boxofmisfits | The Lover and the Best Friend

"I wouldn't. I know what it's like to be poor," Altair said, with a small smile. He'd been dismissive of them at first, but they'd all sort of grown on him. He let their money circulate within the cult itself, and very rarely did he ask anything of them. And never without giving something in return. He said nothing about all that though.

As soon as the shuttle was attached to the ship, he got up, and put his veil back on.

It might seem like he was putting himself at sort of a disadvantage, but it was easier to focus on his surroundings with it on.

"I wasn't going to send you in ahead."

That might be the typical Sith thing to do. He was not a typical Sith.

"Thrawn would kill you if you did," Eli replied, with a smirk.

He stood up, drawing his blaster and headed for the airlock. Counting to three, he opened the passage, into the freighter.

The scene before them was one of death. The smell hit Eli first, almost making him gag. It was like a slaughterhouse, with gibs and bits of gore strewn over the floor, blood covering the walls. It was almost hard to tell they had once been human.

Eli could only hope there were survivors. Or at least, someone to interrogate. "We should try getting to the comm station. There might be a log."

"Probably."

The stench of death that hit them was sure something. His eyes were covered, but he didn't need to see it to know what it looked like. He could sense it all. These people hadn't been murdered so much as butchered. Even Sith would probably balk at the extent of it.

Distasteful. He couldn't help but frown.

Altair couldn't sense any survivors though, not anywhere near them, at least. As they moved, it might change. For now, he didn't reach too far, focusing on the area around them to keep them safe from any nasty surprise that might be lurking.

"Understood."

He moved ahead, on guard, and keeping a few steps ahead of Eli- his lightsaber in his hand, ready to be activated at a moment's notice, rather than on his back.

Eli couldn't help but glance at that lightsaber. Granted, he'd never seen a lightsaber except in holos and some of Thrawn's artwork, but the typical model was just the handle for a single blade, or an elongated one for a dual-bladed saber. That though, that looked more like a pike handle.

He stayed a few paces behind Altair, blaster in hand, prepared to raise it at a moment's notice. All the while, he was careful to step around the gore. He could tell himself it was just so he wouldn't slip, but really, he was just squeamish.

Once out of the main section, they found themselves in a corridor, and Eli gestured for them to go left, surmising that the comm room would be near the front.

The walk was eerily quiet, and Eli got a bad feeling the farther along they went. He froze suddenly, when they got near the front. He swore he heard voices speaking in an alien language in the room just up ahead.

Altair had no such problems with the gore, though his steps were light- his movements weren't so much those of what one might consider a proper prideful Sith, so much as the practiced ease of a trained assassin, used to moving about unheard. Unseen too, though he wasn't doing any of that now. He'd worn his white and gold outfit for a reason, knowing it would catch an enemy's eye before Eli ever did.

And even if Eli hadn't froze, Altair would have held a hand out to stop him.

He could hear them. He could sense life ahead. And he was immediately wary.

Altair tilted his head back toward Eli slightly- looking to him to decide whether they moved forward, or whether they took a more cautious approach. If it were Grysks, he was more experienced than him- he assumed. Of course, if it were Grysks, then Altair would have to curb his desire to turn them into nothing but a smear on the walls, much like what had been done to the humans who had been aboard the freighter.

Eli considered his options. The people behind the door were muffled, and he couldn't tell what language they were speaking. If they were grysks, even if they were captured alive, they would just kill themselves before being subjected to any kind of interrogation. Eli was currently betting on them being grysks, judging by what little he could hear.

Leaning in close, Eli whispered into Altair's ear, "Can you sneak in and take them by surprise?" He'd noticed the way Altair moved as they were making their way down.

He tipped his head lightly forward, yes.

He could sneak in, he could take them by surprise. By the time they did notice him, it would be way too late for them.

"Kill or capture?" He asked, voice quiet, a whisper, so only Eli would hear.

He was leaning toward kill- it had been a long time since he was this out for blood. Thrawn's fear of the Grysks was a strong motivator to completely wipe them out, even for him who was normally less bloodthirsty than most other Sith.

