Warbalde and Thrawn
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars the old republic or any of its work. Everything belongs to bioware.
Summary: Osnir is the son of a powerful Sith pureblood and a human female, his father taught him to hate and destroy anyone that stands in his way. His mother taught him compassion and love. He is not important to this story.
Welcome to the second chapter. This is a 5k chapter so enjoy. A special thanks to Larsseehans and Sentinel951 for being my first to followers, I hope you have some company soon.
Let's get this party started.
~o0o~
With the immediate danger now over two men were put on lookout duty and the rest took a much deserved rest. That's when Osnir spotted the sergeant.
'Holy fucking hell, what is grand admiral Thrawn doing here?
"My name is Osnir, it's a pleasure to meet you." Osnir said when his brain rebooted after seeing his favorite character come to life.
"The pleasure is all mine, my lord. You and your men saved our lives." Thrawn replied. It took him two seconds to realize he skipped a step when Osnir looked at him expectantly.
"Ah, my apologies. I am sergeant Thrawn, my lord." He said with a small bow.
"Well then sergeant Thrawn, what are your current orders and where are you to be reassigned after this is done?"
"Me and my men are to be reassigned to lord Renning, my lord. He requires additional help acquiring… specimens." From his tone it was clear that Thrawn thought it was a huge waste of time.
"That sounds… interesting." Osnir replied with a small smile.
"Anyway, my standing orders are to clear the K'lor'slugs and looters from this tomb. I had a team set up explosives in the main breeding grounds of the K'lor'slug, but before the explosives could be activated the team was killed." Thrawn told him as he and his soldiers not on lookout duty sat down and ate some rations.
"Very well, we'll rest here for fifteen minutes and then make our way towards the K'lor'slug breeding grounds." Osnir said as he leaned against a wall to catch his breath. 'That fight really took a lot out of me, it seems that this body really does have its limits.'
Fifteen minutes later Osnir told Thrawn to get the men together. The twenty soldiers were assembled in a four by five grit with Thrawn standing next to Osnir as the highest ranking military officer.
"Listen up. The play is to link this detonator." Thrawn held up a standard military issue detonator. "To the cache of explosives just down that corridor. This will be dangerous, but if we don't take out their breeding grounds they will overrun us sooner or later." Osnir took a second to look the soldiers in their eyes.
"However, this exit must stay closed off, lest the K'lor'slug make their way up stairs and kill everyone. Therefore, I need four volunteers to help me make it to the bombs and protect me as I link the detonator." Osnir finished as the men started to shift uncomfortably. But Cormun and the six soldiers under his command stepped forward and saluted with fire in their eyes.
"It would be our honor to serve, my lord!" They all shouted in unison.
"Thrawn, can you miss these seven soldiers?" Osnir asked the chiss sergeant.
"Now that the area is clear of K'lor'slugs, however temporarily, and we had some rest I believe that we could hold on here for a little while longer, my lord." Thrawn answered as he looked at the seven soldiers before him.
'What did he do to make these men so… loyal?' Thrawn asked himself. He and almost all the imperial military had only bad experiences with the sith, from being expected to throw their lives away for the sith's pleasure to fighting other imperial soldiers for the sith's own gain. And that's when he realized that this sith was wildly different from the rest. 'I have a strong feeling that this sith is going to achieve much, hopefully for the better.'
"Then it's arranged, we move out in 5 minutes!" Osnir said to his seven soldiers, in his head he was having a little epiphany. 'Do the sith truly treat the regular soldiers so badly that even a little respect and compassion can have that strong of an effect? O wait, yes, yes, they do. Only just Baris had his own fleet fight against that of his master and cause thousands of imperial deaths for his own ambition, god knows how many more of the imperial military gets caught between the sith's infighting. Might be time to chance that, but first I need to become the apprentice to Baris. Best to keep the timeline as intact as possible then so that I can use my knowledge to build a strong powerbase.'
