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Sith Politics: No More Games


WorldSmasher

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Darth Nox is finally ready to make his move for the Imperial throne. Yet, he must do his part to protect the Sith Empire from utter destruction under the weight of the mighty Galactic Republic. Even as he fights to defend the Sith Empire, his most powerful servants move to rebel against him. Can he hold the Empire and his own Sphere of Influence together? (Book 3 of Sith Politics.)

 

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Chapter One: The Budget

 

[A snippet]

 

The Sith Empire was in jeopardy. Darth Nox knew this. He realized Darth Marr was right; infighting among the Dark Council would only help the Galactic Republic. However, Darth Nox, sitting at his desk in his opulent offices at the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, couldn't help but think something was not quite right.

 

"Why do I get the feeling I've been hoodwinked again?"

 

He felt that Marr was using the situation to embed himself as permanent leader of the Dark Council.

 

"Is he trying to gradually worm his way onto the throne?"

 

Nox didn't have any evidence to prove Marr was trying to take the throne for himself, but he couldn't believe that Marr wasn't trying. Nox also realized that the longer Marr led the Empire, during their war against the Galactic Republic, the easier it would be for him to claim the throne, and the harder it would be for Nox to validate his claim to the Imperial throne.

 

"If the Imperial throne was an easy prize to obtain," Nox thought, consoling himself, "it wouldn't be worth having."

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The troops of the Imperial Reclamation Service, the slaves, and indeed most of the few dozen Sith lords who oversaw the project, had been driven insane with the delusion that they were the lords of Sith who inhabited the temple complex thousands of years in the nearly forgotten past.

 

Four Sith lords, who were wise enough to shield their minds and their beings with The Force, escaped the madness, fleeing deep into the jungle many kilometers from the archaeological dig site, and called for an extraction team to come rescue them.

 

The four had been summoned to the council chamber by a rival of Darth Arctis, Darth Vowrawn. He demanded the four give a report of the disaster which had befallen the expedition to the Dark Council.

 

Furious and humiliated, Darth Arctis asked, of the four survivors, "After three years of excavations during which you have been feeling the effects of the Dark Side, and knowing the nature of that complex, how is it that you allowed ordinary men to enter the temple? Why didn't you prepare the other Sith, working on the project, to shield themselves as well? Why didn't you take the necessary precautions before opening the temple?"

 

Furious, and embarrassed by this failure, Darth Arctis didn't wait for their answers. Instead he immediately ordered their executions. The Sith lords protested the order.

 

"It was not our fault!" one of them stated, "We were not in charge!"

 

Darth Rictus, who was an old man but greatly feared on the Dark Council, spoke up.

 

"Even if you were not in charge, you should have said something to someone who was. Your failure to foresee such a possibility and to prevent its happening is the result of the careless and lackadaisical attitude of your entire operation."

 

It was plain to the dark councilors there, that although the words were directed at the four Sith being judged, the words were really a condemnation of Arctis, who ignored the Dark Council's warnings. Arctis was deeply humiliated by Rictus' words, but he said nothing. The failure of the Imperial Reclamation Service could be traced all the way up to him if the Dark Council desired to go that far.

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Darth Virulous was seated quietly, in front of her master's desk, listening with rapt attention to Nox as he spoke to her. He had summoned her to appear before him, and had her sit in front of his massive desk. Whatever he wanted to speak to her about had to be very, very important to her.

 

"You are strong in The Force, Darth Virulous, you've shown an aptitude for dark Force techniques and rituals, but I need you to be stronger," Nox, seated in his office chair behind his desk, told his apprentice before asking, "You've seen some of my power, haven't you?"

 

"I have also felt it, Master. If I did not shield my mind, I would be crushed by your dark aura," Virulous confessed to her lord.

 

"Have you ever wondered how it is that I could wield such enormous power? Have you ever asked yourself, how is it possible?"

 

"I have, Dark Lord. While I have learned various techniques for manipulating The Force, both from reading the ancient scripts in the archives and from watching you, and while I have gained insight into how some of your techniques are done, I could never grasp how it is that your power can reach such levels," Virulous said, before taking a great risk to ask, "Will you teach me this, Master?"

 

She knew how jealously Nox guarded his secrets. Merely asking for access to his most closely guarded secrets could send him into a foul mood. Virulous had to pry knowledge from Nox's grasp to learn what she could.

 

At times Nox would angrily shout at her, giving a vague hint and sending her out of his sight. Virulous would have to sort through the insults and berating comments to find the nugget, and then she would slink into the archives to figure out the rest on her own. At other times, Nox would grudgingly share a secret, giving a generally vague explanation of it only once, and then send her away to figure out the details for herself.

 

Then there were the rare times, like this one, when Nox would unhurriedly speak, allowing her to ask her questions and then actually take the time to answer them.

 

"I'm going to teach you a ritual that will allow you to subdue a Force ghost and subsume its power," Nox told her with a pleased expression, "I feel you are ready."

 

Virulous became greatly disappointed on hearing this. Nox could see it quite plainly on her face. She did not even bother with trying to hide her great displeasure. Nox became indignant at her attitude and let her know it.

 

"Perhaps you would rather go back to digging up dusty old relics with no value other than its old and uninteresting history?"

 

"Master, this was the same story you told me when you tried to trick me into interacting with the Rakata Mind Trap. Did you forget? You imprisoned Juuldis' consciousness in it so that Darth Zash could take her body. How could you forget, Dark Lord?" Virulous asked.

 

She was careful not to raise her voice at Nox, but it was quite plain that she was quite miffed at her master. The memory of that day in Taris' ruined structures suddenly flooded Nox's mind and his eyes registered his recollection of that time. The ridiculousness of this moment, in his office, caused the dark lord to burst into laughter.

 

"That's right! I remember it now!" he said, following with another round of laughter.

 

"At the time, I told you the truth about the ritual, but I had no intention of actually teaching you how it was done. You are correct. At that time I wanted to trick you into interacting with the mind trap," he admitted.

 

His mood began to sour as he shook his head, disgusted at his laps in recollecting that moment on Taris.

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"What can I get for you today?" he asked smiling.

 

"I'll have the roast traladon sandwich on a toasted Duros miner's roll, with a side of traladon dipping juice, deep-fried panpa root chips and house salad with Alderaanian dressing. My lady friend will have the deep fried breaded prawna with a Corellian cabbage slaw, a bowl of ladda soup, with a side of Tatoo flat bread. Bring a carafe of Ziost blend caf – hot, not iced, and two heated caf mugs."

 

"As always, Master Revel, your taste in cuisine and the company you keep is impeccable," The waiter said, smiling. He was angling for a nice tip later.

 

"Nothing but the best will do," Andronikos said, winking at Virulous.

 

The smiling waiter picked up the menus and turned to walk away to fulfill the order.

 

"I don't like being lumped together with a bunch of food as a sign of someone's good taste," Virulous said, a bit steamed, and adding with some indignation, "and just how many women do you bring to this place?"

 

"I bring 'em all here. What can I say? I like this place. But, yeah," Andronikos agreed, "he was kind of dumb saying all of that, but I don't want him spitting in my food or skimping on my portions because I called him on it and embarrassed him in front of a lady."

 

"You could have said something to him discretely," Virulous countered.

 

"You're right," Andronikos conceded with a hint of sarcasm, "I'll tell him to apologize to Darth Virulous for comparing her to lunch, and lumping her together with my other lady friends," he added, knowing how she would react.

 

"On second thought, never mind. Don't say anything," she said.

 

"If you say so," Andronikos replied, without irony.

 

Changing the subject, Virulous asked, "Do you really think assassins will come after us, here?"

 

"I'm not saying there is definitely someone coming to kill us," Andronikos clarified, "I'm just being careful, in case someone does come after us. I'm expecting intelligence types to come in to listen to us talk. Remember, I destroyed your transceiver after I told the auto pilot where to take us."

 

A couple of men entered the restaurant dressed in business suits and carrying briefcases. They looked like business executives to Andronikos. The two were shown to a table at a wall on the opposite end of the dining establishment.

 

"How will you know which ones are the spies?" Virulous asked, eyeing the two men.

 

"I won't know that," he confessed, pointing at one of the two compact devices he'd set up on their table, adding, "That's what this is for. It'll take holographic images of everyone that comes in while we're eating. I'll hand it off to Keeper, and he'll figure out who is who."

 

"Who's Keeper?" she asked.

 

"The boss' personal spy chief," he told her, and then asked, "You haven't met him?"

 

She shook her head indicating that she hadn't.

