Ask Journey to Dathomir

[Verse Tillo]

After talking to Alicia, Verse returned to her rooms in the temple and packed up what little items she had. She could feel Sola drawing closer through the Force. Once all packed, she made her way down the steps of the temple and outside. Alicia was waiting by the entrance. She nodded and walked towards where her ship was docked with other ships, and loaded her stuff on. In the hangar, a nearby ship was unloading its load of food and other supplies, just like Alicia had said.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

Alicia greeted Verse with a quiet nod and turned to approach one of the Cargo haulers. As they approached the nearest ship they could see crates full of rations and other supplies being stacked upon each other with crews preparing them for transport into the Academy. Searching with the Force to find the right person to speak with Alicia settled her gaze upon an Imperial who stood out between the crewmen.

That is who I will coerce, Alicia thought to herself as she approached the man. He was an athletic, lean looking men with a constant grimace on his face. She felt that the man was in considerable pain and deduced that he had to have of some type of injury. Whether he had been injured en-route to Korriban or at some other point in his life Alicia didn't care about. Her focus on coercing this man into bringing her and Verse to Dathomir.

"Captain," Alicia greeted the man as she edged closer. He had noticed her and Verse making their way towards him. He was uncomfortable in their presence. "We are here to commandeer your ship."

"Commandeer my ship?" the Captain responded hesitantly. "I do not know what you mean, my Lords?"

"My associate has a ship that she wishes to be loaded onto yours," Alicia continued, ignoring the question. As she continued speaking she begun lacing her words with the dark side in an attempt to influence the Captain's mind into doing what she said. "You will order your crew to bring her ship here and loaded onto yours when they are finished delivering their cargo to the Academy."

"I still don't understand..." he responded. She felt that he was beginning to be influenced by her powers but it hadn't yet taken root. "We are expected in Dromund Kaas to pick up our next shipment. What is it you exactly want with me?"

"You will make the voyage to Dathomir and deliver us and the ship to a location of our choosing. A communique can be dispatched to Dromund Kaas alerting them that you have been given new orders and will be several days late."

A dawning comprehension begun to etch itself across the Captain's face as Alicia's words and influence begun to settle in his mind. Any hesitance to follow her orders had gone. It had helped that he had been in severe discomfort due to whatever injury he was currently standing with. "My associate will tell you where your crew is to load the ship. I want to be in space as soon as possible."

"Yes my Lord," the Captain replied. Turning to Verse expectantly he asked, "Where can we find your ship?"

@Verse Tillo

 

[Verse Tillo]

Verse was amused as Alicia manipulated the man with the Force. "Follow me," she said, before turning and walking the short distance back to her ship. She got into the cockpit and shut the viewport around her, before turning it on to merely fly it into the cargo hold of the larger ship. Once it was inside, she hopped out again. "Prepare for launch," she said, using her own prowess in the Force to coerce the man to do as she said. She turned to Alicia. "I'm afraid that was too easy," she said.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

"Men like him have been conditioned to obey the Sith," Alicia replied as she watched the crew continue unloading the last of it's original cargo while her ship was being secured for transit. "It is the system that the Empire has instilled. The weak obey the strong. Through strength I gain power."

"I am confident whoever he reports too- Imperial or Sith- on Dromund Kaas will not be happy that we convinced him to go to Dathomir first for unofficial business but there isn't anything they can do about it." Turning her gaze back to Verse, Alicia asked: "Tell me about your Apprentice. What is her name?"

@Verse Tillo

 

[Verse Tillo]

"My apprentice is Sola. She is 14 standard years old," Verse said. Speaking of her apprentice, she felt Sola return to Korriban. She wondered how long it would take for the girl to find Verse.

@Exulae

 

[Sola Zappal]

Sola touched down on Korriban and got out of her ship. Her master was calling her- and even though her break hadn't been long, she still felt that need to prove herself to Verse. She followed the Force to the hangar, where all the ships were docked. There was a larger transport ship unloading supplies and tying a ship down in the cargo hold. She could see the pale figure of her master, who was talking to another woman. She could tell from here they both wore serious expressions on their faces. She wondered if something had happened.

She walked up to Verse. "Master," she said, bowing her head. She bowed her head to the woman, sufficing with a "Lady," to address her.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

Alicia turned her gaze towards Sola and nearly grimaced. Her face had been so thoroughly scarred that it was unappealing to the eye. There might have once been potential there when it came to looks but someone or something had robbed that from her. From the top corner of Sola's head to her cheek and the rest of her features Alicia took a moment to take her in.

She had scars herself, of course. Old burns from being caught in Kalist's light for a few incredible but ultimately painful moments. Accidents from falling off the ledge of the mountain once in search of any vegetation or signs of wildlife for her to hunt. But the difference between her and the Apprentice standing before was that these scars seem premeditated rather then accidental. It wasn't difficult to tell the difference.

