The Things I've Always Been Denied

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

Adekos had been focused on his forearm (there was a datapad embedded into the gauntlet) when Ivy returned to the bridge. He looked up at her approach, tilting his head slightly. "Oh. You look nice. As for the box-" The box had been placed a little ways off from him, and Adekos reached his hand out to telekinetically will it into his grasp. Nothing happened. Of course, the stupid lizard was still on the ship. Adekos muttered something indignant and rose out of his seat to snatch it off the ground.

"I was supposed to meet their broker to purchase it, but they apparently had other plans."

He seated himself again, then undid the clasp on the box. He removed the contents- a single antiquated data chip -and held it up for Ivy to see from where she was seated.

"It's a fragment. Of a map. To a lost planet. Inhabited by robots. You wouldn't have any particular interest in it or use for it."

As soon as that sentence was finished, Adekos returned the chip to the box, re-did the clasp, and stuck it behind his chair. "Any more questions?"

 

[Hazel Scheler]

There was a certain air of snoot to the masked man's voice that grew a desire in Ivy to box his ears in so hard that his head spun. She kept this to herself and instead displayed something between indignant bemusement and tethered agitation. The woman gave a short sigh through her nose, leaned forward and set a glass tumbler down on the shelf of the command console with her left hand then pulled the stopper from the bottle of brandy and began pouring it with the right.

Were it not for the gleam of metal from her cybernetic fingers all the way up past her elbow of her right arm this might have been a negligible action.

Glass half full she replaced the stopper and eased back into her seat, taking a moment to get comfortable before considering the man next to her. This strange pseudo employer-prisoner-criminal deal wasn't quite what she had in mind when making her way towards Coruscant, but if life had taught her anything it was that strange things happened for little to no reason at all.

Ivy didn't believe in fate.

"First: thank you. I like to think I still clean up alright after all these years," she took a small but slow drink, hazel eyes watching him over the rim of the glass in a keen, pointed stare, "second: try me. You know nothing of my particular interests but you might be surprised."

[member="Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

Adekos noted the cybernetic limb. It would have been great to make a show with that, but the damn lizard was still slinking around in the back of the ship. This ridiculous Force neutralizing bubble was starting to hang like a pall over the vessel. Whatever time remained on this flight, it was sure to be unbearable. But at least the company was good, if a bit... Crude.

He gave a light snort. "Well, if you must know, it should guide me to a lost planet somewhere out in former Fringe space. It is a dead planet, purportedly inhabited by a droid civilization thousands upon thousands of years old. I intend to capture as many as possible for study."

Whether or not they droids had formed something resembling a civilization was irrelevant. They were still droids. Items. Objects. And as they were on that planet, they were merely spoils up for grabs. Adekos fully intended to grab as many of them as possible to further his own vile agenda.

"You don't strike me as a droid enthusiast. Not in the sense of myself or my employees, anyway."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"I prefer droids to most humans," Ivy replied flatly before taking a drink.

Droids were simple creations that lead simple lives. They did what they were programmed to do and if that programming broke? You fixed it. If you couldn't fix it? You scrapped them to make new droids. Droids didn't suffer human emotions. They didn't create vile agendas. They didn't muse on how best to bring ruin to millions.

Those sorts of droids had been taken care of with the undoing of Omni. Twice.

Her left eye twitched, she took another drink.

"Spent a good amount of time running around Fringe space. Can't recall ever stepping foot on a planet run by droids but I might've heard a few rumors here and there."

[member="Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

Adekos sniggered. "Oh? Suppose we have that in common."

Droids didn't complain about orders, didn't lose focus, didn't get tired. They also didn't ask for consistent pay increases or time off to visit their families. Unless they somehow became more self-aware than intended, they also couldn't be bribed. The perfect subordinates, and almost always more effective than organic personnel in the same roles. Or at least more consistent. He observed in relative silence as the cyborg mercenary indulged her alcoholic habit. Apparently she had heard of the place as well, but the details weren't in her description.

"If you set foot on the planet, you likely wouldn't know it. You'd also suffocate and die without the proper equipment." He explained. "It's a dead world as far as surface appearances go. The lot of them live deep beneath the crust, disguising the thermal exhaust of their habitats as volcanic activity. It's all very fascinating. They've gone thousands of years without contacting anyone or being contacted."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"Considering my armor doubles as a survival suit..." Ivy trailed off. She didn't need to explain how those sorts of things worked. Most mercenaries were equipped to endure all types of terrain and dangers. Well, most good mercenaries. She'd seen her fair share of unprepared buffoons in her day.

