Ask Strange times on Sinister stations

[Count Nergal]

Nergal stiffened up when the offer was made and his head snapped to show Ervius had Nergals undivided attention. "Do you mean like actual sith magic or force illusion abilities?" He asked, voice brimming with curiosity and eagerness to learn.

As far as he knew both would be fantastic to learn a bit about but the clear distinction between the two was that the latter was a lesser version, you could make someone see something that might make them afraid and the like. The magic on the other hand could convince someone they were on fire with enough mastery and the body would react to it causing someone to have their flesh act as if on fire as well. It was that subtle line between seeing and feeling between the two disciplines of course the force illusion wouldn't really leave much of trace besides the experience as a vague memory if done right.

He moved to sit down on his bed so that he was as comfortable as possible so that he could absorb everything Ervius had to offer. There wasn't really any option to learn anything of the sort in the academy as sith magic or force magic of any kind was under rather a few restrictions. Restrictions an acolyte couldn't even hope to touch.

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

“Sith magic requires a thorough study of theory before anything, we don’t have that kind of time, simple force illusions will have to do,” Ervius shook his head. Although… It would be nice to have a capable ally in the future. “I could send you the necessary materials after the mission though. On the other hand, force illusions are simple, well simpler than proper Sith agic at any rate. One can even brute-force their way to success although I wouldn’t recommend it.”

A memory struck him at that moment, of his first attempt at a simple illusion. He was a newly minted apprentice back then. Everything worked of course, given that he pushed enough power into the illusion to fry a tuk’ata… The headaches for the next couple of weeks were nothing short of vicious — not an experience Ervius would repeat or recommend, except to his enemies maybe, when he was in a particularly petty mood.

“When you project an illusion, you force your will upon the mind of another, the mechanism is identical to a mind trick but requires greater concentration,” Ervius spoke. “Be careful though, a skilled practitioner can detect an intrusion into their mind and turn your illusions against you. Every action has a consequence, this risk is the consequence of letting your mind be immersed in the Force.”

The champion had never thought he would ever quote his teacher’s and his own creed out loud to another sith. How peculiar.

“Try to project something in my mind, I will lower my guard a little,” Ervius told Nergal.

@Shaddi

 

[Count Nergal]

Nergal listened intently and then half sank into the forces embrace, feeling its flowing streams sink into his very being and bolstering his mind. With a slowly raised hand towards Ervius, Nergal sent a small tendril of force energy from himself and into Ervius's mind. His projection one of a fond memory of his, when he had hung from a cable from his manor on Bespin. Allowing the Bespin cloudscape roll by through his mind and towards Ervius, his illusion making sure though that a small square was present under himself and Ervius of reality to remain. He listened to the advice whispered to him by the force as he applied everything Ervius had taught him.

The force helping him tweak his approach from a brute's fist in the force to a scalpel to apply the correct way of using the force to his end. His state of half meditation lasting for almost ten minutes for the first illusion to be cast, rather taking every care and focus so that his first try succeeded instead of some supposed innate talent in illusion manifesting. Yet still it felt much to heavy handed as how he perceived it should be.
His instincts telling him that if applied correctly it would not even be noticed, his was crude in comparison. "Did it work?" He then asked seeing if what he had pushed forth had even taken any sort of hold to Ervius. Despite him having the equivalent of a castle with its gates open his power still had to scale the natural hill leading up to it in this particular metaphor.

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

Ervius saw the round horizon, outlined by thick clouds against the stark void of space. If the information from the Academy files held true, this had to be Bespin, Nergal’s homeworld. Ervius had never been there and found scarce few references to the planet during his studies. By all rights, the visit by the legendary Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker was the only interesting event to take place there. He allowed himself to dwell among the clouds for a while, savoring the novel landscape, before twisting it to the familiar plains and hills of his own home, Raxus Sexundus. For a moment, the capital’s skyscrapers towered over the surrounding nature. The sith gave his companion no warning, for no opponent ever would, as he altered their mental connection.

“As I said, where the Force is concerned, any road leads both ways,” he explained, before unraveling the illusion altogether and standing up.

“But your first attempt was very good, better than mine probably. It will take practice to perfect this skill and make it second nature to you, but you’ve got the basics down,” Ervius nodded. “Now then, let’s head to the local security center. If my schematics are right, it’s on a level above us, should take us no more than half an hour to get there. If you’d like to ask me anything, now is the time.”

@Shaddi

 

[Count Nergal]

Nergal already had his own datapad out and taking notes by the time they had moved out of the room. His conversation with Ervius more questions on force illusions and the skills various means of being utilized and defended against. The reeling sensation when Ervius had taken control of the illusion had been jarring enough that it was almost like someone had flashed a vibrosword just barely touching his face. A someone that hadn't been there only moment before but that was the way of illusions he supposed. Things never did appear as they seemed.

