Peace Is a Lie

[kallig]

WHO: Altair Kallig & Open
WHERE: Altair's Calibration Room
WHAT: Strangely enough, he's gotten to explore his own headspace before... This time it's worse.
WHEN: During the Calibration event!
WARNINGS: Abuse, torture, violence, death, betrayal, xenophobia, mass-death, cults, murder... Will add if anything else pops up.

It appears to be a tomb of some sort. It's dusty and dark and the air feels hard to breathe in, like the room's been sealed off for centuries.

While there are several sarcophagi, there it one that is open. Inside it, there is a holocron, a mask, an upright cup full of suspicious liquid, and a dualsaber. And while those are perhaps the items that stick out the most, there are several other things that might look just as interesting if one looks around.

A broken bottle lays shattered in a corner, glinting in the light of the torches on the wall, a bit of blood smeared on the shards of glass. On a shelf full of human bones lays a crude embroidery, some bloodied bandages, and a doll of some kind of monster.

On the floor beneath the shelf, a blaster pistol lays partially hidden beneath some rubble.

Glancing around, more bizarre or downright frightening items can be found- there's a broken holding cell, a glowing vial of some sort of chemical, a computer chip, golden robes, a pair of broken puppets, a goat-like doll, a empty chemical canister of some kind, an idol that looks like a bird another mask, a glowing purple crystal, and also a planetary status monitor of some kind.

On the far side of the room, there's a throne. Compared to everything else, it seems rather new. Scattered around the throne lays more items- a broken droid, a broken sniper rifle, a broken headband commonly worn by Twi'lek women, and a crown.

Behind the throne, should anyone care to look, there is a torn Ascendancy banner.

Altair himself was off in a corner, examining some trinkets.

Comments

[doubled_speed]

"Good. Because you deserved to survive. You're touch, Altair. And nothing else could matter than that," Tommy points out.

But then he's grinning and winking.

"You're a survivor. You've survived worse than them and you'll keep doing so!"

[kallig]

"I'm not sure if I'm tough or just stupid enough to not quit."

Maybe a bit of both.

"You're right though. I survived them, and I survived worse than they could ever be. And my life is not only my own any more, so I'll continue to survive whatever the world throws at me."

Part of him is still the young man who just wanted to open a shop and start a family. But obviously the world had a different plan in mind, and Altair couldn't go back to who he used to be.

Not that he's nearly as mature as he sometimes tries to appear.

"Would you like to see a good memory too? I'm sure there must be a few in here."

[doubled_speed]

"If you've got them, I don't mind sharing," Tommy offers, his voice gentle, and he's smiling a little.

[kallig]

"The throne itself, if you don't mind some violence. And it is bitter-sweet rather than outright happy," Altair said, pointing toward the throne.

"Or the chemical canister. Though that one's a bit sappy."

Given that it was from the first time he'd truly fallen in love with someone, rather than one of his ill-fated crushes.

[doubled_speed]

Sappy? Ew. He'll pass. Tommy moves and flops himself down in the throne.

[kallig]

Altair and a woman of some other alien race are in a hall lit up in red, outside a door. From the other side of the door there's a man ranting.

"My lords, his Master was corrupt! He is corrupt! Without Sith tradition, we are nothing!"

Altair opened the door, and headed into the room, just as a heavily armored man on one of the thrones in the room spoke, "And what are you suggesting we do about it?"

"You know what the situation requires. Order must be preserved. Punishment meted out. If we are to conquer our enemies, Zash's former apprentice must die."

"I'm flattered you talk about me to all your friends, Darth Thanaton," Altair said, as he moved toward the older Sith, while the woman with him remained by the door, standing with her arms crossed, merely watching the situation.

"Our talk concerns the future of the Sith order! A future without you!" The older Sith- Thanaton said, as he turned to face Altair.

"Then why haven't you killed him yet?!" One of the men on the thrones called, sounding impatient.

"You know as well as I do, these things require the proper rites," Thanaton responded, looking toward the other Sith.

"The Kaggath is a playground game. Murder has no rules."

"The Kaggath is an honored tradition of the Sith! Tulak Hord competed! Marka Ragnos! Ludo Kressh!"

The heavily armored Sith spoke again, "The question stands: Why has this apprentice, this child, proved impossible for you to kill?"

"It's simple," Altair said, "I beat him at his own game."

