Ye Furies, and Dreadful Styx

[Matsu Xiangu]

RECIPIENT: [member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
SENDER: Matsu Xiangu

[Decrypting...unzipping…]

Lord Tanaka -

I have long heard of your particular talents with sorcery, and it is my deep regret that I haven’t reached out to you sooner. I have come in to quite a large amount of free space in which to practice the art and I would like to extend the invitation to see what you and I might discover. If this is something that interests you please return this message and coordinates will follow.

- Lord Matsu Xiangu

 

[Darth Libertas]

As far as Sith went, Sumiko was a bit of a recluse. Or rather a very private person, if you wanted to phrase it in more diplomatic terms. She was loosely affiliated with the Sith Order, but had kept herself aloof from most of its operations and gatherings.


Having no prior history with the One Sith or the Sith Empire of old, she also did not care about whoever happened to lay claim to the mantle of Dark Lord at the moment. The title was meaningless and the power it supposedly conferred as fleeting as the average Jedi's ideological fortitude.


The Sith Lady did not respond to the message immediately after decrypting it, but instead gave it some thought. After all, Sith were not known to be the trusting sort. Treachery was the way of the Sith, and so the more paranoid part of her suspected a trap of some sort, before considering more desirable avenues.


She knew of Lady Xiangu by reputation, having seen the aftermath of her impressive handiwork on Dromund Kaas. She also had reasonable cause to believe that the apocalypse on Serenno might have been her doing. It was an amusing coincidence that Sumiko's former boss was now a confederate of Siobhan Kerrigan...a Dark Jedi she knew Matsu had crossed blades with.


It had to be admitted that Matsu's message flattered Sumiko's vanity, though her reasons for responding went beyond her own ego. Collaboration could be beneficial or destructive. Free space to practice the art. Five seemingly innocent words. If they contained the hidden meaning Sumiko suspected they did, this could be very intriguing indeed. Where some saw only death and destruction, she saw not just art, but Creation. The ability to hold a life in your palm, and proceed to mould, transform and sculpt it.


A large Atrisian Tiger, twisted and mutated - perfected! - by the Art, trotted over to her and she petted the beast like a favourite pet when he nuzzled her hand. His razor sharp teeth still carried pieces of bloodied flesh torn from the corpse of a poor unfortunate soul. She looked at Akuma with great fondness. He was an adorable pet - and so willing to tear someone limb from limb with his poisoned claws if they displeased his mistress. His aura radiated primal ferocity, but around her he was as submissive as a lamb.


Recipient: [member="Matsu Xiangu"]
Sender: Sumiko Tanaka


Lord Xiangu -

Your reputation precedes you. Consider me intrigued by your offer. I'd be very interested in working with a fellow practitioner of the Art, especially another Atrisian. I'd appreciate coordinates and some information regarding the free space you speak of.


- Lord Sumiko Tanaka

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Perhaps it was simply something in an Atrisian’s nature to warm to the stroking of ego, but Matsu nearly purred when she received a message back. There was always danger where two Sith Lords meeting was concerned but at least in this they had the mutual passion to keep their minds occupied towards something productive and not endless arguing about ancient Code and boring Dark Lords and birthrights.

RECIPIENT: [member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
SENDER: Matsu Xiangu

Excellent. Please find enclosed coordinates and a docking code for passage through the planet’s shield barrier. Your ship will be guided to the surface to a private landing bay. I very much look forward to meeting with you.

Spoiler

5, 8 -27.8996 56.7890.

Spoiler

CODE: ORIAX

ENCLOSED:
Once, Maena had been a jewel in the Outer Rim. Populated by millions it had thrived out of the public’s watchful eye, too far from the Core to be valuable for the factions squabbling over territory but full of enough valuable material to attract workers to settle on its surface and tourists to flood the government’s coffers. But it was for these same reasons that Matsu and Darth Prazutis appeared above atmosphere one day, blacking out the stars as they invaded the system in force. Over the course of several days they reshaped the planet in their image, bombarding select areas and sending their necromantic forces out to savage others. And they too had walked the earth.

By the time they were done, there was nobody left.

Once, Maena had been part sprawling city and part forested woodland interspersed with quiet volcanoes. The destruction of the bombardment had changed the landscape significantly. Torn earth had given way to magma beneath, fire leeching out from cracks and painting the planet red. Great, jutting slabs of stone reached towards the sky. What once had been green had given way to black. And Matsu had rebuilt.

If one flew down from atmosphere and gave the planet a good study as they approached, there would be much to see.

First, it was clear which side of the planet had been most heavily bombarded by orbital fire, one half of its sphere scorched and dead where vegetation had been choked to death by the ash and smog that hung in the atmosphere for days after the attack. No one but Matsu and Prazutis dared go to that side of the planet nowadays - there were rumors among the new locals, though they were not of the sort told to children to keep them from doing something. They were the kind that spoke of very real danger. On those dead, dry fields Matsu and Prazutis let their necromancy experiments roam. It was a perfect place to farm the Undead for future assaults on other planets, and it was thousands of miles of open space to let the more...interesting of their creations roam and watch what they were capable of. Those locals brave enough to head out in that direction and confirm such things for themselves came back with fear in their faces, or did not come back at all.

