"To accept someone at their worst; is to deserve them at their best."
―Voska Khacha
Casually goes by Vos among those she counts as friends. Docile in tone, fierce in words: Her attitude is displayed in what she says, not how she says it. A trait developed by a childhood of slavery. It was far better to out wit one's master with cunning speech than it was to raise ones voice and make one's true thoughts too easily known. Family was an obscure term, it applied, in her mind, to the Rattataki in general. Raised in servitude, she was traded many times in her early childhood all the way back as far as she could remember. She had no mother, but found many sisters and brothers among her peers. They told her tales of a once admired planet, home to a nation of gladiators - natural warriors who were envied and collected for their skills, thus scattered among the stars for the benefits of others who would claim dominion over them. They were the Rattataki and they would rise again.
History[]
Although she was small by comparison, she was clever and growing increasingly strong in the force. She had never intended for anyone to notice her talent. Her intentions had been to lay low and build up her strength and use it to turn the tides for her fallen nation, maybe start the revolution that would bring them to glory again.
Enslaved age 16.
Regardless of these heroic dreams, fate set her on a different path. One of her masters acquaintances took an interest in her and a bargain had been struck. She was unaware what she had been sold or traded for, but she was once again shifting her allegiances to a complete stranger. It was a brief ownership due to one particular event involving the wearing of a shock collar, and the untoward advances of her master. Even though she knew these things sometimes happened, they had never happened to her, and she had too much silent pride to just roll over. Not that she was sorry for what she ended up doing to him (transferring that electricity from her collar to electrify him deep in his bones) but it did cause a stir and a lot of people took notice. It should have incited her death, but someone must have insisted otherwise because she quickly found herself at the academy instead. The turning of tides set the course of her destiny; training to become Sith.
Academy Years []
It may be hard to believe, but living as a slave is not so far removed from living as a soldier. You learn to think in multiple possible outcomes and prepare for worst case scenario, otherwise be caught off guard when it comes time to pay the consequences. Its an act of survival, the only difference between the slave and the soldier; the soldier has the opportunity to advance through the ranks and ease his fear of endless upper management - whereas the slave will forever remain dispensable and live indefinitely on the bottom of the ranks. I believe that fact alone promotes more of a survivor instinct in the latter, and therefore we take every measure of error into account as a life or death variable." ―Voska Khacha
Voska Khacha: Academy Student
[]
Her first mission was paired with Markos Vassinni under Instructor Lucian who tasked them with retrieving Taral's Knife She and Markos started the journey fighting each other at every turn, but by the end of the task they were closer to each other than blood brother and sister.
They nearly succeeded in bringing back Taral's knife too, before a small slight of hand cost them the true relic. Lucian rewarded them with a slice across their palms with the replica blade they'd ignorantly returned to the academy, the instructor oddly drank from their cuts for the taste of their blood. It was an unsuspected pivotal moment in Voska's life. The instructor was enamored with her blood, and she felt drawn to him, though neither would be revealed for some time to come.
Voska and Markos, looking to burn off steam from their recent failure joined a simulation run entitled Hunting Jedi where they were inadvertently introduced to many of their academy recruit companions. Voska learned a lesson here she would never forget about keeping ones back to a solid fixture that is physically incapable of penetration (unlike a canvas tent wall for instance). Afterwards, the team found themselves, although not prearranged, all gathered in the academy cantina for a few drinks. While there, she had the opportunity to share a table with Instructor Lucian. Outside of the formality of their previous encounters, she found his presence intriguing, though short-lived as he made a haste getaway on a cryptic promise.
"We will meet again, Voska. I will make certain of it. I will be keeping an eye on you. Good luck with the rest of the assignments..." – Lucian Eidolon
That aside, there wasn't much time for recovery before she was deposited at her second academy trial, under the drugged influence of Professor Yar. Voska awoke in the Red Roomto face her own conscience. It was a test of linience, whether she would show mercy to Markos, her closest companion, if he went against her deepest personal code.