Eli thought it over for a moment. Altair certainly seemed eager to kill the intruders. Thrawn had mentioned that he was determined to stop the grysks, but Eli couldn't be sure if Altair was out for grysk blood in particular or if he was just always this way when it came to a fight.

He and Thrawn both preferred to take prisoners, but the grysks were different. They couldn't be reasoned with, and only sought to conquer and destroy. They didn't deserve to be spared.

Eli made a hand motion across his throat, indicating that Altair could kill them.

Another slight tip of the head, to show his understanding. Making sure that no one was headed in their direction, so Eli would be safe while he was away, he slipped into the shadows, and disappeared. There was silence for the longest of moments, before it was followed by the sounds of of a scuffle.

Altair did not consider himself particularly bloodthirsty, especially not compared to many Sith he knew. He liked avoiding fights and avoiding deaths where he could. He had grieved when Thanaton had died, despite the man having called for his death from the very beginning. Any situation that was not resolved peacefully, he usually regretted.

He had no such regrets here.

Their enemies had not been expecting him, small, fast, aided by the Force, moving into blind spots they didn't even know they had before they could really register that he'd moved. He wasn't underestimating them- Thrawn saw them as a threat. So he did too. He knew they were dangerous, and treated them accordingly.

One fled or... Tried to move out into a more narrow space to limit his movement, Altair wasn't sure-- out toward the hall, toward Eli. He did not get far, before he was yanked back by the Force, slammed down onto the floor hard enough to dent it, then viciously pulled back, followed by a snap. If it was the spine or the neck was difficult to say. Regardless, it was another dead Grysk, less lucky than the others that had merely been made short work of with his lightsaber pike. Altair gave a zap for good measure though.

Satisfied that there was no immediate danger around them any more, reaching out with his senses to make sure- feeling no alarm, no movement through the Force-, he switched his lightsaber off, and it withdrew into its shorter form. He still kept it in his hand, rather than returning it to its normal spot slung over his shoulder.

Heading over to Eli, he lifted his veil slightly to look him over- to make sure he was okay.

"You're alright? Not hurt, right?"

He knew. But he still asked. Fussed a little. He couldn't help it.

Eli pressed himself against the wall as Altair went to work, not wanting to give himself away. But when the first sounds of a lightsaber and screams of pain sounded, Eli was unable to help but peek out and look.

He'd never seen a Sith, or even a Jedi, in action, and he wasn't sure exactly what he was expecting. Their opponents were indeed grysks, and they had no idea what they were messing with. Eli watched with equal parts fascination and morbid curiosity as Altair disposed of the grysks.

When Altair came up to him, he stammered, "Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." He looked at the dead grysks, then back to Altair, "Now I'm really glad you're on our side."

Stepping inside the room, careful not to step on any of the bodies, Eli surveyed things. There was a console up against a wall, and hopefully they'd gotten here before the grysks had begun to erase anything.

As Eli stepped up to the console and began typing, pulling up data, he mused, "The grysks tend to suicide after capture. Taking them alive wouldn't have done us much good anyway."

Edited 2019-11-14 22:23 (UTC)

"This time around, we had the element of surprise on our side... I imagine they would have tried to put up more of a fight, had it been otherwise."

Relatively few numbers to deal with, and the element of surprise. Ideal conditions for anyone to gain the upper hand. Altair wasn't so arrogant as to think all fights against this foe would be so easy, though he was certainly confident so far as his skill went. After all, it took a shrewd mind and great mastery in the ways of the Force, to get to where he had been, in his own time.

Still, this was an opponent that frightened even someone like Thrawn, to the point that it could be seen on his face, sometimes heard in his voice. And Altair trusted Thrawn's judgment in such things. Having seen what they'd done to the humans, too, he knew that this was no ordinary enemy. He'd seen violence before, but that had just been gruesome.

As Eli went to the console, he took up a defensive position, to make sure no one could get the drop on them.

"I see. Good to know for the future."

It meant that he'd only try to capture one should Thrawn order it, and otherwise would be going for the kill, after all, and knew what to prioritize should more be lurking around- though their immediate area was clear of any enemy.

