SithLore

Plans. Plans were all he had at the moment. The young heir had not acted upon anything he had set forward just yet. It wasn’t time; the right time would soon be coming. Although being pressed to push along his timing at a faster rate now due to recent revelations, Raphael still had much to do. If he were truly to pull a rug out from under such heavy weight, everything would need to be perfect. Each point would have to be targeted, timing out perfectly to be even considered a success. It was his obsession, his analytical brain wrapped around every crevice of this long thought out plan. Ever since his silver eyes had set upon the devil himself, his thoughts were consumed with it.

On the bright side, his constant thought made long trips like this shorter. His Z-95 Headhunter exited hyperspace to reveal the bustling world of Nar Shaddaa in front of him. Raphael had only been here once before, a time at its best, the young man hoped to never remember. Alas, his memory was well and he knew he would soon have to return to the Smugglers Moon.

Although in Hutt Space, it seemed the constant flow of trade made it easy for a son of the Sith Lord to enter onto its filthy surface. Landing safely inside of one of its docking bays, Raphael remembered how bustling life was down on this planet. Neon signs painted dark polluted streets and an unhealthy amount of smog lingered in the air around him.

A dark brown hood was flung over his long black hair to keep out of sight from anyone who might recognize him from his last visit here. Holding out his hand, Raphael held a datapad out to examine it. A figured appeared in the crimson glow of the pad, it was a halted recording he stole from his father’s Cathar Warbot some time ago. His silver eyes peered at the figure in the recording before settling on his first destination. He had no leads, nor any certain direction he thought best to go. The young man just so happened to find himself wandering back to that bar he had caused havoc in just a short time ago.

The door to the bar whisked open, revealing a whole new scene. It had felt like ages since he left his sister to die on the blood and alcohol stained floor. Many nights had he laid awake in torment of what he did that day. Raphael often wondered was it for her own good. Was her possible death worth it, just to get away from their father? He couldn’t feel her presence anymore. Raphael hoped that was due to the fact that she was long gone from them rather than dead.

A break from the plan was soothing, his brain for a moment stopping to focus on his nightmares rather than the actual nightmare that awaited him. The demon he once knew was gone, consumed by the madness that he once fought next to. He had to be stopped at all costs. Otherwise, all they built would soon crumble to his unhinged ideals. Raphael only wished to be what his father never could, a worthy leader. He wished to see his people prosper, moving into the golden age for the Sith. Raphael was the rightful ruler that much would be true years from now, but if he allowed the throne to the delirious demon any longer; there will be no throne to inherit in a matter of weeks.

Raphael fought past the nightmares both past and present and moved towards the bar. He would take a seat to order a drink or two as he eyed the individuals that swarmed around. Eyes began to fixate on the young man as he stalked the environment. Whatever information was necessary, he would have to garner quickly.

Motioning to the bartender, he took a long gulp of the drink that sat in front of him. “Need another?” the Rodian bartender questioned.

Raphael nodded in acknowledgement as the Rodian began preparing another drink. “I was hoping you might recognize this little fellah as well,” he muttered out.

“Do you recognize this Verpine?” Raphael questioned as the bartender slapped the drink in front of him to take a look.

The Rodian gave a dismissive glance at the datapad that the hybrid male had offered him and shrugged. The bartender saw countless faces each day, and the plain featured Verpine did not evoke any familiarity. With nothing more to offer than another round, the Rodian moved on to the next patron.

It wasn't more than a few seconds later that a rodent-like sentient who had caught a glimpse of the image on the datapad squeezed in next to the silver-eyed young man. This humanoid rodent was a Jenet, though many other species in the galaxy were likely not familiar with the scavenger species. The rodent-like sentient gripped the man's wrist as he pulled the datapad closer for inspection, not realizing his behavior was rude, but downright dangerous considering who he was dealing with. As the Jenet's eyes furrowed and nose wriggled back and forth, the humanoid made a definitive humph and looked up to the silver-eyed man.

"I am Wrys. I can take you to this Verpine. You have credits, yes?" the Jenet asked, clawed paw already extending in anticipation for credits to fall into his palms.

