You Can Never Apologize

[Cedric Dorn]

Cedric stood in the center of an empty room.

The walls were cracked and broken, water stains running down the concrete, the wallpaper was peeled and pulling off. The floor was separated and falling away and places, the ceiling was in similar state. There were no windows anywhere within the room, and only two doors that lead into darkened areas. The sound of sirens could be heard outside through the thin duracrete.

The Sith held something in his hand, a small pyramid that seemed to pulse with an energy, a dark red light flowing from its edges. Cedric fingered the metallic sides of the pyramid, taking two steps into the center of the room he placed the pyramid there.

Slowly he turned about, walking away from the device.

With a liquid grace that could only come from prior training Cedric sat himself down a few paces away from the device. He looked at the small Pyramid, it pulsed again slightly now that it was away from him. Cedric closed his eyes.

Focus came to him.

The force began to reach out from him, a small trickle of energy that touched the Pyramid. The pulse of energy grew stronger, more powerful, and slowly the pyramid edged out its three sides. The holocron fell open, the pyramid jumping open. A warm blue glow erupted from it.

Cedric slowly opened his eyes. “Mother?”

 

[Kiber Dorn]

This was the real deal.

Far from the joke holocron that had been held by Talith hands, this wasn't a boast or a jest, a pre-recorded message to be heard right before the beep. It was true, Karin Dorn had founts of knowledge, stored and otherwise but being the sly witch that she was, they weren't that easily found. Well, that was unless they were given to you.

Lucky boy.

The Force came knocking upon the metaphorical door of the device, stirring the soulful mechanism within.

Who dare disturbs my slumber.

Grand. Cliche. Embrace it. Easy, breezy, beautiful, Coversith.

Could have only been one of two, safeguards to prevent curious eyes from peeping at that which they were not meant to see, deafen them to that which is too terrible to hear. Really, could have only been one. The Dorns were starting to take up real estate in Chaos after all.

Room for one more.

The image before him was a Karin Dorn more in her prime. Younger, fiercer, bolder and with a stare that could scald flesh and bone. She had carefully crafted the holocron in mind for him. She wouldn't trust anybody else to teach him, they'd likely do it wrong, and when you're in the business of knowledge and planet ruling, there's little time for much else.

Nanny raised, holocron taught.

Poor boy.

“Cedric,” the image replied, almost threatening with a hint of warmth.

​[member="Cedric Dorn"]

 

[Cedric Dorn]

Cedric stared up at the ghostly image of his mother.

He had never used the holocron before, he had only retrieved it a few days ago. Karin had left instructions for him on where to find it. When he had returned to Thule everything had been different, though he had expected that. He had wandered to the old fortress and in its rubble found what he was looking for.

A small hidden message.

One that only he and her would have known, one that Karin had left for him.

It had showed him the way to the holocron, an object that he had known on first sight. It had traces of his mother on it, the artistry, the beauty of it. He had recognized it almost instantly, having felt her presence upon it. Now he looked up at her, the ghostly visage of the woman who had bore him for nine months.

“You died, mother.” He didn't know what else to say.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

She scoffed.

A pretty standard reaction in Karin Dorn terms of things, when she didn't scoff, she sneered and when she didn't sneer she smirked. Unfortunately she could only react in words beginning with the letter S, so that was a considerable handicap. Disclaimer: This is not true.

“My, how inconvenient,” she said with a sniff, ever the creature of jest and sass. This galaxy was simply far too ridiculous to be taken seriously.

“I hope I didn't make a mess.”

Now, down to the meat of the matter.

The image of the woman hummed slightly, almost disapprovingly as if she had been given a slice of idle gossip that wasn't quite to her taste. Death was a rather major bump in the road, some might have called it the bump, but not Karin Dorn.

“You haven't unearthed me just to inform me of that tidbit, have you?”

[member="Cedric Dorn"]

 

[Cedric Dorn]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

Cedric frowned.

Even in death she had not changed, even in death she still taunted him so. Perhaps that was better, perhaps it preserved the memory of her. He shook his head slightly. It didn't matter. This was a holocron, it wasn't his mother, it was simply a faded ghost with awareness.

Though he doubted the real Karin would have been different.

“No.” He said finally, his voice cold. “I returned to Thule to find it ruled by slack jawed armored idiots and our fortress torn down. I was not surprised by this, but the surprise came when I heard of your deposition.”

That had been unpleasant.

“I wish to take back what is mine. Receive what I am owed by right of blood.” Thule was his. There was no arguing with that, no changing that. The Mandalorians may rule over it for now, but Cedric would do anything to take back the planet that ad Dorn written all over it. “In order to do that I need position, in order to gain position I need power. Power that you can teach me mother. As you always intended.”

There was a slight hint of anger to his words.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Slack-jawed armoured idiots. Forget vowels and consonants, I would like to solve, Pat.

Mandalorians.

Of course, it was to be expected that after her death Thule would fall. Unless her death was the factor in Thule's fall. No, no. Surely not, she was smart, civilised, could actually hold down a conversation without the need to posture or ignite a blade. Then again, Mandalorians couldn't converse into peace if they were given a script either, could barely converse into war. Even when she still lived they were a people who gave up numerous chances for ground and glory just because they couldn't get over themselves.

Seemingly the Gulag plague had ended the Mandalorians of old. Brutal men and women of war to be replaced by squabbling gits that play inventory.

