Open Log

[kallig]

WHO: Altair Kallig & You
WHERE: Greenhouse, Exploring
WHAT: First thing's first when coming to new situations- ensuring survival.
WHEN: First day (green house), and second day after arrival (exploration)
WARNINGS: Some introspection about the death of a planet, but nothing beyond that.


[Greenhouse]

Survival depended on many things. Water. Food. A willingness to continue on despite it all.

Not too long ago, the Sith had watched the death of an entire world. He'd watched a world and its inhabitants be devoured, helplessly, from orbit. He'd felt a great shudder through the Force, deep and chilling, heartbreaking. Here, that didn't matter. Imperial deaths, his own feelings on the matter, they would have to wait. For he was on another destroyed world now- there to return it to how it had been.

For now, that didn't matter much.

For now, his own survival sat prettily at the top of his list of priorities.

His trek had seen him arriving at a glass building- a greenhouse of some sort? Seemed like.

Another Data Point waited inside, and with no hesitance, reached out and touched it.

A brief flicker of fear flashed through him at the second's immobility as information was jammed in there with all his other knowledge, before it settled once he realized he could move. And as expected, the Data Point had come with information. A little different, but no more frightening or shocking than a Sith relic or some screaming ghost. Nothing ventured, nothing gained-- not a motto he often followed, but when he did, it tended to serve well enough. As it had, now.

With this new information, he moved farther into the greenhouse. Navigating well despite the veil that covered his eyes, only peeking up here and there to ensure he wouldn't trip.

A plant with leaves of a glossy black caught his attention, comically large. Buds along the stem were unripe vegetables, his brain told him, but that wasn't his focus as of just now- the leaves were sturdy, tough- almost leather-like, and large enough to be of use- grabbing his dualsaber off his back, he cleanly sliced through where a leaf connected to the thick stem- doing this several more times, until he had more than a few.

He sat, and began folding- a makeshift bag to carry food in, making it easy to transport.

His own first, then several more to leave behind. Surely he wouldn't be the only one wishing to haul food off somewhere else- and while he was there, he might as well do the strangers around him a kindness.

Secretly. Privately.

A Sith Lord gets a reputation for being good, he loses all respect, after all.



[Exploration]

Even as a member of the Dark Council, even as a Sith, crowds of any kind were uncomfortable things. It reminded him of being surrounded when he was a slave, of being surrounded when he was an acolyte on Korriban, and it was honestly claustrophobic.

So, makeshift bag full of edible fruits and vegetables in hand, dualsaber on his back, Altair wandered.

Past what seemed to be a hospital- no thank you, he had thought. Abandoned hospitals seemed like the sort of place you could catch some long dead disease. Like the Dark Temple on Dromund Kaas, except less fun. Past other buildings.

To the power plant- drawing his attention- power was necessary for life. Still. Someone else's headache today- perhaps his, tomorrow.

Eventually he found himself a good, open area. Safe enough it seemed, and deserted for the moment.

He put his bag full of food down, and focused. Drawing on the Force, he put his focus to merely levitate anything around him. Rocks, fallen branches, various debris.

It wasn't difficult. Such small things. Still, it felt... Different.

Weaker.

Something was wrong with part of his connection to the Force, he could tell. It would require further testing...

Comments

[kallig]

"I can imagine. In my experience, humans are very quick to dismiss even other humans, for the most trivial of reasons."

He couldn't exactly claim much unity among aliens, either, but he was uniquely experienced with humanity's discord, from watching his fellow Councilors bicker among themselves, dismiss each other for the strangest reasons, from wording to whose legacy had lasted longer, to the worlds they happened to have been born on. Anything they felt made them superior.

"Either way, you won't be getting any trouble over your accent from me. As for where I'm from... Sure, let's go with that."

Altair was fairly certain his accent had been quite different, when he was younger. But he had changed it, to try and fit in better with the Sith, back when he was young and scared and naive enough to think that adjusting his accent to something more palatable to others within the Empire would help at all. He supposed the accent had just ended up sticking after that.

[thrawnsaide]

"I would say that's pretty accurate. Coming from Wild Space and then living in the Imperial Core Worlds for some time has taught me to keep an open mind something they didn't really approve of either." He replied with a grin. He was quite proud of himself for standing out. If he could find a small way to cause some mischief and shake up things a bit he would do it. It would serve them right with their old stuffy ways of things should run.

"I'm Lieutenant Eli Vanto. Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner," he responded.

[kallig]

"I imagine not. An obedient mind tends to be preferable to an open one. Open minds come up with ideas of their own, after all, and where there is an open mind, surely pandemonium is to follow."

There was humor to his voice, subtle, but definitely present. It was obvious that he was not the sort of person who subscribed to such stuffy ways of thinking.