Markos Vassinni
She reared up and jammed the dagger in his gut. Either the pain, or the rearing, sent him tumbling backwards and his weapon clattered to the floor within reach. She didn't bother with it. Instead she climbed on top of him, reversing their previous arrangement and repeatedly stabbed him over and over in the chest. '"GAAAAH!" She screamed, tears streaming freely from her eyes. She didn't want to go to this school anymore. She didn't want to kill people she cared for. If this was what being a Sith was all about, having someone else force your hand in murder, she would have rather died for her crimes as a slave. Of the two; at least as a slave she knew there was no hope. As a free body, the illusion of choice was a damn shameful thing.
Voska was relieved to discover the body of Markos was only a simulation and the test of opposing believes entirely fabricated. Realizing she had a lot to overcome before facing her next trial, Voska sought out other learning experiences that wouldn't necessarily cost her her life. When she stumbled upon the academy hanger bay during the Hanger Overseers Engineering 101 tour, she met one of the most important acquaintances of her life: Alistair Toclafane Skye. For whatever reason, she'd made a good impression on him during the tour group and upon its completion, he offered her personalized training before her next trail. Eager for all the help she could get she agreed to take his prooffered training.
Voska remembered the reason he set her skin on fire the day they first met. It was the way he had stared right into her eyes, person to person, no superiority or shrewdness. It was open ended I see you for you who you are. Although that is not the reason she came back, it was the reason she trusted him to fulfill his proffered bargain without causing her harm.
When in doubt... ask , When Voska made up her mind to visit Toclafane on his ship for combat training, she wasn't prepared for the powerful influence his contact-reading empathy would have on the situation. Things quickly escalated, first out of suspicion and mistrust, turned to anger and bitterness, which resulted in an emotionally charged combat that she initiated before he could properly teach her. Their passions were amplified and knowing she had too few advantages in a fight, she tried offsetting his balance with a kiss. She wasn't very practiced in the art of seduction, and her tactic backfired when she herself got caught up in the whirlwind of activity that followed.
Voska Khacha
"I guess we got a little carried away...I've never been with anyone like you...." Toclafane stopped there and shook his head, looking into her eyes wanting so much to kiss her again, but fearing that moment was long past, "No, that's a lie, and I don't want to lie to you, I've never been with anyone...period...." 'Frak it, he thought, if I was going to put myself out there I might as well go for broke, '"I've locked myself behind walls and barriers and light years, always afraid to make a connection with anyone. I told the Twi'lek during our tour about courage, but I still very much have let fear control me. You," he smiled warmly, and genuinely, it felt nice not to have to fake a smile, "like some obscure fairy tale, you had to go and kiss me, and break the proverbial spell." He shook his head and caressed her bare arm, "I don't want to mess this up, whatever this is, and whatever it becomes. I just know, without a doubt, that I want you in my life."
T'lanna and Voska: Twi'lek and Rattataki
If Markos was her brother, than T'lanna, the Twi'lek she met in the academy infirmary "broken body wounded soul" became her best friend. Besides their similar backgrounds in being released from slavery, they both were force-sensitive initiates on the road toward becoming sith, and would be spending an inordinate amount of time together leading to and beyond their graduation. Before she reached that milestone - she had to get through her training, and Commander Skye wasn't the only one offering his help. Markos had been an inquisitor before he came to the academy and he had lessons he too could teach her in"training in the dark side"to help her survive the instructors trial-by-fire teaching methods. Instead of focusing on physical fighting techniques as Alistair was, Markos focused in on force training and how to connect with and use powerful emotions in a fight. The most powerful emotion Voska had was fear, and in learning to face it and harness it she had to accept the full weight of it on her conscious and struggle to the surface of her own weakness in order to transform it into a strength.
The electricity ran out, the air smelled of lightning and singed particles. Somewhere in the distance she thought she heard Markos speaking but she still couldn't see. Her eyes were redrimmed, and wet. She felt the shaking in her knees as her adrenaline ran out and the anger that had fueled her vanished. All that was left was the pain. Not a physical but an emotion kind. She was afraid. She had been so afraid, and though she was strong, and though she had saved herself, that fear stuck in her mind. She remembered the way it tasted, she knew the poison it planted in her mind, the way it ran through her veins and seeped into her pores. There was no feeling sicker than that. Loosing the power to protect yourself, even briefly, being at someone elses mercy and to have your mind or body ripped from you to be used and abused by another.
The last person Voska saw before her third trial was Jesck Ke'Saan, a former instructor at the academy. They’re crossing of paths was purely coincidental, but proved to be more than a little useful as the good-natured gentleman revealed a spoonful of information about her instructors over dinner. Some of which would still affect her relationships with some of them for years to come.
