Ask From the Shadows into the Stacks

[Celeste Stythani]

Orchis 2 - Graf Archive

The recent developments had forced those remaining true Sith to vanish into the shadows and from the shadows there was much work to be done. Celeste's life and routines had completely changed and every move they made needed some careful calculations, yet it hadn't gotten any less busy. She had always been good at thorough planing and so setting something up for their purposes wasn't too hard, especially because the Orchis system was fully independent and the archive accessible. She would not make the mistake of getting close to Imperial territory, but fortunately, that wasn't the case with the terrestrial moon of Orchis 2.

It was a good thing that the Dark Lord had managed to assemble the remains of the Sith Order, because it made it possible for Celeste to get into contact with Champion Caerllion - the Anfynn Champion she had often met at social gatherings but never officially worked with alone. Years ago on Eriadu she had once tried to cheer the man up after he had received some sort of rejection she had noticed from the sidelines, but the times for such festives had long been gone and they now found themselves under fully different circumstances while Celeste didn't have much to do with the person she was back then.

Caerllion was apparently not only interested, but also versed in the Arcane arts, so he was the perfect partner for the mission. As every step had to be considered carefully, they'd arrived at the moon in separate vessels and under disguise, just in case, as their faces had been broadcasted on Junction. As the archive was open for curious historians, scholars and researchers, they could easily pose as tourists there, however in order to gain access to the Shadow Stacks, they potentially had to get more creative, but she was prepared. She had arranged a meeting in front of the entrance and she was clad in simple clothing, waiting for the Champion to arrive. They weren't in a particular hurry, yet she knew they'd be better of if they'd managed to get it done quickly.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Following that catastrophic meeting in Junction, the Sith were forced to scatter across the Galaxy and wait for another call from the Dark Lord. However, while it didn’t happen, they were instructed to continue with operations that would secure the survival of their Order. With the several assets that they lost, there was much work to be done.

After these events, Caerllion’s life became more difficult. He decided to not return to Annwfyn, choosing to live out of his homeworld by using the funds that his family had invested in business out of the planet. He feared that there could be a backlash against him once he returned here. So far his father and the supporters of House Cyfnos informed him that everything was normal.

Deciding to focus on the troubles of the Sith Order, rather than his personal ones, the Champion had joined with Sith Champion Celeste for a mission at the Graf Archive. They hoped to enter the Forbidden session to find knowledge that could be used in future alchemical experiments. From what he had heard, such a session was located deep in the Shadow Stacks.

The Annfyn didn’t know what to expect of the other Sith. Besides the fact that he had seen her in some parties and that she was an apprentice of Vahliri, he had no idea of who she was. If it wasn't for their mutual interest with the Arcane and the sake of the Order, he would have refused it.

Like how they had planned beforehand, Caerllion had arrived in Orchis 2 in a private ship. He was dressed as a tourist, with his hair dyed platinum blonde and wearing blue lenses. "Hello." he said, when he found the other Sith waiting in front of the Archive. "Are you waiting for the next visit with the guide?" the Annfyn acted as if he didn’t know the other. Everything to not attract undesired attention.

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

Celeste didn't have to wait long while checking on some news about the old archive on her new Datapad before someone approached her. Admittedly, if she hadn't seen the Anwfynn before, it would be hard to recognize the other Champion, but the same did probably apply to her with her reddish hair and green contact lenses.

She had seemed distracted by her device while she had actually been fully focused on everything that was happening around her, but as a tourist, she was just an unremarkable stranger. "Oh, hello" she greeted him with a friendly, shy smile as she put her datapad back in the pocket of her jeans. The next entry was in about ten minutes, so he was right on time as well.

"Oh yes, exactly. I just checked thr schedule again. The next tour will start in 10 minutes" she explained as a Pantoran walked past them, not paying them much attention though. Through the Force, she felt that no one else was in their proximity and so as soon as the man disappeared through the electric door, she lowered her voice.

"The tour might not lead us where we have to go. The archive doesn't seem too bus today, so we will be fine though" she then stated rather cooly, her facials expressions unchanged though. She'd hold up the appearance as the imterested tourist, yet it seemed like they had a moment for a quick exchange in private.


@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

The Annfyn nodded, while discreetly watching a male Pantoran walk near them. The recent events had made him become paranoid and he feared that Imperial agents could be hidden in the shadows of any corner, waiting for the best opportunity to assassinate him.

When the man crossed the door, the Champion felt some relief in his paranoia. "Sadly, yes.” if these were other times, Caerllion could have pulled some favors to secure fake IDs of college students. It would secure a free visit to the Shadow Stacks, since scholars were allowed to go there with the purpose of studying.

