Welmin's Cantina

[Flamehart]

Strider leaned forward, looking at her curiously.

 

"Surely not much older than I am? I mean I've seen the Old Republic and everything, how far back have you gone?" Strider asked curiously. "And what gathering info and protecting who?"

 

Strider noted the son of Charna and Tepe in the corner of his eye. He had seen the boy once, many years before, however that was in his youth, and he doubted he remembered back far enough to remember Strider when he temporarily served as the boy's guardian, before he vanished once again to deal with personal matters, matters he would tell his fellow friends in time.

[Writer]

A flicker of amusement flashed in Reibe's eyes. "What was it we always used to say?" she asked. "Old enough to know what's wrong with the galaxy, still young enough to do something about it." She laughed softly and turned to observe the young man at the bar. After a moment's observation, she raised her voice.

 

"You are Iarod," she called to him, "are you not?" Without waiting for an answer, she went on, "I haven't seen you since... well, since before you had the ability to remember. Come, sit, talk..." With a teasing smile, she added, "... if you're not intimidated by old age hidden beneath young faces."

[Black Knight of Keno]

Iarod smirked as he heard the voice calling his name. He knew that the Sith Hunters had once been very close with his family and he couldn't deny that they still were. The bounty hunter stood up and picked up his drink, glancing over at the Sith Hunters before heading over and sitting down on an empty seat. As he sat down, he still had the smirk on his face, the same devilishly handsome smirk his father so very often sported, but now they could also see some further details that made him different from his father and mother. Iarod had a short scar below his left eye, sported a rugged stubble that Tepe had removed from his image after the Sith Dominion became his priority and such small things.

 

"You forget that even my own parents are not what they seem" he noted as he twisted in his chair in order to make himself as comfortable as he could get.

"Nonetheless, it is good to see you again, Strider. And you must be Riebe" he said, being like his father to use any information to startle those who knew much and had no inhibitions in gloating about it. He didn't remember Strider, but he knew enough of him and the rest of the Sith Hunters to try to cause an unbalanced feel when he pointed out matters others didn't believe he could remember or know.

[Writer]

Reibe smiled faintly. "Guilty as charged," she confirmed. "And no, I had not forgotten your parents... how could I? For they went through the same torture I and my companions were forced through... so long ago." A flicker of pain flashed in her eyes, but then it was gone. "That sort of thing hurts like nothing you could ever imagine... and the pain leaves its marks on you long after the process is complete. Tepe and Charna are... different in subtle ways than they were when I first came to know them."

 

She shrugged, as if to say, 'it matters little', and smiled at Iarod. "So I hear you've taken up bounty hunting... and that you've gotten quite good at it."

[Black Knight of Keno]

As Reibe spoke of his parents and the Sith Hunter machine, the man grunted. He had heard of the machine as well as about all that had come to pass in order for his parents to go through it.

"You know, my father still has one of your machines. He has locked it deep below a sithspawns' nest on Thule. You could expect such a move from a Sith Lord..." he said with a smirk, knowing the Sith habit of hiding machines which hold some of the greatest secrets in the universe below a wild beast's lair. It was like an unwritten code.

 

"Bounty hunter is such a... strong term" he noted and smiled at the woman's resourcefulness.

"I prefer the term 'tracker'. I handle tracking and discreet problem solving, nothing more" he said with a slight pride of the specific terms. Indeed, he was no ordinary bounty hunter, at least in his mind. He was one of the very few and select members of the Granse Confederacy, which few knew of before or after meeting one of their members. Even fewer knew the names of the members, taking only members knew the others and even then kept no record of them except in the deepest sections of their minds.

[Writer]

"That sounds fantastically... vague," Reibe observed. She'd heard of the Granse Confederacy, but they were hard to get into... even for the HIN (Hunter Information Network). She grinned. "I do love a good mystery." She shrugged, as if dismissing the discussion.

 

"Well..." she said after a moment of silence. "What brings you here? And I mean both of you... Iarod and Strider." Gesturing to Strider, she wondered, "Remembering old haunts?" To Iarod, she speculated, "Visiting a place your father spoke highly of?"

