Ask Yavin IV What Needs To Be Said

[Darth Tempest]

.

Yavin had fallen.

The news was still fresh in Vahliri’s mind, and it has taken the half-Annfyn a while to fully comprehend the gravity of it all. The Sith invasion had largely gone off without a hitch - successful in catching their enemy off guard and sending the Jedi running from their own homeworld. All the same, none of that meant that Vahliri was in a particularly good mood.

She had survived, but that didn’t mean her duel with Tazlen was without losses. The Jedi Knight had been successful in removing her cybernetic arm, and managed to take the Crystal Vambrace - her vambrace - with him. Celeste had performed mediocrely. And much to her annoyance, she was forced to let her opponent flee the battle. Worse of all, though, was Tazlen’s face stuck in her mind.

She had seen his reaction to Yavin’s fall up-close-and-personal. He’d seen the hurt and sadness that etched into his expression as he was forced to flee, and for reasons Vahliri couldn’t explain, it bothered her. It bothered she far more than it should have - and the half-Annfyn made a deliberate attempt to push it down into the recesses of her mind.

At the present moment, Vahliri was sitting up in her bed - head tilted up towards the sterile white ceiling of the Medbay. Her equipment - armor and Lightsabers both - were neatly folded on a nearby table, leaving the half-Annfyn in a tank top and pair of pants. A bandage was crossed horizontally across the bridge of her nose where Tazlen’s blow had collided, while a medical droid poked and prodded at the metallic stump of her left arm. It had clearly been removed by the blade of a Lightsaber, and it meant that the remaining metal would likely need to be removed - in order to install a new cybernetic all together. Which, of course, meant that Vahliri was scheduled to be in the medbay for hours to come. All the while, the half-Annfyn's mind was drawn to the bits and pieces of information that poured in from Imperial reports. While she knew that Varyn had been present for the Invasion, it was only now that the half-Annfyn had begun to understand the extent of his injuries on the field.

The knowledge that he was in critical condition caused a pit to form in her stomach, the thought never quite seeming to fade from the forefront - questions of how he was doing, or if he'd pull through at all.

Before long, Vahliri couldn't tolerate the uncertainty for a moment long. She dismissed the medical droid from the side of her bed, promptly pushing herself to her feet. The half-Annfyn was still injured and without her left arm, but that didn't stop her from strolling right out of her own medical ward - making her way towards whatever section of the medbay that Varyn was still staying.

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn was feeling... well, he certainly wasn't feeling great, but he was a lot less dead than he had originally been concerned about. He'd been through surgeries already and had a couple of days to regain consciousness when Vahliri finally popped into his room.

Hey! he said, having not seen another familiar face since Altair had been discharged from the hospital as well. Of course, he quickly noticed the bandages still lingering on her face and the lack of a prosthetic arm, but she was up walking around, and that was good news.

Glad you're... he paused a moment, seeing that she hadn't made it out entirely unscathed, though, granted, better than him. ...glad you made it through, he said, scooting up a bit in his bed and wincing as pain tore through his side.

Come on in, he said, motioning toward the visitor chair next to his bed. Truth be told, walking was hard, but he was sick of being in here. Despite the time he'd spent in the bacta, he wanted to be up and active again.

Though he was glad to see her, there was a part of him that was more than a little nervous. Buried deep behind the walls he had erected over his past several years as a Sith, he wondered what rumors she'd heard or what questions she'd put together on her own of the "logistics" of his infiltration. And more than that, he knew what he needed to do before too many more rumors reached her.

I guess Killiks couldn't keep us down or Jedi, he said. Although this one got close.

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri couldn’t help but smile when she spotted Varyn. Despite his condition, seeing him alive - conscious and moving.. It brought her more relief than she ever thought it could. Her fluted ears twitched and flicked ever-so-slightly, amber eyes lingering on him for a few moments. “Hey Var,” The half-Annfyn said softly, walking over to sit against the edge of his bed.

“-Not dead?” She finished Varyn’s sentence for him with a grin, glancing down at her missing prosthetic arm. The medical droid had already begun cleaning up the damaged wires and circuitry, but the marks of a lightsaber were still obvious around the edges. “Bit closer than I’d have liked.” Which was perhaps the closest she would ever come to admitting that Tazlen was a difficult opponent, and that her life had truly been on the line during their engagement.

