Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Disembarking from the Black Talon took so long, it felt torturous.  The ship had struggled hard since escaping the Jedi Grandmaster’s fleet by leaping into hyperspace.  Tensions had been high among the crew, fearing that Republic warships would somehow overtake us or intercept us. That was compounded by the fact that the Republic Ship Brentaal Star’s guns, crippled though they were, had still done significant damage to our vessel during our brief battle.  Entire sections had been opened to the vacuum of space, either by the pods of sabotage droids or by the bombardment of the Star’s one remaining battery.  Worse, our water recirculation system had taken some damage, forcing the Captain to carefully oversee the distribution of our remaining supply for the final two days of our journey. 

Lieutenant Silas sent a runner to our quarters to alert me and my Dashade servant, Khem Val, as we began to dock. My monster’s brief opportunity to destroy Republic battle droids in defense of the bridge had eased his restlessness somewhat, but he was still almost unbearably eager to get off the ship and planetside again.  He was a creature of battle, and anticipating finally leaving our tiny ship’s quarters had raised his sour mood, in spite of the long wait.  

I myself had not enjoyed our journey.  My passage aboard the Black Talon had been hastily secured after my attempted murder at the hands of Darth Skotia’s apprentices, so it had not been a large berth, my master preferring speed and secrecy over comfort. Still, it would’ve been fine, if Grand Moff Killran hadn’t blackmailed the ship and the crew into cleaning up his mess.  Under the threat of destruction, I had grudgingly agreed to accompany a fellow Sith apprentice on a daring raid of a damaged Republic warship called the Brentaal Star. Tasked with dealing with a defector, we had located the traitor and dragged him back to the Black Talon, killing a Jedi apprentice in the process.  Moff Killran had been pleased but also obviously surprised by our success, a fact that made me hate him all the more. 

I didn’t plan to stand around, undignified, in a hallway, waiting while crewmembers shoved past us, but when the message sounded that the Black Talon had officially docked, I gathered my satchel and signaled for Khem Val to follow me, leaving my three small cases behind for the steward droids to manage. I joined the crowd waiting at the ship’s entrance just as they began the sequence to unseal the door.  Captain Orzik stood there, along with Lieutenant Silas and a few ensigns and marines.  The other Sith apprentice was there, along with his Twi’lek slave, bags in hand, as well as a few other passengers.  Like always, when they spotted Khem, they gave way to leave us plenty of space. 

“Sir, welcome aboard the Nexus!” As soon as the final door hissed open, I could feel the slight shift of air in my fur as the pressure in the ship equalized with the air pressure of the space station.  A middle-aged human woman sprang forward to greet us.  She and the others with her wore Imperial Navy Uniforms, and a large squad of marines waited to the side, just waiting for the signal to move.  Captain Orzik went very pale, and I could smell the sharp stink of fear from him.  

“I suppose you’ve heard from the Grand Moff then,” he said, very resignedly.  But whatever orders the Moff had given, the Captain’s arrest wasn’t one of them. The marines were apparently here for the defector, and Lieutenant Silas volunteered to lead them to the prisoner.  As the Captain disembarked to go be debriefed, we all stepped back to let the soldiers by.  They marched past in neat rows of two.  I waited for a moment, hoping that we would be able to leave next, but the other Sith apprentice seemed content to stand in the ship’s doorway, blocking all other passengers from disembarking. I shoved my way past Khem, and he grudgingly bowed his head and stepped out of my way, just in time for me to hear the Navy woman exclaim, “I hadn’t realized you were carrying Darth Baras’ own apprentice as well!” I pursed my lips in irritation. Once again people were falling over themselves to grovel before him, not me. I knew why--he was a physically intimidating Sith Pureblood, apprentice to a very important Darth, so it was only prudent that they try to ingratiate themselves with his master.  Still, technically , we were both apprentices, so we were equals, and I was jealous.  He was very powerful, excellent with a blade--that much he’d made abundantly clear during our assault of the Brentaal Star.  But more than his skill, I envied the easy grace and arrogance that he displayed even as I despised it. Khem Val loved to tell me that I was nothing like his former master, Tulak Hord, or the great Sith of old, and I could see just how far I needed to come when confronted by such effortless aristocracy. 

Some peon was tasked with escorting us to the shuttle bay, and we followed him down long hallways, passing curious workers who stayed well clear of us as they stared.  I realized eventually that we were not at the normal Dromund Kass space station, our intended destination; rather, the Black Talon had docked at what was clearly a repair yard. It bore minimal signage and I found myself rather relieved that someone was guiding us towards our goal.  We came to a hangar full of shuttles, and after a terse conversation via holo, he guided us to the farthest one, a moderately-sized ship with no windows but plenty of seating in the back.  A pilot had already begun to warm up the engines, and a droid was disconnecting the fuel lines one at a time.  

“Please make yourselves comfortable, my Lord, my Lady,” he said to us with a bow.  I inclined my head in the movement that Lady Zash’s instructors had made me practice dozens of times and made my way up the gangplank to settle in one of the small seats.  Khem took up two seats, wrapping one massive hand around the hilt of his sword and the other around a strap to steady himself.  It looked flimsy within his long clawed fingers. The other sith and his slave settled into the positions right at the front, just behind the entrance to the cockpit. I once again busied myself with my studies, rather than just sit aimlessly. Eventually, the other passengers also boarded, and droids loaded our belongings into a cargo area towards the back, carefully securing them with netting. 

After several minutes, the door sealed and I felt the ship jostle slightly as the pilot lifted off smoothly and eased into flight. My claws extended as I held firmly, refusing to lift my nose out of the datapad I was reading.  I did not enjoy spaceflight, and I was quickly coming to realize that the smaller the ship, the worse it felt.  I was intimately aware of every twist and turn as we descended through the atmosphere of Dromund Kaas, down towards the planet below.  It was certainly better than the chaotic flight from days earlier, during the assault of the Brentaal Star, but it still made my stomach churn uncomfortably. Eventually we landed on the planet, and the pilot opened the hatch.  

The first thing I noticed was the air.  It was nothing like I’d ever experienced before, and my Cathar senses were overwhelmed.  Never in my life had a breeze carried such intense scents to my nose. The air was viscid, tangible; it was like I was breathing in the steam from a bowl of soup.  My fur, which had grown thicker and softer since becoming a Sith and getting meat on a regular basis, felt instantly fluffier, and I felt like every inch of my skin was covered in sweat, even though it was nowhere near as hot as Korriban usually was. Even the Force felt different here. On Korriban, everything felt harsh and vaguely menacing.  In space, there was an emptiness that made me feel small, but here, on the capital world of the Empire, the Force felt ancient, full of sleeping power and might and unknown depths. I was part of a vast network of force-users, a web of Sith from the tiniest pinpricks of light to great shining stars. It was humbling and inspiring and motivating all at once.  Someday, I would shine like that. I would be a great Sith Lady!  I would be a Darth, wielding unimaginable power!

My luggage was unloaded by droids, who carried it over to a series of consoles that I recognized from my departure from Korriban. It was a customs checkpoint, and my belongings were scanned and stacked neatly on the far side.  I adjusted my ID token, which I wore on a delicate bracelet sent to me by my master as a gift, and passed it under the holoscanner.  It registered my information, and I knew that the myriad cameras were cross-referencing my identity and confirming that I was who I said I was. It flashed blue, and I passed through the metal gates. Khem reluctantly pulled his own ID chit from his belt and scanned it.  He absolutely hated doing anything banal, and with how he took every opportunity to try to make me afraid, I got a vicious pleasure from his discomfort. He, too, passed through the gates.  I smiled.  

“Khem, take my luggage for me,” I said, making my decision.  He snarled, showing his enormous fangs. 

“I will not,” he growled in Catharese.

“You have sworn to be my servant,” I reminded him.  “By my reckoning, you still have over 9 months left until you’re free. Until then, you do as I say.”

“I will guard and fight for you!” he growled. “That is the limit of my service.  That is what honor demands.”

“Fair enough,” I said.  “But which would be the greater shame?  Carrying my luggage until we hire a droid, or being honor-bound to a sith so lowly that she has to carry her own bags like a slave?”  I knew I had him by the way his teeth audibly ground together.

“If I must,” he muttered finally.  He scooped all three cases up in one arm, easily keeping them from falling.  

“Thank you, Khem,” I said with a nod. 

Together, the Dashade and I made our way through the long, crowded promenade lining the various hangars and shuttle bays.  Venders of every type of food imaginable lined the walls, hawking their wares to the passersby. There were many Sith, I noticed, but the majority were various humans and aliens, most in civilian clothing, although the military maintained a clear presence. In spite of Khem’s griping, he didn’t have to carry my boxes long.  Courier Droid stalls were everywhere, and using the funds Lady Zash had allocated me via my ID chit, I arranged for our things to be delivered to the address she’d given me.  My master had given me an allowance that had seemed ludicrous to me at the time; now, faced with the exorbitant prices, I knew that I would have to be mindful of the purchases I made.

Khem and I had been instructed to report to my master’s office in the Citadel immediately, and so we walked towards the great grand entrance of the spaceport.  I stopped dead in the doorway, staring, no, GAPING, at the sight that met my eyes.  I’d seen trees in holos, of course, but this was the first time I’d seen one in person.  They towered over the spaceport.  The whole world was awash in different shades of green, from the trees, to the bushes and shrubbery, to the rich green carpet of growth that covered every place that wasn’t stone or duracrete.  Even the nooks and crannies seemed to be covered with a dark green fuzz that nestled in the shadows, creeping up the sides of tree trunks and light poles indiscriminately. The air was even wetter here, and while it wasn’t quite as hot as Korriban, I felt sweat beading behind my knees and on my face.  There was a constant, high-pitched drone from what I assumed to be the local insect population.

More incredibly, water dripped from the sky, splattering against the durasteel pathways and splashing into puddles that formed wherever the ground wasn’t perfectly level. I knew this was rain from the stories that other slaves had told, back when I was a slave myself, but it had never rained on Korriban. I’d never imagined that it would be so vast.  I gazed upward towards the solid gray mass of clouds, seeing millions of drops of water falling to the surface, and tentatively held out my hand, feeling each individual drop strike my fur.  

A small duracrete pad with speeders stood nearby.  I followed the covered walkway and approached the droid attendant.  “How may I serve you?” it asked politely.

“I need to go to the Citadel in Kaas City,” I said, accidentally lisping a little.  Filled with self-disgust, I swallowed hard and continued. “I am to report to the citadel at once.”  He programmed in my destination on his screen.

“Of course,” said the droid.  He scanned my ID token, and I felt a little sick seeing the price.  “Have a nice trip.”  Khem and I climbed into the semi-enclosed speeder and zoomed away, the wind and rain ripping through the open windows and rifling my fur as we sped through the jungle. I quickly discovered that I did not enjoy being wet.  Water whipped up from the edges of the speeder, flung by our velocity to strike my clothes and fur. I pulled my cloak up to shield myself a bit more, meager protection though it was, since it was designed to defend against the sun and heat of Korriban, not the rains of Dromund Kaas.  Khem ignored the water dripping down his skin.  

I couldn’t stop staring at the varied landscape around me.  Every so often, we’d zip past a grand monument or large walled estate, and I’d crane my neck to watch as long as I could.  Khem wasn’t much more controlled than I was.  He’d told me a little about his time on Dromund Kaas, but I assumed that almost nothing remained from those long-ago days.  Presumably the forest and climate was still similar.  Finally, after almost an hour, our speeder decelerated and we emerged from the trees to approach the Kaas City walls.  

Our speeder pilot carefully followed the approved flight paths, merging with other speeder traffic and entering the city.  Towering skyscrapers lined the avenues, and looking down, I realized that Kaas City was laid out in a very orderly, grid-like fashion.  It appeared that each area of the city was compartmentalized, with clean, well-kept and well-lit streets and high walls separating each district from its neighbor.  Far off in the distance, set back from other buildings, I could see the distinctive shape of the Citadel, headquarters of the Sith and the Empire, along with the towering compound of administrative and military skyscrapers.  Lightning regularly struck the many lightning rods that dotted the roofs. From there, the entire Empire was run. 

“This is as far as I can take you, my lady,” said the pilot eventually, easing down towards a broad shuttle landing zone.  “There’s a no-fly zone around the Citadel for security reasons, but there’s an underground rail line if you don’t care to walk.”  When I glanced around, he indicated the entrance.

“Thank you for your assistance,” I said, remembering the lessons I had on appropriate politeness and courtesy towards the lower classes.  Lady Zash wanted me to be gracious, after all.  The pilot bowed deeply in his seat.  

“It is always a pleasure to serve the Sith, my Lady,” he said.

Khem and I got out and hurried through the rain, which was coming down much harder now.  We’d managed to shield ourselves from the worst of the weather during the speeder ride, but in the short dash to the sheltered entrance of the underground transport, we were thoroughly soaked.  My boots squelched uncomfortably as water squished between my toes, and my clothing was plastered against my wet fur.  I had never been so wet in my life.  I felt hideous. I itched to properly groom myself, settling for doing my best to smooth my bedraggled fur away from my eyes.  

We weren’t the only ones who were wet, but most sentients who were in the tunnels were dry.  When I caught sight of a map on the wall, I realized that the tunnels extended underneath the entire city.  I scanned my ID chit to pay for our passage and stood by the group that awaited the next transport to the Citadel.  It ran every 10 minutes, so I didn’t have to wait long.  Nobody stared at us, of course.  Khem got a few sideways glances, but once they realized I, a Sith, was with him, they politely averted their eyes. Another Lord and his apprentices were in the crowd, along with many bureaucrats. 

The train was cold.  The climate control blasted chilled, dry air to counteract the wet heat of Dromund Kaas, and soaked as I was, I began to shiver.  It irritated me, but there was nothing I could do but endure and try not to make a fool of myself.  It was only a few minutes after all.  I followed the crowd of people into the basement of the Citadel tower to another security checkpoint, this one actually protected by red guards, who I’d seen on Korriban, and a few sith.  I felt my anxiety spike, worrying for a brief instant that they would turn me away or arrest me or kill me as an imposter, or by mistake, or something. 

