demanded. A simple communicator the only thing that bound them, a thing only to be activated when the mission had been completed. When the trial was passed.

Years passed, and Lirka had deemed her monster dead.

Till the day the communicator activated. The prodigal daughter was to return to this new era, to this new empire. There would be another Ka once more.

Jutrand space port had been where Lirka deemed they would meet, so that the new captain of Sithdom could be witnessed. Lirka waited, claws clasped behind her back as she always did. The Once Sephi was all but unrecognizable from the days of the Old Empire, such was her metamorphosis. But the aura of a Ka was an undeniable thing.

And Lirka pondered while she waited. Perhaps she had finally gone soft in her old age, for she was eager. Excited even. Finally, in this era of halfwit fools and daggers ready to slit her throat.

Finally someone else could see the Galaxy through her eyes.

 

[Nova Ka]

TAG: Lirka Ka
Gear: Mantle of Ka, Edge of Oblivion

The ship touched down with a dull thud, the hiss of hydraulics filling the air as the landing ramp extended. For a moment, there was only silence. Then, slow, deliberate footfalls echoed through the hangar.

Nova Ka emerged like a shadow given form, armored in the same cold brutality that had shaped her existence. The years had tempered her into something more than the weapon she had once been—she had become the hunt, the embodiment of the task Lirka had set before her.

Her crimson eyes flicked up, locking onto the figure that waited.

Lirka Ka. Her mother.

The one whose image she had been sculpted from, whose will had forged her. The woman who had cast her out, sent her into the abyss with nothing but a blade and a command.

Kill. Survive. Prove yourself.

Nova had done all of these things. And now, she had returned.

She strode forward, stopping a few paces away, her head tilting ever so slightly as she studied her maker. There was recognition, but it was twisted by time. Lirka was not as she had been. Changed, evolved.

Nova let the silence stretch for a moment longer before she finally spoke, her voice a measured, icy thing. She had done all that her mother had asked, she now sought the respect, the acknowledgment of the woman she had molded herself in the image of.

"I did as you commanded." A pause, a beat of expectation. "Are you satisfied?"

 

[Lirka Ka]

As Nova Ka stepped from her vessel. Lirka studied her every movement, her helmet revealed none of the thoughts beneath. Even for this she hadn’t deemed it time to remove the damnable thing. Lirka gazed, and she admired.

She saw a monster, she saw herself. She saw a girl born of vats and tubes, forged by bloodshed, all things taken, and nothing given. The path Lirka had forged herself on, now passed down to her spawn.

Lirka stood there, silent. Nothing but the sound of whirring mechanisms, did she accept her? Did Lirka want this monster, did she want another Ka to exist?

The silence was broken, Lirka’s arms slowly spread wide in greeting. Her voice hummed out, a mother’s cold love. What warmth did Lirka ever have? But there was appreciation there, the bond of murderers, the bond of monsters.

“But of course, my Supernova.”

The girl would not see, but Lirka grinned wide beneath her helmet, there was glee. A new weapon in the arsenal, a powerful thing forged in her own image. Finally, her will could be exerted beyond her own presence. For Lirka Ka was no longer alone.

“This Galaxy has changed much in your absence. There is much for you to learn, and I have much to learn from you. I must know the grand murders you have committed.”

Really, Lirka wanted to see her scars. The Once Sephi didn’t scar anymore, and she missed it. Might as well live vicariously through her own clone and her wounds.

 

[Nova Ka]

TAG: Lirka Ka
Gear: Mantle of Ka, Edge of Oblivion

Nova's steps were measured, her posture unyielding as she met Lirka's gaze—or rather, the cold, featureless mask that obscured it. She did not need to see beneath it to know the kind of expression her progenitor wore. She had seen it before, in the moments before violence, before the kill.

At the greeting, at Supernova, something in her chest twisted, a sensation she did not have a name for. She ignored it.

Instead, she dipped her head, not in submission, but in acknowledgment. In respect.

"I have killed as you commanded," Nova answered, her voice steady, though rough from disuse. "Many fell beneath my blade. Some begged. Some cursed my name. None walked away."

A beat of silence, then she tilted her head slightly. "And you, mother? What have you done in my absence? What is our next move?”

