Private The Chances are Slim

[Onrai]

Within her complex orbiting the world of Nathema, Vanessa Vantai carried on her daily business. The herald that was Dea was resting in another room within the greater overarching complex, but was still nearby. Engineers milled about on the manufacturing of new warships, adding to the growing fleet numbers Vanessa had available. On the planet below, agriculturalists further farmed their crops as they were bountifully stored for another future harvest, a water tanker having docked at the world's main water station to provide the world with the necessary liquid it needed to further grow its agricultural goods. Artificial cave systems had been developed in order to grow mushrooms and other exotic fungi that thrived in dark environments, or cheeses that were protected and allowed to age. The planet additionally had silos filled with grains and plenty of secure storage for long term food, enough to sustain the military forces within the system for extended periods of time.

There were multiple battlecruisers armed with super-heavy beam weaponry, anti-fighter ships scattered across the area, and even her own dreadnought, the Gorgon, lingered nearby, ready to assault any hostile incursion whatsoever to her own private demesne of space. Absolutely zero possibility of an individual showing up who could ever possibly give pause to her legions of darktroopers, radtroopers, and bloodtroopers. Barring perhaps Dromund Kaas, this had to have been the most secure location in the entire Empire.

No one would ever give her a reason to think that this security could be at risk.

Right?

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

When faced with the largest, toughest, best-defended barriers in the universe, Ashin had developed one consistent response: to knock. Admittedly, knocking had looked rather different in the days when she and Vantai had known each other - 'known' being something of a loaded word.

Today, knocking looked like a nondescript old shuttle, Moridin-era Sith Empire make, arriving at a respectful distance and hailing the Gorgon.

Audio only.

"Gorgon, please inform Lady Vantai that Shira Karrde would like to speak with her." She hadn't used that alias in many nears, not since their time together in the Unknown Regions. Onrai would know the name.

 

[Onrai]

Vanessa's eyebrow immediately raised as the station's communications claimed that Shira Karrde was on board the shuttle that now studiously lingered at the edge of the complex's reach. There was no way, was there? Ashin had died, or so Quinn Varanin had said during the brief interaction Vanessa had with one of the former Empress's daughters. And yet there were few to none alive in the galaxy today that Vanessa could rationalize as having knowledge of what exactly Ashin's identities had been. Not all of them at least.

Hailing clearance would be given to the shuttle as Vanessa hurriedly took the main elevator down to the hangar. She hadn't even bothered Dea yet, but decided that for the time being, her herald was only needed were she to deem it necessary. After all, surely the primordial powers of a slain deity were enough to defeat Ashin were this to come to blows.

Gods, she didn't want that to happen.

As the shuttle door lowered, Vanessa stood there, waiting studiously to see whether what was inside was really who she suspected it to be, or whether this was nothing more than a complex illusion.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Onrai

Ashin wore what she usually wore these days: the black robe and exaggerated mask of Anger. She left the mask on, but Vantai would recognize her presence.

"Lady Vanessa Vantai, I presume. You've grown."

They'd been much younger women together, younger and more reckless and spiteful and ambitious and possessive and territorial. They'd struck sparks off each other, destroyed things that mattered to each other. Back in the old days, under old names.

"Thank you for seeing me."

 

[Onrai]

"Right when I was considering a name change as well." She said in a half humorous way. The name Silara had given her was the third alias she has used, and already she had begun the process of adopting the fourth through her designation of Dea as the Herald of Onrai. The Force presence of Ashin was now exceedingly familiar, far moreso than it had been beforehand. There were a myriad of mixed feelings that ran through the ascended shell that contained the new entity that was Vanessa Vantai - many good times had occurred with Ashin, as had many times where Vanessa had wished she had the power to respond to things Ashin had done in the past. "I'd say you've grown, but from the last time one of your children and I spoke, you and Spencer were both dead." This was exceedingly surprising, to say the least.

