One Final Test (Talus)

[Varis]

The humming of the engines throughout the hub of the ship rumbled, the only noise breaking the silence within the ominous atmosphere. Two Sith sat at the opposing sides of the room. The younger one, Varis, gazing at the Sith style mask in his arms. It was a standard type of mask issued to all acolytes and although many took their own approach to customizing their masks and gear Varis didn't really care enough about that and as such was mostly seen in standard Sith armaments.

Across him was a Pantoran woman, a higher ranking Sith sent to oversee the younger one's mission. During his time with the Sith Empire Varis had faced a lot of opposition, questioning his dedication towards the Dark and abandonment of the Light from both his peers and superiors. Although many of these doubts were extinguished by either his showings at the academy or the efficiency on his missions, never straying away from the brutality if needed, the Sith still considered the boy had one final task to accomplish in order to truly prove his allegiance.

One final loose end, his old master.

After revealing the location of his old Jedi teacher to the Sith he was swiftly tasked to go in and deal with the Jedi himself. Not a standard mission for an Acolyte but the circumstances of the Jedi's situation made this task doable. Zharr was a self exiled Jedi for a few years now, living a secluded life in a hut on the grassy field of Telos, he is not likely to have any forces backing him up and the years of seclusion would have no doubt put a dent in his skills, even if he bothered to train from time to time.

As the ship started it's descend on the planet Varis felt his old master's presence clearly. Hiding his feelings from his fellow Sith would have probably proved impossible at this moment even if he tried...
But interestingly even as he felt a great deal of sadness, emptiness and melancholy there was no conflict in Varis.
Gazing at the mask in his hands, with an emotionless almost bland expression that was almost always on his face ever since he had joined the Sith he put the mask away, deciding that he would not hide his face for this confrontation.

Whether his supervisor picked up on his interesting mix of feelings and what she even thought of it crossed Varis's mind suddenly and he directed a slow glance with towards Irolia as he put the mask away.

''We're almost there.''


@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

This day certainly didn't turn out not as she expected it to go. First, she got a call from one of the Sith Academies requesting a visit, that in of itself was just odd to Irolia. Then, when she arrived at the Academy, she was met with one of the superiors who asked her to follow, which she, of course, demanded to be told what this whole thing was about. Of all the damned thing in the galaxy, the Academy requested her help to babysit a freaking kid?!

She wanted to storm out and leave, as she was not about to babysit a freaking newbie at the temple. Then the superior at the temple explained the mission the acolyte was tasked with doing, which caught her attention. Her curiosity got the better of her and she agreed to at least meet and take a look at him and before she knew it, she was sitting her ship along with Varis.

Irolia did catch on Varis' tumult of feelings, racing around in him and it made her smirk, at least he got the right attitude for this life. Irolia did not act like some dark evil Sith on the little trip to Talus, no, she has used the time for sleeping mostly or just relaxing, laying on the couch across from where Varis sat. Her squad, the Jen-Asha was even using the downtime for relaxing or whatever they wanted to do and switched to be on pilot duty. What Varis quickly notice about his new supervisor, was that her droid, named Parrot, always stayed close to its owner. It was actually built from the ID-series bibliomech droid series and was used for storing all kinds of data, though it more or less was a pet for the blue-skinned Sith.

The little droid crawled around on the couch very much like a spider did and chirped by itself, before crawling down to the now half-sleeping owner and rested on her stomach. The voice of Varis speaking, made Irolia open one of her eyes and look over at the Acolyte, "looking forward to killing your master, must be exciting" commented the Pantoran and closed her eye again.

A far from where they sat, a sudden loud voice rang out, "Yes! Pay up" said first one of the soldiers, playing pazaak with another one, "oh come on, pure luck man!" complained the other one, as the first one won with one point difference.

"Touch down in T-minus thirty seconds ladies" announced the pilot over the comm. Irolia sat up and yawned a bit from her sleep, before standing up, "well no time like the present" stated Irolia as she popped a few joints. Her squad stood already ready for action and waited for orders, "fellow me men, Varis, you're playing tour guide" said the Pantoran as the ship's ramp opened.

@Six

 

[Varis]

Though the Sith lady outranking him had quite the lax attitude Varis was more of a serious brooding type and funny enough it had nothing to do with him being a Sith. He had always been a silen gazing-off-into-the-distance kind of guy even with the Jedi order which many of the more relaxed and easy going students found endearing if not even a little funny. Though his time with the Sith might have actually made him even more distant as he was mostly used to being lonely at the academy where most of his peer ostracized him, consider him not fit to be a true Sith due to his Jedi background.

Catching the comment from his half asleep superior Varis tried to answer in the most 'relaxed' manner that he knew how, not wanting to give any weight or suspicion to his feelings towards his old master.

''Yea, that's one way to put it. Still I'd be a fool if I considered this a walk in the park. Zharr is no padawan and it's highly possible that he could kill me in this fight.''