 

"Tall thin middle aged man," Andronikos said, "male pattern baldness, always looks uptight about something. He's a real stickler for rules, regulations. I think he was a general or something in the Imperial Army. He's a real spooky guy. He pops up out of nowhere and disappears without a trace.

 

"I hired some guys to keep tabs on him, and he always gave them the slip. Then one day, out of the blue, the boss told me to stop sending people after him and to leave him alone. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. So, now I just leave him alone."

 

"Why should that make you wary?" Virulous asked.

 

"Well, obviously, he told the boss about the guys I hired. These guys are professionals, with excellent backgrounds in investigations. Some of them are in the Imperial Army's Military Police Investigations Unit." Andronikos said, and then paused for dramatic effect before saying, "He never touched them, never talked to them. So, how did he know they were working for me?"

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The twisted shadows jumped at him. He leapt to the side to escape the fiends, but something was dragging at him, making his attempts to escape monumentally difficult. Yet the attacking twisted shadows could not reach him.

 

He drew and activated his lightsaber. The saber beam grew out bright red and hot. Ciiru Nomuro was shocked into deactivating it again. He tried to look at his weapon, but he couldn't quite bring his weapon into view. When he'd finally managed to bring a part of the weapon into view, he couldn't focus on it.

 

"Did I pick up the wrong hilt?" he asked himself, "How'd I do that?!"

 

"I'm giving you these weapons," Emperor Vitiate said, "Take them and fight for me, or leave them unused and die."

 

Ciiru looked up from the blurred and unidentified weapon in his hand to the Sith Emperor, but it wasn't Vitiate. It was Darth Nox. The Sith lord activated his lightsaber, forcing Ciiru Nomuro to activate his own weapon, but the beam was bright red.

 

"Kneel before me and join my empire, Darth Incinerous!" the Sith lord commanded in Vitiate's voice.

 

Ciiru found himself unable to resist. His body moved against his will until he was kneeling, and his head began to bend towards the Sith emperor. As his head dipped forward, he felt a quickly growing unyielding evil hatred growing within his heart.

 

The source of the evil hatred wasn't from Nox or Vitiate, however. They were his own dark feelings from his own heart, which threatened to consume his existence. The Jedi Knight was falling to The Dark Side.

 

Ciiru Nomuro blinked his eyes and found himself seated at a lunch counter, staring at a sandwich he held in both hands. He looked to his left and found a stranger, busily slurping his soup from a spoon. Ciiru turned to his right and found no one seated there.

 

"You don't like your sandwich?" the lunch counter waitress asked, "You've just been sitting there, staring at it like it did something to you."

 

Ciiru set his sandwich down on its plate.

 

"Can you wrap it up for me? I've lost my appetite. I'll eat it later," the Jedi Knight said.

 

A short while later Ciiru walked to the speeder lot behind the diner and got into his assigned speeder. Setting the boxed meal on the passenger seat beside him, he grasped the control yoke.

 

"Tythosi Enclave Dormitory. Drive," Ciiru ordered the auto-navigator, taking his hands from the yoke.

 

The speeder started up and gently drove itself out of the park lot and entered the traffic pattern, making its way to an offsite Jedi housing complex just at the edge of town in an area that was mostly parks and green spaces. The dormitory served as overflow housing for visiting Jedi.

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Virulous brought the bell shaped glass to her lips and took another long sip of her wine, staring absently through the permaglass window, not really seeing the nearly pitch black view outside. Her mind was focused on other matters.

 

“Nearly every plot ended in failure, because the plotters were themselves betrayed by those they trusted to help them carry out their betrayals,” she thought to herself, concluding, “The plots that succeeded were carried out with large loyal military forces and Sith followers who lost faith in their lord and threw their support behind the betrayer. I have neither large military forces, nor Sith who would follow me against the dark lord.

 

“If anyone could garner the support of Dart Nox’s followers to overthrow the dark lord that would be Darth Eviscerous. Even Lord Calaverous would support Eviscerous against Darth Nox if he’d lost faith in the dark lord,” Virulous was forced to acknowledge, even conceding, “Darth Komo, with his armies and his resources on Taris stands a chance to succeed Darth Nox.”

 

It was the lesson she took away from her research to look for ways to betray her master without getting caught. She startled herself, worried that she might have been overheard, but became greatly relieved that she didn’t say those thoughts out loud. She’d nearly forgotten that Khem Val likely bugged her residence.

 

Virulous began to feel bitter rage at the very idea that she could not so much as think aloud within her own home! On impulse, she hurled her wine glass at the window, where it shattered. The half-filled glass spilled its dark red liquid contents on its way to the window, leaving a trail of spilt wine leading to a small field of glass shards on the baked on enamel of her metal plate floor at the bottom of her permaglass window.

 

The Sith lord looked up at her ceiling, greatly frustrated at herself. She felt caged in her own home. Then it dawned on her.

 

“What if Darth Nox is anticipating my betrayal?”

 

She thought about how she’d called him out on his lie, which he unthinkingly used on her a second time!

 

“I should have kept my mouth shut,” she thought to herself, “It would have been easier to surprise him.”

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The lift finally stopped and the door slid open.

 

"This way, "Vice Grand Fleet Admiral," the droid beckoned, before proceeding out of the turbolift.

 

The two human males followed the droid out of the lift and into another maze of corridors.

 

"This is insufferable. Why chose a conference room all of the way down here?" Strom groused.

 

The small party arrived to a door which squeaked as it reluctantly slid open.

 

"Unbelievable! Hasn't anyone around here ever heard of lubricating grease?" Strom said in mock disapproval.

 

"Well! Look who's finally decided to show up," an officer already in the small conference room brightly quipped. "Nice that you're here, but the meeting's already over. We were just about to leave."

 

Strom took note that there were only four others in the room and they were all grand admirals. He was outranked by all four.

 

"Go take a break, Makk," Strom told his adjutant, suggesting, "Take the droid with you. Have it show you where the brothel is."

 

"I'll find an office where I can get some work done, instead, Vice Grand Fleet," Admiral Makk Shradder replied, chuckling, and then ordering, "Come on Random. You're coming with me."

 

The droid followed Makk out and the door squeaked shut.

 

"You really need to get someone to lube that door," Strom Thorental said, taking a seat at the conference table. Then, "That was the longest turbolift ride I've ever been on. Why'd you decide to have the meeting all the way down here? We're so far down, I can feel Hell's heat just a few levels down!"

 

The senior of the four grand admirals chucked at the joke before giving his reply.

 

"I think we're the first ones to use this conference room in several decades," he said, chuckling.

 

Getting right to the point, the Admiral of the Navy started the meeting.

 

"We've been thoroughly compromised. Damned near every conference room and office up in the Admiralty and Naval Command sections of the building have had some kind of bugging device put in the rooms," he said, adding somberly, "It was the entire custodial engineering crew, all nine thousand of them."

 

Strom could tell that his old war buddy was not joking this time.

 

"Great Stars above!" he said, deeply shocked, then asking with great incredulity, "The entire crew of custodial engineers?"

 

Shrugging, the admiral of the navy gave a flip reply.

 

"They're unionized. They all had to take turns betraying the Republic."

 

"Just the Admiralty and the Navy sections? What about the rest of the cone?" Strom asked his superior referring to the massive conical shaped building hundreds of stories above their small conference room.

 

"We don't know, yet, Strom; it might even turn out that every cone in the complex might have one or more of their offices bugged as well. Those custodial engineers had access to every building at the headquarters. The intel types are still scanning for bugs. Just when they'd think they've gotten an office all cleaned up, they'd turn around and find another one has already popped up. Then they'd have to run sweeps all over again. It's like the bugs are breeding or something."

 

"So, the Navy is compromised," Strom said in quiet disbelief.

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At one of many empty loading docks, was a medium grade military security droid. The levitating probe droid led the petite Sith lord to it. The security droid introduced itself.

 

“I am an Imperial military medium grade combat droid that has been removed from Imperial military service and reprogrammed for other work, potential client. Please report me to the local authorities as stolen property. I cannot give you my designated identifier. My reprogramming prohibits me from self-identifying.”

 

Virulous merely shrugged.

 

“And?” she asked.

 

“My illicit programming has reassigned my central functions. I am now acting as the intermediary between the thieves, and yourself. I am relaying their remote communications to you, and relaying your replies to them. Please confirm that you wish to avail yourself of their services and enter into a contract with the thieves,” the droid stated.

 

“I’ve changed my mind,” Virulous said, flatly, “I no longer want their services. I’ve decided that it would be best if I did it myself. I would appear weak by my rivals if I relied on such services.”

 

Curiosity struck her, however, and so she decided to ask what was on her mind.

 

“Do assassins actually work for Protus Security Consultants Group?”

