Private Weak and Strange

[Karina Lowe Legacy]

In a quiet and empty field in the southern hemisphere of Nathema, a star fell to the ground, casting off its burning plumage as it plunged from the sky and shattered the loud quiet of nature with the sound of its impact. True silence followed, before that too was broken by the calls of the wildlife as they protested the disturbance.

At the centre of the field lay the impact site, an ugly scar against the shimmering stalks, a smouldering furrow in the ground, with a metal object at its centre: a ship.

A ship that was, by any metric, in poor shape. Coolant and fuel spilled from its hull, which was twisted and crumpled almost beyond recognition. The pilot, still strapped to his seat, was pushed up against the plexiglass, his skull caved in, skin waxy, eyes like lifeless marbles. There was no chance anyone could have survived it, so complete was the destruction.

And, of course, nobody did.

It was upon closer inspection of the crash site, after the small fire had been stamped out, and most of the heat had faded from the wreckage, that one of the farmers, roused from his evening meal by the crash, saw an oddity.

Out of a gaping jagged metal tear in the fuselage of the ship, a metal amulet drifted serenely, slipping through the gap and hovering a few feet in the air. The farmer stepped back, wisely not trusting the object, and watched from a distance as the locket shifted, shuddered, and dropped to the scorched ground with a metallic thud.

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

As was to be expected, there were recovery crews of some sort coming down to the planet in question. Vanessa Vantai herself would join them as they began the arduous process of removing the pilot's corpse and the rest of the wreckage. All of it, including the pilot's body, would be fed to the furnace. Vanessa herself was busy asking the farmer whose field the ship had crashed into what exactly had happened.

"...and that locket floated out of the wreck." This caused Vanessa to immediately perk up as though she had started her morning with particularly strong caf. She looked over to the crash site and immediately eyed the locket, glistening on the floor but having been untouched by the salvage team. Out of curiosity, she went over and swiftly clasped the locket, bringing it up to eye level.

"Hello there."

Darth Asomata

 

[Karina Lowe Legacy]

Asomata felt a stinging disgust at the touch of a living person. She readied herself to attack them, the shadows gathering in bunches beneath the wreck turning sharp and readying to strike. Then, she felt something strange. Something she hadn’t felt in innumerable years. It was the tug, the familiar pull and presence of someone with power in the Force. She felt a slight thrill at the new sensation.

The spectre of Asomata formed a few paces from the amulet, a tarnished piece inset with a scratched 300 carat almandine garnet.

For the moment, she was unseen, invisible, but no doubt her formation would be felt by one as sensitive in the currents of the Force as she detected. Before electing to reveal herself, she turned her attention on the thief holding the necklace, looking her up and down for a few silent moments.

She revealed herself, a pale figure stepping out of the air in front of the stranger, clad in a flowing white dress, eyes closed, her bare feet drifting a few centimetres of the ground. The vision of Asomata was, at first, barely there, but grew in clarity as she concentrated, until after a few moments her features were clearly visible, though still slightly translucent.

Tilting her head, Asomata extended a slender hand, and the woman would feel the amulet tug against her grip.

“That belongs to me.” She said softly, her voice accompanied by a rush of wind that stirred the crop around them.

Asomata looked out over the field, at the late afternoon sky and the fertile landscape below it, before turning her gaze to the ship, lingering on the burning wreckage and finally turning back to the woman.

“Where are we?” She asked, sending another gentle rush of air across the field. It felt strange to speak again. She had to focus to form the words, and the syllables seemed no longer to be made of human sounds, but of older, creaking noises, borrowed from nature and twisted to the purpose of communication. Ah well, they would do the part.

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

When Vanessa clasped the amulet, immediately she realized that there was something special about it. It was some sort of Dark Side artifact with a purpose as yet unknown. As the wraith of the ancient Sith manifested within the region, the farmer who had witnessed the amulet’s initial actions ran for the hills and the other members of the salvage crew showed visible fear, though their work kept them from doing as he had done.

“Belonged.” Vanessa said. “You aren’t exactly in a condition to own property legally anymore.” She continued her grasp firmly on the amulet, her own prodigious Force abilities coming into play as she maintained her ownership of the relic.

“We are on Nathema, formerly a thriving planet, now an agricultural world with industrial facilities in orbit.” She replied. “I have no clue how you ended up here, but presumably it has something to do with this ship. We’ll salvage the data logs from it and find out exactly what the reason was for this crash - though I have a feeling you may already know.”

