Dominion The Harrowing | TSE Dominion of Stygeon Prime

[Darth Ophidia]

"Now why would I sign something that ridiculous?" "Peace? I am dying. And I don't care what happens to my credits when I am dead."

The old man harked deeply to gather up spittle in his mouth, but Ophidia removed the flimsi before he could dribble on the carefully crafted contract. It was not a quick, jerking movement, but a smooth sweep as she rolled it up.

"That would be most unwise." She neared the bed and placed a hand on the old man's leg "So let me present my argument again in a more persuasive manner."

His body seized and pressed itself down against the pillows as his eyes went wide, his mouth twisted in a grimace of fear, and his voice choked down to a wheeze. Darth Ophidia closed her eyes as she pulled his mind into the abyss. Time stretched and warped as it only could to one who had seen a universe without it.

She pushed him deep into the recesses of his mind and claimed every fear he had ever had as her weapon in their duel.

The old man felt snow under his hands as he pushed himself up to his knees. A chilling gale of icy wind gripped his body as he looked up toward the blue lights and the grand, triangular throne that towered in front of him. And on the throne sat Ophidia, hood thrown back, burning eyes staring down on him with unwavering judgement.

 

[Amaya Cardei]

BYOO: Collect Specimens
Location: Nam Chorios
Lord Admiral Fiolette Raaf

Nam Chorios. The 7th Fleet had moved to secure it on behalf of the Sith Empire, a rather desolate world that still somehow supported life. Lord Admiral Raaf accompanied her wife Taeli Raaf down to the surface. Typically, Fiolette left Taeli to her devices but the planet had history with the Sith among other groups. It also offered an opportunity to test out a light combat uniform, a light helmet secured and a last check of vitals before she and a handful of legionnaires set out on foot with Lady Raaf. ​

​

An update from Tarkin who currently oversaw operations on Stygeon Prime informed the Lord Admiral that the planet had been annexed, or would be annexed peacefully. Its people would only know of the light hand of the Empire, the benevolence it could show to others. "Stygeon Prime should be annexed within the next few hours, at most." She told Taeli matter-of-factly, the sound of boots against earth made for a soft chorus of their travels. It wasn't often that Fio 'adventured' with Taeli, most days she was content to stay aboard the Elidibus, or her own flagship the Rae Sloane. ​

​

"Place is certainly a prime example of early terraforming," she commented, an attempt to make conversation with her wife.​

 

[Darth Ophidia]

The old man gathered himself to his feet and looked up at the judge in defiance. His hands balled into fists, but could not stop the tremble of the cold and the fear. All around him, in this hexagonal chamber, were statues of robed figures looking down upon him. And on the mezzanine connecting their shoulders he could see the faint outline of figures staring down with pinprick eyes laden with prejudice.

"Ival, son of Lanval, thief and liar." "How do you plea?" "I am neither thief nor liar! I am a man of the law!"

Ophidia laughed, but while her mouth moved, the laughter seemed sourceless, echoing throughout the chamber. It was without mirth, and borne only from mockery and spite. Chains sprang from the floor and seized his ankles and wrists, biting cold and weighing him down.

"The word of man has no bearing on this court." "You have made your living on the backs of the condemned."

Ival shouted back, spittle finally bursting from his mouth as he pulled against the black chains that gnawed on his skin.

"Criminals!" "All of them?" "Yes! Sinners and miscreants!" "Even Her?"

Ophidia nodded to a child now standing behind Ival. Ival turned to see her. She was little, hungry, not clad for the cold, and from over his shoulder came a snowball. It hit her square in the face, and then another, and another. Ival turned again to see a score of children throwing the snowballs, and saw himself mirrored in their cruel little faces. "We were children." "Or them?" The banging of a gavel broke the past illusion as they saw a man pulled away in chains while his family watched and creditors tore their household apart for valuables. "He did not pay" "And you offered no other choice, Archon."

"I am not to blame, I feel no remorse!" The chains tightened on his hands and ankles, pulling him back down into the snow. "I know you lie, for I have a witness." "Whom!?"

"I" -Spoke Ival's own reflection.

