A Friendly Chat

[Sapphire Storm]

(@The Kyzer @Aurek)​

On the cold, barren planet of Ziost, atop a large hill that all who wished to enter were forced to climb, sat a huge, dark, temple-like structure. It bustled with activity, as it always did. Men and women of all different kinds of species ran to and fro, doing everything from standing around chatting to cleaning to training and everything in between. In the very heart of this huge structure, at the very top, was a large room, occupied by but a single woman.

Silver eyes stared at the doorway of that room, annoyance and impatience painted very clearly on the pale face they were housed in. Short, white hair graced the head of the woman sitting behind an ornate wooden desk. On the other side of the desk sat a second chair, albeit nowhere near as comfortable and ostentatious as the throne-like thing the woman sat behind. Dark, voluminous robes covered her form, contrasting starkly with her pale complexion, silver eyes and white hair.

One arm stuck out of the folds of her robes and sat upon the wooden desk, creating the only sound in the room as she waited. Taptaptaptap, her nails went on the desk. There was a short pause, then the sound repeated itself. Taptaptaptap, pause, repeat. The noise filled the entire room. Her other hand held up her head. It was balled into a fist, supporting the cheek resting on it as its elbow sat upon the desk beneath it. They were late. She hated it when they were late.

Fingers and nails tapping idly on the desk as she waited, the Supreme Leader and High Priestess of the Sith Brotherhood thought back on the recent events that had led to this particular circumstance. An air base heavily damaged by three bombers. Three! With not a single fighter for escort! And all that the useless soldiers stationed there were able to accomplish was shooting down only a single one of them. An entire air field on a planet entirely belonging to the Sith Brotherhood and all they could manage was a single bomber shot down? Pathetic. At least they'd managed to capture the pilot of the craft alive. That was something good, at least.

And now it was time for a little conversation with this pilot. Well, it would be if him and his escort weren't late. She still hadn't decided what she wanted to do with him, but she knew she wanted to talk to him, if for no other reason than for her own entertainment. Perhaps she should have been using this extra time to think about what it was she wanted to do with him, but she wasn't. She was thinking only of the fact that they were late.

 

[The Kyzer]

Wandering around the Grand Supreme Ultra Overlord HQ of the Super Supreme Leader Mega-Evil Leader Lady, Invidia began to wonder if the escorts were lost. It seemed like they led her and her new buddy down corridor after corridor of the same kriffing poodoo.

"It's OK. You can just say that you're lost."

The reply was something about defensive measures and redundant hallways or something...she didn't care. What she did care about was her new buddy's attire. He'd been stripped of all of his clothing besides some skin-tight undies and then wrapped in a bunch of bright red ribbon. As such, he was being carted around on a hover-dolly of sorts. It was pretty humorous to the crazed woman and that's all that really mattered.

Finally they reached a set of gargantuan double doors that were opened by these big serious guard guys who gave Invidia a dirty look. She merely smiled a little too broadly with a few too many teeth and it was enough to perturb at least one. The other simply maintained his stoicism. The escorts left the room after raising the prisoner up to a standing position. He was conscious enough to stand by himself but Invidia didn't know if he could or would.

"Your Grand Majesty Highness Lady of the Supreme Toas....Ziost Brotherhood and Great ummm...Lord-ess of the Sith!"

The crazed Sith's bow was a bit too deep and too elaborate to be taken seriously yet it wasn't entirely for humor. She simply didn't quite know what people were supposed to do in this situation.

"I bring you a gift! This guys! I even wrapped him for you!"

@Aurek

 

[Aurek]

As he was led down corridor after corridor, Rolan tried as best he could to study the layout of the base, or at the very least get a feel for anything of interest. He had no such luck, however. Not only did it feel as if they were going in circles, but he was still barely clinging to consciousness. He should have been grateful to have survived such an ordeal, but he wasn't. At this point, he was seriously contemplating whether or not he'd have been better off dead.