On the side of the planet still habitable, there were several large installations that caught the eye. First was the shanty town several miles out from the new capital city, populated almost exclusively by the wretches working the mines. Trillions of credits in valuable resources lay beneath the planet’s surface and those looking to make their own piece of it stayed in the clapboard rickshaws that had cropped up as the planet rebuilt. They were mostly happy to ignore the atrocity of it all considering the pay was steady and the death rate was average for the sort of job they were doing. A roof over their heads and mouths fed was enough for the lowest of the low.

Further on, sprawling over a plateau was a formidable, industrialized form of the site where the Old Capital had once been. Once the old population had been annihilated, Matsu had chosen to keep the city standing and reform it in to a testing facility. Many of the planet’s new population found work here as well though only the most trusted or valuable saw what truly went on behind closed doors. Officially it was a biochemical engineering planet. In truth, Matsu conducted research in to biowarfare and human experimentation. Highly militarized, ground-to-air installations slowly scanned the air, threatening to shoot invaders from the sky. Hired mercenaries, soldiers, and a personally trained military force patrolled it as well to combat any who might make it past the outer defenses.

In the center of it all stood the New Capital. From the surface it would not be immediately visible, but Air Control would guide any newcomers to the mouth of a hollow, inactive volcano that had been most marvellously rebuilt in to a glittering city. Perhaps the only beautiful thing on the surface, its architecture was wild. Part stone and part metalwork, it fit millions all on top of each other. Walkways criss-crossed seemingly everywhere, hallways and tunnels built in to the rock of the volcano to allow passage through all levels of the massive city and leaving the center open for ships to glide downwards and enter. Somewhat reminiscent of Utapau but on a much grander, richer, and more populated scale, Matsu felt truly at home.

Though Matsu received most guests to her planet in the New Capital she knew that one way or another she and Tanaka would most likely end up on the ghostly plains of what had once been a beautiful forest. So instead she waited on a landing platform outside her medical facilities overlooking the magma plains below. A slowly shifting tide of the undead meandering below. Her mother had named her after the Atrisian goddess of the sea and even Matsu could laugh at the irony of her picturesque stance above what could be called an ocean of rot below.

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


In all likelihood, most people would've been freaked when they read about this dreadful world. They would've experienced disgust, horror or a variation of such. However, Sumiko was not like most people. She was extremely morbid, even for a former Inquisitor.


She seemed quite fascinated when she read about the planet. Unleashing zombie apocalypses was not her style per se. Mass slaughter did not interest her. To her violence was an end, not a means. However, what fascinated was the audacity to take a world and completely reshape it, remaking it in your own likeness.


The uninspired would've been repulsed, but where the ignorant only saw destruction, she saw Creation. She smiled at Akuma, who had made himself comfortable on the bed and nuzzled her hand. "Well, my good boy, it looks like we have a trip to make. I'm sure you'll like this world. Perhaps when we return, we'll have a companion for you. That would be sweet, wouldn't it?" Her voice was strangely tender and gentle, as was her touch when she stroked his head.


With a lazy mental gesture, she pressed a button on her communicator. A moment later, a Xioquo servant girl entered the room. Her skin was a dark grey, her hair as white as ivory and her eyes glowed. She was dressed in simple robes and bowed deeply. "What is thy bidding, mistress?" Her tone radiated submission...and fear.


"Prepare my ship for a long trip tomorrow. I want the machines to refuel it and stock it with provisions. Make sure Akuma has enough food. We know how cranky he gets otherwise. And...pack some of the...toys. We are visiting a very interesting person," she raised her bare, perfectly pedicured foot slightly and the elf took it into her hand and kissed it without hesitation. She'd learned the hard way how cruel the Lady could be.


"I shall do you as you command, Lady. If I may ask, who shall you meet and what is your destination?" Not once did she raise her head while she spoke. Instead, she massaged Sumiko's cute foot, before licking some toes.


"Somene who could be a rival or an enduring colleague. Perhaps both," Sumiko chuckled, stroking the drow's white mane. "Once the preparations are complete, come to my quarters. I desire company for the night."


"I will be...honoured to serve you, Mistress," the drow tried to project eagerness into her voice. And so the girl bowed her head once again and departed. Sumiko continued petting her tiger and idly played with the ornate ring on her finger. Time would pass, preparations would be made, then she'd be en route to the planet of horrors.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

The weeks between their messages were productive. Slowly but surely the facility was coming to fruition, a non-descript but massive fortress that suggested nothing of its strange purpose. It stood lone and forboding on the dark side of the blanket where only the dead roamed.

It was there that Matsu stood waiting.

As the incoming Sith Lord’s ship coasted towards the landing pad, Matsu was there with hands clasped gently in front of her. This would be the first she would show anyone of this new project out in the middle of nowhere on a planet even more remote, let alone someone who could appreciate it for what it was.