[Flamehart]

"Nice to see Tepe's legacy is still running around about the galaxy. Not causing too much trouble I hope," he said with a grin.

 

"Old haunts, huh? I'm probably nearing the five thousand point by now and you guys think i'm still young enough to go adventuring, what's wrong with you guys?"

[Writer]

Reibe smirked. "I'm not that far behind you, old man," she teased, "but I've still got more than enough energy to go around. What's the difference of a thousand years for us, at any rate? It's not like our bodies age... what's the matter, Strider... you think you've seen all there is to see?" She laughed. "Is sitting at Welmin's and drinking the same old thing your retirement plan?"

[Flamehart]

"I've got all the time in the world, I can mix up the drinks in between the next few thousand years," he said with a big grin. "I'm too old to keep up with you youngsters, I'm just around for when you knuckleheads get yourselves into trouble and need someone who actually knows a thing or two to bust some chops every now and then and lay the road flat for you guys," Strider said teasingly, grinning at Riebe.

[Writer]

"Ai ya!" Reibe exclaimed with a laugh. "The galaxy takes no urging from us to twist into unrecognizable form. Just think of how many changes it's been through from the times of our youth. You at near five thousand, I at near four." She sighed and shook her head. "I sometimes wonder if we are merely the glue that keeps things together... or perhaps the catalyst for greater, deeper changes."

[Flamehart]

"Well, let's just say we've more or less become like the Force..or duct tape. We all have a light side and a dark side and we keep everything together," Strider said with a grin.

 

"Like I said, I'm getting too old to be doing all the work. You gotta get some youngsters to do all this stuff. Only problem with that is, they die alot faster these days," said the Sith Hunter with a strange macabre humor in his tone, grinning.

[Black Knight of Keno]

((Time to bring this thread back into action))

 

In the dark corners of Welmin's Cantina, a figure shifted. The dark cloak around someone who was very familiar with the place opened slightly for a hand to grasp a large mug of blue milk. The mug rose to the hood and tilted until the milk started flowing to the waiting mouth of the person within. The mug was again lowered back to the table and the man relaxed.

 

As there was nothing moe to do, the man turned slightly to see the beings inside Welmin's at that moment. It was quiet. Almost too quiet for the likings of the old patron. From within the hood, two completely white eyes gleamed brightly, even if the man was not an Arkanian, but rather a Lorrdian. A long time and powerful forces had changed his eyes, yet something in the demeanor of the man said he was not the unconquerable evil, but rather a simple old man minding his own business. Not far from him a green-dressed mercenary-like character sat seemingly sipping also on blue milk, something mercenaries rarely did when off duty as this one seemed to be. Those knowing anything about the history of the shrouded man or his personality would know better. They would know better than think he was just an old man and that the green-dressed man was nothing but a mere mercenary. They would know better before or learn it the hard way.

[Writer]

((This time through, I think it's time for some fresh character blood... maybe our old friends will show up eventually, but...))

 

Her clothing was wearing out, loose strands dangling at the ends of her pant legs and her shirt sleeves. It looked as if she might have been wearing them for years, taking them off only to be washed. Due to the lack of a weapons belt or any visible weapons, it might have been assumed that she was nothing more than a refugee, displaced from her home planet and left to wander wherever she could manage.

 

But her ice-blue eyes betrayed a sort of wildness, suggesting this woman in her early thirties was either a hunter... or was being hunted. As she stepped into the doorway, she paused, running a hand through her shoulder-length, wavy blonde hair, and glanced in turn at each of the cantina's patrons. For another moment, she stood there, her eyes half closed as if she were thinking something over. Then, her face brightened in a smile and she entered, moving to the bar and asking softly for a glass of water.

 

"Eh?" Welmin grumbled. "Water? All the drinks you can think of and you ask for..."

 

"Water," the woman repeated. "Yes, if you please."

 

Welmin stared at her in disbelief before opening his mouth to ask, "You mean..."

 

"Just water. You know, like rain in a glass." She smiled disarmingly and Welmin managed his sort of odd smile back. He handed her a glass and she passed him payment, which he handed back.

