[IC] Rikki Syndathik's Holo-Journal [Unavailable IC]

[Trakaton Kalkoran]

The holorecording would flicker on. Rikki sat, yellow gaze settled on the camera tinted a bright green by the hue of the recording. Her Acolyte robes were gone, replaced not by the basic Apprentice robes but a set of armour. A plated lower robe, black and red, and a black fitted cuirass on her torso covered the most of her, a brown plate topping the piece to cover her upper chest and shoulders. Blood red sleeves snaked below chunky metal vambraces covering her forearms, and sturdy boots peeked out from under her lower robe. The tattoos on her face had changed. Gone was the geometric design, and while that had seemingly been done by an inexperienced hand, leaving patches of scarring in far too many places, these were perfect. Stark black inkwork trailed across the alien's face, a combination of smooth curves and sharp points to the lines. Sat in her hands was a saber, the design on its casing eerily similar to the one on her face, an intricate juxtaposition of smooth and sharp shapes in black and red.

The alien inhaled, tilting her head and bobbing her browridges with a wry smile as she began.

"So.. not an Apprentice. Not any more, at any rate. For now."

She chuckled softly, straightening up, gently turning the saber in her hands as she talked.

"Lord Iezkon took me, which I will be forever thankful for. She set me another task after the third, in the end. One I.. really struggled with, actually. She wanted me to bring her something that means something to me, and represents.."

The alien paused then, blinking, as though realising something, but shook the thought off and continued.

"That both represents me and would be a sacrifice, and inspires the Lorekeeper in her."

Rikki shrugged somewhat helplessly.

"I couldn't think of anything. I've never had property, I was the property. Ran into the same problem with this," she waggled the saber in one hand a moment, "Too, actually, but.. I'll get to that."
She shifted her weight slightly as she went to carry on.

"I.. remembered my mother had spoken of a weapon. Not quite an heirloom, but one that could be if claimed. A zhaboka. I looked at just getting one, instead of the one, in case I couldn't go, but to my surprise Lord Iezkon allowed me to go to Iridonia."

She frowned slightly.

"It was hotter than I imagined, I'll give it that." she shrugged in slight irritation, pursing her lips briefly. "The tribe were still where they'd been decades back. I simply walked in and presented the challenge. The leader.. my brother, I guess. Or, my half-brother. Fought him. It would have been easy if I could have used the Force but I wasn't going to risk it. And.."

She looked up for a moment, falling silent in thought, before looking back to the camera.

"I don't know. It felt right. I used augmentation, slightly, but that was it. I let him live, as I had no reason to kill him after claiming the weapon. Apparently that wasn't the done thing, but frankly," she shrugged, "I couldn't much care less. I had what I wanted. I'd pondered whether it had been mercy. I decided if anything it was repulsion." she shook her head lightly, "I couldn't care less for their traditions. Let the tribesman live in his shame. He does not pose enough of a threat to me to be worth finishing off." she sneered slightly, looking off to her right for a few moments, before turning to continue.

"And so I presented Lord Iezkon the weapon, and she accepted me as her Apprentice. She said that despite fate being against me, she saw use in me, and was curious to see what the future would hold for me."

Rikki smiled softly, sighing then.

"I was her Apprentice for about a month. Her time was demanded elsewhere, and she gave her Apprentices a choice. To stay with her, with looser rules, or to become a Neophyte. The problem was for me I need.." she frowned, sighing in slight exasperation, muttering 'Kark this sounds so egotistical' as she shifted her weight again, gesturing widely with her hands before laying them over her saber on her lap then. "The problem is courtesy of Leivé and impressing the right people, I've fallen headfirst into being involved in an invasion campaign in Imperial space, so.. I needed more than that. I chose to become a Neophyte." the alien smiled, "Despite hating it. Hating the fact that I in essence had to stand there and tell this woman who had saved me from the fate of stagnation in the Acolyte pool that if I continued to serve her it would hold me back. And.. she understood. As she had when Johran had done the same. Lyrua.. surprised her. Not me, but her. Lyrua stayed. Whether her ambitions will ever flourish remains to be seen, but I have not discounted the possibility yet." she nodded, straightening up a little more.

"And so I was in essence sans Master, sans saber, sans anything I had not set up for myself.." she grinned for the first time in the recording then, "And that was absolutely fine by me. Within.. a day I had three avenues for a saber. Within three, a job. Armour bought for me. I continued securing my own training as I had been doing, and I'm more than happy with my progress. And I'm fairly certain I won't be a Neophyte for much longer." she nodded, looking down to the saber then.

