Private Shadows Lurking

[The Quartermaster]

M A N D O ' A D E

Location: High Security Prison Block | Tor Valum, Kestri
Tag: Darth Empyrean

The air was cold.

The icy chills of Kestri were always cold. If not for the lava tubes, extended heating systems, and sealed environmental systems of Tor Valum, then habitation in the city would be impossible. But as the Quartermaster descended from the Iyarsa Spire, the night chill felt especially cold. Perhaps it was because the Force, the mystical magic power that the Jedi and Sith had fought galaxy spanning wars over, was flowing darkly tonight. The Quartermaster could not deny the Jedi and Sith's magic powers, but she did not believe in their mysticism and religion.

So she discounted the feeling in her gut as instinct warning her and continued on her way.

The prison block where the captured Sith was held was far removed from any population centers of the city. Under complete lockdown by elite Si'kayha commandos and electronic defensive systems, Darth Maliphant lay bound in a traditional Mandalorian Vault, isolated room insulated by layers of permacrete, durasteel and beskar panelling within the force-void bubble of a ysalamir lizard to remove the Sith's powers should they escape the Vault. Was it overkill? Not in the Quartermaster's opinion. When they had planned to seal a Sith away in the center of the Mandalorian Enclave's secret safe harbor, it had not mattered that the Sith would be executed once their usefulness had run out -- escape would be out of the question, and the Quartermaster would ensure that there was enough redundancy so that it would never happen.

She reached the guard chamber before the cell itself, with three Si'kayha commandos; two standing guard at the blast door while a third stood at the command of the prison block's controls. "Buir," they saluted as the Quartermaster entered. "The prisoner is sleeping."

"Wake him," she commanded brusquely. She stood behind the door as the commando prompted for an electric shock rod to send charged volts to shock Maliphant awake. She would not coddle this creature, this subhuman scum. He deserved less than no mercy.
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[Darth Empyrean]

The world had been dark for some time now. His eyes had been cauterized, removed, and bandaged; for a for user this didn't mean the end of the world, he could still see the universe far more deeply than any traditional peon - but deep in this prison, surrounded by accursed Ysalamiri, he was little more than those that surrounded him. Weak and blind to the greater machinations of the Galaxy; a master stripped of his tools, hung by hooks and wires, and tortured.​

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It was not his first adventure into the dark underworld of torture - he had spent all his formative years as a slave. He experienced much and more - and even during his trials within the Primeval was he brought to heel by the Sith, crucified upon Bastion for crimes he had not truly committed. Now, once more he was under a trial of blood and bone, knife wounds running deep in his flesh leaving scars demarking each accusation. He hadn't admitted to any - for all that they had of him, he still controlled his mind, and pain was a Sith's friend with or without the Force.​

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But when the shock baton was pressed deep into his flesh, his body acted without his control. Muscles contracted, jaw clenched tight - were he not so constricted, he would've screamed but he was lucky that his muscles muted any noise he made to a harsh groan pressing through white teeth. When it stopped, he relaxed and took a moment to breath - deep and thorough before eyes raised in the directional smell of his newest visitor.​

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"I wasn't sleeping.", he said with a touch of saliva and blood dripping from his lip.​

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"Just waiting. For you, it would seem."​

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The Quartermaster​

 

[The Quartermaster]

M A N D O ' A D E

Location: Maximum Security Prison Block | Tor Valum, Kestri
Tag: Darth Empyrean

"Spare me your drivel, creature," The Quartermaster responded, her tone as ice-cold as the winds of Kestri above. The cell was dark and slightly damp, and through the vault she could only see the scars where once the Sith's eyes had been. Yet as blind as they were, a malevolence still shown through it.

Her upper lip raised slightly in contempt, but the gesture was hidden behind her helmet, which remained as austere as ever. "My hunters would have cut your throat out along with your eyes -- but you possess some value while you still live. For now. Be grateful that they spared your life at my command."

She stood at least a half-meter shorter than the vault, slightly suspended in the air on soft repulsorlifts, so she had to tilt her head upwards to meet the Sith in his cage. "You have information that I want. Give it truthfully, and your last days of existence will not be as painful as they could be." She was merciless and cold, an iron-hard side that she rarely showed to anyone. But in front of this scum, of this creature, of this. . . Sith, she held no other feeling than disgust for it.
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[Darth Empyrean]

"Creature.", he mused back.​

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His scarred head seemed to tilt as the words came out as a bloodied purr - made slightly tainted by the swollen, scarred tongue in his mouth. Where there was no eyes, there was the bloodied rags that move with his brows - now furrowing to show what emotion he held. A quiet, curious contempt for what she had to say; but suprisingly less than one would expect from a Sith known to kill for enjoyment.​

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"Pain is not so unwelcome to a fully realized Sith. We are fed by it, revel in it - it is but one of the many sensations that ground us. Yet I don't believe you've come to be indoctrinated, to learn my ways..."​