The winding paths from the hotel and to the floor above were just as cramped and dingy without the overt look of being dirty as they had been before. A bit of grime along that seem, a smudge along the durasteel walls and other such small details filtered through with ease. The way the symmetrical people managed to avoid trash, one another and other usually mundane obstacles without even looking at times continually striking him as odd. It was like actors doing the exact same dance of motion and action for years until all that remained was the fluid and efficient movements remaining so ingrained they were done without thought. It was fascinating in a morbid sort of way.

By the time they finally reached the law enforcement station Nergal had already jotted down quite a few tips and tricks that Ervius had shared with him on the way. After a few spoken words between the two Nergal accepted to taking charge of the conversation and walked into the station. Making sure to avoid the symmetrical people of which thankfully there were very few, if only pair among the present staff in the station.
Making his way to the booth were a slightly overweight human sat with obvious comfort in a chair Nergal figured had been brought in by the man instead of any usual standard of equipment. "Yes?" The man drawled as Nergal's shadow fell over him and it took the man a moment to look up from the papers he'd been absorbed in before to fully take in Nergal's looming visage. He'd found looming and his mask had quite the effect on those unused to or those without sufficient spine to ignore a bit of good looming.

"I require access to your databanks on order of the Sith empire." Nergal said, his smooth and tranquil calm baritone voice an odd contrast to his tall masked appearance. "I understand that this might be something you aren't authorized to allow so I would request that the one who can be made aware of our arrival and presence please." He said calmly and clearing which put the chubby man at a bit more ease at how reasonable Nergal was clearly showing he was. The man finally nodded when the words had enough time to sink in and he quickly made the two men come to an office just past the lobby to wait while he fetched his captain. Nergal only hoped that by the twitchy and slightly jittery nature of the chubby man at the front desk hadn't been indicative of the rest of the force. Though he also remembered the few station security at the hangar with their glassy stare at them, they too had been of that symmetrical persuasion. "What do you think we are to expect?" Nergal asked Ervius as he felt the chubby man's life signature come back with another in tow.

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

The time between the hotel and the security HQ was spent in a remarkably productive fashion. The conversation with Nergal promised Ervius a capable ally in the future, just as importantly a sane one. Admittedly, the champion found himself lacking in certain areas, as his explanations were limited by his own experience and what knowledge he had managed to acquire during his own expeditions. Like Nergal, he too had room for improvement. A pleasant thought, really.

Ervius watched as Nergal negotiated with the local security forces. He did not trust these people at all, much less when his companion’s interlocutor skulked deep into the HQ instead of using a holocommunicator right at his desk.

“A trap,” he replied to Nergal’s question. “But let’s see what they have to say for themselves.”

As if on cue, the overweight man returned with his more fit colleague who bore the insignia of a captain.

“My colleague has told me that you require something that has to do with high-clearance authorization?” the man’s voice was calm and polite, not at all what Ervius would expect a mid-ranking officer in a backwater settlement to be. Under any other circumstances, the Sith would have already used the Force to probe the other man’s intentions, but here… It was like trying to hear a coin drop while standing near a waterfall.

The champion did not say anything, waiting for Nergal’s reaction.

@Shaddi

 

[Count Nergal]

"Hmm" Neral responded to Ervius's answer to his question as he watched the man enter. His stomach falling as he noted the man was one of the symmetrical ones. What in the force was happening? The man before him wasn't one of the almost dead eyed near automatons that most of the others were. No he was like an actor having been stuck in that mindless loop of acting finally getting to express his acting chops metaphorically speaking that is.

"Yes, I require access to your stations database as it might shed light on an ongoing investigation." He said crisply and calmly gesturing to the captain.

"I see..." The captain said and paused for a rather noticeable time before he continued. "Do you have any papers or proof of your claim for who you are and your authority to do so?" He then asked in a respectfully calm, polite and even managed to sprinkle a hint of curiosity in there for good measure.

"E-excuse me?" Nergal unknowingly blurted out, it had probably been the most politely spoken no he'd ever heard. It was said in such a tone that it was actually hard to be mad at the man as his justification was simple due diligence. "Oh... Well." Nergal began as he took out a badge denoting him as an acolyte of the sith. "I am acolyte Nergal, here on a mission with sith Champion Xann. As far as I am aware of regulations regarding these matters I am about at the same rank as your boss while my boss is well a champion."

