Homeward

Posted on Thu Sep 28th, 2023 @ 9:07pm by Bomoor Thort & Mentis & Thane & Amare & Reave & Kalen "Rex" Vickers & G2-O7

3,554 words; about a 18 minute read

Chapter: Chapter VI: The Last Bastion
Location: Red Raptor, Bastion Space
Timeline: Day Six, Week Four

OLD

A withered hand extended out of the rich velveteen robes of the shadowy man. Papery skin stretched as the hand made a tight grip around a gnarled obsidian walking stick that formed beneath his digits, spreading downwards until its tip appeared to make contact with the table. A clasp took shape at the neck of the cloak, which eventually concluded its journey around the old man's fabricated head. That same wrinkled, pale flesh, obvious even against the obscuring dark crimson hue the holocron had given its gatekeeper, wrapping around an ancient, sinister and deformed visage of one of the galaxy's most infamous and influential figures. Yellowed teeth were bared, flashing dangerously whilst golden eyes, brighter and flaring more fiercely than Serus', washed maliciously over the chamber, sizing up each of the mesmerised onlookers.

Emperor Palpatine's cackles then filled the chamber, echoing and growing louder with each passing second - and the Council of Moffs said nothing.

NEW

Blue-white light shone outward across the darkened rec room, casting long shadows of the furniture from the central holographic display. Thane's pale features took on a ghostly pallor from the artificial light from the three-dimensional images hovering before him, his hands clasping the base of the device as he regarded the readout, leaning heavily. A metal receptacle no longer released any wisps of steam, the tea within having lost any heat as its owner continued to ruminate on the data that had been entrusted to him and his companions following their discrete ascension within the Bastion Moff Empire.

His eyes flickered up to one of the more striking images being projected, of clear tactical mapping, covert trading and precise strikes orchestrated by GalactaWerks with Mandalorian sects around Outer Rim Alliance territory. A number of armoured heads, clearly of Mandalorian design, hovered around this data, with linked lines denoting their names, operations, decades' worth of dates, and the intelligence, weaponry and direction provided around the incursions they had made in and around the ORA. Some of it plainly implicated Bastion in the provision of portions of the data and equipment that had been used, especially in more recent years, but clearly highlighted the responsibility of the Company, which had spearheaded these activities over a very long period of time. The information that Grand Moff Tarses had entrusted to Thane, Bomoor and Amare, which was incredibly comprehensive and supremely sensitive, dated back over many, many years, and even held information that the Imperials had gleaned from GalactaWerks regarding their nefarious activities behind the scenes leading up to, and during, the Second Outer Rim Conflict - as well as much of the information that had been shared during their short-lived and misguided alliance.

The document, if such a limited description could be attributed to it, was effectively the complete dossier Bastion held on GalactaWerks and the Mandalorians, both the settled tribes and the exiles ones, and betrayed the scope of the Company's insidious presence in galactic affairs in ways that even Thane had not truly expected nor previously contemplated.

"A smoking blaster," he half-muttered, adjusting the images with the twist of a dial, as another wave of data replaced the Mandalorian mugshots, now displaying an array of known GalactaWerks-sponsored assassins and three high-ranking political figures that had been lobbying for Outer Rim rights prior to the reformation of the Alliance and the start of the Second Conflict, as well as notes regarding failed attempts that had been documented on Davos Stal's life during and after the war, too.

"I prefer two smoking blasters, personally," said the sardonic voice of Amare from behind. She moved to his side and tapped a few items on a Bastion datapad she procured as part of her newfound entitlement with the Moffist leadership. A familiar face appeared along with the planet Muun next to the other holographic items Thane had been reviewing.

"Hesk Scivo sends his regards," she explained as a note appeared next to the Muun's no-nonsense business visage. "My--our intervention at Sleheyron is producing fruit. He has wisely steered Undervos Holdings towards more profitable ventures with a little help from contacts within an organization called the Black Sun. The Board rewarded him with chairmanship, and with that came access to certain information. Turns out he found proof that the synthspice trade that Yaxley's company was involved in had an unexpected connection to your old friends within the Reborn Jedi. He said he hopes you would understand the value of such leverage and has extended his thanks by signing some shares of Undervos to a shell company I set up for you. The dividends you earned are...well, they're not small. I never expected being Sith included success in the stock market."

