Talisman

Tobias Rune seemed to be hopeless when it came to flirting, at least with the Queen of Naboo. A combination of cliche lines and flattery, at most he was able to make her giggle when they were alone. He spent a good time of a day on the planet surface. In general this meant that Sloane was waiting for several hours for his return while she waited in his private quarters on board the Guardian.

She looked over his desk in his office, it looked mundane. Nothing really stood out except for a handful of strange gems and crystals. One of them was a Barab Ingot from the planet of Barab I, it was a pale green color.

It reminded her of a pale emerald, an item she never really saw all that much.

As her fingers caressed above the crystals, the strange warmth that came from them made her think back to the girl Kraytia she had met earlier. Had the Empire started recruiting forceful children?

Her eyes narrowed on a Krayt Dragon's pearl which was blue and black, surrounded by a translucent ocean green shell. It was beautiful and yet it had an alluring feeling. Out of all of them, it was circular and about the same dimensions as her index finger.

She picked it up in her gloved hands and held it up towards the light. Just for a moment there, it was as if she could see energy seeping off of the object. She was completely mesmerized by it. What was this? She knew that it was a cut dragon's pearl, but they normally didn't do this.

Placing it down on the desk, she would pick up the ingot from before and do the same thing. There was an aura seeping off of it, it looked like fire, but it only felt lukewarm. Putting it back where she found it, she stared at the other crystals. She had little knowledge about how lightsabers worked, but she knew that the crystals the Empire were guarding during its infancy were used for the creation of lightsabers.

Did this mean that Jedi were able to make their own sabers, as long as they had other crystals? To her it didn't seem all that right. Pinching her chin with her thumb and index finger, she walked over to the window of his office and looked out into space.

She saw the Theta shuttle leave the planet surface and head towards the dreadnought. She could only assume this was the Grand Moff of the so-called Imperium and commanding officer of this destroyer.

Turning her head, Sloane would narrow her sights on a golden talisman that could be effortlessly put on one's forearm. It had this unnatural glow to it, but its warmth was just as welcoming as the crystals.

Walking over to it, she went to pick it up before pausing, hearing incoherent voices in the back of her head. However as she cleared her intent of picking it up, the voices disappeared. Blinking a few times, she frowned and looked towards the doorway.

Leaning against the door frame was Kaytia who had probably been watching her the entire time. "It's rather rude to go through someone else's things," the girl murmured quietly as she had one foot crossed over the other and her arms crossed as she leaned there on the frame.

"What are these?" Sloane asked as she nonchalantly ignored what the girl said and gestured towards the crystals on his desk.

"They're focusing crystals that my Master attuned to the force." Kraytia said with a shake of her head, looking over the woman for a few moments before walking into the room. Hopping over the desk with ease, she flatly sat in the office chair, leaning back and placing her feet up on the desk.

'And here she was talking about manners,' Sloane thought to herself and chuckled inward.

"So you're telling me... Tobias, Grand Moff Rune, is like Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader?" Sloane then recalled the fact that Kraytia had said that Tobias wanted to destroy everything that was related to the Sith. She paused, he was more like the Jedi? No, that wasn't the right impression.

Kraytia simply shook her head, but didn't say anything more until Sloane pointed at the Talisman which looked similar to a bracelet to fit on one's arm.

"What is that?"

The Disciple looked at the item for a few moments before furrowing her brows. The talisman seemed to be emanating with force energy. "It's been imbued with force energy. I've never felt anything like it before.." She muttered her second sentence to herself with a lower volume. "It's not something a Jedi can create."

That's when Tobias entered the room, wearing his typical black uniform with his Grand Moff rank insignia on the chest with the inverted Imperial symbol placed above it at his collar. "Grand Admiral Rae Sloane," he spoke up as he folded his hands behind his back. A small smirk across his lips as he looked her over.

"I'm sorry about your assistant." Tobias said sarcastically as he walked over to his desk and watched her as she raised a brow and looked at him. "Adea, Rax's spy."

Rae blinked a few times, her eyes widening. Her assistant had been a spy? She thought they got along well, but she didn't know that was all part of Rax's plan. She could only grow curious of what he was planning now.

Since she was 'out of the way' does that mean he was going to try and get some real power over the remnant? "What is your plan?" She asked as she stared at the man for a few moments, before averting her gaze and looking back out the window.