I needn’t have panicked. I scanned my ID, hating that my fingers shook a little, and although the guards watched me and Khem closely, they didn’t even speak to me as we passed through just like everyone else and approached the Information Station on the far side of the Lobby. The droid at the desk turned to me, ignoring the two humans in military uniforms that it had been in the middle of conversing with.

“I am seeking the office of Lady Zash,” I said uncomfortably. 

“Of course,” said the droid, a holographic map emerging from his extended hand to display the highlighted path I should follow.  “Take the elevator to the 41st floor and follow the signage for the Orange Wing.  Her offices are on your left, clearly marked.”  I waited anxiously for the lift, Khem lurking behind me.  Unlike the spartan cargo lifts throughout the Sith Academy on Korriban, which were mere platforms that afforded no protection from the mechanical workings and walls, these were small rooms made of glass and sleek durasteel that gently climbed smoothly skyward while allowing me to see what I was passing.

A towering, pyramidal skyscraper, the Citadel, or Sith Sanctum, had a hollow central interior that housed a grand power core that extended from the base towards the pinnacle. It was shielded by glass, and each floor had a walkway and viewing deck that wrapped around it entirely while leaving whole sections open between the actual office spaces and the core.  I morbidly wondered how many fell or were thrown to their deaths each year.  There were minimal decorations, consisting primarily of titanic banners bearing the Imperial Crest that were at least ten floors long.  

The lift slowed and came to a gentle halt, and the doors opened to release me onto the 41st floor, but I couldn’t exit because someone stood in my way.  Tall, broad shouldered, wearing durasteel armor instead of the more typical sith robes even though he had a lightsaber on his hip, the man blocking my path had one cybernetic arm, with visible, obvious implants running up to meld with his flesh shoulder and neck and into his face.  Half of his brain and one eye seemed to be completely gone, replaced with circuitry.  Two large Trandoshians, half again my height, flanked him with quarterstaves ready.  The crest on his chest plate left no doubt as to who he was, but his words confirmed what I already knew. 

“Out of my way, s lave , Darth Skotia is passing!” He was obviously not passing.  He was obviously just standing there to intimidate me, and it was working.  I felt the fur on my arms and neck stand, my claws extend, but I also knew that here in the Sith Sanctum, I was safer than anywhere else.  Here, on Dromund Kaas, but especially in the Citadel, inter-Sith conflict was forbidden.  Lady Zash had made it very clear to me that the Dark Council, those 12 Sith who managed the day-to-day affairs of the Empire under the Emperor’s auspices, had absolutely, positively, totally prohibited violence between Sith.  If this cyborg killed me, if he even wounded me, being a Darth wouldn’t save him. Reminding myself of that, reminding myself that the very reason he was standing here trying to intimidate me was that he could not actually move against me with all the other Sith and witnesses and cameras made me bolder.

“You sent those weakling apprentices to kill me,” I said in my best upper class accent.  “I really should thank you.  My Dashade enjoyed his feast.”

“Give your master a message from me,” he said, his red cybernetic eye fixed on Khem Val even as his human eye focused on me.  “Tell her I know what she’s up to, and she’s going to fail.  Tell her only I have the Key.  You and your master may have gotten this far, slave, but it ends here.”  Yet even with all of his threats, even with the way he menaced me through the Force, he made no move to harm me.  My confidence grew.

“What do you think?” I asked Khem in basic, the Dark Side rushing through my veins and making me even more reckless.  “Can you eat him?”

“Bad for the digestion, too much metal,” grumbled Khem back. Skotia seethed with fury, and I assumed that his cybernetics translated the Catharese.

“I will not make the same mistakes again,” warned Darth Skotia.  “There is no future for Zash or for you on Dromund Kaas or in the Sith Order!”

“Oh, go jump in a Sarlaac pit,” I scoffed, stepping around him.  One of his Trandoshian bodyguards slammed his shoulder into me as they went past me into the elevator.  Khem snarled, stepping up quick to shove him away and drawing his sword in one blinding movement.

“Hold!” I said, placing my hand on his arm quickly.  He breathed heavily, glaring at the Trandoshian, whose fellow had dropped into a ready crouch, preparing to respond.  Skotia snapped his fingers at them, and the aliens turned away and joined their master in the elevator.  

“Later,” I said to him as they disappeared from view. “They’ll get theirs.”

Chapter Text

“Welcome, my apprentice!” Lady Zash was all smiles as her secretary ushered me into her office. She came around her desk to stand before me, looking me up and down. “You’re a sight for sore eyes!”

“Hello, Lady Zash,” I said, bowing respectfully.  

“How was the rest of your journey?” She asked. “Force knows that things took quite the turn, what with that nasty business with Moff Killran and all. Of course, you’ve managed to come out looking quite impressive, which is exactly what I expect of you. The way you managed to capture a defector, not to mention facing down a Jedi--people are already talking about you, which is exactly what we want. The more attention you gather, the less opportunity Skotia will have to attack you.”

“I met Darth Skotia already,” I volunteered. She froze, her eyes burning into mine. “He must’ve been waiting for me, someone must’ve told him I was coming, because he met me just outside, on the landing. He caught me coming out of the elevator and tried to intimidate me.”

“Damn Skotia!” she said, flinging her hands out in disgust. “What business has he, going behind my back to speak to my apprentice?”

“He wanted me to tell you that he knows what you’re up to, that only he has the key, whatever that means, and that there’s no place on Dromund Kaas for us,” I added. “I told him to go jump in a sarlacc pit.” A laugh burst out of Lady Zash, and I felt her surprise through the force. 

“I wish I had been there to see it,” she mused, grinning darkly. “But we mustn’t grow overconfident. He’s more machine than man, but he’s dangerously powerful. Ever since I arrived on Dromund Kaas as an apprentice, he’s made every effort to stand in my way.” She paced back and forth, gesticulating broadly. “We’re not going to be able to make any headway in pursuit of Tulak Hord's ancient power with his rattling breath down our necks.”

“Somebody should stop him from breathing, then,” I said, idly inspecting my claws. 

“Precisely, apprentice,” she said, looking at me and Khem closely. “And that somebody is you.”  

My mind raced. My first reaction was fear, but I knew better than to display weakness in front of my master. The Sith Academy had taught me that. “Finally a challenge worthy of me,” I said instead, planting my hands on my hips and lying through my teeth. Khem chuffed his approval, and my smirk grew more real.

“Good!” said Zash proudly. “That’s exactly the attitude you’ll need. You see,” she continued, “I cannot be tied to Skotia’s murder. The Dark Council forbids such brazen power plays, and because he’s my direct superior, everyone will suspect me. I must be beyond reproach. But nobody will expect a mere apprentice to be able to kill him! It’s impossible, and that’s why it will work.”

“The impossible’s my speciality,” I boasted.

“So it seems,” she agreed. “I’ve already got things in motion to deal with Skotia, but with him moving so aggressively, I’m going to have to accelerate my plans. Until then, apprentice, you will have to stick very close to me. I’ve arranged for an apartment for you, but I think, under the circumstances, it will be best if you stay with me in my home, at least until he’s eliminated. I don’t want to risk an ambush by an assassin or a bounty hunter, and I’m sure the man will not wait long to move against us again.” She pursed her lips.  

“I think, all things considered, we should call it a day and head home,” she said. “You’re completely soaked, and I’m sure you want to rest after your ordeal getting here. Have you eaten recently?”

“No, Lady Zash,” I said. I was used to ignoring the complaints of my body from my time as a slave, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed it, particularly after spending the past few months eating regular meals.

“I’ll call ahead and have something prepared, then,” she said. “Can’t have you weakening or catching cold, can we, my incredible apprentice?” She beamed at me, but her smile didn’t quite match her hungry eyes.

“No, Lady Zash,” I repeated.

My master spent a few minutes finishing her work and gathering her belongings while I waited. Her office was one of many in the Orange Wing, which housed the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, one of the departments within the Empire’s administration. As a Sith Lord, she had an antechamber where her secretary Theseus worked and which led directly to her office. Beyond that was a small private sitting room and a refresher. Lady Zash’s secretary was a quiet middle-aged man who seemed entirely unremarkable. He listened attentively as she gave him a few final instructions, then bowed and locked up behind us as we left.  

Lady Zash led me down the lifts to the transportation hub in the basement of the Citadel, keeping up a running commentary about the places we passed and the people we encountered. She didn’t pause to introduce me to anyone, but frankly that was for the best. I was uncomfortably aware of a certain musty odor that lingered around me now that I was wet. She brought me past the security checkpoint to a different train, pointing out the number to make sure I remembered it, and then settled in to enjoy the ride.

“This train connects directly to the Sith residential districts,” she said. There were other Sith around us, but we still had a modicum of privacy. “It’s usually much more crowded than this, so enjoy the chance to sit,” she said, tapping the arm of the chair beside her. “Most of the Sith who work in the Citadel currently come in by train. If you’re a Darth, of course, you receive special dispensation to take a speeder through the no-fly zone, but everyone else arrives via train.” She laughed. “Or walks, I suppose.”

“As an alien, you’ll face some unusual challenges,” she said seriously. “You’ll have to fight to prove yourself better, stronger, than any you come in contact with. It won’t be easy. But know this.” Lady Zash gazed deeply into my eyes. “You and I shall achieve a great destiny together; I have seen in a vision. You have proven me right again and again in the incredible things that you did as an acolyte, things that I myself had been unable to accomplish! Our time together is guided by the hand of the Force itself, and nothing will stop us.”

“I... I am honored to be your apprentice,” I said, feeling Lady Zash’s intensity. “I won’t let you down, Lady Zash.”

“Good, my wonderful apprentice,” she said.  

Our train arrived at its destination rather quickly, as it was a direct transport line. We exited into a much smaller hub that was centrally located within the Sith Residential district and boarded another train to get closer to where Lady Zash had her home. This was not a direct trip; it stopped repeatedly to allow other Sith to disembark or board. But eventually, we stepped out into a small underground waiting area.  

“This way,” she said. We took one of the available lifts up to the planetary surface and emerged into a little courtyard, where, surprise, surprise, it was still raining. Six large dwellings stood in a circle, but when Zash led us towards one, I realized that each building contained two residences, each alike in form and figure.  

“Welcome, Lady Zash.” A droid greeted us at the door.

“This is my apprentice and her servant,” said the Sith Lady. “See that they are given chambers, the red ones, up against the back of the house on the second floor.”

“Yes, Lady Zash,” replied the droid.

“The droid will see to your needs,” said my master. “I prepared a few things at your apartment, but since you won’t be staying there, I’ll have a droid close it up and bring it all here. Tomorrow, the owner of my favorite robe shop will be here to make sure that it all suits you perfectly. Should you require anything else, just ask a droid. I will be only a holocall away.” I understood the implicit instruction to stay out of my master’s way unless summoned to her. I bowed.

“Yes, Lady Zash,” I said. She smiled again, one of those pleasant expressions that seemed completely sincere and yet made my fur crawl for some unnamable reason. 

“Don’t worry,” she said. “This will only be for a short time. We Sith do not usually coddle our apprentices, but then again, most apprentices aren’t being hunted by a Darth, either, so I think it’s completely appropriate in this case. Soon enough, Skotia will be dead, and you will be off on your own, maybe even traveling the galaxy!” She saw my expression change, and she laughed. “Oh yes, Apprentice, I’ve got big plans for you. But those will have to wait.” With a smug nod, she walked deeper into the house.

“Welcome, my Lady’s Apprentice,” said the droid. “Would you prefer to see your rooms, or do you require a meal?”  

“I think I’ll see my rooms first,” I said. “Have my belongings arrived yet?”

“They have, my lady,” confirmed the droid.

“Then I’ll get out of these wet things and settle in,” I said. “You may send our meals to our rooms.”

“Yes, my lady,” said the droid. Lady Zash’s house was decorated tastefully but simply in deep purples and pale grays. The walls were lined with artifacts inside glass cases. I got the impression that she didn’t spend much time here; the Force whispered of her passage, but her emotional state hadn’t left a significant imprint, at least that I could sense. The floors were wooden, something I’d never seen before. I could hear the slightest creak occasionally whenever a floor panel shifted out of place. 

The red rooms that Lady Zash assigned to me were a small suite of rooms featuring a bedroom, a refresher, and a small study. Khem took one look at the moderately-sized sofa and grunted, “That will not accommodate me.”

“My servant requires a large bed,” I said to the droid. “We will not need most of the furniture; can it be removed to make space for it?”

“A suitable bed has been procured for my lady’s apartment,” said the droid. “It will be brought here.”

“The desk can be placed in my bedroom,” I said. “Khem, you make yourself comfortable out here.”  

“Right away, my lady,” agreed the droid.  

I took a change of clothes into the refresher located between the two rooms while Lady Zash’s robotic staff went to work. I was chilled to the core at this point, and my jaw ached from preventing my teeth from chattering. I'd never used a water shower instead of a normal sonic one before, so I spent an enjoyable 40 minutes savoring the warm, recycled water and bringing my body temperature back to normal. I still didn’t particularly enjoy the slimy, sweaty feeling of having wet fur, but as the sensation returned to my toes, I couldn’t help but smile. The shower had a heat lamp and vents of warm air to dry me off once I was finished, and when I exited, my fur had fluffed to three times its normal size. I spent a long time brushing it and smoothing it back to a semblance of order.

After a nice dinner of meat and some grilled fruit and vegetables, I took myself off to the nicest bed I’d ever slept in. The Sith Academy had been rather spartan, and on the Black Talon I’d been relegated to tiny borrowed quarters, so it was a new luxury to stretch myself out in every direction and still not reach the edge of the mattress. I snuggled deeper into the soft sheets, hearing sounds in the night. Some type of insect outside was making a high-pitched screaming noise. Khem’s breathing was slow and even in the other room. Distant speeders occasionally hummed past. I closed my eyes.

“Good morning?” called a droid outside Khem’s room. I sat up in bed, hearing the droid knock. Khem made no move to answer it, although I knew that he was awake. Grumpily, I stood up and made my way through his room to answer it myself. 