"Probably best not to let any of them get word out that you exist, or at least that you have phenomenal cosmic power."

Bad enough that their Intelligence reports said that grysks had their sights set on the sky-walkers, if they knew about Altair, then they'd pull out all the stops to capture the Sith. Or just kill him, so Thrawn, and the Ascendancy, would be deprived of a powerful ally.

Luckily, the grysks hadn't had time to wipe the database before Altair slaughtered them. Eli pulled up a series of numbers, along with a spreadsheet. There was definitely a pattern there.

"This ship likely belonged to some pirates, and they hand a hand in almost every kind of pot on the market. But, looks like their latest scheme involved ship theft, and a chop shop operation." Pretty standard, really. Why the grysks had targeted this vessel, Eli was still unsure of. He then nodded, and turned back to Altair, "I know what planet they were on last. We should check it out."

"Probably. Not that I don't have a plan should I be discovered and captured somehow."

He'd already told Thrawn once that he'd rather death be his fate, than be made into a weapon that could be used against him. However an unpleasant thought suicide was, the thought of being turned into a tool for these abominable creatures was worse. Especially a tool that could be used against the person he loved.

Should they come at him with the intent to kill, he was also more than prepared. He was Sith, after all.

He quieted as Eli looked through the data, knowing better than to disturb someone while they were working. Disturbances during times focus was needed had often made him cross too, in his own time. Not that he thought Eli would respond with the same annoyance as he had.

Once he turned back to him, he nodded his head, "Understood."

Eli wasn't sure he wanted to know what Altair's plan was in case he was captured. Hopefully the Sith meant wait for rescue or use his powers to get himself out of such a situation. He didn't even want to think of the alternative.

Taking out his comm, Eli switched over to Cheuhn as he reported to Thrawn. The two exchanged coded phrases, secretly asking if there were more grysks in the area. According to Thrawn, the grysks had moved on, so they could speak plainly. Eli reported their findings to Thrawn, letting him know that it was safe to lead a team on board, and that he and Altair had another lead.

The Steadfast would be sticking around for a while more, meaning possible Chiss officers on board the Chimaera. Eli got the message loud and clear.

"We'll get in touch with you if we find out anything more," Eli reported.

"Excellent. Good travels to the both of you," Which was Thrawn's way of telling them both to stay safe.

Turning back to Altiar, and making his way out of the comm room, he asked, "Ever been to Tatooine?"

"Unfortunately," Altair said, with a bit of a sigh. Not exactly his favorite planet to go to- not exactly anyone's favorite planet, he thought.

Not that it was full of unpleasant memories, either. He remembered Lord Silthar, the Imperial Reclamation Service scouring the desert. Helping them had been a fun, interesting, absolutely horrifying adventure, and he'd loved every second of it, chasing the mystery to its end. He'd met Andronikos there, and trekked across the desert in search of a relic. Had it not been for the blasted heat, he might have enjoyed it.

"I met my pirate friend Andronikos there. We had us a bit of an adventure, chasing a Sith relic across the desert."

Still, he had to wonder how it had changed, over the thousands of years. All he knew would likely be dust by now.

"Man, you must have had some life before Thrawn found you." Which might have gone without saying, since Altair was Sith and all. Thrawn had implied that Altair wasn't one of Darth Vader's Inquisitors, which was Eli's first thought. But it didn't appear that he was just some stray Sith either, or had just been hiding out in the Unknown Regions all this time.

Once they were back on the ship, Eli keyed in the coordinates and waited for a bit before jumping to lightspeed.

"Did Thrawn ever tell you about the circumstances in which we found him?"

"It sure was something, yes," He said, with a shrug of his shoulders.

Any Sith would say the same about their life, he was sure.

"Not that I minded so much. Rather a Sith living or dying a free man, than a slave toiling away in the dirt."

Despite the inherent dangers, Altair had come to much prefer being Sith. At least as a Sith, he was in control of his destiny, even if it had been throwing him curve ball after curve ball. As a slave, he'd been bound by something much worse than the rules of Sith society, and had he not been Force-sensitive, he would have died a slave.