The captain looked at the badge for a good long while, enough to make the chubby man who had brought him look rather nervous. He at least could see the truth before his eyes, Nergal's lightsaber already hanging on his belt in clear sight of both men. "That could be fake." The captain then said in as simple, deadpan and as matter of fact way as he could.
"Besides how am I supposed to know that's even a real thing in the empire. For all I know the two of you are some scammers or other sort of ne'er-do-well looking to gain access to our databanks for some nefarious purpose or another." He then continued in that same tone.

For the first time in his life he felt his blind eyes twitch. "Are you kidding me? If that isn't proof enough how about this one then as I'm rather sure you know anyone caught with one of these without authority is hunted down." He said as he allowed the force to tug his lightsaber into his hand and ignited it for a few seconds, allowing its snap hiss of activation to punctuate his words. Then when he was sure he'd drive the damn point home he deactivated it and placed it back on his belt and crossed his arms, going back to looming over both men. "Well?" He asked in a slow hiss in a clearly dangerous tone.

The chubby man was shaking in fright and clearly believed every single word Nergal had uttered while the captain was still that now irritating polite calm. "Let me go get the access codes and ident cylinders." He then said as he stood up and walked out leaving the still shaking chubby man in the room with them.

As Nergal felt how the life signatures moved around beyond the room he turned his mask towards the chubby man who looked about ready to have a stroke. "Is this room soundproof?" He asked slightly jovially as if the clear display of annoyance from before had been a clear act. The chubby man responded with a shaky nod of assent.

With hope Ervius was as learned a man as he had shown himself to be he spoke in ancient sith. "Zhol Kash Lot: Neda Zudyti Tave Monot Tauta. (It is a trap, kill the same people)" Since there really wasn't a word for symmetrical people in ancient sith after. With a guided movement of his hand he created a small bunker for the chubby man to take cover in. "Get in there and when things start I would appreciate if you could try to convince your wayward colleagues not to follow the idiot you have for a captain anymore. You should have more cover there than you currently would, consider it curtesy for your considerations so far." He said calmly before the wall ahead blew out in low powered blaster fire giving Nergal barely enough time to pull out his saber to deflect the incoming blaster fire.

"Those men are impersonating sith personnel! You all know the procedure take them down with deadly force!" The captain bellowed, the crowd under his command half symmetrical and half of those he figured unaffected. A clear distinction as the symmetrical ones had far better aim, the others appeared about as skilled as having had a five minute lecture on how to use the weapons and that was it.

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

Ervius, having expected a trap, still was somewhat surprised by the sheer audacity of the enemy. To attack two sith head on? That took courage or incredible stupidity. If one made such a decision of their own volition, or course. It seemed to Ervius that most of his opponents went through the motions of attacking, as though their minds were preoccupied with something more important. Oh well, he would demonstrate the folly of challenging a sith to these glorified mercenaries.

"If you would cover me," he told Nergal, weaving a shield made of red mist around the acolyte. His own red blade had already deflected some of the incoming fire, but the champion could not afford to be distracted at the moment. "That should help, but I will need a little time to prepare. Oh and remind me to teach you tutaminis after this!"

It did not help that some of the blank-eyed enforcers took to charging the sith head-on with vibro-knives of all weapons. An occasional hex bolt or a lightning flash distracted Ervius from preparing a minor ritual. His repertoire of sith magic was respectable, but the champion recognized his own lack of intimate understanding or familiarity with any of the rituals it offered – a prerequisite for using them at a moment's notice.

Well, at least with the HQ blown open, Ervius and Nergal could get some distance from the enemy. Getting boxed in would have been very annoying indeed.

@Shaddi

 

[Count Nergal]

As soon as the first blaster bolt ripped through the flimsy gypsum and glass material that somehow insulated sound he'd fallen into form three. He'd learned it for exactly such a reason and with stuttering force barrier to try and shore up his defences. Then Ervius spoke and he almost took a faltering step when he noticed the red misty shield around him along with the latter statement after that. With almost renewed vigour he moved in to face the incoming enforcers smoothly moving into form five to add in its counter attacking elements to his defences.

He sank into the force, having a far more cooperative relationship with it than usual for a sith. Its whispers telling him almost what the enemy was doing before they did it. A part of his mind cataloguing how they were moving to be able to see what the enemy was doing far earlier than normal for later. One would stab and Nergal took a step to the left as he empowered his body with the force. Were normal warriors went with either an unrelenting brute strength or a vicious hurricane of speed approach Nergal went with precision and accuracy.
Using an incoming blaster bolt redirected at the head of the one who'd stabbed at him, freeing him to swipe his saber in an upwards diagonal swipe to deal with the other incoming dead eyed man. His force barrier long forgotten about as his attention was wholly on observing his surroundings and the movements of his body. The occasional whispers guiding his course to almost manage to enter the efficient performance of the symmetrical people but his role was done in hateful spite of the directors vision.