"Lieutenant Vanto, then," He said, giving a subtle nod of his head, rather informal so far as greetings went, but polite nonetheless, "I am called Kallig. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, despite the strange circumstances."

[thrawnsaide]

"My one friend to a degree encourages the thinking outside the box. Between the two of us we can cause quite a commotion. A Wild Space hick and a nonhuman officer working for the Imperial Navy. It was a shake up to their old ways."

Eli offered his gloved hand to shake in greeting. "Likewise, Kalig. I am honored to have met you."

[kallig]

Nonhuman officer. So far as he knew, that was not common in the Imperial military he knew. He knew that Intelligence had nonhumans working for them, even the science bureau, but so far as being in positions to gain any sort of rank? Especially one where they could encourage thinking outside of the box? Not so much.

After all, even within the Sith, aliens like himself had been rare, hardly accepted, and the Empire followed the ways of the Sith closely. Only he and Darth Karrid had made it onto the Council, and Karrid had been swept off of the board irritatingly quickly, her seat taken by Darth Acina, leaving Altair to yet again be the only alien Councilor.

There was a thoughtful look on his face, though it was mostly hidden by his veil, as he reached to shake Eli's hand, a quick but firm handshake, "Tell me, Lieutenant. What year is it, exactly, where you are from?"

After all, if people could be pulled here from different universes all together, then it was hardly a stretch of the imagination to think that different times was an option, too.

[thrawnsaide]

"Emperor Palpatine is ruler of the Galaxy. There's a whispering of a Rebellion cropping up and he's starting to get concerned of them. Our task for the most part had to deal with dealing with pirates.

It was unheard of though having a nonhuman in the Imperial Navy, but some reason my friend gained the Emperor's interest. Let alone the fact that he gained military rank quickly to Grand Admiral. It caused an uproar for most and they were constantly trying to find ways to court marshal him. He always won.

Yet....things started to get really intense when these Rebels started to become more of a problem. We were expected to do more then deal with pirates and do go through extreme measures to get the results he wished for."

Eli slowly explained. He didn't bother mentioning how alot of the hate toward his friend also fell on him as well and how it hurt his career. He was also reluctant to admit how uncomfortable he felt with how dark the Imperial were becoming.

[kallig]

"All this is unknown to me. The future, then, from where I stand. The Empire I know has... No Emperor, any longer. The Empire I know, is also the Sith Empire. The one you speak of sounds... Different."

Nonhumans in positions of leadership in the Navy, rebellions. That was not his time. Things had started to change for the better after Malgus' betrayal on Ilum, and most had started to see that the Empire was losing soldiers faster than they could replace them. But change was slow, and for the most part, things remained much the same as they had been.

He could sense discomfort within the other man too, though the reason was difficult to pinpoint.

"Had you not recognized my use of the Force, I would have assumed we were from different worlds entirely."

[thrawnsaide]

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. This sudden revelation was indeed unsuspected. But then he wasn't even sure what place they were even at. Could this place affect different times and bring other worlds together? That was unheard of.

"I'll admit I had been skeptical if it was the Force. I know that people have various abilities to do things that might seem like the Force but isn't. Nor had I ever seen it practiced before. All Jedi were supposedly killed off. The only one I knew to have had the Force was Darth Vader."

[kallig]

He could sense his surprise. Had the truth not been all around them, had the truth not been in his words, his explanation of a different time, Altair might have reacted the same way.

"I see. I know a few hundred Sith Lords who would be very happy, knowing that the Jedi were killed off. Actually, make that each and every Sith throughout history."

After all, the Jedi had tried to wipe them out, as much as they claimed to want peace. Ashara had once told him that she would have murdered every Sith, that the death of all of them, was the only path to ensure that peace lasted. But then, the Sith had been much the same. It was unfortunate that they could not find ways to overcome their differences in other ways.

Of course, Altair had killed quite a lot of Jedi and was continuously annoyed at the way the Jedi tried to scrub Sith knowledge from the world, trying to purge their very history. For all his rationality, being Sith was the one and only thing Altair had ever been proud of.

"Myself included."

[thrawnsaide]

It was his turn to express genuine surprise. He should have realized that it could have been a possibility that he was a Sith. But weren't there people who just had the Force and not trained? He wasn't sure. This whole Force buisness confused him.

The new knowledge didn't scare him. He was perhaps more curious then anything. Darth Vader was someone he feared and considered unapproachable. One never knew who was going to die by his fist. He often wondered how his friend managed to escape that fate from him.

The other seemed to be quite proud of the fate of the Jedi and his hand in it. "So perhaps our worlds seem to be similar just handled different?"

[kallig]

"It is certainly not impossible. It could merely be that we are from different times, as well. Being Sith teaches you a thing or two about having an open mind."

