First Reply The Wicked Rule The Wicked

[Tycho Arak]

Note: I would prefer someone of lightside or neutral alignment to RP with in this thread, simply because I think it will help me to get a feel for Tycho more than RPing with a fellow darkside aligned character.

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ANSION - City Streets

It was a world where he found similarity. Outside of the major cities and villages were a people that lived a lifestyle similar to his own. They moved as they needed to and never settled for the constant of living in the same place. While he'd found them interesting, it was inevitable that he ventured into the cities as well, considering his desire for further knowledge was never satiated. He wore his armor and mask here. Not because he figured on being attacked or having to defend himself, but because it was easier to watch people when they didn't know they were being watched. He studied them, wondering what could make them desire to live stacked on top of each other, surrounded by people they didn't know and had no relation to. Why live in wonder of what the person beside you might be willing to do to you if the opportunity arose? Not to mention such close proximity seemed to breed crime. Perhaps that was just the nature of beings when opportunity arises.

The nomadic peoples had little to no crime among them unless outsiders brought it to them, but in the city it seemed rampant. Several times he watched pickpockets go unnoticed. Even though security forces walked among the people, it didn't stop thieves. Part of him wondered if the security forces were paid to look the other way when it came to lesser crimes. Perhaps allowing those crimes to occur kept vagrancy levels down. He didn't see any homeless about, which either meant the people of the city made an effort to take care of them, or there wasn't any reason for people to be homeless. If one can pick the pockets of the rich without notice, and security does nothing about it, then it would be easy to afford a roof and food, he thought to himself as he watched a young woman bump into someone and politely excuse herself with their money.

He walked onward and continued observing until a situation arose where he could no longer merely observe. Much like when he was younger, he found it distasteful the way people used one another. Brothers turning on brothers. Sisters turning on sisters. Neighbor against neighbor. This was not how people should act. It was fundamentally wrong, and that wrong was exactly what drove him to be who he was. Not to right all the wrongs of the galaxy, no, that was the "supposed" way of the Jedi. They claimed to be peacemakers, to be mediators, but the ones he'd seen were just as destructive as the people they fought. Most often they made effort to do grievous damage to the infrastructure of worlds simply because of what governmental order oversaw that world. Travesty. Degeneracy. Lies. Jedi were not the good guys people thought they were. They weren't the good they believed themselves to be. They were tools of governments intent on portraying a semblance of law and justice, but in reality, were manipulated by bureaucrats and autocrats.

His current allegiance was to an Empire that made no lies about what it was. Law and Order were the only solutions to the ills of the galaxy, and while the Dark Empire was not perfect in its pursuit of it, it showed more promise than the other galactic powers.

But now he stood before a young man, who floated in the air in front of him with fingers, fingers that had done harm, grasping at the invisible hand around his throat. Tycho watched him calmly from within his helm, wondering how long he would struggle against the inevitable. A mere flick of his fingers could end the man instantly, but he wanted to see how much willpower the man had considering what he'd witnessed him do. It was wicked, what he was doing to him, but wickedness is best repaid with wickedness, because the wicked do not search for or accept kindness. He tightened his grip on the man's throat very slowly. At first, he was merely holding him up, but as the minutes passed, air became harder and harder for him to suck into his underinflating lungs. It wouldn't take long for him to pass out or die, but how long would he fight it before accepting his fate? That was what made Tycho curious.

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Location: ANSION City Streets
Tags: Tycho Arak

Katarine felt a strange connection to this planet, though she could not be certain why. It was a world caught between two galactic superpowers and as war tore the galaxy apart the planet would eventually be swept up in the mix. But war was not why she was here today. No, Katarine had been invited here by the chief of police. Apparently the cities had issues with apathetic cops and Katarine was asked to conduct an investigation to see the source.

As she walked the streets she couldn’t help but agree that there were obvious issues. She watched police officers walking by, clearly avoiding the eye contact of thieves in broad daylight. Kat wondered if it was just theft that was ignored or if there was anything more serious?

As she turned a corner she came to a halt. Down the street there was a man choking another man and several officers were near by, leaning against a speeder and chatting idly.

“Stop! He can’t breathe! “

Katarine approached closer and felt herself grow dizzy. She came to a sudden stop and narrowed her eyes at the masked figure.

 

[Tycho Arak]

​

Location: Ansion - City Streets
Tags: Katarine Ryiah

It was strange having an audience for what he was doing. Even though he felt it was justified, he believed they should question what he was doing. Especially so of the security forces. But they were just standing around, doing nothing. It didn't even seem like they were watching what he was doing. That just proved he was right about them. For some reason they didn't care to do anything about crime on their planet. Either they were being paid to ignore it and were thugs to some gangster, or they just chose not to care. Neither option was good for the citizens of Ansion, but he'd almost prefer the former because it would be an easier problem to solve.