“Good morning, my lady,” said the droid, balancing large breakfast trays on one arm. “Lady Zash will be heading into the Citadel soon, and she requests that you be ready to accompany her.”

“I shall be ready,” I said, taking the food. Khem devoured his meal with the same focus that accompanied everything he did, but I took a little bit more time, savoring the new textures and flavors. I wasn’t picky--life as a slave did not allow for being particular with meals. My new clothing hadn’t been brought to me yet, so I dressed in some of the robes I’d brought from Korriban, in spite of them not really being suitable for the jungle. We were ready and waiting in the home’s entrance hallway when Lady Zash descended her stairs.

“Ah, good morning, Apprentice!” she trilled cheerily. “How did you sleep?”

“Very well, Lady Zash,” I said demurely. “Thank you. And yourself?”

“Oh, now that you’re here, my dreams are full of visions of what great things we will achieve together,” she said, clasping her hands together and staring intensely at me again. “Oh Apprentice, if only you knew the things I’m planning!” 

“That sounds rather ominous,” I blurted out, speaking before I thought better. To my great relief, she laughed.  

“Oh, you're teasing me!” she said. “You are my ticket to greatness, Apprentice, and I can’t wait to show the galaxy what you can do.” I wasn’t sure I believed her, but her words mollified me somewhat. Together we made our way back into the street, down to the train platform, and began our journey to the Citadel. It was much more crowded this time, and all the seats were claimed by other Sith. Lady Zash didn’t seem to want to have much conversation with so many around, so I clutched the sturdy strap that hung from the ceiling and watched the beings around me. Khem merely planted his feet next to me and stayed silent, watching everyone around me with a narrowed gaze. They gave him and by extension me a wide berth. I wondered how many of them recognized him as a Dashade, and I enjoyed the recognition that they gave me, the one who clearly commanded the monster. They didn’t know how I’d managed to engender his loyalty, and I certainly wasn’t going to let them know of my rather precarious position with Khem. 

“Apprentice,” said Lady Zash as we entered her office, passing the secretary who bowed without speaking. “I have work that I must finish. Go study in my sitting room until I call you. Now that you’re here, I will have Theseus arrange for your lessons to resume, and perhaps he can schedule you some time to hone your skills in one of the training rooms downstairs. You will be a great Sith Lady someday, my apprentice, a Darth, even, if I have anything to say about it, and we cannot have you disgracing yourself unnecessarily!” She smiled again at me, reaching up as if to stroke the fur on my cheek. I didn’t flinch away, but she didn’t actually touch me. “You have come so far already!”

“Thank you, my lady,” I said. “I will not let you down.”

And so began my time on Dromund Kaas. My etiquette and elocution lessons became in-person instruction, now that I was on Dromund Kaas, held in a large conference room within the same block of offices that housed Lady Zash’s chambers. It was much easier than trying to learn over holocall, and I found myself wishing that instead of spending so much time on Korriban after being chosen as my master’s apprentice, I had simply been brought here to learn instead. My instructor was a tall, graceful Sith Pureblood lady who, despite her race, was not force sensitive. The daughter of a noble house on Ziost, she’d come to live with a cousin in Kaas City a few years back. She primarily worked as a tutor for Sith children, a fact that rankled me, even as I knew realistically I had less knowledge than her usual students. 

I had a tutor droid for the more basic subjects. I’d never gone to school as a slave, and except for when an older slave had taught me to read and do beginner mathematics, I’d spent my time in various forms of physical labor. I knew nothing of science or history or any number of other topics, and the droid was patient, if utterly lacking in personality. Catching up on the fundamentals took a few hours every morning.

Meditation was another facet of my days. Lady Zash had been insistent that learning to meditate would strengthen my connection to the force, and so every day after lunch, I would settle myself in her sitting room, breathe deeply, and try to focus my mind and summon forth the emotions that would best draw the Dark Side into my heart. I had studied a holocron while on Korriban that had described the art of meditation, but it didn’t seem to be working for me. The one time I’d fallen asleep, Khem had taken great joy in waking me by snarling an inch from my face. I’d nearly wet myself in terror, and for two days afterwards he’d smiled every time he looked at me.

Every day in the late afternoon I went to the training halls to practice my saber forms alone and against training droids. Located deep underneath the Citadel near the Cafeteria were dozens of rooms both large and small, suitable for saber training and even for minor alchemy. The nicest had environmental controls, able to transform into rough approximations of various planets within the galaxy. I never used those. I was always scheduled for a small, single-occupancy room equipped with basic training droids. There I would stay, trying desperately to marginally improve until Lady Zash commed me to say that she was about to leave. Then I would head upstairs to meet her and we would travel back to her home together.  

My time as a slave had taught me to work hard and endure hardship, very useful skills. I was keeping very busy; still, it was not how I imagined training as a Sith Apprentice would go. Khem was getting stir-crazy again. He desperately wanted to go out and test himself against the beasts in the jungle, but with the clear threat against my life that Skotia presented, he didn’t dare leave my side for fear of breaking his vow to protect me; he didn’t dare take me with him for the same reason. So we trekked from the Citadel to Zash’s house and back again, over and over, day after day. Lady Zash assured me that her plans against Skotia were progressing quickly, but she completely refused to share anything with me until they came close to fruition, saying that they were better kept secret until the time was right, whatever that meant. So I, too, chaffed a bit against the strict restrictions. 

And thus almost four weeks passed.

Chapter Text

I had just finished eating lunch.  Khem and I would head down to the cafeteria and bring our food back to Lady Zash’s sitting room, which had turned into my de facto space during the day. I was beginning my meditation, sinking into the Dark Side more readily than I had in previous days, when I felt the echo of something strange through the Force.  It was something, large, colossal even, and it heralded an awful, unexplained doom.  Never had I sensed anything vaguely like a vision or an omen before, and I was struck by how foreign I felt.  I delved deeper, trying to discern what exactly I was experiencing, and my mind exploded.  

Pain, the most fiery, indescribable agony overhelmed me.  I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t even see properly.  I was overwhelmed by flashes of light and the roar of explosions and screaming sentients. For what seemed like infinity I spun through space, too battered to even realize what was going on.  The wave of shrieking Dark Side energy passed by, and I slowly realized that Khem Val had my shoulder in one large claw, shaking me roughly.

“SITH!” he snarled again.  I realized that he’d been calling me for a while. His massive broadsword was drawn and every muscle of his body was tense and ready.  I had thankfully been seated on the floor when meditating, so my body hadn’t fallen far. Seeing me coming to myself, he lifted me to a sitting position.  

“What enemy do we face?” he growled.  I shoved his concern away, clutching my head in my hands as lesser waves of terror and death struck again. This time I didn’t lose myself.  Something terrible had happened.

“Apprentice?” shouted Lady Zash, bursting in.  Khem snarled, blade flicking up to block her path.  She froze, her face pale and furious. “Back, monster!” she ordered. 

“Khem,” I waved him away weakly with one hand.  “Lady Zash, what’s happening?” My voice broke in panic.

“Something’s happened,” she said, stepping forward as my Dashade servant backed away.  “She’s not being attacked, Beast, she’s sensing what every Sith in this sector is sensing!”  The Dark Side was screaming around us now, a chaotic whirlwind as the panic and fear in the Citadel grew.  An alarm began blaring throughout the building, exacerbating the roaring headache that I was rapidly developing. It wailed on and on.  Over the cacophony, a voice came through the intercom system.

“This is General Vaughnta, Commander of the Red Guard and head of the Citadel’s Security.  By order of Darth Marr and the Dark Council, the Citadel is on lockdown until further notice. Shelter in place.”  Lady Zash, Khem, and I ran out into her antechamber, where Theseus was on his feet, confusion all over his face. 

“What does this mean, my lady?” he asked.  Lady Zash stood before the door, but it wouldn’t open.  She waved her hand sharply in front of the sensor, but it remained sealed.  She glanced out the large glass windows to the side of her door towards the hallways and the lobby beyond.  I wasn’t sure what she was looking at, but a moment later, she hissed and turned away.  

“They’ve locked us in,” she said.  “They sealed the blast doors and the lifts are offline.”  I looked past her to realize she was right.  “Whatever happened, we must stay here until they come to let us out.”

“Do you know what happened, my Lady Zash?” he asked.

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” she said, her face tight with fear and frustration even as she tried to smile in her usual carefree way.  “But I’m certain we’ll know soon.”

She retreated to her office to meditate.  I remained with Khem and Theseus in the antechamber, trying not to panic and waiting and watching for anything to change.  It was only a few minutes later that the lifts powered back on.  Soon after that, a squad of red guards with riot shields and force pikes came storming out of the elevator, quickly and systematically clearing the entire floor.  Two random bureaucrats had been caught outside of their offices when the lockdown had taken effect, and they were escorted to an empty conference room and sealed away inside.  I was grateful that I’d been in Zash’s chambers; at least we had a refresher!

Almost an hour later Theseus started jerkily as his desk suddenly powered back on, it having been cut off when the incident began.  His comm lit up again, as did his holoconsole. He’d been quietly sitting at his desk, doodling on his holopad, so he quickly set his belongings aside in a drawer and began to access his terminal. I watched him work in silence for a minute until he pursed his lips.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Only the internal network is up,” he said.  “We’re completely blocked out from the outside world, my lady.  They’ve enabled communications but that’s about it.  Everything else is locked.”

“Why would they do that?” I asked.

“Maybe they don’t want word of whatever happened getting out right away, my lady,” he suggested.

“I’m sure people already know,” I said, thinking of how the impact of whatever had happened had echoed through the Force like an explosion.  “At least, the Sith know something happened.”

“Of course, my lady, I didn’t presume to suggest otherwise,” Theseus hastily added.  “They must just be bringing the systems online one thing at a time.” 

But although we had a greater connection, we still didn’t get any updates for ages. It was an odd juxtaposition of fear and boredom. Eventually I went back to my studies for something to do,  trying to ignore the incessant whine of the warning siren. The chime of the holo broke me out of my concentration.

“This is the office of Lady Zash,” said Theseus. 

“This is office of Darth Skotia,” said a woman.  “Darth Skotia commands her to speak with him immediately.”

“I shall connect you at once,” he said.  “Please hold a moment.”  He pressed a button on his desk.  “Lady Zash? Darth Skotia commands you to speak with him immediately.”

“Put him through,” came the reply.  We all waited anxiously for the conversation to finish, hoping for more information, and we were not disappointed. The desk chimed again. “Theseus, Apprentice, come in here please.”

“Well,” she said, as we came in, Khem following close behind even though he hadn’t expressly been invited.  She was much more in control of herself, now, and she smiled normally at us.  “I just finished speaking with Darth Skotia.  Apparently there was an attack on an Imperial Dreadnought called the Dominator, right above Dromund Kaas!  A member of the Dark Council, Darth Jadus, the head of the Sphere of Intelligence, was aboard and is presumed dead.  At this point, a terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the attack and made additional threats against the Sith and against the Empire.  The Dark Council has already left the planet, and they’ve given strict orders for the Darths to disperse to various locations around the galaxy.  Only Darth Marr and his direct subordinates will remain to maintain order.”

“What does that mean for us?” I asked.

“Skotia is heading to Korriban to oversee the selection of a few new apprentices, thanks to you,” she said gleefully.  I didn’t correct her that it was entirely thanks to Khem, although we all knew the truth.  “He’ll be off planet for quite some time, and this may be the opportunity we’ve been waiting for.  He’s practically untouchable here on Dromund Kaas, but perhaps we can act while he’s vulnerable.”  She clapped her hands together briskly.

“We, however, are going to be faced with substantial scrutiny,” she said.  “Kaas City is entirely in lockdown with the highest security threat conditions.  Only essential personnel will be allowed into the Citadel; the rest of us will be restricted to our homes and the residential districts where we live. As a Sith Lady, of course, I’m sure that there are ways to work around those restrictions, but we shall have to see to that later. Imperial Intelligence is taking the lead on the investigation into all things relating to the terrorist attack, and they have been given additional authority.  You must not provoke them, Sith apprentice or no, is that clear?”

“Yes, Lady Zash,” I agreed.

“Skotia says that once the Darths are gone, the red guard will start evacuating us.  It’s going to take some time,” she said.  “We’re just going to have to wait.”

So wait we did.  A few minutes later, the warning sirens cut off abruptly, and the building PA came alive again.  “This is General Vaughnta, Commander of the Red Guard and head of the Citadel’s Security.  By order of Darth Marr and the Dark Council, the Citadel lockdown has been lifted. Continue to shelter in place until Imperial Intelligence comes to direct you.”  Slowly, I began to observe personnel hurrying around, staffers and droids and secretaries, all escorted by dozens of guards and imperial intelligence officers.  It was well into the evening before a group of soldiers led by Imperial Intelligence came to unseal our door.  

“Damn Skotia!” Lady Zash had ranted, once she realized that we were being repeatedly passed by in favor of evacuating and assisting other Sith and bureaucrats.  “I’m sure this is his doing.”  It probably was, but there was nothing we could do about it.  She seethed, pacing from one end of her chambers to the other, and I kept well out of her way until the door hissed open and the Imperial Intelligence Officer leading his soldiers bowed. 

“My Lady, you are one of the Sith who have been chosen to vacate the Citadel and work remotely,” he said.  

“I am aware,” she said haughtily.  

“The trains have been suspended, but a personal transport has been arranged for your return to your home,” he said politely.  “It will meet you in private hangar C on floor 31.  Do you require an escort, Lady Zash?”

“No, my apprentice and I can manage,” she said.  “Theseus, I will contact you when I require your services.  Until then, you are dismissed.”

“Yes, Lady Zash,” the secretary said with a bow.  We swept off to the lifts while the Imperial Officer waited to give him his own instructions.

We had gathered together a few of Lady Zash’s belongings. I carried most of them.  I resented being reduced to grunt labor, but the sight of other apprentices doing similar tasks appeased me somewhat. Khem loomed threateningly behind us as we passed by the guards who stood at every lift entrance, their mobile scanners blinking over us, checking for something or other.  We came out to the private hangar, where a few other Sith Lords and apprentices waited with their own bags in hand.  Another speeder pulled up.

