Cowboy Up (open for whatever)

[Maxim Vasilijev]

He had been progressing as any normal student would. Lady Vader pushed him hard at times, and while he would often return to his room on the second floor of the palace exhausted and wondering why he had ever thought that such a pursuit was worth the pain and effort, the new skills acquired and the increasing power and control with the force would always, always give him the answer he needed to continue.

When he’d awoken this morning, every bone in his body had ached. Every muscle had screamed to be allowed to just lie there. He’d heaved a deep sigh and lain there for some time simply staring at the ceiling before he’s finally risen and motivated to begin his day.

She wouldn’t be calling upon him for training today, he was relatively sure. She usually left him alone the day after, knowing, perhaps, that trying to teach him anything more would be a waste of time. He needed a dayt o recover – not only physically, but mentally.

Though, you never knew with her. And so he had taken his saber with him, just in case she did call upon him.

And then he had walked through the corridors. He’d stopped for breakfast, sitting alone by the window overlooking the palace grounds. And he’d had a cup of coffee, the caffeine perhaps giving some bit of energy to tired body parts.

When he’d finished with breakfast, he had continued on through the halls, walking simply to try to stretch sore muscles and keep them from becoming too stiff. He wasn’t sure what was in store for him today, but he assumed that it would be, as usual, something interesting…..

[Southstar]

Southstar was definitely not a fan of mornings. Either he didn't have enough sleep or he got too much and it always resulted in a headache. For some unknown reason he found himself in the library reading some essay's on the Force. The reading only made him want to sleep, which was something he wanted nothing to do with. He closed the book and decided a walk around the giant palace was in order. A little walk in order to compose himself and put some order back into his mind.

He exited the library and began walking to his left. Soon enough he found himself almost lost in the winding halls. He rounded a corner and came across a face that he had not seen in quite some time. "Maxim? Gee, I thought maybe you had died."

[Maxim Vasilijev]

Maxim gave Southstar a bit of an odd look. That he’d died? Was he serious? No, he had not died, though at times, he wondered if maybe he had. It probably would have been much more pleasant than the training Lady Vader had put him through.

She’d discovered his love interest – Keira. And the fact that the girl was a huge distraction to him. He’d been spending many a night and day down in Coronet City with the girl – and his master had not found that it was constructive to a good training regimen. And so for some time she had sequestered him away, and all the training he had missed due to pursuing a woman, she had fit into this small amount of time.

Perhaps a small lesson to be learned. Love was not to come before his commitment to the Sith Order.

“Funny how rumors get around…” He replied somewhat wryly. Tiredly, certainly.

“How have you been, man?” He asked, clasping his friend’s hand in a good will welcome sort of gesture. He admired Southstar and considered him a friend.

[Southstar]

"Overall I've been doing alright." He said and shook hands with Maxim. "How about you? I hope your uh... time off has been good?"

Southstar wasn't sure what Maxim had been up to in the time he had been out. But not that it mattered, it was his business. Just as long as he wasn't dead or anything.

"So when do become knighted? I would expect you would be near the end of your training by now."

[Maxim Vasilijev]

”I hope your uh... time off has been good?"

Maxim snorted.

“Its been hell.” He admitted, briefly explaining what he had been up to – what had gone on with Lady Vader, and the fact that she’d been torturing him with training.

"So when do become knighted? I would expect you would be near the end of your training by now."

He nodded and crossed his arms casually over his chest as he stood there in the hall speaking with his friend.

“I should be knighted soon, I would think.” He replied, sounding less cocky about it than he might have some time ago. The training regimen and Keira, even, had done him some good. He was a bit less cocky now, and a bit better adjusted. Perhaps he’d just needed this time to mature a bit.

He gave a small shrug.

“Ive somewhat stopped caring about the title so much – Lady Vader doesn’t really let me forget that Ive got a long way to go….” He added with a smile that showed, despite the fact that she tortured him, that he was fond of her. She was a tough master, a difficult, and at times, very cruel one – but he’d learned much from her.

“She might let me out of the castle to help you out with a project if you’ve got one…if I beg her nicely enough.” He added, his tone of voice wry as he leaned back against the wall.

He grinned.

“Please tell me you’ve got something, man, or she’s apt to kill me…” He added, though they both knew this was not at all true. If she’d wanted to kill him, she’d have done it long ago. No, he had proven himself enough to her that she had taken him in and made him a bit of a special project.

[Southstar]

"Yeah, I have something in mind." Southstar said in reference to the plan he had been working on. "There's a senator that is irritating me. He seems to think that the Sith can be negotiated with instead of using force to prevent us from doing what we want to. My opinion is force is just about as ineffective as negotiation. So I think we need to show that we won't be negotiated with and I think we're doing a good job showing we're not going to be pushed around either."

"I've got a plan in the works on just how to prove to him he is wrong. He's got a daughter in a middle school somewhere on Coruscant, I haven't figured out where exactly, yet. We go in, take her hostage. He'll most likely try to deal with us, I expect plenty of Jedi to show up and use force. Eventually we won't negotiate with the Senator. And once again we show that we are more powerful than the Jedi, we off the girl and take off back to, well, here." He finished. It was a bit of a lengthy plan, and it still needed some kincks knocked out. But overall, it sounded good to him.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

Maxim had listened to the plan with more than a subtle hint of interest. In fact, a somewhat cunning expression might have surfaced from time to time as he thought about the plan.