Surprisingly enough. He knew that Sith had a reputation for being violent brutes, for having a very set way of thinking. In his experience, while there certainly was people like that, many Sith were willing to see things from different angles. And many Sith were open to ideas some would claim were impossible.

"Either way, I should have liked to see the Jedi perish. For all that they preached peace, they certainly hounded us Sith across the galaxy, and stole our very history from us."

He was not human, nor one of the pureblooded. But he was Sith. And he was proud of that fact. So the Jedi had stolen his history as well. After all, it had turned out that one of his ancestors had been Sith- proud, noble, ruthless. Ancient history, and Altair had that ancient blood running through his veins as well.

"Were I come from, the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic are at war. Sort of."

Surely, things had to change.

Altair tilted his head down, his pose one of a man in deep thought. Surely the war didn't continue to rage. Not after Ziost.

"They were, at least. Maybe still are. And I am here- unable to fight to defend my Empire."

[thrawnsaide]

"I believe we should do what's best for the time being in the name of our Empire. While they may be different we can still serve them to our best abilities here. Eventually our purpose for being here will reveal itself. Or eventually we will be found and returned home."

Eli responded in a more confident tone. It was all he could offer with out dwelling on the what ifs and worrying about what was going on at home. It was best to focus on now and what to do.

[kallig]

"Easy to say. Harder in practice. And the notion of there being a purpose to anything that happens to me flew out the airlock years ago."

The constant chaos, the twists in fate's design. The Force might have a will, but to follow it blindly led only to pandemonium.

"Still, a Sith is nothing if not pragmatic," He said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "And I'm certainly not going to lay down and die. I intend to cling to life, even here, until I can get back home. I have things to do there. People to murder. You know- Sith-y things."

He gave a shrug, and a halfhearted gesture of a hand. He was neither aggressive nor demanding, very much unlike a Sith. But he was still Sith. So whether or not his statement was the truth or a joke was difficult to tell.

"Your determination is admirable, though. I imagine it'll serve you well in whatever challenges lie ahead."

That, at least, was delivered in a tone that suggested it was a compliment, even if the words themselves might seem somewhat patronizing.

[thrawnsaide]

Eli had to resist rolling his eyes a bit at the Sith's comments. They were a little hard to swallow, but at least this one was more tolerable verses the one he knew back at home. He wouldn't have even been acknowledged. Not to mention he hardly knew anything about the Force or what Sith did.

He was reminded a bit of the Chiss he worked with back at the Ascendancy with the way they thought and handled things.

"I'm afraid that the ways of the Force will be forever lost with me and what you do. Yet, should you need help in some way seek me out. I wasn't expecting to see people from our world even though it's different....but it would be wise to keep those from our world as a possible ally."

[kallig]

"... You do know that you may be the first to invite a Sith to seek you out," Altair commented, some amusement clear in his voice, amusement that became clearer, as he covered his mouth to hide a smile and a small huff of laughter.

Different Empires, indeed. In his time, no Imperial would ask a Darth to seek them out for help. No Imperial would dare to anything but wrap their words up in niceties and hope that fortune favored them, that they wouldn't leave a meeting with a high-ranking Sith in pieces.

But here Eli was, asking him to seek him out, should he need any help.

His words did make sense, too.

"Possible ally. Indeed, there is truth to your words."

He extended a hand toward him, for a handshake, "... Altair. That is my first name. You may refer to me by it if you wish."

[thrawnsaide]

Eli gave a sheepish grin as he in return took the extended hand to shake. "Everyone always implied I was different with how I handled and viewed things. So why not add offering my aide to a Sith to the list?"

If they had been back home Altair could have dug around in Eli's files on the holonet and saw history of what he's done and the many possible court-martials he had been put under due to being aide to his grand admiral. No, he wasn't your average Imperial.

While he was different and it was used against him, he also liked to use it to his advantage as well. Thrawn's guidance had also helped with that. He felt forming connections with Altair would be necessary and for now the other appeared to humor him with it.

[kallig]

"I don't think being different is necessarily a bad thing," Altair commented, as he pulled his hand back, "But I do imagine it invites a lot of trouble."

He was speaking from experience there- after all, he was quite different for a Sith himself. An alien for one, and preferring not to kill people for the slightest mistake second. He was certainly of the dark side, but the ways he was different tended to invite a lot of trouble indeed.

"You remind me of my friend Talos, a little. He was different too. Of course, for him there was merit to hanging around with a Sith like myself."

Similar interests, for one.

"... Still. You may seek me out, as well, should there be anything you need assistance with. Or simply to chat. I would love to hear how our Empires differ from each other. I am a collector of knowledge at heart, I'm afraid, and there are no tombs to go digging through for ancient secrets here."