[center]~| 7 hours after the attack (20 minutes) |~
~| Aboard the Kaggath, Shiri and Azariah |~[/center]

Shiri followed the sith out the door a few minutes after he beckoned her, figuring it best to just play along for now. “So? What’s your deal?” 

Waiting for the few minutes it took for the Jedi girl to come out and join him, Azariah started to lead the way to along the carpeted hallway towards one of the nearby sections of the ship. Acknowledging the question asked of him, he replied “My name is Azariah. As to what my ‘deal’ is you’re going to have to be a bit more specific…” 

Selecting one of the doors at the end of the hallway, it opened for the Sith easily enough to reveal a rather spartan room with two chairs and a table in between them. “What’s your name by the way?”

Shiri sighed and followed after the sith, Azariah, as he led the way. “I’m Shiri. What I meant is, the last sith that came and got me had 4 troopers with him, and you’re alone. Either he’s less confident in himself than you are, or you’re less cautious. Or you’re both dumb, whichever works.”

“Or it could just be that the force informed me of the best time to swing by and say hello.” Azariah answered with an almost playful grin as he moved to stand beside on of the seats, placing one hand on its back as he beckoned Shiri towards the other. “Granted you’re not wrong to think that normally a Sith wouldn’t do that. Most of them are far too egotistical and short sighted to listen to any advice that the force might give them.”

“So you’re claiming [i]not[/i] to be short sighted and egotistical?” Shiri walked over to the chair he had motioned to and copied his pose behind it, smirking at him a little. “That sounds a bit egotistical to me, but so far I have nothing to prove or disprove your short sightedness. Maybe you’d like me to give you an eye exam?” She lost the grin, putting on an innocent look and tilting her head a little

Pulling the seat out and sliding into it with a surprising amount of poise, Azariah couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit. “An offer I might take up another time if I get to do the same to you. I think I may get the better part of the deal through…” He flashed her with a grin that was a little different than his normal smile, but it was short lived before he fell back into his general good natured smile. “As for why I’m currently talking to you Shiri…”

Reaching into one of his pockets, he removed what looked like a deck of cards. “Do you play pazaak? Even the Jedi Order can’t be that socially isolated as to not know how to play it.”

Shiri was a bit surprised by the question, she certainly hadn’t thought that she’d be playing any card games here. “Yea I know how to play, just haven’t much lately.” She sat down across from him and crossed her arms in front of herself. This was probably some sort of trick, but Shiri couldn’t figure it out without asking. “What’s the catch?”

Azariah took a moment to shuffle the deck a bit before splitting it into three; One big deck and two side decks, one of which he kept and the other he slid over towards Shiri. “No catch really. Republic Senate rules and all that. Just felt like it would be nice to have a conversation with someone that I don’t have to wonder what their motives for speaking to me are. Besides, most Sith/Jedi conversations I know of seem to consist of insulting each other or the usage of some rather painful toys…” Pausing for a moment before he started shuffling the main deck again, he smirked a little as he added “Granted, there is nothing [i]wrong[/i] with it if being tied down and having humiliation and pain inflicted on you just happens to be your thing…”

“That’s disgusting and one of the main reasons people don’t like sith.” Shiri said, still keeping her arms crossed. “You’re ok right now, but then I don’t know if you’re keeping up an act or not yet. If not, that’s a few strikes for you, but by default every sith has a hundred strikes against them.” Shiri took four cards from the deck of ten she was given and took a card from the main deck as well, placing it face up on the table. “A seven. your turn.”

“To be fair, Sith don’t own the monopoly on deviancy; Once you remove the petty sadists a lot of them tend to be asexual and interested only in power and what it can give them. Fairly certain that the Hutts bought the rights to being deviants long before the schism in Jedi ideology that lead to the creation of the Sith in the first place.” Azariah answered as he took four cards of his own and flipped one from the main deck, revealing a six. 

“Strange how the Hutts have their own little Empire and have done since before the Republic existed, yet the Jedi Order doesn’t declare war on them out of fear of ‘disturbing the balance’, but the moment that some kind of force religion that isn’t their own pops up they are rather gung ho about burning it out of existence.”  

Shiri played her turn, pulling a three from the main deck and playing a four from her hand. “I forget, does the seven count towards my score or was that just for seeing who played first?” She ignored the jab at the Order and decided to only answer the first part of what he said. “Whatever, each group has its extremes.”

“We can just say you’re going first and let it count towards your score. Ladies first and all that.” Azariah answered easily enough. “And I’m inclined to agree that each group has its extremes, but in saying that the Jedi Order also has its share of extremists… Those few men and women to whom committing dark acts in order to defeat an enemy like the Sith is justified for being the ‘Greater Good’.”