 

"On the house for the strange young lady," he said. Laughing, the woman pushed it back to him.

 

"No, no," she said. "I insist."

 

And with that, she moved away to a table, glass in hand.

[Black Knight of Keno]

The hooded character watched the young woman enter before gulping down his blue milk. He exchanged a meaningful glance with the green-dressed man before standing up. A waitress droid scurried past to collect his empty mug and told him to have a nice day, as the droid was programmed to. The woman had by this point gotten her glass of water and moved for an empty table. The man followed.

 

Sitting down, the dark figure bowed his head slightly down so she couldn't see his eyes from below the hood.

"You are new around these parts. What brings you to Welmin's?" he asked, his voice deep and had a dark if not even to the point of having a slightly evil twist in it.

"Excuse my asking. I am a long time patron and a ... informal guardian of the place" he explained as if to have the woman calm down even if she was faced with a blunt question like his had been.

[Writer]

The woman smiled as the figure sat down across from her, but she made no effort to speak until he was quite finished, though she wore a knowing smile as if she knew what he was about to say.

 

"I appreciate the explanation," she said lightly. "As to my purpose for being here..." She shook her head. "I was merely passing by, looking for a decent place to collect my thoughts. Welmin's was by far the best I looked in on, so here I am." She extended her right hand to him. "Andra Danning. And you are?"

[Black Knight of Keno]

The figure looked at the woman's hand as it approached and heard her name. A grin appeared on the mans face as he tilted his head up and stared at the woman with his clear white eyes.

"Tepes Dantes" he said and instead of shaking her hand, took it into his and pulled it forwards to kiss it.

 

"No doubt you would know me by another name" he continued as he released the hand and pulled back.

"But that is the name my children use" the man stated as the grin turned into a smile. As he had reached for her hand, his cloak had shifted inadvertently to the side, revealing a lightsaber hanging on his belt. Due to the table she might not have noticed it, but it's still worthy of notice to others in the cantina. But what she did see as the cloak had shifted was that the inside of the cloak was dark crimson and the man's clothing beneath it were eloquently decorated with Sith runes amongst others.

[Writer]

Andra paused thoughtfully. Truth be told, neither the name he had given, nor any other name came to mind immediately upon seeing his face and his apparel. So, she thought it best to explore options before coming to a conclusion as to what to say. For Andra was a precog, capable of seeing five minutes into the future and making her decisions in realtime based on what she found there. So, she fell silent, contemplating her options. Then...

 

She shook her head. "Should I have heard of you?" she asked innocently.

[Black Knight of Keno]

The cloaked man stared at Andra before smirking.

"No, I believe you wouldn't have heard of me. Or at least the name I gave you" he said and removed the hood, revealing a white strip of hair on the front of an otherwise black hair coverage. His gleaming white eyes still stared at her when he calmly leaned forwards.

 

"Let me reintroduce myself. I am Darth Tepe" he said to her with a grin, choosing not to be pompous and start listing his several titles he had gotten during his establishment of the Sith Dominion as the primary evil in the Galaxy. These including Dark Lord of the Sith, Emperor of the Sith Dominion, Supreme Mandalore, Protector of Ossus and so on and so forth. In the end it was a massive style he went by, which he himself couldn't remember completely.

[Writer]

Andra laughed cheerfully, for in one version of the future that she'd looked into, Tepe had listed all his titles. "I am afraid, Darth Tepe that you still find me unaware of the majority of your history. I'm..." She paused, frowning thoughtfully. "I'm... that is, I seem to have missed quite a number of years. Let me see..."

 

After a moment of thought, she nodded. "Last time I was aware of galactic events, Palpatine was Emperor... let's see... it was... a year and a half after the Battle of Yavin, as I recall... possibly two years..."

 

A flicker of surprise passed over her face, but it was soon lost, and she said nothing more.

[Black Knight of Keno]

The Dark Lord gave a chuckle at the mentioned timeline.

"You have missed quite a lot then" Darth Tepe told her before leaning back in his seat.