There was no mockery in the question, only curiosity. Eagerness. Nova had been sent into the abyss to become something greater. But what had become of the one who had made her? What would they do together? How would their campaign proceed?

 

[Lirka Ka]

With each step, Lirka saw the mirror of herself. Pride welled in her heart, yet, she kept a predator's gaze. It is was only natural, how long could two predators stand in each other's presence till they clashed? For now, the Titans held each other's respect. And that was good enough for Lirka, she gave a similar nod of reciprocation to Nova Ka she did not want her daughter's submission, but she would demand her blade when the day arose.

The tales of her slaughters brought joy to Lirka's cold hearts. What more could she have requested from her equal? She wanted a supernova, brighter than a star, that would destroy all in its path. And all that Lirka had seen, proved Nova had risen to her expectations.

But so came the million credit question, just what had Lirka been up to in the many years? So many dark dealings, so many failures, so much death, so much power. Instead, Nova would have to be content with history. To understand just how the Galaxy had changed, know of the knives dangling at their necks at a moment's notice.

"The Galaxy has changed. The Empire of our time is dead, the new Order has risen in its place. A place of petty savagery under our new Emperor, yet the One-True-Emperor lives my Supernova. Carnifex is there to offer us his power, to forge this Galaxy into a place for people like us. Kainites, they dub us. But their titles matter not, the Dark compels us still, daughter of mine. To make us strong, to cut our way through Oblivion."

Lirka walked, beginning to make her out of the spaceport and out to the wider city scape of Jutrand. To show her spawn the civilization that they now called "home", if such a thing could ever truly be claimed in Sithdom.

"We are the last Ka's. You and I. The rest are gone, purged by me or by the flames of war."

She let it hang in the air, to understand the weight of her existence. The entire legacy of Lirka Ka now stood upon the shoulders of her clone.

 

[Nova Ka]

TAG: Lirka Ka
Gear: Mantle of Ka, Edge of Oblivion
Nova Ka followed in Lirka's wake, her stride measured, deliberate. She listened, absorbing every word with the same cold calculation that had been burned into her from the moment of her creation. The rise and fall of empires meant little to her in isolation—only what they provided, what they threatened, what they could be turned into.

And yet, Carnifex. That name stirred something deep, an ember catching in the void of her being. Power. Legacy. A force that had shaped the galaxy, one that Lirka still acknowledged.

Nova's lips curled slightly, not quite a smirk, not quite a sneer. "Then we take what we can, and carve the rest from their bones," she said, voice steady as ever. "The Dark has no patience for stagnation."

As they stepped into the sprawl of Jutrand, she took in the sight—the shifting neon, the looming structures, the barely-contained chaos that pulsed beneath it all. Civilization, if such a thing could be called that. Home, if such a word could have meaning.

At Lirka's final words, Nova stopped, her gaze locking onto the woman she had been created in the image of.

"The last Ka," she echoed. There was no sentimentality in her tone, only acknowledgment of the weight placed upon her shoulders. A purpose, a challenge. The thought did not unsettle her.

She inclined her head slightly. "Then I will not fail." A simple statement, but a vow nonetheless.

 

[Lirka Ka]

Their mannerisms were so similar, Lirka’s other “children” had been microcosms of her aspects: small pieces of the whole being. But to be the Monster? That was Lirka’s whole being. It nearly unnerved the Once-Sephi, most it was certainly a culture shock after being so alone for so many years to see someone that not only looked like her younger self, but acted just like her.

Lirka turned her head slightly to look at Nova Ka while she may not have been able to see it: Lirka grinned in both amusement and pride. Her words resonated just as if they had come from Lirka’s own mouth.

“Well stated, well stated indeed. I see your absence has not shaken the truths I have gifted upon you.”

As they watched over the cityscape, Lirka moved a clawed hand to beckon out for the great foulness of it all. So many people crammed together in the raw chaos that the new order demanded. Lirka was actually rather fond of the place, though she never stayed here long.

“The capital. Foul, overcrowded, riddled with Dark Siders and their adoring peons. Not our capital, though. Now that you are returned to us, I will make the preparations to speak to the butcher-king and allow you to visit us upon Malsheem.”

Lirka took little time to elaborate on titles or names, they could’ve stayed there all day going over everything that had happened. And well…Lirka did believe rather heavily in learning my experience.