"Don't mock me," Thanaton hissed, turning to Altair again, as the impatient Sith turned to one of his fellows to speak, "I swear, if you don't silence Thanaton, I will!"

"I will not be betrayed. I will not die. And when I've killed this slave, you will all answer for it."

Thanaton pulled his lightsaber then, and Altair pulled his pike from where it rested on his back. The battle between the two was fierce, both men fighting desperately, the blades clashing over and over, though it was obvious enough that Altair was gaining the upper hand. They were both fighting for their right to survive.

And it ended with Thanaton down on his knees, and Altair above him with his lightsaber.

"No," Thanaton said, "I won't be defeated. I can't be!"

A few of the watching Sith moved in their chairs. Some leaning back, others watching intently.

Thanaton got to his feet, sending a flash of Force lightning at Altair, who easily deflected it with a hand. Another zap, deflected just as easily, Altair approaching the old Sith again, and the man responded by conjuring up a Force storm, centered on Altair. The electricity surrounded him, and it was obviously painful if the way he cried out was anything to go by.

The electricity surrounded him, and for a moment, it almost seemed like Thanaton had gotten the upper hand- then the storm around him broke, as four ghostly figures appeared behind him, turning to smoke soon after, but as Thanaton conjured more electricity, this time Altair was prepared- he lashed out with the Force, flinging the old Sith clean across the room and into the wall hard enough to crack it, and the cracking noise that follows as Thanaton is pinned to his walls was the sound of him being choked as he clawed at his throat.

As he dropped to the floor, he pulled his lightsaber and ran at Altair with the blade raised- only to be stopped mid-strike.

Thanaton dropped his lightsaber, the blade flickering off, and the pressure Altair was putting on him through the Force forced him down on all fours- Altair letting up once he was down, thinking that he might have done enough, humiliated him enough in front of his Council buddies.

Not quite though, as Thanaton tried to draw up more power for another attack- only for the shock of lightning from Altair to beat him down again. Finally they were left with the old man trying to crawl away, whimpering, crying, and three other Sith have left their chairs- one spoke, "I'm sorry, Thanaton."

And with that, he snapped the old Darth's neck, and Thanaton laid dead on the Council chamber floor.

"Good riddance to him," The impatient Sith said, haughtily, and the heavily armored one snapped back; "He was a better Sith than you give him credit for, Ravage."

"Let's hope his successor is as worthy," The Sith who'd broken Thanaton's neck said, and moves to gesture at one of the thrones, looking at Altair, "My Lord. Your seat."

Altair looked genuinely surprised for a moment, and then put a hand to his chest and bowed and managed a "My Lords, I'm... I'm truly honored. I was not expecting this at all."

"You just killed a Dark Council member in fair combat. What did you expect?" The heavily armored one said, only for Ravage to speak again- or yell, rather.

"He's only a Lord! You can't put a Lord on the Dark Council!"

"Quiet, Ravage!" The armored one snapped, "He's earned his place."

The Sith the turned to Altair, and spoke, "By order of the Dark Council and in light of your reputation as a master of the Dark side, you are now Darth Nox!"

Altair bowed again, briefly, and moved to his throne, climbing up the few steps, and sitting down, as the others did the same.

The heavily armored Sith spoke once more, "You are head of the pyramid of Ancient Knowledge. You are charged with keeping the mystical knowledge of the Sith and guarding the secrets of our Order. With us, you are ruler of all the Sith, and answerable only to the Emperor himself."

"I will do my best to live up to my new position," Altair replied, shifting in his seat, which looked to be a few sizes too big for him- there was probably space enough for three of him to sit comfortably together, and the arm rests near reached midway up his upper arms. If he leaned back, the people sitting next to him probably wouldn't see him.

"Never trust the humble ones," Ravage commented.

"Our business here is concluded," The Sith who had first recognized Altair's right to be on the Council said, "You would do well to meet with your followers on Dromund Kaas and ensure their loyalty."

---

And then the memory faded away, leaving Tommy and Altair back in the space that was very much suited to Altair's personality.

"No matter how much time passes, I think I'll always remember that day well."

[doubled_speed]

"So... was that a good thing?" Tommy asks, looking a bit.. uncomfortable. He's not so good with casual murder these days as he might have been when he was captured and being tortured. "Or did you just... get a guy killed for nothing?"

[kallig]

"At that point in time, Thanaton had been trying to kill me for... I want to say about a year, maybe a year and a half?"