"Sounds like an intelligent bunch of droids, all things considered," another drink, her glass hung empty as she leaned to pick up the bottle for a refill, "bit odd for them to be hunkered down on their own, don't you think? Suppose they're hiding something..."

Course her guest would know all about that, sitting there hiding behind his mask. Hazel eyes honed in on the thing. Ivy hated masks, which really made her the biggest hypocrite of them all considering the intangible mask she wore every day. Didn't stop her from toying with the urge to yank the think off him.

[member="Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

"I figured as much." He waved his hand dismissively. "I'm just trying to be dramatic."

If the droids hunkered down on that dead world were hiding something, the legends didn't explicitly mention it. "Of course it's strange- they're droids. Anything they do outside of their programmed paramaters ought to be considered strange. But beyond that I doubt they're hiding anything other than themselves. If they were concocting some plan to mechanize the galaxy or what-have-you, they would have executed it by now."

Or maybe they had something to do with that Omni-droid crisis a dozen or so years back. Adekos didn't remember it very clearly because he had not been extensively involved. Most people seemed to either not know of the event or misremebered it. Which was strange considering the scale of it- almost as if they hadn't been there, but clearly they were unless they were only ten years old. It was better for Adekos' business that way, he supposed. Usually it took centuries after droid-based crises for people to trust them again. The waiting was substantially shorter when people forget.

"But they must be advanced if they lasted so long, thus worthy of study, wouldn't you say? Who knows what treasures they've been hording."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

Ivy remembered the Omni crises though she'd largely been away from the bulk of the terror. Wild space, drinking away her nights and days, flying about with some haphazard merc crew. Up until Aing'Tii of course, and Moross. By then Omni and his droids had been felled by the remarkable teamwork of a galaxy already tearing itself apart.

And what had they done afterwards? Gone right back at it again. Ivy wasn't going to complain, it was this inherent nature of humans and the ever present fight for supremacy over the mystical mumbo jumbo called the Force that kept her in steady work.

"What treasures indeed..." Ivy indulged in a longer drink this time, taking down half of her fresh glass in one swig.

"Speaking of hiding," she began, broad shoulders slowly easing forward in her seat, eyes leveled on that mask, "I've got a rule on my ship about masks..."

[member="Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

Adekos folded his arms and fixated Ivy with a look. It was not at all possible to discern what this look was thanks to his mask, but suffice it to say it was probably a skeptical one. He was, after all, staring at the person he just paid three hundred thousand credits and free repairs for life to save him. And now it seemed it wasn't enough for her. She just had to go and try to get him to unmask himself.

"You'll have to specify exactly what this rule stipulates. I did dole out enough money for you to retire just now, so you may want to rethink the necessity of this rule."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"Could have left you right where I found you," her eyes narrowed, "and I'm not anywhere close to retiring," Ivy intoned, lifting her glass to finish it off before setting it on the console next to the bottle with a deft clink. Too much to do, too many things left undone, and a 400 year old chase across the galaxy with a trail that had long since gone cold.

Masks. Images of a man named Salas flickered briefly before her mind's eye. Might've been the alcohol, might've been the gleam of the metal face staring right at her, but a wild flare of anger caught her mood. Ivy didn't blink under his gaze but was instead brazened by it, expression turning to stone.

"No masks on my ship."

[member="Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

"But you didn't." Adekos quickly pointed out. "And now you're a great deal wealthier, but not any more grateful, it would seem." Something in her demeanor changed. Was it the alcohol? She looked like she got a far off look in her eye just moments before this particularly stern outburst. Force or no Force, however, Adekos was not a man known to take such dogmatic commands lightly. Here he was, basically, her biggest sponsor, and now she was going to beat him up over a rule that had been made up on the spot.

Some people.

"Now you see here, madam, that for close to an hour I've been on this ship and not heard of this arbitrary, draconian rule until now. While I do appreciate your services and up-until-now professionalism, you will need to understand that I require my privacy be respected. If this mask is clearly some sort of disturbance to you then I apologize and will escort myself to the passenger quarters- far from your apparently sensitive eyes -and remain there until our arrival on Balmorra."

He stood, giving an agitated huff, and proceeded for the cockpit's exit. How unreasonable this whole interaction had become over the span of moments! Some women were just unworthy of his company. The solitude of whatever passed for a passenger's room on this ship would at least be more tolerant of his sense of style.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

Ivy calmly pressed a button on the command console, sealing the cockpit door right before [member="Adekos"] got to it.