Darth Asomata

 

[Karina Lowe Legacy]

The figure of Asomata drifted closer to the Jedi, processing the words and slowly, leisurely thinking them through. She had not spoken to a soul in ages, and the first person she met was rude, impertinent, assuming. Asomata had half a mind to punish the woman for her fatuous comments, but she thought better. First, because this stranger radiated her own Dark influence, and second, because she could, perhaps, be of some use.

"You do not understand. But you will." Asomata replied distantly, her sighing voice still carried by the wind across the field. "I am older than whatever law you speak of, and the woman who owned this locket is long gone. There is nobody in this Galaxy with a claim to that object but me." Her voice was even, polite, and free of emotion. She drifted closer, so that her short form was eye-level with the woman and perhaps a foot distant, the tips of her toes hovering just above the disturbed dirt.

Asomata went on. "You are quite right. The man in that ship stumbled upon me. The first in I do not know how long. Some time." The spectre tilted its head, but it did not turn and its eyes remained closed and peaceful. "I used him to get here, but my touch is not as delicate as it once was, and his mind could not take it." She gave a wistful sort of sigh, the wind picking up to mess with the stranger's hair.

The figure straightened up again, her hands clasped in front of her, ruffling the delicate folds of her dress. She regarded the stranger once again. "I am Asomata, the Ashen Lady, and I sense it has been a long, long time since I last left my hollow. What is your name, stranger?"

She held out a faded, near-transparent hand, waiting to receive the necklace. The shadows curled behind her, but didn't make a move. The wind stilled as if by a deliberate hand, the wave of a conductor, and rushed in as she spoke again.

"Now, please, give me what is mine."

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

"You're a Sith spirit bound to an object. I've seen it and read about it a thousand times." Vanessa gave an unexceptional glance, doing her best to ignore the drama of the spectre's ever-encroaching presence upon her. Vanessa continued to listen, surprised as she continued. "Average humans are not exactly the best to be using manipulative powers upon. Take it from one who has mastered such techniques. As for who I am, I am Vanessa Vantai, SIth Lord, Triumvir of Power within the SIth Empire, and the ruler of the Greater Maldrood, of which the world we are currently present on is my capitol. As for giving you what is yours, I think I will give you one better."

She popped her fingers. "Certainly you're tired of having no physical form, an inability to truly affect the world around you. On the world of Malachor, I have numerous bodies stored. Adaptable. Malleable. Easily adjusted to mimic the physical form you once had. I will gladly give you such a body - far better than being bound to this amulet, certainly."

Darth Asomata

 

[Karina Lowe Legacy]

The wind rose again, and Asomata's eyelids fluttered a touch, but they did not open. Her face remained serene. The woman was arrogant, but it was clear significant power stirred within her. She could not be challenged at that moment. Asomata pulled back the ethereal hand, clasping both in front. Her head tilting slightly at the woman's offer.

"I know not of the Sith. Whatever they are, you are, I am no such thing." Whatever the title meant, it seemed to carry with it great significance. At least, the woman thought highly of it, rested weight on it, relied on it. Was the Sith some great new Galactic polity? Or perhaps an order of the Dark ones, like her shadow had been. Asomata smiled, and black vapour spilled out of the corners of her lips, swirling around to join the mass of fluid shadows curling around her faded form.

"I have no difficulty shaping the space around me, mm?" Asomata replied serenely, a pale hand gesturing broadly to the clearing and the smouldering wreck, sending another gust to disturb the plants, and making the ground beneath them tremble ever so slightly. "But, your offer is interesting." She conceded. "It would need to be carefully-made to house me." The form's mouth twitched ever so slightly.

Her eyes flickered open, revealing inky orbs full of starlight, gazing down at the Sith woman. "Information, deals, projects, entertainment. All of these things I will need, true enough, but first..."

She fixed her black gaze on the stranger's eyes, and beckoned with her finger, prompting the necklace to grow slightly hot and attempt to wriggle out of the woman's grip.

"My locket."

Onrai​

 

[Onrai]

“You are some sort of wraith, though.” She said, surprised. “Which suggests some sort of Sith techniques were used in creating you. That, or the Dark Side.” She replied.

Vanessa smiled at the ghost’s presumptively accepting view of Vanessa giving her a body of some sort. “I have made myself many bodies over the years. Additionally I have also made bodies for others, including for a wraith in question most similar to yourself.” Vanessa remembered having previously made a body for the Sith Lord known as Karim Dorn, back in the last Sith Empire, that was quite satisfactory for her.

“I can provide you with all you need.” She said, before letting go of the amulet. “You need only listen and work with me.”

Darth Asomata