"We are ready to move out, my lord." Cormun said, breaking Osnir out musings.
"Excellent. Move out!" Osnir shouted as he led his soldiers into the beast's maw, literally in this case.
As they got closer and closer to the breading ground and killed more and more of the beasts, a huge K'lor'slug, most likely the queen, came out of nowhere and took a lunge towards one of his soldiers. Osnir was having none of it.
Using the force to augment his speed he pushed the soldiers out of the way, getting a very large and nasty looking wound to his chest as a reward. With the queen busy trying to eat Osnir and failing, as he was using his increased speed and strength to keep it from eating his head, two of his men took position behind the giant queen and opened fire in its relatively unprotected back.
As the queen hissed in pain, Osnir, realizing that a training saber wasn't going to be enough shouted of a grenade. Catching it out of midair he jumped over the queen and threw it in the queen's giant mouth where it detonated, showering the walls in blood.
"You… You saved my life. Again." The soldier said with a disbelieving look on his face as Osnir chest was rudimentary stitched closed.
"If a leader won't risk his life for one of his men, why would his men do the same for him?" Osnir asked the still dumbstruck soldier.
"Enough about that for now, I need to arm the explosives, or all of this was for nothing." Osnir said as he tried to stand up, a hiss of pain escaping him as he fell back down. 'That hurt way more than I thought.'
Wordlessly a soldier took the remote detonator and started to connect it to the explosives with four others protecting him. The last two soldiers took up positions next to him as protection.
A few minutes later the explosives where armed and Osnir was handed the detonator.
"Time to get the fuck out of here!" He shouted as he and his men started to make their way back to Thrawn position. When they were far enough away Osnir pushed the button, a large explosion shaking the walls of the tomb as the K'lor'slug breeding ground was cleansed with fire.
"It's good to see you made it back safe, my lord." Thrawn greeted him as he and his men made it back to the barricade.
"Thank you Thrawn. How did it go here?" Osnir asked as a combat medic treated his wound.
"We have had no problems here. Now that the K'lor'slugs don't return after we kill them it was easy to kill the last of them. Everything is cleared and me and my men can proceed with the secondary mission."
"Secondary mission?"
"Yes, my lord, we found a data pad in the corridor to our left." Thrawn said as a soldier handed the data pad to Osnir.
'O right, to get artifacts and kill the looters.' Osnir thought as he skimmed the data pad.
"It seems that sergeant Rikel needs are help. I have a proposition for you Thrawn." Osnir said to Thrawn. They walked a short while away from the rest of the men before they continued with their conversation.
"Yes, my lord?"
"My first trail is to get a war blade from an old armory inside this tomb. To get to that armory I need to get past the looters and I doubt that they will let me pass. Your mission is to clear this tomb of all the looters and recover the artifacts that they are trying to steal. Would you say that is correct?"
"It is, my lord."
"Then I propose the following. Allow me to take command of you and the twenty soldiers under your command. I will help you clear the tomb of the looters and recover the artifacts. In return, you help me with locating the tomb and destroy any defenses is has."
'He's giving me a choice?!' Thrawn thought disbelievingly as Osnir finished speaking. 'It may not be official, but any sith, even acolytes, can basically order the military to do what they want unless they are under the command of a stronger sith or are really high ranking officers.'
"Forgive me, my lord, but why are you asking? You could just order me to do so and I would be forced to comply." Thrawn asked with some suspicion in his voice.
"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death." Osnir paused as he saw Thrawn's eyes widen.
"Hearts and minds, sergeant. The way the sith treat the imperial military is wrong and should be corrected as soon as possible. Wouldn't you agree?"
"I do, but nether you or I are in a position to do that." Thrawn said with a little sadness in his voice.
'This Thrawn is different from the one than is depicted in the books or even the cartoons. Still, he will be an invaluable ally.' Osnir thought as he looked at Thrawn.