"Four years after the Battle of Yavin, the Battle of Endor took place with the Rebellion winning over the Empire, destroying the second Death Star along with Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. The Battle of Endor started a chain of events culminating in the formation of the still existing New Republic and led to the rebuilding of the Jedi Order. 19 years after Yavin, the remnants of the Empire and the New Republic brokered for peace. The following year the Sith Dominion began an explosive expansion against the two weak parties who were still deep down hostile against each others" he explained, a smug smile appearing on his face as he told the tale of how the Dominion was born.

 

Tepe glanced at Andra's face briefly before he smirked and leaned forwards.

"Now I control nearly all major planets on the Outer Rim and some very important systems on the Mid Rim. Unchallenged" he told her with a hint of proudness in his voice.

 

Before he continued, however, he twitched his head slightly to the side after prodding her through the Force.

"Tell me ... what are the chances for that" he said but did not let her start before finishing his own sentence with a simple word; "precog"

[Writer]

She had seen his full monologue play out beforehand, and the part of it that had caused her previous look of surprise was that he had correctly determined that she was a precog. But by the time he had actually finished speaking, she was smiling.

 

"You're an intelligent sort of man, I see," she said. "In light of that, I find it readily believable that you could be telling the truth. However, I have only just..." She paused for a few seconds. "I have only just rediscovered the galaxy around me. But since you have so kindly indulged my ignorance, perhaps I had better return the favor."

 

She sat back in her chair. "As I said before, my name is Andra Danning, and I am a genius." In saying this, she was not gloating or bragging. Her words came out as a simple statement of fact. "In the time frame I mentioned before... no, I should start a year before the Battle of Yavin.

 

"I had assembled a team of highly intelligent people, for my mind was full of brilliant ideas for technological advancement. Due to my prior accomplishments, and the prior accomplishments of my team, we were sufficiently wealthy to go for at least five years without any further financial aid. So, we set ourselves up on Imperial Center..." She frowned. "Or is it Coruscant now?" She shook her head. "At any rate, that is where we were until just after the Battle of Yavin. But that is where our trail would have been lost to the general public.

 

"Once word had trickled in of the result of that battle, we were contacted by a woman called Ysanne Isard on behalf of the Emperor himself. A special project, based on ancient technology, long since lost to the galaxy. I was intrigued and spoke with the rest of the Team about it. In the end, we agreed. And so, the Jabos Team packed up and moved shop.

 

"I do not know which planet we were taken to, for it was too great a secret. All I know is that I was shown the ruins of ten ancient machines and asked to reconstruct a functioning version as best I could..."

 

"Let me guess," Tepe interrupted. "Sith Hunter machines?"

 

Andra shrugged. "I do not know what they were. But now that you mention the legends of the Hunters, it makes perfect sense that it would have been just this sort of machine that could have changed them in the ways the stories suggest." She nodded. "At any rate, my team and I set to work as best we could. The machines were in fragmented pieces. There was only one machine that might have been considered salvageable, but even it was not functional.

 

"So I had very little to go on, but I came up with a prototype. Just as I presented the design to my team, Isard came for a visit, bringing with her a contingent of security guards. She said the project was of utmost importance and required more security. I thought it a waste of personnel, but it was made very clear to me that it was not my decision.

 

"At any rate, we began construction of a prototype. It took a month and a half to complete. Upon its completion, I was forced by the chief of security, Captain Vaas Ardin to undergo the process myself, for I was unwilling that any life should be put at risk by my invention. I do not know how long after that process I awoke, but I am certain it was quite some time.

 

"When I awoke, I found myself completely disoriented. Based on the idea that this machine was built from a rough schematic of the Sith Hunter machines, I'd have to say something was different about mine. My machine brought about my precognition, though I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened that caused that sort of change. At first, Captain Ardin kept a passive watch on me, and placed my team under watch as well. I have no doubt he intended to keep them for further testing of the machine, but I don't know if that ever took place. I was drugged and imprisoned within the facility.