 

“The thieves state that Protus Security Consultants Group, are acting as a referring agent in this case. The thieves are outside, independent contractors,” the droid relayed, adding, “Further discussion is unnecessary and not advised, since you do not wish to proceed with their services.”

 

Virulous shrugged her shoulders, then turned to walk away. As she made her way to the exit of the service bay, a chirp sounded from her datapad. She pulled it out from her left jacket pocket and found that a nominal fee had been charged to her account for canceled services.

 

“Fifteen thousand credits, is not nominal!” she thought, outraged.

 

Suddenly, a terrible sensation overcame her. A terrible dread and sense of danger. She used The Force to leap a great distance to her right, taking cover between massive trash compactors, where she drew and activated her lightsaber.

 

Alarmed, she looked all around the cavernous service bay. She found that the two droids used to contact her had been destroyed. They had self-destructed and were not only on fire, but were melting into the metal plate decking of the gargantuan building. The chemicals used to destroy them were intensely hot.

 

After a moment, she deactivated her lightsaber. Then the first of the many building security droids began to appear on scene with fire suppression canisters. She realized that their human handlers wouldn’t be far behind and decided to quickly leave the scene. She didn’t want to be seen by the droids’ handlers, even though she realized that her meeting with the droids was probably recorded on security video.

 

“The hood of my jacket is covering my head and face,” she thought, trying to be positive about her situation, "but I’m so damned short! It might still be possible to identify me!”

 

Virulous ducked out of the cavernous service bay, walking briskly to The Happy Brewer pub, hoping to catch a taxi droid as quickly as possible.

 

“Kaas City has tens of millions of inhabitants, many of them just as small as I am,” she told herself aloud, trying to ease her own fears.

 

“But only one famous Sith lord is known to be as small as you,” she reminded herself, cursing the fact that she had ignited her lightsaber.

 

Virulous had no doubt that the event was likely caught on security video.

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Watcher Two, waiting for Keeper’s arrival, was also in Imperial Army officer’s uniform. Unlike Keeper, she started out as a military intelligence officer. She worked her way up to the rank of major before she was poached by Keeper and recruited into Imperial Intelligence. A few years later, the agency was disbanded by the Dark Council, but Nox quickly recruited the two, using their expertise to professionalize his personal spy network.

 

Watcher Two had been waiting for Keeper at the enormous entrance of the mega structure. She fell in on his right side and locked step with him as he entered the gargantuan edifice. The two walked briskly, making their way towards the northeast corner of the cavernous ground floor lobby of the government building.

 

The cavernous lobby was filled with throngs of military personnel, civil servants, and other officials, coming or going to or from their offices. Keeper and Watcher Two walked for several long minutes before they finally reached one of the turbolift lobbies which bordered the cavernous main lobby. It was about a hundred meters south of the northeast corner of the lobby. This side lobby, which was quite large in its own right, held the specific bank of turbolifts which all went down to the basement sub-levels on the eastern half of the building.

 

Four of those were express lifts, which stopped every fiftieth sub-level and were the fastest way to get to the three hundredth sub-level, on the northeastern quadrant of the building. As Nox’s spies entered the turbolift lobby, they both froze in their steps upon hearing a familiar voice over the din of the crowds.

 

“Come here, Thin Man. I will have words with you.”

 

Keeper and Watcher Two turned about to face Khem Val behind them. Khem Val was leaning against the wall with his huge arms crossed over his massive chest. The beast was not wearing his usual armor.

 

The green skinned, heavily tattooed monster was dressed in a dark brown sleeveless, buttonless vest which he wore open at the front. The Dashade also wore a matching dark brown simple head scarf, which draped down the back of his head and neck, and a dark brown kilt that ended just above his ankles.

 

The only armor the behemoth chose to wear were shin and foot guards, which protected the tops of his bare feet and toes, his shins, and his knees. He also wore an old fashioned baldric belt made from real animal hide and durasteel fasteners. His monstrously huge vibrosword hung from this belt, suspended over the back of his shoulder, giving the gargantuan Dashade a decidedly savage appearance.

 

The Dashade had been patiently waiting at the right corner of the lift lobby opposite from the bank of turbolifts, which was why Nox’s top spies had failed to notice the beastly Dashade. They entered the side lobby, immediately turning towards the last four turbolifts, the express lifts, on their left. This gave their backs to the Dashade monster.

 

“This is not the place to have words, Lord Khem Val,” Keeper replied, speaking loud enough to be heard.

 

The Dashade merely motioned for Keeper to draw closer, which Keeper did. The hulking beast offered Keeper a disposable datapad, which the spy chief accepted.

 

Looking up into the towering monster’s eyes, he asked, “Now what?”

 

“There is one who is plotting betrayal against our master. Investigate this,” Khem Val commanded, in a low voice.

 

Keeper stepped back a pace as Khem Val suddenly pushed himself from the wall and took his first step towards the lift lobby threshold. Keeper watched the monstrous Dashade stomp past him as the behemoth made his way out of the turbolift lobby and into the vast main lobby towards the speeder port outside. The crowds kept their distance from the hulking beast, staying well out of the monster’s reach.

 

Darth Nox’s spy chief slid the slim profiled datapad into the breast pocket of his uniform as he made his way back to where Watcher Two stood waiting. Watcher Two made a brief face, showing her disgust, when Keeper spoke two words.

 

“Palace intrigue.”

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Virulous had been training herself on a daily basis, as her master had instructed, increasing her ability to call on more power at will from the Dark Side of The Force. Her encounters on Tatooine, during her mission of vengeance for Darth Nox, had unlocked her potential for drawing great power from the Dark Side, but Nox noticed that she was sparing with her use of that dark power. He was disappointed.

 

“For this ritual, you must draw all of the power that you can potentially concentrate, without holding back, and without tiring or relenting,” Nox had told her, and then cautioned, “Not only must you increase your endurance in concentrating the power of the Dark Side, but you must improve your ability to guard your mind from such concentrations of Dark Side power.”

 

So, Virulous trained daily, increasing how long she could keep it up, until she was able to saturate herself with the Dark Side of The Force for several hours without feeling that she would go insane. Now she stood before her master, demonstrating her progress. She found herself, deeply gratified with her master’s reaction.

 

Darth Nox smiled and literally applauded her success.

 

“You are now ready, my apprentice. I will now teach you the ritual of Force Walking.”

 

Without warning, Nox suddenly reached his hands towards her and used The Force to lock her mind from her body. Virulous collapsed to the floor and watched in terror as her master pulled his hands back towards himself, as though he were pulling at something. Virulous’ terror was magnified tenfold as she felt, not her life force, but her very soul being drawn from her body.

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The sleek new brushed stainless metal sliding doors were incongruous, contrasting sharply against the ancient hardened red sandstone of the Temple of The Sith, an ancient complex located on Korriban. Darth Virulous and Khem Val had been waiting in the antichamber along with other powerful Sith lords. These Sith lords, like Virulous and Khem Val, were the apprentices and servants of dark councilors, who were holding their meeting within the Dark Council chamber on the other side of the metal sliding doors.

 

The antichamber was uncharacteristically crowded because there were many additional Sith lords waiting for their respective dark lords. They had all been stealing glances at Virulous and at Khem Val standing beside where she sat.

 

“How has she not been eaten by that monster all of this time!” was what many of them were thinking, “She has to be incredibly powerful if that monster hasn’t been able to eat her!” was what many of those concluded.

 

It unnerved many of the Sith present, listening to the beast’s stomach growl as he drooled at the mouth, staring longingly at them. The Dashade unashamedly stared at them all. He imagined himself surrounded by dead Sith laying about the anti-chamber as he sat leisurely on the bloodied stone floor, enjoying a feast.

 

“There is so much good food in this place with me!” the beast thought, hungrily, “No! I must not! I must not bring shame to my master!” Khem Val admonished himself, fighting his primal urge to feast.

 

Virulous assumed the additional Sith were there as extra security. Tensions had already been running very high between the dark councilors these days. The fear and distrust the dark councilors held against one another had magnified these tensions, and Darth Marr was having a very hard time holding the Dark Council together in the absence of Emperor Vitiate’s powerful rule.

 

She did not know that her master’s rivals on the Dark Council had bolstered their numbers in case a battle against Nox and his followers broke out as a result of the coming confrontation in the council chamber. However, the others in the anti-chamber didn’t know this either. They had not been informed by their masters.

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Nox, feigning sleep, used The Force to monitor her slow and careful approach. He couldn’t actually see her, but he could sense where she was and what she was doing. He could tell that her hands were empty. She was weaponless.

