The Serpent and the Rebel

[Outlander]

"Three ships coming out of hyperspace, Ma'am. Can't get a read on how many fighters they're bringing to the party."

Brian's eyes narrower as her gaze honed in on the viewport, registering her officer's words at the back of her mind. Light flashed for a split second as the Void Serpent fleet dropped out of hyperspace. Pirates. Or, as she hoped they would be very soon, Privateers. It was a small distinction, but a notable one. Pirates acted independently for fame and glory. They where outlaws. But privateers worked for a government to target enemy supply lines. Galaf was no government, but they certainly had an enemy who needed to be cut down to size.

"They outmass us." She muttered, to herself mostly. Meeting them in person was... risky. Their informant had made the arrangements, and Bria had the sneaking suspicion that she'd only appear weaker for requesting a meeting over holo.

No, she'd meet their leader in person. If they where to be allies, she had to show their captain respect. She couldn't imagine their relationship would get very far if the raiders thought they where being looked down upon. And Bria held no illusions on how much Galaf needed their help.

Unfortunately, that also meant that, in a straight up fight, they'd be slaughtered. The Asylum wasn't nearly as heavily armed as their own Tayana -Class, and their support ships where outmatched by one class division. Not to mention the starfighters.

But it wouldn't come to that. Not if she could help it.

"Hail them. Tell their captain that Commander Tsuani is looking forward to meeting him. Or her."

 

[Retroboy]

Apophe sat up on her command throne of the Harvest of Sorrow, musing to herself about the meeting. The social situation on Zakuul was going poorly, and to her surprise it wasn't the natives that were giving her trouble. It was the factions she had come into problems with. The Free had finally decided that they had enough of the other factions dominating them, and had made moves to try and usurp command of the Void Serpents. Apophe had crushed them rapidly, but the Yahm traditionalists tried to dominate her afterwards. Those, too, were purged. It had convinced her that the Void Serpents needed a rapid transformation into a more stable state. A centralization of power.

So when the offer from GALAF came, it seemed fortuitous to her. A vision had come to her in a dream, suggesting that she was meant to do this. She couldn't falter now. She needed to secure a future for her children. She owed them that much... If only Amelia was still there with her. If only Arsolyn was. She had lost so much now, these children, her mother and her older sister were all that she really had these days.

"Imperatrix!" her helmsman called. "We've been hailed. Commander Tsuani says she is looking forward to meeting you."

Apophe rolled her eyes. "Well I would hope so," she said dryly. "Otherwise, why would we be here?" She looked to the crew. "I'm going to meet with her alone."

The crew responded with balking, but Apophe gave them a sharp bark in response. "No questions! I am your Imperatrix. I know what I am doing."

She had her helmsman open up a communication line. "Commander Tsuani," she said. "I hope you don't mind if I dispense with the middle-men. I will be boarding your ship, alone. Should you choose to reward my act of good faith by murdering me, my forces have permission to board your ship, slaughter your crew and do Gods-know-what with you and your highest officers. That said, I'm very heavily pregnant right now and I'm going to need somewhere to sit when I get on there. Hopefully that won't be a problem."

 

[Outlander]

"Pregnant?" Bria said the word, partially out of shock, and partially out of awe. Not only was the woman, and she could tell it was a woman over the comm easily enough, commanding a fleet of outlaws, she was doing it while bearing children. She didn't know how to feel about that. Concerned, Awed, Distressed, Joyful. The one thing that was clear was th ugly realization it brought across her mind.

I can't have children.

She'd known for a long time, of course. Her severed limbs weren't the only damaged pieces from their destruction on the Void. But it never really registered to her. Family was more than blood, but there was something about being a mother, an actual mother, that pulled at her. Drew her to it despite her inhibitions.

Something else the Sith had taken from her.

"We'll be more than happy to accommodate." She kept the previous shock from her voice. Mostly. "I'll meet you at Number 2 Starboard Docking Port."

@Retroboy

 

[Retroboy]

Apophe nodded. "Very good, thank you," she said, before having her men close the communication line. She had the Harvest of Sorrow pull up next to the Asylum while the rest of her ships moved to instead move so that they could assume a firing position in under a minute. Apophe moved as quickly as she could down to the docking area, although she was more waddling these days than she was walking.

The Harvest of Sorrow extended a bridge between the two ships, and Apophe waited in the bay for the two to finalize their connection. The bridge between the ships completed with a hiss, and Apophe began her trek across, not bothering to look back at her men. She had to be sure in her purpose to keep them confident about this, especially since the people had seen many attempts at overthrowing the Imperatrix in recent days. It had created a sort of paranoia among her loyalists that was hard to shake, and really, Apophe couldn't blame them. She had become a bit tense about the situation herself. This was why she was going through with this.

Apophe stepped forth into the Asylum, looking around at the crewmen. At 7'04", she stood taller than all of them. She might have looked more imposing if she wasn't wearing a maternity dress with a leather jacket over top, with nothing to hide a massive baby-belly. She rested a hand over her stomach, feeling the twins kick, and she sighed. She used to be considered terrifying, once. Now she was just an over-sized soon-to-be-mommy.