 

[Arana Xaan]

://OBJECTIVE: Objective III - Seeking a Relic
://LOCATION: The Spire
://ALLIES: TSE

​

Arana slipped into the room to find it appearing as empty as the rest of the Spire. Her eyebrow quirked as she shut off her lightsaber, but kept the hilt in her hands. She paused as she looked around, taking in all of the detritus for a moment before turning and moving towards a desk that looked relatively intact. As she neared, she lifted her hand, using it as a focus for her senses and half lidding her eyes as she searched for the relic.

She moved around the desk, and then along the wall opposite the door to the far side of the room. She felt something as she neared that side of the room and paused once more. She saw a pile of detritus that looked like any other, and used a sweep of her hand and the Force to move the top layer. She repeated the process several more times until she saw the floor, and the square trap door that lay beneath the tatters of a rug.

Arana knelt at the door and studied it a moment, trying to sense if there was a trap on it. Then, deciding not to tempt fate too much, she stepped back and focused. She slowly curled her fingers into a fist, then slowly curled her hands up to her shoulders, and the door was wrenched out of the floor.

Beneath the door was a box, slightly longer than her forearm and resonating with the Dark Side of the Force. A grin slid across her face as she opened the box, confirming a wand of the dimensions her Master had given her before closing and taking the box up.

Now, she had what she needed, and she could begin the task of her Master's downfall.

She stood and made for the door, stepping through it only to come face to face with the Overseer, a sly grin on their face.

"I see you have found our relic, apprentice. Very good."

[member="grand moff varrik"]​

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"Me? You?" Inquired Ival the accused "I. We." Ival the mirage answered "Witness, explain yourself." Ophidia demanded.

The mirage looked down at the snow and at the loose, dangling chains that bound his hands and feet. He took a deep breath and balled his fists until they stopped trembling. Ival the accused only trembled more deeply.

"These chains are our guilt. Forged in our memory." "We never wanted this, but the family demanded that we do as they have done." "I had to." "And in our despair, our drudgery, our lack of moral fibre, we let ourself become corrupted."

Ival the accused looked down in his hands.

"No more corrupt than the others." "Their sins do not clear yours." "We took money to assure that the right judgement befell the right person."

Another image, a gavel banging like the bell of death, an innocent man sentenced to death before the firing squad. Once, twice, a dozen, so many. Their faces became apparent in the faces of the onlookers. All looking, whispering, scowling.

"Corpse upon corpse, and for what end?" "Wealth, influence, power." The chains tightened again "Spite."

"I never wanted it." "So sign it away."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

BYOO: Collect Specimens
Location: Nam Chorios

Sith Muse

"Well Kaine will be happy to have his prison world," Taeli replied nonchalantly, peering into a small patch of shadows. Nothing there sadly. It was nice to be 'exploring' with her wife for once though. It would do Fiolette some good getting away from the bridge of a starship every once and while when on mission.

"Nam Chorios was settled by refugees from Meridian ohhhhhh 1,400 years ago now," she continued saying. "Then the ruling dynasty of Meridian turned the world into a penal colony and released the first drochs as a means to kill off the prisoners. They didn't count on the tsils however. Nam Chorios honestly has a fascinating history."

She held up a hand suddenly, bringing their company to a halt. She could sense that constant hunger that was the presence of drochs, hiding in the darkness, waiting for a meal to...

"Mind your footing," Taeli said. "There's a cavern full of drochs right under us and I'm betting the ground has given way more than once to drop people or animals into the swarm."

She could also sense the tranquility of a tsil nearby, and Taeli bent over to look for the cluster of crystals that were the guardians of this world, inadvertently giving her wife a lovely view.

 

[Amaya Cardei]

BYOO: Collect Specimens
Location: Nam Chorios
Lord Admiral Fiolette Raaf
Taeli Raaf

"Yes, of course, another, prison world - have to shove the rebel scum somewhere in the Empire." Fiolette quipped with a sardonic tone as she got a look around. The rebreather on the helmet made for an uncomfortable echo and something the Lord Admiral wanted to fix but now was certainly not the time. Taeli, on the other hand, continued to speak, this time going into detail about the planet's history. The small group stopped the moment they were ordered to, this time her wife mentioned the drochs. Life draining parasites no doubt waiting for someone to slip up. ​