Lirka turned to face Nova as the girl stopped. She heard her vow, and Lirka knew all would transpire as she hoped.

“But of course, my supernova. I would not expect you to. There is much work to be done if you are to keep the legacy: we are not in the unknown regions anymore, here you are nothing but the name. Make yourself known, my child, let them know there is another Ka to be feared.”

 

[Nova Ka]

TAG: Lirka Ka
Gear: Mantle of Ka, Edge of Oblivion, Star of Thustra
Nova tilted her head slightly, the ghost of a smirk curling at her lips. "Let them know?" She echoed, voice laced with dark amusement. "They'll know soon enough. Whether they live long enough to regret it… well, that depends on how much fun I decide to have."

Yet beneath the teasing bravado, there was something deeper—something reverent in the way she regarded her mother, the way she followed just half a step behind, like a predator in the shadow of the greater beast. There was no fear, no doubt in her stance, only a quiet and fervent devotion. This was the woman whose legacy she carried. The one who had shaped her, whether by intention or by the simple weight of her existence.

Nova had been made in her mother's image, but she was not a mere copy. She was something new, something more. And yet, at the core of her being, she knew—her mother was the axis upon which her purpose turned. Her creator. The one whose will had given her life. The only being in the galaxy who understood what it meant to be a Ka.

She turned her gaze to the capital below, drinking in the chaos that pulsed through the city like a living thing. It was a rotting corpse of a world, a den of filth and power, of those who whispered in the shadows and others who stood boldly atop their pyres of blood and conquest. There were many who thought themselves kings and warlords, masters of the Dark Side.

How many of them would look at her and see nothing? How many would hear her name and think it meant little?

Fools.

Her mother was right—here, she was nothing but a name. But that would change.

She turned back to the one who had created her, crimson eyes burning like twin embers beneath her helmet. Her mother. Warlord. Monster. The storm that shattered all in its wake. The one being Nova had been born to surpass, and the only one she would ever bow her head to.

She lifted her chin, voice steady and edged with steel. "Show me the path, and I will carve my own way through it. If there is work to be done, then let's begin."

There was no hesitation, no doubt. Only purpose. Only certainty.

 

[Lirka Ka]

She acknowledged her daughter coldly, it was important to have fun with your work: but reputation was everything in Sithdom, it was no laughing matter. Lirka had worked hard to rebuild her own, or at least facilitate the relatively “low brow” reputation that an Imperial needed. No reason to draw the eyes of the many lords, and the False-Emperor after all.

“Keep your foes alive, they are the way to spread legacy. But have your fun, Nova. Our long lives is much longer when you don’t enjoy your work.”

Not quite scolding, but Lirka was adamant about the spread of legacy being done correctly. She did have to live vicariously through her clone, after all.

Nova made had been made in her image, but Lirka would never see her as a true equal. Such was her way, the raw narcissism of a monster that transcended the natural order of things. Yet, Lirka demanded strength, and strength meant clambering above your betters. If the day would come, and Nova Ka supplants her. So be it. She would rather her own spawn than some upstart Sithling bastard.

As Nova addressed her once more, Lirka saw her devotion, her certainty, the purity of purpose. The sea of potentiality before them, all Lirka needed to do was reach out and grab hold and herald them to their mighty heights. She asked for the path, and Lirka would provide: for she was the guiding hand of the Strong, so did her grim union demand.

“We attach ourselves to Carnifex, and exist in the shadows of the Kainate. He is not a demanding lord, give him platitudes, show him loyalty while we do our dark dealings. Carnifex is the path, he offers us the freedom to do as we need. I have been given the privileges of the Slavemaster General, and empowered to drain this Galaxy dry of its valuables. You shall be my attache, Nova. You shall reap a bloody tally, and they will fear you, they will hate you: as they hate me. But you fill find succor in butchery, find those who understand as we do. Build the web, my Supernova. That is the way of the Sith, find your foes, find your allies.”

Lirka would sing the praises of Carnifex till the stars went cold. Such was a Kainite, even a shoddy one like Lirka. The full extent of her union with Carnifex, the foul “marriage” between them, the brand burning upon her head…well, sometimes you just had to keep secrets from a child till they were older.