"I'm surprised you're back. The last I heard before my self-imposed exile was that you and Spencer had gone into retirement and were living a peaceful life. Granted a lot can happen in twenty years, but it was unusual." She paused for a bit, eying the mask that Ashin was wearing.

"I don't suppose you can take that off, can you? I'm a bit higher form of life than when we last met, but even still, it's... unusual. I'm used to seeing a face whenever you come around."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Onrai

"This is my face now, Lady Vantai. You heard I'd retired, you heard I was dead, and both were partially true. I had other work and, like you, I've become something other than what I was. The work required it of me."

She lifted her chin, burning eyes examining Vantai through the mask.

"Do you have somewhere private we can talk, perhaps relax a touch? I have questions for you, if you'll allow it. More than any Sith Lord I've ever known, you have a talent for knowing the flaws and frictions and inconsistencies and hypocrisies and opportunities - the fabric of the Sith."

 

[Onrai]

She nodded. "I hope that isn't your actual face now." A turn of the head, and she looking up to the window over the docking bay where the crystalline form of Dea peered out. "My office upstairs." She said, motioning for Ashin to join her as the two would take the elevator up some stories. "I suppose I should ask exactly what it is you're doing in the area now. I'm presuming you haven't come back to the Sith fold, but are merely here to enlist my help in something - and given Spencer is not currently with you and there are no suggestions she has returned of her own volition, there's a high probability you are seeking to bring her back." Whether the hypothesis was true or not Vanessa did not know.

The doors to the elevator would open to reveal Vanessa's office. Dea was one floor up. "Ask, and I shall answer. Seems the suitable fare for me nowadays." Whether she could provide Ashin the answers to any inquiries she had were unknown, but she at least had an obligation to try.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Dea]

She sat in her room, cradling a cup of tea in her hands ever so carefully so that she wouldn't break it. Her face was filled with disappointment, sadness and determination, although it was tough to read given her crystalized form that gave no real depth or life to her features.

Little blobs of tea floated around in her midsection and she watched them through her reflection in the mirror. During life tea had provided her with great comfort, and now there was nothing. She felt nothing from it, even when she made the tea properly as opposed to Onrai 's way of making tea out of thin air.

So now what was she to do? Forever traipes through this 'life' without any joy or anything and just blindly follow orders? The alternative was said to be worse, yet she wasn't sure if that was a lie. She wasn't alive, yet she wasn't dead either.

No, there was no way that she'd let anyone know about this, especially her children. It wouldn't do any good.

Setting the cup down on the side table, she slipped on her crimson robe to cover up the blobs of tea which would be purged from her later. She then walked over to her window and peered down, spotting Vanessa with a masked individual. No doubt it was a private meeting and so she headed over to her desk and picked up her datapad. At least that still worked and she could read her mystery holonovels.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Onrai Dea

Once they'd settled into Vantai's office, Ashin removed the mask.

​

"Thank you," she said, laying it down on a side table. "You're right, of course: I'll help Spencer return if I can, no matter the cost. "

A conversation with someone like Vantai would likely look a lot like barter, quid pro quo. Taking off the mask, answering Vantai's questions - these were a good-faith payment for answers to Ashin's own questions.

"And that's all in motion. What I need from you is your impressions of the current regime. How does the Emperor stack up against his...immediate predecessors in terms of judgment and proclivities?"

There were obvious reasons to ask. For one thing, she'd been an avowed enemy of some of those predecessors.

 

[Onrai]

Vanessa gave a smile as Ashin took her mask off. “For all that changes, some things remain the same.” She said, leaning back in her chair as she referred to Ashin’s face. Affirmation that her suspicion was correct only further made Vanessa happy. “Spencer always thought I was strange, but I did always appreciate her and will assist however I can to bring her back. I do at least in theory have the resources to.” She had been able to perform a ritual to test a soul free from the Netherworld and bring it back to the world of the living. Dea would not exist without such. Additionally, she still did have the samples of Spencer that had been taken from the experiment she had run decades ago.