“Do you have a plan B?” he whispered to Celeste, while carefullying watching his surroundings. The woman was right, the movement today was calm. Even the street in front of the Archive was mostly empty. It was good for them to leave discreetly, without anyone seeing them.

Whatever Celeste would say to him, she would need to be fast. Soon a human female would cross the door of the Archive, a happy smile would appear at her lips when she saw the two people. “Hello! I’m Vanessa Oytah and I’ll be your guide today.”

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

Celeste noted some slight hints of nervousity in the other Champion but dearly hoped he'd be able to keep it together. While discretion was their highest priority, he had to stay strong and unshaken, regardless of how spicy situations could get.

Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as her expressions changed into subtle scrutiny. "I do" she replied flatly, obviously even having a plan C, D and so on as the recent changes of events had proven that even the slightest missteps could end fatal.

The words hadn't even fully left her lips when she sensed a living presence approach. Her gaze immediately flicked over as she turned around with a warm smile again, greeting the woman like an interested visitor would. "It's nice to meet you, Madam Oytah". Good. At least they seemed to be alone on their tour.

She motioned for them to follow her inside and so she immediately did, throwing Caer a fake excited look as she said, "Shall we?". Of course they then started moving inside and were led through a metal detector before the woman already started explaining the history of the archive by starting with the Graf family.

There were a few statues of one various members of the Graf family before Vanessa skipped over to the archives internal structure. The first archive droids could already be spotted milling around in the distance as they were led through the entrance halls, the view truly impressive.

At one point, she did even mention the Shadow Shacks, where new pieces of the vast collection were processed before they'd find their appropriate place. 'Sector T-7, that's the one closest to the area' she telepathically communicated to Caer, picking up exactly what the woman described and showed on the holo. They'd find the entrance to the deep low levels there, but they wouldn't reach the sector until the end of the tour, so they had to be patient.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”Of course.” Caerllion said, with a fake excitement that matched that on Celeste’s smile. With the agreement of the two ‘visitors’, Oytah walked inside the building. In the past, crossing a metal detector would be a problem because of his lightsaber. However, now the Annfyn had no fear. Perhaps leaving the weapon behind wasn’t so bad, after all.

These past weeks he had spent the time that he used to train with his lightsaber to practice his sorcery. Caerllion was starting to think that it could be a better weapon than the glowing stick that he used to wield.

Once inside, Oytah started to talk about the history of the Archive. While Celeste had remained in silence while the guide explained things, the Annfyn had interacted with the woman. He decided to continue acting as a tourist, this way maintaining their disguise. A visitor would never come to a place like this one without asking at least some stupid questions.

“Understood. I’ll be prepared.” he answered her through telepathy, before asking another question to Oytah, this time about the Graf Family. After some time, they would be reaching close to the Sector T-7. Whatever Celeste had planned to give access to them, she would need to do it now.

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

The guide started leading them through various sectors, continuing to explain the exponats and where they had been found, who had written certain texts and always gave them enough time to check everything out properly.

Celeste observed quietly and studied intently which was a tactic that worked well as Caerllion was the one leading the conversation. She surely asked her questions every now and then, too, feigning huge interest even in the most boring exponats, but Caer was definitely the more active part in this.

The further the tour proceeded, the closer they got to the entrance of the Shadow Stacks and thus to the core of their endeavor. Vanessa explained how they were currently closed to the public, but that was exactly the point that would obviously intrigued tourists, right? It was known that the items that were currently being processed were kept down there and this would be the location of interesting stuff they could use.

"Oh no...right...I've read about that online. I was hoping that such small groups might be allowed to enter the subterranean levels" she gave the guide a soft smile, an excited, pleading sparkle in her eyes. "I've always been interested in seeing the archive droids do their research". So far, they had been model visitors, not touching any exhibit, remaining all calm despite their deep interest, and they usually let students in, so maybe their chances weren't all bad. For now, they'd play it nice and ask kindly and she was hoping Caer would do the same, but otherwise they'd have to switch to other methods before raising any suspicions.


@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Once Celeste started to talk about her desire of visiting the Shadow Stacks, Caerllion understood what she wanted. If they were able to convince Oytah to show the place to them, it would make the mission easier. "Yes, I also read about it and was curious to learn more. I thought that maybe we could visit." the Annfyn said, joining his fellow Sith with her attempts to convince their guide.

However, the mention of the Shadow Stacks made Oytah's smile disappear. "I'm sorry, but this part of the Archive is closed to tourists. The only visitors that can go there are scholars and students of colleges. I'm really sorry." she turned to look at the entrance of the elevator that was used to bring people to the lower parts. At this moment, a droid archivist was walking inside it.