"Passenger quarters belong to the beast," there came a squeek from the pilot's seat followed by the soft tamping of boots on cold durasteel. A pause of silence before the bulk of the woman surged forward, cybernetic arm furling to grab for his right wrist - twisting it back and up between his shoulderblades in a locked armhold. Her right hand snaked upwards to shove that masked face against the door, her own body moving in right behind him to pin the man in place.

Epicanthix strength and speed on hot display, but no one had ever spoken about their tenacity while under the influence.

"Don't worry sweetheart," Ivy drawled as she jammed her elbow into his lower back while reaching round the front of his helmet and giving a tug, "I keep secrets real well..."

Off came the helmet in a flurry of platinum blond hair and scandalized glances. Ivy tossed it into the pilot's chair.

There was a moment of stillness and strange silence... mechanized grip on his wrist tightening just so, "Lord Tyrin Ardik..." the words left her lips slowly, with mild surprise and ...amusement? Ivy's free hand slid along his side to search for weapons, finding his lightsaber and commandeering that as well. She released him, stepping back to get a good look at him, "don't you look good in a suit of armor. Your hair's longer than I remember."

And beautifully blond. Nnf.

[member="Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

The door slammed shut in his face and from that moment Adekos knew he wouldn't like where this was going. Before he could turn around and defend himself, the Epicanthix had him pinned against the door. This was yet another in a long string of reminders how frighteningly unskilled he was when without the Force. Granted, he was a strong man for his age. He had to be for this line of work. He could fight unarmed if he needed to, well versed in a basic hand-to-hand doctrine, but as it currently stood he never got the chance to employ it.

This was all starting to sound like retroactive justification for why he got pinned to a door by a common mercenary anyway.

"Unhand me at once you thu- Ow!" If there was one thing that made Adekos, well, Adekos, it was his ability to issue demands as if he weren't at a horrible disadvantage. The only thing that stopped him short was the sudden elbow into his back. Force or no Force, strong or not, pain was still painful. Not long after that did she start groping at the chin of his mask, attempting to yank it off. Under normal circumstances pinning and groping would have been wonderful, but it just wasn't going to fly as it stood now. "Enough of that! Stop this, you degenerate-"

When the mask came off, so too did the voice modulator. Instantaneously his voice transitioned from an unnatural, synthetic baritone to that of a pompous blue-blooded capitalist in an unfavorable situation. His hair, glorious as it is, also came loose in a golden cascade. If it looked good he couldn't tell. His view was dominated by the door. There was an awkward silence, then she called him by his old name. He knew this irascible broad? Perish the thought! The next thing she did was snag his lightsaber, which prevented an ill thought-out reprisal by Adekos far before it could begin. She eventually released him, and Tyrin whipped himself around, tenderly massaging the wrist she had previously seized.

His face was flushed red with anger. "No one's called me Tyrin in a very long time, and I'd prefer you kept it that way. But apparently preferences don't go very far on this vessel."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"My ship," Ivy replied, flat-toned, nonchalant, "my rules."

She deposited his lightsaber into a safelock vault with a resounding THUNK and sealed it shut. Leaning back against the console, the common mercenary woman turned a look upon the man that was equal parts curious and penetrating. Had it just been the terrible lighting of his house on Umbara that made him look like an old crone or had he somehow sucked the youth from some young degenerate through his Force-frippery. Wasn't right, wasn't natural.

But damn, that suit and hair.

Why did he have to be a blond? And why the feth didn't he have helmet hair?

"If not Tyrin then what?" Ivy reached back and poured herself another glass, bottle half gone now, and looked back at the man expectantly.

[member="Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

"I'm docking your pay for this." Tyrin muttered, rather darkly. Now he was too uncomfortable to sit down, especially now that he had been disarmed. He simply shifted uncomfortably in front of the cockpit door, arms awkwardly at his side. The only times he was usually without a helmet in his armor was when he was still donning everything. To be like this in front of someone who wasn't privy to his whole "alter ego" situation made him feel naked.

Clearly from her question she had no idea this face was active elsewhere in the galaxy. He looked different from when he had actually served as Emperor. Tyrin was but a young, earnest fool back then. Bald, ashen skin, red eyes, facial tattoos. Things changed once he was dethroned. He looked older for a while, then he decided to start shaving and treat his hair. The rest was history. If Valik hadn't informed his clandestine courier she was dropping things off to the former Emperor, she probably wouldn't have known otherwise.