Shiri sighed lightly. “It’s your turn.” She semi-dramatically placed her cheek on her hand, elbow braced against the table, and looked Azariah in the eye. “I know what you’re doing, or trying to do anyway. Jedi Shadows do the things the rest of us won’t, for the best possible outcome. Sometimes, and I know there are a lot of sith who would agree with this, the ends do justify the means, if the end is truly the best possible outcome.”

“Not whom I was referring to actually.” Azariah admitted as he flipped another card from the main deck. A three this time, giving him nine. “Though part of me has to wonder how much suspicion that the Jedi Order as a whole has about the Shadows. It’s one of those gray areas that the Jedi seem dislike so much.” Offering Shiri a warm smile, he simply offered “And what is so wrong about having a civil conversation about religious dogma? It is more or less why this war was fought and so many people on both sides died after all, even if your average republican citizen doesn’t like to admit it.” 

“On the plus side, the War itself should be more or less over now. Peace in our time and all that…”

“If you didn’t mean the shadows, who did you mean?” Shiri asked as she flipped over a five. “Great… I stand. That’s 19 for me. Honestly, I don’t know so much about the whole religion side of it, I just feel… Nevermind I’m not sure how to say how I feel. I do know that the way the Sith do things, compared to the Order, is wrong though. It’s not right.”

“In that we can both agree Shiri. Far more Sith than I care to admit are too focused on their personal ambitions and desires to dedicate themselves to making an Empire that is going to last and even more seem to use the Sith Code as justification for a thuggish nature and poor self control. If history is any indication, winning this war might actually be the worst thing that could have happened for the Empire, simply because without an enemy to unite them the various darths and lords are going to start killing each other.” 

Letting out a bit of a sight as he flipped another card from the main deck, Azariah sighed as he got seventeen. Sending a two from his hand, he simple said “Draw. Still, despite how grim the future is no doubt going to be for the Empire in the coming decades, that doesn’t really change your situation all that much.”

Shiri took her head off her hand as she listened. “Ok, one: Why would you draw the round? Two: It sounds like even if you guys somehow won that you’d [i]still[/i] lose by tearing yourself apart afterwards. Souldn’t you, I dunno, switch sides before then so you win? Even if the Order somehow lost the war, we would ultimately win because you just can’t work together. How many of the sith on this ship do you trust, are you even capable of trust? I know that every Jedi can trust each other, because we don’t care about power.”

Shiri let out a breath and returned to her previous position, but looking at the wall to her right instead of at Azariah. “Sorry, I was ranting a bit too much there. Three: It’s your turn.”

“Nah, rant all you like. It’s fine.” Azariah answered as he flipped his own card, starting with an eight this time. Ignoring the first question, he moved onto the second. “Honestly, the Order doesn’t interest me. I took some time to study its code and all that and it is simply too full of fear and hypocrisy for my tastes. Besides, I would have to deal with the stigma of having been a Sith for the rest of my life and you would be wrong to think that the Jedi don’t have their own politics happening behind the scenes; They are just less open and ‘civil’ about them.”

“Currently the plan is to rise up through the ranks of the Sith, go and become the ruler of one or more planets over at the edge of the Empire that isn’t bordering the Hutts or the Republic where there is little real oversight and wait for the whole thing to fall apart before founding a minor empire of my own. Have to admit it’s a much more interesting future then the Order would ever provide and I can do some actual good rather they be stonewalled by a Senate so corrupt that it is little more than a joke.”

“I literally have no response for half the stuff that you just said.” Shiri flipped over a ten and gave a slight laugh. “Haha, look at that. I stand, and win at 20.” She finished speaking as she placed a ten from her hand on the table. “It’s not all about the senate and religion and all that, you know that right? Most people I’ve met are in the order because they feel it’s right.” She flipped over the first card of the next round, a two. “Haa.. you might be winning this round. Your turn.” 

She leaned back in her chair and looked at the ceiling a moment. “Ah, there it is.” She gave a small wave and smile to the camera in the corner of the room. “Those things have microphones too, don’t they? Shouldn’t you be a little more careful when speaking of your ‘plan’?” She used air quotes to emphasize the word [i]plan[/i]. “It might work, if none of your comrades stop you.”

“Most likely. Be rather foolish security wise if there weren’t. And honestly most of them wouldn’t care even if they watched it; It doesn’t affect them directly and they would have a real hard time using it against me simply because anything I say during this meeting can be considered nothing more than a ploy to try and earn your trust. It’s kind of why I like talking with you. How wrong would I be in saying that your key motivation at the moment is to find a way for yourself and as many of the other prisoners as possible to escape this ship and get back to republic space?” 