"... Not too much, no. I haven't pried, either."

He imagined that anything relevant would eventually come up in conversation.

"I figured if there's anything in particular he needs me to know, he'd bring it up."

Eli had of course been told the real circumstances of Thrawn's supposed exile. He could only guess that Thrawn had also told Altair, since they obviously trusted one another and Altair wasn't the type to blab secrets, from what Eli had seen.

"We found him on a backwater planet, and he had us running around in circles. Made us think that we were being attacked by multiple hostiles with powerful weaponry, before we figured out it was just one guy. And he did it with berries, some wires, and small explosives. Really, he was just demonstrating what he could do."

Making himself look useful, Eli meant. The event had been rather terrifying at the time, but now Eli looked upon it as a fond memory.

"He managed to sneak aboard the ship by stealing a stormtrooper's armor and, really, I think he let himself be captured. That's when he and I met, when I began translating what he said."

"That seems like him."

Crafty, talented, and able to make the most out of every situation. Altair couldn't help but smile. Thrawn was well-deserving of his respect, his adoration, and his love. A mind like that was a unique thing, and the more Altair learned, the more he loved him. He loved him just a little more, for every day that went by.

"Had I been there, I'm sure I'd be unnerved. As it is right now, I can only admire his ingenuity."

Thrawn truly was something special. He'd known that for some time now, of course, but it was a point he quite enjoyed getting hammered home.

"It certainly impressed the Captain, enough that he brought Thrawn to the Emperor himself."

Eli's smile faltered for just a moment at the memory. He could still vividly recall the Emperor's yellow eyes boring into Thrawn's, and then focusing on him, making Eli feel very small. The Emperor had a sort of aura around him, one that had set Eli on edge, making him afraid to even sneeze in the man's presence.

Altair wasn't like that, though. He was Sith, and yet he was personable and easy to get along with. No scary presence, or superiority complex.

Brushing the memory aside, Eli said, "He got court marshaled more than once, but they always ended with him getting another promotion. But, it seemed like there were lots of people who wanted nothing better than to see him fail, just because he wasn't their idea of an Imperial Naval officer."

He sensed that brief shift in the mood, but said nothing- he assumed Eli would speak about it if he wanted to, and he wouldn't push or pry.

"... I can imagine. I have some personal experience, with that too."

He was not most people's idea of a Sith. A runt, an alien. He'd had people working against him on every level. Imperials who couldn't stand the idea of an alien leading them. Sith who couldn't stand the idea of a free alien at all, much less an alien trained as a one of them. He'd expected to be nothing, to be nobody. And he'd fought it.

He'd fought it every step of the way, and come out victorious.

It was... Unfortunate, to say the least, the struggle. How much more could he have done, how much more could Thrawn had done, had the powers that be wanted them to be victorious rather than to make an example of them.

Of course, had he been encouraged rather than tripped up, perhaps he wouldn't be here, either.

"Some people can only fathom authority and power if it comes from... Certain sources. It's unfortunate. Not that I think that Thrawn has let this impede him in any way."

This Empire, from what he could see, was still somewhat of a meritocracy. Not as much as the Sith Empire had been, but still, he could see the shadows of Sith society lurking just out of view. It was strange, how much things could change, and yet also stay the same.

Win enough battles and the elite might grumble and growl but sort of accept it. But give them an out, give them failure, give them even a hint of weakness or reason to doubt... Not something he was going to ponder about now. It wasn't pleasant to think about, so he'd rather focus on something else.

"I'm glad he had you. Through the court marshals and everything else."

"If nothing else, the council recognized that Thrawn technically hadn't broken any laws, and what he did had gotten results. They at least saw that he was too good to just throw away."

Even still, Eli remembered Thrawn befriending Colonel Yularen, and the ISB officer had seen Thrawn's potential, while also recognizing his political shortcomings. No doubt, Thrawn's superior officers would take credit for anything he did, had Yularen not dragged the both of them to various parties to mingle and make connections. Getting Yularen on his side had greatly helped Thrawn.

