Within The Dark

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

”But it would make sense.” Val pointed out to her as he followed, one footstep equalling two of hers.

He had really only needed small bits and pieces to come to what he saw as the logical conclusion. Sure Tion was, according to her, perhaps not filled with Sith, but it had once been controlled by the Sith Empire, an Empire that had been ruled and practically founded by Moridin himself.

It would make sense that someone who had lived beneath his rule would find the man, and his artifacts, more than a little intriguing.

”Perhaps the man who hired you is a Sith.” Came his suggestion. ”He knew of Moridin’s gauntlet from old documents or the like, and then simply used you to go and get it for him.”

That would, of course be bad.

Sith were notorious for being downright evil, with even the best of them being considered lowlives. There was no doubt that if a Sith had sent Ryssa, then he didn’t want the gauntlet for any good reason at all.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

The big guy was starting to make sense. Ryssa wasn't sure what scared her more. That there was logic in his conclusion or that whoever contracted could have known perfectly well what they were looking for. A muscle in her jaw gave a tick at that.

"Well, guess I'll find out soon enough." she was still using singular pronouns with this mess. The Changling had a hard time wrapping her mind around that the Manbun was here with her - pink band shirt and all - and that this was actually happening. Maybe some researching on the Count would do her some good.

"I'll be back." she added, swiveling from heading to the cockpit to head to her room.

"Go... eat or rest or something." she thought better without being hovered over.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

Oddly enough he wasn’t hungry, at least not yet.

”Soon.” He answered her. There was still other things that he wanted to know. He had realized about five minutes ago that she was getting fed up with his questions, but right about now she was his only source of information.

Val didn’t like running to somewhere if he couldn’t see where he was going, much less if he didn’t even know where he would end up.

”Do you have any books?” He asked her plainly. ”Something about Tion, or where we’re going.”

He stopped for half a second as she pivoted. ”I need something to entertain me...unless you want to go back to what we were doing in the caves.”

Val gave her a boyish grin.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

That made her freeze on the spot. More heat rushed to her face. Of course he would reference that. She rocked on her heels a little bit in anxiety. Kark, it. That was the last thing she needed. He was a distraction enough.

Just think of a bright pink shirt on all those muscles.

"Umm..." her mind went over what she could give him. "Let me see." tomes and books were fine. But if he wanted to actually learn more about Tion...

"You've worked a data terminal before... right?" Ryssa gave him a quizzing arch of her brow.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

”Once or twice.” He wasn’t a complete savage.

Though Vilith didn’t tend to have terminals, he had spent enough time traveling that he’d had to use them more often than not. Some starports didn’t even have sentients as ticket vendors, just a simple machine that sat there and let you poke your finger at it. Annoying when first encountered but he got used to it.

Suffice it to say, he could at least operate the damned things.

His arm came up, hand resting against the side of the ship. His muscles flexed slightly as he did so, but he hadn’t done it on purpose, simply shifting so that he could hold himself up better in the ship.

Then Val looked down at her expectantly.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

His expression on the matter didn't give Ryssa any high hopes. Supposedly a backwoods farmer. Right. Of course, that's when he propped his arm against the bulkhead and more muscles went shifting under the taunt pink band shirt.

Focus.

Her eyes managed to peel themselves from his biceps and settled on his scruffy face. Umm. Data terminal.

"Come here." she finally told him gesturing for him to follow her. They headed over to he lounge, where a quick tap motioned for him to take a seat.

"Be right back."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

What was he a dog?

Val grumbled to himself quietly as he sat down on the small acceleration couch. The 'lounge' of the ship wasn't much more than a tiny room tucked away from the galley. This ship had been made for bounty hunters after all, not housewives. He frowned for a second as he watched her, briefly wondering if she was fetching him a datapad or something else that would let him access the holo-net.

Yes he knew what that was.

Again he wasn't a complete savage, and during his years of living he had used the holo-net more than once. He didn't need it of course, wasn't addicted like certain other folk, but it did make learning things quite a bit easier. Plus, one of the maidens he'd once...spent the night with had shown him how to download holo-docs onto a datapad once. That had been quite the enjoyable find until a pirate had smashed his datapad several years later, an act that had caused the man to receive a severe beating.

Since then he hadn't been lucky enough to get another datapad.

That was alright though. Most of the inns he'd stayed in usually had a holo-screen and that was enough.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

He would be happy, or at least somewhat pleased that indeed Ryssa was fetching a spare datapad. It wouldn't do much but it allowed a venue for surfing the holonet for information. She had an old one left over from a few years back. It was an other model but it still functioned fine.

Ryssa left the annoyed manbun behind, going by herself back to her room. Now where did she leave it? The next few minutes were spent searching for that datapad.

Flipping open a case she began her search.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

Val sat quietly in the lounge.

Time passed.

He yawned.

Then looked at his nails.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Ryssa found the data pad.

Ryssa returned to the lounge to a bored val looking at his nails.

Ryssa then gave him the datapad.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

Val took the datapad with a smile. It was an older model, but he didn't mind that so much. As long as things still worked...well it didn't particularly matter if it was brand new or ancient as could be. Technology to him was more of side benefit than anything else.

He could have entertained himself with simple flimsy if something fun was written on it.

"Thank you." Val said as his hand extended.

She stood awfully close to him, and with him seated she was actually taller than him for once, though not by much. Their size difference really was comical, and oddly enough...made him wonder. He smiled slightly, a mischievous boyish smile that told of plots.

"Though." He began. "You never rescinded my other offer."

Val teased. "I'll even let you be on top this time."

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

The guy had a one tracked mind. Never mind the images that came up in between the boyish smirk and the vivid proposal. With a flick of her fingers ran through the length of her hair, pusjingbthe heavy weight back. Well that was one nervous tick.