"If you're not already familiar with my other identity already, then I'm not going to clarify." He looked disconcertingly between Ivy and his helmet. "Exactly how long until we reach Balmorra?"

 

[Hazel Scheler]

The day Ivy met the once-Emperor of the Sith Order was a day that frequently haunted her waking hours. She wasn't particularly keen on remembering every name or face she met, but for a women with her experience and history with Sith she wasn't want to forget that name or face any time soon. It had been a reckoning for her - meeting this man who aside from his own paranoia had been closer to normal than most normal people she knew.

Classical. Civil. Hospitable even.

She remembered with great clarity the vintage served to her. The book on his coffee table and the casual dismissal of its value and relevance. As if he simply waved away the whole onus over his head that baring the name Sith and Emperor would have placed upon him. Rightfully she should have turned him in. She'd considered it for a long time but never did. Now here he was. Again. The galaxy shrank a little more every fething day.

This was all a bit too ... ironic, for the merc to handle in her current state of pseudo-inebriation.

Her deadpan stare remained on the man for a short time, eyes narrowing as these thoughts made their way far slower through her mind than you likely read them. At some point she came to the conclusion that it wasn't that she was drinking too much, but that she wasn't drinking enough. Ivy finished off her glass and momentarily pondered the inclusion of a stim or some other sort of mind altering paraphernalia to ease her into a state of lucid bliss - sadly she didn't have stock in either.

"Longer than you want to be here," she replied finally, a single brow twitching upwards, "most people who have a name they wish not to be called offer an alternative."

Ivy pushed off from the console, setting her glass aside before approaching the man again, this time in an only mildly threatening manner, which was to say he was already aware that she was a volatile drunk that could pin him to a door. Who knew what else she could do.

Hazel eyes looked the man up and down again as she came to stand before him.

...what else she'd like to do...

"And I'm not very good at coining nicknames. Haven't even named the dog yet. What's it gonna be Tyrin?"

[member="Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

Tyrin pursed his lips. This interaction was getting more and more unpleasant with each passing moment. He would have liked to turn around and try to open the door again, but now she had walked right back over to him. Tyrin was facing her this time and tensed up at her approach, wary of another grapple that would end with his face smashed into the door again. Get him off guard once, shame on you. Twice and he definitely had a problem. Better to not let it devolve to that point.

"Fine, fine. Keep calling me Tyrin, for all that bloody name is worth." He conceded, but he didn't sound any less flustered. Especially not since a straight answer on how long this was going to last wasn't provided. "You're going to need to back up a few steps. Please."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"Oh, good," a grin, then, one that stretched the faintly glowing scars of her face just enough to make her look slightly mad.

Not so far from the truth, really. The booze was really starting to get to her.

"You're younger looking than I remember," Ivy was slowly, unabashedly inching her way closer to the man, eyes openly roving his armored figure, "in fact you're downright...beautiful. When was the last time a woman called you beautiful?"

Real close now. Did she detect the scent of lavendar? Feth, she'd discovered the Sith Unicorn.

[member="Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

While Ivy was smelling lavender, the only thing Adekos could smell was the alcohol on her breath. Was she coming on to him? It certainly seemed she was coming on to him, which would have been a refreshing change of pace if she hadn't been violently accosting him less than ten minutes ago. "Quite recently, as a matter of fact..." Tyrin trailed off. This was all rather strange. Mercenaries usually didn't come on to him after violently accosting him, which left him stumped. Usually when he couldn't get a good grip on what course of action to pursue, he imagined what some of his closer colleagues would have done.

There weren't enough people on this ship for a debauched orgy, so he supposed Carach's favored course of action would be unavailable.

He wasn't feeling particularly violent, nor did he have access to his lightsaber, so a quick evisceration as Vornskr would recommend (in retribution for a perceived insult) wouldn't be happening.

Miss Santhe would tell him to quit being a prude and reciprocate.

Miss Santhe was probably in the right here. But there was nothing to be done to reduce the up-tightness of a man who had it beaten into him defeat after grueling defeat.

"You're not going to tear the rest of my armor off, are you?"

 

[Hazel Scheler]

Really? Feth. Apparently beautiful wasn't just for women anymore. How the times had changed.

"Depends," a cheshire grin planted itself on the woman's face as she leaned in and pressed a flat metallic palm against the molded armor of his sternum, pushing the man back against the door again with only a little less force than the last time, "on how fast you take it off on your own."

The other hand went south. Three guesses as to where it went, the first two don't count.

[member="Adekos"]