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His arms flexed in their repulsor cuffs, and he seemed to raise himself ever so slightly in their strain. Despite little water, and less food - he proved what strength remained with a simple clench of his arms. Where one might assume weakness in a normal mortal - what was chained before her was not so different than a caged beast, wounded yes, but just as dangerous as it could be without its teeth. What remained the cage still had claws - dulled as they were in the moment.​

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"Ask your questions, from one Smith to another. What would you know of me?"​

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The Quartermaster​

 

[The Quartermaster]

M A N D O ' A D E

Location: Maximum Security Prison Block | Tor Valum, Kestri
Tag: Darth Empyrean

She rolled her eyes at the Sith's claim to be strengthened through pain, then scoffed when the Sith considered them to be alike, although it was likely bait. She and the Sith creature were not alike in any way. But time was essential, and so she did not make an attempt to contest the Sith's language. But she would not let him believe he had the upper hand. "Pain is pain. You Sith pretend to revel in it, but it is a falsehood, like all other falsehoods of your order. You claim power, yet the Sith are weaker now than they have ever been. You claim a supremacy of one, yet the sycophantic cultists of your religion are fractured into a hundred different pieces."

"Here is what you will give me." Her voice was clearly disgusted, betraying her grudging willingness at letting the Sith live, even if only for now. "You will divulge the locations of all Sith citadels, fortresses, and temples. All hidden locations, all safe houses secreted away, anywhere in the galaxy that the Sith are or might be using to bide their time and plot a rise to power."

She paused, but was not finished. "You will tell us every individual that was linked to the genocide of Mandalore. Every nation that lent credits, every company that secretly bankrolled the Sith Empire, every politician that supported the Sith. And you will tell us the identities of Sith masquerading under false identities throughout the galaxy. Once you have given us this information to our satisfaction, you will be granted the mercy of death."

Her voice was ice cold. "But until then, every moment of your existence will be agony. I will personally ensure it. And if you think you know pain, then you will find yourself woefully inadequate should you try to play us false."
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[Darth Empyrean]

Maliphant mused at her words - and in that moment there was silence from the Sith. Arms raised, nigh upon naked and scarred - the alabaster hair of the greatest alchemist in the Galaxy fell heavy on his shoulders as his head tilted from side to side. He listened to something distant, then close - then spoke;​

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"I may be missing my eyes, but I am hardly the most blind person in this room."​

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He didn't smile, nor did he care to continue arguing about the strength of the Force versus the strength of arms and ammo. He was, afterall, the creator of both more often than not.​

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"If you have questions - then I can answer them, but I must apologize in advance. The Sith as we knew them are gone; only the Maw remain. When the Warlords fell to their infighting, they surrendered their autonomy to the Maw - and one Darth Solipsis claimed the title of Sith'ari after letting Irveric Tavlar do all his heavy lifting. I can give you names, people, marks and targets - but I can't bring back an Empire simply for your vengeance, nor do I know the intricate details of the Mandalorian Genocide."​

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"Afterall, I was fighting against the Empire alongside the Worm - and before that, I was naught more than a criminal to them."​

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The Quartermaster​

 

[The Quartermaster]

M A N D O ' A D E

Location: Maximum Security Prison Block | Tor Valum, Kestri
Tag: Darth Empyrean

You lie, she wanted to shout, to scream. To think that this Sith. . . creature would willingly cooperate had been foolish of her. Though he was in chains, his spirit was not broken, and until then they would get nothing out of him except for sycophantic theology and barbed remarks.

A gloved fist clenched and unclenched, and the Quartermaster steadied her breathing to quiet her rage. All it would do would feed the Sith's perverse glee. But she could not remain silent. "Whether you were on the Dark Lord's inner council or not is irrelevant to the thousand of Mandalorians for whom, you are their killer. And do not deny it; the audio feeds from our after action report are enough to convict you of it."

She finally raised her helmet once again to meet the Sith in the eye. "It seems, though, that you are unwilling to cooperate. Perhaps some more time with the pain you seem to crave will change your mind." She turned to walk back out the way she came, but stopped at the open cell door. "Should you wish for a release, you know how to earn it."

The cell door clanged shut behind her, leaving the Sith in darkness.
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[Darth Empyrean]

"I give you truth, and you give me stubborn ignorance.", he said with a frown.​

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He flexed slightly as he readjusted in his bindings.​

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"I do not deny my involvement in their deaths - but it was of my own doing not the Empire's. Is it not the Mandalorian way to die in combat? The Echani, another warrior race similar to yourself, often communicate through combat - so in a sense, I spoke to all your brothers and sisters in a way you never did."

"Do you want to know what I learned? Do you want to know which died cowards?"​

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While he spoke, as he readjusted, he got a greater sense of the Ysalamiri fields around him. Her opening the door gave him the smallest window he could take advantage of - and despite the strength of the ysalamiri array they had created, his force potential broke through for the smallest moment. A message, his location - sent to a few careful individuals across the galaxy like a beacon. Srina Talon , Taeli Raaf , Darth Carnifex - just enough for them to know where he laid.​

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With it, a grin crept on his face - knowing his freedom was soon to be at hand.​

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"Truth be told, I just liked to watch them die.", he finished, just as the doors closed behind her.​

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The Quartermaster​