A small half-sneer slipped across Thane's pale lips. "The juxtaposition of our various deeds-" Misdeeds, he did not hesitate to think to himself in a silently grim glimmer of a moment, "-are causing more than just subtle shifts in the galaxy, now. Criminals, politicians, the Jedi - Rift and Reborn - and even empires are taking note of the advent of the new Sith, in one way or another." Another flick of his wrist and a gentle tug with the Force sent another mechanism spinning, and political diagrams swamped the holographic display, the queer pallor of the Sith duo brought ever more into sharp contrast by the rapidly diverging colours. "The authority even the name of our Order carries, and the power we can so easily exemplify, brings both great and small within our influence, whether they even recognise it themselves."

He raised a hand, the exposed mechanical components of his outer fingers twitching and whirring near-silently, and pointed at the graphs and images, his sour smile growing unexpectedly. "This data is another extension of our will, Amare, just as your talents have brought Scivo, the synthspice and the intelligence on the Jedi's sordid hypocrisy into our hands." Thane's eyes flicked to his apprentice, an expression nearing a child-like wonder threatening to tear at his typically dour countenance, and he brought the rogue expression under control. "The slave and errant knight have come a long way since they found one another in an old freighter's cargo hold."

Amare had caught Thane's momentary glance with the celerity of a lightsaber parry. What had been anticipated as just another coarse glare took her by surprise when she instead saw his steely willpower soften for just a moment. She welcomed it and was disappointed that he didn't hold his sweet expression for her just a few seconds more.

"They have," she agreed gently, moving her eyes back to the holoimages, the mundane moment between them quickly wilting away. "They most certainly have." She turned to him again shaking the comforting sentiment aside, thinking further on Scivo's findings, "I think you and Bomoor were right to walk from the Jedi. This evidence proves their hypocrisy. Scivo unfortunately had no names. I wonder who in the Temple is involved, and for how long. Your old masters, perhaps?"

A darker expression, one more familiar in recent months to Amare, now gripped her own master's expression. He did not often speak of Sotah and Thurius to her, but to elucidate on a few key points of his and Bomoor's own Jedi training. It was nearly always with fondness and a certain antipathy for the other Reborn Jedi Masters, but Thane would occasionally slip into melancholy or simply brush the subject away.

"Not every Jedi wades in the same shallow depths as Jundal Quellus or Rynseh Lahan," he said coldly, turning away from Amare to face the display fully once more. "But," he added, slowly and with undisguised contempt, "they must all, ultimately, share the burden for allowing their order to fall so far. As we have shown, it merely takes individuals with clarity of vision and focus to make a stand and step away from the throngs of mindless mediocrity, to challenge the broken order they all to flourish."

The doors to the central corridor slid open and Bomoor’s familiar Ithorian frame entered through it, garbed in one of his more casual synthweave shirts. His eyes brightened, demonstrating a joviality that Thane had observed him affecting in recent days, although he sensed a hidden anxiety buried beneath the cheery composure.

“Ah, I thought I sensed you in here,” his lips on both sides curved into a smile, “I was with Rex in the cockpit and we have nearly cleared Bastion space, thanks to our rather ceremonious escort.”

As he spoke, he moved over to the kitchenette counter and sat upon one of the stools. Angling his head to the holo-display he eyed the network of names and connections and raised an eye stalk.

“Is that the Bastion Document you’re looking at or one of your other projects? You know, it is vindicating to finally have something concrete on GalactaWerks. I wonder how Theon will feel when we tell him we not only struck a blow against the company but also have the means to undermine their power within the Republic.”

His voice went a bit quieter, some of his façade slipping away, “We can tell him about Thendleton too…”

Thane's dour expression following on from the mention of Thurius and Sotah had not softened with his friend's arrival or initial, kindlier face, and he regarded the Ithorian with a cool gaze, the holographic charts illuminating one side of his turned head. "I sense Theon's heart has not changed much since we first met him on Onderon; he will be glad of a comeuppance for Intendant Thendleton, albeit the details might offend his knightly sensibilities." He paused for the briefest of moments and offered a slight, hollow shrug. "You know what these Rift Jedi are like."

Both Bomoor and Amare went to answer in tandem before realising the other was speaking.

Thane's grim apprentice opted to keep her lips pursed shut and let Bomoor do the talking. She decided that when it came to the Rift Jedi, it was better to be seen than be heard.