“Lord Iuyeb?” said the Imperial Officer, checking his datapad.  One of the waiting Sith Lords stepped forward and boarded.  Lady Zash signaled for me to stay back as she walked over to another Sith Lady and struck up a quiet conversation. From the way they were gesturing as they talked, I assumed they were friends. I wondered absently if I would ever make friends like that.  There had been other slaves that I had been friendly with, fond of, even, but after the death of my mother, I hadn’t allowed myself to truly become close to anyone.  Now, as a Sith, the idea of trusting anyone but myself made my stomach churn.  They would betray me for any reason, including boredom. 

“Lady Zash?” called the Imperial Officer.  The three of us climbed into the speeder, tired and hungry after a long day.  Instead of taking the normal precharted flight routes, the pilot took off and headed directly for Lady Zash’s home.  I assumed he had special dispensation to fly however he wanted, since the situation was so unusual.  We zipped across the empty sky. As I peered down, I could see that the gates between the various districts were all closed.  Soldiers patrolled the districts in various armored vehicles. By now, almost 8 hours after the attack, the city’s lockdown was fully in place.  It was eerie.  Above us, the night sky was getting very dark.  The stars were bright, and several massive capital starships were visible from their position high above the city. 

Our pilot landed smoothly on the street in front of Lady Zash’s house.  “Thank you,” she said.  

“It’s an honor to serve the Sith,” said the man, straightening his Imperial Navy Uniform. He bowed in his seat and waited for us to enter our dwelling before zipping back the way he’d come.  

“Well, apprentice,” said Lady Zash as the service droids came forward to attend to our needs.  “We won’t need to get up early tomorrow any more, and in light of all that’s happened, I think that getting a bit of extra rest would do both of us some good.  Continue your studies, and I shall send for you when I have a better grasp of the situation at hand.”  She nodded firmly, meeting my gaze.  “We are going to turn this to our advantage, you’ll see.”  We were dismissed, so Khem and I walked back to our rooms.  Behind me I could hear Lady Zash talking with the droids, instructing them on the changed situation.  

Once I had eaten and was finally alone in my room, I sat down in my bed and pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face in my arms. My jaw hurt from clenching it all day.  The terror and fear and fury from the explosion had broadly dissipated, but all day the Dark Side of the Force had poked into my mind like the prickles of a thorn bush on Korriban.  So many Sith had been dealing with the repercussions of the attack that the Force was aggressive, sharp, painful to grasp and hold, so full was it of the emotions around me.  Now that we were far away from the Citadel, the Dark Side was less wild and less potent, and I felt a little less afraid of delving into it. 

The Force was a whirling storm around me.  There was a shadow of menace that loomed over everything, but I didn’t know how to interpret what I could sense from it. I’d spent the day first afraid of an unknown threat and then afraid of an unknown group capable of infiltrating and destroying the Flagship of a Dark Council member, the Dark Council member in charge of Imperial Intelligence, no less!  As I sat there, I tried very hard to turn my fear into anger, to rage at the audacity of someone thinking they could stand against the Sith, to seethe that I would be confined to these small quarters for the indeterminate future because of the attack.  I told myself that I was furious, not frightened. 

It was a lie. I knew it was a lie.  I hated that it was a lie. But lie I did, again and again and again, until sleep took me.

Chapter Text

The Lockdown of Dromund Kaas broadly and Kaas City specifically showed no signs of stopping after a week. The entire city was under strict orders to stay indoors and prohibited from all travel. Only a few elite Sith had freedom to leave their homes; the rest of the Sith Lords could apply for specific exceptions, but only for official business. Imperial Intelligence and the Red Guard were everywhere. Patrols of soldiers and droids marched through every district, including the Sith Residential district, with extensive checkpoints at each gate and chokepoint. Droids were still allowed to run errands for their masters, so nobody starved to death, but automated scanner droids hovered all through the streets, verifying each delivery and checking for explosives and other threats. 

My regular lessons had gone back to being done virtually by holo. I often felt like a child, doing beginner-level schooling as I was. The droid providing my instruction was the most basic model, lacking any personality or real conversational ability at all. It merely taught, correcting me as needed, eternally patient. With Khem getting stir crazy and my master sequestered in her rooms, doing whatever it was she was doing, I felt incredibly isolated, equal parts resentful and angry.

Lady Zash’s home had a private rooftop garden which was separated from her neighbor by a wall. From there, I could look down into the streets in our district and into the neighborhood adjacent to us. With my master’s permission, I went there to escape from my room and Khem Val’s oppressive sulking. It was often stiflingly humid from the planet’s almost incessant rain, but it was still a chance to breathe fresh air, even if it was unbearably wet.

The only room large enough to practice with my lightsaber was the dining room. Lady Zash had graciously ordered me a set of training remotes, so I spent hours in there with my lightsaber on its lowest setting so as not to seriously damage her home, trying to anticipate through the force the movement of the orb hovering in front of me and doing my best to block each blast as it sizzled through the air. I was terrible at it. Most of them slipped through my guard, but I kept at it. Nothing had stopped me thus far in my journey to become Sith, and basic saber mastery was a necessity. My force shield got a lot of practice; I grew adept at summoning the dark side around me, dispelling the energy of each weak training bolt that tried to sting my skin. Sometimes I was more successful than others. 

Nineteen days into the lockdown, I awoke in the middle of the night to pounding on the antechamber door. “Apprentice?” called Lady Zash. I hopped quickly out of bed, pulling my tunic on over the thin nightgown I wore and scrambling to tighten the belt as I ran to the door, passing Khem sitting sullenly on his bed. I opened the door and she swept into the room, sitting down in the only chair available.  

“Apprentice,” she said, flicking up the lights casually with the force as she spoke. I blinked in the sudden brightness. “I’ve got good news! The most perfect opportunity has arisen, and it’s time for you to make our first overt move against Skotia.” That got my full attention. I stood before my master, hands clasped behind me, since there was no chair for me and I was not about to crouch or kneel on the floor like a slave. 

“An alert just came in,” she began. “There’s an outpost in the jungles of Dromund Kaas a couple hundred kilometers from the city. A soldier named Commander Rilan was in charge of field testing new technology, but instead of driving the beasts away, it’s driving them mad.” The woman clapped her hands with delight. “They’ve lost two squads of men already, and they need help. This sort of thing would normally be taken care of by the army, but with all the extra soldiers on duty right now because of the lockdowns, they’ve opened it up to any Sith or Sith apprentices who want to assist with the trouble. I’ve already volunteered you, and a speeder will be coming to pick you up shortly to take you and the Dashade out to handle things there.”

“But what does this have to do with Skotia?” I asked, when her pause continued long. 

“Ah, but Apprentice,” she said smugly, “this is just a cover story, an excuse to get you out of Kaas City and out into that region of Dromund Kaas. You see, I’ve had Skotia and his apprentices under surveillance for months now. When he was ordered off planet, he sent his last remaining apprentice on a secret journey out to a communications post very near where I will be sending you. That apprentice carried a very special package out with him, but when he returned, it was nowhere to be found.”

“You’ve already seen that Skotia has those two Trandoshan bodyguards with him everywhere he goes,” she explained. “He keeps them under control by possessing a rare artifact that is apparently sacred to their people. I’ve known for a while that he doesn’t keep it in his estate outside Kaas City, and now I believe that I’ve finally identified the location of his secret vault.” She chuckled to herself, tapping her fingers together in satisfaction. “I’m sending you to break into the vault and steal that artifact, so that when the time comes, his bodyguards will turn on him.

“So go pack!” she said to me. “I’ve already sent word for some equipment to be prepared for you at the outpost when you arrive, but you may need a few changes of clothes and boots. The jungles can be pretty filthy.” She waved her hands at me, and I headed back into my room as she instructed.

“So I’ve noticed,” I replied, digging through my wardrobe.

“Normally I wouldn’t risk you in this way,” said Lady Zash, who had followed me in and now paced in the walkway between the refresher and Khem’s room. She was full of excited, nervous energy. “I have several trusted agents to whom I would assign this sort of covert operation. However, with the lockdowns in place, only the Sith can move with any degree of autonomy. And you have your monster for protection!” She beamed at me. I tried not to grimace as I imagined the expression Khem was surely wearing as he heard her words. “I have full confidence that with his assistance, you will be able to safely complete this task for Commander Rilen and locate the secret vault.”

I threw clothes into my large satchel along with my datapad. When I stepped into the refresher to gather the brushes and other tools Lady Zash had bought me, I took that opportunity to quickly strip off my nightgown and fully robe myself. The tabards I chose were heavier, made of something a bit more durable than mere cloth, matching the bracers and greaves that I’d found beneficial on the Korriban deserts. Lightsaber, comm, and other tools hung on my belt. One of my new, waterproof cloaks completed my ensemble, and Lady Zash nodded approvingly when I reemerged. 

“Make sure that you try to be discreet,” she told me as we walked through the house. Khem followed, carrying nothing but a small bag of tools to clean his great sword. “Skotia cannot know what we have done. He can suspect all he wants, but he cannot have your involvement confirmed. He has enough enemies that the uncertainty will force him to spread his defenses thin.” 

“Yes, Lady Zash,” I said obediently.  

“Make sure that you and the Dashade complete Commander Rilen’s task as well,” she added. “You must not arouse suspicions that you are there for any other purpose. And be careful, apprentice.” She paused at the doorway of her home. Outside, the covered speeder waited for me and Khem. “The jungles of Dromund Kaas are dangerous, and while the communications array won’t have very many security forces, I don’t know what additional protections Skotia might have secreted away there. You have too great a destiny to be defeated at this time, and if there were any other way, I wouldn’t risk your safety at all. Not with the great power we shall forge together!”

“I know, Lady Zash,” I said, feeling the uncomfortable urge to reassure her. “But power is wasted if you don’t use it, and I’m not squeamish.” She barked a surprised laugh. “Once I put my mind to something, nothing in the galaxy can stop me.”

“I do believe that, Apprentice,” she said, pride coloring her voice. “Take care and return soon. I can’t wait to make our next move on Skotia.” 

Khem and I sped through the darkness. Rain splattered down upon our speeder. The pilot had long since turned control over to the autopilot, and so we flew along the preprogrammed speeder paths, banking and twisting to follow the curve of the land. It was a good three hours journey, so I slept most of the way. We arrived at our destination only just before dawn. 

Khem and I stiffly disembarked. The “outpost” was a tiny portion of the jungle where the trees and overgrowth had been cleared away. Duracrete covered the ground, and tall walls surrounded the entire encampment, which in spite of the permanence of the walls, was primarily made up canvas tents or plain box-like buildings with thin metal walls and roofs vaguely reminiscent of cargo containers. A perimeter had been created by burning a section of the ground outside the wall several meters in each direction, which I suspected that they had to do so often. Wardroids stood guard at the only entrance, and a manned guard tower was fairly centrally located in the small compound. Big bright floodlights illuminated stood tall above the compound, and above that, rotating dishes broadcast a combination ultrasonic and infrasonic sound that typically kept large beasts away. I recognized them from Korriban. Humans couldn’t hear either frequency, but as a Cathar, I had better hearing and as such could make out some of the higher frequencies quite easily. I gritted my teeth and prepared to bear the headache that was already forming. 

“My Lady?” My arrival had not been unnoticed; a soldier approached me as I tried to stretch out my muscles. “I am Commander Rilen. Thank you for responding to my call for aid so quickly.”

“What seems to be the problem?” I asked. “My master gave me a brief description of your troubles, but I’d like a few more details.”

“Of course, my lady, right this way,” he said with a curt bow. We went into a small tent whose flaps had been pinned open in an effort to mitigate the stifling wet heat of the jungle and the dry heat of several large holoprojectors all running at once inside. I saw several maps and displays of what appeared to be the jungle around us. Technicians standing at other consoles seemed to be monitoring communications and further displays that were full of incomprehensible technical readouts.

“Our mission to this outpost was to test a new type of sonic field generator, one with a substantially larger range than the typical model,” he explained respectfully. He gestured to a large map, bringing it up on the central display so that I could see it clearer. “This region was known for having very large beasts, so we installed six prototype sonic beacons in the jungle. They’d been online for two days when the Dominator was destroyed. Since then, we’ve observed that while the beasts are certainly affected by the signals, instead of being driven away, they are driven into a fury instead.” He cleared his throat. “They’ve become much more aggressive, and problematically, the effect doesn’t seem to subside when they leave the area. We’ve had packs of Vine Cats even trying to attack speeders, and I myself have lost two full squads trying to put down the monsters. Yesterday, an affected gundark attacked the estate of a prominent official, and that was the incident that allowed me to ask for Sith assistance.” He bowed again to me. Even though it had been months since I’d been elevated to Sith, it was still odd to see this important man defer to me.

“We’ve managed to deactivate three of the generators, but three remain, and every second that they’re active they’re driving even more beasts insane,” he said. “It’s imperative that they be taken offline as soon as possible. The beasts in the area will go out of their way to attack you, so you will need to exercise extreme caution.”

“Lady Zash said you would provide supplies for me,” I drawled, watching as the map data was downloaded onto my datapad.

“Yes, my lady,” he said. He turned to one of his subordinates. “Fetch me the equipment that was prepared for the lady Sith.” The man saluted and hurried off. “We’ve got some camping gear for you, in case you’re out in the jungle for a few days. We didn’t realize your companion was so large, though,” he said, eyeing Khem Val with curiosity. I smiled, enjoying the respect that was afforded me as master of such a large and menacing being. “I’m certain that we will be able to accommodate him though,” Commander Rilen continued after a moment. “I’ll see to it that you receive extra rations and a larger bedroll before you depart.

“Now,” he continued. “My lady, forgive me for asking, but have you ever handled explosives before?” 

“That’s not the usual weapon of a Sith,” I said wryly.

“Oh no, of course not, my lady!” He quickly reassured me. “We have prepared explosive charges to help bring down the sonic beacons, but they are very stable and have multiple safety measures to prevent premature detonation. May I demonstrate their use?”

“Proceed,” I said, enjoying his servility. 

“Pay attention, little Sith,” growled Khem in his ancient Catharese. “I do not want to die because of a careless child.”