The weather was pleasant for a planet whose atmosphere had been so wasted by her attack with Prazutis against the old populace. Though the sun was blotted out by dark clouds, a gentle breeze ran through her hair and alleviated some of the heat rising off the magma that covered much of the surface. By the time Lord Tanaka’s ship had touched down, Matsu had moved forward to greet her.

She was at first struck by the creature the Lady had brought with her, a smile tucking at the corner of Matsu’s mouth as its perfected form slunk forward at its Master’s side. If this was the sort of creation Sumiko was capable of, she was more than worth the danger of contacting her at all. Then her eyes shifted to the Lord herself. Only slightly taller and slimmer than Matsu, she was classically beautiful in the high-featured way all Atrisians seemed to give off. Avoiding lecherous thoughts, she nodded her head in greeting.

“Welcome to Maena, Lord Tanaka,” she said, voice sea-glass smooth and pleasant to listen to. She turned in the motion of beckoning her guest, leading her towards the entrance to the building. “And who is this?” she asked, drifting a hand in the direction of the tiger.

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]​

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


Welcome to Mordor. The sky had been blotted out by dark clouds, bathing this benighted world in darkness. Heat rose from the magma, but it was somewhat moderated by the gentle breeze of the wind.


The sleek stealth ship descended gracefully from the dark sky, coming to a halt upon the landing pad. When Sumiko walked down the landing ramp and breathed in the stale, corrupted air of Maena, she carried herself like a queen. Her chin was kept high, her stance radiated haughtiness and more than a little arrogance. An ornate ring that reeked of the dark side graced her finger.


She was pleased to see that Lord Xiangu had come to greet her in person. Sumiko was more than a little vain, after all. Akuma was at her side, a tiger on a leash ready to sink his large claws into something tasty. Her Xioquo slave followed in Sumiko's wake maintaining a respectful distance. Being a good slave, she also kept her chin down.


Cold eyes that bore the imprint of the Dark Side scrutinised Matsu, sweeping over her. The Sith Lady was only slightly shorter than Sumiko. Despite her injuries, she possessed the classical beauty so common to Atrisian ladies. Sumiko tended to find those who did not belong to her race to be...lacking in certain ways.


But this was not the moment for carnal thoughts. Meetings between Sith Lords tended to be similar to encounters between predators. Or chieftains of violent tribes. "The pleasure is all mine, Lord Xiangu. Thank you for the invitation," she spoke sweetly.


"This is Akuma. One of my...first experiments, and one of my dearest." There was fondness in her tone when she petted the mutated tiger. For his part, the Sithspawn sniffed at Matsu and tried to lick her, having apparently concluded she was not prey. Maybe she reminded him of his mistress.


"I'm looking forward to seeing your domain with my own eyes and behold your handiwork. I brought a gift of sorts. A lovely creature for us to work on, perhaps." What could that be, the gentle reader might ask. Well...does anyone remember these mean spider creatures the Atrisian Empire once fought? Sumiko did.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

In a strange way the scarring along Matsu’s exposed shoulders was both easy to forget and constantly on her mind. The electrical burns Siobhan Kerrigan had left on her flesh fluctuated between numb and painful depending on the day. Highly sensitive to touch, the furrowed lines of scarring that looped away from the edges of her cybernetic arms were almost artful - a wound that Matsu could at least be proud to wear considering their inflictor.

But then again, they’d both left their marks - and Matsu would see her again.

Delicately unfurling her fingers from her palm as Akuma assessed her, the Sith Lord smiled gently as the creature deemed her acceptable and shared a lick. She gently scratched him behind the ears to the sensation of necrotized skin, fascinated. The Undead were one of life’s remaining surprises for her.

“A gift?” she repeated, surprised and delighted. She did miss the social pleasantries of their culture, a careful dance the rest of the galaxy seemed to forego in favor of peasantry. Part of her laughed at herself; she did not usually partake in the Atrisian sense of racial superiority, but place her in a room of her own kind and she fell in to those old ways, at least in part. “Well, I must control myself so that I might show you around first,” she joked admonishingly.

Once downwards from the landing pad, the building would reveal itself as an eerily silent place. Though huge it was decidedly simple in its architecture once inside. It resembled something of a warehouse, an enormous space filled with row upon row of sealed cubicles - small spaces, enough to hold a body.

Stopping in front of one, she pressed her hand against a pad next to it. Almost instantly a black shield lowered from along the inner layer of glass, revealing the corpse standing at peace within. Matsu looked reverent as she explained. “As you know, each time we raise the Dead the Dark Side corrupts us further. Bodies rot quickly - within days, and it was a waste of my time and energy to constantly be restocking my armies when in less than a week half my soldiers could no longer walk. But keep a corpse out of the sunlight and away from oxygen? It will be fifty years before its bones crumble,” she said, pressing a metal hand to the glass. In effect, she had created storage to protect her army from rotting until she needed it.

“My allies see this as a weapon, and it is. I don’t have anyone that sees it as something beautiful, as a possible advancement of the Art,” she explained, tearing her eyes from the body to look at Tanaka. “And then I remembered what I’d heard of you.”