Flipping over his own card, he was somewhat pleased to find a nine and giving him a solid seventeen. “I guess I should give you the heads up that this whole ‘Breaking the Jedi’ phase that everyone is in at the moment is more like a victory lap then anything else. A chance to earn a feather in their cap by bringing a Jedi to the dark side and all that. Not quite sure how long the Darth is giving us, but I’m fairly certain that any Jedi that doesn’t break is going to be introduced to her alchemy lab. Something to think about.”

“Well, as far as earning my trust, you guys are on the right track. So far i’ve been taken to dinner, didn’t eat it of course, been threatened with death, seen my friend shot full of lightning, seen another friend get taken away just as I got back, and now I’m playing a nice game of Pazaak.” She gave an entirely fake smile as she flipped over a card. “Three. Your turn.” Shiri looked at the two cards left in her hand and then put them facedown on the table. 

“You’re not entirely right, but not wrong enough to be wrong. I want, no I’m [i]going[/i] to, save everyone possible. That includes my friends, fellow Jedi, and even Sith like yourself, Azariah. You don’t have to join us, though we’d love your help, but I think you don’t quite belong with the Sith. You could go right now, and start that little empire of yours, rule it kindly and be loved by your people, or whatever it was you had planned. I for one wouldn’t judge you for having been a sith if you joined the Order, I’d keep others from picking on you too. Maybe we could be friends even.”

He was silent for a little while after what she had to say. Flipping over a card from the main deck, it revealed a four. A defeat normally… but placing down a -1 card turned certain defeat into almost certain victory. “You know Shiri, I think I can see now why the force pointed you out to me. You are a kind soul, despite all the darkness that currently surrounds you and rather than submit to what others call fate you would rather fight it to the bitter end for the sakes of yourself and those you care about. It’s highly admirable and I never once saw someone as passionate about anything back at the Academy.”

“As strange as it must sound, I truly do believe you will find the strength to get through the coming ordeals. If I might offer you a bit of advice; The way to survive while surrounded by the dark side isn’t to try and push it away. All that does is tire you out and in the end it will consume you. Instead, take inspiration from nature and ask yourself a simple question: Where is the storm calmest?”

“A metaphor then? In the eye of the storm, or the center. But that could also be interpreted in different ways. It could mean as you likely wish me to think, that one must embrace the storm to get to the center, to become the eye of the storm, but that doesn’t quite make sense to me.” Shiri flipped over a card, another three. “That’s, 8 for me I believe. Why aren’t there 12-cards?” She leaned back in her chair again and continued her thought. 

“If you embrace the storm, you become like the storm do you not? Turbulent and out of control. The eye however, is the complete opposite of the storm, nestled in the center of the chaos as a sanctuary, calm and clear. I thank you for your belief in me, and hope that will turn to trust one day, but I have to say your advice is wrong. The dark side, the Sith, I’m surrounded by them. The storm. Yet, the storm does not consume its eye, it cannot. I am calm, and clear-minded, a sanctuary to my comrades. I already am the eye of the storm, and the storm will not consume me, no matter what disasters it causes.”

Shiri stood up held out her hand to Azariah. “I stand, you win this set, even if you’re over, you’re closer. Let’s end the game here, at a tie. I’d like to play, and talk with you again, but I feel this has gone on long enough. If you have no further need of me,” She walked over to the door. “I think I can remember the way back, but I suppose you’ll want to escort me won’t you?”

“Why of course. It would be rude not to escort a lady back to her current quarters.”  Azariah answered after shaking Shiri’s hand and stood to his own feet, following her to the door without mentioning just how much shit he would be in if he had let the Jedi girl have free reign to walk around the ship. He wasn’t that stupid. 

Still, while they were walking back to the Prison area and somewhat away from the cameras that recorded noise, the older Sith did add “I do hope that one way or another you survive this. Stand by those you care about, fight and struggle to protect them as best you can and learn how to take the beatings and punishments that will come from struggling against those too petty to improve themselves. But always survive, for that is the only way you will grow stronger and become strong enough to have a chance at avoiding being the Darth’s latest pet Sithspawn… or its lunch. The rumors about what she does with her test subjects can’t seem to agree on what she does with them.”

Shiri walked just behind the sith as they headed back towards the prison cells, looking around the halls as she did. She noted how many cameras she saw and their places, something good to tell the rest when she got back. “I will, eye of the storm, remember? I’ve got just one question for you though, you don’t even have to give me the answer.” Shiri paused and turned to face Azariah as they got to the turbolift back to the cells. “Where are you in the storm? It’s never too late to join the calm of the eye, and remember that where the eye is, was the harshest of the turbulence not too long before.” Without waiting to hear his answer, Shiri went into the turbolift, and back to her friends.

Azariah didn’t answer Shiri’s question, but as the door for the Prison Area closed and Shiri was sent back to join her fellow Jedi, he smiled to himself as he walked away. He had to go visit the records room… as well as clean up his cards.