These were the cheery thoughts that went through his head as he was wheeled to God knows where, his body burned, beaten, scarred and half naked. But this was almost tolerable. What he couldn't stand was the blabbering of the unpleasantly obnoxious lunatic beside him, who seemed to go out of her way to flaunt her abhorrent demeanor at every turn.

Finally, they arrived at what must have been their destination, hidden away by two massive double doors. One of the two guards stared at Rolan in disgust, then shifted his gaze to the insane woman. Allowing them entry, Rolan was roughly propped up into a standing position. He was faced with who he could only assume was the leader of this operation. Hidden beneath dark robes, the woman appeared ominous, to say the very least.

After giving a not-so-graceful bow, the lunatic that was his captor presented him. It took all Rolan's strength not to fall to the floor. He felt weak and frail after such brutal treatment. He didn't know who his captors were, but he had a fairly good idea.

He probably looked like a walking corpse. Much of his skin and hair had been singed off and burned and his body was bruised and broken all over. Scratches and burns were undoubtedly abundant on the mans broken body. Regardless, he refused to appear weak in front of these savages. So he spoke for the first time in what felt like days, Rolan's voice was gruff and raspy, and he all but snarled as he spoke.

"Let it be known that I will tell you NOTHING."

 

[Sapphire Storm]

When the huge double doors that led to her chambers opened, the woman sitting behind the heavy wooden desk didn't move. She stayed in her lazy position, with her elbow on the table and her cheek resting on her fist. Her eyes moved from one person to the next as they all entered the room. First to one guard, then the other, and from there to the Sith woman whose face, name and reputation were all too familiar to her. She watched her for quite a while as the woman, this Invidia, did her thing. Upon hearing the grand title she'd been given, a slight smile broke the woman's face. It was filled with amusement and mirth, which stayed even as she looked toward the 'gift' Invidia had brought her. "Oh my, gift wrapped and all," she said quietly in response to Invidia's offering. She looked at the prisoner, piercing silver eyes scanning his form critically. She remained silent for the time being, reserving her judgement.

Just as she was about to open her mouth and begin speaking, the weakly voiced declaration halted her in her tracks. She looked quizzically at the battered, bruised and burned man, tilting her head as she did so. "My dear man," she said in her most sincere of voices, "if I wanted to know everything you had to tell me then you would not be all the way up here in my audience chamber, being gifted with a seat to rest your weary body in." She straightened her head as she looked at the guards and gestured, dismissing them from the room. To Invidia she said, "You may stay if you have anything else to add. If not, you are dismissed. And thank you, by the way, for endeavouring to capture him alive."

Leaning back in her chair and looking at the prisoner once again, she said, "Now. My name is Nisara. You may sit if you wish, and as I said, you are not here to tell me everything you know. That will likely come later. Right now, you are simply here for my amusement. So sit," she gestured with her left hand at the seat placed before her desk, "and amuse me. You can start with your rank, squadran and full name. That way we both know to who it is we are talking."

@The Kyzer @Aurek

 

[Invidia]

"Darth Lord...ummm...Lady MegaBadass, Toast Squadron, mi-scary-lady!"

Again, Invidia's grin was just a bit too wide with too many teeth as she bowed with mock-elegance again. This time, however, she added a flourish to an unseen cape that ended with her most of her face covered by her forearm. This naturally was what she thought the Sith Lords did when they announced their full title. Of course, they probably remembered their titles. This psychotic joker just kept coming up with new accolades for herself for no other reason that to amuse herself and others. After all, where was the fun in hoarding all of the humor?

Well, I must say...this guy's got some serious balls to be attacking us with three bombers!"

The crazed Sith then adopted a formal-ish tone and stood at attention...well...attention-adjacent.

Mi-scary-lady! Permission to check this man's gonads for size and strength!"

Without waiting, Invidia just punched the guy in the crotch. While it wasn't aided with the Force, it was still pretty potent.
@Aurek

 

[Aurek]

Rolan stood silently, glaring coldly at Nisara. Nothing was said, but he had imstantly made it clear he would not comply. The stubborn, middle-aged man clung to what little willpower he had left.