Said the young Sith, displaying a level of mindfulness not commonly seen in the other young and hungry Sith of his rank that had just left the academy. Even in darkness, wielding the Dark Side and letting it flow through him and corrupt him Varis strived to maintain a level of his signature humbleness and not let it be overshadowed by arrogance. That mindset alone had helped him to survive for years, even against the opponents and situation where he was outclassed. Knowing his strengths and lackings allowed him to observe the situation from many different angles and opt for many different analytical approaches to combat or threats, as he viewed most of them as a game of strategy. And in such a game, knowledge alone can prove to be an advantage so great that it could even elevate the obviously 'weaker' side.

As the ship descendend on the grassy plains of Talus Varis rose up and slowly made his way towards the docking ramp, leaving his mask on the table he was sitting next to and choosing to face his former friend, father figure and master eye to eye.

The troopers slowly started gathering around the young Sith as the ramp lowered, revealing the beautiful landscape that expanded before the dark figures.
He pulled his hood over his face, covering the top side halfway down his nose and made his way down the ramp.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

The planet was beautiful, a real treat for anyone who wanted to retreat from the world, some would maybe even call it paradise. That wasn't the case for this little group as they prepared to move out. Irolia's men stayed by the ship as they really weren't needed while Irolia and Varis would continue their path to the Jedi Master.

While walking across a massive grassy field, checked the Pantoran her blasters, making sure they were all loaded and charged for if she needed them. She doubted she would need to fight, as Varis' mission was to kill him, though she couldn't blame for killing him though defending herself. The blue-skinned Sith in truth hoped the master would attack her, so she could have some fun with the Jedi, before killing him and the thought made her smirk.

The only one that followed both Sith, was Parrot as sat on her shoulder and talking through droid-language with Irolia. "No Parrot, you can't have the Jedi's lightsaber" replied the Pantoran and rolled her eyes. "What?! What makes you think you've owned your own lightsaber? You're not even programmed to use one, don't be silly buddy" commented Irolia, shaking her head to her little droid's very eager persistent in getting the Jedi master's lightsaber after his death.

Turning her attention to Varis, "So where did you say this hermit of a Jedi lived again?" Asked Irolia, not seeing anything around them, other than the large forest closing in as they continued to walk.

@Six

 

[Varis]

Varis took ahead, walking a couple of meters in front of his Sith superior and her odd little droid. He could understand the casual conversation the two were having and inside of him something wrenched for a moment at the thought of someone commenting so casually on his masters' death and his belongings. No.. his old masters'. Quickly he'd bury his feelings of guilt somewhere deep inside and replaced it with focus and justification for his own actions, as he had already trained himself to do in the past year or so. It was the only way to survive this path he had chosen, if he allowed himself to ponder or act upon his actions either the guilt would eat him alive or the conflict would drive him insane. Instead Varis opted to close off his heart, becoming even more detached and emotionless then before and choosing to distract himself from the horrendous things he had been doing and justify them by the importance of his own mission. 'The greater good'. A dangerous path and a mindset that had led many down some darkened roads.

''There.''

The young man said as the trio approached a small hut decorated with a nice garden and a large tree leaning on it.
Instead of going towards the hut Varis made his way through the meadow next to it where in the middle of the grassy fields sat an older Twi'lek, meditating.
The light breeze blew, grazing the grassy fields.

Theme/Atmosphere:

''Ahh so you return.''
The Twi'lek spoke, still seated and his back facing his former student. However, his tone was not that of anger or fear and sorrow, he sounded confident ? If not even amused. One could bet that, if the Sith were able to see his face, he had a calm smile as he uttered his words.
The man stood up and slowly turned around to face those who came for him, his face calm and serene and with a slight calm smile as he gazed upon his former student.
''Look at you, clad in darkness and with painful anger in your heart. A true 'dark lord'.'' Zharr said emphasizing the last words as if to mock the idea of the Sith.

Varis just stood there, with his head slightly bent down and his hood still covering some of his face. This wasn't an act of intimidation no, this wasn't some brooding Sith murderer prepared to unleash his fury upon his foe. This was a man trying to hide his guilt and pain, from himself, his superiors and the man he was facing. No matter if both him and Zharr knew what had to be done and if their outlooks were shared that alone didn't change the amount of pain this entire task brought to Varis..

''This is where it ends.'' the young Sith proclaimed as he raised his right hand, holding the hilt of his not yet ignited lightsaber.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

Following the Acolyte across the grassy field a small hut soon came into view and Irolia immediately felt the presence of the force and it grew strong the closer they got to the hut. The place looked pleasant, a real paradise to live in if you were that type of person of course, which Irolia most certainly wasn't. With the among of mind-twisting and turning the voices in her mind did to her, would this kind of place quickly drive her mad. No, she needed something to distract herself with, something to keep the voices from taking over and getting her to break.

The sound of the Master's voice to Varis made Irolia look the Jedi over, get a sense of him both through the force, physically and appearance-wise. She was curiously to see if the kid actually was serious about killing his old master and mentor. The Pantoran Sith looked on as the Jedi taunted Varis by mocking his choice to be a Sith and a traitor to the whole Jedi Order, not to mention betray everything they believed in.

Irolia stood and looked on while Varis ignited his lightsaber, ready to fight and end an old man's life, to prove that he indeed was prepared for giving his everything to the Sith and the Sith Empire.

@Six