Raphael was miffed at the fact that the Rodian bartender just walked off. He chalked it up to the green man having no clue. The young man should have figured, the bartender sees countless individuals every hour; how could he possibly remember this specific Verpine.

Continuing to sip his drink, Raphael looked around at the crowd. They were an interesting bunch, a bunch of underworld slime lurked around. Turning his head to the left, Raphael looked towards the exit; coming to the conclusion that his search shall continue elsewhere.

Jerking his head back violently, Raphael’s left hand caught that of the Rodent looking man’s fingers that were placed upon his other hand. The Silver eyed man was diffidently not expecting any further communication within this bar. Raphael dropped his hand as soon as he understood that the rodent wasn’t hostile.

It took him a moment to fully digest the comments the rodent was making; he had never seen a sentient like this before. Questions for another time it seemed, as this “Wrys” thought himself able to lead Raphael to the Verpine he was looking for.

Raphael turned back to his drink to finish it, wondering if this sentient could truly lead him to the one he wants or if it all was just a ruse. Nevertheless, he currently had no other options so why not see this one through; the rodent didn’t look too harmful.

Tossing a couple of credits on the bar for the drinks, the Rodian scooped them up quickly. Raphael then turned to the Jenet, rolling a couple of credits between his tan fingers. He nodded in acknowledgement that he indeed did have credits. Pondering the decision, he looked over Wrys, trying to detect anything out of the ordinary.

Raphael held out the few credits and offered it to Wrys. “There will be a healthy sum, IF you can lead me to this man,” he muttered out, motioning to the datapad.

The Jenet's eyes lit up, "Yes, yes! I will take you now. Come, come."

The Jenet greedily grabbed at the paltry sum of credits that the man had offered him and practically dragged him out of the cantina by the sleeve. As the whiskered sentient guided his companion on a winding route through a labyrinth of grime-covered alleyways, they passed by several groups of other sentients, their eyes hungry as they smelled the credits on the passersby. Whether it was thieves' intuition or the look of the silver-eyed man that the Jenet dragged along in tow, the duo remained unharassed, save for hisses or shouts for a charitable credit.

At the exact moment that the trek through the littered streets began to become suspicious, as if the Jenet were leading the silver-eyed man into a trap, the rodent-like sentient passed into a smoke filled den. The green-hued plumes of smoke and fragrant smells were complimented by an underwhelming, quiet rhythm of strings and chimes with occasional low bursts of bassy rumbles, as if a purrgil was humming beneath the glass block floor.

Once inside, the Jenet looked around, finally settling his beady eyes upon a thin figure silhouetted by the smoke. Making a beeline to the figure while simultaneously stepping over a number of sentients sunken into round-shaped anatomic seats, the Jenet chittered something in his native language to the insectoid. Prompted, the Verpine turned around...

...It looked nothing like the Verpine the silver eyed man sought.

Not to be discouraged, the Jenet pointed to the insectoid's head and explained, "They can speak with one another through their antenna. He will summon him, yes! He will summon him here!"

Raphael was concerned the way the rodent was taking him; he received looks he had only received before while he was in the presence of his father. The young man half expected one of these thieves or criminals to act upon their looks of Raphael. Yet, they all seemed to maintain their position as the Jenet guided him along towards the Verpine.

At a point, it no longer felt like the Jenet was leading him towards what he wanted, but instead a wasting of time till the rodent could figure out what it wanted to do next. Raphael grew suspicious with every extra step he took following Wrys. But before the young man could question, the trek seemed to progress. The pair moved into a hazy den as Raphael became distracted with understanding and analyzing his surroundings.

Silver eyes wandered the space in search of the location of the hushed sounds. He found himself in need to catch up to the Jenet as he went inside. It seemed Wrys, had a lock on where he was going at this point.

At last, he had finally brought Raphael to the Verpine it seemed as he began speaking in an unknown language. Raphael moved forward to offer his greetings to the Verpine even though he was still turned around. Once the Verpine turned, Raphael came to the realization that this wasn’t the man he was looking for. Surely Wrys knew the difference between this bug and the one he had on the holorecording.

