Ask Fool Me Once, I'll Come Back For More

[Param Vour]

Troiken was feeling less and less like a home to Param. Granted, despite what many thought she wasn’t the ruler of Troiken. Troiken was a self-governing planet loosely ruled by the Sith. Most of what wasn’t taken by the Hutts was sent to the Order from the spice mines. Only a fraction was skimmed off the top for Param’s own uses, but it was enough to buy a few… goodies.

Param stood in her black, urban outfit in the middle of enough mercenaries to storm a capital. Z98 starfighters and Justifier patrol craft surrounded the shuttles. The good news for them all was they were in fact storming a capital. That capital was the island Param had previously tried to take as an Acolyte but failed on Vaynai. Now would be different.

Disguised as an anti-crime vigilante group, paperwork and IDs for everyone, they were going to land peacefully on Vaynai. Their targets were only the crime families that ran each island, nothing more. And for that, Param’s mercenary band was briefed on the stakes and the consequences of failure. They’d been training for over a week for this mission, and because of Param’s last visit, they had exact schematics up until the capital manor to be able to silently murder their way to the governor himself.

There was just one missing link. A newly minted Sith Master, and one of the original Sith Param had ever known. She had called Cyu to Troiken to catch up, mentioning to bring something easy to fight in. They would catch up on the way to Vaynai, take Vaynai for the Sith, and present a new resort world with four armed masseuses to the Dark Lord herself. Of course, Param had plans for the seaweed and it’s hallucinogenic and healing properties.

@Xorism

 

[Nevizkas]

Recent events had left several questions lingering, gone it seemed were the days when Cyu, Param and Karys would run around laugh and enjoy the galaxy together. It had been some time since the girls had last spoken, back when the world seemed so much smaller and less difficult to master.

The idea that two people close to her heart were incorrigible was an annoying concept to manage in her mind. Param was...well, different, and Karys was stubborn. But both brought good qualities to the table, yet it seemed that something had strained their relationship to the breaking point. It wasn't even something she was aware was occurring until afterwards.

With a mind for the day, Cyu went for comfy rather than practical. A small vibro-knife and her wits were all she brought along for their second attempt at this problem.

"Why didn't we try this the first time?" She broke into a quick laugh, finally reaching Param and her posse. The memories of that fateful night still haunted her on occasion.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Hearing the familiar voice Param turned, half expecting to see any number of weapons flying at her head. Instead, she found Cyu strolling passed the mercenaries that were arming themselves with blaster rifles and echani styled swords. Param let go of the scabbard of her Force forged sword; she already had one falling out with a Sith, she certainly didn't need another one. Especially not with Cyu. Not now, not ever.

"I didn't have anything to my name, then," Param said with a smirk. "You look nice. Are you sure you won't want a sword or blaster or something?" Handing weapons to a Sith gave her a moment of pause, but she hid the conflict well both in mind and expression. Cyu was of course the only Sith that hadn't truly done anything to her, but she was still a Sith, and a pureblood at that. There were enough of them now that they could absolutely take the Order if they wanted to, and as far as Param was concerned, let them.

"Everyone load up!" Param called out. The mercenaries finished setting up their gear and hurried into the patrol craft and fighters. Several light freightors would carry the bulk of who would be landing on the ground. Cyu and Param would be taking Param's ship alone. The Champion motioned for Cyu to follow her, leading the pureblood to her ship and up the ramp. "Vee, take us out!" A series of beeps, and excited binary whirs came from the cockpit.

"Do you want some tea, or would you rather we start catching up without?" Param asked, turning to Cyu as the ramp closed. The ship became very silent outside of the engines starting and the lurching of take off soon after.

@Xorism

 

[Nevizkas]

Cyu shook her head about the weapons, instead choosing to rely on the force for her defense. By now, Param would know that the dagger was more for show, anyway. But if the situation arrived that required her to be armed for whatever reason, chances are she'd be able to find something fairly quickly regardless.

Following Param's lead, the pureblood continued silently until they reached her ship. "I'll be fine, but feel free to have some." She wouldn't mind, knowing how close the woman was to her watery leaf soup.

Walking until they reached a more comfortable seat, Cyu sat down, glancing across to her pale friend. It was entirely hard to read those expressions, but a faint smile held on hers. While Param was a sucker for telling how she really felt, Cyu knew the best way to learn the truth was to beat it out of her, echani style.

"What the hell happened, Param? Last I heard, you two were tight." the pureblood pointedly asked, referring to the explosion of emotion that came from the social. How had it come to this?