He was still tightening his grip when someone spoke up. It actually surprised him that someone spoke.

"The general idea of choking someone is to either cause them to pass out or to die, so them not being able to breathe is the goal," he said before glancing over his shoulder at the person who spoke.

Visually confirming who she was wasn't possible, but if he had to guess, given the proximity of the world to Alliance space, she was probably a Jedi. She saw someone doing something she wouldn't do and so was intervening. That behavior was consistent with the Jedi mindset. Not that she was going to get him to stop what he was doing, but he did pause in his tightening of his grip on the mans neck, offering a brief reprieve to him so he could fully turn and face the woman who'd spoken to him.

"He is getting what he deserves. If you don't believe me," he motioned to a nearby door, "take a look inside that home."

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Tycho Arak

“There are ways to handle someone if they have broken the law. But this isn’t it.”

Katarine felt nauseated at the sight in front of her, but as he mentioned the home she inched that way.

“Please. Something is wrong here can’t you see that? “

Even as she spoke the man should notice how wrong things were here. The choking man was sobbing but the moment the pressure eased up he seemed to become indifferent, just like the police. The choking man had a blank stare on his face.

“Something is very wrong here. Killing this man won’t solve it. Why don’t you help me figure out what is keeping the authorities from helping these people? What’s turning this world into such apathy?”

She was now by the doorway and she glanced inside, uncertain what she would see.

 

[Tycho Arak]

​

Location: Ansion - City Streets
Tags: Katarine Ryiah

"I aim to solve it, but doing so doesn't require I allow criminals of this nature to live," he said, tightening his grip once more, but no longer toying with the man.

Inside of the house was probably the most disturbing seen she'd ever seen. Spread across the floor was a thick layer of plastic, covered in blood. On top of the plastic were the partially skinned and partially butchered bodies of the family that had lived in that home. It was not a sight someone would easily get out of their head. He'd seen some pretty terrible things perpetrated on people in his time and even he found what the man was doing inside of the house to be hard to let go of. It did anger him, and that anger was, in part, the reason why he chose to make the man suffer and didn't just run him through with his lightsaber. He could have done so. It would have been justified. But it was too easy.

He did notice the way the man seemed to change when the choking let up, but it didn't change his crime. Someone's family was dead inside of the house, and the perpetrator had to be punished for that, even if there was some outside influence at work.

"No amount of simply apathy could lead to what he did in there." He watched her at the door and waited until she was looking at him. "Even if someone attempted to mind control the populace here they could not create such a heinous scene without the person who did it being inclined to do so. This man has done this before. You can see it in his mind. For that, he must be punished."

With a casual flick of his thumb, he broke the man's neck and dropped his body to the ground.

"The wicked rule the wicked."

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Tycho Arak

Katarine had certainly seen her fair share of crimes scenes, but that didn't make it any easier to view. As a detective she spent most of her life investigating such things, but there was always the nausea and unease that these scenes brought. Now was no different. She felt her stomach turn and glanced back away from the home. She had seen enough to gather the details.

Even as she turned two people walked past her and entered the house. They did not seem bothered by the scene. Instead they started going through the dead residents things, looking for credits and valuables. This was almost harder to stomach than the murder itself.

They were walking over the newly dead man without so much as a glance. At most they just walked around him and continued their conversations. It was a disturbing thing to witness, but so was a self righteous murderer who thought he was doing good deeds by killing people without a trial. She wasn't sure which made her more sick to her stomach. The local authorities didn't seem bothered by the choking however, and Katarine had no jurisdiction here since this planet was outside of The Alliance.

"I guess you would know."

She sighed and let her deep green eyes scan the streets.

"I wonder if something is contaminating them?"

 

[Tycho Arak]

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Location: Ansion - City Streets
Tags: Katarine Ryiah

"You believe I am wicked based solely on the fact that I issued punishment to a murderer who has done it many times before?" he asked before using the Force to move the man's body to the side.

Without waiting for an answer, he walked inside and, carefully, navigated the scene to grab both of those who had entered and take them back outside. With force, but not deadly so. Theft was a crime, but not one that should be punished with more than detention in a facility. Perhaps house detention. Either way, he pushed them out and send them on their way before closing the door and smashing the controls so nobody else could get in for the time being. She issued an accusation, and asked a valid question, but she didn't seem overly inclined to taking care of the situation at hand. That annoyed him, but he was used to it.