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]​

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


Sumiko did kind of miss the social pleasantries and courtesy of their native culture. She also missed Atrisian tea. Seriously, how could anyone consider the atrocious crap in the cafés of Coruscant, Lianna and so on to be proper tea? Bloody peasants.


She felt so strongly about substandard tea that she'd considered purchasing a plantation just so that she could get someone decent one. Perhaps she could even alchemise it...


"A lovely creature from a magnificient species our homeworld once fought, many years ago. Before the Gaijin came. I always wanted to play with them in the Inquisition," she said in a sweet tone, with a rather morbid smile.


"But for now, do please show me around." Thus she followed in Matsu's wake when the Witch-Necromancer led her to what could be considered to be a warehouse. Rows upon rows of sealed cubicles greeted her. Each of them held a reanimated corpse.


A smile graced the Necromancer's lips. Unlike normally, it actually reached her eyes. "You are ingenious," she remarked. "Those allies are powerful but...a bit narrow-minded. They see just another category of mass produced tools, like a blaster or a battle droid. The Art is not something as crude as producing tools in a factory. It is Creation. With it, we can sculpt living beings and worlds, remake them in our image."


Proof that the Force was not some unfathomable energy field shrouded in mysticism. It was something that could be understood and mastered with the right application of intellect, determination and willpower.


Anyone could learn to shoot bolts of lightning from their fingertips and move objects with their mind, but few could really master the Art. It required not just power, but a spiritual purity many adepts lacked. "I'm curious. Have you transformed any Force-users? I've long wondered under what conditions they retain their affinity post-transformation, ever since my encounter with the Nekghouls."

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

If there was one way to even the most royal-minded of elite Atrisians, it was to show particular skill in something they considered worthy. When she saw the smile on Sumiko’s face reach all the way to her dark eyes, Matsu knew they had at least knocked down one barrier. Life-long Sith with ingrained mistrust of newcomers would not become friends immediately to be sure. But at least one obstacle had been removed from their path it seemed. The smile she returned at the compliment was equally as genuine.

“Thank you,” she replied, a tip of the head an unexpected call back to the lessons of her youth. “I do love to see them when it comes to war. But it is only a part of their beauty.”

At the mention of shaping worlds in the image of their choosing, Matsu was inspired to move on with the tour. Pressing her hand to the pad in front of the storage unit, the black shielding drew up around the corpse once more to preserve it. As they walked through the rest of the main part of the warehouse she considered her fellow Lord’s question. She’d raised lower-ranking force-users that had fallen to her armies in various engagements, and she’d even raised a few Jedi Masters when she’d landed on Dromund Kaas. But war was a poor testing ground, a place where she could not take her time and see the increments involved with pushing and molding Art on to such a unique being. “I’ve not had any experience with Nekghouls, and I’d love to hear about them. But as for Force-Users, not in any capacity that allowed me to study whether or not they retained their connection.”

There was a pause where she considered something that had never crossed her mind before. “I do wonder if my son would be interested in being the subject of such experimentation. He is rather reckless,” she said, her tone pondering and somewhat affectionate. It was something she’d had to consider asking him. At first she’d considered him a nuisance, a weakness she should have throttled in the cradle. But curiosity was ever her bane. In this case it had worked out for the better however, as he had proven himself to be anything but weak. She wondered what someone with his potential strength in the Force could do, if the Art would make him better or sever his connection?

Pushing the inevitably snowballing questions from her mind, she swept in to a long hallway towards the back of the facility that faced the dead wasteland. It was nothing but floor-to-ceiling enforced duraglass window panels showing the volcanic wasteland outside. She and Prazutis had shaped this world in to what it was now, an abominable amalgamation of civilization and death that she called home. A dozen or so Undead shuffled along the volcanic rock, leftovers from past experiments left to their own devices as a deterrent to anyone foolish enough to venture out this far. “I am not sure how large or wild the gift you brought is, but we can set to work outside...or I have rooms within this facility in which we can work.”

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]​

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


"The Nekghouls are fascinating creatures. Free of so many of the weaknesses that plague mundane sentients, yet so similar in their aspirations. I happened upon a coven of them. Apparently these were...an old Imperial project in the days of yore. Like all beings, they wanted power. Or rather the illusion of it," Sumiko spoke conversationally, her voice as smooth as silk.


Someone else would've been deeply disturbed when Matsu pondered whether experimenting on her son might be a good way to augment him. Sumiko was not like most people. "I didn't know you had a son. Quite a handful, is he? I wonder what effect the Art would have on the lad. I've considered utilising it on my sister to improve her. It's not like she doesn't already dress as poorly as a zombie. But if the experiment went awry, it would be quite a pity," she said airily.


[member="Amaya Tanaka"] was her sole connection to her former life. All other ties had been severed. But this one went back to the days before she'd been forced to join the Inquisition, when she'd been a studious, innocent girl among many in Jar'kai. Attachment was weakness, and she'd been tempted to rid herself of it, but something still bound them.