"What happened to your face?" Alicia asked Sola coldly.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Sola Zappal]

Sola frowned, something feeling akin to ice water rushing over her. "My father did this to me when I was eleven; I killed him shortly thereafter," she said, being brutally honest. Despite her scarred face, she would not let anyone think she was weak. Her light brown hair was always pulled back away from her face, displaying her scar. Hiding them would only show weakness on her part. She wore them like a trophy.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

"Then he deserved it."

Alicia gave Sola a look to convey the seriousness in her words before turning around to enter the cargo hauler. As she passed the Captain she told him: "Send a member of your crew to find me when we've launched and a timeframe for when we will arrive in the Dathomir system. Tell them to bring something to eat and drink too. Other then this I do not want to be disturbed for the rest of the journey."

Climbing aboard Alicia disappeared somewhere near the bulkheads. It occurred to her as she navigated her way into the ship that she didn't need Verse anymore. In the form of this cargo hauler she had a path off Korriban. Verse had also stowed her own personal ship onto the hauler in it's cargo bay. A nefarious idea came to mind: what if she could commandeer Verse's ship too?

Suddenly the curved Lightsaber Alicia had clipped underneath her left sleeve was a comfortable weight. No doubt the Arkanian would feel some type of way about Alicia taking the ship and she doubted it would be good. If she was in Verse's shoes then the ship would be secured beyond the fastenings that the cargo hauler's crew had used to secure the ship during transit to Dathomir.

Before she could even consider taking the ship Alicia would first have to find out whether it was possible. Shielding her intentions away from Verse and the others on the ship with the dark side Alicia made her way into the ship's cafeteria where she would wait for launch.

@Verse Tillo

 

[Verse Tillo]

Verse looked at her apprentice. This information about her father was news to her. It gave her reassurance that her student was not to be trifled with. With nothing better to do, Verse walked over to her ship and made sure everything was tightened down securely. Her eyes followed Alicia as she left the cargo hold. There was a sudden additional amount of the dark side wrapped around her, and she wondered what she was thinking about. She was definitely hiding something. Verse stayed alert- once they took off they would be equal and no longer in each other's debt- they could do whatever they pleased. It was entirely possible Alicia might make an attempt on Verse's or Sola's life.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

Through the Force Alicia could feel fuel burning, igniting and the rhythm of a ship taking off. A new beginning, she reaffirmed with herself. Such was her affirmation for a new start off Korriban that she didn't even approach the transparisteel to get one last look of the Sith Temple, it's Academy nor the world she had just spent the past three years living on. Some people were ceremonial about their places of origin. For the Sith and those who begun their path down the dark side would hold Korriban in high esteem.

But not Alicia. She had started elsewhere. Somewhere harsher- not so much as desolate as Korriban, she would give the ancient world it's due- but the place where she had learned what it took to survive. If Korriban was where she learned to manifest her abilities then it was Kalist where Alicia had first begun to understand them. It was through understand and comprehension of oneself that could determine the feelings that the Sith would akin too passion.

Through passion I gain strength, Alicia thought as the orange skies of Korriban gave way to the bleak canvas of space. Her thoughts turned to how she would gain voyage to Dathomir. Not too long after the cargo hauler had begun it's journey members of it's crew entered the cafeteria. Alicia studied them thoughtfully as they went about their break. One of them came with the food and water she had requested before launch.

She used this moment to get them to bring her telemetry of Dathomir; a map of it's star system; and nearby worlds that could be of interest. It was here that Alicia discovered that the planet was a regular host of shipments from a world called G'wenee. A tropical world found on the Braxant Run it was a tradeworld responsible for customs or trade from various systems, sectors and quadrants in or out of the Sith Empire.

Alicia deduced that it was plausible that G'wenee was host to some type of transportation that could bring here in the Core. At the very least someone or something there could get her closer to her end destination of Chandrila. I coerced one Captain of his ship, Alicia thought as she studied Dathomir on a holographic. I can do it again, and keep going until I get where I want.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Sola Zappal]

Sola stayed near her master, but not too close. She wondered why Verse had called her back but didn't ask, and wouldn't until it came up in conversation. The dark ship was strong on this ship; she could feel it coming in waves off of both Verse and Alicia. Sola silently reached out with the Force and added her own darkness to the pool.

@Exulae

 

[Verse Tillo]

Verse had thought she felt an increase in the dark side from Alicia but when she felt Sola release her own she nearly choked on it. The coldness emanating from the young girl would have frozen the insides of a trained Jedi Knight. She eyed Sola, whose face rested in indignant contemplation. She looked at everyone moving around in the cargo hold as the ship took off, and Verse recognized the hatred and anger in her eyes.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

S P A C E ;
3:06pm, Korriban-standard time: 2 hours, 44 minutes after launch.

Alicia found herself in silent thought overlooking the cargo bay where Verse's ship was stored. As a twenty-six year survivor lost on Kalist VI she retained little knowledge about the specifications of ships. Though she had never thought about it much one could consider any of the things she knew about the Galaxy, ships and so on from intuition guided by her latent abilities in the dark side.