“Don’t move,” She said with a narrowed gaze, watching as Varyn tried to adjust about in his bed. She didn’t know the extent of his injuries but could tell by the way that he was wincing that trying to sit up was a properly stupid idea.

She tilted her head back a bit, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. “I’d take Jedi over Kilik’s every day of the weeks. Jedi don’t try to eat me or roll me over,” Vahliri grumbled. She glanced down to Varyn’s injuries, her eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly when he mentioned that his opponent had come close to besting him. “I hope you paid him back for it.” With any luck, the offending Jedi was food for the vultures.

Regardless of his answer, Vahliri glanced around the hospital room. Only hours ago, Yavin was the stronghold of the Jedi. A bastion of the Light. Now? Imperial banners fluttered with its every breeze. “Suppose it was all worth it, in the end.”

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Yes, not dead. That was exactly what he was thinking. She wasn't dead and neither was he. Those who were dead... weren't his. He would fight the galaxy to keep death from the door of those he cared about.

He knew that when she said it was "closer than she'd like" it had been very close. Because if it hadn't, she wouldn't have even admitted that much.

I took his arm off, he said in response to her statement that he paid him back. He thought of the Jedi who he had maimed and the one he had killed just before clashing with his final opponent of the battle. The way he screamed and cried out. In that moment, he'd felt nothing, but now... it haunted him.

I don't know what happened to him after that, he said. I woke up in here to the news we had won, he said, though he didn't sound particularly "happy" about it. It wasn't something he wanted to undo, but he couldn't bring himself to have joy over the deaths.

Vahl... he said. He knew that all of this was stiff and uncomfortable and it had nothing to do with his injuries. It had to do with the fact that he was nauseous. Nauseous because he needed to spit something out and to say that he really didn't want to didn't even come close. He supposed it was a good thing they were broken up right now...

I need to tell you something, and you're going to be mad... furious, he amended. Well, there was that at least. Just spit it out and get it over with. Hopefully the moment of forewarning would brace her. It was a classic technique for delivering bad news that he had actually been taught as a Padawan. Seemed it came in handy now.

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri arched a brow at Varyn’s response, staring down the fellow Champion for a moment. “Is arm-chopping the only damn saber technique you people memorized?” She said with an unamused huff, rolling her eyes. As if to drive her point home, the half-Annfyn lifted her left arm-stump - wiggling it about for a moment or two.

She tilted her head back a bit, jaw tightening for a moment. “The Jedi evacuated.” The half-Annfyn said a bit more curtly than intended. “And we were given orders to allow them to do so. Allow them to flee off-world,” It was an order that Vahliri simply didn’t agree with. The Sith had the advantage and greater numbers. They had a fleet in orbit.

They could’ve razed every square inch of Yavin and wiped out the bulk of their enemy. Sent whatever remained into hiding for the next decade. Instead? The entire conflict would continue to drag out - for years and years to come. For what?

Whatever her annoyance at the situation, Vahliri’s attention was drawn right back to Varyn when he spoke. She could practically feel the tension and discomfort that radiated off of him - and it only served to put Vahliri more on edge herself. Her brows knitted together when he said that she’d be furious.

The worst part was that she didn’t think he was exaggerating.

“You’re really drawin’ out the suspense here..” She said with a tilt of her head, no strong emotion rising to the surface quite yet. If nothing else, the half-Annfyn was braced for whatever bomb he was about to drop.

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Well you know... it's great for... disarming people, she said, cracking a smile as she wiggled her stump around.

Of course, it was all just a delaying action. Time to just spit it out. He was tense, he could tell she was tense. Part of him said that he shouldn't have told her this while he was already injured because... well, she might actually kill him.

I planned this raid myself, executed the infiltration, took down the defense systems all myself, he said. Surely, she had wondered how such a thing was possible. Surely she had wondered why Darth Trelain had ever approved this operation in the first place.

