World Tree MUSH

    Arrival at Gralea doesn't take long. Aranea's ship is cleared for passage almost instantly, and sets course directly for Zegnautus Keep, the massive fortress-ship docked atop the tallest elevator in the modern-looking city.

    Jai-el will probably feel right at home, if she's used to the noise and feel of cities like Coruscant or Nar Shaddaa. It's not that different, though less advanced overall, and obviously, much smaller in scope, being just one city instead of planet-cities.

    The ship docks inside the larger one after a few moments, and the door swings down, Aranea picking the hard drives up from the crate she'd put them on and handing them to two soldiers that were waiting for her. They're not masked like the others, a bit more decorated too. They salute and head off with the loot.

    Finally, the dragoon turns back to Jai-el, stretching her arms behind her head. "Right, that's taken care of. I'm officially off-duty. Anything in particular you want to see? A good drink, maybe?"

    Indeed, the entirely-too-quiet individual did not seem all that pressed to speak, even once they were off. The habit of standing somewhere passively remained, the saberstaff that had been taken out briefly at the mention of a crystal had been put back together and once again tucked away behind her back. The picture of serene quiet, as Aranea took care of her brief duties, the offer came just in time to finally have the Sith turn to 'face' the dragoon. Almost like she was finally going to speak.

    Except there was a light, mechanical whistling sound from her hip region. Which earned a shake of her head as she floated up a small whistling communicator, plugging it into the self-same device she had used to communicate to Aranea to communicate something earlier. 'A drink could work' is read aloud from the communicator in a rather tinny voice. The other side of the communicator, which she wasn't able to see, housed a droid that was relaying information back and forth with the low whistling and also now apparently being used to communicate here. 'Though I am curious about your world. My ship is waiting a bit away for me to return, you could join me for a drink onboard and show me about? Something about this area seems strange to me. Like the air is alive somehow. Perhaps departing will clear up my confusion.'

    "The air's alive, huh?" Aranea questions, looking at the Sith, then around the hangar. "Wouldn't know anything about that kind of spiritual stuff. I'm just a soldier, you know? But given what they do here, that might be what you're feeling. Believe me, the less you know about the labs in this ship the better off you are. Might actually regret helping me out."

    If Jai-el elects to feel for Aranea's mindset and invade her privacy with empathy, it's obvious she's not lying - but she's not bragging, either. There's some kind of discomfort and shame in there, but not enough that it'd motivate someone to change course. At least not yet. The dragoon sure isn't onboard whatever they do here though.

    "'d love to see your ship though. Must be some pretty high-tech piece of work given what you told me about your place. We'll just take the elevator down and then a car to your ship. Try not to get lost behind me, this place is a maze."

    And a heavily-guarded fortress, too.

    Aranea leads the way, through large hallways and tight turns alike. Every other corner, there's one of those robotic guards just standing utterly still. There are no biological components in them at all, the Force would say, but their cores probably feel somewhere between biological and artificial. Delicious daemon fuel.

    "So, what was your emperor like? You know, before he bit it. Must have been a pretty powerful guy if he made it to the top in the first place."

    'Very well.'

    There was no argument about it being spiritual or not, no desire to assert if she really was sensing something or not. Nor was there any invasion of privacy. Not here and now, at least, she was a bit more cautious about stuff. Instead she had grown to observe things like heartbeat, or breathing, things like that. Not that she was worried about Aranea lying. The trip along, however, did reveal that she wasn't entirely certain what to make of the place. The cores left her uneasy though it didn't really show in how she interacted with them. Instead she just followed along like a good Sith and unless anything was able to sense just how she was seeing, would be casually snooping into everything nearby her as best she could. Certainly not reading files or peering over shoulders, but looking over the general layout, getting an understanding of who was where and seemingly doing what, all the while 'looking' straight ahead and seeming like she wasn't.

    Benefits of being a Miraluka.