 

“Perhaps the idiot will go for my sabrestaff,” Nox thought derisively of the traitorous apprentice.

 

However, his plan to be completely exposed, even to the point of not wearing his armor, as he always did, seemed to be the bait that was going to suck her into his trap. Nox’s broken heart had already given way to his ever growing anger, as he sensed her making the approach to kill him.

 

“Stupid, Virulous!” Nox thought, reviling his apprentice, “You’re going to throw everything away! Why couldn’t you have waited for me to ascend the throne, so that I could elevate you to my vacated seat on the Dark Council?! Impatient, short-sighted dolt!”

 

She stopped in her tracks, making it clear to him that she was not going to go for his sabrestaff.

 

“Then will she try a Dark Force technique?”

 

Nox recalled that Virulous had been using The Force to eavesdrop on his private meeting with Darth Zash, right after Zash had been elevated to the Dark Council. He and Zash both sensed the intrusion, and he decided to lay a trap for his apprentice, asking Zash to tell him of her Dark Force technique which allowed her to instantly kill a disrespectful subordinate with a light touch on the subordinate’s shoulder.

 

“Hasn’t she figured out how easily that technique could be countered?! Fool!” he raged at her.

 

However, his face remained placid as he continued to feign sleep, ready to strike at her.

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The Jedi Council had convened to discuss an important piece of intelligence that had virtually fallen into their laps. Because of the war and other issues internal to the Jedi Order itself, only three Jedi Councilors were in attendance for this meeting.

 

The SIS, the Galactic Republic’s spy agency, sent an agent to brief their Jedi allies on a very important development. The SIS were the ones who had come across the information. They’d already done much of the leg work, vetting the intelligence windfall which had literally been breadcrumbed to them.

 

The SIS held a great deal of suspicion that the report might be a trap since it was fed to them, but the information was valid, having been verified and corroborated with other sources. Given the nature of the information contained in the report, however, they felt a strong need to involve the Jedi Council.

 

The biggest problem about the intelligence report was that there was nothing the SIS didn’t already know that was in it. Yet, the way the information was tied together, yielded insights that could only have come from an Imperial insider.

 

The SIS representative came to the end of his report.

 

“Our analysis of this comes down to two things,” the agent said to the Jedi Council members in attendance, “One: this is a trap to expose our agents working within the Empire. Or, two: someone on the Dark Council has betrayed a rival and wants to use us to do something with this information.”

 

Two of the three Jedi in attendance, quickly glanced at each other. The third Jedi simply stared at the datapad sitting on a display board hovering over the Council table near the three Jedi. She was actually meditating, using The Force to pull more secrets from the datapad, which was of Imperial manufacture. She didn’t like what The Force revealed to her, but she decided to say something about the matter set before them.

 

“The infighting among the Dark Council has begun,” Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan told her colleagues on the Jedi Council. “They are now vying for the imperial throne. This may seem like good news, but The Force tells me that things will not go our way so easily. In fact, I get the sense that The Force is telling me, ‘be careful what you wish for.’ We need to move carefully.”

 

“And what are you not telling us,” Jedi Master Gnost-Dural asked, dryly.

 

Satele Shan, staring at the imperial made datapad, thought carefully about how to word her response.

 

“It will cost us greatly, whether we take action, or don’t take action,” Satele finally answered.

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The seal, which kept the atmosphere from escaping into space, was broken as the ramp came down, allowing the sounds of battle to boom and reverberate into the cramped troop compartment of the dropship. The whine of the ship’s engines was nearly drowned out by the sounds of war.

 

Virulous wasted no time, moving quickly down the narrow center aisle, barely avoiding the austere narrow metal benches on either side while making her way to the ramp at the back of the small armored troop transport.

 

She was amazed at how agile the much taller, bulkily armored, and more heavily encumbered soldiers were as they exited the dropship ahead of her. The armored troops carried, not only their weapons, but additional equipment and supplies. She marveled at how gracefully they moved, and with such ease, out of the confined space.

 

“They must practice this a lot!” she marveled.

 

As her black medium grade flexible armored boot struck the top of the ramp, Virulous felt as though she had run into a wall of hot humid air saturated with an awful stench. At first she thought it was the stench of death, but it wasn’t very long before she realized it was not death, but filth. Underneath her black rigid armored mask and skull protector Virulous crinkled her nose in objection to the stink.

 

The Imperial Army platoon she accompanied had been assigned as her security detail, and she was impressed by the tight discipline of the individual members. In less than twenty seconds the thirty men and women had exited the dropship and had already taken up defensive positions among the squalid hovels around the square.

 

Yavin 4’s star shone brightly, and hotly. She was glad that the hood of her black robes, at least kept the hot rays of the star from directly heating her skull protector and mask. Her robes also kept the star’s direct rays off of her flexible body armor, but the humidity was stifling.

 

Virulous became thrilled when the high-pitched whine of the engines wound up to a banshee’s scream as the dropship shot upwards, buffeting her in its downdraft and covering the sounds of battle. In a very few seconds, the ear-splitting banshee screams of the engines were themselves drowned out by their unforgiving body-reverberating roar, as the dropship vanished into the sky on its way back to space. In less than a couple of hours it would return with another load of heavy infantry.

 

Virulous looked around the square, as the maddening roar of ten, space-bound dropships faded into the relative quiet of ordinary explosions and blaster rifle reports. On the ground, in between the damaged and destroyed hovels built on all four sides of the open square, which the dropship had landed in, it became apparent to her that the Massassi didn’t understand the concept of sanitation and hygiene. The evidences were on the ground, here and there, that they did not go far enough away from their hovels to do their business. It also appeared that their idea of garbage disposal was to simply throw it out the doors of their primitive huts. Rotting trash was everywhere.

 

“These savages better hope I don’t step in any of their messes,” she thought, disgusted by their habits, “I’ll make them pay for soiling my boots!” she thought, imperiously.

 

The petite Sith lord giggled at how silly that sounded, but for the noise of the battle all around the square, no one heard her. She turned her head on hearing a suddenly intense volley of blaster rifle fire, and noticed a heavily armored soldier making his way to where she took cover.

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As the droids busied themselves with clean up and securing the canisters which had held the ingredients, Nox left the pit, climbing the metal grate steps and delving into the jungle on the hunt for fresh prey. It wasn’t very long before Nox found himself stalked by a very fierce predator. He’d spotted a vine tiger, a species found natively in the jungles of Dromund Kaas.

 

He knew that this particular predator hunted in packs of two or three and sometimes four.

 

“I should have brought Khem Val with me!” Nox thought, regretfully.

 

The dark lord Force leapt up to a large tree bough high up from the forest floor. The three bests stalking him froze still, but Nox had already spotted one of the two cubs before leaping to the tree limb. From his vantage point Nox spotted the other cub, and after a bit of careful searching, their mother.

 

“She is no beast! She is a monster!” Nox thought, truly impressed, his heart beginning to race.

 

The cubs were chest high to him, so they were probably at least four months old. Their mother was large enough to look down on him if she wasn’t crouching down in the brush. Nox knew of these creatures’ intelligence. He knew they would soon change their plans, and they did.

 

Their mother made two quick distinct growling sounds. Her second growl was an octave lower than the first. Instantly, the two vine tiger cubs dashed forward, running past Nox’s tree. As soon as they’d gotten behind him, they stopped, turned, and looked up at him.

 

Nox’s heart pounded in his chest. He was thrilled, and he was scared. He kept his eyes on the cubs’ mother. She remained still, crouching fifty meters from the tree. After a bit, Nox realized that she was the diversion as it occurred to him that one of the cubs might be climbing the tree.

 

Looking behind himself, Nox saw that one of the cubs had indeed climbed halfway up the tree trunk, but was climbing no higher. Nox’s instincts told him he was in immediate danger of dying. Adrenaline shot through his system, causing his heart to jump into hyperspace.

 

As soon as her prey on the tree branch turned to look at her cubs, she uncoiled her wound up crouched body, surging thirty meters in one bound, and then leaping the remaining twenty meters to the branch, ten meters above the jungle floor, where her prey had perched itself.

 

The beast hadn’t counted on its quarry to leap up higher into the tree. She expected her prey to obliviously stay put or to jump down from the branch to flee. The vine tiger could tell right away that her prey wouldn’t make it to the next limb which could support his weight. She twisted in the air, with her four viciously clawed paws facing upwards so that she could catch him as he fell back towards the ground.

 

“Damnation!” Nox cursed.

 

He used too much power in The Force when he tried leaping higher into the tree. The big tree branch gave way from under his feet, snapping with a very loud crack, like a shot. As a result, he didn’t generate enough momentum to go high enough to reach the branch. He grabbed his sabrestaff and twisted his body in midair to face behind himself.