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Param shrugged at both of Cyu's denials of weapons and tea. Maybe she would change her tune once things got going. She was a Sith Master now, and Param knew all too well the power that one could wield at that rank. It was funny to Param, that the first Sith Master she ever came to know ended up being somewhat of a father figure, albeit abusive, and the second was someone she'd considered a friend. It was weird knowing that at the snap of Cyu's fingers Param would have to do everything she said in an instant or face dire consequences. Param would never truly be free having to kneel to others.

"Karys came to the pagoda in the middle of the day one day," she said, carefully choosing her words. She would have to start being careful with what she said around others, even breaking her own rule of never lying. "He was drunk, so I figured it would be a normal visit. Next morning he asked a question I wasn't ready to answer, and it had been a while since I was able to talk to anyone I considered a friend, so I vented to him. He took my experiences as a Sith as an affront to your species and the Order, got mad, reached for his lightsaber." She specifically left out the part where he had told her she had nice tits, and the fact that he was crying all night after she had taken care of him and made him comfortable. There was no use airing dirty laundry. She'd take it as practice for her underworld dealings. Nobody liked a narc.

The entire time Param spoke, her silver gaze held Cyu's eyes. They betrayed no anger or hatred, or any emotion at all. If the smile wasn't a practiced feignt on her part, her expression would be deadpan. "Next time we saw each other I wanted nothing to do with him," she continued. "And then vice versa at the social."

"So here we are. He's doing what he does best, and I'm doing what I do best," she said finally.

@Xorism

 

[Nevizkas]

Cyutadakyr watched and listened as Param explained the last meeting between those two. It was obviously only hearing one half of the story, no doubt that Karys would have a completely different perspective of what happened. But, as often happened with arguments, being in the middle didn't mean that she'd be able to resolve either person's problems.

"I don't like that you're at ends with each other, Param." Her eyes dropped a little as she attempted to think of what to say. It was a weird spot to be in, as someone who rarely saw people beyond what they could do for her and no more. "Why would he think that?" She asked, about how he'd taken offence.

Cyu had seen more of a caring side to Karys of late, and comparing that to how Param was describing him was interesting. But she also knew that he'd been quite difficult to reason with when he had set his mind to something.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Did Cyu think Param wanted this? That she liked being at odds with Karys? That she wanted any of this? No. Beyond anything Karys had said, he was right; Param was a piece of shit. She was about to subjegate an entire planet of people to the whims of an Order that couldn't even hold a social gathering without being at each other's throats. Stray from the bunch, and they try to read your thoughts and enter your mind. Figure out why you aren't like everybody else.

"If I knew why, we wouldnt' be at odds with each other," she answered. "All the shit of my Acolyte training, and then I was training two Acolytes of my own, while Thel just disappears without a trace. I guess I'm just not allowed to vent about my frustrations." She paused, turning her gaze to the kitchen to her right. Tea was sounding better by the word, but she fought the urge to make any. The last thing she needed was to open a box of tea and have it seen as a threat.

"That's okay. Nothing to bitch about if I just do my duty, right?" Her gaze returned to Cyu. "I'm a terrible teacher, a terrible Sith when it comes to the culture. Thel trained me to be an attack dog. So I'm doing what I was taught to do and staying out of whatever the hell is happening with others."

@Xorism

 

[Nevizkas]

Cyutadakyr continued to sit there quietly, listening as her friend spoke about Karys, her own personal grief and difficulties adapting. It seemed that it had indeed been far too long since they'd had a chance to speak, and it was evident in the way that she continued to beat herself up.

"Have they still no word on what happened to Thel?" She asked inquisitively. She'd ventured on missions with the eccentric man before and had always felt like he'd struggle at improv. Perhaps failing to adapt had gotten him killed, after all.

"I suppose there's a time and a place, to vent, but maybe he just wasn't ready to hear your answers." Her voice overlaid with a caring tone. She looked directly at Param as the woman glanced back. "You know a terrible person wouldn't admit that, right?" She said, attempting to elicit a humorous response. "But if it's that bad, why not just dump both of the kids and do what you wanna do, like I was doing?"

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

"I have a holo-recording of Thel just vanishing. I went around and collected all of stuff," she said. Param was over Thel leaving the Order and everything behind. She was over not knowing shit about the Sith and how they operate. Thel was at least right when he said the old holocrons were absolutely useless when they spoke of the Order. This was an entirely different beast. One that she grew to hate more and more each day.