    'Ambition.' A simple response, though more followed. 'A giver of hope to those who otherwise generally did not care to hear such. A strange thing, truly. One who was able to stir the hatreds and slights done to those of his Empire into forming up and flying to war. The Sith, and by proxy, their Empire, was not recently interested in expansion. He was... impressive. One you could admire, or even grow to love.' Not that she had ever directly interacted with said Emperor, but that was another matter entirely. It was all very romantic, however. Less that she was in love with him or any such and more simply a romantic view of who he was and his position. 'Even in death, I continue to serve him, and his agenda. That should tell you plenty.'

    There's plenty to see. The level they're on is mostly hangars, admittedly, but as one goes up or down one starts to see labs, test tubes, high-powered cells containing very violent, very large subdued beasts. There are actually very few human beings in the Keep. Lots of those robots though, not to mention whatever's in the cells.

    Might not be that different from your average Sith's evil lab after all. Just replace horrible cyber-rakghouls or poor attempts at making Force-clones with daemons.

    "Sounds like he knew how to inspire. You know, ours used to be like that, years back. Then he started getting obsessed with Lucis and their magical ring and crystal." He wasn't the only one, admittedly. The general and the high commander were both just as focused on the task. She'd say it's nice the chief researcher isn't, but he's obsessed with an entirely different and arguably worse beast. Then there's the chancellor. Boy let's not even go there.

    "Would've liked meeting that emperor of yours, I think. How'd he die? Pick a fight he couldn't win? Assassinated in his sleep? I've never heard of an emperor who died a nice quiet death of old age."

    A few more corners, and there's the elevator. It's a straight ride down, although a long one, given the height of the Keep. The air'll clear as they get away, though magitek is so widely in use here, there'll never be a "clean" spot as far as the Force is concerned.

    'Some things are best left unmentioned. Many like to try and tell their own versions, some out of devotion, some to discredit. Suffice it to say, he is no longer.'

    An evasive, if not true, answer. 'Tell me about this world of yours, where might you want to go, or what would you want to see that you have not? Your ship seems to be a transport vessel at best, mine was meant for hyperspace travel and space, even orbital. It can get us wherever you may like to go, including back to my own if you are curious.' By this point, the tinny voice almost sounded like it was getting tired. Bored, perhaps. Reading off a script. That kind of bored you get when you ask someone on guard duty how much of nothing is happening.

    'Though I admit to being curious, does your Empire protect your citizens? Or encourage them to protect themselves? Teach them to, or do it for them? I understand there are... beasts in this world of yours? I observed something of that sort on my way here.'

    "Fair enough. Must be the kind of story only a handful of people know the truth of, and they're not willing to spill it," Aranea wagers, as the elevator starts going down. It gives a nice view of the city, at least, in that transparent tube as it speeds towards ground level.

    "Me? Oh, I don't know. I guess I'd like to see Insomnia, see what the big deal is there, but as long as the Wall's up that's not gonna happen. Anywhere else I want to go, I can just take my own ship. There's some nice beaches out there, but in the dead of night, there's nowhere we SHOULD go," Aranea says, which leads directly into the next answer.

    "Daemons, yeah. When the Sun goes out, the Daemons come in. Bright lights keep them away. This city's as safe as you can be, with all the spotlights and building lights, most Daemons are kept at bay. The ones that aren't get captured pretty fast by the military. Pretty ironic if you ask me. We're using magitek to keep daemons away, and we use daemons to power magitek. Don't need to be an economist to tell you that's not a healthy long-term system, but at least there hasn't been an end to the daemons so far. No, rather... nights have been getting longer. A few seconds more every day, just about. Adds up quickly."

    As for the population, Aranea nods. "Wouldn't be much of an empire without citizens now would it? Living conditions here're probably better than anywhere else in the world. It's not luxury and great sights like Tenebrae, but everything here's cheap and accessible. Room for everyone too. Can't ask for much more."

    Not to mention, her job keeps her occupied.

    "I'd be curious to see your world though. Space and all. Sounds like a ride and then some. My kind of time off."