Every Light Casts A Greater Shadow

[Hol Horse]

​

Athir peered out over the red world before him, Dathomir.

The red zabrak had never visited the homeworld of the other half of his species, he had come from Irodia, the ancestral home of his kind, this was a foreign place to him, and one that he frankly never had wished to have to visit. He closed his eyes as he gently exhaled, the red of his lit spice-lined cigara creating a small plume of white smoke that floated away from him into the air. A good smoke helped him in times like this it felt like, calmed his nerves, made him relax a bit more. Certainly, those were traits he could use at the moment as he found himself on the rather desolate looking and ominous planet. There was something about this place, something that crawled up his skin almost and stroked the hairs on the back of his neck. Was someone whispering to him? It certainly felt like it sometimes, especially as he stood in the shadow of his freighter, the red moonlight dousing the planet in a myriad of black and red. He could feel it in his bones, there was something here, something old, something without a name that now watched him.

Athir took another puff of his cigara, his eyes closing once again. Where was his contact?

He had been waiting here for hours now, standing outside his Halo-class Transport, Otho II, looking over a small clearing atop a cliff that looked out over the wild and savage red lands of Dathomir. He had landed in a easily visible spot, anyone flying in this area would see his ship or pick up his signal on their radar, and yet, nothing. Instead, the only company he had was the eerie red moon that seemed oh so similar to his own red skin. Indeed, the black tattoos all over his body almost felt alive on this strange and alien world, as if the very air made them move. The smuggler had originally chosen black full-body tattoos in mocking of his family's traditional markings, graceful white, but now on this planet, they seemed to carry a secondary and more sinister purpose.

Still, he stood there looking over the valleys and plains, waiting.

Waiting for something to happen.

@EmilyHuene

 

[EmilyHuene]

The smuggler needn't wait much longer for just as he was about to give up on waiting a ship would enter into orbit. The ship was a rather small thing, clearly a one person if not two seated craft. Known as a Lothcat, the craft was about as rare as they come. While it had no visible weapons, Athir could tell that it was indeed a fast vessel for how quickly it traversed towards his location. While the manufactures of the craft wished for a stronger class in their designs, the ones that failed their markups were still functional. This is why the Condorro twins had chosen this particular ship for Valerie: speed.

The ship would circle around overhead and then descend slowly. The wings extended upwards and the landing gear opened up from underneath. It landed slowly and when the engines were off a small ramp would descend behind the craft. A young woman in her twenties, with long black hair would exit and start walking toward Athir. She was wearing a heavy brown assassin style outfit made of thick leather which covered from her shoulders down to her shins. The arms as well as the front were laced up and were each covered by another layer of leather; gloves with thick padding covered the backs of the hands, while a corset covered the torso. The skirt of the outfit falling down just after the corset fell into four pieces. The sides were the longest of the them and covered most of the legs. The back and the front simple covered the gaps that would be exposed when in motion, such as spinning around or jumping. While standing still the whole skirt would fall into place and look like a simple long dress. But under the leather skirt she wore tall boots with just a little heel to them that also laced up the front. The outfit was perfect for hiding several weapons and knives in it, but Valerie only had one: a single grip lightsaber. She wore the blade proudly because it was an exact replica of her mother's blade, at least until the beam was ignited. Her mother had been graced with a white crystal, Valerie's was a common blue.

"Sorry I'm late," the woman would offer to him as she came closer. "We were having troubles getting the engines started."

 

[Hol Horse]

Athir puffed as his eyes drooped close for a bit. He felt so sleepy these days it was like he could just lie down anywhere and nap for the rest of his life. Perhaps he might need to lower the dosage on his Spice cigaras for a while. The man wobbled in place a bit as he let his mind and eyes rest a tad. His blaster pistol was holstered loosely to his hip with his rifle slung over his back. It was a safety precaution more than anything, Dathomir gave him the creeps as it was, some security made him feel a bit more at east. Of course, there was that other thing as well, dealing with Sith. Hard times in the smuggling buisness had pushed neutral free traders like him to start taking jobs from the different sides in these galactic wars, sooner or later he knew he'd need to align himself with some sort of faction if he were to survive. Although he had grown up hating the Sith like anyone else on Coruscant, he knew that they would pay him better than the Mandalorians with their strange clan mentalities- this job he was doing would be a good test run to see how well he'd work in their fold. Tyranny and Imperial might were one thing, but if it paid top notch, then what was he meant to complain about?

These thoughts bubbled back up to the surface of the zabrak's mind as he spotted a ship break from the red cloudline above him in the distance. A starfighter, or some sort of individual pilot's ship, either way it moved fast. Athir eyed it as it landed atop the outcropping of rocks looking over the red and desolate valley below. It had sith markings on its hull, it seemed his contact was here. Sure enough, a human woman emerged from the starfighter. Admittedly, the smuggler was somewhat surprised to find someone so young on a mission such as this, although he himself was perhaps no older than she. Then again, he had never personally met any sith before as he had always aimed to stay well clear of their patrols for fear of execution. By the fates though she had a body that needed to be immortalized in stone. Her outfit certainly complemented her bedazzling appearance as the self-admittedly lewd and sleazy smuggler began mentally taking each bit off piece by piece, imagining what she looked like with her burdens, and clothes, removed.