"But don’t be sad! There are still many interesting things to be seen! And we can visit the gift store at the end of the tour. You'll love all the things here." she said excitedly, while Caerllion felt annoyed. This woman was a ball of excitement since the beginning, it wasn’t normal. He wondered if she was even human.

"We tried the dialogue, now is the time to use your strategy." the Champion said telepathically to Celeste. He wondered what it would be, since violence would attract an attention that they couldn’t afford to have.

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

Celeste did her best to keep her expressions all light, soft and friendly even if her inner levels of annoyance continously rose. After she had posed her question and Caer added a plea to the mix, there was a moment when Vanessa seemed unsure. Doubt flashed across her face and it was perceivable. She was indeed sorry, yet she was persistently sticking to the rules of the Archive, so it was time to shatter her perseverance.

Celeste had attentive checked their surroundings, so she checked on the surveillance situation. There were cameras, but judging from the models no microphones, so Plan B was already the perfect option.

She could feel the anger and annoyance radiating of the Anfynn and it was the perfect starting point. Her voice changed from all sweet and kind to icecold and flat within a second once the next droid had moved out of earshot. 'My friend is getting impatient and so am I' she still telepathically said instead of voicing it, just to make sure they'd be safe while she started to finally let her dark aura flood the room.

Within few moments, she stirred up all the dread after this first cut was made through her words that immediately frightened the guide as they were quite unexpected. 'Don't move, don't flinch. Keep smiling' those were the first commands and the weak minded, surprised guide obeyed, only having fliched for a split second before, so that it would probably be hard for human eyes to stop if someone would ever be to watch the footage .

'You'll let us in'. The icy, dangerous glare was enough to let her natural barriers crumble under the surprise assault and she suddenly started fumbling around in her pockets, pulling out a key. "I can make an exception", she said with a soft smile, however there was fear behind her eyes. That was something they'd have to erase later. "Lead the way" she demanded and she nodded, gesturing for them to follow her, so that Celeste threw Caer a quick glance.

Celeste's plan was to implant the following story in her mind: They were scholars and they just wanted a quick tour and Vanessa would take full blame if anyone asked. That was something she'd tell her later though, as for now it was fine if she just let them in and guide them around.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion felt the change in the atmosphere. The Darkness emanated from Celeste and poured over Vanessa, in the same way that a wave collided against a rock. However, their guide would not be prepared to resist it. She would crumble easily, like a sand castle.

It didn’t take much time to have the woman agree to bring them to the Shadow Stacks. While she was smiling, the Annfyn could still feel the fear emanating from her. “You could teach me how to do it. I know some mind controlling spells, but they demand a lot of time to perform.” he said to Celeste through telepathy. In these times, such ability could be useful.

The intimidated woman would walk toward the elevator, with the two Sith right behind her. Caerllion would be discreetly looking at his surroundings, his paranoia returning. Even the droid Archivists could cause problems for them, so he was careful with their possible approach. Thankfully, none appeared.

Once they were inside it, the guide pressed a button and the elevator started to descend. While the worst part could have passed, Caerllion didn’t lower his guard. He would only do that once they left the Archives with everything that they came after.

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

All according to plan. Plan B was fine and they could continue and finally descend into the lower levels to were the interesting stuff would be kept.'It's not that easy' she curtly replied, gaze briefly flicking over. Just the thought of her training sent a wave of agony through her body and particularly the head, thus she resisted from any flinching. She still had no idea how many weeks of extensive, agonizing training it had been and she had been close to the edge of life repeatedly, so this was surely nothing you could pass on nonchalantly. Yet, she could begin when they were done with it , but she was just as interested in his alchemistic skills as well.

'Keep it together' she warned him, still sticking to telepathy, 'we'll be fine, she won't remember any of this'. She felt the need to explain, as she was feeling his nervousity return and dearly hoping he'd manage go maintain composure. There was no apparent threat, yet he seemed worried and she wondered whether he'd turn into a liability instead of help...her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she kept walking, following the enthralled guide.

She coiled the Force around her as they moved into the elevator, gaze on the woman in front of her, but she was still behaving well under her command and there were no droids around, and even if they were, they'd be fine as the guide had let them in with a reason. "Here we are. I'll show you around", Vanessa softly said not them as the elevator beeped, announcing that they had reached their first stop. If they had any artifacts or texts about them, they'd probably find it here...