He looked across the street at the security forces that lounged around doing nothing. Previously he'd thought they were paid off, but now he had to wonder if she was right. Something, or someone, had poisoned their minds.

"I'm unaware of anything native to this world that could cause this. I've spent a lot of time with the nomadic people's and didn't see this among them. It makes me suspicious that someone is behind this."

A criminal organization? His own government? He couldn't say for sure. Not yet. The most interesting thing was that he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary when he'd searched the mind of the man he'd just killed. He would have expected that, if the man's mind was tampered with through the Force, he would have been able to detect something of that nature. Unless the person was very gifted. Or they were using a pathogen that blocked or interfered with neurotransmitters?

"The obvious first place to check is the water supply."

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Tycho Arak

"You believe I am wicked based solely on the fact that I issued punishment to a murderer who has done it many times before

“I believe this society has the right to decide who they trust with punishing law breakers. Are you a member of the government or law enforcement here? Do you report to any type of system of checks and balances? Or are you imposing vigilante justice without accountability?”

This of course was not a pressing question at the moment. The matter at hand was to figure out what was going on with the people here. If Kat had her way she would not team up with this bile inducing man, but she knew that two heads were often better than one and the investigation might go easier if they worked together instead of getting in each others way.

“Let’s go check the water systems. It’s as good as place to start as any. If you want to work together in solving this that is?”

 

[Tycho Arak]

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Location: Ansion - City Streets
Tags: Katarine Ryiah

Accountability. Who was the government accountable to? The people. But what if the government held itself above the people? Then the only ones capable of dispensing justice became the people.

"There is no effective government and no effective security force to dispense justice," he pointed out as he turned and started walking. "A crime should be dealt with by dispensing the same harm that one causes on another. I believe most would call that an eye for an eye, but contrary to the adage, it does not leave the whole world blind if applied by a third party."

It seemed likely, to him anyway, that the water supply was somewhere on the outskirts of the city. Those types of treatment facilities tended to be noisy, smelly, and irritating to others, so they wouldn't put it in the heart of the city. Maybe under it. Hmm. That posed a problem. Since he didn't actually know where the water supply was, and there was no way of knowing if literally everyone was affected by whatever was causing the apathy and lack of morality among the citizens. He scanned the buildings as they walked until he spotted a terminal, then approached and plugged his datapad into it.

"Justice isn't just unless it's applied equally. The only way to apply equal justice is for the crime to be repaid in kind regardless of who the perpetrator is. King, Chancellor, Emperor, it doesn't matter. If justice is not applied to all the same, then there is no justice."

He found what he was looking for and held the datapad out to her.

"Their water supply is an underground cavern with a single access point at the city's municipal building."

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Tycho Arak

Ugh, this guy liked to hear himself talk. Katarine had a feeling this was a man who had an answer for everything and never wanted to admit he was wrong. She knew the type well and it made her want to slap him. She wouldn’t of course because being anywhere near the darkside made her physicality weak. It was already hard enough to stand in his presence.

She followed him as he found a terminal and plugged his data pad in. This was something she would have never been able to do. A thousand years of technology had passed her by and she still had trouble even figuring out how to turn her data pad on half the time.

“It looks like we are heading to the municipal building then. We can take public transport. It will give us a chance to observe more citizens.”

She lead him to a public transport stop which was around the block. They luckily did not have to wait long for a shuttle to arrive.

Aboard citizens seemed normal but as she looked closer she saw many had glazed eyes. A person was smoking a death stick , something prohibited but nobody seemed to care.

“I wonder what the end game is here? Maybe everyone apathetic enough to acquire more wealth?”

 

[Tycho Arak]

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Location: Ansion - City Streets
Tags: Katarine Ryiah

The idea of relying on public transportation didn't sit well with him given the state of the people. He followed, though, studying the people they passed as they drew closer to the shuttle stop. Thankfully, it was a droid pilot and not one of the locals. Less worry about a droid, because whatever was affecting the people was unlikely to affect a machine.

"Endgame could be anything, really. We have nothing to go on except the proximity of this world to Alliance space," he said.

His helmet really was unnecessary at the moment, and since it wasn't really designed for interiors, something he planned to eventually fix, he reached up and removed it, lowering his hood as well. She was be able to see his face, but that didn't bother him. Despite the nature of most Jedi, he didn't believe she had ill intent towards him. If she studied his face enough she'd note that his eyes were still golden, not the typically tainted color associated with those who practice solely darkside arts. There was no darkside scarring about his features at all.