If the image was capable of simulating emotions there would have been a hint of pride, but as it stood there were no real emotions but rather blue-hued facial expressions that gave hints and clues. Finally Cedric Dorn would step up to the plate.

“You need power?” the image sneered.

“No child, you need patience.”

[member="Cedric Dorn"]

 

[Cedric Dorn]

He bristled.

Patience? Patience! He needed Patience? He had waited. He had waited a decade to be taught by her, to be ready for this, to want this, and she wanted him to wait more. He scowled, but he did not burst. No. That would be giving in to her, that would be giving his mother what she wanted. She wanted conflict, she wanted to put him in his place.

His scowl deepened, his words sounded bit off. “Patience? Why?”

If he had power he could simply take what he wanted, he could simply take Thule back. It would be so easy. The Mandalorians were fools, idiots, they didn't know anything about true strength. They had never met a real Sith.

They had never met a Dorn.

They had never met him.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

The image smirked at the scowl. It was rumoured that when Karin Dorn let her face rest it automatically assumed the image of a smirk, such a smug snake was she that it could only be natural.

"For the sake of you body, and mind."

The holocron of course, wasn't aware of the current times. Wasn't aware that funnily enough her own daughter's demise came about from the misuse and lack of patience regarding Sith Magic. Well, there were other factors. Namely Zambrano and Talith, but enough about them

"You'll meet Sith, blind, broken and hideous. Powerful but impotent. Shrivelled little idiots that didn't know how to wait. What good is power if you've destroyed your own mind in the process of obtaining it?"

Nobody ever seemed to question why one of the most prominent Sith Sorcerers in Moridin's Empire looked so good despite dabbling in arts so dark. Sure, skin had been a touch grey in hue but comparatively Karin had handled her craft unlike most others. Patience, understanding and respect weren't just for Jedi any more.

"Do you understand, child?"

[member="Cedric Dorn"]

 

[Cedric Dorn]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

He frowned.

Nobody had ever claimed that Cedric was a genius, but he was no fool. His mother spoke of corruption, of the tearing at the soul of the Darkside of the Force. He knew what that meant, what it could do to him. She advised patients for his own good, like any mother would. For some reason that seemed oddly foreign to him, and it evoked emotions that he did not quite understand.

“So I wait?” Cedric said almost accusingly. “I sit in this room and wait? Learn at a snails pace?”

It didn't sit well with him, but as he began to think it over he knew that his mother was likely right. “Thule could be ash by then, Mother.”

That was the only thing he could think of. There were other reasons not to wait, to rush, he was sure of it.Yet he had maid her point, and it was a good one. He could either have Thule alive and well, or he could rule it as a crippled King. The etched lines on his face told that he had already lost the argument, he simply did not want to lose face.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

"That is precisely what you will do," the holocron spat back.

Even in a project image one couldn't escape the scolding tongue of the Lady Dorn. You couldn't deny that in life she had been an arrogant woman, who spoke to almost everybody as if they were a simpleton, as if she were better than them.

"Then you rebuild, child," it hissed, pointing a single blue bony finger at [member="Cedric Dorn"], "you will rebuild and when you are finished you will sit upon a throne of beskar'gam."

"Do you understand?"

 

[Cedric Dorn]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

Cedric looked away for a few seconds. She was right. Even with the wait, he could rebuilt, he could reconstruct anything that was lost. The frown on his face told of deep though, the hesitation in his eyes showed the child not wanting to admit that his mother was right, but he knew she was. Biting his tongue Cedric looked up at the hologram.

“I understand.” He said it in the same biting tone as she had.

It didn't carry the same effect however.

A part of him wished he could have disputed her more, a part of him wished that she was still alive, that he could have seen the real Karin Dorn. Not to learn from her, no, though that would have been grand in it of itself. He wanted to show her what he had become. Though he had no training in the force, Cedric was still strong, stronger than most would think.

He had wanted to show her that.

He would not rush this, he would listen. If thats what it took to take what was his, then that is what he would do. “When do we begin?”

 

[Kiber Dorn]

"A year."

There would be no opportunity for [member="Cedric Dorn"] to oppose the holocron of his mother in this matter, for as soon as those words left simulated lips the image dissipated into nothing, the three leaves of the small pyramid closing themselves to the man.

 

[Cedric Dorn]

A year.

To Cedric it might as well have been an age. It seemed as long. His mother had demanded that he wait a full year, and so he did.

The year went by at a snails place. After the holocron had closed itself Cedric had picked it up, storing it in hidden alcove within the wall, there it stayed, save for the few times that his hubris and desire over came him. Those times he would take the holocron out from it's hiding place and put it in the center of the room. He would sit before it and concentrate, hesitating only barely before deciding that breaking his mothers commandment would not be wise.

It was days like those that made time pass slowly.

Though he waited, Cedric did not sit idly by. Instead he gathered information, informants and anything he could get his hands on. He learned about factions, people, places, events. Everything and anything that had happened since his departure from known space.

It was his way of preparing.

His way of getting ready.

Day in and day out he learned more, and day in and day out the want, the need, to open the Holocron became less and less. It became infrequent for him to take it out of hiding, and as the day approached he had not seen the device in months. He understood now, why his mother had made him wait.

Patience.

When the day came, Cedric found the holocron within its hiding spot. There was no excitement within him, no desperate need to learn, there was simply ambition, a knowledge of what was to come. Cedric Dorn placed the small pyramid onto the ground before him, but this time he did not sit.

Standing eye to eye with where he knew his mother would be, Cedric reached out with the force and activated the device.