It only took the felling of six dead eyed enforcers for the more normal of the force to realize they'd been fed bantha shit by the captain and backed off. Disengaging from the engagement entirely which freed up Nergal's attention a bit and the occasional bolt like blasts of thick red mist and red lightning hitting those that managed to get past the growing defensive line that Nergal provided for Ervius managed to eventually turn the tide as now any redirected blaster bolt Nergal managed was now aimed at the officers firing instead of just to diffuse in some random direction. This change from defensive to a more vengefully aggressive defence how thrown the dead eyed officers innate rhythm off and for a moment Nergal saw an angry confused look pass over every single one of their faces.
However it had only been there for barely a moment before it was gone to a more annoyed grimace as the last two died to sharp slashes that left them decapitated. Nergal has huffing and puffing at the end of it, the force bolstering him but he was still after all an acolyte. He was rather certain it wasn't for the now long gone red misty shield Ervius had cast on him and the occasional spell help he wouldn't be in as relatively whole state as he was. Oh he needed to sit down and he had a few blaster grazes and bruises from punches and kicks that managed to get through his defence in the brawl it had turned into in the end. Though he had to rely on the force to keep his legs from shaking and body to show any outward appearance of having exerted himself besides his clearly rising and falling chest, which could also be attributed to extreme anger thankfully.

"Now is there ANYONE else that wishes to question weather we are sith or not, OR to deny us our damned RIGHT to get access to whatever the hells we demand access to?!" His snarled hiss had every enforcer that had abstained along with those that had been in the lobby and witnessed the near one sided slaughter perpetrated by both sith flinch both times he raised his voice over the loud whispered hiss that his voice was. His voice carried to each person by the force and he noted that there were still some symmetrical people among the people in the lobby but they acted much like the others. It was odd but he sighed, which came out almost like a wraiths quite hiss through his mask's vocabulator, while shaking his head and turning his saber off and placing it at his belt.

Turning his head sharply and directly at the chubby man crawling out from the splintered cover Nergal had made for him made the acolyte rather sure made the man piss himself, he spoke. "Now show us to the database or I'll become more than just annoyed." He growled at the man which made him scramble to do his bidding in a hurry. Nergal moved over and walked alongside Ervius while the chubby man guided them through the wrecked main office of the enforcers towards the hallways leading to the inner offices and through there to the database.
"I hadn't thought the unstable or near unhinged reputation of some of our colleagues could come in so handily." Nergal quietly and calmly whispered to Ervius, a slightly proud tinge to his tone. He was glad all he really needed to do for acting was to use tone and that was much easier to fake. Though as his concentration faltered he did limp slightly before he could infuse himself with the force once more to keep the outward appearance of being unscathed despite the few singed streaks on his lightly armoured robes.

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

For his part, Ervius unleashed lightning in all its glory upon the challengers, keeping them from boxing Nergal in or fully surrounding the acolyte. Arcs of red light danced around the destroyed lobby, followed by the tell-tale cracking of electricity. Thus he opted not to use any of his more destructive abilities, this miniature storm did quite a bit of unintentional damage on its own. The scorch marks would remain here for a while. All in all, thanks to Ervius's lightning and Nergal's lightsaber, the HQ resembled a miniature warzone.

Ervius turned his gaze on the crowd of the allegedly normal officers and let the glare of his glowing eyes wash over them. It was a petty little trick which worked like a charm on the non-Force-sensitives.

The sith let his features return to normal. He smirked when Nergal intimidated their initial interlocutor with a threat of violence. He knew the other man a little bit by now and realized that Nergal did not actually like indiscriminate violence and would not use it unless there was no other recourse.

"Silver lining to everything," Ervius replied just as quietly to Nergal's musings. "Speaking of, our guide may not be one of them, but now that the fight has made everyone more open about their emotions, I can sense him faltering. We should be careful."

In the meantime, the three reached the archives. They entered a large room filled to the brim with databanks which looked back at the visitors with the many twinkling red lights scattered around their metal surface.

"Here it is, my lords," the chubby enforcer bowed, evidently to mollify the two sith. "Please, ah, explore at your leisure… I'll just be waiting at the door… My lords."

"Well, let us search, though you might want to treat your wounds first," Ervius nodded to the acolyte and approached the closest databank, linking his datapad to the mainframe. "Now then, let's download all the arrivals to the station for the last decade or so…"

@Shaddi

 

[Count Nergal]

Nergal waited until the chubby man closed the door behind himself that he gratefully moved over to a bench to sit. Letting out heavy breaths of exertion he was grateful for the time to rest a bit while he performed first aid on himself. Thankfully it was easy to breathe in the force to infuse and feed his aching body alongside the healing effects of Bacta infused bandages which thankfully fully adhered to the skin around his wounds. Which allowed him to perform simple stitching and repair along side a few plates to reinforce his robes as quickly as he could. When he finally stood up he felt the force give him one last infusion of strength so that it was all much bearable and would soon hopefully thanks to Bacta's miracle like properties he'd be fully whole again.