"I have arrived," she called out into the docking bay.

 

[Outlander]

"Welcome to the Asylum." Bria said, approaching the giant of a woman. Bria herself was fairly squat, only standing at slightly over 5 feet. The size difference was staggering, and she had to crane her neck back to lock eyes with her. Although, the fact that everyone else in the bay had to do the same was somewhat comforting.

Two things immediately stood out to her. The first was the abundance of cybernetics. With the exception of her arm, Bria's limbs had been replaced with functional robotic limbs, each similar to how a normal human limb would look. But this woman's were... vicious. They stood out from her pale skin, dotted with tattoos. She caught a glimpse of what seemed to be sharpened teeth. Body and mind, everything about the woman screamed pirate; the notable exception was the second thing that stood out to her.

The bump was very visible beneath her loose clothing. It broke the illusion of a ruthless raider and brought her back to a person. One who would soon be a mother. And, despite her appearance, Bria suspected she'd been a good one.

"I'm Commander Bria Tsuani, leader of GALAF. If you'll follow me, a room has been set up for us nearby."

@Retroboy

 

[Retroboy]

"Apophe KeYahm, Imperatrix of the Void Serpents. Although I am considering a title change"

Apophe followed after Bria, making note of everything she saw on the Asylum. Despite the fact that it was a frigate, it had clearly been changed from an engine of war into something people could live on. So much had been changed from the ship. It reminded her of the Fang, although on a much smaller scale. The Fang was fitted to hold thousands of people, after all. Still, it was clear that the people here probably didn't see the ground very much. She would bring up the use of Zakuul in negotiations.

A small woman with white eyes pushed past them, making a point to glare at Bria, and Apophe had no idea what that was about. She seemed like an angry little peanut though. Apophe continued on after Bria, and she was relieved to see that they were at the meeting room. She really needed to sit down, because the twins were weighing heavily on her back. Still, she waited for Bria to enter before she took a look inside.

"It's an interesting ship you have, Commander."

 

[Outlander]

"Indeed. Although sometimes I wish we had a few less people and a few more guns." Well this Imperatrix knew her ships, which she assumed was customary for a pirate. Although what was more impressive was her observational skills. "Please. Have a seat Imperatrix." Bria motioned her to one of the two seats at the small table, which had an extra cushion in it to try and assist with her pregnancy. Bria then took the seat opposite her.

"How far along are you?" She asked, gesturing somewhat towards her belly. It was abundantly clear that she was fairly far along in the pregnancy, but she was curious about her coming child.

 

[Retroboy]

Apophe took her seat gladly, lowering herself slowly onto the cushion to be safe. She pushed back at bit from the table, and relaxed. That feels much better, Apophe thought. She could only imagine how much worse it would be if she were still in possession of real legs. She heard feet swelling could be quite the bother when one wore shoes. She took a moment to relax, rolling her shoulders before looking at Bria.

"Coming up just on 7th months," Apophe said with a warm smile. "Twins, girls... Hopefully both came from their other mom's eggs over mine." She giggled for a moment, and then looked sad. She shook her head. "It's uhm... Well, it's different. I'm glad I did it when was young, though. Still, kicking keeps me up at night."

She stopped, and then laughed at herself. "I'm doing the mom-rant thing," she said, running her fingers through her hair. "We're here to discuss business. I mean, I can keep talking about my pregnancy if you like," she teased. "But I think that'd waste our time."

The question had disarmed her, making her feel much more comfortable about the meeting, and it was clearly written on her face. She was only 29, she didn't need to consume herself with too much worrying. Stress was bad for the kids too, she was told. Did something to them in the womb. So the doctors said.

 

[Outlander]

"I'd certainly love to hear more about it after our meeting is done." Bria gave a smile. A genuine smile was rare, but family seemed to bring out the best, and worst, in her. "But you're right. We're here to talk about you and your fleet." She tapped a small disk in the center of the table, and a projection of their symbol, the broken fist, rose in the air and shimmered.

"In short, Galaf is a rebel cell working to destroy the Sith Empire at any cost. As you saw on your approach, we aren't exactly a force to be reckoned with yet outside small guerilla tactics. However, we do guerilla exceedingly well." She tapped several keys in the disk, and the image changed to that of Galaf's two corvettes and their collective fighters. "Primarily, we target supply transports, outposts, etc. The issue we face is that our raiding fleet is limited in the amount of targets we can hit. That's where your group comes in. Basically, i'd like for you and your organization to join GALAF."

 

[Retroboy]

Apophe stared at the display, listening intently. She rubbed her jaw, thinking about the woman's offer. She knew she already had a decision she was going to make, but she was not going to let Bria know that. She had to get certain concessions out of the Commander before she could ever consider permanently allying with a force like this. It would be stupid not to.

"Well, I have some things I have to say before I agree to anything this major," Apophe said warily. "The first is that I am the monarch of a planet, Zakuul. I have no intention of giving that up. That planet is mine. However, I have no problem with allowing GALAF to land there, recuperate, what have you. You all look like you could use some feet on solid land. Similarly, I'd allow for the use of resources from Zakuul to aid...