"Denael Turrin..." she murmured quietly, her eyes lowering to her plate as the waitress set it in front of her. All of this was great information to store in her back pocket about the instructors. She was a strategist after all; so she thrived on intel. It was good to learn a little about the people who were out to make or break her, seemed to even the odds the smallest measure. Jesck had volunteered a great deal of information about himself as well, and she wondered why. But then again... she had too.
Voska’s 3rd trial was about The Trained and the Dead and like the trials before it; the instructor took advantage of the obvious connection between her Markos. Unlike before – instead of being pitted against each other – they were teamed up against the instructor himself.Thinking on their feet and working as a team they managed to survive the first few volleys.Instructor Trase Scarden was a master illusionist and regardless of their efforts to work together and play to the best of both their skills, they were no match for the accomplished Sith, and while he considered their exercise a disgrace, they did not die in the process.
Delirious with Hunger: Entree
With one trial left to go before graduating, Voska found herself summoned to Instructor Lucian’s shuttle. "Delrious with hunger: the Entree" Regardless of his complete state of undress, and her shameful instinctual reaction to it, the visit did not result in intimate frolicking. Lucian’s purpose in summoning her had everything to do with his offer to make her his apprentice upon graduation, provided she completed her final trial. Before the offer could be made, his own haunting secret crept up on him, the memory of her blood drove him into a blood craze, and his resisting it caused his body to degenerate swiftly. His spur of the moment decision to send her away and face death rather than reveal his need was met with denial as she chose to stay and withdraw the truth from him for his own sake. After all was said and done, and he was returned to his original state, he knew making her his apprentice was no longer an idea but a necessary course of action.
He sat down beside Voska, and took her hand again. It was a mistake, as the smell of her blood wafted to him, and his pulse rose again. No, he could fight it this time. With deep breaths he began to wrap the bandage around the wound, applying pressure to it. This was only a temporary fix however, the main event... his main gift to her, yet to come,' ' "Why didn't you run. I gave you the chance. You know what I'm capable of, you know I could suck you dry if I wanted. Why stay when you know that the mere mention of your blood could send me into a wild blood craze that could destroy you?."'
"I would have fought you if I felt my life was threatened, I was ready to take that chance..."'she answered honestly, knowing she had been prepared to do just that when he'd tossed her to the floor. But that was before he lost his strength, and before she started second guessing herself. She looked up from their hands where he was doing his best to apply the right amount of pressure to her wound. She looked to make eye contact with him, assessing how much of the truth she was willing to think out loud and reveal to them both.' "I stayed because I am partial... to you. I don't know why, and if I wanted to be childish about it I would blame it all on you. I would say it was somehow your fault I feel the way I do. Though there are other reasons; I also stayed because of who I am, what I am, and I don't run. I've always been taught to believe in facing reality the way it is, not the way I wished it to be."
"I would have torn your apart, Voska," he lowered his eyes to her hands, as he applied the last of the bandage, "you've seen me, I become someone else. I would kill innocents without batting an eyelid. I fear for the day that I kill someone that I care about. I have become reckless with my emotions, instead of keeping them controlled, I have allowed you to..." He didn't finish that particular sentence, because he didn't want to admit anything of the sort out loud. How she affected him was yet to be decided, but if she the true effect her blood had on him, well... "get too close."
Before graduation, an event that would go down in Academic history took place in the simulation chamber. Nearly all that was left of her graduating class was present in what would become known as “Je’ka’s Folly” . Miki Soveldra'Toth, Voska Khacha, T’lanna Harran, Alomund Vestro, and Je'ka Cuyot engaged in a training run that turned into an all out war because of some bad blood between Miki and Je’ka. Everyone suffered major injuries, but worst of all was Alomund Vestro along with the entire simulation facility, both of which did not survive. Toclafane happened upon the scene to find Voska incapacitated, moments before the academy commander himself who was anything but amused.
Alistair Toclafane Skye
My heart stopped for a moment and the image of her head at my feet came back to me. No, no, this couldn't happen. I broke into a run, tearing around the corner to see the Twi'lek T'lanna, placing an injured Voska on the ground. Panic gripped me. I came to a halt, dropping down next to Voska's unconscious form. I pulled off my gloves quickly and took her hand. My other hand moving over the wound to survey the damage.