"Could be someone with a vendetta against this city, as well. As much as I hate to admit it, we can't rule out the Alwari. Ansion has a history of rift between them and the Unity government."

Those golden eyes swept over the people in the shuttle with them. The few there were had glazed expressions. One was smoking a deathstick, which he used the Force to pull from his hand before destroying it.

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Tycho Arak

Katarine nodded as he spoke, and inwardly thought if the Dark Empire had their way soon this planet would be close to their space. She sighed and pushed a stray strand of her long hair behind one ear. The war in the Core had been waged for a while now but to Kat it seemed pointless. She had fought in the rebel alliance before and after a century she was still here fighting another war. Did it all matter? She felt like the fighting truly would never end and it made her question her palace in the galaxy.

Her deep green eyes scanned the view outside as they traveled and then slid back inward when her new companion used the Force to rip a death stick away from a patron. For a moment the smoker blinked and looked around and then settled back into a state of ease.

“It seems like when there is a shock people become themselves again, just for a second. When you were choking that man he struggled at first. The smoker seemed upset for a moment. It’s like their system recognizes the shock but then a veil drops back over them. “

 

[Tycho Arak]

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Location: Ansion - City Streets
Tags: Katarine Ryiah

"I'm not aware of anything that can have that affect on people," he said, dropping the crushed deathstick into a trash receptacle.

Perhaps shock momentarily blocked a toxin from binding? If that was the case, the toxin had to continuously be searching for receptors and not be permanently bound, meaning when the toxin was gone from their system, they would quickly return to normal. It also meant there was a sufficiently large amount of the toxin in their system if it was actually a toxin. Until they were able to check the water supply they wouldn't be able to know for sure. For that matter, if it wasn't in the water supply, not everyone would be affected by it. An airborne pathogen couldn't be controlled enough to affect all, and if it was that, he and the Jedi would be affected.

The shuttle stopped at their destination and he stood, clipping his helmet to his armor at the waist, and exited. A few people were about, but he didn't see anything of note from them. They had the same apathetic look on their faces.

"My name is Tycho, by the way."

Introductions seemed like a good idea given they were going to work together at the moment. He strode over to the municipal building door and stepped inside. The inside was a bit different. He didn't see anyone at all. The reception desk was empty. The security desk was empty. He didn't hear the noise of conversation or anything. It was deathly silent.

"Odd."

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Tycho Arak

Katarine grimaced when he said his name. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to get too personal with someone who dispensed vigilante justice. On the other hand he was at least willing to help solve the problem and if he ever tried that crap in Alliance space she could arrest him. It made ger feel uneasy but she responded with her own name.

“Katarine.”

As they made it off the transport she was careful to give him room to enter the building. The darkside made her dizzy and even though it wasn’t as strong from him she still felt it. She followed him inside and stopped as he did. The inside was completely empty.

“Very.”

She walked over to the security desk and peaked behind, looking at the monitors.

“The third floor monitor is blank but other than that all the rooms appear empty as well.”

 

[Tycho Arak]

​

Location: Ansion - City Streets
Tags: Katarine Ryiah

She didn't like him, he could tell. The grimace only confirmed what he'd already surmised. It was unfortunate because he found her willingness to work with him to solve the problem to be rather pleasant. He was quite certain that most of her fellows would have dealt with him at the end of a lightstaber rather than allow him to do what he'd done. And make no mistake, she'd allowed him to do it, which meant that at some level she knew what he'd done was just.

"The third floor?" he looked upward and frowned. "The water supply is below us, but the third floor monitor isn't on. Could it be that whoever is behind this is operating there?"

The likelihood of that was high. A blanked out monitor meant something was wrong. The fact there was no one at any of the desks was bad enough, but a blanked out monitor meant they didn't want anyone seeing what was going on. He reached out through the Force, trying to get a sense for what might be up there. Definitely there were lifeforms there, and they seemed... agitated? He couldn't read beyond that, a sign of interference, but that didn't fit with the apathetic nature of the city populace that they had observed. Those people had only shown emotion when they were forced to endure an outside influence. Unless there was some stimuli above them, he was certain danger was ahead.

"I feel agitation and unease from above us, but nothing below. I believe they know we're here and unaffected."

He unhooked his cloak and lay it over one of the desks before setting his helmet beside it. He honestly didn't like the thing.

"How do you want to play this?"

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Tycho Arak

Katarine was confused as well. She wondered if maybe they were operating upstairs but the culprit behind the water troubles was underneath. They needed to confirm that the water was the source of the problem, and they needed to investigate the third floor. Splitting up seemed the likely option but she didn’t want him ruthlessly killing anybody else. They didn’t yet know the effects of whatever was going on and until then she didn’t know what it did to others.