The Ithorian rubbed his neck and allowed himself a dry laugh, "Yes, I guess we all have some mixed views on their kind. I think he'll have a hard time believing all we have done here so perhaps you are right if we just give him the abridged version of our trip. Still, it will be good to give him some good news."

A voice then called down the corridor from the cockpit, its owner now well-practised at ensuring his tone travelled well in the narrow passageways of the Red Raptor. A light trail of smoke was making its way out of the open doorway from the fore of the ship, likely from Reave's latest cigarra. "The dreadnoughts are peelin' off!" Rex said, his face just about visible as he craned his head round to look down towards the recreational area. "We're only a couple of parsecs out before the border; course is all set for Alba from there!"

A few squawks of complaint came from the source of the billowing smoke and Rex was heard grunting some manner of inaudible curse back at the Jawa. "Reave's real excited, too!" He added, followed by a few more noises of dismay. It was only a few more seconds before the small Tatooinian was seen scurrying out of the cockpit and out of sight, slipping away down an adjoining corridor.

Thane had turned his head slightly to better face Rex as the other Human provided his report, but soon shifted it back to Amare and Bomoor. "This data needs to reach the right eyes. It may be Theon's hands that take the files, but it will be Alliance politicians that pore over and twist it." He first looked to Bomoor and then to Amare, particularly pondering any precise revelations that could be managed via their mutual Muun friend. "How long before they broadcast any of it - and how much will they share? The Alliance Synod will be screaming for heads to roll, for all manner of repercussions... will the Republic even acknowledge its provenance?"

Bomoor stood up and paced over towards them, considering the fact, "That is certainly true. It would be safer if the information was received within the Outer Rim and Republic space at the same time to ensure neither one could accuse the other of manipulation. But it's not like we can reach out through the Reborn Order any more and any of these more underworld connections you have will immediately tarnish the credibility of the data."

"Normally, I would suggest my Nar Shaddaa contact, the Contrarian," Amare stated assuming Thane was about to query her on it. "But I've lost contact with him for quite some time. I don't know if either of you have heard, but I'm told the Smuggler's Moon has gotten even more chaotic since I left. Large-scale riots, industrial sabotage, massacres in the streets. Even the club where I was forced to work got raided. Patrons were shot. One of the girls I knew was disintegrated right on stage. To think, if I never left...that could've been me. Such is the madness that happens when a galaxy is ruled by greed of wealth instead of law and principles."

While relationships between the Ithorian and Nautolan had been more strained of late, Bomoor offered Amare a more kindly look.

"Now, I think we know by now that the Force has a greater purpose for you than that unpleasant place," he gestured about the room, "For all of us in fact. Look at where we are now: offered a chance to shape the galaxy for the better, developing powers that we could have once only imagined. Pity the poor girls left behind but never feel bad about how far you have come."

Amare held little pity for those girls for they had little care for her back when she was a nobody in the club. Rather, she was more focused on the Ithorian's other words.

"'A greater purpose'..." she echoed with a grim countenance. "I am touched by your confidence in my abilities." She turned her gaze squarely upon Thane, her head tipping forward to him slightly whilst her lips curled into a wicked lil' smirk. "Perhaps my master feels I shall achieve that higher purpose as well someday, hm?"

Her tone heavily implied one thing, and one thing only: The Rule of Two. She was testing Thane, clearly attempting to deliberately push his buttons yet again and gauge where she currently stood with him.

As much as she appreciated the value of the trials and travails that contributed to her gradual heightening of power, the strength and intimacy of her relationships with Bomoor and Thane meant as much to her as the Force itself. Such caring, she knew, was not the Sith way, but it bothered her not. Her name, after all, meant love in many languages. Having learned that all life in the galaxy was bound together by the Force, that, to her, made her wonder if there was tangible power to be had by forming deep connections with others blessed by the Force. It was merely a stray thought conceived by her feminine intuition, but it was an intriguing bit of conjecture, nonetheless.

Thane did not rise to Amare's comment. The brief reprieve in his grim mien that had been offered some moments before to his apprentice had no risk of returning, as the twists and turns of the relationships surrounding him darkened his mood. He straightened up and moved to deactivate the display when Rex's voice carried down to them once more.

"Guys!" The pilot's voice had adopted that shriller tone he reserved for situations carrying any ounce of danger he had not meticulously planned for - a tone that was more commonplace than not, it seemed, during his time with the other Raptor crew members.