 

As he began to descend, he activated one end of his sabrestaff and held it at the far end of the staff hilt to extend his reach. His empty off hand crackled with electrical Force energy as he prepared to fight for his life.

 

Nox was struck with a sudden pang of fear as he saw that the beast had calculated his failed leap and had oriented itself so that he would descend into the vine tiger’s bosom, its paws were spread wide, ready to catch Nox in a razor clawed embrace.

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Following his call to Moff Valion Pyron, and after setting up his shuttle transport, Nox called Andronikos Revel.

 

“Hey, Boss, what do you have brewing?” the pirate asked casually.

 

“Find Khem Val. Arm the ship for heavy space combat, and get a platoon of heavy infantry loaded for ten days of combat. Be ready for launch as soon as I board the starship in Kaas City spaceport in six to seven hours.”

 

“All Nine Hells, Boss!! Who’re you going to war with?!” Andronikos exclaimed, adding, “By the way, I’ll need fourteen hours to prep the ship and get the troops with their supplies.”

 

“Fourteen hours?! I don’t…!” Nox started to blast out, but bit off the rest.

 

Nox held his tongue, stifling his first impulse which was to shout at and berate the semi-retired pirate. Andronikos could see the fury in his employer’s eyes. He could easily tell that his employer was struggling to hold back. He could see the dam of fury was at the busting point, and that soon his employer would not be able to hold back any longer. Andronikos figured he’d better explain.

 

“It’s fourteen hours, because I’ve got to order the military around, and they’re all about filling out forms and following procedures. But don’t worry, Boss. I’ll be sure they know it’s your ship and that you’re in a ripping hurry.”

 

“Very well. I’ll be there in fourteen hours,” Nox said, very plainly seething with rage.

 

“The blasted Jedi are on Korriban,” Nox explained, revealing to the pirate the source of his fury.

 

“All Nine Hells…,” Andronikos replied soberly, realizing what was at stake. He asked, “You don’t want me to get Virulous, too, Boss?”

 

“No. I’ll contact her myself,” Nox replied brusquely, cutting the connection.

 

Shortly thereafter, Virulous’ holographic image appeared above his device.

 

“What is your will, Dark Lord?”

 

Nox took note that she did not kneel.

 

“Hmmm… It seems she does not believe she needs to show me the proper respect anymore,” Nox thought, testily, “I’ll have to rectify this misunderstanding of hers.”

 

“Have you completed your mission?” Nox asked, tersely.

 

“I have, my lord, and I have succeeded,” she replied solemnly, with quiet pride.

 

“Oh! That explains her change in attitude!” Then a realization struck him, “Is she even Virulous, anymore?”

 

Realizing, with a pang, that she might not even be the same woman that he’d fallen in love with, Nox decided not to call out his apprentice on her failure to kneel before him.

 

“Does she still love me? Does she even still consider herself my apprentice anymore?”

 

He asked her, much less tersely as some of his anger left him, “When will you be ready to return to me?”

 

“My lord, we have already left orbit,” Virulous reported, “In an hour we shall enter hyperspace.”

 

“Bring your forces to Korriban. You will join me there,” Nox instructed, explaining, “The Jedi have invaded Korriban with a strong military force.”

 

The quiet pride, evidenced on her face, morphed into ever increasing outrage as she replied, “I look forward to showing you my new found power, Dark Lord,” Then her face twisted into a mask of fury as she snarled her declaration. “I will destroy those filthy Jedi!”

 

“First meet with me, my apprentice,” Nox cautioned, “We must present a single, powerful force, and not attack piecemeal.”

 

“As you say, Dark Lord,” Virulous replied evenly, though fury still showed on her face, “When my task force arrives in orbit, I shall contact you for instructions.”

 

“Very good, Lord Virulous,” Nox replied, cutting the connection.

Edited by WorldSmasher
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Lennell Juuntos wandered out of his quarters and into the common crew section. He spotted Khem Val and turned about to hurry back to his quarters. The behemoth had threatened to eat him if he saw him again, and the ship’s captain vouched for the monster, too.

 

“Yeah, you wouldn’t be the first of the Boss’ apprentices that this brute’s eaten,” Andronikos lied, at the time, but then truthfully added, “Never let yourself be alone with him, kid.”

 

Khem Val spotted the acolyte trying to flee to his quarters.

 

“Food! Come back here!” Khem had shouted at the hapless youth, “Report to my master in the control bridge. It is time for you to serve him. If you fail in your duties, I shall make you into my next snack!”

 

The youth did as he was told, giving the Dashade monster a wide berth as he rushed past. Lennell ran all the way to the control bridge, slowing to a walk only after he was safely out of sight of the behemoth Dashade.

 

Upon entering the darkened command bridge, the youth just happened to face the main canopy. He was treated to a rare sight enjoyed by very few starship passengers. The blue-white mottled glow of hyperspace had given way to the streaked traces of the stars which then very quickly shortened into pinpoints of light against the deep black backdrop of the vacuum of space.

 

Andronikos quickly slapped the fire control button to quickly begin the preprogrammed Identify Friend or Foe query sequence. The data generated was then fed to the next system in the fire control operations.

 

The artificially intelligent controller in the Target Identification, Acquisition and Engagement system immediately assigned priorities for the order of target engagement, in this case from nearest to furthest. In less than a second Nox’s Imperial Fury-class Interceptor’s fire control systems had completed all of their functions, identifying several warships in the vicinity, and determining which ones not to shoot at.

 

Andronikos, Nox, and the boy, braced themselves for the starship’s automatically controlled wild maneuvers as the fire control system guided the Fury-class corvette against the nearest enemy target and to immediately begin firing upon the enemy warship.

 

This promised to be a heart racing experience for them all. Nox’s warship would join the surviving Imperial warships in the area which Nox expected to be locked in a desperate battle over Korriban against the hated Republic enemy.

 

The starship, however, remained quiet, flying normally.

 

“Nothing’s happening,” Nox observed nervously in the commander’s seat, “What’s gone wrong?!”

 

“I’m checking, Boss,” Andronikos replied, tersely.

 

Lennell Juuntos, could tell by the terse and tense reactions of his master and the ship’s captain that everything had gone wrong.

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As soon as the turbolift doors hissed shut, Nox pressed the turbolift call button. Then he turned to face Zash.

 

“When this is done, Lord Zash, I plan to take our military and reconquer those worlds Marr sacrificed to buy us time. I also plan to conduct a punitive campaign across Galactic Republic Space. I will make them pay dearly for this outrage.”

 

Zash said nothing. She merely stared off into space.

 

“I know you don’t like hearing talk of my eventual ascension to the throne, Lord Zash,” Nox told her, “but you had better get used to it, and you had better face the reality of it.”

 

He waited to see what she would say.

 

“The Dark Council will have the last say,” she replied.

 

“Then you intend to stand in my way,” Nox said, nodding confirmation of her position.

 

“I will follow the Dark Council’s will,” she replied carefully.

 

“The Dark Council will follow me,” Nox told her, “They have only one other choice, and he is weak.”

 

Zash knew perfectly well that Nox spoke of his rival Darth Marr.

 

“That’s quite a thing to say about the most powerful Sith in the empire,” she said, and then pointed out the obvious, “He controls virtually all of the military. He leads a Dark Council of participants willing to follow him. You put him there with that vote, Lord Nox.”

 

“And recently we voted that power out of his hands,” Nox reminded her, adding, “I intend to bring about the end of our war with the Republic.”

 

“You intend to sue for peace?” Zash asked, intending to deliver a barb.

 

Nox smiled at her weak attempt to provoke him.

 

“I intend to so ruin them, that they shall beg me to end the war,” Nox said, adding, “and they shall have their peace, after paying retribution and after dismantling the bulk of their navy.”

 

“They’ll never agree to dismantle any part of their navy,” she replied, scoffing at the absurdity of his proposed demands, then pointing out, “You don’t even have the military forces to conduct such a campaign.”

 

“That will change,” Nox said before adding, “In the face of my campaign of rage and ruin, they will agree. I’ll give them an out,” Nox told her, explaining, “I’ll compromise. I’ll demand that they decommission and dismantle a significant number of their capital ships, but I’ll allow them to build a large number of smaller, less armored and less armed ships to take their place.”

 

Zash merely shrugged her shoulders and shook her head doubtful. Nox shook his head at her stubbornness and shortsightedness.

 

“During our time of peace, we shall rebuild our own military, and ready ourselves for the time when the Galactic Republic violates the treaty requirements. They shall start from a position of weakness, and we from a position of strength, for our third and final war against our greatest enemy.”