Yularen's comment about Thrawn looking good in a white uniform had been rather prophetic, in hindsight.

Eli, meanwhile, had traded his olive green uniform for a Chiss black one. All because Thrawn saw potential in him, and thought highly enough of him to send him to where his talents would be greater appreciated.

"It's funny, but early on I wasn't too pleased with having to live in his shadow. But then, this aid to a moff came up to me and said that her boss had a very lucrative job offer for me. I could have my very own ship, and go from an Ensign right to a command position. But I turned it down, because the moff wasn't concerned about me, but he just wanted to see Thrawn fail." That wasn't all there was to it, though. "But, even then, I was hesitant to take the job. I think that was when I realized that I liked Thrawn, and considered him a friend. I decided I'd rather be an ensign forever and serve at Thrawn's side, than take up that moff on his offer."

"A meritocracy at work indeed."

Technically, anyway. Though achievements did indeed garner reward and status, not everyone was willing to accept it, after all. There would always be those who considered the circumstances of one's birth, the place one came from, or the very species they were born as as something that could not and should not be forgiven. There would always be those born into wealth and status clutching their pearls at the mere shadow of an idea that they could be outshone, that skill could win the favor of the powerful, that all their wealth and their legacy might be for naught in the grand scheme of thing.

He couldn't help the slight wry smile at the idea.

"That you were bitter in the beginning is understandable. You had your plan. He had his. They didn't intersect at the time and that is grounds for being displeased."

Again, it was speaking from experience.

"Your feelings obviously changed. He's... Good at that, I think. Changing minds and feelings. When I first met him, I was terrified. I thought I'd want to be anywhere else in the galaxy, but in the same room with him. For the longest time after I flinched at his presence. Even jumped at shadows. Now though..."

Eli didn't know what had happened to Altair to make him fear his own kind so much, and he wouldn't pry, unless Altair opened up about it on his own. Thrawn had said it wasn't his story to tell.

"The more you got to know him, the less scary he became. I'm glad he's been helping you." Because Thrawn fully intended to return one day, and Eli knew Thrawn well enough to know that he wouldn't leave Altair behind.

"I was a bit intimidated by Thrawn at first too. On my home planet, we used to trade with the Chiss, but it had been so long, that I only knew the Chiss from stories I'd heard. The stories said they were fierce and intelligent warriors, who did what they set out to do or die trying."

That last part was certainly true, from what Eli had seen. When Thrawn had promised to become an Admiral, then that was what he was going to do. Just like in the legends, Thrawn hadn't made an idle promise.

He could sense his curiosity. Thrawn hadn't told him, and Altair was glad about that. Still, Eli was Thrawn's friend- and he was his too now.

"That does seem to be a theme," He agreed. The Chiss of his time had been like that. Not quite like the stories, they were people, individuals, too. Still, the aid of the Chiss had been a huge advantage for the Empire, and they could be found in many places, lending their strength to the military, to Intelligence, and more.

Altair fell quiet for a moment, thinking things over, "Where I come from, I- Well, my family had a... Very different view of Chiss Force-sensitives. To them, Force-sensitivity was impurity. A disease that needed to be purged. We were slaves, and I was property as much as they were, so they couldn't do that, but..."

He wasn't as over that as he thought. But it would be good to have Eli on more or less equal terms with what Thrawn knew. This friendship was still new, but he had earned Thrawn's trust, which led him to be willing to place his faith in him too.

"Still, I was raised without a typical Chiss name- I doubt they gave me the name I do have- I was raised not knowing the language, the culture, and I was raised believing that the second an unfamiliar Chiss discovered what I was, I'd find myself with a blade between the ribs."

A slight shrug of his shoulders, then, "Not a part of my past that necessarily needs to be hidden. I think Thrawn was really surprised though, meeting a Chiss who didn't understand a-- well, civilized word of Cheuhn, nor was I even able to pronounce his full name at first. Had it been anyone else, they'd probably think I'd suffered a few too many kicks to the head."

A smile than touched on sardonic, then, "If you want to learn to swear in Cheuhn though, I've got you covered."

That was obviously a joke.

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