Dark eyes were directed towards the window panels and the volcanic wastelands that lay behind them. Undead loitered about, walking across the volcanic rock. Presumably they hungered for the flesh of the living. "A room would be best. I've had great success in breaking this creature in, but it is still a bit volatile. Oh, there it is," as if on cue her Xioquo slave girl and two droids appeared.


The automatons carried a rather large cage that contained a truly magnificient specimen. The spider creature was large, heavy and seemed to be encased in an obsidian exoskeleton. Its strong legs seemed more than capable of breaking a human's bones with one blow. Its cold eyes sparkled with intelligence and malice. << Hungry! Let me kill >> Matsu would feel the Klaxxi's mental brush as it beamed the word into her mind via telepathy.


"Isn't it lovely?" Sumiko gushed. "And between the two of us, we can make it even better." Perhaps sensing a rival. Akuma quickly turned around when the arachnid showed up, pulled himself up to his full height and roared.


The tiger's eyes seemed to gleam and he bared his very sharp, poisoned teeth. Only his mistress' hold on him kept the large feline from trying to find out how the spider's exoskeleton would fare against him. "Akuma, do behave," she snapped, her voice as sharp as the crack of a whip. The tiger growled, but then whimpered, becoming docile. "That's better, boy," she cooed affectionately and petted him. "If you're good, perhaps we'll find you a mate so that you can pass on your superior genes."

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

It was the only potential thing that stopped her from giving the Art to her son. It had the potential to make him even more than he already was. But it also might destroy him. Despite hating him when he’d first come in to the world - weak, small, a soft pink thing that could not defend itself - he had grown in to something she could not imagine. Stifling a laugh at Tanaka’s comment regarding her sister as anything more would be impolite, Matsu nodded. “Yes, his name is Onley. I had him when I was very young. He is Reverance’s son.” Whether the name would ring a bell was debatable.

Waving the automatons down the hallway towards an available room she couldn’t help but be in awe of the most beautiful gift she might have imagined. Her fascination with arachnids was well-known and she’d never seen anything quite so magnificent.

And it spoke.

Its ‘voice’ sounded like the clacking of pincers fast enough to make coherent sound, a slithering clatter that should have been unsettling. She got the impression it might have molded to her idea of what it should sound like but there had always been something beautiful in the macabre to her. Her eyes were drawn to the sharp points of its legs. She registered Tanaka’s sudden change, from polite to demanding and dangerous when it came to her sithspawn, and filed it away - but mostly she was obsessed with the beast in front of them. The doors sealed shut behind them, leaving them with the creature.

“What is it called?” she asked, ignoring the fact that the thing had some sort of speech, as if it wasn’t there at all. She was not sure what kind of ‘conditioning’ Tanaka had done, but she was loathe to break it by treating the animal like something worthy of being addressed directly. “And it has the Force, in some form…” she mused aloud, reminded of their earlier talk. Not the same - not even close - to something that could command it like a Sith or Jedi. But still an interesting stepping stone.

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]​

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


"Oni. I named it after a demon from Atrisian mythology. It seemed appropriate," Sumiko chuckled. "The first time I encountered these creatures was on Csilla, when they herded the local xenos to carry them away as fodder in their starships. The Empire came to repel them. It was a harsh, bitter winter. A blizzard blew across the land. We had little intelligence on them and were ambushed by the arachnids and their primitive slaves. It was an intense, brutal fight. The way it should be," when she smiled, she exposed perfectly white, sharp teeth.


"They struck us again and again with great ferocity, vanishing into the shadows by exploiting their ability to cloak themselves. But in the end they were subdued and the pain was a great lesson for me."


<< We hunt We are predators of the void >> There it was again, the slithering clatter, accompanied by a mental brush that felt like the touch of pincers. The Klaxxi's intelligent, predatory eyes continued to observe the pair. Perhaps it was evaluating its chances to turn them into its next meal, but it had more self-control then to rattle against the bars of its cage.


"These creatures have a basic social structure and the ability to think tactically. That just makes them more intriguing to play with, yes? They roam the stars in search of slaves, fodder and technology. This one's Force affinity is minor...but a stepping stone for wonderful things."


Somehow, the beatific smile on her lips managed to be unsettling. Well, for anyone except for someone who was at much in sync with her as Lady Xiangu. The cold Sith Lady became visibly more animated as she spoke. Likewise, her Atrisian accent, normally barely noticeable, became a lot more pronounced.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Oni.
She smiled.
Truly, this was a woman after her own heart.

The creature’s strange, insectile voice crossed over her mind again as she circled it. << You look at me like I am prey. I am the hunter. >> Matsu was sure that had been true at some point. But now it was in Tanaka’s cage, strange eyes following the slightly more petite of the two Atrisians.

“It seems a shame to kill it outright, and in the interest of keeping whatever connection it has to the Force perhaps we should see what we can do with it alive,” she said aloud to her compatriot.