"Second, I am royalty. I have no expectation you are going to bow to me, I wouldn't ever ask that of you, but I am similarly not going to bow to you. Right now, I am the dominant military power between us. That means I want us to be partners, equals. I'll respect your experience, but I need you to respect my independence. That also means you're not going to cut into anything like our drug manufacturing, or our gun smuggling.

"That said, I'm aware you Inner Galactic types frown on slavery. However, it is a way of life for our people. I request that we be allowed to enslave any Sith prisoners of war - and their descendants - you don't need for intelligence or those too dangerous to keep alive. I can see about manumitting those that would otherwise be... politically disadvantageous for us to keep. It's not going to be a pretty compromise, but I am not going to risk anarchy among my people because I've suddenly developed a bleeding heart. Oh, and we tend to loot and sack the settlements of our enemies.

"Finally, I have established some ties with House Ordo, of the Mandalorians. I have no intention of severing those ties if Kalan Ordo gives me no reason to. Hopefully that won't be too much of a problem to you."

Apophe leaned back in her chair, and spread her palms. "Those are my terms," she said. "You can try to change my mind, but you'd probably have better luck wading into the ocean and trying to command the tide to stop."

 

[Outlander]

"Well, it's a good thing I won't have to. Those terms are acceptable." She didn't like having to make these concessions. When it came down to the wire, the pirate queen going off on her own would just result in both of them loosing. Hopefully, she'd see that and stick around when times got tough. But, Bria was beginning to respect the woman. She understood her trade and her people, and Bria understood her need to look out for them.

"You and your raiders will be kept appraised of any Imperial targets we learn of, along with all relevant information. Beyond that, you are free to do whatever you feel would best serve your ships, and the greater cause, although i'm under no illusion that we won't need to call the entire fleet together at some point."

"As for us being equals, I won't interfere with the operations of your ships, and you will do the same for mine. I won't order you around, but i'll also expect more out of you than one of my commandos, which I suspect won't be an issue for someone of your talents."

"On the matter of keeping Sith as slaves, well, I encourage you to do so. We even have plenty of space here on the Asylum if you require a place to keep them, as well as the tools necessary to ensure their obedience. Although Sith prisoners is where I draw the line."

 

[Retroboy]

Apophe hadn't expected things to go so easily. Now she had wished she had asked for even more, if only to see what the Commander would agree to. Oh well, too late now. There was a partnership between her and this Commander she would have never expected when she had first taken Zakuul, but with Amelia and Arsolyn gone, there was just too much. She needed the support.

"Well, it seems we have a partnership then," Apophe said with a grin as she extended her hand to shake. "I'd propose a toast, but, well... Can't drink."

She tittered.

"Which drives me crazy, by the way," she said. "I shall make the announcement to my men soon. If we're done talking shop, I'm more than open to any questions you have about me, and I would hope you would extend me the same courtesy."

 

[Outlander]

"Of course." Bria said, glad to have the actual negotiations out of the way. It was stupid, but she was increasingly interested by Apophe's pregnancy. Twins. Girls. She was lucky, although she imagined the actual process of being pregnant was less idyllic than she was perceiving it. No drinking? That might have been a deal breaker right there.

But it really wouldn't have been. Given the choice...

She caught herself from thinking too deeply into the subject. Even if the meeting was over, they where still sizing each other up, and she wouldn't appear weak by drifting off into her own mind. "So, twin girls? Who's are they? I mean, not to pry, but you didn't mention a father in the picture."

 

[Retroboy]

Apophe smiled. Now that business was concluded, she was perfectly happy to discuss her children. Bria had chosen an interesting question, although one she was more than ready to answer. After all, it was one that she had to answer before, for the benefit of her tribe. They were very particular about who the father could be.

"An anonymous donor," she said. "One from my tribe of the Yahm. My wife and I decided we didn't want to know who the father was, to make sure... Well, you know, it felt more like ours. It's also why she donated some eggs to me."

She sighed sadly. "I miss her every day. I'm hoping the girls end up coming from her eggs, and looking more like her than they do me," she shrugged. "I never intended to be a widow, honestly, but it's something I just have to deal with now. At the very least, I have these two," she said, caressing her belly. "To remember her by."

She started slightly. "Mm, they're kicking again. They always do it together, it's weird, like they're coordinating."

 

[Outlander]

"I've heard twins can be like that sometimes. Like they're connected." The thought that the children might actually be force sensitive briefly crossed her mind. But twins acting together wasn't uncommon for normal children. And Bria didn't want to spoil the relatively good spirits by muddling things with Jedi mysticism.

""And i'm sorry about your loss. More than i'd like, I know what loss is."

Sometimes, it was the one thing she felt like she knew with some clarity.

""What was she like? Your wife, I mean. I imagine she was one of your tribe?" Bria remembered, vaguely, what it was like living and fighting along side a significant other. It was harrowing, to say the least, knowing that either one of you could be dead at any minute. But maybe it was better than fighting alone, while the one you loved sat on the sidelines waiting for you to return. She didn't know. The closest she'd come to that was Austin...