All of that was only possible because I had knowledge of the internal workings of it all. And I had that because when I originally... he placed a heavy emphasis on the word to denote that it was "past" and not currently the case ...came to the Sith, I did so because I was undercover as a Jedi, he said, and gritted his teeth together. He wondered if she already knew. Or already guessed. She was the one who had said to him that he was lost and out of place. She'd seen his "soft" heart, though it seemed long in the past now.

 

[Darth Tempest]

“You should be ashamed.” She said flatly, staring blankly in response to Varyn’s genuinely awful quip. Her lips threatened to tug towards a grin, and it was only be deliberate effort that the half-Annfyn managed to maintain a mostly serious face. Mostly. The worst part was that she couldn’t cross her arms like usual.

Of course, Vahliri’s thoughts were promptly fixed onto.. Whatever Varyn was so concerned about telling her. She couldn’t help but grit her teeth a bit - as if bracing for whatever information was going to make her ‘furious’. The half-Annfyn had a worse temper than most, but the reluctance and hesitation from Varyn told her that this wasn’t some small, insignificant matter. She completely believed that whatever he intended to say wasn’t going to be pleasant to receive, least of all in her current condition.

Vahliri arched a brow, listening as Varyn began to explain his part in the invasion. She’d heard rumors of the infiltration and had wondered why such a bold strike had gotten past the Council, but the half-Annfyn hadn’t lingered on it long before that moment. “Ooookayy..” She nodded slowly, not entirely sure where Varyn was going with this. Was he simply taking credit for the attack?

The moment the word ‘Jedi’ left Varyn’s lips, Vahliri felt her blood run cold. There was no masking the look of shock and betrayal that was etched across her expression, amber eyes going completely wide. “..What did you just say?” The half-Annfyn felt a distinct pang of discomfort roil in her stomach. She rose to her feet - staring down at Varyn.

“What do you mean you were a Jedi?” She said icily, eyes narrowing. “You’ve been lying to me. All these fuckin years - despite everything?!” The half-Annfyn couldn’t keep the hurt and irritation out of her voice. The man had claimed to love her, and yet he hadn’t given her even a hint of his true past. He’d spun a story that she bought right into, up until that precise moment. Clearly she wasn’t the first person he’d told, either.

There were plenty of former Jedi amongst the Sith, that she couldn't fault. She didn't question his loyalty - not even he'd burned down the very capital of the Jedi.. But there was more to this. The word ‘undercover’ replayed in her mind, fingers flexing ever-so-slightly. What the fuck did that mean? Had he been a spy this entire time? What had Varyn done?

“Tell me what you mean ‘undercover’.” She said, amber eyes staring down at Varyn. “Now.”

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn watched that shift in her tone and her face, and he hated it. He hated that he had to do this, and he once again found himself wishing he had just left the Jedi and Sith behind. He was tired. Tired of it all: the lying, the killing, the deceit, the betrayal. He would have just up and left to some dustball at the edge of the galaxy if he weren't in so deep already. If it wouldn't have invalidated everything he'd done up until this point.

At first, yes. I was lying about who I was since before you and I ever met. There's nothing I'm going to do that's going to change the past, he said. It was their relationship - or as it stood now, lack thereof - that had been the catalyst for his decision to make the lie a reality.

"Despite everything." Those were interesting words. She had pushed him away and away over and over. How many times had he tried to get close only to have her shove him away? And now she was angry he hadn't told her. The thought made anger broil up in him that he hadn't expected. Resentment, pain, and hurt.

And I think you know exactly what I mean by undercover, he said. Whatever lie I told is the truth now, he said. Now, he was a Sith, and there was no going back.

You deserved to hear it from me before someone else, he said. She was one of the only people he had told face to face. One of the only people he had cared to tell.

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri was silent for a few moments, listening as Varyn spoke. The fact that Varyn was telling her himself counted for something - perhaps more than he realized. But all the same, she couldn’t deny the swirl of emotions that started to bubble to the surface - feelings of betrayal and anger, having been lied to all these years. “Why now?” Would Varyn have even told her, if they were in a relationship? Would he have come clean any sooner - or was his confession now only because the information was going to come out, now that Yavin had fallen?