“I think we need to split up. Someone goes to the third floor to see who’s up there. Another goes down to check the water. “

 

[Tycho Arak]

​

Location: Ansion - City Streets
Tags: Katarine Ryiah

There was something in the way she said it that made the decision on who went where easier. He wouldn't have minded the fight that he felt was coming above, but was it better to earn her trust? Probably. In his eyes, he'd done nothing but what should have done. In the absence of government or security forces, someone else had to step in to bring the unjust to justice. That was just the natural law of things. And that man hadn't just killed those people because of whatever was causing all of this. He'd killed before and he would kill again. But she hadn't seen what he'd seen in that mans mind, either.

"I'll go check the water," he said, reaching for an access card from the security desk. "Be careful up there."

Maybe it he took the path that avoided confrontation with the people above, she would see he wasn't just some killer himself. He'd never fancied himself a vigilante before. He found no enjoyment in killing. The torment he'd inflicted on the man before was purely reparation for what he'd done to others, and, admittedly, he'd been a little lost in the moment, which she'd brought him back from.

"Meet back here when you're done."

He started for the lift that would take him down.

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Tycho Arak


Katarine nodded as he said he would go down to check the water. This left her to head up the lift to the third floor and see what was going on. This might be better, considering she didn't want innocent people in his path, but it might be worse depending on what she would find up there. It was a gamble but then again they didn't know what they would find below either. Both of these situations could be extremely dangerous and both could throw innocents in their path.

"Be careful." She echoed his sentiments back as he set off.

She headed towards the lift and hit the button. It came surprisingly quickly but then again Katarine was used to the lifts during the Cone Wars. Technology had come a long way since then and sometimes she still marveled at it. Of course she was lost and had no idea how to use most of it, but it was still fascinating. She made it to the third floor and could hear voices coming from what looked like a meeting room. When she approached she was surprised to find the door swing open and a female pantoran beckon her inside.

"Code inside! Quickly!"

Katarine allowed herself to be ushered into the room and the blue skinned alien shut it quickly behind them.

"What is going on?"

From the agitated faces around the room it was apparent that these people were not under the influence of whatever the rest of the city was.

"He made us do it! We didn't want to! Its in the water!"

It seemed Katarine had stumbled into people being forced to execute this plan.

 

[Tycho Arak]

​

Location: Ansion - City Streets
Tags: Katarine Ryiah

She went up, he went down. Interesting dichotomy. Regardless, he descended without knowing what he was in for since he hadn't really felt anything below. Of course, that could have been intentional. If someone was behind all of this, and it wasn't a freak accident, they wouldn't want people knowing where they were. If the person behind it was a Force user, well, they could be lying in ambush, just waiting for someone to get off the lift. Knowing that, he plucked his lightsaber from his belt and placed his thumb near the activator just in case.

When the door opened, no one jumped him. He stepped out and looked over the vast cavern that housed the underground pool. It was empty, and yet something felt off to him. Reaching out through the Force he felt, now that he was near it, something was off about what he was seeing.

An illusion? Is the person who placed it hiding within?

He reached out and dispelled the illusion. All it revealed, however, was a device with a medium sized cannister connected to it that was trickling some liquid into the water intake pipe. Smart. It meant a smaller amount of toxin would be needed. Poisoning the entire water supply would be very difficult given its size. This also meant that whoever was behind this wasn't going to be easily caught. This wasn't the run of the mill terrorist. This was someone who had coldly calculated their end result.

After walking to the dispenser, he shut it off with the manual valve, then disconnected the cannister. The liquid inside was clear, but he had no doubt it was some form of neurotoxin.

At least they won't be getting poisoned anymore.

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Tycho Arak

“He made us do it! I swear we didn't want to! You have to help us!"

There were three other people in the room and they all seemed as agitated and desperate as the blue alien talking to her.

"Calm down. Tell me what is going on."

"He's mad! He's going to come back soon! You have to get us out of here!"

Katarine guided the woman into a seat and looked around the room, willing someone else to talk to her. Finally a male human spoke up. He seemed nervous too but he wasn't hysterical yet.

"We have been kept against our will in this building by a dark man. He's asked us to create a chemical to add to the water supply. He wants to study apathy in the population. We.... had other colleagues... they refused. He... "

Katarine nodded to show she understood.

"If we stop the chemical supply will the effects wear off?"

"Yes. Eventually. We don't know what side effects there will be. This has never been tested. "

"Okay. We need to get you out of here. Where is the man you are working for?"