I did — sans the head inside it, anyway. Saul wouldn't have stood for it. [ He chuckles with the thought. Of course, what Saul would accept hadn't mattered in the long run, but it had made it easier for Lucius to convince him he had earned this one small pleasure. ] What I did next was as simple as waiting until I was alone within the chapel once more. I pried the communicator from within Charmosian's helm — and lo and behold, in the moment he had died, its vox channel had sat open to Eidolon himself!
[ Lucius allows himself a moment to look very pleased with his own cleverness—and to appreciate the weight of Eridanus atop his hips. ]
Of course, the good Lord Commander thought I merely wished to taunt him. [ Again, he laughs, the sound low in the air around them. ] I suppose I can't blame him. Perhaps that's all he would think to do, had our positions been reversed!
It took a bit of convincing, but even he had to understand he would benefit either way. Either I handed him the glory he so dearly craved, or he would have the most perfect opportunity to take my head he would ever see. He agreed we would meet once night fell. [ For a second, Lucius' humor seems to ebb away; the scarred mask of his face pinches. ] Under darkness, I crawled through filth and rotting carrion as though I were nothing more than a lowly rat — and after being asked to suffer such indignity to meet with him, do you know how it is that he greeted me?
[ Of course, Eridanus doesn't. Lucius still allows him a moment to contemplate the question, however, before he declares, ] He called me a traitor twice over.
[ He doesn't recall the words he and Charmosian had exchanged any longer, but that particular insult remains clear within in his mind. It had irritated him at the time—but, he suspects, the true reason he can hear it just as it was spoken some eleven millennia later is the humor he had come to regard it in as he gained favor above his once-superior. ]
Rich, isn't it? He was engaged in the greatest treachery imaginable within the Imperium, but between us, I was the scoundrel for my poor choice in friends. [ He huffs with laughter. ] He would have left me on the soil of Isstvan III to die an ignoble death in my infancy, and all it took for me to change his mind was the means to a victory that would see him standing the highest of all our kin. Too bad for him that the fool couldn't grasp such glory even after I placed it in his hands myself!
[ The punchline, such as it were, is enough to have Lucius cackling with sudden humor, his shoulders spasming beneath the weight of Eridanus sprawled along his chest. ]
But now I'm getting ahead of myself! I told him I would give his men an uncontested entrance to the Precentor's Palace. Eidolon could lead the charge himself as its defenses were at last breached, and with no warning of his arrival, our brothers would be utterly unprepared to meet his assault.
no subject
[ Lucius allows himself a moment to look very pleased with his own cleverness—and to appreciate the weight of Eridanus atop his hips. ]
Of course, the good Lord Commander thought I merely wished to taunt him. [ Again, he laughs, the sound low in the air around them. ] I suppose I can't blame him. Perhaps that's all he would think to do, had our positions been reversed!
It took a bit of convincing, but even he had to understand he would benefit either way. Either I handed him the glory he so dearly craved, or he would have the most perfect opportunity to take my head he would ever see. He agreed we would meet once night fell. [ For a second, Lucius' humor seems to ebb away; the scarred mask of his face pinches. ] Under darkness, I crawled through filth and rotting carrion as though I were nothing more than a lowly rat — and after being asked to suffer such indignity to meet with him, do you know how it is that he greeted me?
[ Of course, Eridanus doesn't. Lucius still allows him a moment to contemplate the question, however, before he declares, ] He called me a traitor twice over.
[ He doesn't recall the words he and Charmosian had exchanged any longer, but that particular insult remains clear within in his mind. It had irritated him at the time—but, he suspects, the true reason he can hear it just as it was spoken some eleven millennia later is the humor he had come to regard it in as he gained favor above his once-superior. ]
Rich, isn't it? He was engaged in the greatest treachery imaginable within the Imperium, but between us, I was the scoundrel for my poor choice in friends. [ He huffs with laughter. ] He would have left me on the soil of Isstvan III to die an ignoble death in my infancy, and all it took for me to change his mind was the means to a victory that would see him standing the highest of all our kin. Too bad for him that the fool couldn't grasp such glory even after I placed it in his hands myself!
[ The punchline, such as it were, is enough to have Lucius cackling with sudden humor, his shoulders spasming beneath the weight of Eridanus sprawled along his chest. ]
But now I'm getting ahead of myself! I told him I would give his men an uncontested entrance to the Precentor's Palace. Eidolon could lead the charge himself as its defenses were at last breached, and with no warning of his arrival, our brothers would be utterly unprepared to meet his assault.