Raphael turned in anger to the Jenet as he confronted him with the recording of the man he was truly looking for. Before Raphael’s anger could take over and he could get a word out, Wrys began to plead with him.

A farfetched plan it seemed as the Jenet assumed all Verpine could summon each other. To Raphael’s knowledge, he would be hard-pressed to believe that this Verpine could bring him the insect looking man he wanted to see. But still, he went along with it despite his non-belief.

Raphael turned to the mysterious Verpine, ignoring Wrys completely. He opened up the recording, revealing the one he sought out. Pointing to the image, Raphael made direct eye contact with its giant eyes, unsure if the Verpine could understand him.

“Do you know where I can find this Verpine?” he grumbled out.

The Verpine chittered at Wrys and his forceful companion, unable to speak Basic, but clearly acknowledging through gesture that it would summon the Verpine in the image. The Verpine rubbed two of its three fingers together on one of its hands, which indicated that it expected to be compensated fairly for its assistance. It seemed that on Nar Shaddaa if you had credits, you stood out in a crowd, and if you wanted someone's help, nothing was free.

Standing still for one moment and appearing to concentrate, the Verpine began to communicate via radio waves generated by its antennae. Inaudibly and invisibly to its observers, the Verpine did as promised and transmitted waves that, with any luck, would be picked up by the Verpine and would summon him to this den.

---

Buggie snapped out of his meditation, his antennae swaying as it picked up on what was unmistakably another Verpine calling to him. It would have been a difficult thing for most species to understand, the sensation of someone speaking to you when they were potentially hundreds of kilometers away. Judging by what he had sensed, this Verpine was much closer than that, and told him to meet him within a den several districts away, where a silver-eyed man who appeared to be Human awaited him. Who that was, Buggie couldn't be certain, but it seemed to be that the Verpine that contacted them was serving as an intermediary of sorts. It was curious, and Buggie's curiosity was notorious for being insatiable. Of course, he'd bring a weapon in case this turned sour, but if a silver-eyed man was going through all of this effort to reach out to him and he simply allowed the Verpine to communicate his presence to Buggie, he didn't get the impression that this encounter was dangerous... or at least more dangerous than any other encounter on this Force-forsaken moon.

---

Chuk, Buggie coughed as he entered the green haze billowing out of the den.

It didn't take much more than a quick word with the Verpine to find out where it was waiting within the den alongside two other figures. Buggie approached, casually straightening his armorweave jacket, while really checking to make sure that his holdout blaster was within reach if he needed it.

Now standing before the three sentients of varied species, Buggie introduced himself, saying, "I'm Buggie. Someone wanted to see me?"

Raphael looked down to see the Verpine rubbing its fingers together. He couldn’t possibly want credits from the young man. Silver eyes gazed into his as he could determine that it was a serious gesture. It would be a surprise if Raphael made it off this forsaken moon without a single credit. It seemed nothing was free around this galaxy, people pushed through bartering for information and equipment. It was a drastic change to everything being handed to him with his father.

Rolling his eyes, Raphael slapped a few credits into the small hands of the Verpine. He turned back to Wrys, eyeing the rodent and wondering if he would stick around for more credits as well. Raphael began to wonder when the Verpine would call upon the one he wanted. It seemed as if he was just standing there, expecting someone to show up. Even though it seemed improbably, the young man would stand and wait patiently.

Moments later a voice came calling out from the haze that they had entered through. Raphael turned to meet the voice as he realized that this possibly could be the Verpine he had been seeking.

Before settling into conversation, Raphael grabbed a handful of credits. He trusted Wrys and the other Verpine that this man was who he was looking for. Slapping the credits down in Wrys’ rough hands, Raphael waved them off, as it seemed there would need to be some private dialogue between the two.

Turning again, Raphael pulled down his hood to reveal his face to the man. He tried his hardest to not reveal a chuckle at the non-intended pun created from the insect’s name. He pulled up his holorecording to reveal the man he wanted to see again. It was hard to tell if they were the same. But by gauging Buggie’s reaction, he could determine that it was.

“My name is Raphael. I believe you met this man not too long ago,” he stated, flipping the holorecording to one of his father in his human form. This still shot of the recording was of Slade on the same day Buggie had met him.