"True, you are just a sergeant and I am not even an apprentice, yet. That can all change. I ask you this. Will you help me create a new empire? One not controlled by greedy and power hungry sith, but by us?" Osnir asked, hoping Thrawn would go for it.
"Why? What would we do with that power?" Thrawn asked, now starting to get a little curious.
"There will be an enemy that is stronger than the empire and republic combined, one that is not interested in negotiation or peace. That opponent will kill a trillion innocents and strip us of all our natural recourses. We would be slaves. I will not condemn the galaxy to such a fate if I can stop it!" Osnir told Thrawn with raw conviction in his voice.
Thrawn's eyes widened. "How do you know that?" Thrawn asked, sensing that Osnir wasn't lying to him.
"The force granted me a vision." Osnir said, hoping Thrawn would buy it.
'That's a big fat lie, I know because it's an dlc in this game. I somehow doubt he would believe that however.'
"I… believe you." Thrawn said as he looked Osnir in his eyes and gave his answer.
"I will join you, my lord. I will help you make this galaxy a better place." Thrawn said as he kneeled before Osnir. What Osnir found curious was how he knelt. With his left knee on the ground and his left hand with a fist just before it. His head bowed down and his right arm resting on his right knee with the fist going to his left knee1.
'I'm taking a risk here, if he turns out to be just another sith I just swore myself to a possible tyrant. Well, too late now.' Thrawn thought as he knelt before Osnir, his new lord.
"Thank you Thrawn. I am sure we will do great thing together." Osnir said with a smile as he started to walk back towards the barricade with Thrawn behind him. When they rejoined the men Thrawn addressed them.
"As some of you know we have a secondary mission. We will clear this tomb from the looters that inhabit it and recover the artifacts that they are stealing. Our reports suggest that there are nearly eighty looters and they know that we are coming. Normally we wouldn't stand a chance. Now Luckily for you the sith has agreed to help us!" Thrawn said as he noted the crestfallen faces light up.
"Is it true you saved the life of private West?" A rookie shouted before being hit on the head by his comrade for speaking out of turn.
"Yes, I saved his life. I said it before but I will say it again. If a leader won't risk his life for one of his men, why would his men do the same for him?" Osnir said seeing the eyes of many of the veterans widen. 'He would risk his life for one of us?' was the general though among them.
"Like I said, Lord Osnir has agreed to help us clear the tomb of all the looters and recover the artifacts. In return we will help the sith retrieve an ancient war blade inside an old armory." Thrawn finished his briefing.
"I will not force any of you to agree, this is your choice!" Osnir told his men. That did it for many of the veterans that where present, never had the sith given any of them a choice. It was always a, comply or die, kind of request.
"Will you follow me?!" Osnir shouted across the tomb.
"Yes, my lord!" Every one of them shouted as they saluted. Some of the soldiers simply did so out of loyalty to the empire. Some veterans saluted the sith because they could recognize that this sith was one in a million, a chance to fight for someone they could trust and believe in.
"We move out in five minutes, get ready!" Thrawn ordered as the soldiers started to check their weapons and armor.
~o0o~
When you step outside of the barricade you can go either left or right. Left leads to the K'lor'slug breeding grounds. Right leads to the looters.
Left has been completely cleared, meaning that Osnir could break the barricade and concentrate all manpower on the right side of the tomb. And so, he did.
The first barricade they came across was by far the best defended and fortified with almost thirty looters guarding it. A frontal assault would have cost massive casualties for the imperials and would most likely fail without heavy weapons to force the looters to break rank. Or a sith, a sith would do.
Osnir charged the fortified position with inhuman speed and before anyone had anyone what was going on he was cutting them down left and right. When they finally turned around to open fire on the sith almost ten men where dead or too injured to fight. Thrawn chose that moment to attack.
With a sith behind their ranks and twenty imperial soldiers pushing a frontal assault they started to panic. The only reason that they didn't outright run was because their commander was engaging the sith and seemed to win. They were wrong.