Now, this was the tricky part. In order to work on something with even a modicum of the Force with - ostensibly - the ability to fight back at least somewhat, the two women would have to join their power. In matters of sorcery that required something like trust when a flick of the hand could easily direct a current of power at the other. So far they had been nothing but cordial but in the manner that two dangerous beasts might share space until there was a reason to fight. Now they had to decide whether it was too threatening to proceed or if they could still continue this altogether friendly interaction.

A heartbeat passed and Matsu moved, a gesture subtle but inviting as her dark cybernetic arm curled out delicately, inky tendrils of pure dark side expression curling from her fingertips. Dripping like oil it curled through the air towards the creature whom they might...perfect. She thought she saw it consider beating against the cage now.

“Perhaps it’s too much to ask after such a wonderful gift already bestowed, but I’ve heard much of your ability Lord Tanaka,” she said, ritual brooking formality despite their somewhat immediate coziness. “Bless me with a glimpse?”

The oil-slick magic touched a limb on the Klaxxi and it writhed, finally moving to knock on the backside of the cage in an attempt to get away.

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]​

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


"Agreed. Besides, these creatures are difficult to acquire and I'm a bit fond of this one." Fond in a 'I shall enslave you, lock you in a cage and eventually you'll love me variety'. Hmm. That kind of summed up how Sumiko treated her love slaves, too.


Sweet psycho love, right?


Anyhow, on with the plot before this post drowns in a flood of meta. Sumiko thought for a moment, then gave Matsu a smile. Manipulating and moulding the magnificient beast through the power of sorcery required them to cooperate. Both would have to enter an unholy communion. In other words, they would have to trust one another. This was obviously a rather alien concept for Sith.


Both of them were sharks who happened to be swimming in the same direction. They were fickle, manipulative and utterly lacking in anything that could be described as morals. Trust, in Sumiko's opinion, implied absence of threat. This could not be applied to Matsu since she was dangerous.


Otherwise Sumiko would not be here. She trusted Matsu to be Matsu...and act in a manner that was alike to hers. "It will be my pleasure, Lord Xiangu," she gave her fellow Atrisian a smile, displaying a row of perfect white teeth that looked like a predator's fangs.


<< I will not be caged forever >> "Soon the cage won't be needed. Obedience will come natural to you, just as you obeyed your race's Queen. Perhaps you will even lead us to her," Sumiko cooed, raising her hands. Her fingers seemed like claws. She could hear the Klaxxi's essence sneering at her, calling out to her. The clacking of pincers intensified, becoming louder and louder. The Dark Side swelled up inside her, demanding it be released. She felt etchings like hot blood vessels in her skin, and her dark ring pulsed with power.


"You will be terrifying and beautiful." Malevolent tendrils of pure dark side energy curled around her fingertips. The small dark, located on the palm of her right hand, itched. Then at the flick of her wrist, the green-yellowish tendrils swam gracefully through the air and connected with the beast. Very slowly, they would begin to warp and mould it. It writhed and screeched loudly. It tried to retreat, but the tendrils seemed to envelope. "Stay where you are...and grow," Sumiko commanded, placing compulsion upon the arachnid.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Their power together was a thing to behold. Often Matsu had the pleasure of joining others in expressions of the Dark Side but this was singular. There was perhaps not another sorceress in the galaxy that could hold a candle to Tanaka - there was only one opportunity to experience this particular collaboration. The art.

The Klaxxi screamed, its limbs drawing in towards its body in agony as its very genetic makeup was pressed through the sieve of their expression.

For some, the only thing that would sate them was to slaughter a planet. Some needed to make a show. Some needed to make sure others understood their power, dominate through titles and great productions of brutality. But in this - in this perfect moment of clarity and precision - Matsu found perfection and purpose. In this others could see her mind, a thing she would never share so freely except to release her productions on the world. No gargoyles, no skulls, no overly dramatic storms. Creation, and the Dark Side. Plain and simple.

The Klaxxi’s cells divided, lysing apart as quickly as they came back together in to something new. Its hard carapace roiled unnaturally as its body succumbed to the transformative force of the Dark, each brushstroke purposeful but allowing the Force to show the way to something new and pure and better than it had been before. The cage threatened to teeter off the metal cart it had been rolled in on with the creature’s thrashing, its legs jutting out to curl around the bars of the cage before ripping inwards again. It pulled and pulled and pulled and suddenly the front of the cage bent, strength lent to it by their power.

“Blast shields down please, gentleman,” she called delicately to the soldiers standing outside their testing ground.

She could feel the Force inside the Klaxxi pushing back against them. It was a first, trying to mold something that had something strong enough to try and fight them within it. She would rather let it pry itself loose from its cage than kill it.

And then it did, tick-tick-ticking on hideous barbed legs towards Sumiko with intent to kill.

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]​

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


There were Sith who felt the need to flaunt their power by granting themselves grandiose titles such as god-emperor and dark lord, cutting a bloody swathe across the Galaxy and erecting skull pyramids. Or consuming entire worlds in a display of dominance. Truth be told, Sumiko was no stranger to such vanity. After all, she did not keep slaves around because they were efficient labourers. That's what droids were for. No, she had slaves because she loved the way they feared her and massaged her ego.