Still, buisness was buisness. While Athir may have been a fairly basic person in terms of desires and greed, that same baseness brought his mind out of his own gutter and back to reality as the woman approached him, apologizing for being late. "It's fine, you're here now" he said with a shrug before continuing, "I'm Athir". After introducing himself though, the red skinned alien went back to buisness, "Let's just get this crystal and get off this planet before any feral clones of me show up" the zabrak proposed, having been told of the wild and barbaric variation of his species that resided this wild planet, as well as the strange white women who seemingly commanded them. Perhaps it was just the subliminal effect of being here that made him anxious, everything was red, including him.

Athir pulled out a small scaner, inspecting it and the periodic pinging sound that it created, similar to a sonar. He would keep his gaze on the object as he reaffirmed the job he had been hired to do alongside the sith to complete, "I have a habit for finding valuable things to sell to people. Trade secret if you will. Im trying to get out of the Spice Buisness, so this month my fascination is on crystals" he stated, looking back up to the sith, "-and there's a massive trove of them somewhere deep unerground in this area" he stated, recalling his find from a few weeks prior. "We find a way into the tunnel system that's sure to exist around here, we find the trove, take a few crystals back with us for proof, and start a mining operation for the empire- of which I get a small percentage of as the original finder. Sounds like a good deal, right?" he said before looking back down to the valley below, "Well, it is, but there's a lot of spooky stuff on this red rock that can send shivers down anyone's spine, which is why you're here for security after all" he said looking back to the woman again.

Yep, that was the general gist of it.

 

[EmilyHuene]

"It's fine, you're here now. I'm Athir"

"Valerie Black," she would say shaking his hand. If Athir ever got around to watching holovids or movies, he'd recognize her name. At one time Valerie Black had been a pretty famous name in the spotlight, but she hadn't put out anything in some five years or so. It felt like her time in the spotlight had come and gone.

"Let's just get this crystal and get off this planet before any feral clones of me show up. I have a habit for finding valuable things to sell to people. Trade secret if you will. Im trying to get out of the Spice Buisness, so this month my fascination is on crystals -and there's a massive trove of them somewhere deep unerground in this area. We find a way into the tunnel system that's sure to exist around here, we find the trove, take a few crystals back with us for proof, and start a mining operation for the empire- of which I get a small percentage of as the original finder. Sounds like a good deal, right?"

"So long as your readings can provide and accurate scan with amble enough resources for the Empire to have interest, then yes."

"Well, it is, but there's a lot of spooky stuff on this red rock that can send shivers down anyone's spine, which is why you're here for security after all"

"You will not have any trouble, smuggler. My brother and I have been to this rock a time or two and have never met with anything we couldn't handle. So find us that cave and let me worry about the dangers."

 

[Hol Horse]

Athir accepted the hand shake loosely, his mouth puffing on his cigara in contemplation a tad as he heard her reply. Most Sith were hard to do buisness with him, at least that's what he had seen in his experiences. Most of them had fairly one-track minds, usually treated him like dirt as well- though that was simply a commonality whenever you worked with any of these galactic factions like he did. The zabrak looked down at his scanner. He had scouted the surrounding area earlier, though he hadn't strayed to far from the ship in case any unsavory characters might materialize out of the red mist. For better or for worse, a powerful sith like the (in)famous Valerie Black would keep all others away.

It didn't seem she didn't want to waste time, a sentiment that Athir could support as he gave a small nod of approval before spitting his cigara out onto the rocky ground and stamping it out. Wordlessly, he would turn away from her and start walking down the natural path that weaved its way down to the valley floor from the cliff they were now on. Somewhere down there was the entrance to the cave, the sooner they found it, the sooner they could get off this planet and go their separate ways. The walk would be somewhat long unfortuantely though, nearly half an hour perhaps as it weaved back and forth along the side of the cliff to the ground below. The smuggler anticipated Valerie would follow him, and decided to aim for some idle chatter as the two walked along.

"So, you've been here in the past then? Dathomir I mean" he started, looking over his shoulder at the perhaps better-traveled woman who now served as his protection, "I heard stories about this palce growing up, Zabrak legends, evil witch covens, etc" he continued, remembering the eerie tales that his grandmother had weaved to him as a youngling growing up on coruscant. Red skin was supposedly a trait of his kin who came from his red rock, an ill omen of sorts, though Athir placed little stock in such rumors. "You study that magic, whatever it is- can you feel it here at all? Or do you feel it from certain planets? This place gives me the creeps all things considered" he asked as he walked, looking down into the desolate valley below.

 

[EmilyHuene]

The path down was dark, nothing a simple torch wouldn't accommodate. A lightsaber would work just as well, but Valerie left hers on her hip. Something she learned from her time with the Jedi was to not use the blade unless absolutely necessary. However, she was a Sith now. Sith were less stoic about such things. But old habits died hard.

"So, you've been here in the past then? Dathomir I mean. I heard stories about this place growing up, Zabrak legends, evil witch covens, etc. You study that magic, whatever it is- can you feel it here at all? Or do you feel it from certain planets? This place gives me the creeps all things considered"

"My brother does," she would answer simply. "Our father had ancestry here and that followed through from him. He brought me here to embrace some of that magick. I don't exactly carry the affinity for it, but I also don't understand it."