​

Admittedly.​

​

Fio looked when Taeli bent over. Professional courtesy kept her from commenting, not that she needed to. Fio shared a Force bond with her wife, one amplified by their tattoos. Clearing her throat she gestured ahead, "once you've studied the specimen we should keep going and ..." her voice trailed off as she heard something nearby. "Find a way around the drochs." Or, drop someone in who knows, but FIo wanted to be done with the 'exploration' and head back to the ship where she didn't have to worry about parasites. At least, not of the droch variety anyway. ​

 

[Valessia Brentioch]

Location: Allein
Objective: Charity
Nearby: Lark | Talger Gilham

"I did." Valessia confessed, "and I was intrigued." ​

​

She gave the children a warm smile and watched as they were loaded with care onto the transport. "Somewhere in the midst of those children are Sith Lords and Imperial might." The children now wrapped in blankets with food in their bellies and being taken to a place where they would only know the benevolent hand of the Empire. "Now." The Brentaalian turned her attention to the man at hand, "and I wish to discuss something more with you, perhaps offer you something that could be of value." ​

​

Valessia handed the man a holocard with instructions on where to meet with her. "It is... an option."​

​

"Colonel Gilham, let us proceed onward I believe there is more goodwill to be shown." She also had an idea for Gilham, it was always nice to have connections within the Imperial military. ​

 

[Talger Gilham]

Objective: Prosthelytize Sith-Imperialism / Rub Shoulders with the Sith
Location: Allein

Colonel Gilham bowed deeply at the waist, content to have been a help to such an influential Sith Lady like Valessia Brentioch. The faintest glimmer of a smile touched at his lips, but he controlled his features to remain neutral as he slowly swung back up to his full height. ​

​

"Of course, your Eminence."​

​

Stepping in line just behind and to the left of Lady Brentioch, Gilham followed her dutifully wherever she wished to take him. He was at her full disposal and was very eager to please her. ​

​

Valessia Brentioch | Lark ​

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"Yes. Yes. Take it!"

He covered his face with his hands, fingernails digging into the liver-spotted skin. With a wave of Ophidia's hand, the contract unrolled before him and pen laying next to it, ready for the final touch. Red ink dripped from the nib.

"Sign the paper" "Be free of this burden."

"Yes. Free."

With a gasp, the old man woke, pen and contract in hand. His name signed on the dotted line in red ink. Darth Ophidia reached out a hand and pulled the contract to her. The moment the flimsiplast touched her fingertips, it curled into a fine scroll. She tucked it into her sleeve and smiled her cold smile as the old man turned to look at her.

"You disgust me." "Peace is a lie, there is only passion. You lived a life without passion, and in the end cave to sentiment"

Her left hand clenched and the old man gripped his chest. The apparatuses around him beeped violently, but in vain as the heart seized, never to beat again. Nurses ran in to help, but they all knew it was too late. They had awaited the day when the miser would die.

Throwing a last disgusted look at him, Darth Ophidia turned and left.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

And so, Stygeon Prime had let in the Sith. For the aid they were given there was now a debt to be paid, and it collection had already begun. That debt, however, did not merely entail what it seemed to on the surface.

The empire had delivered what it had promised. Food, shelter, and medical care had been provided to the people of Allein, but the hand that gave was also a hand that took. From the same people the empire bolstered their numbers, many to be recruited into the Imperial Youth or the ranks of the Sith. Such was the price to be paid for imperial charity.

The mountainous paths that connected Allein to the outside world had become too dangerous to traverse. Imperial forces and warriors of the Sith braved the harsh conditions and slew the beasts that roamed these paths. Though the most dangerous of beasts were no longer, imperial patrols would remain on the planet until the paths were once again safe to traverse.

Those with other goals in mind had also come to the planet. One had tracked down a relic for her master, another collected specimens for study and experimentation, not to forget the assassin who secured Stygeon Prime's riches for the sake of the empire.

The banners of the Sith Empire had already begun to decorate Allein, and soon the other cities would follow.

 

[Arana Xaan]

://OBJECTIVE: Objective III - Seeking a Relic
://LOCATION: The Spire
://ALLIES: TSE

​

Caught off-guard for a moment by the appearance of her Master, she almost handed the relic over into the Overseer's outstretched hand. She caught her senses before it passed hands. She took it back, straightened her spine and eyed her master silently.