"What is it about the arrivals in particular that will give us a clue?" He asked as he moved his body around a little to limber and aid in the correct healing of his wounds as the force aided the Bacta through his flesh. He wanted to ask about Tutaminis but was also rather curious about that this particular piece of information would be a clue since manifestos could be faked and so could even ship codes.

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

“I am trusting my intuition, as perilous as it is in such a situation,” Ervius replied. “You can forge IDs, documents, even scans. But what any half-competent agent of the ISB would tell you, organized activity of any kind leaves a trail of irregularities.”

The datapad almost finished downloading the relevant data when the door burst open, and the remainder of the ‘wrong’ enforcers burst inside, opening their new struggle with a grenade. Ervius, having expected nothing less from the locals, contained the blast with a Force shield. It gave the attackers the opportunity to wound him in the shoulder, but pain and the familiar sweet cold rage allowed the Sith to ignore the pain. In fact, the aggravated wound made gathering focus easier.

In an instant, a number of illusory copies appeared before the attackers. Strangely enough, the enforcers saw right through the deception, and only a well-placed burst of lightning made them cease and desist. Everything was over in a flash.

“Well,” Ervius hissed, touching his shoulder, “it’s good I did not let my guard down with this rabble.”

The Dark Side painted a vivid picture before his eyes: those who dared defy him lay dead, their entrails scattered all over the room — a warning to any who might think of challenging Ervius’s supremacy. The Sith shook his head, warding off the temptation. The Dark Side “wanted” to be used. It would promise everything for just a single step in the “right” direction. Ervius saw better Sith than himself lose their minds to these tantalizing whispers and promises of everything in exchange for nothing.

Instead, he gave the almost dead the mercy of a swift death by his lightsaber, just to take away any chances of reconsidering his decision.

“That was…” he breathed and gasped. “Give me a second, Nergal, and get the datapad. It should have finished downloading all the relevant data.”

Ervius let the Force swell around his wound, numbing it, as he applied a bacta a patch. He did not even have the opportunity to fortify himself against that blast.

“As I said, every organized activity leaves a trail, especially one led by an amateur,” Ervius continued. “Taking over the local law enforcement and not sending regular reports to the sector authorities? Stupid. That was how I discovered this case in the first place. We could really go on for a while, but I think my point is clear. We will go through the data, but first we’ll need to requisition some interrogation and probe droids. What do you say?”

@Shaddi

 

[Count Nergal]

Nergal had felt the swell of life outside the door and the death of the chubby man right as the doors swung open. His lightsaber just about igniting then he registered the grenade in his force sight, so used to half ignoring the dead void of the force some machinery tended to be. No... his attention had been drawn to the wickedly and far too cunning faces of the pair of the symmetrical enforcers that followed the grenade into the room.

He almost felt it was over when the shield made itself known and the shockwave alone, though muted through the shield sent him tumbling back to lie in a heap. His mind stalling as he felt the cobwebs grow thicker and more numerous as they encroached further in from the furthest recesses of his mind. Nergal only acting on instinct to fall into his own mantra for cold rage to compartmentalize his emotions into 'fuel tanks' of a sort. Allowing him to keep his rationality while allowing his emotions to simply wash through his mind, felt but hopefully not ultimately any influencer when fully mastered.
This time it was the force or rather the dark sides chill that helped blow freeze up the cobwebs, making them brittle and allowing his own mental energies to batter and drive them out of his mind once more, though now instead of cobwebs there was hoarfrost. It almost felt numbing.

By the time he had gotten himself back on his feet it was already over, Ervius's voice snapping his attention back to the moment. Nodding his head he strode towards the datapad and with it fulfilling it's purpose of downloading from the database he disconnected it. Making sure to replace it with a small datacard from his pouch that would apply a small virus allowing for automated access from his end to download everything in the database of the entire station. Thankfully the loading time for the virus to take hold was simply it decompressing from the heavy compression the file was under. This allowed its installation to take but a pair of seconds and the datacard was back into his pouch. Nergal felt it in his bones he'd learn more here than he could possibly realize, so getting all the data he could to refresh his memory of the events here as well as observe from a more rational and outside view would be invaluable.

