Still dark and gloomy, but at this point Vette was used to it. She was out of the loop on if the perpetual rainstorms and black were Sith related, but she really wouldn't be surprised if some Sith jerk had gotten the sun in his eyes on day and in retaliation, decided to make it rain for the rest of eternity.
Nah, bad example. That was too understandable. That was the kind of petty response
she
would do. Too nice for Sith; more likely it was the result of some ritual where they killed little Nexu cubs or alien children. She unfortunately interacted with enough Sith – especially on
this
planet to know that would actually be tame for them.
Well,
almost
all Sith.
There was at least one good one. Or semi-decent, minimum.
"So." She broke the silence as they tramped through the wet and dripping foliage. Obviously they'd left the path, because that would be
way
too easy. "Since you're dragging me out here, mind explaining what a datacron is?"
Daroris Korson, or just 'Daro' as he'd said to call him, newly minted Sith Lord stopped walking, and glanced back at her. Even in the dim light it still reflected off the scar he'd received from Nomen Karr. She was half-convinced that each time he looked at her, she was being subtly persuaded to look into those stone-grey eyes of his. Force powers were spooky, and they could do that.
But she didn't
really
mind. He certainly wasn't bad at all...for a Sith.
"You're tired." He said with no room for denial. "You should have said something."
She shrugged. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can get some sleep on the ship."
"I could have taken Jaesa with me," he reminded her. "But if I recall,
you
volunteered."
"And leave me alone with Quinn?" She sniped back. "I'd rather walk through a soaking forest half-asleep than be left alone with him. I'd be bored in minutes, it's just
so easy
to get him all riled up," with a free hand she absentmindedly stroked her lekku. "But you said not to do that anymore, so..."
Daro smiled, very warm and disarming. Very not-Sith. "And?"
"And..." she shrugged innocently. "Well, we've made a good team so far. Plus I like watching you."
Oh no, that had come out
really
wrong.
"Watching
me
?" His voice was a unique blend of aristocratic and deep. Likely from his upbringing, but it made him roll his words and finish his sentences with an undercurrent of sleeping power. He sounded like this when he was both surprised and curious. It was good for gauging his reaction on things.
"Watching you fight!" She quickly backpedaled. No! Clarified. She was just
clarifying
. "I mean, how many people can say they normally fight with a Sith?"
"The Jedi," he said dryly, but thankfully seemed for amused than anything else. "Come on, let's sit."
Both of them found a relatively dry place under one of the towering trees and sat down close to each other, though not
too
close. It appeared that no one was going to bother them – or that they'd be attacked by the various creatures that prowled the forest. Some of which they'd killed on the way. She sat down, wincing as she got the bottom of her pants wet. It made the uniform she was wearing even more uncomfortable and she decided enough was enough, and just loosened the collar. Why Daro had decided to give her a white spotless Imperial officer uniform that made
actual
Imperial jealous she didn't know. Granted, she
did
look very sophisticated and professional, and it
was
modified to take a decent amount of blasterfire.
Mostly a status thing, she assumed. Daro needed his alien woman to look good, and uniforms always made people look better. He was an unfortunate exception in an Empire that saw aliens as second class citizens at best. But by the non-existent Kaas sun was it uncomfortable sometimes.
Daro himself, despite smashing pretty much every Sith expectation she'd had, had not strayed from their fashion sense of
all black and metal
. He never got tired of walking around in that suit of armor, and the cape was purely for coolness factor. No other explanation needed. But he only wore a helmet when fighting. The rest of the time he kept it off.
"A datacron is an old storage device designed by the Rakatans," Daro said. "I had Quinn do some research, and consulted what records Baras had. There are two kinds from what I've found. Force-infused, and Matrix. Both are also data storage devices, usually containing some history."
Oh wow, he was answering the question she'd almost forgotten she'd asked. "What's a Rakatan?"
"You called them the 'insane eyestalk fish aliens'," he reminded her.
Ohhh.
Yeah, now she remembered them. "So...Baras wants one."
"There are some on Dromund Kaas," Daro let his gaze sweep over the glistening foliage. "Some have been found by others, but Baras in interested in this specific one. It supposedly holds a Matrix shard, which can be used to create...something," he waved a gloved hand absently. "Don't ask, because I don't know."
"Don't you get tired of being Baras's errand boy?" She asked, leaning her back into a wet tree. "I mean...you're a freaking Sith Lord now!"
"And Baras is still my master," he corrected, raising a finger. "And I'm not doing this just because he asked. I'll get him the Matrix Shard, but the datacrons have information on them. Information I will use, and find the remaining datacrons on this planet. And...well, maybe you can help with that."
"Oh?" She cocked her head, interest piqued. "
My
help?"
"This information would be valuable to the right people," Daro gave her a knowing smile. "You have any idea how much some Sith would pay to get their hands on a relic of the Infinite Empire? And even better, there's nothing stopping us from taking whatever is in it, and then passing it on. What are they gonna do about it?"
"I never thought I'd see the day," she hummed happily. "I'm rubbing off on you."
"Yes, you are," he said, glancing over to her and meeting her own eyes. "But in a good way."
Vette didn't know quite what happened, only that her heart began beating a little faster and everything around her seemed to fade as they just looked at each other. Her breathing became a little shallower as his mind moved a million miles a minute.
Is he really looking at me that way? Me?
She hadn't really thought-
The moment broke as Daro leapt to his feet and thrust out a hand. A vine cat that had snuck up on them was thrown back into some foliage, growling as it drooled through it's sharp teeth. The calm and open face Daro had shown her was gone as it morphed into an expression of utter anger and fury. He didn't even bother reaching for his lightsaber, and instead just squeezed a fist and the head of the vine cat compressed into green-and-red chunks.
"We...should continue," he said, his voice tight and composed. "Rested up?"
Blasted Kaas sithspawn!
"Yeah, let's go."
They continued deeper into the forest, although at a certain point 'deeper' was semantics. They'd been deep in the forest for at least an hour now. Along the way, Daro calmed back down. She could always tell when he was, because whenever he was angry, she
felt
it. It was infectious at times too, and she didn't like when it happened because it made her...well, uncomfortable with some things about herself.
Maybe it was just a side effect of being around a Sith, but she hadn't worked up the nerve to ask him how it actually worked. Much less to ask him to stop. Could he stop it? She halted when he raised a fist. "Gundark ahead."
She pulled out her pistols. "Do you want-"
"No. I will kill this creature myself."
She didn't holster her pistols, but didn't fire as Daro marched towards the lumbering creature, cape billowing behind him. She'd wondered what it was like to be on the receiving end of that walk, and determined that she was decidedly lucky she wouldn't find out. With a flash that was impossible for her eyes to follow, the lightsaber flew from his waist and buried the crimson blade into the skull of the beast.
Well, she shouldn't have been surprised. Sith were hard enough to kill by armies of soldiers, much less a random Gundark in the forest. "Nice throw."
"Thanks, Vette." He noticed she was still holding her pistols. "You can put those away, I don't sense anything that can harm us."