When the commanders head fell to the ground the remaining looters made a break for it. They did not get far.
"I'd say that went rather well." Osnir said to Thrawn as he killed the last retreating looter and wiped the blood from his training saber.
"Yes, my lord. That indeed went better than I expected." Thrawn replied as he looked around his men. What he saw was a mortally wounded soldier that was hit with a blaster bold in the chest.
"Thrawn, check on the men and make sure this position is secure." Osnir ordered as he spotted the wounded soldier. "I will see to our wounded comrade."
"Understood, my lord."
As Osnir walked to the wounded soldier his stomach turned and his face lost most of its color, being of the sith species though meant that that can't really happen. 'This is different than staring at a screen, she really is in pain. I wonder if I can heal her. Maybe it will work, she won't make it to the hospital and our combat medic can't do anything for her.' Steeling his nerves, he approached her.
"What's your name my friend." Osnir said in his friendlies voice.
"Rosa, my lord." The now named Rosa replied as she coughed up some blood.
"I can try something that may save your life, I cannot guarantee that it will work however. If it doesn't, it will make your last moments extremely painful." Osnir told Rosa as he knelt beside her.
"What is it, my lord?" Rosa asked.
"Sith healing. I have never tried it before, but I have read about it. Like I said, if this goes wrong you will be in excruciating pain." Osnir replied.
"I *cough* understand. Try it, my lord." Rosa said. Osnir nodded in response and sat down in a meditative position.
'Concentrate, feel the force flow through you. Reach out. Guide the force. Knit bones… mend flesh… dull the pain!' Osnir though as he could feel the force flow towards Rosa and slowly heal he injuries.
This went on for almost ten minutes as everyone stared in awe at the display before them. When Osnir was done he tried to stand up but failed. 'That took almost all my strength, I need to rest.' He thought as he rolled on his back, taking heavy breathes.
"You… you healed me!" Rosa shouted as she stood up and tested her limbs. "I don't even feel any pain!"
"I'm happy I could help." Osnir said in a low voice as he felt himself fall asleep despite his best efforts to stay awake.
"My lord!" Rosa shouted as she ran to him side.
"Relax, he is just sleeping. Healing you from the brink of death must have cost an incredible amount of energy." Thrawn told her as he put a hand on her shoulder before going back into commander mode.
"Rosa, Cormun, take lord Osnir and lay him down somewhere comfortable. The rest of you, turn this barricade around and defend against any possible attacks. When you done with that go strip the bodies for any valuables and bring them to me!" He shouted, bringing his men out of their stupor of seeing one of their own almost dying and then being brought back from the brink of death by a sith of all people.
Two hours later Osnir finally woke up to see Rosa face hovering over his own.
"How long was I out?" He asked in a tired voice as he sat up on the stretcher he was sleeping on.
"Two hours, my lord." Rosa replied before kneeling, shocking Osnir a little.
"You saved my life!" She said in a tone that he dared not interrupt.
"No one has ever done that for me before."
She hesitated before a look of determination swept over her face. She took out a knife and cut her hand, allowing blood to drip just before Osnirs feet.
"With this blood as my seal and these soldiers as my witnesses I offer a blood oath before you. I will abandon all other ambitions and dedicate my life to you. This I swear."
Rosa is a nondescript looking woman with brown short hair and a face that has seen the horrors of war. As a soldier her body was trained to be strong and fast with lean muscles, although you couldn't see that with her armor on. The one thing that truly stood out where her eyes, the color of which had never seen before. A vibrant red that had a fire burning behind them that was almost terrifying. It screamed determination.
'Wait, a blood oath? What the hell is that?' Osnir thought. Thrawn saw his confusion and said.
"A blood oath is a ritual to swear one's loyalty, unto death. If you accept she will obey your every command and devote her life to you. It is exceptional rare to see and is almost never used anymore."
'That wasn't in the game…' Osnir thought as he stood up and looked at the kneeling soldier before him.