She had never flown a ship and yet Alicia was confident that she could work it out. At the very least she knew how to operate navigational computers and in-put instructions into a ships auto-pilot from watching others do it since she had gotten off Kalist. But thoughts of using the ship were pointless in comparison to the inescapable truth that she did not yet know how she was going to steal the vessel or if it was at all possible.

From her vantage point overlooking it Alicia could tell that it only had space for one pilot. This explained why Verse's Apprentice had not been with her on Korriban when they had met in the Academy. It also explained why Verse had agreed to Alicia's plan to commandeer the cargo hauler and use it to head to Dathomir. She realised that Verse must have had a reason to board the ship and come with her.

Alicia had first planned to coerce her into transporting her down to the Core but it had been Verse's idea to go to Dathomir. She had merely agreed to the plan with the expectation that they would use a vessel Verse owned only to discover that it could only be manned by one person. So now they were on the cargo hauler together- with Sola- on the way to Dathomir with the plan to part ways afterwards.

It occurred to Alicia that she wouldn't be able to steal the vessel mid-transmit to Dathomir as the cargo hauler was currently in hyperspace. She also didn't want to draw attention to herself by causing an accident to the vessel by trying to steal it while it made it's detoured voyage to the planet. If she was going to steal the vessel then it would have to be after the hauler exited hyperspace and arrived in the Dathomir system or when Verse was planet-side.

We are also outnumbered now, Alicia thought as she considered Sola. Surely the Apprentice would take the side of her Master in the event of someone trying to steal her ship. Not unless I disarmed her first. Raising her communique she hailed Sola to meet her alone in the cargo bay.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Sola Zappal]

As soon as she received a comm from Alicia, Sola knew something was up. “What do you need,” she replied, not moving from where she stood near Verse. Verse was still inspecting the ship. Sola was very untrusting and didn’t even trust her master fully yet.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

"I am looking at both of you now," Alicia replied. "If you look up you can see me."

She raised a hand nonchalant when Sola looked up and waited until she was found before lowering her hand back along the railing she was leaning on. "I spoke a little with your Master on Korriban. I thought we could meet too before we part ways on Dathomir." Alicia smiled when she came up with the next thing to say: "Besides I could just ask Verse to send you up to me and you wouldn't have a choice being her disciple and all."

Alicia had thrown in that last line to anger Sola. It hadn't been that long ago that she had been at the whims and mercy of Dylus Syn before his death. When he gave the word to come Alicia had no choice but to come less she incur his wrath. In those latter days before he had passed away she had answered those summons less and less. Without fear or the intimidation factor the idea of disobeying Dylus was not as scary as it had first been when he had found her on Kalist.

She sensed that Sola was not there with Verse Tillo. Her Master had brought her back to Korriban only for them to board a ship together to a new star system without so much as an inquiry as to whether or not Sola wanted to go. It hadn't of mattered to Verse what Sola's opinion was of the journey nor had she had asked her Master why they were headed to Dathomir. She had simply obeyed.

But Alicia remembered what that was like, and there were times where she had been angry, disappointed or even hateful of Dylus when he had done things like this to her. To that end it made sense to her that, perhaps, Verse Tillo's Apprentice had similar feelings.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Sola Zappal]

Sola knew Alicia was right. She nodded in her direction before walking up to meet her. She leaned her hip on the railing a few feet from where Alicia stood. “I have nothing to tell you that you likely haven’t already heard,” she said, making it clear she didn’t like Alicia.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

Alicia did not turn to look at Sola even when she begun to talk. A long, awkward silence came between the two women as the slightly taller of the two continued admiring Verse's ship. After the long pause did Alicia finally make up her mind on how she was going to coerce Sola into helping her steal the ship.

"I want to take Verse's ship," Alicia begun with. She had deliberately not referred to Verse as Sola's Master so as to not remind her of it. "I want you to help me take it from her." Through the Force Alicia sensed Sola's hostility towards her. But she guessed that Verse's Apprentice was hostile towards everyone that first met her. Distrust, abuse, violence- these things came naturally to someone like Sola, Alicia felt. That was useful insight into the younger woman.

But only if she were right.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Sola Zappal]

Sola was silent for a while, considering what Alicia had said. “What has Verse done to you,” she said, to fill the silence after Alicia spoke while she thought. She could see what Alicia had to gain from stealing Verse’s ship, but she didn’t see how it would benefit her. It would only hurt her- Verse would be furious with her for betraying her and likely punish her brutally. That’s what she was used to. She could try to run but Verse would catch up eventually, and she wouldn’t be impressing her master by betraying her and running like a coward. “And why should I help you,”

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

Alicia considered the question for only a few seconds to be sure. But her instincts had already told her the truth about Verse. "Verse has not done anything to me," she admitted. "But as Sith she should understand that mere justification is only an excuse. At the end of the day I want her ship and that is all the justification I need."

"Why you should help me or why I want the ship are just justifications for action. Search your feelings and then follow them. I want to steal the ship. You can help me do that. What are your feelings telling you?"

@Reylo4evr