Thane's eyes passed between Amare and Bomoor with a degree of weariness. More than the others, Thane found the other Human a tiring companion, with unreliable instincts and a poorly-crafted character that was, despite his background, ill-suited to the calamities he floundered between and seemingly sought in his life.

Before the Sith mustered any derisive comment or moved to challenge Rex on his brief interruption, the man spoke again. "We're getting comm'd on a secure channel on a very tight band!" He called, actually prompting the trio to make their way towards the cockpit to stand alongside Rex, who was continuing to fiddle and tweak the controls on the primary console. Reave continued to puff a cigarra stoically to the side. "I almost missed it, 'til I noticed-" Reave kicked Rex hard in the shin, who instinctively raised a fist to the Jawa, but quickly thought better of it, before returning to the console with one hand, whilst caressing his tender shin with the other. "'Til Reave noticed the timing as the second we crossed the formal border. Only three words - Hul, Bruta, Cult." His dark eyes moved casually from the console to regard the others, Bomoor in particular, before he looked down to his work once more. "I, uhh... Well, uhh, even I know enough about you folks. It came with some basic spatial coordinates. Mygeeto."

Thane and Bomoor had talked before about the Ithorian's past, growing up beside his parents on Öetrago for many more years than the average Jedi youngling, meaning he still held many strong memories of his life before the Order. Thane knew the name of Bomoor's father, Bruta, but what relevance it had besides the name of the Vice-Chancellor of the Republic and a likely reference to Axion's cult were troubling. He could sense Bomoor was troubled as he watched Bomoor's eyes transfixed on the middle distance and sensed the conflict within him at the utterance of his father's name.

With a raspy start to his sentence, before finding his usual practiced Basic accent, Bomoor addressed the room, "I get the troubling feeling that someone wants to get my attention. Would a detour to Mygeeto be unreasonable to you all?"

Amare held her tongue and turned her face away to the side so as to partially conceal her gross disappointment that suddenly her plans to race to Alba and make good on her deal for those lightsaber parts she desperately wanted was going to be derailed. She owed Bomoor her life, and thus was bitterly aware it was not her place to object, much as she wanted to. The longer she was without a true lightsaber, the more insecure she was feeling about her future prospects of survival, especially if she had to face the Cult of Axion again, or if the Dark Lord Serus decided it was time to put her to the ultimate life or death test sooner than expected.

"We should set course immediately," Thane replied, barely a second passing between Bomoor's comment and his reply cutting across Amare's thoughts, although he did offer her a brief and wary expression, muscles tightening almost imperceptibly around his eyes. He then turned to Bomoor, mustering some of the former geniality he had held moments before for his companions. If he had any concerns for the appeal, he gave no voice to them.

"Name it what you will," Thane then said, waving a hand almost carelessly as he turned his head towards the navigational display embedded on one side of the cockpit, the icy, crystalline depiction of Mygeeto now expanded upon the screen. "The lazy assassination attempt of a begrudged political faction or the will of the Force-" This second suggestion garnered a more scathing tone from the Caanan. "-but it is too convenient, too personal, to not respond." He glanced back to the others. "They know enough about us to warrant a visit. We will soon decide whether they will have the opportunity to report back to whatever masters they serve."

His eyes looking marginally close to pleading, Rex shuffled his gaze between each of Amare, Thane, Bomoor, Reave and even G2-O7, who had wheeled near-silently into the Red Raptor's cockpit at the mention of spatial co-ordinates, and was already prodding its scomplink towards the navicomputer. When he received little by way of sympathy, although it was plain he had not necessarily expected it, Rex threw his arms up in defeat and spun the pilot's chair back towards the main console. "Setting course for Mygeeto!" He huffed. Under his breath, but intentionally still loud enough for the others to hear, he grumbled, "A dream come true. Miners, bankers, and death by frostbite."

The Nautolan woman was on the verge of seething, and so quietly departed from the room before the others. She wrapped her fingers around her shoto's hilt, anxious to take her mind off her frustrations with more personal training.

Paying no heed to Amare's personal frustrations, Bomoor stepped forward and peered across the void of space before them as Rex hastily adjusted their course towards the crystalline world of the Albarrio sector.

In barely a hollow whisper, he spoke the first word of a question about the man who had bid him take his first steps into this larger world.

"Father..."

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