Was it possible this woman already knew of the Border Alliance? Surely not. He had yet to be questioned, only senselessly battered. So then what did they want from him? What good was he to them alive?

While he wouldn't sit, he would at least try to get what he could out of this conversation. If and when he returned to Bandomeer, he would tell the Alliance everything.

Then, out of nowhere, the lunatic punched him in the crotch.

Crumpling to his knees and grunting loudly, Rolan held his groin. He closed his eyes for a moment as he told himself to tough it up, silently cursing to himself. When he stood again he held onto the chair for support. When he spoke, his tone was angry, clear, and laced with conviction.

"Rolan frickin Aurek. Lieutenant. Defiant Squadron."

 

[Sapphire Storm]

Nisara burst out laughing when the Invidia delivered a punch to the prisoner's crotch. She leaned back in her chair as she laughed, watching him closely to see how he reacted to it. He didn't handle himself too well, but that wasn't surprising. It was a strong punch aimed at a particularly sensitive area.

Once he'd pulled himself to his feet and spoken his name, her smile turned from amused to condescending. "See? Now that wasn't so hard. We can all be nice and civil as he have ourselves a friendly little chat, Rolan." She spoke his name as if they were old friends that had been on a first name basis for years, using a familiarity that she hoped would get to him. "Why don't you have yourself a seat and relax, and we'll begin our talk."

She steepled her fingers as she rested her elbows on her desk, leaning forward as she spoke again. "Now, once you're settled, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself? I'm curious to find out about you. I want to know who you are. Not just your name, but what makes you who you are? How do you think? What do you feel? What makes you tick? That's what I'm interested in. We'll get to the boring stuff about your mission and why you bombed Serenno and all that later, don't you worry, but for now... what makes Rolan Aurek who he is?" As if remembering something, Nisara looked up at Invidia briefly, saying, "Oh, you can go now. Thank you again for bringing him to me alive," before looking back to her new little conversationalist.

@Aurek

 

[Aurek]

Rolan watched from the corner of his eye as the deranged woman stood up to leave. This time, if she attacked him he would at least attempt to block it. He'd be ready this time.

Fortunately, she didn't strike. He was left alone with the sinister looking woman. She said his name as if she knew him. She sounded genuinely sincere. But Rolan knew better than that.

He wasn't going to kid himself. He was on his own. There would be no rescue team. Not only would the alliance not know where he was, but no man was worth a full scale invasion. Defiant Squadron or otherwise. Coming to terms with this, Rolan accepted that if he were to escape this hell, he'd have to figure something out, and soon.

Clearly, he was in no position to fight. So instead, he opted to feign compliance. He'd let the woman think she'd gotten to him and use it to his advantage. If she assumed he was compliant, she'd let her guard down and he'd have a better chance at getting out alive.

Maintaining eye contact with Nisara, Rolan sat, allowing himself a moment to relish in comfort. He hadn't rested on his own terms in what felt like weeks. While there were other places he would have preferred to be, this beat a dark cell.

He smiled at the woman, pretending he wasn't completely unnapproachable.
"I'm just a soldier, ma'am. How about we speak about something a little more interesting? I'm sure you have a story or two to tell, a strong, powerful woman such as yourself."

While Rolan knew she was unlikely to tell him anything he truly cared about, he hoped to stall as much as he could.

@Sapphire Storm

 

[Sapphire Storm]

Nisara threw her head back and laughed. She laughed and laughed and laughed for a good thirty seconds or so, hands clutching at her stomach, head thrown back and silver eyes looking toward the ceiling. At long last she asserted control over herself again, letting her echoing laughter come to a halt and looking back down at the prisoner sitting across from her. "I'm sorry," she said apologetically, mirth dripping from her tone. "Was that supposed to be subtle? If it was I'm sure I can go back and give you a better reaction more suited to the attempt." She shook her head and chuckled quietly.