 

[Nova Ka]

TAG: Lirka Ka
Gear: Mantle of Ka, Edge of Oblivion, Star of Thustra

Nova Ka met her creator's cold regard with the same silent intensity she had been forged to embody. A lesser being might have recoiled under Lirka's gaze, seeking approval, craving validation. But Nova was no lesser being. She was her mother's image made flesh, a reflection cast in sharper steel.

"A legacy built on fear," She mused, voice low, thoughtful. "A web spun from the blood and hatred of lesser things."

There was no resistance in her words, only understanding. Lirka's path was one of careful positioning, of feigned servitude while seizing power in the shadows. It was a path of patience. Of cunning. Nova had no objections. Carnifex was a god among monsters, and to stand in his shadow was to wield his reach without shackles. A convenient arrangement—for now.

"I will reap as you demand," She said, inclining her head. "But I will build more than fear. The strong thrive not only on the terror of the weak but on the blades at their side. The worthy shall kneel, not in dread, but in devotion. The unworthy shall be burned away."

She straightened, her crimson eyes catching the light. "I will spread the name of Ka as fire spreads in dry fields. Let them hate. Let them fear. And let them know they will never be rid of us."

 

[Lirka Ka]

It was somewhat of an odd thing for Lirka to gaze upon her reflection without it being a specter of the past. Nova Ka was like an uncanny, monstrous, parody of the woman Lirka had been so many years ago. Except now, a living, breathing, thing. She gave her spawn a nod of acknowledgement towards her musings, it was an accurate assessment. The web was everything in a place like the Sith, a grand intermingled mess of schemes, plans, alliances, and rivalries. The chaos was what kept Lirka so enthralled.

She gave a look of curiosity as Nova spouted her ambitions and devotions, it felt almost like a time capsule. Lirka had spoken many a similar sentiment when she was on her mad dash for Thustra’s throne. Before everything collapsed under her feet. A nod of agreement came from the masked monster.

“The strongest of us never stand alone. The Sith do not exist without their warriors and armadas, so on and so forth. But, be cautious, my supernova. The blade at your side can be the same as the blade in your back if you do not curate your fellows carefully. This is a land of mistrust, spies, and assassins. There may still be those friendly to my brief-regime in the Galaxy, Sephi who understand how our ways are better suited for war than entertainment. A minority, but likely far from extinct.”

Lirka had been immensely unpopular, but there were always those killers ready to claim supremacy over the rest of the Galaxy. Even on a fairly “peaceful” world like Thustra.

She listened to her daughter’s mantra and smiled beneath that helm, and Lirka spoke once more, under her breath: though almost as if reciting a story, one of her many ramblings during her years lost.

“Ka they cry in hate, Ka they cry in fear, Ka they cry in love, Ka they cry because they know for I am the path.”

She let herself chuckle, coldly, and without humor. Her back straightened, and she acknowledged her daughter’s ambitions with pride and support.

“Let it be so, Nova Ka. Spread our name, go, forge your path in this new Galaxy. Let them see what true strength is.”

Let the spawn of Ka be unleashed upon the Sith.

 

[Nova Ka]

TAG: Lirka Ka
Gear: Mantle of Ka, Edge of Oblivion, Star of Thustra

Nova Ka stood motionless for a moment, absorbing her mother's words like scripture, her crimson eyes burning with a deep, fanatical light. The weight of Lirka's approval was not lost on her—it was everything.

"I will, Mother," she vowed, voice steady, reverent. "They will know our name. They will know you."

She clenched her gauntleted fist, the metal creaking under the force of her grip. Lirka had carved her legacy into the bones of the galaxy, a force of war, a queen without a throne, a conqueror denied her empire. Nova would not make the same mistakes. She would be the blade, the fire, the storm that could not be ignored.

"I will gather the strongest. The ruthless, the true warriors who understand power as we do. Those who seek something greater than themselves." Her head tilted slightly, her grin sharp as a vibroblade. "And when they cry out 'Ka'—it will not be in defiance. It will be in worship."

She bowed her head, not out of submission, but of promise.

"Let the galaxy tremble. Let them witness the Cult of Ka."

The vision had been there, as she cut a bloody swipe across the unknown regions, killing and adding the trophies of the fallen to her armor, creating her mantle. Perhaps in time, others will prove themselves worth to do as she had. They only needed to be shown the way, as she had been.