But fancy titles and great production of brutality were not her cup of tea. In any case, power was always best exercised when one was not shackled to a throne and thus the target for everyone's barbs. No, this was power: Creation.


The Klaxxi screeched and shrieked loudly while the transformative power of the Dark Side morphed the creature into something greater. Step by step, it was being perfected. It was so beautiful. Sumiko looked like a proud parent when the magnificient creature began to bend the cage. She could feel the energies of the Force writhe inside the Klaxxi as it tried to push back against their influence. So strong and determined.


So beautiful.


Hideous barbed legs advanced towards Sumiko. The Klaxxi had tasted power and the freedom that came with it, but now it needed to learn control and obedience. One of those terrible legs swung her way and though the Atrisian avoided the brunt of the attack, she was tossed back and fell. Perhaps she'd been too lost in the glorious moment. The sharp barbs on the beast's legs had drawn blood. A simple glancing blow had been enough to make her feel like the wind had been knocked out of her chest. Good.


The beast barelled towards her and Sumiko raised her hands, thrusting them forward. The Klaxxi rammed an invisible wall that would've made Siobhan Kerrigan proud, but this only slowed down it a bit and it advanced onward like an implacable force of nature, lashing out against both Matsu and Sumiko with its massive legs and unrefined eruptions of telekinesis that shook the chamber. Its mouth was a maw full of sharp teeth, its eyes predatory and hungry. << Prey! >>


Sumiko was tossed towards a wall. Luckily, she managed to kick herself off it so that she landed on the ground instead of being smashed. Blood seeped out of a wound in Sumiko's palm, dripping on to the floor. Darkness enveloped the room, swallowing it. Not just physical darkness, though there was plenty of that, but a metaphysical one. It was that of a black hole, an all-encompassing void that consumed everything. It was this darkness she harnessed as she pitted her will against the mutated Klaxxi's.


A thousand invisible, very sharp tendrils of darkness invaded the Klaxxi's mind. Her voice burrowed into its thoughts like a malevolent parasite. With every word, she sought to sink deeper into its brain. "I am your Mistress. Obey me. I have made you greater than you could have ever been. You are the apex of your race. Obey, and your prey will be infinite. Rebel, and suffer excruciating agony." While doing so, she reached out to Matsu. As they had moulded its physical shape, they would mould the creature's mind. It would be the first of many of its kind.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

As the Klaxxi rushed at Sumiko, Matsu held her ground. Though she would have moved from the place where her feet had found themselves planted as the two Sith Lords worked if it appeared that Tanaka was outmatched...the smaller Atrisian found that an exceedingly outlandish thought. That the creature they were molding was terribly dangerous was undeniable and such was the benefit of changing it. But undoubtedly both women standing in the room with it had faced much worse and survived. So Matsu might have aided if it was required - but she didn’t move. To do so would be an insult to the other woman’s talent.

And she was rewarded when instead of flying in to the wall, Atrisian grace was displayed instead.
The room changed.

Had she not been concentrating, Matsu might have smiled. Sorceress though she was, the mind was her wheelhouse and as their combined strength doubled down Xiangu reached with both hands as if calling to someone as she threw the brunt of her power at the Klaxxi’s brain. As Sumiko’s sorcery ran like dark, inky rivulets through the sulci of the creature’s brain matter so did Matsu’s mentalism follow like some dark fog behind to encapsulate the mind entirely. In their grip it would fester until they could rearrange it.

Matsu inhaled a deep, sharp breath of reverence as primal fear screeched in to the web of the Sith Lords’ power. << Fear. I do not understand. What is this pain? >> Though the arachnid stumbled, front legs slashing ineffectually in a last bid for freedom, it was weakening. There was utter silence in the room, that same black hole collapsing on itself as it devoured gravity, sound, all matter. Matsu could not remember the last time she’d felt something so pure and heady. << Infinite prey...obey?...obey...my Mistresses. >>

There was true submission, but even still Matsu worked until she felt the ‘clip’, that telltale closure of a mind encased in control beyond escape.

Slowly she backed off.

Sorcery still hung in the air, the gravity of their work changing the very quality of their surroundings. It seemed to crawl across the ceiling, lap at the glass displays.

<< What would you have me do? >>

Then, Matsu smiled.

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]​

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


The sentient mind was a Pandora's Box of electrical charges that even now scientists were only beginning to understand. Most minds were primitive; they only received signals. The Gifted ones could devise a signal of their own making. One only needed to know which threads to pull.


The Klaxxi's mind was like a canvass. They were artists. They imprinted their will upon the magnificient beast the way an artist would wield her paint brushes, producing a beautiful painting as they shaped and moulded it. Thick, black fog engulfed the creature's brain even as its thoughts were being gently and at time forcefully adjusted.


