Ask Spires of Vjun

[Vena Lann]

SPIRES OF VJUN
THEME​

Vena wrapped her cloak tighter and pulled her hood closer over her face as she braved the acidic rainfalls of Vjun. Only sporadically could she check the personav and the location of the red dot. Keeping it out in the open meant allowing the acidic rain to fall on it and render it useless in a matter of minutes. She couldn't have that. Not today. She was taking a huge risk to go after one of the fake holocrons on her own, but with the Empire in huge decline the Lord-commander said he needed more knights inside Imperial space rather than out of it hunting the remnants of the Sith Order. Vena disagreed. If they could eradicate the Sith Order then that would be considered a great Imperial victory. Nothing would stand in their way.. no one, except maybe Darth Raze. His presence in the Force was notable and very dark, but he wasn't the only Dark Lord of the Sith and if they were about equal in their terrifying powers then Vena was convinced that they were too big of a threat to ignore. Do not let them built and rise again to challenge the Empire. If she had the power to do it, then she would take all the knights in the Empire and utterly destroy everything that threatened it..

Anders Drast hadn't been of too much use. That holocron didn't lead them to more information to the whereabouts of a Sith hideout, a new seat of power for the Dark Lord. Vena hoped that this one, the one she had followed to Vjun, would be different. That it would lead her to information she could take home to the Lord-Commander and the Warmaster to convince them of her beliefs.

The surface of Vjun was barren. Rocks and spires that were the result of thousands of years of acidic rain and yet apparently among these spires a Sith Champion had made its camp for the fake holocron had been dormant for hours and she was getting closer. The hilt of her lightsaber now in her hand, Vena closed in on the Sith and.. wait..

Why was the Holocron just laying there on the ground?

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

In truth, Tempest had almost fallen for the trap. For days, she’d worked tirelessly to trace back differing pieces of information and rumor - following every lead towards a Holocron, planted somewhere in the remote reaches of the Outer Rim. The position of Dark Lord left her with little time for personal pursuits, but her hunger for knowledge was never quite satisfied. It was enough motivation to lead her all the way to the cave where Imperial Knights had placed the decoy and tracking device.

But that is where the ruse ended at once.

Perhaps it would have been enough to fool a lesser Sith - someone blinded by the thrill of a successful hunt - but Tempest was no such being. There was a notable lack of aura to the ‘Holocron’ that immediately made her suspicious, and it didn’t take long after that to deduce exactly what the device was. While she could have easily left it there, the Dark Lord had no intention of letting the individual responsible walk free.

Whoever had planted the device was hunting her kind - attempting to draw them out of hiding. Perhaps it was the Empire as she suspected - or perhaps it was some overconfident Bounty Hunter. It didn’t matter. Whoever was responsible would soon understand the price of attacking the Sith Order in any capacity.

Rather than bringing the Holocron back to any Sith base or stronghold, Tempest traveled to the remote spires of Vjun - nestled within Free Worlds space. It was a planet steeped in the Dark Side, where her own abilities would be amplified, but wouldn’t reveal the location of her followers. And there she waited, up until the moment Vena stepped into the lion’s jaws.

Just as the Imperial Knight rounded the corner - into sight of the Holocron - she would feel the Force abruptly coil around her torso. She would be given little time to react before she was bodily forced to the ground on her knees, head forced down into a bow. Her senses would suddenly be flooded with a Darkness that had previously been shrouded in the Force. A presence that didn’t wish to be felt until that precise moment.

If there was any mystery which Sith Vena had hunted to Vjun, it would be dispelled as the infamous masked figure stepped into full view - one hand fell up to suspend the Imperial Knight in place. “So,” She began, pacing around the woman. “It is the Empire who hunts us now,” There was no question at this point.

“Tell me should I let you draw another breath, Imperial Knight.” She said with almost a tone of disgust. Their order was an abomination - Dark Siders unworthy of the legacy of Sith.

 

[Vena Lann]

Vena hadn't noticed a thing until suddenly she was gripped by such Force that she could do nothing but let her knees buckle under the immense pressure. She felt down, her kneepads dented by the hard surface-rock of Vjun and it took her a moment before she realized that she was.. bowing?

A sudden thick and intense darkness fell over her, drowning out the mists and acid rain of Vjun and her excitement over tracking down a Sith had switched over to a frightful sense of utter dread. This power, this overwhelming thick fog of energy, of Dark Energy invaded not just the air around her, but also her body, weakening it and icing her veins as he soul was penetrated by an existential fear. This was too intense to come from a mere Sith Champion.. this was.. this was..

"Dark Lord," her voice was almost an octave higher than normal, her breathing quickened as her heart raced in a futile attempt to rewarm the flow of blood. "Forgive me," Vena whispered breathlessly to the backdrop of acidic rain splashing down around them.

She tried with all her might, but the Dark Side of the Force was like a chain around her. An anchor that kept her immobile and stuck to the ground. Vena shuddered at her attempt to comprehend the intense power the Dark Lord had through use of that part of the galaxy's energies that were forbidden to the Imperial Knights.