"Hmm so an amateurish mistake lead to their discovery in the end." Nergal muttered to himself as he returned the datapad to Ervius as he also offered a Bacta injector to aid in any healing now or later. Moving to the door and gathering himself for a moment, he built pressure. Then like dam suddenly bursting he billowed out and each 'rational' mind left in the station flinched from the cold indifferent rage that he emanated. Be they nascent force sensitives or not they would or rather should feel it in their bones that now was not the time to do anything to earn his ire as his compunction of sparing the people was growing thin. After all the obvious benefit of just getting rid of everyone in the station and barricading it till they were done had the quite obvious benefit of hopefully stopping further such attempts.

This time he didn't bother with finding someone to guide them as with telekinetic applied from what wouldn't usually be a vantage point for normal force users allowed him to open each and every door. One at a time they all either slammed into the insides of the walls, ceilings or even floors punctuating Nergals utter uncaring disregard which was quite earned in his opinion. He went on to raid the armoury for a simple vest over his chest along with shin, thigh and forearm guards he felt he could use. A smoke and stun grenade pair found its way into his pouches as well before he went on to take Ervius into the room holding the droids. As until joining the sith he'd been a, admittedly a rich, civilian so he had little knowledge of non-civilian probe droids and he'd never even seen an interrogation one either.
"What are you going to use the probe droids for? I doubt they'll be much use here on the upper levels as it does have its internal security sensors. Won't the lower level denizens be rather knowledgeable of how these look like? As for the Interrogation droid... I think we can both see these, fanatics, for lack of a better term so far, don't seem to be the type to be interrogated. You saw how they acted when you put the survivors down, something isn't right about any of them."

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

“Probe droids are compact enough to be able to hide from prying eyes, and as they say, even a droid who stopped reporting is a lead in and of itself,” Ervius replied, ignoring Nergal’s emotions. He had five small orbs soar in the air and follow him. The larger interrogation droid trotted not too far behind the sith. All in all, one colorful procession left the security HQ. “Let’s go back to our room. Both of us can use some rest.”

In moments like these, Ervius wished he had learned some alchemy already. They were leaving behind an undefended, albeit thoroughly thrashed, security center, a place from which a lot of the station’s functions and processes could be accessed. Had he possessed the skils required, he could have animated the stones or made some abominations from all the corpses to guard the site. Oh well, the art was dangerous, and there was no use contemplating the irrelevant at the moment.

On their way back to the hotel, Ervius and Nergal saw the same picture: some of the locals exhibited uncanny dexterity and awareness of their surroundings. The idea of so many people acquiring Force-sensitivity seemed utterly preposterous however. Ervius suspected that the Force was indeed involved, although not quite as directly.

The two sith got their first stroke of luck when one of the probe droids that scattered around the street reported a local without those strange traits navigating the streets in a pattern that suggested an amateurish attempt at avoiding the probes. Now that attracted attention much better than the bright-red ceremonial armor of the imperial guard. Ervius ordered one of the droids to pursue their mysterious delinquent while he led Nergal back to their hotel room. Neither of them was up to a stealthy chase at the moment.

In moments like these, Ervius wished he had some – any – connections within the ISB, their fanaticism notwithstanding. Still, himself and Nergal would be enough here.

@Shaddi

 

[Count Nergal]

Taking great care to pay more attention when Ervius's actions began to show the clear advantages of the approach Nergal followed along the man back to their hotel room. When they saw the amateurish local Nergal was rather certain that this station was a curious little melting pot of secrets. Once at the hotel room Nergal took an opportunity to use the fresher to clean himself and with a little creative use of telekinesis his clothing before making sure he'd fully donned his mask and under robes before leaving once more. With the down time now afforded he used the time to fully repair and reinforce his armoured robes with everything he had raided and as much as he could do with field repair. Once that was done he donned the armour once more and took to a fitful slumber.

His slumber marked with twitching or the occasional sharp intake of breath raking his body as he slept. His dreams ones of silvery threads of ice stabbing into his flesh to force him into some macabre puppet show. Despite the deeply ingrained unnerving horror of the dream it left no memory of it's passing once he woke up fully. Any evidence of it the feeling of hoarfrost covering his veins and surrounding his mind. 'The enforcers were insufficient. Need to escalate?' The words flitting past his mind as he rubbed at his mask using the force instinctually to mimic the effects of the action if his mask wasn't in the way while he woke up fully. His ice numbed mind slow to get going and barely capable of much cognitive thinking before he had managed to infuse himself with the invigoration of the force for a deep half hour meditation.

Once he was finally capable of being a cognitive being once more he looked towards Ervius to find out what the man was up to now. His minds fitful starts and sluggish state when he woke not allowing him to pay much attention to anything outside a meter around himself. "Good morning?" He asked, his voice raspy as if hoarse from screaming or disuse. "Did the probes figure anything new out about the amateur or anything else?" He continued before fully pausing to get some moisture into his mouth and slightly aching body. Bacta healed like a miracle but that didn't mean your body didn't remember what had happened to it for a while after being healed.