“Worry about yourself,” I sniped back. “I don’t want to die because you’ve grown weak and soft.” He snarled at me, baring his fangs, and everyone else jumped in surprise and fear. I felt the hair on my neck prickle, but I stood my ground, and he pursed his lips and said nothing else. 

“Proceed, Captain,” I said again. Commander Rilen cleared his throat awkwardly and gestured to the technician waiting near the door. The woman came forward carrying a box the size of my foot with a small display on the side.

“My lady,” he said, turning it in his hands so that I could see it more clearly. “This is one of the changes we’ve prepared for you. It should be completely inert, but I would recommend avoiding dropping it or banging it against things, just to be safe. In order to arm the device, you must first place it in the position you want it, either magnetically attached to the sonic generator, or merely placed at the base of the machine. Then, you press and hold both the red and the green buttons at the same time.” He demonstrated this for me.  

“On the display, it will ask you if you want a 30 second timer, a 5 minute timer, or a 20 minute timer,” he continued. “Once you’ve made your selection,” Commander Rilen pressed the button and 3 minutes became highlighted, “it will ask you if you would like to arm the device. Press Yes.” He again showed me, and I felt my nerves rising at my proximity to the bomb. 

“Now, at this point, it is still not armed,” said Commander Rilen. “It will ask you to confirm your choice. Then, and only then, is the device armed. The countdown will begin on the display, and you need to get at least 20 meters away before it goes off. Safer to be further, of course, just in case. To disarm or cancel the device, simply press the red button at any time and it will immediately become inert once more.” He canceled the bomb activation, and I could smell the relief pouring off of the other technicians in the tent. They were no more happy about this training than I was. “Would you care to try it, my Lady?”

“No, thank you,” I said, a touch too quickly. “Your instructions have been quite sufficient.” More relief stank up the room. 

“Then I shall make sure the final preparations have been made for your departure,” Commander Rilen said. “Is there anything else you will require?”

“No, thank you Captain.”

“You have our comm frequency if you decide otherwise,” he said respectfully. “We greatly appreciate your assistance in this matter.”

Khem and I waited in the dawn light. We couldn’t see the sun yet, because the jungle trees around us were far too tall, but the sky had grown light and the growling howls and deep, gravely scraping sounds of the fauna had given way to higher pitched chirps and sometimes almost songlike whistles. Around us, additional technicians and soldiers were emerging from tents. I could smell food being prepared somewhere, and it made my stomach growl.

“Here you are, my lady,” said the Commander, returning with two ensigns bearing two small packs. “This should be everything you need. I’ve included rations for four days, as instructed, although I certainly hope that it won’t take so much of your valuable time!”

“We will be ensuring that every maddened beast is taken care of,” I said smoothly. “It may take a few days to track them through the force.”

“Of course, my lady. Anything else before you depart?” He was clearly very eager for me to leave.

“Breakfast,” I said, licking my lips.  

Chapter Text

All around me Dromund Kaas teemed with life.  Bugs were everywhere.  Through the force, I could sense little specks of life crawling up the trees, hiding in the leaves of bushes, crawling through the deep green growth all over the ground, even digging through the mud beneath my feet.  When I closed my eyes to focus more fully on the energy around me, it was almost blindingly bright.  Everything shone in my mind, from the massive trees around that were often part of larger root networks, extending miles underground, to the small feathered rodents chittering in the trees above me.  The great spreading canopies above provided decent shelter from the sun and wind, but I suspected that they would not shield me much from the rains, should the weather return to its usual dour state.

Khem and I strode quietly through the jungle, our packs slung over our shoulders. It was my first time actually traversing the environment of the Sith Capital, and I didn’t like it.  My boots were covered in thick sludge made from the dirt that had mixed with the water that was everywhere on this planet. It was dark and slimy and stunk of decay.  The brown trunks of trees were covered in a thick, green coating of some plant that was almost soft to my touch.  And although our passage caused the bugs in our near vicinity to grow quiet, the distant shrieking of their fellows was almost overwhelming.  Certainly it hid the lesser noises around us.  I felt constantly on edge, hyper aware of how cacophonous the forest was to my ears and through the force.  

 Khem was alert, but he didn’t seem to expect a sudden attack. I certainly didn’t feel any imminent threats through the force. The forest almost seemed peaceful, and in spite of the deep dark force energy that enveloped the planet by dint of the sheer number of Sith and artifacts and tombs here, the force felt living and vibrant and energetic.  Engrossed in my walking meditation, I stepped right into a puddle that turned out to be much deeper than it first appeared.  My boot went entirely into the water up to my knee, and I stumbled, the weight of my pack overbalancing me and preventing me from catching myself.  My hands and claws plunged into the dirty ground, and it took me several tries to rip my foot free from the muck at the bottom of the hole. The Dashade scoffed, making no move to help me.

“You are a foolish child,” he said, lip curled in disgust.  “Your inattention makes you weak!  You will fall prey to the beasts in the forest and I will be deprived of my vengeance.”

“Careful, Khem, I might start to think you care about me,” I retorted, swiping my filthy hands on my robes.

“I will feast on your bones!” he growled. 

“Yawn,” I retorted, rechecking my datapad.  We were still on track to reaching the first prototype generator within a couple of hours, and I was eager to deal with this task and get on with my secret mission.  In spite of the worry of Lady Zash and the caution of Commander Rilen, I wasn’t really too concerned about killing these frenzied jungle beasts.  I knew that for Khem, the only thing more shameful than being honorbound to a weak apprentice would be allowing said weak apprentice to die while under his protection. He stomped on and I scrambled to keep up, narrowly missing a second hole. 

“How much has Dromund Kaas changed since you were here last?” I asked finally, after another hour had passed. Khem had deliberately set a fast pace, and I was having difficulty keeping up, slipping and sliding around on the wet ground as I was. I knew that talking about the past was one of the few activities that he actually enjoyed doing, and I hoped that he would slow down to explain.  He eyed me suspiciously, but I didn’t let my unease show on my face.

“The city is changed,” he huffed eventually, stretching his arms to the sky and rolling out his shoulders. “Before, the powerful built great, grand estates there and around them sprang up the hovels of slaves and servants.  Now the whole city is dead, flat, gray, like a hospital. Everything looks the same.  There is no beauty.  There are also no slums.  When my Lord Tulak Hord ruled, the city was a monument to the power of the sith.  Now it is a monument to the sniveling bureaucracy that thinks it runs the Empire.”  He used a word that invoked the mewling of an infant in Catharese, and I smiled at the image. 

“I wish I could have seen it,” I said sincerely.

“There are surely images preserved,” he said, although I wasn’t so sure.  It had been a long time since Tulak Hord walked Dromund Kaas.  He slowed his pace a little, and I stepped up beside him.

“And how has the jungle changed?” I asked.

“It has not,” he said.  “The mountains and rivers have altered but little, and the trees and plants are much the same as during the time of my Lord. I long to test myself against the beasts of forests.  I spent many nights hunting the great creatures that roamed beneath the sky.”

“What is the best way to kill a Yozusk?” I asked.  I’d studied the different predators of Dromund Kaas during our speeder right out, but I was curious to see if his response would differ from the official advice in my bestiary. 

“They are fast,” he warned.  “They cannot see well, but they follow their sense of smell and they can sense the vibrations of your movement through their long front legs.  They have a large frill of bone that protects them like a shield.  But when they raise it against you, they are vulnerable underneath and behind it. If you are quick, you can duck below or around and strike where the flesh is soft, without armor.”

“How do they fare against lightning?” I asked.

“You must learn to fight in other ways,” he warned me. “The beasts of the jungle may not fall to such attacks.  You will need to learn the common attacks of the enemies you will face so as to be prepared to counter them beyond your flashy tricks.”

He was right, of course.  At a distance, I was proficient enough with lightning to be able to hold off many enemies, but if they surprised me and managed to get close enough to strike, I was vulnerable.  I pondered the different ways I might be able to take on the beasts of the jungle as we trekked deeper into the forest.

We encountered our first affected creature shortly before noon.  It was a medium sized beast, four-legged, about as tall as my knee and rather fast.  It came careening out of the trees, jaws open wide to take a bite of us, and I readied lightning as Khem took three quick steps in front of me and with one powerful blow, cleaved it entirely in half with a sickening squelching sound.  It screamed, a desperate howl that petered off rather quickly as it stopped jerking, blood welling from its middle.

“You must prepare,” Khem warned me again.  I shrugged under my pack again, feeling it rub awkwardly against the fur on my shoulders.  It had been many months since I’d carried a burden on my back, and I wasn’t used to the feeling anymore.  I could tell that my skin and fur were chafing, but the only person around to hear my complaints was the Dashade, and so I didn’t bother. I knew he was carrying much more weight than I was.  I focused on the feeling, letting the minor pain grow in my heart and pulling the force more closely around me as we continued on our journey.

“We are coming up on the first sensor,” announced Khem eventually.  He’d taken over navigating about an hour in when I hadn’t been sure the best way to get around a small hill.  I nodded.

“I can hear it,” I said, trying to ignore the way my fur wanted to stand on end. The sound was barely at the edge of my hearing range, and it itched and twitched in my neck.

“Be on your guard,” he said.  I drew my lightsaber and shed my pack, holding it loosely in my off hand.  I was ready to drop it and fry any creature that attacked us. We walked forward slowly, preparing to encounter any enemies.  I reached out with the force, looking for any unusually large sparks of light within the brightness of the jungle surrounding us.  

“There,” I whispered, indicating the direction that rang in my senses.  “Something large that way.”

“Has it spotted us?” rumbled Khem in reply, angling himself to face the threat better.

“Not yet, I think,” I said.  “It’s staying put for now.”  I could see the edge of the clearing finally, a blackened area where the Imperial military had demoed trees and burned the flora to create large enough space for the engineering transport ships to land and deploy the prototype sonic generators. We strode through the tall grass until we reached the barren area and could move more freely.  My chest felt tight, standing this close to the tall durasteel pillar that housed the technology designed to drive away jungle predators. Even though it didn’t hurt me, it was uncomfortably present in my body, a bone-thrumming vibration that seemed to be perpetually getting higher and higher but never disappearing from my hearing. It was disorienting. 

I pulled out the explosive to place it at the base of the small tower, but as I was getting ready to arm the device, a thought occurred to me.  I stepped back to give it clearance, just in case, and drew on the force.  Lightning arced across the sky, hot and difficult to see clearly in the bright sunlight of the day.  It hit the top of the tower with a very loud crack, but the spinning transmitter dishes didn’t skip a beat.  The energy was easily channeled down the tower into the ground along one of several obvious grounding paths that had been installed to defend against Dromund Kaas’ many thunderstorms.  

“The beasts will have heard that!” Khem growled, and sure enough, the large creature was bounding towards us when I reached out with the force to check his position.  I took another second to see if there were any other creatures coming at us, but there wasn’t anything else nearby and I didn’t want to spend the time to search farther away.  I grabbed the dishes at the top of the tower with the force and pulled with all my might.  The engine that drove the rotating dish strained and clicked as I kept it from moving.  I wasn’t being dragged, although it almost felt like the effort I was putting forth should’ve made me skid along the ground.  The motor groaned loudly as the dish creaked forward a quarter revolution; I dug my claws into my palms and the pain fed my grasp on the Dark Side.  It swelled around me, biting and cold and quite the contrast to the warmth of the cheerful sun. I forced the dish to grind to a halt and then begin to inch in reverse as the metal began to make an awful screeching noise that almost paralleled the high-pitched whine that was still being emitted from the tower.   Smoke rose from groove where the dish attached to the piller, and I felt something break.  The dish sagged, dangling almost free, so I yanked hard one last time with the force and grinned with satisfaction as it flew across the clearing to crash into the ground.  The incessant drone of the sonic emitter vanished. 

“Prepare, Sith!” snarled Khem as a large creature burst from the trees.  It was running on all fours, but as it saw us, it lurched upright so that it could attack us with its powerful, clawed forearms. Standing, it was much taller than both of us, almost twice Khem’s height and close to triple mine.  It was covered by thick, rough scales in a greenish brown that blended in nicely with the bark of the mossy trees. Large ridges of bone framed its head and face, giving the illusion that his deep set eyes were peeping out of the slit of a helmet. That was all I could see before it was on us.  

Khem stood fast, his blade ready to block the onslaught. He nimbly skipped over the first swipe as he blocked the second with his weapon. There was a loud crack, but incredibly, the claws held fast and didn’t break.  The monster screeched in his face, and the bone frill around its face flared in a move that was probably intimidating to other creatures, but Khem Val was beyond such things.  He roared right back, and his offhand flashed forward to grab one of the spikes.  He yanked forcefully, sending the beast’s face into the ground and slashing its upper back, scoring the scales there and coming away coated in brownish blood. It jerked free and stepped back a pace to gather itself, and I finally recognized it as a jurgoran.  I didn’t expect it to retreat, for the books suggested that as the apex predator of Dromund Kaas it was vicious and unrelenting.  It was merely seeking another opening to attack again.  Khem didn’t give him the chance.  

He stepped forward, using his vibroblade again to block the slashing attack that the jurgoran tried to implement with its massive fangs.  Close as he was, the beast couldn’t effectively swing its arms, nor could it kick him with the large barbed spurs on its feet. It backed up again and Khem stabbed upwards, into the joint beneath one large arm.  His blade slid deeply into the flesh, emerging on the other side of the joint.  The shriek of the monster drowned out the sound of its arm slicing free and dropping to the ground. The other arm came whipping around, not at an angle to claw him, but enough to almost send him sprawling.  Ever the warrior, he rolled to his feet having never lost hold of his weapon and lunged for the monster’s back as it turned its glowing eyes on me. 

I’d stayed well clear until then, but I used the force to wrap around the creature and push, slowing it as it tried to lunge forward at me.  Lightning came sparking to hand as I flung myself sideways out of its path.  Khem struck it again in the back of one of its large legs, targeting another joint and bringing it down as it screamed once more. It rolled, blood splattering everywhere as it threw him off. The Dashade was back on it before it could push itself up to its feet again, hobbling the second leg.  The trees echoed from its roars of pain and fury, and the silence was shocking when Khem managed to shove his blade deeply into the base of the creature’s skull at the back of its head. 