Her master, however, smirked and dropped their hand.

"I see, my apprentice." The Overseer spoke softly, smirking even more. "You believe you have the necessary strength to defeat me?"

The question was a good one, Arana had plans, but none of them had her Master showing up here. She tightened her grip on the wand, and felt it pulse in her palm. She drew on the power within the red crystal wand and felt it pulse stronger. She flared her nostrils and took a step back.

"You are no longer my Master. You can leave now, empty handed, and can continue wallowing in your insignificance." She finally let her anger at her Master, and her hatred of him, cover her voice.

"Do you really think..." Her now former master started speaking, but she didn't let him finish.

The wand pulsed in her hand for a moment, and then she struck out. The wand became preternaturally sharp at it's point, and her hand, almost of it's own volition, shoved that point forward and into the open mouth of her former master. The wand struck the back of their throat, and out the back of their head. Arana pulled the wand back, and watched as some ephemeral essence was pulled out of the Overseer as she did. The body crumbled to the ground with a listless thump.

Arana stood there a moment, looking between the newest addition to the detritus within the Spire and the wand in her hand. All traces of blood were gone.

Then she smiled and began to make her way back out of the Spire.

[member="grand moff varrik"]​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

BYOO: Collect Specimens
Location: Nam Chorios

Sith Muse

A sly smile formed as she felt her wife's attentions, but besides that she didn't react to the unseen observation. She could also tell her wife was not comfortable with the idea of life-draining parasites being anywhere near her, which was fair. Most beings did not want to be anywhere near the creatures that caused the Death Seed Plague. She could also feel the hairs on her arms standing up. Good, some tsil ground lighting was about to wash through the area.

She had found the cluster of crystals she was looking for, and a few quick exchanges of emotions and images were all it took to convince it to leave. It understood her dual intentions.

"It's alright to be nervous, love," she said, standing back up. "One of the other aspects that the tsils are wonderful for is eliminating any drochs not hiding underground. Observe."

She pointed towards a fast approaching purple wave of energy moving across the landscape. In moments it had passed over and through them. It might give a little jolt, might be a little uncomfortable if one was wearing too much metal, but it was mostly harmless. To drochs, not so much.

"The tsils channel energy into a form of ground lightning that kills drochs, one reason why I convinced this particular cluster to come back to Amaltanna with us. Just in case the experiments get out of hand."

 

[Amaya Cardei]

BYOO: Collect Specimens
Location: Nam Chorios
Lord Admiral Fiolette Raaf
Taeli Raaf

The only reason Fiolette even remained down on the dirt was for Taeli, her end of the bargain to work things out in their marriage. "Grand." It would be hard now to disguise her sarcasm. Even after the display of energy, Fio wasn't exactly convinced. All it did was prove just how vulnerable she was down here. The zap was about all she felt, a static discharge but nothing unsettling so she pressed forward without another word. "How much more do we need?"​

​

How much longer did they have to stay here?​

​

If her wife hadn't been so distrusting of others they could've gone to therapy like a normal couple.​

​

Then again, there was nothing normal about them - Fio for all intent and purpose should be dead and here she was looking and feeling half her age with a wife who was a Sith Lord. They had two children together and here they were on Nam Chorios digging at dirt and crystals. Aggravating would be an understatement but her professionalism kept the feelings from bubbling up to the surface. She cleared her throat and waited for the orders to move out. ​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

BYOO: Collect Specimens
Location: Nam Chorios

Sith Muse

"This will be fine for now," Taeli replied, gesturing for the collection team to move in to transport the crystalline sentient back to the shuttle. The other retrieval teams would handle collecting the drochs as Taeli could sense her wife's hesitancy and... well frankly boredom. The sarcasm did not help, but then Fiolette had never really expressed enthusiasm in Taeli's research.

A lot of apprehension, some arousal when she saw Taeli directly use her powers, but it was usually apprehension. This research in particular had a dual purpose, but she was playing one of the reasons very close to the chest at the moment. Not even the Emperor knew what she was hoping to achieve with her studies into the drochs.

"And I owe you dinner for coming down here when we get back to Bastion," she continued softly. "I know it wasn't what you wanted to be doing, but thank you. Anything you want, I'll make it for you. No servants or outside help."

It was the beginnings of an olive branch at least.