Param shook her head. "You would think being in my own home, after making him breakfast would be an okay time," she said. "I dumped one of them. The other asked me to teach him the ways of the echani. I was denied my birthright for a long time, there's no reason to deny him his." She paused as the patter of Vee's feet entered the main area from the cockpit. A series of beeps told them they were almost at Vaynai, but the little BD-unit returned to the cockpit right after.

"The first part of this mission, is converting Vaynai's religious temples to worship the Sith," Param explained, changing the subject from doing what she wants to do. "I prepped them before hand. The monks at the temples drink tea to stay awake and pray, so I've been giving them highly addictive spiked tea. The shipments stopped a week ago, so the monks should be ready to do whatever a Sith Master commands of them for more." Param's eyes grew slightly more intense to emphasis that Cyu would be that Master.

"The second part is getting back into that manor, disposing of the current crime lord and his goons without being Sith, and installing the head monk as the leader of the planet. The mercenaries will land during part two, and secure the space port, and nothing else." Param finished, letting things settle for a moment. "Did I miss anything obvious that you can think of?"

@Xorism

 

[Nevizkas]

Cyutadakyr was at least happy that Param had been the beneficiary of Thel's disappearance. But the man was gone and therefore deserved no more attention from either of them.

The more Param spoke of the Karys encounter, the more picture it painted between them. The pureblood couldn't fully understand the Echani ways, but at the same time she understood just how important they were to her friend. And in the grand scheme of things, that was enough to support her.

Listening to the plan, Cyu nodded in agreement as she went on. The religious angle was smart and would ensure that the population was both loyal and kept to themselves. The second part was obviously a bit more invasive, but likewise needed. The criminal element wasn't likely to go willingly, they'd have to be plucked root and stem.

"That seems like a well-thought-out plan, I suppose we'll have to wait and see if any complications arise." At least the first part seemed to be rather simple and probably wouldn't pose too much difficulty if Param's tea had worked as well as they expected it to.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

"If complications arise, kill them," Param said, tilting her head. She was as done playing games with this planet as she was with trying to understand how purebloods ever united in history. There would be four armed masseuses, and there would be cocktails to their hearts content, but there would be no unfortunate mishaps of waiting in line or in bathrooms this time. If all went according to plan, there would only be a single family they'd have to remove from existence. The only real complication for the two would be if her tea wasn't as effective as Bob had been telling her it was.

The lurch of exiting hyperspace sent the hairs on the back of her neck standing. Thankfully the inertial dampeners would stop the ship from shaking when entering the atmosphere. Param didn't like turbelence; especially when it was in space or in the air where her feet weren't firmly planted on the ground. It was like a sense of hers was missing, wearing boots; ever since her trip into Imperial space, and meeting that nameless woman, she'd been practicing using nature through the Force; her ability to sense ground vibrations through her feet, as if it were a Force sense itself had become pretty good.

"I don't believe the wound between Karys and I will heal," she said, bringing the conversation back to the falling out, but hopefully giving Cyu some closure with it. "There's no point in worrying about it now. I would much rather heart about what kind of things you've been up to."

@Xorism

 

[Nevizkas]

Well, Param was straight to the point on that one. The planet would fall one way or another, and they'd move on to greener pastures.

With their exit from hyperspace, the ship would start to descend through the atmosphere en route to their first target. In the shaking of the ship, Cyu turned her chair and leaned over to fix the straps on her shoes. It wouldn't do to have a mishap in the middle of the mission.

Her eyes glanced back towards the Echani as she spoke again. Such were the ways of the Sith, even at their best intentions sometimes it was best to leave things where they lay, but Param could see her thoughts on her face in silence. They'd not solved any of her problems, but perhaps they weren't so easily solved, she thought.

A small smile crossed Cyu's face as the Echani inquired about what she'd been up to. "Well, obviously someone was silly enough to make me a Master." Her hand touched a small amulet hiding under her shirt, pulling it out to be displayed. "I tracked this down as well, it's a channelling focus and allows the wearer to summon flame where there is none. Pretty neat, huh?" Of course, it came with the downside of burning the wearer at the same time, but that didn't bother her.

"Well, and I may have also forged my own Sith Sword. I'll have to show you sometime, it's pretty cool."

As they neared the destination coordinates, Cyu wondered if Param actually knew anyone of whom they were meeting, or if she'd have to wing it from step one. In either case, she was ready to improvise.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Param watched and listened, the feigned smile becoming genuine despite herself at the amulet and mention of a sword. Cyu had helped her with her own sword, the one that rested against her shoulder and had all but replaced her lightsaber in most cases. There was a bounty of Sith Champions anyway, and having a sword helped out greatly.

