Ask Searching Far and Wide

[Darth Tiamat]

There was something soothing about the delicate precision of repairing and fusing parts on her ship. Sparks trickled down in front of her as she reconnected several wires that were in dire need of replacement. The bright flame reflected in her goggles as she worked in silence, her droid quietly waiting for orders or until its master started to throw things in frustration, which had been occurring more often. She paused in her work, lifting the goggles to better examine the coatings to ensure she didn't overdo it and would have to start over. Seeming satisfied, she lowered her arm, feeling the muscles fight against every movement she made. It was getting better of course, but the healing process even with bacta seemed to take longer than she wanted.

However, that was the least of her problems as she shifted through the fallout of Yavin. She was feeling a whirlwind of emotions, leaving it even more complicated by the fact the Mask was unable to directly feed off of her. It was like a part of her was missing, but that was an illusion as she determined, since she was more than certain all of herself was sitting presently, now in front of her ship. However, at times, it was clearly easier said than actually believing it.

Grimacing as she raised her arms to fix her ponytail, Tiamat then checked her chrono and her droid let out string of beeps and whistles, reminding her of upcoming appointments. The redhead paused and glanced at the droid, "Who ever it is, I told them I would be here working." she reminded the droid who seemed concerned for its master, "They're probably just wanting to meet for another debrief, its like that after every battle." Tia explained, picking up her water bottle and taking a long drink before returning to work on the ship, grumbling about retelling details until she was blue in the face.

@Braden

 

[Ryujin Izanagi]

Ryujin walked through the streets near his target, well target was perhaps a harsh word to use for the former Sith Lord and host of The Eternal. The women had been subject to a hundred interviews and a thousand investigations and only The Force knows what else, it was perhaps a shame to the human side of Ryujin that now she would have to undergo the Inquisitorius. Luckily for the women and perhaps Ryujin’s hidden conscious the Inquisitorius were a little more subtle in their methods than others.

Her ‘file’ was now completely out of date, so he had been sent to bring it up to scratch. It was a strange set up for this mission however, for Lord Tyrael had told him to act this through his Champion persona not his Inquisitorius one. So there was not elaborate makeup or prosthetics, it was just plain ol Ryujin who walked into the garage Tiamat was working.

Stepping up towards the ship he gave a light knock on the hull to signal his approach. “Miss Tiamat?” He asked, walking round the ship to get sight of the red haired women. A smile on his face he tried to seem as friendly as possible.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

The droid saw Ryu enter and rolled near Tiamat who abruptly stopped to see what the droid was going on about now. However, she heard the quiet tapping and someone calling out her name, "Its just-" she automatically started, but realized he did not include her old title. Though, calling her Miss made her sound like a lot older than she felt was necessary, "Just Tiamat." she corrected, tossing the hydrospanner with a loud clank she had been holding into into the toolbox. She rolled out her shoulder, still stiff from battle as she eyed the man carefully.

He seemed intimidating to a degree, maybe low-key aggressive, nothing about him really stuck out to her compared to the other interviewers she had, many of them failing to give her a name or title which only irritated her further. Who was she supposed to call out if she didn't like how they handled her reports? Though, it was nice to get an actual face instead of a forehead on the holo-call or a helmet that covered their whole head and face. "Do I get your name?" she asked him taking a seat on a bench and gestured for him to do the same. "What part of the Empire are you from?" she asked, gauging to how this was going to go and what details she would need to include in the reports.

@Braden

 

[Ryujin Izanagi]

It seemed that red heads were truly fiery in nature, he thought to himself as the woman threw down her Hydrospanner and confronted the Inquisitor about his name and station. Ryujin expected the woman to be a little hostile, she had gone through alot in the past month, not only Yavin and her incarceration within the Jedi Order. But everything which had happened since she returned to Sith Space, paraded before line after line of questioners and integrators, he was surprised she still had enough energy left to put on a brave front for the Inquisitor.

He smiled in response to her questions, following her at a distance as she moved over to the bench near the star fighter. “Well hello Tiamat, I am Ryujin.” He replied with a little bow of the head towards the former Sith Lord, a smirk on his lips. “A little forward for a first date, but I was born on Junction, but mainly raised on Lianna. Yourself?”

She was never going to get the Inquisitorius from him, if she pushed he had a cover story or two he could fall back on. But he hoped he could avoid that and just try and work on understanding the woman Tiamat now was, without The Eternal in her ear.
@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

He shared his name, and Tia repeated it in her head to not forget his pronunciation, however, his next response caught the woman a bit off-guard, joking to her bluntness and calling this meeting a first date. Her brow furrowed and she sat up a bit straighter as he went about describing literally where he was from. It wasn't what she had meant, and either he was one of those types who were completely oblivious or he was purposely was toying with her.

The redhead's eyes narrowed and she seemed to relax her shoulders seeing this agent, secretary, or whoever he was, "That's...that's not what I mean. I meant like..." she paused and sighed. It didn't matter, she was notified someone would be sent for another debrief, and it seems like he was here for that. "I was born on Coruscant, but raised on Corellia, until I was bounced around." Tia shrugged waving her hand as though she were physically tossing something; her blue eyes looked beyond Ryujin for a moment and subtle pull at the corner of her lip, betraying her thoughts briefly.