 

"Ardin and his men tortured me to discover the extent of my ability. I think I escaped a total of fifteen times, but Ardin and his men had made sure the facility was completely sealed. Though I could escape my cell, I could not leave the facility. So I resigned myself to a more evasive form of rebellion. In whatever spare moments I was allowed, they let me continue smaller experiments I'd been working on before this nightmare project came into being. One of these was a matter transporter.

 

"Thanks to my new precognitive abilities, I was able to hide the most functional version of that technology from the guards. And when I had a reasonable number of successful attempts, I planted a virus in the facility's computer system. And then, I used my new device and got out... though not without pain."

 

She paused and smiled faintly, tugging at the collar of her shirt, pulling it down enough to reveal a bloody scab. "Ardin shot me as I was in transit. I could have dodged the shot, but I looked into my future and tried many different options. But there was no direction I could move that did not result in some form of catastrophe on the other side of my jump. So I took it. And now, from speaking with you, I learn that my jump was not entirely without incident after all."

 

With a thoughtful frown, she concluded. "Not only have I been transported through space, but I have found myself transported through time as well. The events that I have just related to you took place at roughly the same time as this Battle of Endor you mentioned, and it has only been a month since I used my device. I suppose it had to have been the difference between Human DNA and inanimate objects that tampered with the results of the transport."

[Black Knight of Keno]

Darth Tepe sat silently for the rest of the story before she revealed the scar. He only smirked at the story and shook his head. The scar was nothing if it was the only physical pain she had endured due to her creation.

"The Sith Hunters or the machines that created them are not objects to be exploited" he told her, from his own experience mostly.

 

"So... The Imperials found the Watchtower. Intriguing. It took me years to even get a hint of the whereabouts due conventional means and the only way I eventually found it was due to a massive surge from it's location that rippled through the Force" Tepe noted before grinning.

"Riebe would never allow the Imperials to get their hands on the machines, however. I wonder if she herself knows of this ... perversion - so to say - of the Sith Hunter legacy" he said, more to himself than to or at Andra.

 

"Maybe you will one day meet her. For your sake I hope you will not, or it will not be a pleasant conversation nor will it be without pain" Tepe told Andra before smirking. She knew before it happened what was to happen. He knew it as well as she, but he did it nonetheless to prove a point.

"However, it is disappointing you were only shot as a result of going through a copy of the Sith Hunter machine. Your voyage was without pain. I went through the real machine. Observe and learn" he said before placing his index and middle fingers on her forehead, forcing emotions, feelings and memories of the ordeal into her mind. It was enough to make anyone tremble in a cold sweat unless they broke off the simple connection by pulling their head away from the fingers.

[Flamehart]

A man in a dark, black cloak rested in the corner, his eyes rested firmly on the two conversationalists. He had short cut brown hair, navy blue eyes, and a young face, too young almost. However he carried an air of superiority and strength about his expression. He watched the two with severe interest, at the mention of the words "Sith Hunter" and "Watchtower." They were familiar to him, although why, neither would know if they took notice of him. He was not a familiar face, despite his familiarity with the Legacy of the Sith Hunters.

 

"What would they want with my master's legacy..." he thought to himself, watching them through his peripheral vision.

[Writer]

"I never said it wasn't painful," Andra countered coldly. "You well know the pain of undergoing a form of genetic modification if you have indeed gone through the original machine. One of my team members told me I was unconscious for almost a full month after the process." She leaned forward. "But you speak of the Hunter Leader as if you knew her personally... oh." She looked mildly surprised. "You do."

 

She half-turned to face the door as a much more familiar face came into view there. Reibe Vailar stood in the doorway for a moment, hands on her hips before entering and coming to sit with Tepe and Andra. "What does he?" she asked.

 

Andra's eyes flicked from Tepe to Reibe and back several times in rapid succession. Then, she said. "He knows you."

 

Reibe smiled faintly. "I should say he does." To Tepe, she asked, "How's life? How's Charna?"

[Flamehart]

The man's eyes narrowed at the entrance of Reibe.

 

"If she's here...then why isn't he?" he thought to himself. He seemed almost disappointed suddenly, watching the now three cantina inhabitants even closer.