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”I never thought that it would be easy.” he said to her, while the elevator started to descend. He learned many years ago that nothing related to the Dark Side came easy. The Annfyn still remembers the agonizing time that he spent in that cave on Korriban, feeling the very essence of the Dark Side tore through his skin. His baptism in the ichors of that planet were close to a torture.

“I’m calm.” Caerllion retorted telepathically. He was aware that his emotions were moving through this temporary bond. The same could be said about her, since the Annfyn could very well feel her annoyance. “I’m only being careful. I have experience with situations that went out of control and I don’t want it to happen when the Order is in a precarious situation.” he looked at how the numbers of levels were changing on a monitor near the door. “We need to be prepared for anything.”

After what seemed to be an eternity, the elevator finally reached the Shadow Stacks. Caerllion followed Vanessa out of it and the sight in front of him made his eyes widen. They were surrounded by several shelves full of books and objects. He was certain that if they wandered here without a map, they would get lost.

“Make her show us where we can find items about the Dark Side.” there was no reason for them to make this visit go for much longer. They should go directly to the point and leave immediately.

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

Once down at the entrance of the Shadow Stacks, they alighted together and stepped into the open, already finding themselves in the middle of towering, dusty shelves, but from the looks of it, the processing chambers were deeper inside.

The woman's fear strongly radiated off her and Celeste enjoyed every last part of it as it only fed the darkness, yet she knew she couldn't press too hard if she wanted to keep her obedient and her mind intact. 'Don't amplify the dread too much' she telepathically remarked for Caer to heed as they started walking, continuing to stay in control of the woman.

"You know what we are and you know what we're capable of" she then warned the woman, her tone quiet and icily intimidating and while the smile didn't fade, Vanessa's panic intensified, but Celeste held her sanity on a thin thread. "Guide us to the tough cases processing labs" Celeste demanded firmly which prompted a nod from the guide before she turn to the left and started heading down a corridor.

From the looks of it, she knew exactly what they were looking for. 'I really hope we find something useful' she wordlessly said to Caer, watching Vanessa slide her ID Chip through a port and thus opening a door that revealed a dark corridor with durasteel doors to the left and the right. Here, processing droids were milling around, but after quickly scanning Vanessa, they kept minding their own business.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”Understood.” he replied to Celeste telepathically, while they walked after their guide. Caerllion could feel the fear emanating from the woman and he thought that it was amazing. The idea of having someone so intimidated that would be able to obey his commands with such fear was amazing. He really wanted to learn how to do it and have such power.

After Celeste gave more instructions to Vanessa, the guide turned to a corridor. In the end of it was a large door, with a sign warning that this section was restricted. Perhaps the two Sith finally found what they came here for.

Behind the door was a dark corridor, filled with several droids. They paid no attention to the three, being more concerned in organizing the Archives. While they walked after Vanessa, Caerllion was able to see the signs that were at the doors of this new place.

“History of the Sorcerers of Tund, Sith Abominations and Alchemy, Dark Legends of the Jedi, Dathomirian Rituals and the Path of the Open Hand.” Caerllion recited to Celeste, amazed with how much the Graf Family was able to maintain hidden from the Empire and the Jedi. “There is so much to see, I don’t even know where we should start.”

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

The sheer sight of the halls of the subterranean levels was remarkable. It seemed endless and even though this was just the processing areas, it seemed like it held countless objects. However, they were mostly here for the restricted stuff, but lucky for them, Vanessa understood the task and led them on.

"When does the next tour start?" she asked the guide, this time just like that. The woman was desperate enough to check her watch and gave them a simple answer. "In...78 minutes", she said quietly, her voice rather shaky but her facial features still rather frozen as Celeste nodded and turned back to Caer.

"Then we better get going anc collect as much as we can". They probably only had glimpses of everything, yet it was surely something and they could scan and save as much as possible. "You tag along and tell us what you know" she instructed Vanessa who was prompted to nod as well and immediately start following them as they headed towards the first chamber.

Again, Vanessa had to scan her card before the door hissed open and the lights flicked on, revealing a vast chamber with different holograms that flicked into life. A few scanned objects could be seen, most of them fractured or otherwise incomplete, but with their own datapads they could access whatever was avaliable. The woman began to explain what this first chamber offered and mentioned how filed reports would be in the next chamber, so that was probably where they could get the gist.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion nodded at Celeste, feeling annoyed for their time being so short. From what he saw in these doors, there were many things for them to explore and steal. He didn’t like the idea of entering one of these rooms and simply throwing everything inside a bag, without calmly choosing the items. It made him feel like a simple burglar.

Unfortunately, it was what they could do at the moment.