"If I am correct in assuming, you two did not leave each other on not the greatest of terms," he added.

Buggie observed the image, immediately recognizing the Sith acolyte that he had first encountered on Void Station, then later on Tatooine, and most recently on Florrum, where he had offered Buggie a box full of magenge, the sweet tasting fungus that served as the basis of the Verpine diet. The bright green fungus had become scarce ever since the Sith conquered the Roche asteroids, the primary source of the nutriment. Though Buggie was tempted, he knew that taking the magenge from the Sith would ultimately rob it from the mouths of other Verpine, so he refused. During the verbal sparring match, Buggie could not help but sense that the aura of the Sith had grown more powerful since their last meeting, as if he had awoken some potential within himself. The Force was strong with him, that much had become apparent.

Turning his attention back to the man showing him the holorecording, Buggie replied, "You are correct on both counts. I don't believe the man ever gave me his name, but I have encountered him three times. I know him to be a Sith and an adept with beasts and creatures of all kinds."

As Buggie spoke, he studied the man's reactions, yet he couldn't get a read on him, which was unusual. Buggie oftentimes could read the minute cues on Human's faces, as they were an expressive species. This man appeared to be at least partially Human, but perhaps whatever else composed his heritage made all the difference in this case.

Deciding to come right out and ask it, Buggie questioned, "What is your business with him? He's a dangerous man; be sure you know what you're getting into."

Raphael could see this reaction within the Verpine’s eyes, he figured the man was recalling back to that verbal altercation on Florrum. This was all he needed to determine he was in the right place, his words on proved Raphael’s suspicion to be right. He was glad to be in the presence of this man; Raphael didn’t know what he would of done if Wrys hadn’t of come by.

The young, Silver-eyed man knew very little of Buggie. He had only heard vague descriptions of his father’s encounters with the supposed powerful Verpine. His father had spoken of their encounter on Florrum and what he had offered Buggie within a box. Raphael could even read the emotions about Buggie as he recalled to that day. It seemed to haunt him in the slightest, but he felt more pain for his fellow Verpine enslaved upon the Roche asteroids.

Raphael knew of this Roche, as he had been there not too long ago. He had seen the Verpine enslaved to the Sith’s authority. They were forced to fight along side them against powers like the Alliance that would have them free. Raphael felt deeply for these people, but at the time there was nothing he could do.

Shaking away the memories, he pushed on to the conversation. The young man would sit upon Buggie’s words for a moment. He was unsure of revealing his true identity, but he had to realize that some honesty in this situation would bring their future dealings along easier.

“Unfortunately, I knew the man all too well,” he mentioned, accidently projecting his feelings upon the man. The feelings of pain, loss, and suffering raced throughout his being as Raphael recalled the struggle of losing his sister and other companions to his father.

Raphael refocused on the task at hand only to fail to bottle up his emotions. He flipped the holorecording again, this time to a figure that could only resemble that of a demon. The figure stood seven feet tall; it had tree trunk-massive legs and even a tail sprouted from behind its scaled skin.

“And what if I told you that man became even more dangerous,” he added, recalling back to the time he met the demon that consumed his father’s form.

Buggie could feel the man's silver eyes studying him as he viewed the holoprojection, as if the man were gauging him, waiting for some sort of reaction. Finally, the man imparted some details about himself, specifically, that he too was well aware of the Sith that Buggie had always considered to have a feral sort of aura around him. As the thought of the elder Sith's aura passed through Buggie's mind, his senses picked up on the faintest hints of loss radiating from the silver-eyed man. As Buggie turned his attention to the once-hooded Human beside him, the moment was lost, as he had already redirected his attention to summoning another image on his datapad.

The grotesque image that he now showed Buggie nearly made him step back in surprise. Leaning forward, Buggie looked upon the beast. It was like no Human he had ever seen before. The beast's legs were striated with muscle, and it seemed he had sprouted a tail. It seemed that his skin had even turned closer to that of a reptile, after closer examination.

"Is this the product of sorcery?" Buggie wondered aloud, fully aware that some Sith held the ability to call upon the arcane, "It's like nothing I've ever seen..."