"No no," she continued as she replaced her hands in her lap. "You don't get to turn the tables that easily. I'm not going to regale you with tales of my exploits and get lost in my own high opinion of myself, completely forgetting about anything I might have wanted to ask you." She gave the man an amused look. "I will tell you one thing, though," she said as a thought seemed to come to her. "This is all being recorded. I meant to tell you immediately - common courtesy and everything - but it slipped my mind. Why? I like to have a record of things such as these. They can be... useful. But enough about that. I've been wondering. Why did you join up with the Border Alliance? Everyone has a reason, and I'm curious what yours is. Tales of the glory and wonder of war, perhaps? Did you do it to protect a stupid friend that fell for those tales? Or maybe you bought into the scary children's tales of the Sith of old and how they'd come to steal your soul if you didn't behave and go to sleep when mummy told you to?" She tilted her head as she spoke, a genuinely curious look coming over her face.

 

[Aurek]

Rolan sat quietly as Nisara laughed. When she finally regained her composure, he sighed. There was no way out of this. What the hell was he going to tell her? The truth? How much did she already know of the Border Alliance? What would he be giving away, if anything? He grimaced to himself as all chances of his iminent escape shriveled away just as soon as they had appeared. He was stuck here, for the time being. This woman saw right through him, any attempts at subterfuge would be futile. So, he took a different approach. One would argue it was a foolish one, given his predicament, but he was beyond care at this point.

"I enlisted in hopes of making something out of myself. To protect a galaxy that desperately needs protecting, a galaxy that has adopted a pacifists mindset in hopes of clinging to it's fragile peace. I joined to fight so that others wouldn't have to."

His thoughts went back to his family, the sight of their corpses continued to haunt him to this day. So, he finished.

"But mostly, I enlisted with the Border Alliance so I could kill people like you. You are free to interrogate me as you will, but I promise you will not stop me from doing that. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow. But I will kill you."

 

[Sapphire Storm]

"To protect a galaxy that desperately needs protecting. And from what threat is this, might I ask? The Sith of old, that were vanquished over a hundred years ago? No, surely not them." She put on a thoughtful face, which was clearly fake but helped to play up the level of sarcasm she was going for. "It must be that new threat that no one is able to confirm even exists, but is clearly the most dangerous threat the galaxy has ever faced! Hmm..." She let her chin rest on her hand as she considered. "I've got it!" she exclaimed a few moments later. "It must be that new group that call themselves the Sith Brotherhood! They're not the same people as the ones that terrified us a century ago, but they're using the same name, so that means they must be evil and corrupted by the Dark Side and want to destroy me and my family specifically!"

Nisara sighed and shook her head as she brought her piercing silver eyes back to the man sitting across the desk from her. "Do you know what the problem with the Republic is? You're afraid. You're all so afraid of your petty little peace being broken that you will attack anything that you think might threaten it without question. You're all terrified of us because of bedtime stories told to you by your parents when you were children. But do you want to know something? That peace and safety you cling to so desperately? That peace and safety you claim to be protecting? It doesn't exist. Yes, I know you specifically don't believe in that peace, but that is beside the point." Nisara shook her head disappointedly, looking down at her desk briefly.

"On the one hand you have the majority of the Republic. They believe that their grand, century-spanning peace is a real thing and they are unbelievably proud of it and so terrified of losing it that they will do anything to protect it, even going so far as to condemn a group of people trying to protect them from outward threats. They believe so heavily in this peace and are so blinded by their pride for it that they don't even realise it doesn't exist. There may be no galaxy-spanning war, but that does not mean a non-existent thing exists. The rich still abuse the poor. The strong still take from those too weak to defend themselves. The bully still abuses his poor victim simply because he can. People still get mugged and murdered in abandoned alleys and in the dark, endless reaches of space. Every person in the galaxy still fights their own personal war every day of their life. Peace does not exist, and yet they cling to it.