"Corellia will always be home." She crossed her leg over her knee and leaned forward, propping her chin with her palm, elbow on the knee. "So, okay, what does the Empire want to know about Yavin now?" she asked.

@Braden

 

[Ryujin Izanagi]

The smirk continued to rest on his lips as she seemed to stumble over her own words in response to his sarcastic reply. He had always found there were two ways to deal with bluntness, either be overly blunt back or break it with a little humour. If he was in full Inquisitorius mode he would have gone with the latter, using his rank and station to help push it through. But this was a more relaxed affair so he thought he would stick with humour.

Eventually Tiamat seemed to relax a little bit and opened up giving him a little backstory on the women before she joined the then Sith Eternal. He noticed the slight pull on the edge of the mouth, there was more there than what she said, perhaps an avenue to dive down in the future. But for now Tiamat was getting back to the blunt stuff, time to circumnavigate that.

“May I?” He asked, pointing to the space on the bench next to her. If she allowed him to sit he would, giving the women as much distance as possible. If not he was happy to stand. “The ‘Empire’ wants to know how you are doing?” He replied with all the sincerity he could muster. Knowing she was going to be on the defensive he continued. “You have had enough debriefs and integrations to last a lifetime. I am here to make sure you as a person are ok.” It was a half truth, he was kind of here to make sure she was ok, but more in a ok ‘not a liability to the Empire’ way not so much are you ‘ok’ ok.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

She wasn't dumb, she knew exactly what he meant by the Empire wanting to know how she was doing and he personally was going to submit the report in the end. He had gestured to the space on the bench and it took the woman a moment to decide if she wanted to let him take a seat next to her. Her eyes narrowed as her thoughts churned silently and then she eventually slid over to allow him to sit on the other end of the bench.

"Very well." she accepted, "Questions are easier." she told him with a shrug, "I don't know what I need to tell you to prove that I am just fine." Tiamat explained, eyebrows rising as she glanced to Ryujin with a matter-of-fact expression. However, as Ryujin went to sit, Tiamat suddenly stood up, startling even her droid in the swift change of posture.

"I will prove that I am just fine, still myself in many ways." she explained, heading back into the ship, "C'mon, tell the rest of your appointments you're cancelling." she directed as she went to the cockpit, the droid following, whistling all sorts of concerns with the sudden departure. The ship's engines would begin to warm as she waited for Ryu to join her aboard the Hawkward.

@Braden

 

[Ryujin Izanagi]

“I would rather not turn this into another integration. Unless that is what you want Tiamat.” He said, sighing slightly as he went to sit on the bench next to her. The cold of the metal had only just registered on his butt cheeks when the woman jumped to her feet and started moving towards her ship. Her quick movement startled him and reached for a concealed blade beneath his robes.

Calming himself he stood and began to follow the women towards her ship. The droid behind her was beeping incessantly, Ryujin had not learned droid speak but he could guess that the machine was less than happy about her current change of plans. “You are my only appointment today.” He said as he hopped up the boarding ramp and stepped inside the ship.

It wasn’t a big ship so she could hear him as he moved up towards the cockpit. “You know acting like this doesn't signal to me that you are fine.” He said, appearing with a smirk from the back. “Co-pilot seat alright with you?” He asked, pointing to the seat, with permission he would take it and start fastening himself in. “So where are we heading?”

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

He reassured she was his only appointment for the day as he entered the cockpit with her. He pointed to the seat beside her and she gave an approved nod while flipping some switches to prepare the ship for take off. So where were they going?

"Outer Rim." she started, hearing the droid announce it believed the ship was good as it plugged into a nearby terminal socket. "Do you remember in history books about the hyperspace cataclysm a little over two-and-a-half centuries ago?" she asked Ryujin, glancing over to gauge his knowledge by his expression. "The Nihil had these specialized engines that seemed to just...fade with history." she explained, "However, every now and then, one of their ships pop up, abandoned, generally extensively damaged, however, I got word there might be remnants of one with the engine still intact."

The woman continued to pilot, breaking through the atmosphere and guiding the ship to their hyperspace jump point. "I can use some extra hands if I can extract anything." she explained, slowly pulling on the lever as the hyperdrive started to hum, the stars slowly blending together as they made their jump.

"I am re-creating a hyperspace engine, and this will be valuable in my research."

@Braden

 

[Ryujin Izanagi]

Ryujin pulled tight on the belts making sure he was strapped in safely, Tiamat had already proven that she wasn’t one to wait for things. The maddly beeping droids behind him gave proof to that, so he was making sure his brains wouldn’t be smashed against the ceiling if the former Sith Lord decided an immediate take off was needed.

Once secure he turned and watched the women flip the switches, turn the dials and twist the knobs. To get the ship ready for flight as she explained a little about their little venture. “I remember reading a little about it, but not much.” It was a lie he knew nothing about, but he wouldn’t delay the women’s process by needlessly explaining history to him.

With that the ship shot upwards and out of the small dock, making quickly for space. Luckily he was strapped in as the ship had a fair bit of pace behind it, pushing the Inquisitor’s back deep into the seat as they went. As gravity began to fade, the dampeners kicking in, he was able to relax a little. “My hands are at your pleasure.” He said with a smirk, the blue slowly turned to black, then back to blue as they entered Hyperspace.

“What would this engine achieve?”

@Tiamat