Picking clean the dead [D9, LM]

[Xyll Vanth]

Still injured, permanently so when it came to her eye it seemed, Xyll had set out into the snow despite how foolish it was. Mira, her apprentice, was with her; just to have a little bit of back-up, but more importantly so that she could act as a bit of a guide with whatever things she'd seen the other day.

Thus, eventually, the two arrived at the site.

[Empress-Regent]

It was busy with imperial soldiers securing the sites and overseeing this was the old crone on her hovering chair watching quietly but intently.

[Xyll Vanth]

It was... frustrating... to have her prize denied like this. She'd *hoped* that with the Emperor dead, she could pick this place clean of whatever secrets he had been hiding away here. Perhaps though, with the role she's played, she might still walk away with *some* consolation prize from whatever's left. Well, we'd have to see.

She approached Arya.

"Master," she said, "It appears I'm late."

[Empress-Regent]

“Come to pick at the remnants, Lord Nyx?” she mused from beneath the veil.

“Your eagerness for a prize is all too familiar to me, like another that once served me. What is it that you are seeking?”

[Xyll Vanth]

"I gave up the path that would get me closest to restoring my power," she said, "so that I would see a *true* Sith Empire. Which is ironic, given that by their nature, all Sith seek power. So, what do I seek here? Power? Certainly. And a way to stay, relevant, perhaps."

She looked at the soldiers doing their work.

"Do you not approve?"

[Empress-Regent]

“As long as it does not threaten our Empress, I see no harm in it,” she replied.

[Xyll Vanth]

She smiled, "I have no such designs. It would make my sacrifice a waste, after all. Whether such threats come from other directions though, I can not say. Declaring her empress has been an awfully quick process, and without the resistance I was expecting. Very impressive. Even more so if the other counsilors don't get any ideas halfway through this regency."

[Empress-Regent]

“It had to be quick and many were not in a position to counter, sometimes it is useful to see what will be to make it so,” she mused.

“In truth, some had designs but were not in position to take advantage. In the end it was a roll of the dice, and chance favored our hand.”

[Xyll Vanth]

"And Baras? He was awfully quick on the scene."

[Empress-Regent]

"And Baras? He was awfully quick on the scene."

“Baras is a worm, but a clever and useful worm and more importantly there are few in the Empire who know how to pull the levers quite like him. I made him an offer, it was worthwhile for him and for now he is my worm,” she replied.

[Xyll Vanth]

"I hope you can control him," she said. "He strikes me as the sort to become a problem down the line."

She shrugged.

"So, this place. I assume you've figured out what the Emperor was using it for?"

[Empress-Regent]

“A place for the Emperor to retreat to, according to Zash he could exist purely as a being of spirit… or without a physical body,” she said.

[Xyll Vanth]

"I assume," she gave a quick glance to her apprentice who had filled her in, "that was what the fight here yesterday was about?"

[Empress-Regent]

"I assume," she gave a quick glance to her apprentice who had filled her in, "that was what the fight here yesterday was about?"

“Yes and by all accounts it was successful, or we would be very dead,” she said honestly.

“These are now all the property of our Empress but I have been given leave to offer you something for your service.”

[Xyll Vanth]

She chuckled at the absurdity of it. Of course this was how it was going to be now. Always holding that hand up for scraps. So be it.

"And what would that something be?"

[Empress-Regent]

She produced a data chit, "This has interviews with the Exile, it may not give you insight into how she regained her connection to the Force but she was a powerful Force User, surely there is something there someone as... clever as you could glean from it."

[Xyll Vanth]

She took it, studied it.

"I heard she and Revan had been imprisoned by the Emperor. These interviews would be from that period?"

[Empress-Regent]

She smiled under the veil and said, “Of course, my apprentice.”

[Xyll Vanth]

"Then I'm sure there will be something of use here," she said, securing it away. It wasn't the vast treasure trove of the Emperor, which part of her still thought belonged to her by rights, but it was something. Which reminded her...

"That aside," she said, "I had been considering what to do with the relic he bestowed upon me. It would be of considerable use, if it could retain its power. Especially now that the Emperor can no longer exert his influence through such means."

[Empress-Regent]

“Then keep it, if he is resting, what harm could it be to you,” she said with a casual wave of her hand.