She grit her teeth a bit, jaw setting into a firm line. “And me? Was I ever a part of it?” The question sickened the half-Annfyn down to her core, but it manifested all the same. Whatever it had developed into, Vahliri didn’t want to believe that Varyn’s interest in her had been a part of his infiltration. Was it just another lie that had become reality?

A part of the half-Annfyn knew that wasn’t true.. But everything Vahliri thought she knew, was in question.

“What.. were you a part of as a Jedi?” She said flatly. “What did they have you do?” Attacks against the Empire? Information? How much had Varyn compromised or cost the Empire - her, or anyone she cared about - due to his actions?

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Why now? That seemed an odd question to Varyn, but he didn't argue against it.

Because I'm done living a lie. If... I don't have a lot of friends, and the ones I do have, I have no interest in deceiving, he said. Because he'd done that for too long and it had eaten him up inside.

No, you were never part of it, he said. You're... he let out a sigh. I grew up... he paused. How could he even say this?

You helped me see that Sith are people, he said. I was at Ajan Kloss. Eleven years old when I watched people I cared about killed, he said. It was why he had felt as he did about Sith for so long.

When she asked him what he had been a part of, that came the other part that was going to go over like a nuclear bomb.

I was involved in a lot of things. Recon to assassinate the Empress and attack Sluis Van, and... his jaw tightened, and she would be able to tell something bad was coming. ...I assisted in the Dromuund Kaas attack, he said. As unpleasant as it was for everyone involved, he was truthful when he said he was done keeping secrets.

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri couldn’t help the faintest hints of relief that surfaced, knowing that she had never been part of Varyn’s schemes. Regardless of what they were to each other now.. Regardless of what all had been - the knowledge that what they had was always real comforted her in ways she couldn’t explain.

“I told you what you needed to hear,” She managed the smallest hint of a smile, though it didn’t last long. She listened to his own history on Ajan Kloss, justifications and reasonings for why he did what he did.

She braced herself to hear what Varyn had to say next - what he was involved with. Her eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly, but she otherwise didn’t say much.. Attacks on Sluis Van, assassination attempts against the Empire. Slights against the Empire that had no real effect on the half-Annfyn.

But then there was Dromund Kaas.
Vahliri felt her blood run cold when the words left Varyn’s lips. She wanted to believe she misheard him, but the reluctance in his voice and the discomfort told her that she didn’t. The disbelief faded, and a combination of anger and betrayal came to fill the void.

“You..” She muttered, teeth gritting together.

Without warning, Varyn would feel the Force surge all around him. It manifested as a palpable tension that filled the room - spreading outward with its malicious power. It sent hairlines cracks across medical equipment monitors and caused the arms of a nearby food tray to tremble, warping ever-so-slightly with the flexing of Vahliri’s fingers. “You helped them to destroy my home.” She hissed.

“And you lied to me about it for years. Let me vent and talk about the people who did it and said nothing.” Varyn would feel the Force coil around him, but Vahliri didn’t constrict that grasp quite yet. A part of her wanted to - one that had started to blossom and grow with every passing achievement in the Empire. A part of her that wanted to constrict that grasp and squeeze the life out of him.

But she hesitated all the same.

A single moment pasted, and Vahliri released her grip on Varyn. Instead, the Force billowed out in a concussive blast directly into the medbay wall - sending cracks throughout the surface and high into the ceiling, a dent warping the metal inward from the impact. The fingers of her hand dug bitterly into her hands, until her knuckles turned stark white.

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn was surprised at how well she was initially taking this. Of course, that all changed the moment he mentioned Dromuund Kaas. He didn't resist her as he felt the Force wrap around him. He... was fairly sure she wasn't going to kill him, though in his wounded state, he wasn't up for taking a severe of a beating as he normally could.

Rage and hated boiled off of her, into the air with almost stifling intensity as the objects in the room began to crack and the sheering sound of twisted metal tore through the room.

He didn't speak for a moment until she'd "calmed down" though calling it that was an overestimation of how calm she was.

I barely knew you when it happened, he said, something she would know to be true. They were barely acquaintances at the time, and certainly not anything more.

So you wanted me to tell you years later? Well, that's what I'm doing, he said. He... had a point. Perhaps she would be able to begrudgingly see it, but she wasn't exactly the most level headed person he knew. He also knew that it was a fracturing of trust no matter how much he may not want to treat it that way.