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

“Morning,” Ervius replied. The sith frowned when he noticed his companion’s state. Unfortunately, this trembling Force all around them prevented Ervius from getting a read on Nergal’s emotions, but he could infer a little bit from the other man’s gestures. The champion himself was not immune to whatever influence permeated the station. What was only a vague feeling on the edge of his mind, had turned into concrete impulses. The sith was able to force those unwelcome intrusions away, but he knew this situation could not continue indefini

“Yes, there’s something interesting,” Ervius said, letting his datapad project the 3D schematic of Kedrall. “The probe followed our target to sublevel 8. According to the blueprints, that’s where the engineering coordination center is located.”

A golden path of light materialized, leading from level 2, where the two Sith picked it up, to the aforementioned sublevel 8, located at the very heart of the station. The glowing dot at the end of the way pulsed from time to time, signifying that the probe remained active.

“That was the place where our unwitting informant entered a building, the probe’s standard protocols are not to follow, to avoid alerting the target to its presence. In fact, our intrepid droid has been there all night, monitoring new arrivals and everyone who left the… well, I can only assume it to be some kind of a meeting place,” Ervius shrugged. The hologram disappeared. “Anyhow, we have to train your tutaminis. Armor is good, but it will always constrict your movements. Luckily, tutaminis is more straightforward than illusions. Unluckily, it requires a lot more practice to be useful…”

Ervius remembered his own lessons and barely suppressed a wince. While effective, his master’s techniques were always brutal.

“My master would take a lightsaber on a training setting and beat me until I learned how to activate this little ability properly, but we have no time and no luxury of a well-defended stronghold to purposely injure you,” the champion shook his head. “Therefore, concentrate on your skin and let the Force flow around it but never within. This flow will carry away the heat of blaster fire and even a lightsaber when you are good enough.”

@Shaddi

 

[Count Nergal]

Nergal stayed silent when Ervius spoke and absorbed what was being said. It did make a certain bit of sense to have a meeting place in the engineering coordination centre as they usually had a small perimeter of security monitors that would allow for the spotting of usual tails employed by some. Some use of force cloak would allow for a more stealthy approach for certain, he just hoped that the distress of the station weakened their minds sufficiently enough for it to be more effective.

Then his mind ground to a halt and his focus was on the weaving of the energies of the force around but not within his hand. A few passages and other tomes on the technique he'd read clicking into place. Now he finally grasped the ability but was still little more than an informed novice in its use. He might maybe be able to block a stun bolt at best and even that he thought would be a one in a hundred chance of success at best. It was however something he filed away for later when he did have the luxury of the relative safety of the academy to test in a more controlled environment.
With a bit more flexing of his will he thickened the saturation and density of the force energies he built over his hand like a skin tight glove that still didn't touch the skin at all. Then he realized he didn't really have any tool to safely test if it was working so he dropped it, though kept hold of the memory of how it was done and felt.

"I see... I must admit I was having a hard time grasping what the texts and tomes had to say about Tutaminis. It never really clicked before now." He said a bit contemplatively before he made sure his mask was oriented like they were talking to one another instead of his head being turned to some other direction. "I think that the force illusions might work on the unaffected people of the station so a use of both illusions and force cloak might allow us to get close enough to gather first person intel to make our decision informed. As I can imagine it'll be to our benefit should there be a repeat of yesterday we can at least make the ambush ourselves." He then said. "What do you think? Go now or spent a little time here before heading over there?"

He felt it would be easier to use force cloak for himself and Ervius while he used force illusion to help would get the job done.

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

“We have no time for an actual practice session, but tutaminis is essentially a technique of heat dissipation at its core, try touching something hot until it doesn’t burn,” Ervius replied. “Don’t take too long though, we really should be going. The probes have not registered anyone actually leaving that building yet. I’m not sure how our ever so cunning suspects will remain all in one place.”

The champion agreed with the acolyte’s assessment of the situation however. It would be best to spy on the gathering instead of outright attacking it. Ervius had no love for the modus operandi of a spy who would skulk in the shadows, but he could appreciate it, especially the results such an approach tended to produce. While cloaking his presence in the Force was a trivial matter for him, cloaking himself entirely… That was quite the tall order for a man who had never done that before. Illusions had limited use on Kedrall. He would have to rely on Nergal, as much as Ervius did not like depending on others.

Before leaving, Ervius made sure to start a nice little program he bought on the Dromund Kaas black market. It was tracking and analysis software that observed the logical and other connections already present in a given database and used them to find inconsistencies within that set of data — an expensive tool to be sure, but one that helped the champion on many occasions.