 

“So, you want the treaty to fail?”

 

“Of course. How else will we be able to destroy the Republic?”

 

“We could just keep fighting them,” Zash said, thinking it was obvious.

 

“We have been badly hurt, Lord Zash. We must recover.”

 

The left turbolift doors hissed opened.

 

“Let’s go,” Nox ordered.

 

Zash bristled at being ordered about. She was going to say something about it, but felt the presence of a strong foe behind her, and thought better of it. When she turned about, she saw Lennell standing there, a look of exhaustion and stress on his face and slumped shoulders.

 

“Lord Nox,” she asked, following Nox into the lift, “What did you do to that boy?”

 

“He watched the bloody massacre of a few Jedi and watched Khem, suck the brains out of one of them.”

 

“I see,” she replied, shaking involuntarily, having witnessed the monster’s feasting in the past.

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Virulous entered the turbo lift standing in front of and facing Zash. Her hood was pulled back, and she held her armored skull cap and mask in her hand. The youth stood next to her. Finally, Khem Val squeezed into the lift. By necessity, he had to kneel in the cramped lift, and the others were all squashed into each other.

 

Virulous could see the discomfort on Zash’s face and giggled.

 

“Too close,” Virulous said, laughing, “I know.”

 

Zash merely shrugged, rolling her eyes.

 

“You know, Lord Zash,” Virulous started to say.

 

“That’s Dark Lord, to you,” Zash said, sternly.

 

Virulous ignored her and continued with what she wanted to say.

 

“The dark lord intended to leave no Jedi for you to slay. You’re lucky that you came up when you did. You’ll have your chance to show your qualities in battle. I look forward to showing you what I can do, too.”

 

Zash was furious and said what needed to be said.

 

“You’ll pay for your insolence, runt!”

 

Nox intervened.

 

“Lord Virulous, you shouldn’t be so obvious with your taunts. You’re causing her to lose face in the presence of her apprentices. I almost feel bad for her,” Nox, told his apprentice, chuckling.

 

Then Nox turned his head to face Zash.

 

“Lord Zash, Lord Virulous is not the same woman she was when you last saw her. Lord Virulous has successfully conducted the Force Walking ritual. She isn’t the same anymore, and she is strong.”

 

Nox enjoyed the shock that very briefly registered across Zash’s face, after hearing that. Zash remembered Virulous’ words on Nox’s starship, on the way down.

 

“I have Arus’ knowledge, her wisdom, and her cunning. I’m not the same as before.”

 

“With some exceptions, your people are so rude, Lord Nox!” Zash said, with some frustration.

 

“Well, Lord Zash, we are rivals, after all,” Nox explained.

 

The turbolift doors hissed open, allowing Khem Val the chance to extract himself from such a confined space. The others also felt great relief as they once again were able to space themselves out.

 

“Oh! I can breathe again!” Virulous exclaimed, as she exited the turbolift.

 

Zash seethed in her fury and vile hatred as she exited the lift behind Virulous. The look Zash gave at Virulous’ back hid nothing of her vile disgust and hatred for the petite Sith lord.

 

She could not help but stare as the short and nasty woman donned her matte black armored skull cap and mask and pulled the hood of her black robes over her head. When Virulous spun about, looking for the boy, Zash could see that it seemed as though her face had been swallowed by a black void under the hood of her black robe.

 

Zash was so focused on Virulous that she hadn’t noticed that Nox stood behind her. One of her two apprentices, however, corrected that problem.

 

“Dark Lord, may I recommend that we take the right flank against the Jedi?”

 

“It’s as good as anything else,” she replied, veering to the right, and out of danger from an attack from behind.

 

Nox could tell that Zash was rattled, even if she remained defiant.

 

Meanwhile, Khem Val led the procession of Sith lords down the wide red stone hall and around the corner towards the antichamber. As Nox stepped into the large waiting area, he noticed a lack of bodies and his followers, Eviscerous, Calaverous and their apprentices quietly waiting for Nox and the others.

 

“Dark Lord,” Eviscerous began, “they have barricaded themselves in the Dark Council chamber. The doors are welded shut.”

 

Nox detached his sabrestaff from his utility belt, igniting both ends. Then he activated his personal shield generator.

 

“Steel yourselves! The final battle commences!”

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“Their primary mission?” Nox asked, his interest piqued, although he had an idea what that might be, “What was their primary mission?”

 

“The death of Darth Arkous, Dark Lord.”

 

“Ah. Yes,” Nox said, “The Jedi I slew confessed that was their goal,” then he asked, “Then, what was their secondary mission?”

 

Now, the Chiss general allowed his feelings to show on his face. His disgust showed as he swept his hands to the vista around them.

 

“This,” he said, adding after a brief pause, “The destruction of The Temple of The Sith, and the Sith Academy and Dark Council chamber within.” Shaking his head in great disgust, he went on to explain, “Dark Lord, our engineers continue to find explosive charges set inside the temple.

 

“They had demolished the giant statues and the obelisks in this fashion before finally taking control of the temple. Darth Arkous and his remaining forces held out long enough to greatly delay the enemy. Then you arrived in time to stop them from demolishing the pyramid, itself.

 

“It is fortunate that you arrived when you did. The speed and violence of your assault interrupted their work inside the temple and saved it, Dark Lord.”

 

At that moment, Moff Valion Pyron and his entourage of staff officers entered General Riiy’enni’sansa’s command post.

 

“Dark Lord,” the moff said, “I am deeply honored to find myself in your august presence, again. I have received a preliminary report, from General Riiy’enni’sansa, of the success of our operations here to retake the temple, and to destroy or capture the enemy.

 

“I am deeply gratified to find you safe and victorious over your enemies, Dark Lord.”

 

“We utterly crushed them underfoot,” Nox said, adding, “Every last Jedi that defiled our sacred temple and the Dark Council chamber is dead.”

 

“Forgive me, Dark Lord,” Virulous said, “One Jedi escaped.”

 

Nox became greatly infuriated on hearing this.

 

“How did you allow this to happen, Lord Virulous?” he asked, his voice hardened by anger.

 

Virulous quickly bent to her right knee, planting her right fist onto the ground.

 

“Dark Lord, he had a very great head start, and although I had gained on him, he made it to his ship, and immediately launched it, making his escape.”

 

“I hadn’t heard about an escaped starship,” Nox said, in frustration.

 

Nox turned to face his military leaders, looking alternately between the General and the moff.

 

General Yennis explained.

 

“I was still in the middle of my report, Dark Lord, when the moff arrived and paid his proper respects to you. I hadn’t gotten to that part, yet.”

 

Nox looked as though he would start berating the Chiss general, but the Chiss continued his report, before Nox could speak.

 

“The ship’s launch was immediately reported to our fleet in orbit. Hopefully, they intercepted it, Dark Lord.”

 

Nox turned to face Moff Pyron, looking as though he expected something from him. Valion Pyron turned to his staff.

 

“Find out what’s happened with that ship,” he commanded, “Get me a report, quickly,” he said, with quite a bit of austerity.

 

Nox waited quietly the entire five minutes. It was the most stressful five minutes either the moff, or the Chiss general had ever endured in a long time, and the stress was not relieved when the report was finally made.

 

A holographic image of an admiral commanding the fleet’s defensive posture reported to Moff Pyron. He had no idea that, just outside of the pickup range of the staff officer’s holo-transceiver, Darth Nox was listening.

 

“Moff Pyron, upon receiving a report of an escaping starship, fighters were scrambled from the four nearest Harrower-class dreadnoughts. The fighters were almost within attack range when the starship, quite dangerously, executed a hyperspace jump, just outside of the planet’s atmosphere.”

 

Nox’s anger grew upon hearing this; he asked the moff a pointed question.

 

“Moff Pyron, why use fighters, knowing they have such limited range?” implying incompetence and pointing out what was obvious to him, “The very same Harrower-class dreadnoughts which launched those fighters could have blasted that starship with their ion cannons!”

 

The admiral giving the report heard Nox’s voice and realized that Moff Pyron was in the presence of the dark lord. So, when Moff Pyron asked him to explain the reasoning to the dark lord, his expression on the holographic image changed from bored professionalism to great worry.

 

“Uh… Dark Lord! I’m Admiral Hammit. Uh… Dark Lord, the trouble is that directly below the enemy starship, at the time, was the Temple of The Sith. If our dreadnoughts fired and missed, the ion cannon beams would have impacted the temple, and we would have probably also caused untold casualties among our own ground forces. The risk was too high. We simply….”

 

“That’s enough!” Nox shouted, “I’ve heard enough!”

 

An uncomfortable silence followed which was finally broken by Lord Calaverous.