Even though I hadn’t been really afraid of it, trusting my companion to dispatch the creature, my blood was pumping and my claws were extended.  Staring at the dead beast, I wondered how long it would take me to be able to fight something that fast and that strong, what strategies I might be able to employ to protect myself.  And once Khem was gone, assuming I survived that encounter (and I certainly hoped Lady Zash had some contingency plan for that situation!), I would have to be able to defend myself. Frankly, there was no guarantee I would even make it that far.  

Lightning seemed to come as easy as breathing to me, and on Korriban, I’d seen in Lady Zash’s hands how it could instantly deal death. Perhaps that would be my path to power.  Certainly I had leaned upon it thus far to cover my shortcomings with a lightsaber.  Or perhaps some other power might be more effective, like gripping the creature with the force to slow or stop or even lift it off of its feet, giving me the opportunity to fight or flee.

“You brought it down upon us!” snarled Khem, interrupting my thoughts as he wiped his sword on the grass with one hand and dug around in one of his belt pouches for a cloth with the other. “You acted with no warning, no thought for me.”

“It would’ve heard the explosion Khem, you’re overreacting,” I said dismissively as he began to clean the jurgoran blood off of his hands before beginning on his sword.  “And we told Commander Rilen that we’d kill the beasts for him anyways.”

“Since I am the one facing the beasts, I deserve to be the one that, that...that sets the table!” he snarled, struggling to find the right words to use in the language that we both shared.  “To be the one to choose the ground.  The fight.”

“I can allow you that, but don’t forget you serve me , Khem,” I retorted.  “My will is what matters here.”

“Yes, you reckless child!” He scrubbed the last of the blood off his fingers and began to meticulously wipe away every drop in every small groove of the ancient broadsword.  “But you cannot succeed if you bring death upon us both!”

“You weren’t close to death,” I scoffed again.  “That jurgoran didn’t have a chance against you.”  He harumphed loudly, but I sensed that my flattery had appeased him somewhat. The vigor with which he cared for his weapon became less hostile and more impersonal.  Still, his words remained ever harsh and his tone didn’t change.

“You lack the strength and control to be so careless,” said Khem.  “The great Sith could act as you do because they wielded the full might of the force.  Their skills with a lightsaber were far beyond what you could ever hope to achieve! The wilds of Dromund Kaas held no fear for them .”  He sneered as he sheathed his broadsword again.  “Let’s go.”

For another hour and a half, we trekked through the woods towards the second array. Standard sonic emitters needed to be placed every 5-20 meters, depending on their power and size, but these prototypes were kilometers apart, sending out their signals far into the jungle. I could appreciate how convenient such a development would be. The range would more than make up for the added cost of construction, should they ever get the technology perfected. As it was, as I entered range and began to hear the whining once more, we still had almost a kilometer to walk. 

“There’s a group of them near the emitter,” I told Khem, reaching out with the force.  “Four of them.”

“What are they?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted.  “But they don’t seem as big as the jurgoran.”

“Stay behind me,” he commanded.  I did as he bid, trying to stay quiet as he slipped silently between the trees.  When we got near, he left me behind and crept ever so carefully towards the edge of the clearing around the emitter.  He was back a few seconds later.

“Vine cats,” he said.  “Three adults and a child. No challenge if I were alone, but protecting you adds a difficulty.”

“I can take care of myself,” I protested automatically, even though we both knew it was a lie.

“Stay back in the trees,” he grunted finally.  “They have been driven mad by the emitter.  They will see me and concentrate their attacks on me and not notice you as long as you are quiet.” 

“Just do your job and get on with it,” I hissed in a low voice. He eased his way through the bushes into the clearing, and I followed, keeping myself in the shadows behind a great tree trunk so that I could watch the fight progress.

It took me a long while to spot them. Khem was almost halfway around the clearing before they left the tree cover and sprinted at him.  They were more reptile than mammal, and their name clearly came from the feline way that vine cats moved and climbed and fought, rather than an overtly feline appearance.  They had thick, leathery skin, and the bumpy texture combined with the dappled greenish color helped them camouflage into the trees and foliage. Their heads were dominated by powerful jaws and teeth that were almost comically large.  The creatures could barely close their mouths!  They had long, thick claws and a whiplike tail that had something at the end--perhaps barbs or spines of some sort?  I wondered how much of their appearance and abilities were original to their species and how much of it had been bred into them by the ancient Sith.  It certainly seemed like an unnatural, if lethal combination.

I’d never seen vine cats fight before, and the first thing I noticed about them was their speed.  They prowled around, snarling viciously and snapping their teeth, trying to intimidate Khem. With blurring agility, they would lunge forward, biting and snapping as they twisted onto their backs to free up their front limbs to rip and claw at their enemy. Then they would roll and dash out of range before the Dashade could counterattack.

Khem had wisely backed up towards a large tree the moment the beasts had broken cover to attack him.  Now as they stalked around him, screaming their fury to the sky, they couldn’t surround him or attack his back.  Their flashing claws scraped his broadsword and once or twice his bracers as he blocked a swipe that was too fast for me to see, although I heard the shriek of claws on metal. The beasts were fighting as a pack, but it didn’t seem very cohesive to me.  The vine cats rarely attacked together, as my guidebook said they were known to do; occasionally they even seemed to get in each other’s way.  I wondered if that was the sonic emitter-induced mania showing through. The Dashade tried to parry them where he could, but it was clear that in such a situation, his strategy was to defend patiently until he got the chance to strike. 

The young cat was the first to give him that opportunity.  It was a blur at the distance I stood, but I heard the yowl of the death howl and the distinctive, meaty thud as Khem’s sword made contact with the beast’s chest.  It staggered back; my servant had struck a blow that stretched up over its shoulder and clearly severed tendons and muscles, based on how it struggled to stand.  It collapsed to the ground, and one of the other beasts, perhaps driven into more of a frenzy by the blood, turned to savage the dying creature.  Khem neatly beheaded it, and now that he was down to just two enemies, I saw him shift into a more aggressive stance.

Both remaining vine cats leaped forward, turning their bodies to face their gaping, toothy maws up towards Khem’s head and arms as they swiped simultaneously at his body with their long claws. He dodged one and blocked the other, forced back by the weight of the creature’s body.  Khem chanced one quick swing at the creature on the ground, but he didn’t have time for more than that because its friend had already recovered from overshooting its leap and was already back, howling defiance. 

Khem angled his blade to reflect the sun at one of them as he hacked at the other.  No longer using the tree at his back, he was now constantly on the move, circling the fight so that the vine cats got in each other’s way, impeding their ability to do the short charging leaps that they seemed so fond of. Whenever he got them lined up, he would attack the closest beast, and the pressure of his advance combined with the way the other vine cat blocked his victim’s retreat allowed him to get a few minor strikes in.  I made a mental note to practice that tactic in the Sith Citadel training rooms later. 

A flicker of movement caught my eye.  Khem was facing the clearing and the sonic emitter in the center, me and the forest behind him.  A fifth vine cat was racing through the trees, leaping from branch to branch effortlessly, targeting the Dashade. Khem showed no sign of hearing or recognizing the attack, and I was too far away to scream a warning in time, not with the battle cries of the creatures he was already fighting. I ran forward, one hand coming up as I dug deeply into the Dark Side around me.  The Force was full of hatred and death and danger, but it lacked the malice that usually accompanied sentient attackers, which helped me turn it towards the purpose of protecting my servant; I focused my mind and forced lightning to launch across the dozens of meters that separated us, my will entirely concentrated on striking the vine cat before it ambushed Khem.

It felt like slow motion, immersed as I was in the Force.  I watched the beast’s muscles gather and its tail lash as it launched out of a tree towards Khem’s unprotected back. The bright, purple energy erupting from my fingers arced across the sky, lighting up the ground as it crackled and burned.  Perhaps it was the sound of my lightning that warned him.  Perhaps it was some noise that the beast had made, like the scrape of its claws on the jungle wood or a battle cry.  Regardless, Khem instantly stepped to the side and half-turned, angling his body so that anything behind him was now within his field of vision.  His broadsword flicked up to meet the leaping beast just as my attack reached it. 

In all of my desperation, I had entirely focused on making sure a powerful burst of lightning reached the fifth vine cat in time.  My lightning struck the beast and concentrated there for one fraction of a moment, and then to my horror it arced uncontrollably across the space to strike Khem, who was preparing to cleave the animal in half. I felt it strike the Dashade, felt his pain and surprise through the force, even though he instantly twisted to allow his implants to disperse the electric attack as I jerked my hand away, pulling the lightning off of the vine cat and by extension, him. With all that, Khem was forced to abandon his strike and dodge clumsily instead.  The intended victim of my electricity landed in a crumpled heap, yelping pitifully and shaking violently. Khem rushed forward and killed it easily, his aggression forcing the other two beasts back. 

The fight was over a few seconds later.  The vine cats accidentally collided in their attacks on Khem, and he stabbed first one and then the other while they were tangled in each others’ claws and tails. As their death throes echoed across the clearing, I started walking towards them, reaching out with my senses to confirm that nothing else lurked in the trees, waiting to attack either of us.  I found only small jungle creatures who were hiding after the cacophony of the battle.  Now that the large predators were dead, they would start to reemerge.

Khem’s fury would’ve been obvious to the most force-blind person, but I was a Sith, so the strength of his emotions burned to my senses like a fire as I came closer and closer.  I wasn’t sure if an apology would make him more or less angry.  Probably more, I reasoned, since it was a display of weakness and humility.  On the other hand, displaying arrogance or ignoring the event all together would demonstrate false arrogance and false strength.  I chose to strike a middle ground.  “I didn’t know it could leap to multiple targets,” I said abruptly as I reached him. “I will learn to control that.”

“You are a disgrace to the name Sith,” he rumbled, so disgusted I could almost taste it. “When I feast upon you, no torture will be enough to repay the shame that is being bound to you. Were my Lord Tulak Hord to return and see me this way, I would beg for him to take my life rather than taint his glory with my unworthiness.”

“Whatever you say,” I sighed, reaching out with the force to destroy the second emitter.  There was no reasoning with him in this temper.  As the metal tower cracked and sparked and the irritating whine died away, I felt a pulse of anticipation.  One step closer to my real mission.

Chapter Text

Sundown was almost past when Khem and I reached the Communications Array, deep within the jungle.  We hadn’t encountered any more beasts since the fight with the vine cats at the second emitter; the third had stood entirely alone in its clearing, and I’d ripped the dish free with the force without incident.  Now, as we stood in the last vestiges of sunlight, seeing the first stars winking into existence above us as dark clouds gathered on the horizon, I gathered my courage.

I’d spent all day wondering how I was going to do this.  Darth Skotia’s artifact hid somewhere within this communications hub, and I had no idea how I was going to find it.  Lady Zash had provided me security footage of the item I was looking for--It was a heavy stone tablet, carved and ornately painted and gilded in some language I didn’t understand. It was going to be a challenge to carry it out, as large as it was.

“Let us in,” I commanded as soon as the communication screen on the gate lit up. “There are insane beasts out here and it looks like there’s another storm rolling in.”  The winds, which were traveling ahead of the storm, made the communications tower above us sway and groan in the gusts. 

“My lady, we are a secure facility,” the voice on the other end of the line protested.  “By order of Darth Skotia, we cannot let you in.”

“I’m not going to risk my life out here because you’re following some outdated protocol or other!” I said dismissively, feeling my pulse skyrocket.  “You will let me in, and you’ll do it now, or you will face my wrath and the wrath of my master.”

“I’m sorry my lady,” he repeated. “I can summon an emergency speeder to fetch you, but that is all.”

“You will regret that,” I warned him. The screen went blank, and I fumed.  Well, that answered a few of my questions. I drew my lightsaber and tested the blade against the large gate; it took a moment to find the proper settings, but then it began to slice through the durasteel door with moderate effort.  Khem scoffed at me, but what else was new?  I was going to succeed, and the first hurdle was getting in. 

“My Lady?  My Lady? My Lady, the security measures are active!  Leave immediately!” warned somebody fairly frantically.  I paused in my efforts to casually stab the center of the comms screen, and it sparked and went dead.  It was slow going.  Molten metal dripped around me as my blade carefully outlined the entire gate.  I really only needed to cut open a section of the door wide enough for myself and Khem to squeeze through, but since I knew I might have to intimidate or even torture them into cooperating, I cut the whole thing almost entirely open before I blasted it open with a concentrated push.  For a brief second, I worried that it would flop weakly down onto the ground, ruining the effect I was going for, but as the force exploded out of my hands in a powerful push, the metal door blasted backwards to crash against the comms building several meters away.  

All of my practice in Lady Zash’s dining room paid off.  Two auto turrets hanging above the building’s entrance turned their barrels on us and began to shoot, but the first bolt splashed off of the force shield that I instantly raised around myself. Khem lunged forward to shield me with the bulk of his body, greatsword in hand, even as I dove out of the line of fire. He snarled in pain when a couple of shots struck him in the thigh and the side as he retreated to stand with me behind the ragged edges of the gate.  There was minimal damage to his skin, tough as it was, and he was fully ready to ignore his injury and charge forward, but I didn't want him to be at anything less than his best. I placed my hand on his shoulder, forcing the dark side into his body, encountering whatever natural resistance Dashades typically had against the Force. I concentrated my fear of failure and my fury at nearly being killed and pushed past it, targeting the charred portions of his flesh and compelling it to grow together.  He hissed long and low as he experienced the agony that typically accompanied a dark side healing, but he did not pull away until I released him. 

“I’ve got this,” I said.  Summing lightning to my hand was effortless.  It tingled in my fist, desperate to leap forward and destroy something. I reached out with the force, sensing where my targets would be.  Then I reached around the door frame and let fly.  Power crackled across the space, surrounding first one auto turret and then the other, frying the components within in a shower of sparks almost unseen within the electrical storm I was calling forth.  I made sure they were well and truly destroyed, not just disrupted, before I let it die.  