"Are you absolutely sure?"
"I am."
"Then I accept."
"Now that that is done I propose we continue with our mission. The more time we give the looters to prepare the harder it will be." Thrawn said as turned around to the men.
Five minutes later they were on the move again, not seeing a single looter as the came onto a round room with three ways to choose from.
'I believe that going left leads to Spindrall and straight ahead leads to the armory, so that means that right is the way forward.' Osnir though as he looked at the neatly piled skulls in the center of the room.
"Make a perimeter and secure the right passage. I will be going straight ahead towards the armory and then visit lord Spindrall. Alone." Osnir commanded as he made his way to the ancient sith armory.
"But my lord, I thought you wanted our help with securing the armory? That is the reason you helped us clear out the tomb." Thrawn asked. Although already knowing the answer he asked more for the sake of the men as you could see the confusion clearly written across their faces.
"This is a trail for becoming sith and must be completed alone." Osnir answered, seeing the true meaning behind Thrawns question.
"Then why did you help us clear out the tomb?" Cormun asked with an undertone of suspicion. Rosa didn't like his tone as she led a soft growl escape her.
"That's why." He answered. "The sith have done nothing to earn the respect or trust of the military. What would have happened if I had offered to help you without asking anything in return?"
"I… I would have thought that you where tricking us and be extremely weary of anything you said to us." Cormun replied, now with an undertone of shame in his voice.
"And that is why I told you what I did, it allowed you to concentrate on the battle. Now that we have all spend some time together, however brief, I hope that you can all see that I am not a typical sith. I will not lie or trick you, if there is something that you cannot know I will tell you that it is classified instead of lying to you. I hope you can all treat me with that same respect." Osnir said as he disappeared into the ancient armory.
~o0o~
As Osnir descended into the armory he could see the ancient droids that always try to kill you after you take the war blade.
'I wonder…' Osnir thought as he took a closer look at one of the droids. 'They don't seem to activate if I get close, how about if I destroy one of them?'
With a flick of his wrist the droid was cut in two and fell to the ground, expecting to be attack by the remaining droids he spun around ready to destroy them. Nothing happened.
'You have to be kidding me, this is way too easy.' Osnir thought as he destroyed the last of the droids. He walked to a war blade that was displayed in a protective see though casing. He smashed is to pieces and picked up the blade, throwing his old training saber into a corner.
"Well, that was easy." He said out loud as he turned around and walked back towards his men.
When he walked out of the armory barely five minutes had passed. He motioned for Thrawn to come to him.
"Thrawn, I wanted to ask, who is Rosa and where does she come from?"
"Rosa is from the outer rim, she was raised by a warrior family that trained their children ruthlessly from a young age. They are taught the meaning of honor and loyalty from birth. Or at least that is what she told me. She is one of my best soldiers, the only reason that she isn't a sergeant or even a lieutenant yet is because she is being held back. I tried to do something about it but I am just not in that position. My superiors don't trust her, saying she is a wild attack dog from a backwater planet. They say she is only suited to fight until she dies, as a private." Thrawn explained.
"If she is that good why did she get shot?"
"Because she pushed another soldier out the way. She got shot in the process."
"Where is her family? Why did they allow her to be held back?" Osnir asked with genuine curiosity in his voice.
"Her family disowned her, she won't tell me much more than that. It might explain why she just growled to Cormun when he questioned you. From what she told me she never really knew kindness from anyone but me, which is limited because I cannot show favoritism with the men under my command." Thrawn took a moment to look at her and got a thoughtful look on his face.
"And then you come along and basically risk your life to save hers. It must have been one of the best moments in her life to have someone actually care about her. It must be why she swore the blood oath, she never what to lose you. Well, that's my guess anyway." Thrawn finished.
"Then I will do my best to live up to her expectation for me." Osnir said with a smile on his lips.
"I'm glad to hear it, my lord."
After a few moments Osnir dismissed Thrawn.