Half an hour later, the champion and his companion left the hotel. Only the interrogation droid remain in their room, as the machine would be useful later. Hopefully, Ervius and Nergal would be able to apprehend at least one of the suspects and get him or her acquainted with the finer points of imperial torture technology.

Their way down was uneventful, as the two sith avoided the main “streets” and stuck to side corridors and turbolifts. Finally, Ervius and Nergal found themselves on sublevel 8, a dimly lit collection of rooms and passages with a lot of technical symbols and signs on the walls. There were pipes, wires, and a whole lot of other technological paraphernalia. The hideout with the suspects stood a few sections ahead, so did the probe.

“Shall we?” Ervius asked.

 

[Count Nergal]

Taking a cue from Ervius he used the room's kitchen heater to train in furthering his understanding. He felt he was close by the time they had to leave, having figured out the pushing and spreading force needed but still needed to fine tune it more, needing more control and dissipation force. As they left he spent his time with his attention focused three ways, first was keeping his attention outwards to observe their surroundings. Second was slightly less used as it was reserved for when himself and Ervius conversed as needed on the way. Third and last was the weaving of force energy into a latticework which he draped over the both of them when they reached sublevel 8. The latticework of force energy used as threads for the cloak of energy Nergal wrapped the two of them in.
Not making them invisible but making them a spot which the eye avoided entirely and awareness would just slide off like rain on a window. He had to keep his hands outwards as he stabilized the weave alongside the throbbing brain freeze like feeling that ran like wildfire in his mind for a brief second. Then as everything was stabilized and would hold he nodded to Ervius.

"Let us go and hopefully get some answers to our questions." Nergal said as he nodded and tightened the woven force cloak around them a little more. It was almost to the point of bending the light but that was for those that had become more than barely competent like he was. Their trip almost easy until it came to the suspected hideout. There Nergal felt the beings within the hideout were nascent or barely trained force users within.
He felt the strain as he entered the hideout with Ervius as the beings within tried to see through the combination of Ervius's illusions and Nergal's force cloak. The combination allowing them to observe a good portion of what was clearly a meeting of some cult. A sith cult no less which made him curious.

He noted that most of those in the cult had a low sensitivity to the force, low enough to be thrown out of the academy but not low enough not to be useful. If they were used properly, he did have a rather spacious space station of his own he might be able to house cultist... if the cult was swayed to serve him that was. There was always use for fanatical devotion, especially if he was granting them something they desperately wanted, their need becoming easy chains to tie them to him or anyone that knew how to do so.

@Keisen

 

[Ervius Xann]

Force cloak was a peculiar ability and its use in conjunction with illusions made Ervius reconsider forgoing this skill in the past. Now was not the time to reminisce, however. He wove images and sounds, gusts of wind and staleness for large crowds of beings which proved to be rather exhausting.

The weak force users who seemed to have made something of a cult almost made Ervius want to palm his face. He thought the Empire had included all such pawns into its own sphere of influence, but it seemed that a group of idiots had escaped imperial oversight. Such congregations could be dangerous without a proper sith to direct them, a novice could sometimes make a blunder that even the most sinister sith would not conceive.

Either way, the presence of a cult here explained a lot, although Ervius did not recognize the ritual they were conducting. While he was no omniscient deity, the champion knew his fair share of rites, he certainly was aware of all the common ones. Whatever these pseudo-sith were attempting to perform, it lay outside the realm of “standard” sorcery, and it troubled Ervius. He had no desire to be caught up in some spell gone wrong. Novices attempting to dabble in Sith magic unsupervised could create calamities on the scale of natural disasters. For the time being, however, the champion decided not to intervene. It would be best to act with all the relevant knowledge – to avoid blundering through the entire mess like a jedi.

The most worrying development was, of course, the sheer time this motley collection of pseudo-sith had already spent on their ritual. It had to be the source of the strange behavior and subversive mental influence that permeated the station. With some annoyance, Ervius realized that the effects of this ritual would not be easy to undo. The Force had already been twisted here, to counter that, Ervius would need to conduct his own meditations and thus stay on Kedrall longer than he intended. That was less than ideal. Those reports Ervius made sure to bury under a lot of paperwork would eventually make their way to imperial peacekeepers, and from there — to the ISB.

For the moment, however, the apparent leader of this cult attracted his attention. Despite the mask on her face, Ervius could tell it was a female. The woman felt stronger than all the other pseudo-sith. She felt like a fire among the candles that all her underlings appeared as. In fact… Ervius frowned, why could he feel so much in this chamber when his Force sense all but refused to function elsewhere on the station? Was this the proverbial eye of the storm? If so, then he felt grateful for the small mercies, such as his own and Nergal’s skill of cloaking their presence in the Force.

@Shaddi