Finally, the Klaxxi understood fear. Such a foreign concept. Then it understood obedience. This was less alien, for it felt an instinctual pull to obey the Queen of its kind. Thus it need only substitute her with the Dark Ladies who stood before it in the dark chamber. In a way, she felt like a proud parent. But still, she did not relent, refusing to withdraw from the creature's mind until she felt that it had been bent fully, confined in an encasement as strong as the beskar armour Kerrigan loved to strut around in.


There was a broad, genuine smile on Sumiko's blood-red lips when the creature submitted and asked what their bidding was. It resembled the smile of a crocodile. She could feel the Force radiating from the beast. It was crude and unrefined, but dwarfed the power of a common Klaxxi by far - and this was only the start. Idly, she wondered if the alchemical process might have affected the creature's ability to breed. "Obey us in all things, and you'll have prey beyond measure. You will even devour Jedi for us. You will tear them to shreds and feast on their flesh."


<< Je'dai >> the creature hissed. Sumiko could feel that it lusted after their flesh. Perhaps some of the Sith Ladies' darkness had been imprinted upon it during the dark communion. << I am hungry, my Mistresses >>


"Matsu, dearest. I believe our boy could use a chance to stretch his muscles and sink his teeth into something? Has one of those minions of yours perchance been...negligient in his duties?" Being the employee of a Sith was always hazardous because they tended to be rather intolerant of slacking on the job.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

On a place like Maena there was never a short supply of employees that she might have some sort of excuse to find more useful as fodder. Thankfully the threat of her presence kept things running smoothly but there was no end to the mediocrity that people were willing to accept if they didn’t have periodic reminders as to its consequences. And therefore Tanaka’s suggestion to kill two birds with one stone was gladly accepted.

“Someone find Janelle,” she called to the men and women standing invisibly behind the glass.

It wasn’t long before a man, pale and trying to hide his quaking, was shoved unceremoniously through the door quickly opened and shut just long enough for him to be ejected in to the Sith Lord’s space. To those outside it must have seemed that there wasn’t just one dangerous creature loose in that room, but three.

“Sumiko, this is Janelle. He has a habit of sleeping on the job. I gave him a chance or two because truly, he has a rather brilliant mind when it comes to numbers. But I heard…,” she said softly, her tone turning from pleasant conversationalism to quietly menacing as she tilted her head towards the man. “...that you fell asleep again this morning. Is that true, Janelle?”

The Klaxxi quivered behind her as a wave of panic poured out of the human worker.

“I...I don’t know why it keeps happening my Lord. I’ll try harder, I swear. I’ll buy stims or I’ll have someone watch me or--”

“Have someone watch you? And lower my productivity? That right there is the problem, Janelle. It is simply more convenient, expedient, and profitable for me to get rid of you - and you know far too much for me to simply terminate your contract.” She paused, addressing the creature barely holding itself back save for its Mistresses’ influence. “Feast.”

It was hideous and beautiful as its massive appendages clacked over the metal floor, the sound faster and faster as Janelle tried to run and predatory instinct only dug in to the Klaxxi deeper. It overtook the human in a magnificant show of speed and force, tearing in to its prey as he thrashed and screamed underneath it. The Klaxxi’s body jittered and shook in disturbing gyration as it shifted its weight to hold Janelle down, massive jaws tearing holes until there was nothing left but a red, wet spot it vacated in favor of returning to them.

<< Thank you, mistresses. >> It paused, as if contemplating a request and unsure if it would constitute disloyalty. << But I am still hungry. >>

Matsu looked to Sumiko, a terrible smile forming on red lips. “An undeniable success, my Lady.”

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]​

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


Some employees just did not measure up. Even obviously evil, amoral Sith Ladies had to deal with slackers and uppity minions. They demanded nonsense such as an eight-hour work day and the right to form trade unions.


Not so long ago, Sumiko had shown a foolish employee who believed in labour rights the error of his ways. As a staunch believer in unrestricted capitalism, she knew where such heresies would lead: Senate debates, Selectivism, workers' democracy and other variations of the Red Menace.


So she'd done the decent thing and transformed him into a zombie. She'd clearly made the right call, for he'd stopped grumbling and his work performance had increased significantly.


She was pleased that Matsu shared her views about enforcing discipline. Clearly this showed the wisdom of her decision to collaborate with her fellow Atrisian. It was a sign of good racial instinct. Atrisian master race! Or rather mistress race.


Soulless obsidian eyes watched as their pet devoured Janelle, swallowing the hapless employee wholesale and leaving only a pool of crimson liquid. Its appetite was truly impressive, as was its killing instinct.


The terrible smile on Matsu's lips was matched by an equally smug one from Sumiko. "We have done well. I would not have expected otherwise. There are so many wonderful things we can do together," she purred.


Her eyes took in the Witch-Necromancer. She was...beautiful. Not just in the physical sense, though she was not lacking in attributes that excited the former Inquisitor. But what really attracted her was not the pretty exterior, but Darth Yaomo's predatory, razor-sharp intellect and the darkness inside her malevolent, black soul. Unconsciously, she licked her lips. "I believe our boy Oni could pit himself against more...formidable prey. It would be a good test. And I'd love to see more of Maena with my own eyes."