 

[Darth Tempest]

Anger roiled off of Vahliri in waves - manifesting through the Force in ways that were clearly palpable for Varyn. She wanted nothing more than to tear the very roof down above their heads - to blast her way through her surroundings until she was numb to it all. It was a betrayal of trust - and it opened up old wounds that the half-Annfyn had tried to close for good. All the bitterness and sense of loss that came with the destruction of Dromund Kaas’ academy came directly to the surface.

And for the first time, Vahliri had a face to attribute it all too.

“I would’ve taken your head for it, if I knew then.” Her words cut like ice, fingernails digging bitterly into the palm of her hand. It was a testament to who Vahliri was now - who she’d grown to be - that she wasn’t more outwardly aggressive to Varyn. Even still, calm was a grave overestimation.

The half-Annfyn exhaled some of the tension through her nostrils, allowing silence to fill the space between them. She couldn’t argue that Varyn had clearly put his Jedi life behind him - and perhaps that was exactly why he’d waited this long to tell her. To clear his own name before airing what was treason, in any other circumstance.

Perhaps that was wisdom on his part. Or perhaps he didn’t trust her enough not to attack or out him.

It was a breach of trust all the same - and one that would take time for Vahliri to completely get over. “Who else knows?” She asked finally, glancing back at him. “And what now?”

 

[Varyn Atrix]

I have no doubt, he said without missing a beat, pausing a moment to let it sink in to her that it was a very good reason for him not to have told her then.

He could still feel the rage boiling over in her, but she was keeping it... well, not contained, but at least not lashing out at him to an admirable degree.

I told Altair the day I proposed the attack. Other than that, you, and whoever else has been told in the ISB, he said. He didn't even pretend to know who that information had been passed around to except that he knew it went throughout the Inquisition and to the Grand Inquisitor herself.

What happens now... he said, pausing because this was the part he wasn't sure about. But he knew what his answer was going to be. ...is that you tell me what kind of space you need, and I give it to you. No questions asked, he said. He didn't even know if that was what she wanted, but it was about all he had left to offer at this point.

 

[Darth Tempest]

It took Vahliri a few moments to process everything - silence filling the space between them in that time. While her jaw set together tightly, her fingers rapidly flexed and squeezed towards a fist - a subtle sign of the emotions roiling within her. A part of her wanted to sign Varyn off completely for his previous affiliations, and yet another part of her knew there was some merit to what he was saying. His reasons for not telling her before, and why he decided now was the time most appropriate.

None of those reasons made her less angry, in the moment. But they were ones that she could eventually come to terms with.

“I don’t need space,” Vahliri said flatly, her voice a bit more curt and blunt than it was intended. She stared down at Varyn, amber eyes flecked with motes of liquid gold - vivid and animalistic against the normally warm pools. “I need to know if there is anything else you aren’t telling me.” It was a single opportunity for Varyn to come clean on anything else he was hiding from his time as a Jedi - things that he knew would infuriate her. “No more lies. No more secrets.” She wasn’t the least bit surprised to hear that Varyn had told Altair, and that it would be an open secret amongst the ISB.

“I need time to rebuild trust,” She said with an exhale through her nostrils. The other Champion still had some benefit of the doubt - but it was a breakdown of trust all the same. It was something that would take time for Vahliri to regain - though it was very much possible.

She sighed, allowing Varyn to respond in whichever way he chose. After a moment, the half-Annfyn flicked her gaze towards his injuries - amber eyes narrowing. “How long until you are discharged?”

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn let her take the time she needed to process what he'd just told her. She seemed to be... coming to terms with it, and he knew this was probably going to be the most difficult part of coming clean. At least between this and telling Altair.

I don't think so, he said with a shake of his head. That's why I'm telling you. I have no interest in pretending to be something I'm not anymore. Not with the people I care about, he said.

He nodded again as she said that she needed time to rebuild trust. That was... understandable, but he believed she would come around. He knew it.

I don't know. Probably not for several more days, he said. I did almost get cut in half, he added, pointing to the massive gash in his side now bandaged up.