When they arrived at the ship Andronikos was waiting for them looking a little skittish "um is that?-" well this was gonna be a hard sell but Kyradia already knew that
Kyradia answered "Darth Malora yeah she's gonna help us find Zash" Andronikos sighed rubbing his forehead
Andronikos responded "you know this is somehow worse than one of those lizards" he turned to Ashara "and you're cool with this?" Ashara shrugged looking between them
She smiled "I mean what's one more sith gonna do her intentions seem clear and she knows where Zash went so I mean sure" Kyradia had a feeling that Ashara was only about 20% cofident in that statement
Malora gave a coy smile "I promise I won't cause any trouble" she looked away "as long as my experiments don't go wrong" oh that sounded just fantastic
Andronikos sighed "alright fine but this better not end up like the Wrath incident" Kyradia and Ashara both shuddered remembering when they let the wrath onto the Fury
Kyradia cocked her head "to be fair I didn't exactly want her on the ship" Andronikos seemed to consider that "come on let's go plot the ships course" they made their way onto the ship leaving Ashara and Malora outside
Ashara cocked her head at Malora "what" Malora said sternly
Ashara stared at her for a second longer "just trying to get a read on you, need to know whether I need to keep an eye on you" Malora frowned at her squaring up to Ashara, Malora was significantly taller than Ashara but her montrals were about at her eye level.
She folded her arms "is that a threat" Ashara kept smiling not intimidated by Malora
She shrugged "quite the opposite actually I'm wondering if I need to keep an eye on the sith seen as many tend to be quite fragile" Malora's face curled into a scowl
Malora exhaled "Well I can assure you I'm not within that category" Ashara gave a sarcastic nod as Malora stormed onto the ship, as she did Ashara noticed a little chip on the back of her neck causing her to frown.
Kyradia had just finished plotting the course to Savareen when Ashara walked into the room, Savareen was pretty close to Kowak so they may actually be able to catch up to Zash. She turned to Ashara "how's our new guest settling in? Ashara sat down and shrugged.
She looked away "just about as well as you could expect, she's talking to Xalek now, I assured him Malora wasn't a new apprentice apart from that they seem to be getting on fine" Kyradia considered that a victory even having Malora here may prove difficult knowing how sith could be
Kyradia nodded "well could be worse I suppose" she paused looking away "just keep an eye on her Ashara you know how sith can be, you're pretty good at controlling their impulses" Ashara nodded giving a 'gotcha' gesture
Andronikos swiveled around "and make sure any of her 'experiments' do not damage my ship I swear if she breaks something" Ashara nodded with a smirk Andronikos had always been particular about his ship
Kyradia held her chin pensively "just make sure she stays out of trouble, she did volunteer to help us though so she probably does want to help" she chuckled "but after helping I'd be wary she's a wily one" Ashara and Andronikos nodded they were pretty used to dealing with sith betraying other sith what with Zash, Thanaton, the Wrath and half of Kyradia's apprentices.
Ashara cocked her head at Kyradia "so you've known her since the academy, longer than any of us? Malora said you helped each other with favours" Kyradia nodded it wasn't something she thought about much but at the time they had an arrangement
Kyradia looked away "she was right in saying that we weren't exactly friends but when you're at the low levels in the sith academy you need allies especially if you're well like me" Kyradia gestured to her horns "or in Malora's case a bit weaker in the force, she had a brilliant mind and was an amazing scientist but her control of the force is pretty limited. Harkun hated us both for our 'unconventional methods' so to get ahead and beat those stupid trials we used each others strengths to get beat all those 'gifted people'." Kyradia guessed they were kinda friends but they were both so sith during that point Kyradia had fully planned to stab her in the back and she was positive Malora probably had planned the exact same.
Ashara frowned "so what happened between you two?" Kyradia thought about it for a second
Kyradia sighed "honestly nothing Zash took a shining to me which I now know is for all the wrong reasons, but she took me into private training and off Korriban soon after that so I just stopped seeing her" she chuckled "her old master was such an idiot we managed to get him completely removed from the academy, I think we had a plan to get her an important master but… I dunno it was 8 years ago" Now she thought about it Kyradia had never paid Malora back for her last favour.