Not that he took any delight in killing Thanaton. He'd respected him. But he hadn't exactly been given a choice, either. It was kill him or die himself.

"He succeeded once. I only survived due to the ghosts I had with me, because he didn't understand my bond with the dead. And once he figured out I survived, he made it his mission in life to try and finish me off. He killed my apprentices. Hounded me and my crew across the galaxy. And he sabotaged the war effort, sacrificed our people, to try and squash a single person."

Things had been chaotic to say the least.

"Not because of something I'd done- but because of my first master, Zash. He hated her. And he wanted to purge all that had belonged to her- that included me- because he saw her, and me, as a rot eating away at the Sith Order."

Zash, admittedly, had been just that. But Altair had been willing to be loyal to Thanaton, up until he tried to kill him, up until he killed his people.

"It's a good memory because when Thanaton lost to me, and Mortis recognized my right to take Thanaton's seat on the Council, I was given a way to protect my people. Protect the Empire. And try to change it for the better."

[doubled_speed]

"How do you rot away the Sith Order? Buy giving to charities or something?"

Because all he can tell from what he saw was that Sith weren't nice. Which didn't follow for him because CLEARLY Altair was a great guy. The man had, despite leaving the hospital, healed him. Helped him deal with his arm.

[kallig]

"The Sith have a very careful order they've spent thousands of years cultivating. It's resulted in a society where anyone who isn't Force-sensitive is expendable, aliens like yours truly are barely seen as sentient, and you're expected to kill to survive. Above all though, Sith are contradictory creatures."

They truly were. There were as many different Sith philosophies as there were Sith, and everyone did things just a little different.

"My master- while I hope she's rotting in the Void- was a true example of what a Sith is. Cunning, intelligent."

He had to admit that much about Zash, however much she had broken him in a way none had done before or since.

"Thanaton just didn't like her, because she wasn't as into tradition as he was. And because he hated her..."

He didn't think he needed to explain that one. Because he hated Zash, he wanted Altair dead too, for being Zash's apprentice.

[doubled_speed]

Because he hated her, he hated Altair, perhaps without even knowing him. Talk about bullshit.

"Yeah, sometimes guilt by association happens. It blows. A lot. I'm sorry that you were put through that shit, though.

[kallig]

"It was scary while it was happening. But after I beat Thanaton, and became a Dark Councilor, I got the chance to help choose the Empire's future. That meant a lot to me. Meant that I could protect my crew, that I could fight for my people. It meant that I didn't have to be so afraid that the world would come crashing down any more."

That was why it was a good memory. He regretted having to fight Thanaton. He would have wanted him to live, had it been up to him.

But he couldn't grieve when it had been a good thing. He could only move on.

"Ravage continued to be an pain in the ass even after I joined though. Ranting and raving like a madman, getting more shrill the angrier he got..."

[doubled_speed]

There is always a need to be afraid that the world is going to come crashing down around you. Or perhaps that's just Tommy's paranoia speaking. Probably.

"Ravage? That's a horrible name."

[kallig]

"Oh, I'm sure he was terribly proud of it. Most Sith are proud when they get their Sith names, I was too, when Marr gave me mine. But I agree."

Altair had always thought that Darth Whine would have been more fitting, given that it was the only thing the man was capable of. Whined during his fight with Thanaton, whined during Malgus' betrayal and sat quaking in a bunker rather than put on his big boy pants and fight like Altair had done, and whined some more later on, too.

"He headed the Sphere of Expansion and Diplomacy, but the only way he could think to do it was by enslaving people. It was, quite honestly, a pain to clean up after Ravage's many messes."

[doubled_speed]

"That was the guy in charge of diplomacy?" Tommy asks, groaning. Listen, he isn't big on diplomatic solutions, but even he can tell that's a bad idea.

[kallig]

"Ultimately he was the one calling the shots there, yes."

Not that Altair and Marr had let him do as he pleased. Altair had been very clear to Marr that he was the only one he needed to trust- and that the two of them together could press the rest of the Council into line. And they'd achieved much success that way.

"I'd do a better job than him, really. I'd do it better than him after being the center of attention at ten parties, and with both hands tied behind my back."

That was an attempt at humor.

"Still all the rage, you know, even if I have gotten old."

[doubled_speed]

okay, that earns a brief snort of laughter.

"Yeah, we both know you're the party guy. Should I call you Darth Partier?"