In response to Ashin’s inquiry, she gave a bit of a laugh. “You really have been gone for a while, haven’t you? It’s not a ‘he’ running the Empire. It’s a ‘she.’ Specifically Joycelyn Zambrano , the chosen child of Kaine. Kaine split the positions of Dark Lord and Emperor apart after abdicating. His uncle, Darth Prazutis, is Dark Lord of the Sith. Joyce is not as intimately trained within the darkness of Sith sorcery as her father.” She said, pausing for a bit as she considered the future. “The Empire did ban slavery and weaken the position of the Sith relative to non-Sith, so there is that. If the recent leak from the Silver Jedi is true, there may even be further peace on the horizon.”

This entire circumstance was quite bizarre to say the least.

“What else is there, should I ask?” She inquired. If Ashin did not know about the recent changeovers within the Empire, there was presumably much else she still needed to learn.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Onrai

Ashin frowned deeply. "I was told that Braith Achlys took the throne before Spencer killed her at Dubrillion, that her son - a shapeshifter - held the throne, and that there was a coup. Was my other source out of date?"

Peace. Peace between the Empire and the Silver Jedi Order. Now that was a strange thought - but with the Bryn'adul genocides butting up against both powers' borders, it made a twisted kind of sense.

 

[Onrai]

“...very.” She said. “When I came back, the Emperor was Kaine Zambrano, under a new name as Darth Carnifex. Within weeks of today he had abdicated in favor of his daughter while further decentrifying direct power within the Empire.” There were some things seriously out of date. “Braith is dead and has been dead for a while now. I believe Prazutis had or has what’s left of her spirit. But that’s where things are now relative to this new Sith Empire.”

Vanessa was surprised - Ashin had always seemed to know practically everything back when they had been closer aligned with one another, but here she evidently was unaware of much that had happened.

“...a brief inquiry. Obviously you need people or a person to helpSpencer come back. How exactly did you come back? And what’s with the mask? It’s not the first you’ve worn but is admittedly... rather unsettling.” She said.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Irritable and ill at ease, Ashin picked at the black robe where it draped over her knee. So the core Zambrano power players were still in charge. Who, then, was-

She shunted the thought aside. "I have Spencer's resurrection well in hand." A bit of an overstatement, but at minimum she'd found an ally that she trusted a good deal more than Vantai. "As for my return...well, there's some complexity to that. I didn't die so much as pass on to a role with the Cosmic Force. I suppose you could say I'm now a...reflection or delegate of the Force's aspect of Anger. Part of the balance that translates the energies of the dead into new life. And I'll be giving that up to help bring Spencer back if I can."

She smiled without humor. "The Bryn'adul genocides have been keeping me busy in a metaphysical sense. I understand they're butting up against the Sith border. Is it war yet?"

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

"Come now, Ashin. I'm more than willing to assist in bringing Spencer back. Always did like her as a person, after all." She was always cordial and a positive influence, who really did try her best to be 'good.' "So essentially you're serving a role as a herald of the will of the Force itself, a reflection in a fashion of such. And the mask relates to that." She replied. Now this was a bit more understanding - as was Ashin's willingness to give such up so long as it meant the return of the woman she loved.

"Such a transfiguration, I suppose... I went to the realm known as Dark Illathurion, hunting for the cthonic spawn of the dead Soulworm, and came across the one known as Ooradryl and his spawn. I slayed them and took their power for myself." She replied. "Essentially, I am a deity now." At least she had the powers of such. "Dea, the crystalline form you previously saw looking down at us, was created by me as a herald. That's where I'm at now, and it explains the corruption of form I have." A hand wiped away some of the corruption as it crept from the upper part of her bosom.