“Come, Monster,” I said, feeling the rising winds push through my fur.  “Let’s go.”

“My lady, please!” babbled somebody through the intercom at the door.  “We must obey Darth Skotia!”

“Do you still think you have a chance of surviving this encounter?” I asked, enjoying the way the cruel taunt felt on my lips. “Your best hope is to flee before me.”

“I will enter first,” growled Khem.  I nodded, drawing my lightsaber again to cut through this smaller door. It was much easier to slice open than the first.  I stabbed right through the maglock mechanism, destroying it, and then carefully pulled with the force.  A blaster bolt exploded through the gap in the door, narrowly missing Khem’s shoulder, and I paused my work of opening the door to consider.  I’d never tried this before, but in theory, it should work the same way , I mused. I wrapped the force around my Dashade, feeling it hug his body as I focused on surrounding him, not influencing him and thereby avoiding his kind’s innate force resistance.  

“Leave them alive if possible.  Go,” I ordered, giving the door one last yank.  He burst in with a roar that made the room tremble.  Two technicians inside screamed and frantically fired their blasters at him, but most of their shots went wide in their terror. One hit but dispersed harmlessly off of the force shield that I was holding around Khem. My Dashade crossed the room in two giant strides and slashed his blade down, cutting deeply into one man's blaster pistol and severing a couple fingers. The other technician was thrown into the wall as Khem grabbed his gun in one hand and yanked. He struck a console with the sound of bones breaking and crumbled to the ground. 

“Sith!” snarled Khem. “I am finished.”

“Well done, Khem,” I praised him as I entered the room. The two men before me offered no more resistance. One was still dazed, blinking confusedly at us, while the other had dropped to his face, clutching his bleeding hand and begging for mercy in a voice that shook and hitched with terror. I knew that any attempt at physical, brutish intimidation would be overshadowed by the presence of the Deshade beside me, and so I deliberately took a different tack. 

“Show me Skotia’s vault,” I demanded, keeping my voice low and smooth and filling it with all of the menace I could muster. The cowering man turned his head slightly to glance up at me as I stood over him, never once lifting his face from the floor. 

“We cannot get in, Lady,” he babbled.  “It’s sealed and only his apprentices have the codes to unlock it.”

“It might take a while, but I’m sure I can get in,” I said, reigniting my lightsaber so that the tip burned a hole in the floor near his face.  Rather too near his face, actually.  I misjudged the angle of my blade and almost killed the technician by accident.  The man flinched violently away.  “Now get up and show me the door.”

“It’s just that one, Lady,” he said, gesturing at the larger with a hand covered in blood. It was a standard set of blast doors, similar to the ones I’d seen on the Black Talon. They were unshielded, but I guessed that the metal was probably half a meter thick, unlike the scant couple of centimeters I’d cut through to get into this compound. I briefly considered using some of the explosive charges I still had, but I worried that either they wouldn’t be powerful enough, or worse, that they would destroy my precious prize within.  No, it was the slow and steady way for me.

“What other protections are there?” I asked, reaching deeply into the force to sense the truthfulness of his answer.

“Nothing, Lady, nothing!” he babbled.  “Darth Skotia wouldn’t dare entrust his secrets to us.”  All I could sense from him was terror.  His cheek left odd smears in the blood on the floor as he spoke. 

“Watch them, Khem,” I said. 

The entire Communication Center wasn’t very large, but it was brightly lit and clean.  I stood in a small room with consoles lining the walls.  Large displays monitored various signals and frequencies and other things that I didn’t understand or recognize.  A door on one side of the room led to the technicians’ small housing quarters, where they lived while on call at the facility. Beside it, a second door led to a small mechanical room which hummed and whirred, providing power, climate controls, and recirculating the water used in the refresher.  On the other side of the room, the large heavy blast doors waited innocently, dominating the space. 

I stepped outside briefly to examine the outside wall of the building, wondering if there was a vent or perhaps a more obvious vulnerability to use when breaking into the vault, but there was none.  It had entirely unremarkable, windowless, gray duracrete walls.  The storm was roaring in, and I dreaded what the weather would be like when Khem and I ended up leaving.  The winds were cold, and I assumed that the rain that accompanied them would be even more so. 

With no reason to stay outside, I went back in and placed myself in front of Skotia’s vault.  I briefly considered trying to cut through a wall to enter, but I had no guarantee that I wouldn’t damage something important that was up against the wall, so I faced the blast door, turned up my saber as high as it would go, and plunged the weapon into the durasteel.  It was like trying to drag a staff through deep sand.  The metal was definitely giving way before my blade, but it was heavy and slow; I’d never experienced such resistance with my lightsaber before. Inch by inch, I cut a deep slash straight through the central locking mechanism, hoping that with the lock severed, the mechanical default would be for the door to open.  No such luck.  It stayed solidly shut, and I scowled at it a moment before readjusting my grip (the heat was making my palms sweat like mad) and dragging it in a large circle, trying to cut a space large enough for Khem and I to enter easily, particularly if there were wardroids waiting inside to attack us. When I made it around, I extinguished my lightsaber, but I couldn’t replace it on my belt right away because of the immense heat radiating from the end due to its proximity to the molten metal. Finally I just gave up and set it on the floor.  I didn’t need it, and I was in a hurry. Behind me, the dazed technician had finally regained his senses. Khem kicked him once, and he crawled to cower on the floor beside his coworker.  

Using the force, I pulled and tugged, concentrating with all my might.  The heavy metal barely shifted at all. It was much, much heavier than anything I’d ever tried to move before. I pulled and twisted, digging my claws into my skin and biting my tongue to try to reach a higher level of rage and fear, but it wasn’t working.  Fine. I retrieved my lightsaber and began the slightly humiliating and largely tedious task of cutting it into smaller wedges and removing the door piece by piece. 

Overall it took me well over 40 minutes to get in. The lights inside had flickered on when I’d tripped a motion sensor with a door piece, and I’d spotted a space much smaller than I’d expected, thanks to the thickly reinforced walls. It was barely bigger than a speeder, and there were a few chests and cases placed haphazardly around its perimeter. It was much less grand and fancy than I had imagined. I carefully climbed inside, avoiding the metal blast door, which was burning hot and even still almost molten in places. 

I began carefully opening each box, listening to the force for any sign of a trap. One box contained a set of vials full of some shimmery bluish pearlescent liquid.  I scrupulously set that to one side without disturbing them. Another had a set of blaster pistols inside.  I wasn’t sure what was remarkable about them, but Skotia had kept them here, in his secret blackmail vault, for a reason. I found a long box containing a set of ancient-looking vibroswords and resisted the urge to touch them just in case they’d been poisoned, as I knew such blades often were. Many chests held datapads that were devoid of anything except holorecordings.  I watched one, my disgust increasing at every second until finally I couldn’t stomach the sight any longer. The cyborg Darth apparently enjoyed blackmailing many people, even those of lesser importance, and he was not above bugging someone’s bedchamber to do it. 

Against the back wall, I finally found what I was looking for.  I opened a case to reveal a large stone slab cushioned in silk.  It matched the images Lady Zash had shown me.  I beamed with triumph and sealed it back up again.  It was heavy, but despite my small size, I was strong and I lifted it with ease.  Then I paused.  There were still a few more chests to open, and I didn’t know what they contained. My curiosity was killing me.  I set my prize back down and quickly went back to searching through the boxes.

Most contained more holorecordings or weapons, but one chest contained a series of thumb-sized statues of various beasts intricately carved from some deep purple stone that was shiny and smooth. Each had tiny jeweled eyes and claws. They were beautiful. I wanted them. I knew it was a risk, but I took the whole box. They were too mesmerizing to be left behind to the fate that awaited everything else. 

“I have it, Khem,” I said in Catharese, as I climbed carefully out of the vault with my two chests in my arms. 

“Let us depart then,” he said urgently, glancing back out the damaged door at the darkness outside.  “The wind grows more powerful.”

“No witnesses,” I said, tipping my head towards the two men.  He nodded briskly, and with two quick slashes, they were beheaded.  It was almost too fast for the second man to react, and I found myself grateful for his speed. They had been in a terrible position, marked for death either way.  I was glad that they’d attacked me; it made their deaths feel more justifiable somehow. I ran back outside to fetch our packs; the wind was truly whipping the trees back and forth now, and the sky was black with the oncoming storm; only the floodlights of the comms tower illuminated the area.

I dropped them at Khem’s feet, indicating the artefact’s chest.  “If we’re going to get out of here any time soon, you’ll need to carry that for me,” I said matter-of-factly.  He grunted but didn’t argue the point.  “We’ll need to get far away from here before we can even think about making camp.”

After using the refresher, I pulled out the three explosive charges that still remained inert in my pack.  I’d intended to use my lightsaber and lightning to destroy the cameras and any console that could potentially store security footage, but the devices would take care of that for me.  They might even direct suspicion away from me , I reflected. I placed one in the vault, getting it all ready to explode in 5 minutes. Then the other two I laid on opposite sides of the console room. 

“Ready?” I asked.  Khem nodded. I’d slipped my stolen treasures into my satchel, so with one last glance to make sure there wasn’t anything I missed, I armed the explosives, one after the other. We quickly hurried out into the storm. Then we froze.  Someone was waiting for us in the empty gateway.

Chapter Text

There was no movement for a long moment. The figure in the gateway wore a dark hooded cloak that was whipping wildly in the violent winds. It wasn’t much taller than I was; Khem certainly towered over us both. The clouds had completely blotted out the sky, and the only lights were the bright floodlights illuminating the scant 10 meters of cleared, paved ground between the communications array and its surrounding wall; everything beyond was pitch black. 

“No witnesses,” I reminded him again.  He growled his assent. Khem led the way, his large broadsword drawn once more, which gave me the courage to continue forward also. The figure didn’t stir from his place blocking our exit, but behind him, my Cathar eyes caught a flicker of movement.  What I’d thought were shadows beneath the jungle trees shifted, moving against the direction of the furious winds, and from the darkness emerged what I first thought was a wall of some sort.  It came closer and resolved into three massive beasts which shoved past the human like he wasn’t even there. They moved on all fours, body covered in smooth, armor-like plates, with powerful, pincer-like forelegs almost twice the length of their hind legs, which was necessary to support the enormous shield of bone that fanned out around their heads.  Their eyes were about level with mine, but the frill extended as wide as my arms could reach and a full two meters higher, with little tusks or horns that studded the edges. Yozusks. Two vicious-looking fangs about the length of my hand framed each monster’s face, and I wondered whether this was one of the venomous variants. We would have to be extra wary.

The figure before us didn’t seem to be making any overt, grand gestures, but whomever it was certainly was in command of the creatures.  His hood had been torn off in the wind, revealing a young human man with dark curly hair and sharp features.  His eyes were squeezed tightly shut as the yozusks scuttled forward, always carefully keeping themselves between us and their master. I held back as they focused on us, their hard scaly feet barely making a sound in spite of their size. My nostrils filled with the scent of the approaching rains over the swampy decay of the jungle around us and the sharp stink of my fear.

“Keep behind me!” snarled Khem urgently. He was probably feeling the pressure of the explosives at our back; I knew I certainly was.  To be safe from the potential blast, we needed to at least be outside the cleared perimeter when the time ran out.  I called lightning and struck one of the beasts, holding it in a concentrated stream.  The yozusk shuddered and shrieked, a hissing, rough sort of sound like stones grinding together, but when I let it go to target its fellows, it popped right back up and advanced with no sign of distress.  I wasn’t sure if that was the mind control exerting its effects over it, or if it was just the unique physiology of the creature that did not make it very vulnerable to electrocution. 

Khem batted away the first creature that reached us and blocked the second, his great clawed feet scraping against the duracrete as he was shoved backwards.  I dodged myself, zapping the third creature before it moved against us again, but the first beast was moving in tandem with the second now, and Khem was forced to retreat at an angle to keep them at bay.  The Communications building was very near our backs now.

“Follow me!” Khem roared as he dashed quickly to one side around the building.  He was faster and more agile than I was, and I wasn’t prepared to follow him.  I stumbled in my hurry, and an overwhelming feeling came through the force--the unbearable urge to dodge, that a yozusk’s spear-like front pincers were imminently going to pierce my body. I lunged sideways, failing to tuck and roll due to the bulky pack on my back.  My hands slammed into the duracrete hard, but I didn’t let that stop me.  I was scrambling away, claws extended, because I could sense that while the beast had missed skewering me as it had intended, I was an instant away from falling to it again. 

I didn’t have the time to fight back; I was too focused on survival.  The next moment, Khem was there, cursing at my clumsiness and hacking at the beast’s pincers as it reared up on its hind legs in surprise.  It gave me the second I needed, and a stream of lightning poured from my hands, entering the nearest creature and then leaping to the second. I could feel it wanting to arc to Khem, and I concentrated all my will on forcing it to go beyond my companion.  For one instant, I thought it would defy me and shock the Dashade.  I pushed hard, and it leaped forward into the third yozusk in a grand, glorious chain of electricity.  I could only hold it a moment.  Then the lightning stopped arcing to the third, and then stopped arcing entirely, but it had been enough.  Khem was taking full advantage of that second of full immobilization to cripple one his foes.  

The dashade was focused on his opponent, so I awkwardly pulled myself to my feet, feeling the heavy pack on my back shift as I twisted so that I could maintain the streaming lightning.  It was tiring, but the sharp fear that I felt, that I was desperately trying to keep from verging on panic, was more than enough to buoy my energy reserves.  I immersed myself in the dark side, feeling its icy wind whip around my mind in eerie parallel to the storm bearing down upon us. As my connection to its power grew and I ended my lightning attack, time seemed to slow around us, and I was able to gather my bearings and concentrate.

The minds of the yozusks in front of us shone in the force, far brighter than any normal beast usually did. It almost reminded me of sensing other force-users, seeing how they burned with life and energy.  They felt foreign, almost artificial to my mental touch, and it echoed with the same signature that their Human master had. He was certainly directing them forward, and the desperate loathing I sensed from the beasts was entirely his and emanated from his connection with them. 