And then on the other hand you have a small minority that are smart enough to realise peace does not exist. You have the Border Alliance. And yet, despite being more enlightened than your counterparts, you are still fools. You are so caught up with and carried away by your fear of long dead Sith that you blindly attack a group that has done nothing to you. You are so convinced that peace does not exist that you attempt to begin a war that will destroy and end the lives of billions just to prove your point. You are so convinced that the threat to your lives is an outside one, and not an inside one, that you ignore the very clear signs of rot and decay that cling to your precious Republic's very soul." Nisara shook her head, genuine sadness and disappointment showing on her face. "You are so concerned with defending the weak from perceived threats that it will consume you."

Nisara sighed once more, looking the man across from her up and down. "Do you want to know why your Republic will fall, if it comes to the war you are so desperately craving? Would you like me to inform you? I will, regardless of whether you want to hear it or not." She leaned forward in her chair, looking him directly in the eyes. "It is because you try and defend the weak and the useless. You spend all your energy protecting them, so much so that when the tidal wave of vengeance comes for you, it will sweep you away without a hint of resistance. I know what you're thinking right now. Better to defend the weak than do what you believe we do to them, right? Wrong. Our greatest difference is actually a very small thing. Whereas you try and defend the weak and the useless, we give them the tools and the ability to defend themselves. We see their true potential and we give them what they need to access it and rise from their state of weakness into one of strength. That is why we will crush your corrupt Republic if you begin a war with us."

Her long speech finished, Nisara stood up. pushing her chair back and clearing space for herself. "If you're so certain you'll kill me," she said as she looked down at her captive, "I'll give you the chance right now. I'll untie you and you can have at it however you please." She gestured to her dark, voluminous robes, where no weapons were visible. They were there, but not in sight. "As you can see, I have no weapons on me. You have no weapons on you. It would be as fair a fight as you might ever get with me, and who's to say you'll ever have another chance to stand in my presence?" She held her arms wide, looking down at him, curiosity burning in her eyes.

 

[Aurek]

Rolan closed his eyes, resisting the urge to stand up and lunge at the woman. When he had cooled himself down he spoke again, his gaze laced with controlled fury as they locked eyes.

"My lust isn't one of vengeance, ma'am. That comes later. But for now, I will do whatever it takes to survive. Even if I managed to kill you, with all your dark magic, in my underwear, the chances of me besting every guard from here to the nearest transport off this rock are slim to none."

He watched her for a moment, then continued.

"Rationalize it how you will, but the facts remain. You stand for an ideal that has killed, and will continue to kill, far more than I could ever hope to. You represent a belief, a cause, near IDENTICAL to that of the old Sith Empire, a force that wasn't just a threat to the Republic, but the galaxy. You can't tell me for even a moment that you wouldn't have attacked us. You look like the Sith, you call yourself the Sith, so why should we treat you any differently than the Sith?"

Clearing his throat, he continued once more.

"I'm no patriot, I've never even been to Chandrila. I was raised on a farm, and once upon a time I raised a family and farm of my own. A family that, in the end, was taken from me, killed before my very eyes by people of your same 'The strong will rule and the weak will serve" mindset. Do not sit there smugly and tell me that I don't know that peace is a lie. Beat me, mock me, laugh at me -- hell, kill me. But do not insult me to that degree."

He swallowed hard before continuing.

"You see, 'Nisara', the Republic wasn't my first choice. Hell, if it were up to me I'd be back on Saleucami, back with my family. But I don't have that luxury anymore. The Republic, however flawed it may be, stands for something that doesn't revolve around hate, darkness, and progression at the expense of others. You say the Republic will die. Perhaps, but I know about the old Empire you base yourselves off of, about the last war."

He finished:

"You talk of rot and decay, yet you clearly forget that your predecessors collapse was sparked solely by your inability to work together. Your ideals will be the death of your Brotherhood, just as they were for the Empire."