 

“Dark Lord, look on the bright side,” he said to Nox’s back.

 

Both Eviscerous and Virulous shot Calaverous incredulous looks at his brazen familiarity with Nox, especially while Nox was angry.

 

“When he gets back to the Jedi Council, he’ll recount tales of horror and crushing defeat at your hands. The Jedi will fear you more than any other Sith in the Empire.”

 

Nox turned his head slightly in Calaverous’ direction, standing behind him, but said nothing. His features showing that he had not been mollified. Eviscerous felt a need to help his old friend and added his own two credits.

 

“Wait until they hear of the Dark Lord’s great and powerful Dark Force attacks. And when this news is broadcast across the Empire, even the Dark Council will finally understand who their next emperor is going to be.”

 

Moff Pyron and his staff, and General Yennis and his staff were floored on hearing those words: their next emperor.

 

“The struggle for the throne has finally begun!” Pyron thought, excitedly.

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“Let us offer the Galactic Republic a chance to surrender,” Nox said. He could see from their holographic images that he’d surprised a few of them. They expected that he would stubbornly continue the war effort despite the Empire’s difficulties. Nox said, “When we have reduced our debt, improved the economy, refurbished and increased our military, we’ll find an excuse to restart the war.

 

“If Darth Marr’s information is correct, he can start moving his forces in to occupy those abandoned planets, while I move on to capture forty more worlds. Attacking half as many worlds, I’ll have a larger reserve force, able to answer any challenge the Republic throws at us. I’ll be able to keep up the same rapid tempo of operations, with fewer forces on the ground, and thus would reduce the strain on our logistical and manufacturing capacity.”

 

“That is an excellent proposal, Darth Nox,” Darth Marr said, adding, “When you’ve deployed to your next set of targets, we’ll listen to any pleas for peace from our enemy.

 

“It is well within reason,” Vowrawn added, “This strategy will help our economy. This strategy will not exceed our economy’s capacity to support your next campaign.”

 

“Then that’s it?” Ravage asked incredulous, facetiously adding, “The war ends after we’ve taken a mere hundred and twenty worlds? We aren’t going to crush the Republic anymore?”

 

“Our military is below optimal strength,” Marr said, in answer, “Our economy is stretched to the breaking point. We must consolidate our conquests and rebuild our forces and also recover our economy. If we continue, we will exhaust ourselves and find ourselves unable to defend anything, unable to crush rebellions and insurgencies on our newly conquered worlds. We must recover, Darth Ravage.”

 

“I move that we vote to implement Darth Nox’s strategy,” Aruk said, angering Zash.

 

Zash had no idea, and neither did Nox, nor any of the other dark lords for that matter, but this was Aruk’s second attempt to destroy Nox. First in his secret alliance with Darth Acina, and now with his secret alliance with Darth Zash. In both cases, when the attempt to destroy Nox had failed, Aruk made favorable noises in the Dark Council to mask his involvement in the plots against his enemy. For example, he voted to have Acina booted from the Dark Council, which pleased Nox.

 

Zash knew that Nox would investigate the attempt on his life at his private speeder port two weeks ago. In fact, she had no doubt that he was probably already investigating. She knew that the evidence would lead to Aruk, but then her involvement would be discovered. Silencing Aruk would end the trail, and hide her involvement.

 

“All those in favor of implementing Darth Nox’s strategy,” Marr polled the council, “say aye.”

 

The vote was unanimous in favor. Zash was not prepared to risk any more embarrassments, so she voted in favor. It was a major victory for Nox.

 

Just before the Dark Council moved on to other matters, Nox took another step to set the stage for his ascension to the throne.

 

“Before we turn to discussing our other pressing issues, there is one other matter that I feel is of the utmost importance,” Nox said, looking at the holographic faces of his peers on the Dark Council, arranged on either side of the conference table. “We must all gather, physically, and convene a session of the Dark Council on Korriban in the council chamber.”

 

Darth Marr questioned Nox for the first time in this meeting.

 

“We are all scattered throughout the galaxy, working to keep the empire from coming undone. We have many times in the past, and are even now, convened via holo and have thus far been quite effective in our leadership. Why must we meet physically, now?”

 

Nox gave valid reasons, but these reasons masked his true intent.

 

“The galaxy watched as the Galactic Republic and the Jedi order attacked and destroyed our most sacred temple and academy grounds on our sacred home world. The reputation of the birthplace of the Sith order, and the original birthplace of the Sith Empire has been sullied,” Nox said, still studying the faces of each dark lord, looking for signs that he might be over playing his hand.

 

“If we gather in Korriban, publicly,” Nox said, “It will send a powerful message to all of the enemies of the Empire,” then applying the hook, he added, “When they see us gathering for a council session, at the Temple of The Sith, they will know that our holy council chamber and our temple are not destroyed, even if our iconography on the outside has been vandalized and ruined.”

 

He became deeply pleased by the reactions that he saw on the holo-graphic images of his peers on the Dark Council.

 

“There is another reason, Darth Marr,” Nox continued, “Our hatred for our enemies has been dulled. We are too divided. Not all of us are making a strong effort to fight our mortal enemies, the Galactic Republic and the Jedi order.”

 

Marr, Mortis, and Ravage showed particularly strong reactions to that statement. Marr’s holographic image turned its head to face Nox. Mortis nodded his emphatic agreement, and Ravage gave a heartfelt, “Here! Here!”

 

“I believe it is crucial for the entire Dark Council to tour the destruction, to see it with our own eyes and to be there to breathe in the terrible desecration that has been visited on our holy world and to feel the humiliation that we have been made to endure.”

 

“I believe this will reinvigorate our hatred for our enemies and will strengthen our resolve to destroy our foes with a sincere united front.”

 

Zash saw an opportunity and cut in.

 

“It will have the effect of hardening your resolve to destroy our foes when you’ve seen what they did to our temple, as it has hardened mine,” she said in affirmation of Nox’s reasoning for the others to see the ruin visited on Korriban.

 

Nox was mildly surprised that Zash spoke in support of his proposal, but not too surprised. Her comment was a reminder to the others that she too had battled the enemy on Korriban. It helped her loss of face, earlier in the meeting, to be counter balanced, elevating her in the eyes of the others.

 

“I move in support of Darth Nox’s proposal,” Aruk said, further infuriating Zash. She knew what Aruk’s game was, being a master of deceit, manipulation and subterfuge, herself. She became determined not to let Aruk have his way.

 

“I second it,” both Ravage and Mortis shouted, nearly in unison.

Edited by WorldSmasher
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[A Snippet]

 

Darth Nox exited the conference room with a huge grin on his face. He exulted in his moment of triumph. Immediately following the meeting, Nox called General Riiy’enni’sansa.

 

“The dark lord greatly honors, me. How may I serve you?”

 

“What progress has been made in the Dark Council chamber, General?”

 

“The heavy stone work, removing the top five meters of the apex, has been completed. The opening at the apex is now much larger, allowing more daytime starlight into the chamber as the dark lord wished. The council chamber floor is being reconditioned. We are waiting for delivery of the new stained glass cap to complete the apex.

 

“In the meantime, the wiring of the climate control and lighting are being installed, and improvements to the turbolifts have just been completed. It has resulted in a much faster ride, Dark Lord,” the general said, completing his report.

 

“The work on the Dark Council chamber must be completed in time for the Dark Council meeting in twenty days, General,” Nox emphasized, “There can be no delays. The Dark Council will meet there in twenty days.”

 

“I’ll add a second and a third shift and have them work around the chronometer, Dark Lord,” Riiy’enni’sansa promised.

 

“Good,” the dark lord said, ending the call.

 

Nox made his way to the bridge of the Doombringer. He wanted to consult with his powerful vassal, Moff Valion Pyron.

 

As he made his way, turning a corner in the labyrinthine passages of the gargantuan warship, Nox passed a section of bulkhead with a highly reflective surface and saw his excited grin in his reflection. He laughed at himself.

 

“I look like some foolish youth who’d just lost his virginity!”

 

He laughed out loud at the thought, but when the mirth had passed its moment, he worked to get the grin off of his face.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Chapter 23: The Stars Above and The Stars Below

 

[A snippet]

 

As soon as Nox’s V.I.P. speeder left the scene, an inspector, a naval officer, boarded Nox’s starship to conduct her investigation into what had caused such a dangerous situation to occur with the piloting of the Fury-class Interceptor, but Andronikos was prepared for the inquiry.

 

The military speeder, with its top, mercifully down, allowed Khem Val to ride, sitting straight up, even if his legs were cramped. Virulous sat beside the Dashade, nearly pressed against the passenger side door, while Nox rode in front next to the staff sergeant operating the vehicle. He had to leave his assistant driver behind to make room for Nox to sit in front.