"No." she said firmly, rocking her slight weight from left to right, hip locked out. Her arms came up to cross over her chest. Yup, defense shield of a woman.

"You can search about Tion there." No distractions. No flights of fancy. Especially when cultists were pulling some mass control of villagers to get an artifact.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

Val shrugged. ”Your loss.”

He smiled and took the datapad.

”Thank you.” There was no animosity in his tone, nor was there any sarcasm. If he minded that she had said no, Val certainly didn’t show it. Instead he inspected the datapad, then gave her a rather pleased smile. ”Is there anything in particular I should look into?”

He wanted to make sure he actually got something out of this.

They had a few days time, but that didn’t really mean much. The Galaxy was a big place, and the closer you got to the core the more there was. The Tion Hegemony, as she had called it, was lucky a bustle of information. Financial records, corporate ties, government assets, millions of things that he could see and learn.

It would help to narrow it down.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Wow, your loss? Talk about a guy with a big ego. Suddenly her choice didn't have any lingering regrets. Even the pink shirt lost its sense of endearment. Ryssa's eyes narrowed and she gave a distinct snort. She never had to consider any encounter she'd given a 'no' to as 'her loss'. Farmboy clearly had a touch of arrogance in him that didn't warm Ryssa at all. Even if he did have those curious eyes of fire and ice.

"Right. Eat your fill, you know where the refresher is, and stay out of the cargo hold." With that the cerulean skinned woman gave a backward step and turned to leave, her long hair swishing at her back. They had several days travel and the faster they were done with this, the better.

Time to do what she didn't think she'd have to on her own ship; lock her doors.

---

The trip was uneventful. Ryssa pretty much kept herself in her room going over her notes and looking for more information on the Cult of the Omnious Fist and Val did.. well whatever he did. Both managed to just quickly pass the time and get over with the travel time. They entered the Tion Sector with a small shudder of the freighter. Sitting in the pilot chair, Ryssa brought them out of hyperspace.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

Val spent most of the trip reading about one thing or another. The galaxy was a big place, and Tion was...well filled with all sorts of information that he could never have even thought about. A part of him feared what he would find there, if only because...well it would be entirely foreign to him.

He had seen cities before, but the scale of some of the planets within the Hegemony was something entirely different.

His more ignorant side said that it would be something similar to Coruscant, the same size or appearance, but that was naive. Coruscant was unrivaled, and even the planets here would not match its splendor. Yet what they would find here was still entirely new to Val, more massive than anything he had ever seen before.

Perhaps he would have to go sightseeing.

As they came close to their destination Val was in the galley, fumbling with a small protein bar. He had managed to sustain himself well enough, on what food there was, though clearly it wasn’t great for him. His face was pale, and there was a slight gauntness to him.

Hopefully he could get some real food when they landed.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Well you look like death itself." Came Ryssa's passing commentary. He did, seeing his pallor and gaunt features. A bit of guilt shaded her expression thereafter.

"We'll be landing at the space port in a few. I'm sure you can find overpriced steaks to sate your belly." This side of Tion was the most annoying. Everything was overpriced. While he ate she could also start making some inquiries. The Count was not expecting her and she wanted to make the most of that surprise.

They broke atmo to luxurious Lianna a minute later. The Tion Hegemony had long since made contracts with the great conglomerates of the Galaxy like Hegemonic Automaton, Arceaneau Trade, and IronCrown. It was a reconstructed city full of fresh architecture and a need of the inhabitants to once again show off their deep pockets.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

The sights, as Val had expected were quite something indeed. He marveled for a few moment as he watched them out the viewport, eyes slowly wandering at anything and everything.

”I’ll be alright for a little while.” He assured her.

”Let’s find out what that gauntlet is first.” That was foremost on his mind. ”And whether or not this man is a Sith.”

Food could come later. He was still well enough to fight, the Protein bars kept him going and would do their job. Val wanted to know what they were up against, or rather, what had sparked all of this controversy in the first place. Mysteries were all well and good, but when lives started to be on the line...well things changed.

He frowned for a second and looked down.

Though perhaps he would have to find new clothes before anything else.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Says the guy who practically bit my head off when he was hungry." Yeah no. Not gonna deal with that again. That was the expression she shot him then, bright yellow eyes darting to give him a level look.

"You look like you're about to tetter over and the last thing I need is having to worry about that as well." He was already going to stand out. Angling the Stargazer, the Changling made a heading for the spaceport.

"Besides, I need to get some things prepared before I go talking to the guy." It would be stupid to just bargain.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

”I’ll be fine for another day or so.” Val insisted plainly. He did look quite sick, but there was a stark difference between his hunger back in the caves, and his hunger now. He could still walk, talk, and quite easily fight. Back in the caves he had been quite literally at deaths door.

”I can wait on the ship with the gauntlet if you insist on going without me.” Val said plainly. ”Besides, I don’t even have any money.”

He wasn’t quite sure what they used here, but he guessed that he had none of it.

The only valuable thing he owned had been lost back on the world they left behind, his armor thrown into the river in hopes that he would later recover it. Now that such a thing was impossible...well he was quite literally a pauper.

His hand came up against the bulkhead and she shifted the ship, steadying himself.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

As if she was going to let him have the gauntlet. The tensing of her shoulders said that much.

"I can let you have a few credits to eat. Stay on the ship if you want." Won't be with the gauntlet, that went unsaid but was pretty evident that's what she meant. A quick turn and Ryssa adjusted the stabilizers. A flip of the switch and the landing struts slid out.

"You'll stick out like a sore thumb if you go anywhere else. " definitely not stealthy. Ryssa needed stealthy.