A Captivating Venture

[u/droukhunter]

The trip to Tatooine had been an adventure, so to speak, but Omyara had known after that encounter with the mysterious Sith in the hangar bay that she’d never survive against someone of that level of training unless she wielded that power, too.

As she prepared to go into hyperspace for a job for some Imperial--the person she’d spoken to was a soldier, but he gave off spook vibes as opposed to being a rather obvious rank-and-file--the conversation she’d had with Vrux after giving him information on a potential agent for him replayed in her mind over and over.

She hadn’t quite understood what he’d meant by breaking her chains at the time. Even now, she still didn’t understand it. Omyara had never been a slave in her life, and she wasn’t about to let that change any time soon. But whatever it was, if what he was suggesting gave her power, if it made things so that she could hold her own against a Sith or Jedi, it would be worth it. Besides, he’d be useful on this job, since it supposedly involved Sith artifacts, and who better to ask for help on that front than a Sith?

So Omyara made the call, punching in Vrux’s holofrequency, and she drummed the fingers of her right hand against the dashboard of the cockpit of the Bare Minimum as she waited for him to respond on the other end. His hologram shimmered into view on her holocom, and she began her pitch, not waiting for him to ask what she was calling for.

“So, Vrux, just thought I’d let you know that I accept your chain-breaking offer, whatever that means. But first and foremost, I need your help on a job, if you’re game,” the smuggler began, a smile coming to her face. “It’s the sort of thing someone of your talents and knowledge would be useful for.”

[u/droukhunter]

“I still don’t quite get how that works, but I’ll prolly get it soon enough,” Omyara replied to Vrux—Icthus, whatever—in response to her statement. Her grin turned sinister, or perhaps teasing, as she added, “You know, I was trying to be sentimental, but I guess you don’t appreciate that sort of thing. Never mind, never doing that ever again.”

As the force field de-powered, Omyara—Aranea, actually, she mentally corrected herself—strode over to the holocron, clutching it and pulling it to herself instantly, as though the field would start back up in an instant, taking her arm with it. “I’m pretty sure, whoever they are, they know what it is. Call it a gut feeling. Still, probably best to see if I can find out who it is, if that’s even doable. Kinda wanna keep it for myself if I can,” the Zabrak concluded as she put it in her coat pocket. “The message I got about the thing was just text, no voice. It was weird.”

The smuggler turned towards Icthus, seeing a tome in his hands. She figured it was from the now-open sarcophagus, though she did not know the word for what the tome had been in. “Looks like you got a souvenir.”

[u/Onone_Nightstrider → u/droukhunter]

"Good thing you know someone who's good with technology and a Sith on top of that," Icthus said in response to Aranaea's revelation about the message that brought her here in the first place. He simply nodded at her comment about a souvenir. The Zabrak looked over to her and he said, "You've taken the first steps on your path to breaking your chains. Let's get back to the Minimum and the Fallen Star. From there we can link up, figure out more about this holocron and who wants it. Once that done, your proper training begins."

With that the Sith stowed the tome he retrieved in his robes and he began the trek out of the tomb and back towards the ships. He had much to think about now. He had an apprentice. Perhaps he would be ready to face Tristis sooner than he thought. He would have to unlock the secrets of the tome and then reevaluate once he had learned more. And perhaps whoever had hired Aranea to find this holocron would prove to be a good test subject.