Ashara nodded "I'm surprised you never mentioned her before" Kyradia felt bad for the reasoning but it was who she was
Kyradia gritted her teeth "honestly at the time I didn't think of it as anything important so I never mentioned it" Ashara frowned a bit probably remembering how Kyradia used to be "we can only hope she doesn't have a grudge" they all nodded
Andronikos yawned "alright well we're gonna be in hyperspace for a while so I'm gonna go take a nap" he gestured for Kyradia to follow him and they left Ashara there pondering the new crewmate
It was later now and Ashara had been playing her Fizzz to pass the time but she was interrupted by a loud crashing sound as if some pots and pans fell off table, she wandered around the ship until she found Malora in the engine room with what seemed like a makeshift lab
She frowned "uhhhhh what are you doing" Malora turned around a little surprised her posture quickly changed as she frowned folding her arms
She scoffed "if you must know I'm setting up a makeshift lab" Ashara frowned looking from her to the engine
She looked back at her "ummm in the engine room? With the very volatile expensive engine?" Malora's eyes widened a little the pieces connecting in her head
She shook her head "well yes but do you have a better idea" Ashara nodded pointing towards the room she was just in
Ashara smiled "you could use the conference room, we hardly ever use it except for when I'm practicing my Fizzz" she gestured to the instrument in her hands
Malora nodded "ah yes well I thought that was a broom closet, I'm still not familiar with this place" she started to gather up her science equipment
Ashara looked around "uh do you need some help? I can car-" Malora cut her off before she could finish
She shook her head "no I'm fine, I got it in here didn't I?" Ashara nodded awkwardly as she stood there watching Malora pick up her beakers and other implements she didn't recognise
Ashara tried to make conversation "um so Kyradia told me about how you guys helped each other in the academy, sounds like you had the odds stacked against you" Malora was half listening as she continued cleaning up
Malora responded "yes well you try introducing science to a bunch of old men wielding 'unlimited power', anything that challenges the status quo was shot down" she scoffed "like a zabrak or a scientist for example" Malora had cleared up all the equipment now and begun to move it to the conference room
Ashara followed "well I mean you became a dark council member so guess you proved them wrong" Malora shook her head her scowl accentuated by her cracked face
She put down her equipment on the conference table "yes, 8 years it took me to slowly rise through the ranks so that for one month I felt like I'd proved myself before that bald zombie threw me off the landing station. No matter how far I rose there was always someone stronger in the force than me to put me back in my place even after I did this" she gestured to her face
She was only half listening to Ashara while she spoke, setting up her lab "you mean you did that to yourself?" Malora finished setting up the lab and turned to Ashara with a scowl
She frowned "yes, but why do you care anyway" she rubbed the back of her neck "is it important to you to know how I failed, here's the lesson for you no matter how much you try or sacrifice there's always someone who it comes naturally to and eventually they will always win" Ashara shrunk down she hadn't meant to anger her
Ashara mumbled "I'm uh sorry I just was curious since you're going to helping us" Malora scowled at her for a few more seconds before she just sighed
Malora looked away "whatever jedi you don't need to know anything more than I want to help believe me it's not worth you knowing" Ashara frowned
Ashara put her hands on her hips "well I just want to make sure you're not hiding anything like that chip I saw on your neck" Malora's eyes widened the scowl returning to her face
Malora held the chip on her neck "this chip isn't anything sinister I promise you that it's just something I designed to help me cope" Ashara frowned not believing her "It's none of your business anyway I don't have to tell you anything" she stormed past Ashara opening the door and gesturing for her to leave
Ashara folded her arms "fine don't tell me but I can't trust you until you do" Malora scowled at Ashara
She stood over Ashara again "fine by me jedi I don't need your trust" Ashara exited the room in a huff leaving Malora alone, she made her way to her bedroom and took a deep breath. Looks like keeping an eye on her was going to be a little tricky...