"This was.. option two. I was brought to fight a Shadow Jedi, and if I did well, we would turn their saber into mine. Into this. She caught us off guard, to begin with, but I think.. I surprised her. She abandoned her follow-through, which would have possibly lost the other his head." she tilted her head, still gazing at the weapon, seemingly melancholy about the whole ordeal, "She abandoned it in a brief retreat, letting him advance, letting me advance. I caught her in the ankles with lightning.. and went to try and finish her barrier with a Pull just as the other did with a Grip. And.." Rikki chuckled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes as she looked back to the recorder then, "That's how I ended up with a Shadow Jedi attempting to dropkick me." she chuckled softly once more, exhaling. "The two of us both opted for Speed. I damn near cut her leg off. The filth still spun midair and caught us both, and my visor was blotted out by blood, but.." she shook her head. "She was bleeding out. He choked her to death. I took one of her sabers, and spent a day straight not long after making my own crystal. The rest was her saber and my vibrosword. I was asked to bring anything sentimental I could use to craft it, anything that I could sacrifice and.. found the same problem again. I had to find something, and as much as I'm attached to my metal leg it's not as if I couldn't just buy another."

The alien paused then, sighing after a long moment.

"I chose my tattoos. It wasn't time. And yet.." she closed her eyes, her grip on the saber tightening slightly, "And yet I did it. I had.. sworn to myself I would wait until he was dead. Until I'd killed him. It was the only thing I could truly sacrifice, and so," she gestured to her face, "These are of my tribe. The others were.. not. They were in essence a brand. The Sith who put them there yet lives and yet.." she furrowed her brow, tapping the saber against her right hand in thought, "I'm not so sure what to do about that any more."

She stayed silent another long moment, then shaking her head.

"Regardless, I've not the time to focus on it yet. After the invasion I'll have to, but, for now it's impractical. I survived my first Naval encounter yesterday. My job includes being Second in Command of a squadron and I brought some of the ships in as reserves. Took down a Corvette." the alien then let the saber sit on her lap, clapping her hands together almost sarcastically, "Which would have been an all-round wonderful experience if I wasn't petrified the whole time. Like.." she exhaled, rubbing her forehead, before gesturing lightly, then dropping the hand back to her lap, "I can drive all of two speeders and two freighters in an absolute pinch. I don't.. know space tactics. My boss knew this, and yet.." she shrugged helplessly, "It is what it is. I've started reading up and I'll likely pester Zak with questions. At least I know what she expects from me now, even if I learnt it the dangerous way."

She tilted her head, then.

"I've started to record what I know, too. While I would otherwise aspire to create a Holocron, by the curse of my blood, I cannot, and so I shall do it the boring way." she chuckled softly, shrugging.

"It's.. actually helping me theorise on my studies though, finding knowledge gaps and experimenting my way to filling them, where I can. And where I can't, I'm at least building a map so I'll know what I don't know. Plus I've thought of uses for it already. An arduous task, no doubt, but I shall make it worth it."

The alien paused to stretch a moment, leaning her hands either side of her.

"We invade Syrbandor III in three days, and are to have it captured by the end of the year, be it by direct conflict or simply besieging them.. as they did to the "Castles of Old," as Sith Nova put it." she chuckled softly, sighing and tilting her head once more, "And then I will have what feels like most of my time back. I don't regret where I've focused for a minute, but it will be good to see the skills developed being used to improve the Powerbase. To reap the knock-on rewards, as it were." she smiled with a light nod.

She sat up once more and bobbed her browridges slightly. "First and foremost on that plate being a project assigned to me and two others by the Dark Lord herself. The first time she's ever directly spoken to me and it was in essence a compliment. That alone was terrifying, somehow." the alien grinned, "I suppose I've been spending too much time around people who dismiss me unable to be anything but deviant and useless by virtue of my race." the alien smirked softly, "And it is entirely their loss. A misconception I will only devote so much of my time to disproving, when I decide I want to." she gestured lightly, almost dismissively, smiling softly as she dropped her hands back to her lap. "So.. this is, not Apprentice, but Neophyte Syndathik signing off. Glory to the Empire, Glory to Horuset." she dipped her chin, then reaching forwards to click the recording off.