"The Bryn'adul are in conflict with us. They recently took some of our territory. I would hope this isn't an encouragement for you to go and join them. We are friends, after all, regardless of sides we may be upon."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"They've slaughtered billions. I've had a hand in helping those lives return to the living Force, and sending it out to be...parts of lives. Massacres overwhelm and debase the cycle of life and death. All that to say - I'd never join them, no. Not even if it does my heart good to see the Empire humbled and motivated. What's your sense of the leadership's will to win?"

 

[Onrai]

"An unfortunate thing." Vanessa replied, surprised at no such inquisitions as to her current state. "The concept of an organization that engages in such acts of wanton slaughter is anathema to me. I'm glad to hear you would never support such despicable actions. It's almost as though they are a form of the Yuuzhan Vong, but much worse. Perhaps the Cult of Death the Charon are a part of is a better correlation." She said.

"As for whether the leadership has the will to win - I expect that Braxus does. He has the experience Kaine has had and understands the issues of a threat like the Bryn'adul. I agree with him on the approach we have been taking. Joycelyn - excuse me, Empress Vornskr is young and inexperienced. She has never known true galaxy-shifting events as we have. The plague, the crisis of Omni, the rift into an alternate universe, the tearing of reality dear Akala caused... She may not realize the threat that the Bryn'adul possess. However, I do, and I will, as a veteran of such, assist her in realizing the approach that must be made to dealing with it."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"That's as it should be, then," said Ashin firmly. "Dynasties have a nasty habit of putting the unprepared in charge. I remember helping Spencer learn to grow into her role on Eshan - difficult times."

She sat back in the chair, fractionally more at ease.

"Tell me about this Ooradryl whose power you consumed. One of my great regrets is not using the first Lotek'k hunt for more than leather and friendships."

 

[Onrai]

"She will learn." Vanessa replied. "If she does not learn, then it will be no different as it was when Krag destroyed the last Empire. I'd prefer not to see the work of innumerable Sith once more rendered into nothing while I have to go through the trouble to pick up the pieces again." The New Order rather blatantly flashed through the mind of the Triumvir, along with the work she had put into preserving all she could from that dark time.

"Ooradryl is... well, was, the thirdborn of the great goddess Onrai, whose essence was destroyed when she was tricked into turning into a great worm that devoured itself. Giant pile of flesh, yellowish-golden crystalline scales, stuff oozing from between them... The entity known as Waru was evidently one of its offspring. Evidently godlike power was not enough to save it and its brood from the energy of a massive pair of proton beam weapons." She smiled, relishing the abomination's anger, fear, and feelings of pain as the life had left it. It was a feeling the likes of which she had never known before to know that a god, or something like a god, had been slain at her hands.

"Ooradryl had the power to take and drain life energy, among other things. And so it has been. Since we last met, I have also reforged the Sunstar and used it to reopen the Endor Gate, allowing the Wizards of the Night Spirit through. This was at the risk of the vestige of the Night Spirit within Morag's tree consuming the soon-to-be-leader of the Eternal Empire, but she was strong enough to overcome it and claim her power." She said. Such esotericism was unusual and unexpected to say the least.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Ashin got up and went to the window. She clasped her hands behind her back and looked out over Vantai's work. Despite herself, she felt a little impressed.

"It certainly sounds like you're swimming in deeper water than ever. How do your fellow Sith Lords receive all this in the context of your growing powerbase on Nathema? Fear, distrust, envy? Do you have any potential or current allies you'd prefer I don't cross?"

 

[Onrai]

"Certainly." She replied. "Kaine made me a member of the Triumvir, one of the leading organizations within the Empire. I essentially have free reign to do as I wish within the region of Nathema. I have positive relationships with the new leaders of the Empire. Voracitos I still have relationships with, as well as some other lesser ones such as Cara Dorniarn." She replied. "If you perhaps have a line of contact, I can keep you updated."

That would really make things a bit easier for her. "There must be more, presumably, that a now-deity such as myself can provide you."

Ashin Cardé Varanin