Nar Shaddaa

There were two reasons Moyr hit the cantina. First, she wanted a ferrum-rich meal after all the blood loss of the prior day, and Sith cuisine was the best to get a mid-rare bantha steak. Second, she expected to meet 'Salreia' somewhere around, and check how she was doing. Who she did not expect was...

Sylvain Torsin sitting at the bar with a bit of a blue drink and a half-eaten meal in front of him. He turned as he heard someone approach from behind. His eyes locked on with recognition for a moment, and then he nodded slightly a greeting, "Afternoon Moyr."

She was dressed casually, without Sith ostentation, in varied colours. Stovepipes, a leather jacket. More like a regular denizen of Nar Shaddaa. He golden orbs went wide for a second, but then her lids were pulled back, forming something closer to slits. She pulled the shades she had on her forehead onto her eyes and took a seat nearby, conjuring the holomenu with a swipe of her hand.

"And who might you be, kind sir? I knew a man a bit like you a while ago but I don't think you're him." Her voice was controlled, mellow but purposefully distant.

He chuckled once through his nostrils and picked at his food, "If that's the way you'll talk to me, I guess that's what I'll have to accept."

"Having a chat is a change over silence. But then, I've not been much of a public speaker lately. Bon appetit."

She placed an order with two clicks, letting the cooking droids know what she wanted.

He smirked and nodded, "Which undoubtedly means you've been quite busy and productive."

He picked up a bit of meat with his fork, put it in his mouth and began to chew. He paused for a few moments before asking, "How've you been?"

"Quite busy and productive. But you already have deduced it." She mused, adding a drink to the order. Her tastes did not change, it was still cool, raw, whiskey. "I tend to play the long games. Those that neither should nor can be spoken of too much before they bear some fruit in the future. I don't have a ready list of quick accomplishments." That was a lie, but a well-reasoned one.

He nodded and chuckled, "I look forward to having to deal with the curveballs you've prepared in the future."

He looked down at the drink, "Still a whiskey girl, I see."

"Even more so, probably." She puffed with her nostrils, spreading her fingers on the glass counter, then pulling them back together. "Why the assumption they are something you'll have to deal with?"

He chuckled, "I don't imagine a future where the Empire is ever something you're committed to like I am... you have your own path. One I respect, but it's different than mine."

'Is it the Empire or an Empire? Because I can't banish an impression that what is in your head and what is right here are not the same things. And if it is the latter, I can imagine conditions under which our agendas won't be at odds."

He smiled as a memory of her fingers on the glass came back to his mind, "You've always painted such lovely pictures of the future Moyr. This Empire has its flaws... of that we both agree. But 'an' Empire will always be in my future. I'm not sure you'd always want one in yours."

"A racially diverse Empire capable of utterly destroying the Republic, sacking Coruscant and scattering the Jedi, one guided by vision as grand as Naga Sadow's, one in which the Sith live by their Code, that Empire would have my commitment for quite a while." She chuckled darkly. "So much for my pretty pictures?"

He smiled, "And that is where we differ. I've never been the philosophical type as you know... I can get behind destroying the Republic, scattering the Jedi, but adhering dutifully to the Code will never be my path."

He shot her a kind eye, "The Code only ultimately leads to the destruction of the entire galaxy... something I'm not willing to do."

"I don't know who put that idea in your mind, but its falsity couldn't be more glaring." She stopped laughing and wrapped her fingers around the glass that had just arrived, slowly swirling the ice cubes inside. "But I suppose it's a convenient excuse if you don't mean to be a Sith in spirit, just in name and skill."

He tilted his head, "We all make decisions on who we want to be. I respect the decisions you made, and make in the pursuit of your ambitions. Philosophy is one thing people turn to in order to make those decisions. It's not my place to say what is 'right' or 'wrong' for I do not feel those concepts matter. Results are ultimately the defining judgement. To try and direct where do our actions lead us... and shape what the journey is like on the way there... that's why we do the things we do."

He took a sip of his drink, "As long as you are fulfilled with your choices, I will never comment on your decisions. I will live as Sylvain Torsin wishes to live... if that isn't Sith enough in spirit for you, then I'm sorry."

She took a jolt of whiskey, barely flinching. "It may be not Sith enough... Perhaps your vision of the Empire does not truly need the Sith, their religion, philosophy and lore, and it's just a more autocratic twin of the Republic that will repeat each an every of its mistakes. But you're right one one account. I don't deny any creature of the Force their right to follow their own path, wherever it leads."

He chuckled, "I assure you... the Empire is not ever going to be the Republic. This isn't a binary choice... that's the lie of the Sith and the Jedi."

"Enlighten me to the existence of the third option then." There was an edge in her voice. "Knowing your predilections, I don't suppose it's something anarchical, or even a confederacy of independent systems."

"The Empire will continue to function much like it does... But we shall remove the more cancerous tendencies of the Sith and replace them with far less wasteful measures. Both Dark and Light have a place in this galaxy... Dark to destroy that which is of no use, and Light to build that which is of value. Progress is and has always been the goal of the Empire... in my vision it will continue to be so." He replied.

He then chuckled, "In the most simplified and idealist way I can think to describe it while sitting at a table eating lunch... the reality is of course much uglier than that."

"Thanks for warning one of the hosts of cancerous tendencies. I have some time to prepare, or do you plan a quick takeover?" She teased ironically. "I'd prefer that, honestly. This way we could both see your vision catastrophically failing by rendering the Empire completely dysfunctional in our lifetimes."

"I'm sure you would enjoy that if that was the eventual outcome." He chuckled.

"My vision is not one of extreme and instantaneous change... some sort of flash-pan revolution... but the times surrounding me may dictate I take certain actions sooner than I'd like." He shrugged, "All we can do is make the decisions that are in front of us. Idealizing some glorious plan is nothing without accepting that things will not always go one's way." He took another sip.

"What about you? Revolution coming soon? Should I get my noble friends a hideout somewhere?" He grinned sardonically.

"You sound a lot like some bureaucratic Revanite. I haven't been aware the conspiracy has run so high and has become so overt." She twisted her lips in a grimace. "I would certainly be not fond of the world you're trying to create. Orderly oligarchical mediocrity and mush, with Sith values compromised so that the privileged wouldn't have to sweat for their hereditary positions." She washed distaste from her mouth by a sip of whiskey. "The Sith Code is a creed for meritocracy and upward mobility. Violent one, but in the end the only one that works. Be driven. Trust in your capabilities. Accumulate power. Secure victories to defeat and deter your opponents. Be capacious of change, with the blessings of the Force. Delegitimising this is not only a major sin against the collective identity of the Empire, its heroes and symbols, but also a recipe for erasing the true positive difference it has had when compared to the Republic. Your path is a Republic by another name."

She went silent, then adjusted to the playful tone.

"I am democratising fear one system at a time. So you may as well, because who knows where the fat cats will take the fall next."

"Repeating yourself and the lies you've been told doesn't make them any more true Moyr..." He replied coolly. "Follow your path... See where it takes you."

"So I am the fool here." She chuckled bitterly and went silent. Fortunately, her steak arrived, and she began to cut through it with speed and precision, portioning it into bits.