"You have three choices Admiral. Either you allow Rax to take over the remnants and go into the unknown regions, stay here with the Imperium or you go and seize control when he shows his true colors. Either way, he will try to use you, but he will die no matter what in the end." He informed her knowing very well that someone else would rise up and kill Rax in the future should Sloane not do it herself.

Sloane blinked a few times hearing the last choice. Seize control when he shows his true colors? This was Tobias talking about the fake peace talks which he was going to use as a ploy to assassinate Mon Mothma. Of course, this would end in a similar way as the books.

Tobias would pick up the talisman which had her attention earlier, he held it comfortably in his palm and held it out to her. The voices returning to the back of her head, as if telling to her to grasp it.

"I designed this bracelet, turned it into a force imbued talisman," He reached out with his left arm for her right. "It'll heal the body of age and damage, even revert them to young adult maturity or halt it all together. Though it won't regrow limbs or disembodied parts." Tobias thew in that last warning just so she knew that should she lose an arm, she won't be getting a new one.

Reluctant and skeptical, Rae Sloane reached forward and allowed him to grasp her hand before pushing her sleeve up. With his right hand, he would apply it on her arm like a spring shaped Bicep bracelet.

Almost immediately the effects of the item could be seen and felt. Sloane practically reverted to how she looked when she was twenty one years old. She was full of energy, vigor. The grey hairs on her head became just as black as the rest of her curls.

Curling in and biting her lower lip, the power he had was valuable. And he was giving this to her? Why was he giving her this? Her eyes stared at the hand which was up her sleeve, dragging its way out. Her eyes narrowed and she immediately jolted herself away from him. It wasn't a sexual advance, but she wasn't comfortable with the feeling of his hand on her skin.

"It also protects against the use of the Force." As soon as she heard this, she blinked a few times. She couldn't hear the voices from before, which she could probably assume it was because of the bracelet.

"Why did you give this to me?"

"Because... It's just an attempt to save the Galaxy from a weapon greater than another Death Star." The Grand Moff didn't like the idea of the Battle station being used to destroy worlds. Yet now the First Order in around thirty years, would be doing just that. Using Starkiller Base to destroy an entire solar system.

Greater than the Death Star? The sure amount of life that would be lost from that was horrendous, no matter who's side it was on. From what she could recognize, for something like that to appear, would mean that what would come was worse than the Empire today. She was well aware of the flaws to the Empire she served, in both policies and strategies.

Rax and anyone who was willing to go against her, needed to be dealt with, even though she was disgusted with the idea of eliminating fellow Imperials and assets for her own means.

"Why do I need protection from the force?" Sloane asked as she glared at him for a moment, only to see that he was blankly staring through her.

"Snoke, an unknown force sensitive entity will attempt to climb the ladder. With that I know you won't die of old age or venerability. If you do not emerge with the New Empire, then he must have struck you down." His tone was robotic almost, as if he was suppressing either emotion or some form of expression. "Never take that talisman off."

"You were one to see the flaws in our policies and correct them, Tobias." Sloane stated as she stared through him in return. "Why haven't you tried to unite the Empire under you?"

"My dear Sloane," Tobias had a rather teasing tone on his lips, "The Empire's enemy is the New Republic, and the New Republic's enemy is the Galactic Empire. The Republic isn't my enemy, why would I want an enemy?"

Sloane's heart trembled, the reason why he split in two was to make himself appear apart from the Empire. Though he wanted to preserve its ideals, he simply discarded a shell for another. She was in the half mind to join him, but her ambitions wanted to put her on a throne. He gave her the capacity to do so, he gave her the ability to live forever unless someone were to slay her.

"You want a friend... Friends?" Sloane raised a brow, he didn't have the ambition to control the entire galaxy, just a couple dozen sectors, at least not all at once. Correction, he wasn't overtly ambitious, he took little bites at a time.

As things were going, he could foresee that Snoke would still take the throne of the First Order, yet she was standing beside him in the end. It was all thanks to that one bracelet. All the possibilities pointed to that.

"I will return to the Ravager, my rightful place as Grand Admiral..."

Hearing Sloane's voice full of confliction, he nodded. He knew she was debating internally. She wanted to stay and at the same time she wanted to go and build a new Empire. A new order.

"In that case, I need to gain access to Grand Moff Randd. He is next on Rax's list of elimination," Tobias said as he gave a catch to letting her go which she seemed alright with and probably even saw coming. If an ambitious officer would want to part with you, wouldn't you want to make sure they give something in return?

"Consider it done, Tobias." Sloane gave an uncharacteristic wink as their meeting began to conclude.