“I like it…” He replied with a nod.

“All except offing the girl….” His brown eyes looked to his friend and brother in the order and he gave a small shrug and a bit of a smile. The look Southstar seemed to be giving him somewhat suggested that he thought Maxim was going soft on him.

“I was just thinking, “ He began, “That if I was a father, I’d worry and be a bit more upset knowing my pre-teen daughter was in the hands of what he’d consider rather…untrustworthy men.”

His words very clearly suggested what he did not need to speak. Any man would know exactly what Maxim was talking about. Not that he had any intentions of having his way with the girl – he wasn’t exactly into that sort of thing – but it would certainly be very easy to make the father believe such a thing. And in that sort of situation, it would be impossible for the father’s imagination not to run wild on him.

“I think we should take her with us – and maybe kill her off later when her worth to us is less….”

[Duke Quells]

Having finished his morning training in the weights room, Duke strode out into the hall. He was devoid of the normal full suit of armour he wore, dressed only in a pair of jet black leather pants, and a thin silk shirt soaked in sweat. His leather boots made a nice soft pitter patter on the floor instead of the usual clank clank clank of his armoured combat boots. Wiping his face off with a sweat rag, Duke strode down the hall, until he came to an intersection. Tunring left, he heard voices down the hallway, and soon enough he came upon the duo who were having a conversation. The first man he recoqnized as his master, Southstar, and the other, he remembered from quite a while ago as a young man who he had gotten in an argument with. Walking up to the duo, he stated,

"Well well well, what do we have here? Nice to see you master, and you.....squirt." Duke said with a kidding smile on his face.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

Even if Duke was kidding, Maxim did not like being called squirt. And visibly, he stiffened, a bit of a scowl crossing his features. He did not reply to the greeting, but instead crossed his arms over his chest.

He could handle his own battles – but this time, he left it to Southstar. If this was his apprentice, it was up to Southstar to deal with him as he chose.

[Southstar]

Southstar almost felt bad, Duke was goign to face the rage of Maxim. "Duke, if you provoke the Vornskr you're going to get hurt. Do as you please Maxim, just don't kill him."

[Duke Quells]

"What is a vornksr? Some kind of predatory animal, I assume? Do you really think he could kill me?" asked Duke, "Sure, it looks like he's been through hell, but nothing I haven't been through."

[Maxim Vasilijev]

It took a bit of effort for the young man to continue to remain calm. But his master, Lady Vader, had clearly been having a bit of influence over him over the past year or so, and rather than errupt as he might have done some time before - as he had done with Duke back in the dining hall a bit of time ago - he instead ignored his somewhat ignorant and rather foolish words.

And instead turned back to Southstar.

"What I wish to do and what Im choosing to do are two completely different things..." He stated with a small smile that his friend would understand. And then he gave Duke a somewhat pointed look before he turned back to Southstar.

Lady Vader had spoken with him many times about getting along with his brothers and sisters of the order, and he was wise enough not to test her patience beyond its limits.

Perhaps in time, Duke would learn the same.

"Anyway, before we were interrupted, I believe you were going to say something about a suggestion I'd made....?"

[Southstar]

"It's not a bad idea." Southstar said and nodded. "Who's knows, it could lead to a giant kidnapping spree. But yeah, I see what you're saying about being a father and worrying about a daughter more if you didn't have the reassurence that anything or nothing happened to her. There may be a change of plans."

[Maxim Vasilijev]

Maxim nodded and gave a subtle glance to Southstar, seeming to indicate that he wished a private word with him. A few moments later, duke had been dismissed, and the knight and apprentice continued down the hallway, their strides similar yet each their own.

“If you need any help with the planning stages, or pulling this off, I’d like to be a part of it.” Maxim informed his friend.

“Lady Vader has been training me like crazy, and I think she’ll promote me when she’s good and ready to, but if theres some way I can try to show her that Im ready, and that others have enough confidence in me as well…”

He gave a small shrug, perhaps looking somewhat sheepish for the normally somewhat brazen and confident kid.

“I just think Im ready…” He added with a quiet sigh.

[Southstar]

Southstar caught what Maxim had never said, or did he? Eagerness; eagerness to prove you can withstand any test set before you. Set before you by the Order or the galaxy, it didn't matter.

"Lady Vader is a master, her logic might not make sense to me or any other knight. I suppose you'll just have to trust her judgement." he said and added a little more quietly, "Which almost goes against the Sith philospophy..."

In his head he wondered if it was necessary or even logical to trust someone, or something, without understanding the reasoning behind it.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

"I do trust her judgement." He replied without hesitation.

"She's been nothing but fair with me in terms of what I have and havent deserved. I just...."

He gave a semi frustrated sigh.

"I just think that sometimes she still thinks Im a kid. And Im not a kid anymore. I mean, Im going on twenty five this year - I think its time she cut me loose and let me run."

He didnt mention that perhaps she sometimes thought of him as a son. He knew that despite her harshness at times with him, she did think fondly of him. He had proven to her his worth, had proven his dedication, had proven his loyalty.

He trusted her. As odd as it was for a Sith to do. He did trust her. So long as he was on her side, he knew he could. If of course, he chose a different path - he would be wise enough to remove that trust the moment he made the decision.

But he wasnt apt to do that. The Sith Order was his chosen home.

"So what else had been up with you? Youve got a few apprentices now, or what?"