"I-I-" she stammered as she remembered -no, the Dark Side made her remember- the times she was tempted. On Serenno when she used the ancient Sith language and almost drained the life from an acolyte if it hadn't been for Knight-Captain Winnz. Or on Corvis when she had been this close to convince the Sith Champion Anders Drast to teach her the true meaning of the Sith Creed. Who was Vena Lann? The dutiful Imperial Peacekeerp's daughter? Or.. "-am here to..." she paused as she tried to lift her head up to merely look at the Dark Lord of the Sith as the latter's pacing brought her directly in front of Vena, "serve."

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

For what would seem like an eternity, Tempest continued to pace around Vena, golden eyes never breaking from the Imperial Knight. She circled the woman slowly like Targon might stalk its next meal - leaving her to wonder if and when the Dark Lord would strike the killing blow. All the while, the Force continued to swirl powerfully around the clearing, bearing down on Vena to keep her fixed into a kneeling position.

The steady shower of acidic rain began to increase behind them - the sound of wind and downpour providing a backdrop to what was otherwise chilling silence. Though Tempest said nothing, she could feel the emotions that roiled off the Imperial Knight, able to read them as if glancing through a book. The fear that washed over Vena and caused her heart to pound furious. The anger and struggle to free herself to no avail. The hints of envy, and deeper hunger to wield power greater than herself. Greater than what the Empire or Imperial Knights could offer her.

“Tell me,” She began, finally breaking the silence. Her visor tilted down to meet the Imperial Knight’s gaze, not yet providing the woman an opportunity to rise back to her feet. Whether she would at all remained a mystery. “Are you so arrogant to believe yourself capable of hunting Sith alone?” Her head tilted ever-so-slightly. “Or do your ‘brethren’ have fleeting tolerance for your little inquest?” It was a remarkably dangerous and perhaps foolish choice to hunt Sith alone - a fact that Vena was learning first hand. Why she’d chosen to do so was a point of curiosity for the Dark Lord.

There was an amused exhale through her nostrils when Vena declared her supposed purpose. “To serve,” She repeated, bending ever-so-slightly at the waist to gaze down at the Imperial Knight. “I think not.” The Dark Lord repeated, the Force accordingly tightening down on Vena’s ribcage with enough presence to cause discomfort. “I think you will say and do anything to keep yourself alive at this moment.” Even still, Tempest could feel the potent emotions that roiled off the Imperial Knight - that hunger for power that was at the core of all Sith. Perhaps the woman had some fleeting potential - if only as a tool to further her designs. Time would tell.

“Why I should trust a woman come here to kill me?”

@Eccles

 

[Vena Lann]

The pressure from the Force strained Vena's muscles, nerves and joints as she was pressed against the rocky ground. "I meant to find the Sith," the Imperial Knight replied, knowing fully well she was at the Dark Lord's mercy, "to break the chains." There was nothing she could say that would simply convince Darth Tempest that she, an Imperial Knight, wasn't there to kill her and in some way she was. Vena wanted her chains broken, she wanted to learn and grow stronger so she could at some point very well kill the Dark Lord and take up her mantle. That was the way of the Sith, was it not?

"Have you," Vena started as she looked up at the Dark Lord's visor. "eyes on Altaïr Din and Wodan?" The lieutenant-general (and presumptious Emperor) that cast them out and the highest ranked Sith that had turned his coat to style himself 'Lord-Commander' and the leader of the Imperial Knights. "I can move through Imperial space," her gaze hardened, "unaccosted." She had only been an acolyte when the Sith had been cast out, but she had known, no felt, that her potential was blocked by the new more restrictive rules of the Empire. She needed to learn more, more Force techniques and powers, so she could do what she had to do.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Tempest considered everything that Vena had to say - allowing the possibilities to swirl within her mind. With their exile from Imperial Space, the Dark Lord had lost any surveillance from within. Though she didn’t vocalize such, Vena posed a good point, and had the potential to be a valuable asset to the Dark Lord. Whether that qualified the Imperial Knight as loyal or not remained to be seen.

“Perhaps,” Tempest began, staring down at the Imperial Knight. She lifted her wrist with a simple gesture - releasing some of the pressure that bore down on Vena. The woman would abruptly be hoisted back to her feet, lifted out of the dirt where Tempest had placed her. “You can be of some use to me.”

The Dark Lord glanced up ahead - her gaze flicking out through the acid-carved ridges and mountainside of Vjun. Though she wasn’t staring directly at the Imperial Knight, her senses were poised in the event she attempted something stupid. “This planet was once home to the Sith of old. And it still contains facilities where their research was conducted.” He gaze flicked back to Vena. “I intend to reclaim these facilities.”

“You will follow me, and you will bear the brunt of whatever traps have been left behind by its former residents.” Tempest had every intention of using Vena like a meat-shield to reach her objective. “Should you die in the process, I will leave your corpse to the carrion.”