The first door that Vanessa opened was of the ‘Sith Abominations and Alchemy’ room. This showed that the woman had really understood who the two people with her were. Inside it, Caerllion saw more shelves full of books and objects. While their guide gave the instructions, the Anfynn approached one.

“Tell her that we want to download this digital information into our Datapads.” Caerllion said, before grabbing a nearby book. To his surprise it was written in ancient Sith and had images of creatures. Such books could only be found in the particular library of a Dark Lord. He discreetly slipped it in his bag and continued to look around for more.

“Once we finish in this chamber, we could go to the one about Dark Jedi Legends. Who knows if there isn’t anything interesting here?” the Annfyn said, while he picked another book, this time a catalog about Sith Worlds.

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

They had a few rooms to cover and needed to hurry because of that, so Celeste wasted no time before scanning the first objects and pages. "Explain what you know about the exhibits", she commanded the guide who immediately started talking, however it soon became obvious that she didn't know too much about the items that were still being processed down here.

As only droids were working down here and as the archive wasn't known for being targeted by attacks as interested students and scholars were normally the only visitors, the information wasn't coded and there were no complications like passwords while accessing the information either. 'Don't worry, I've got it' she thus replied to Caer after the first transmission before she continued to the next object.

'Why are you interested in the dark Jedi?' she asked, raising a brow in surprise at him while still sticking to telepathy. She herself was mostly interested in information about or pieces of artifacts and the knowledge collected about Sith abominations and alchemy, but Caer's remark had piqued her curiosity and perhaps a hint of suspicion. Dark Jedi were obviously a controversial issue and she wondered whether they'd help the Sith per se, but maybe Caer's personal interests were bleeding into his curiosity here. While collecting data, she listened to Vanessa, but the woman was no expert and even the droids were still busy trying to process all that was being kept here.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion ignored Vanessa’s explanation and continued digging after what could be useful for their mission. The woman didn’t seem to know anything that they couldn’t find by translating and searching in these books. He wondered if the Graf allowed their employees to study these texts or only the droids could work on this place.

“Nice.” he said telepathically to Celeste, already grabbing his datapad to download the data. He was impressed that the Graf Family never expected to have the Archive raided. They probably believed that knowledge should be accessible to everyone and no one would steal it. If it was the case, they were a bunch of fools.

“I said Dark Jedi?” the Annfyn turned to look at Celeste, frowning in confusion. He probably was too distracted with what they were doing and ended up saying it wrong. “I meant the Dark Legends of the Jedi. It’s the session next to this one.” he said, while scanning another book.

“Since the Sith originated from the Jedi, I think that there could be something useful for us there.” he shrugged and grabbed another book. Only because the Light siders were their enemies, it didn’t mean that they should ignore their knowledge. Who knows if there wasn’t anything there that could be corrupted.

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

While she was soaking in everything this first room had to offer and transfered the date, it seemed like she hadn't fully paid attention to what the Champion was saying and so she curtly replied, 'Oh. Sorry. Yes, that could indeed be helpful', she replied, apologizing for her misinterpretation before moving to the next pillar.

The first Jedi that had fallen to the dark side were interesting out of various reasons, but generally speaking their nemesis within the Force offered helpful insights every now and then anyway. So he obviously wasn't wrong. As soon as they had cleared the room they'd move onwards and she'd grab Vanessa by the elbow to lead her out.

"Open the next chamber", she commanded firmly and Vanessa did without hesitation, fear still radiating from the smiling face as she scanned her card and led them into the next room. Here, two small processing droids were milling about, but they kept doing their work, probably comparing databases as they continued to work.

If they'd thoroughly check this room and move on to the next about the Alchemy, Celeste would already be satisfied with what rooms they'd manage to cover. However, the question that remained was whether they'd find useful information as the Graf's collection obviously served differently purposes than the ones they followed.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”No problem. It’s normal to be distracted with everything that we found in this room.” Caerllion said, while turning to scan a box. According to the information of the Archive, it was full of fragments of an Ancient Sith funeral urn. He wondered who had been buried inside it. Probably it was someone important.

Once their search in this room ended, they moved to the one about Dark Legends of the Jedi. The Annfyn was also surprised with its contents, there were several books talking about Jedi prophecies and some strange objects. While scanning them, Caerllion saw a box with the mummified hand of some type of animal. The name was in a tag, but he didn’t know how to translate it. He scanned it and put it back in the shelf.

After scanning some more items, Caerllion turned to Celeste. “I think that we can move to the next room.” all the knowledge that they were collecting in this Archive could be useful to start a new Sith library. The only thing that it would lack were the holocroms, which would be more difficult to find replacements.

@LadyRen