T'lanna looked at the man briefly before recognising him as Overseer Skye from the ship thing. "We were in a training room exercise, myself, Voska, a Mandalorian, and Miki. We were fighting against a whole bunch of droids on random settings, then another Mando came in, Je'ka, and started tearing the place apart. All to get at Miki cus she tortured him under Instructor Lucian's orders. Voska got hit by some shrapnel by the looks of it, either from one of the grenades or metal from the droids as the blew up. She.. she drained herself by putting up swirling vortexes of force energy... to shield us from any more attacks... I've already called for a med-team..."
I stopped my scan and ran my hand over her forehead, more caressing then anything medical, for that's what it was. Perhaps if I had trained her like I'd promised....No, that wouldn't help anyone, and we'd both been part of that decision. I would rectify that fault later, just like I would rectify Je'ka. '"No internal injuries, most of the metal struck bone. She's got multiple lacerations, with embedded fragments of metal shards in her left arm, right shoulder, right side bicep and forearm. Also some pieces in her rib cage and lower right leg. She's safe to move." I said, my voice back to its usual state, as I shifted my gaze away from the unconscious form of the woman I was falling in love with, and looked at T'lanna, meeting her gaze. "She'll be fine, because I'm not letting anything happen to her."
Voska didn’t resurface till they reached the medical bay in "Dont Fall Away" , and between jaw clenching rounds of shrapnel removal, she reveled in the company of her concerned companions, even joking that she and T’lanna spent entirely too much time in medical.
"Somehow T'lanna, you and I, we keep ending up in here together. One of these days we should just schedule a slumber party," -Voska Knacha
Toclafane made good on his promise to train her before the final trial. Throughout the process in "Just What You're Worth" he revealed many things about himself, some intentional, some not so much. He did purposefully reveal his love confession which was not reciprocated, despite an obvious degree of affection for him in return. What he did not mean for Voska to discover was the truth about his past, his age, his nanite mutation, and his ability to read emotions through touch. Suffice it to say, it was a lot for her to chew on.
Oh no... her mouth gaped open and she froze in place with her right hand still lifted from where it had inflicted the wound. "Alistair- I..." -'"Very good" He gritted back. She dropped the spike.
"I didn't think it would... I thought you..." her eyelids fluttered and her brow knitted together in self loathing. How could she do this? She rushed forward, placing her hands on his shoulders and pushing him down to sit on the simulated grass. "Let me look at it, Alistair, I have to make sure its not too deep." She tangled her hands with his, trying to gently pull them away from his twisted up shirt, wishing she had removed the spike before beginning the lesson. She felt so stupid, and she felt so intensely afraid she'd really hurt him. Did she think so little of herself that she never believed she could successfully strike, or did she think so much of him that she assumed he'd be able to evade it?
"Really," I said, trying to sound confident, but I was even more worried when I was before, "It's not that bad." I felt her pulling at my hand, trying to remove it, but I held it firm. Her words, her concern, it only made me want her more, yet my brain was racing for any way out of this, for a way to convince her to let me leave the room. She couldn't look now, there would be question, questions I was afraid to answer. What would she think of me if she knew? Would it drive her away? I started to frown, but not because I was afraid she'd leave, no it was more because In this scenario I didn't give her enough credit. If I loved her, really loved her, and I wanted her to really love me back, then I needed to trust her, needed to know she would always be there. She was stronger, far stronger, than anyone I had ever met. Slowly I took my bloodied hand away, giving her access, looking into her eyes. I could feel the Nanites burn closer to the surface now and knew they would be closing up the entry wound shortly. If she'd ever seen force healing before, she'd know that this was not it, and I'd already decided I wasn't going to lie to her.
In her 4th and final mission: A Feast for Fools, Voska and her entire graduating class were deceived into consuming the carcasses of their fallen recruits who did not survive the academy. It was a test she did not bare well since the first mention of the sith delicacy, blood soup, made her lose her appetite and regret the taste of her dinner on her tongue. Luckily for her, her lack of stomach for the meal was forgotten behind Drak's sudden outburst - which resulted in the immediate amputation of both his arms before he was dragged out of the dining hall.