“Should you survive,” The grip on Vena finally release, allowing the woman control over her own limbs again. “You will serve me well. And I will show you the way to shatter your chains. I will give you everything that Wodan and Altair couldn’t.”

 

[Vena Lann]

A Sith of old. Research Facilities. Traps and Carrions. Vena felt the regained freedom of movement, but not a release of pressure. She knew she was trapped to be the Dark Lord's puppet and her survival chances were.. slim, at best. Still, she took her lightsaber from the ground and rose slowly back to her feet to readjust her armor. It was the first vestment of the Empire that she had now besmirched and she felt guilty because of it. Yet the promise of power. A real power to change the Empire and the galaxy for the better? Yes, that was worth it. She would endure all traps left behind by this 'Sith of Old' and she would take everything that was promised to her.

"As you command, Dark Lord," he bowed her head as she said it and without being told to let out feelers in the Force. Strangely enough she could not sense Darth Tempest, who was most likely hiding her presence in a way that only those well-versed in the technique would be able to. What she did sense was a lingering presence not too far from them.. not doubt the facility the Dark Lord had mentioned. The one she had lured Vena to with the fake holocron.

They thus made their way to the lingering presence as they hid their faces and skin from the acidic rain, until there was an old rusted durasteel door at the base of one of the spires. It was easy to miss and Vena knew that there was no easy place to land a starship nearby, which made the location even more illogical. She turned towards the Dark Lord with slight hesitation, but then thought better than to voice her doubts and instead approached the door. If there was a so-called facility underneath the spires of Vjun, then it would no doubt have its hangar somewhere else..

Vena used the Force to open the rusted door and stepped forward into the darkness. Igniting the white lightsaber she managed to see a few foot in front of her and the steep stone-hew stairs that spiralled downwards. "It's going down," she muttered, both informing the Darth as confirming her own thoughts. An underground facility made the most sense, so she would just have to-

-suddenly one of the steps fell, then the next and the one after that. Vena was too late to react and as her feet fell away her back collided hard with the stairs above, making her drop her lightsaber above her close to Tempest' feet as the Imperial Knight herself plummeted into darkness. The Dark Lord would see a gap in the stairs of roughly six feet, which she could easily cross to continue walking down the stairs. Or, she could jump after her unremarkable yet aspiring new champion.


@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Tempest was visibly pleased to see Vena submit so quickly. While she wasn’t entirely convinced that the Imperial - no, Acolyte - wasn’t merely attempting to save her own skin, it mattered very little to the Dark Lord of the Sith. The girl would serve her purpose well, even if the extent of that purpose was to be a meatshield through an ancient, sith facility. Truly, only time would be able to tell.

With hands folded against the small of her back, Tempest followed a few paces behind Vena - allowing the Acolyte to forge the path towards the hidden facility. Her head tilted ever-so-slightly as the durasteel door opened, groaning and protesting with age. She could feel the tendrils of dark energy that whispered from beneath the earth, hinting at the cruel experiments that had once been performed within. Secrets that had value to the remaining members of the Sith Order. Secrets that she would unveil.

For a moment or two, she watched as Vena began to proceed forward and then.. Dropped. It was confirmation that their ancient predecessors had rigged the complex with boobietraps and puzzles, which made Vena’s presence all the more useful going forward. Blinking a few times, Tempest reached out with the Force to retrieve the lightsaber that had been dropped onto the ground.

“So it does,” Tempest said to no one in particular. She knew full-well that Vena.. Probably couldn’t hear her, if the woman was even still alive after the fall.

She took a few steps towards, inspecting the stairwell that led deeper into the earth. Despite the easily crossable route downward, Tempest eventually flicked her attention back to the hole that Vena had dropped through. While she didn’t particularly care for the Acolyte.. Neither was Tempest wasteful enough to discard a tool.

Drawing the Force around her, Tempest stepped forward and began to plummet through the hole in the stairs. She wrapped the energies of the Dark Side around her lithe frame, slowing her descent and allowing her to make a graceful landing several feet below. She ignited her lightsaber, filling the chamber with the crimson glow of its signature blade. The chamber itself was narrow and carved from stone, with Sith glyphs lining each block of the walls. The stench of death hung heavily in the air, despite the way having been sealed since time without recollection. More importantly, Tempest could feel.. Something. Alive. Lurking further down the tunnel that stretched out in front of them.

Slowly but surely, Tempest returned her gaze to Vena. “I wouldn’t lose it again.” She said simply, using the Force to flick the saberhilt back into the Acolytes hands.

With that, Tempest began to forge a path ahead - towards whatever was lurking in the tunnel with them. In the meantime, she briefly glanced over her shoulder to the Acolytes likely following behind at this point. “What were you, before associating with heretics?” She asked. As far as the Dark Lord was concerned, the Imperial Knights were nothing but abomination. Dark Siders that had forgone the most basic principles of the Sith, and had become slaves to an Empire of petty officers and corrupt Moffs.

@Eccles