 

“My master,” Khem Val began, “Let us purchase a special speeder, especially for your use at the spaceport, so that I will not need to ride with my legs squeezed into a can and have the cold wind blasting into my face.”

 

Nox turned his head to face the staff sergeant.

 

“If I purchased such a speeder, for my exclusive use, where will it be parked?” the dark lord asked.

 

The staff sergeant replied, calmly, professionally, despite being greatly surprised that any of the V.I.P. passengers would even speak to him, but in this case an actual Dark Lord of The Sith, none other than The Hero of Korriban, himself, addressed him!

 

“Wait until I tell the others that I actually got to speak to Darth Nox himself!” the thrilled staff sergeant thought.

 

“Dark Lord, it would be stored in the spaceport motor pool where it would receive regular maintenance and be kept highly polished.”

 

“Louder,” Nox ordered, “so that the Dashade behind you can hear.”

 

The staff sergeant obeyed, and Khem Val shook his head, disgustedly, thinking, “Too dangerous. It would be too easy to gain access to it and sabotage it.”

 

Nox and his followers were dropped off, right at the massive entrance of The Citadel. Nox didn’t want to take chances using his private speeder port until the security weakness had been addressed. The dark lord and his two followers, stepped right through the massive entrance and strode through the cavernous lobby towards the turbolifts.

 

“Darth Virulous, take your leave,” Nox said in a business-like manner, “Go home and rest. Return to the starship at the tenth hour of the morning. We shall launch to return to Korriban after I have finished my business here.”

 

“Yes, Dark Lord,” Virulous said, bowing her head, and hiding the pang of hurt, because her lover was treating her like just another servant again.

 

She turned, heading towards the massive entrance of the lobby again. Instead of going home, however, she decided to try out the technique the dark lord had taught her. Virulous made her way to the slave pens outside of the city walls. It was the dead of night, so she wondered if she would be able to come across any slaves up and about, or if she was wasting her time.

 

Fifteen minutes later, Nox was entering the reception area just outside of his office. Keeper was there, waiting, with Watcher Two. The master spy and his deputy spy chief, immediately got up from their chairs, walked three paces towards Nox, stopped and immediately knelt, with their right knees and fists on the floor.

 

“I have reported as ordered, dark lord,” Keeper said, “I will wait here, ready for your summons to enter your office.”

 

Khem Val could tell right away that something was wrong. The way Nox glared at his spy chief, and the way the spy chief and his deputy quickly groveled at their master’s feet.

 

Wordlessly, Nox entered his office with Khem Val following him in.

 

Nox came to a stop five meters in front of his desk, turning to face his office door, nearly ninety meters away.

 

“Khem,” Nox said, “Let Keeper in.”

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Darth Marr, his followers and Darth Zash and her followers had ridden the turbo lift together. Zash was remarking at what a difference the new turbolift had made.

 

“As bad as the whole episode was, Darth Marr, getting the new turbolifts has become a boon for us.”

 

Marr said nothing in response.

 

“The lighting in the temple is much better. I already like what they did to the floors! Everything seems so new!”

 

Again Marr said nothing, ignoring Zash’s incessant prattling, “She is intentionally trying to provoke me into shouting at her,” Marr realized. He promised to himself, “I will not let her get under my skin!”

 

Virulous watched as Marr and Zash walked past her. Zash spared barely a second to give her a disdainful glare as she passed, before continuing her inane prattling at Marr’s side.

 

Marr’s and Zash’s followers dropped back from their respective masters, each group moving off to sit at the sides of the antichamber, paying no particular attention to the tiny female form clothed in black robes.

 

Virulous wore the hood of her black robes pulled back, her armored mask was attached to her utility belt. She wore her still growing black hair in a single short braid that reached down just below the nape of her neck. At her request, the physicians on Manaan had manipulated her hair follicles so that the grey and white hairs would never again appear.

 

“I love what they did with the doors!” Zash exclaimed with false excitement.

 

If one had never met her that one would have fallen for her act and would truly believe that she was actually interested in the decor and that she was a ditz.

 

As annoyed as Marr was at her never ending chatter, her apprentices knew that beneath the apparent fluff, was a deadly viper, coiled and ready to strike. However, unlike most vipers, when Zash struck her victims, none would never even know it was coming, nor that it had already happened.

 

Her victims would already be dead. Only the survivors around her victims would see the scowl of utter hatred she had concealed from her deceased prey after she’d struck. With each passing moment, Marr grew increasingly disdainful of the chatty fluff-headed wench, taking her less and less seriously.

 

“It looks like real stone, and almost feels real!” Zash said in apparent amazement.

 

Virulous’ heart beat hard because she knew what was about to transpire. She kept her eyes on Marr and Zash, as the doors slid silently apart. Her stomach lurched when she saw the reaction of the two dark lords.

 

“I wonder what improvements have been made inside the…..” Zash was saying, but fell into shocked silence.

 

Both Marr and Zash came to a dead stop in their tracks and stood silent for a moment before finally entering the Dark Council chamber, the new doors silently sliding shut behind them.

 

“So, it has begun,” Virulous thought anxiously to herself.

 

Turning her eyes to the powerful followers of her master’s rivals, she stole herself, resolved to kill everyone in the antechamber. Or, if it came to it, to take as many with her before dying by their combined power.

 

Thinking of her dark lord and her master, Virulous couldn’t help but ask herself, “Is he strong enough to force the Dark Council to kneel before him?”

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Gnost-Dural, a Kel Dor male, swept his eyes across the conference table at his fellow councilors, looking at their pensive faces.

 

He sighed before telling them, “Of the forty six Jedi that we’ve sent out, on two separate strike teams, only two have survived, one from each strike team. One survived the madness imposed on the minds of the Jedi who’d faced Vitiate, and the other survived the brutal massacre of twenty nine Jedi and two hundred thousand Republic ground forces, including forty thousand prisoners of war on Korriban, at the hands of Noxsious.”

 

“Jedi Knight Ciiru Nomuro is still wrestling with the Dark Side influence with which he’d been afflicted by Vitiate,” Jedi Master Gnost-Dural said calmly, “and Jedi Knight Jeras Rendon Cal, barely escaped with his life, and upon his successful return to us, reports to us that the new emperor will end up being much worse for the galaxy.”

 

“Now I’m hearing the beginnings of talk that will necessarily lead to the logical conclusion,” Gnost-Dural used air quotes, “that we must form yet another strike team with the apparent goal of assassinating Emperor Noxsious.”

 

The Kel Dorian looked around the conference room, booked for this meeting, at his fellow councilors. He could see the doubts clouding their faces.

 

“One:” Gnost-Dural began his list, pointing out hard truths, “the Jedi Council must be prepared to sacrifice the lives of more of our precious dedicated adherents. This time, somewhere on the order of a hundred Jedi. Emperor Noxsious’ security will be very tight. He’s on the lookout for assassins, not only from within, but also from outside of the Sith Empire.

 

“Two: we have to convince Supreme Chancellor Saresh to – again – supply a regiment of commandos and a corps of heavy infantry, supported by two divisions of medium and heavy war droids, and artillery droids. I seriously doubt that she will give us those and jeopardize the peace she is seeking to work out with the Sith Empire.

 

“Three: we, the Jedi Council and the Galactic Republic, must be prepared for the war to continue and to expand beyond the one hundred and twenty star systems currently involved.

 

“And finally, four: we must be prepared for such a backlash from the common citizens, not only of the Sith Empire but of the Republic as well. There will be such a great outcry for the banishment or arrest of the members of the Jedi Order from Republic worlds.”

 

Gnost-Dural fell silent a moment to let those points sink in, looking at dour expressions on the faces of his peers.

 

“We, here, will be fine on Tython,” Gnost-Dural said, “but what of the Jedi who are also Republic citizens with relatives and homes in the Republic worlds? Of course they could come to Tython, but they will lose their homes and homeworlds – if they aren’t arrested instead.

 

The Kel Dor Jedi Master elaborated.

 

“The people are tired of war. They are tired of the destruction the Sith have brought on us all. Now a chance for peace is at hand. The Supreme Chancellor craves peace. The Sith are willing to grant her peace, naturally with strings attached.

 

“If we assassinate the Sith’s new Emperor, it will have the effect of voiding any opportunities there may have been to end the violence and destruction. Everyone will blame us for it. The common people will blame us, the Imperial government will, and you can wager that Saresh and her government will feed us to the Sith, to appease them – even if she did quietly help us with covert operations to isolate and to kill Noxsious.”

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