"Thank you Thrawn, you can resume your duties."
"Understood." And with a salute he was back to making sure the men didn't slack off. Not that they did anyway, but it never hurts to check.
Meanwhile Osnir turned around and walked to the corridor that leads to Spindrall. As he walked down the steps he could see fifteen failed acolytes training and dueling with one another.
As he approached Spindrall he bowed politely and waited for Spindrall to address him. He had not business here and could probably be killed without consensuses, so a bit of respect was in order.
"What do you want here, slave? You are not here to receive my mark." Spindrall addressed him.
"No, my lord, I already completed my first trail." Osnit replied in a respectful tone.
"Than what is it you want?"
"I wish to ask you a question." Osnir stated, hoping he could get an answer and leave. Spindrall was a sith lord after all, he had no illusions he could beat him.
"I am under no obligation to give you anything. However, you are strong, and… unique. I will answer your question, if you can pass two short trails."
"I… accept." Osnir replied, hoping that the trails won't be too difficult.
"My first trail is a trail of the mind, recite the sith code and its meaning to me!" Spindrall demanded.
'Phff, who does this guy think I am. Fine, I'll humor him.'
"Peace is a lie. There is only Passion. Through Passion I gain Strength. Through Strength I gain Power. Through Power I gain Victory. Through Victory my chains are Broken. The Force shall free me."
"It means that the strong destroy the weak. That by following your emotions you can achieve true power. That by bending the force to your will, you will be truly set free of all limitations."
'Not that I fucking agree.' He added in his head.
"I am impressed, not many fresh acolytes understand the code that deeply. Although I sense that you do not completely agree with the code, that is no concern of me however."
"Your second trail is a trail of the body, you will fight and kill all my apprentices. If you cannot you will die. Begin!"
'Well, fuck.'
Osnir was given no time to feel sorry for himself as he already had to dodge multiple strikes from overzealous acolytes. They got killed as a reward.
'I'm still weak from healing Rosa, I need to end this quickly before they wear me out.'
With eleven acolytes remaining they engaged him four at the time, allowing the other to rest. It was an excellent strategy when facing a superior opponent. Not so good for Osnir however.
After fifteen minutes of this, eight acolytes remained and Osnir was tired beyond believe, but he kept pushing, kept forcing his body to move. And then he felt it, a primal rage, a desire to rip his opponents apart and tear them limp from limp. He clamped down hard on his ever growing rage and remained in control of his emotions. Spindrall noticed and raised an eyebrow.
Instead of giving in on his rage he used the last of his strength to release a shockwave that pushed all his opponents a good twenty meters away and gave his a few seconds reprieve.
In these few seconds he forced his mind to focus and look inside of himself, like he did when he was healing Rosa. Feeling the force and allowing him to look deep inside of himself.
What he found was the force. Not the dark or light side of the force. He simply felt the force in its uncorrupted form, flowing as free as the wind but stronger than a thousand suns.
He could feel its power and asked for help. He didn't know who he was asking or what it would do. He simply petitions this all powerful entity for help.
He could feel an incomprehensibly small amount of its power flow throughout his body. It strengthened his limp, allowing him to move faster than he could before. It allowed him to feel every movement in a hundred meters. It made him stronger than ever.
Within three second all the remaining acolytes laid dead on the ground. Osnir didn't hate them, he didn't hate himself. He simply felt like he did what he needed to do.
And then it was gone, and he saw the dead bodies of the fifteen acolytes on the ground. It took all he had not to throw up and curl into a ball. But before he could do anything further Spindrall moved with speed only a lord of the sith could manage and forcibly put an ancient looking ring on his index finger.
"If the lords in the academy feel what I just felt coming from you they would come here and execute you themselves."
~o0o~
Aaaand because I'm an asshole I'm going to leave it at that. Thank you for reading!
Cya all next time.
1 Its how the anbu from Naruto kneel, I always liked it soooo…