“An amulet that summons fire,” Param said, thinking about the flaming tornado she created in the middle of a river. She had tried multiple times after that where the Force wasn’t as strong and found it taxing, but doable. “A real Sith Sword?” Param asked. Her sword was only Force forged, not knowing the alchemy needed to create a Sith Sword specifically. That was okay with her though, a weapon was a weapon, and this one was hers.

“You’ll have to bring it around sometime. I’ve been learning a few tricks for swordsmanship recently,” Param said. Marrying Echani martial arts with Sith brutality, more like. While some of the concepts still managed to translate into lightsaber combat, most of her style had become reliant on physical blades yet again. Thel would be pissed, and the though almost made her giggle.

“After the social I took a little trip,” Param said, her eyes lowering to the table between them, the smile fading. “Met a woman that showed me a spot really strong in the Force. I learned how to bend nature.” As if to showcase the skill, she waved her hand toward a small, thin row of plants. The top layer of soil hardened as her hand passed, and then softened back to it’s original state as her hand moved back. With a flourish of her wrist, the water drips to keep the planets growing in the long planter stopped in mid-air, joining together into a large ball of water and flowed like a dragon flying through the air as Param added a second hand to manipulate it over to them, only to spray it as mist back over toward the plants.

“Earth, wind, fire, water, ice. All of it except plants,” Param said, her smile returning. She’d learned from an enemy, and she knew that, but she hadn’t given up any Sith secrets, and the woman hadn’t even told Param her name. “My first thought was how much easier it would have been to make that garden on Korriban if I had learned it sooner.” Param couldn’t hide the giggle this time.

@Xorism

 

[Nevizkas]

Cyutadakyr grinned playfully as Param repeated the names of the things she mentioned. "Of course, that sounds fun." Referring to the impromptu sparing session suggestion.

"Oh, a mysterious woman, huh? Was she cute?" She spoke in a soft, teasing manner. The Echani girl never even had to tell Cyu that her heart had already been claimed, that much was obvious, sometimes she was as easy to read as a book. But likewise the pureblood never pried, such things to know were only gossip and mattered little to her if the girl wanted to keep it a secret that was fine, so long as her friend was happy.

At first, she was almost sceptical about shaping nature, never having seen it done herself. But once Param actually did it, her mouth opened slightly. "Why not plants?" She asked curiously, the follow-up statement making her chuckle at the thought of all their toil being done in a matter of flicking one's wrist. "No kidding, but you'll have to show me more later, you know, once we've got a bit more time on our hands."

Her mind crossed to the mission briefly, glancing back to Param. "Do you know anyone by name here? Or rather, do they think we're anyone in particular? Or just ourselves?"

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

“I wasn’t really looking. She did have these adorable wolf puppies though,” Param said. She had spent most of her time with the woman thinking she was going to be killed just for being a Sith. Something nagged at the back of her mind that said if it wasn’t that woman who had found her, Param probably wouldn’t be sitting here. She certainly wasn’t about to make the same mistake of wandering into enemy space again like that.

“I tried using the Force on plants, but they always wither and die when I do. That’s okay though, I like the planting part.” She stood up, sliding her sword and scabbard through her belt on her left hip. “That garden is getting so big now I’m starting to get visitors thinking it’s public. Might have to start charging them.”

The whining of hydraulics notified them that the landing gear was being deployed, and a soft lurch signaled they had touched down. Vee came scampering from the cockpit, leaping up onto Param’s shoulder. Last time they’d come here, she didn’t have him, either. Vee beeped a greeting to Cyu and settled in on his shoulder perch.

“One of my employees has been running the shipments of tea here, and giving me updates,” Param said. “His name is Bob. He’ll meet us at the temple.” There was only one starport on all of Vaynai, so they’d have to walk to the temple first. Luckily, enough time had passed that they wouldn’t be remembered; anyone that did remember them could be mind tricked into not remembering a thing between the two. Before she made her way to the ramp, Param grabbed pack full of thermal mugs with spiked tea inside.

Param walked down the ramp of the ship side by side with Cyu. Maintenance crews came to refuel and do the usual check-ups they did with every vessel. Two guards acting as port authorities met them at the exit of the bay. “Names and-“

“You don’t need to see anything, take the rest of the day off,” Param said, waving her hand. She reached out with the Force, planting a node in their minds as if the suggestion was theirs to begin with all along. They repeated what she had said, and backed away. There were no more guards on the main boulevard, an area they knew all to well from their last visit. The temple was off a beaten path through a cove of tropical trees, on the mountain overlooking the crime family’s manor.

“Are you ready to play the role of a goddess?”

@Xorism