The human had made no moves to confront us personally, so it was a safe assumption that his most powerful ability was his beast control, and I suspected that in a more conventional fight, Khem and I would’ve crushed him like the slug he was. If I kill you, I wondered, eyeing him in icy abstraction, what happens to your monsters?   His yozusks were keeping me from getting near enough to hit him, constantly blocking any line of sight I might’ve had.  Khem had managed to disfigure one with a powerful strike to the head, cleaving off a good portion of its face and injuring its main limb, but still it scuttled around, alternately rearing up to stab with its forelegs or ducking in to rip with its fangs.  Neither of us had managed to get behind their armored frills to strike a killing blow.  

The three yozusks were trying to separate me and Khem now.  One of them focused on me while the other two attempted to shove and batter him back, away towards the outer perimeter wall. I shocked my creature, but once again, when the lightning ceased, it jumped right back on its feet to come at me again.  The air smelled of ozone and blood; I sensed more than saw the creature try to swipe his claw at my face; I dodged to the side, feeling it miss me by centimeters.  As I came down, I smashed my palm into the ground, channeling the lightning out and around me. It blasted the creature back into the wall of the Communications building, and it was slow to stand back up.  

Deep in the force as I was, I sensed the moment that something else entered the fight.  A new sense of malice niggled at the edge of my mind, and a new shining spark appeared on my mental assessment of the battleground. The beastmaster had seized hold of another creature in the jungle, which was even now making its way out of the trees to us.  Khem and I were barely holding our own, hampered as he was by protecting me and by our own vulnerable position and the impending destruction. I didn’t want to imagine what might be even now coming to join the fight. 

“Get me an opening!” I screamed at Khem.  He didn’t understand why suddenly my priorities had changed from dealing with the deadly imminent threat to taking out their puppetmaster, but he obeyed without question, knowing as well as I did that I needed a clear line of sight if I was going to electrocute the sith controlling these beasts. He roared deeply, leaping forward to cleave his sword down on top of the middle yozusk’s bone frill.  His blade dug deeply into the shield, and Khem swung his whole body on the blade, using leverage to flip the beast to the ground.  I shocked the third beast as it tried to attack him from behind; the first was still regaining its feet.  Khem had to take an extra second to yank his blade free, but as he flexed his powerful muscles, he pulled the beast around so its shield slipped sideways, blocking its fellow and leaving me with the first clear shot at the enemy sith I’d had since the yozusks had first made themselves known.

I didn’t waver.  I fed my fury and rage and fear to the dark side ( How much longer did we have until the comms center exploded, anyways? ) and a concentrated, brightly purple blast of lightning arced across the cleared space to strike the human, who stood undefended in the doorway to the perimeter.  He screamed and crumpled to the ground, and I felt his grasp of the beasts weaken.  The yozusks roared, rearing up and stabbing the air with their claws; I could feel their fear and pain as the mind control slipped, and it distracted me enough that the Sith was able to gather himself and try to reassert his command over them.  The other beast outside the wall had faltered as well, but while I drew myself up again, the human summoned it forward, into the perimeter to defend himself. Even as I watched through the force, he flung his mind wide and a moment later, a second spark lit, larger than the first, quickly bearing down on us.  

I didn’t give him the chance to use them to attack.

I sent another bolt of lightning shooting forward, and as it plunged into my victim’s chest, my rage and hatred broke his concentration entirely and I felt him lose his grasp of the force.  He screamed, writhing on the ground for a long moment, but I wanted him dead, and as much as it would’ve satisfied my vengeful nature to make him suffer a while for trying to kill me, I knew we didn’t have much time left. I poured myself entirely into making his heart stop beating, and I felt the force connection to the yozusks sever with a snap as his life left his body and he slumped limply in a twisted heap.

From through the open gateway, I heard an eerie howl that started high and plummeted until it was a growling roar.  I couldn’t see the gundark clearly through the darkness, even with my Cathar vision, but I got the impression of sleek fur and powerful, bunching muscles as its head turned this way and that, gigantic pointy ears twitching to pick up any echoes.  Farther into the woods came an answering howl--the creature’s mate? With another cry, it lowered back onto all six limbs and bounded back into the trees. 

Khem’s massive hand gripped me and I was abruptly torn from my concentration as he flung me behind him.  It hurt as I landed on my left side, striking my elbow and hip with enough force to leave bruises, but was infinitely preferable to the goring he’d saved me from. Now that the sith was no longer controlling the yozusks, they didn’t fight with the single-minded aggression and unity that we’d experienced before.  I quickly rejoined the battle, trying to use my force lightning to give Khem the opening he was looking for. As I’d done before, I pushed, shoving my power forward until it arced from one beast to another, chaining them all and forcing them to their knees as they shuddered and shook.  Khem wasted no time.  He darted forward, striking first one and then the next and then the next behind their great bone frills. Each gave a single cry and fell dead at our feet.

“Come!” ordered Khem, dragging me up and hustling me over the bodies of our enemies.  “Time grows short!”  As we passed the dead sith, I paused to kick his cloak to the side.  It revealed his crest, the jagged teeth of the symbol iuriz , a letter in one the ancient Sith alphabets and the mark of Darth Skotia. I smirked at the thought that I’d just killed another of Skotia’s apprentices. I left his corpse to be destroyed by the explosion or eaten by scavengers. Khem would not tolerate any delay; he huffed and hauled me by my arm farther into the forest a ways, well outside of the potential blast zone.  

I’d barely begun to catch my breath when the communications building, still somewhat visible through the branches, exploded in a plume of fire and smoke that shook the ground and sent pieces of stone and metal flying.  The perimeter wall contained the blast for the most part, but I was very glad that we’d escaped.

“Rest,” said the Dashade, and I leaned gratefully against a tree and watched the fire burn.

Chapter Text

Khem and I didn’t rest long. We knew we had several hours walk to reach the small military research outpost that was our destination, and neither of us wanted to stick around and see what other forces might arrive in response to our destruction of the communications station.  We headed through the darkness; I didn’t know how well Khem could see, but by the ease with which he navigated the forest, I assumed his night vision was at least as good as mine was. Only minutes into our journey, I felt the first raindrop strike my fur.  And then another, and then another, and then the skies opened up and a deluge began, quickly soaking me and Khem to the skin.  The Dashade didn’t seem to mind, but I was beyond unhappy.  I had a waterproof poncho in my pack, which was also waterproof, but by the time I remembered it, I was already completely sodden, so I just left it be and trudged miserably on behind Khem. 

Once we were several miles away from the scene of our crime, I briefly suggested to Khem that we stop and camp for the night, but he scolded me for my weakness, adjuring me that we were almost halfway to our destination and required only a few hours further. He reminded me, shouting to be heard over the thunder and pounding rain and howling winds, that because of the terrible weather, we were not encountering any dangers of the forests, since all the beasts had long since retreated to their nice, cozy, dry dens to wait out the storm. I knew that he was right, so I bit back my complaints and ignored the water dripping off my chin and nose and slogged on.  

Commander Rilen was asleep when we arrived at the research outpost, but he was roused immediately while the officer on duty sent for towels and blankets and offered Khem and I a space to change or sleep and fresh cups of caf. Khem simply toweled off and was fine, but I took advantage of the opportunity to get some of the moisture out of my fur and changed into a dry tunic and robes.  I was still damp and shaking from the cold so badly that it was difficult to fasten my clothes; I had to draw on the dark side to lend me some control of my hands.  

“My lady!” Said Commander Rilen, taking stock of my appearance. “I shall have the camp’s medic brought here at once!”

“I’m fine,” I said dismissively.  I clutched the warm drink tighter and took another long sip.  “I’ve had worse, and I wanted to be out of this hideous swamp as soon as possible.  I must return to my master urgently.”

“We observed the emitters deactivate,” remarked the commander. “What of the beasts?”

“Do you doubt my abilities, Captain?” I asked icily. It would’ve been more intimidating if my teeth hadn’t chattered in the middle of it.

“Oh no, my lady, not at all!” He replied.  “Merely wondering if you faced much opposition?”

“The towers were simple to destroy.  The beasts proved more of a challenge, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.” Khem grunted his assent, more than a little mockery in his tone, but I ignored him.  

“We are very grateful for your help, my lady,” said the Commander. “It has been an honor to observe your work.”  

“It was a very successful mission,” I said.  “But now I must return to Kaas City.”

“We can summon a speeder for you immediately,” offered the commander, “unless you’d rather rest until morning.”

“I have no desire to delay,” I said.  

“At once, my lady.”  The commander made no signal, but one of his aides immediately hurried out to place the transport request.  “May we provide you a meal while you wait?”

“Yes, that would be lovely,” I agreed, finishing my drink.  “And more caf.”

We were dropped off at Lady Zash’s home about an hour after sunrise. 

“Apprentice!” She actually met us at the door.  “I got your message!  Come in, come in!”  The sith ushered us into the front parlor.

“My lady,” I said, bowing my head.  Khem pulled off his pack and I carefully presented the stone slab to my master.  She laid it on the table, turning the lights up as bright as they would go, and she stared at it hungrily. I didn’t see what was so special about it.  It was a slab of pale grey stone slightly longer than my forearm, deeply etched with crude drawings that I supposed could be Trandoshans if the workman was following a blind man’s description of the species.  Still, it had clearly been brightly painted at one point.  Some areas still sported metallic enamel that glinted in the light. There was text in some ancient language engraved in it.  

“This is marvelous,” she said.  “Better than I’d hoped!  Well done apprentice.  This will indeed be valuable in our final confrontation with Skotia.”

“Thank you, Lady Zash,” I said.

“Tell me everything,” she ordered, settling back in a large armchair and gesturing to a low, backless chaise.  My master listened intently to the details but did not interrupt until I finished my recitation.

“Marvelous,” she said again.  “Quite remarkable.  You’ve surpassed my expectations on every turn, and I find myself quite delighted by you.”

“I really am the best,” I said, risking a bit of humor. She laughed brightly.

“Yes, you are, my magnificent apprentice,” she said.  “Are you hungry? Tired? We must make sure to take care of you.”

“I can manage, Lady Zash,” I said. 

“Just one more piece remains before we can confront Skotia,” she said.  “I shall try to find a reasonable excuse for you to go and check on the scientist who’s been working on it for me.  Until then, Apprentice, you are dismissed.”

“Thank you, my lady,” I said, withdrawing from the parlor with a bow.  Khem skulked behind me, and after ordering food from the droids, we retired to our rooms.  Khem went immediately to clean and care for his weapon and its scabbard, and I went into the refresher to get myself finally clean.  It took a long time and lots of soap to scrub the clumps of mud out of my fur. Then I spent even longer standing under the warm jets of air, allowing all of the loose hairs to be blown away and grooming out any snarls until I was free of any trace of the jungle. 

Finally warm and dry, I grabbed my food, climbed onto my bed, and closed the hangings around it to keep out any bugs that managed to find their way past the insect repelling fields. Delicately, I pulled out the chest of figurines that I’d stolen from Skotia’s vault.  I examined them one by one, tracing the intricate carvings with my fingertips and holding them up so the lights glinted off the jeweled eyes.  It filled me with satisfaction, not quite pride, not quite happiness, to look at them.  The artist had been very detailed in their fangs and claws; I carefully tucked them away in my lockbox, along with my other precious things--a ring from an acolyte on Korriban, a metal armband from one of the apprentices Skotia had sent to kill me, and a rank insignia from one of the republic soldiers on the Brentaal Star. Warm, full, and clean, I nestled into my blankets and slept, a smile on my face.

Two days later, Lady Zash ordered me and Khem to meet her at the front of the house before lunch.  We reported as instructed, and she looked us over with a critical eye. “We will be meeting with Lady Shalath, an acquaintance of mine. One of her apprentices was supposed to be completing a ritual in the jungles, but he’s gone missing.  I think this might be the opportunity we’re looking for.”  The speeder arrived to convey us to our destination, and the pilot very professionally didn’t react when the massive Dashade squeezed into the back and laid his broadsword across his lap. 

“We’re having lunch together in a private room at one of my favorite places in Kaas City,” continued Lady Zash, not sparing him a glance. “This is your first opportunity to meet one of my associates, and I hope you will make a good impression.  You see, the relationship you and I have is more...” She searched for the right word “...encouraging than that of your average master and apprentice.  She adheres to a more traditional understanding of race and hierarchy, and for today, I expect you to show her and myself the utmost deference during our meeting with her, no matter how insulted you might be.  Is that clear?”

“Yes, Lady Zash,” I said, bowing my head.  As much as it grated, as much as it reminded me of my days as a slave, deference was something I could do. 

“Zash!” exclaimed the tall human Sith Lord as we entered the upstairs chamber.  Her almond eyes and cheeks were elaborately made up with shimmery cosmetics, but I was pretty sure that the yellowish cast to her skin was genetic, not a sign of illness or corruption. She embraced my master and they kissed the air beside each other’s cheeks. 

“My dear Chiara,” sighed Zash, looking fondly at her and taking the lady’s hands of her own. “How well you look!  The city agrees with you!  Last I saw you, you were just on a quick visit, heading back out to some archaeological dig on...where was it, Dromund Kalakar?”

“Fels, Zash, Dromund Fels,” corrected Chiara Shalath. Zash smiled indulgently, and I felt suddenly sure that she’d known that information.

“Ah, yes, of course,” said Zash.  “This must be the longest you’ve stayed in the city in years!”

“The secrets of the ancient Sith are there, just waiting for me!” said Chiara passionately. 

“So you’ve said,” laughed Zash.  “I myself envy your ability to give yourself so passionately to your work.”  The ladies seated themselves on small, comfortable benches, a small trapezoidal table between them so that while they were across from each other, technically, they were also almost side by side and could survey the room together.  A small, sleek steward droid waited quietly nearby to accept their order. Khem and I stood by the wall, just inside the room by the door. 

“Now tell me,” said Zash once they’d been served their meals.  I waited silently, fuming inside at the casual disregard that ignored my existence and left me hungrily watching them eat.  “I heard that you’ve been having some problems with one of your projects while we’ve been restricted to Kaas City?”

“Oh, it’s the worst !” complained the lady, absently waving a bit of shellfish around on her fork as she gestured expressively.  I saw a drop of sauce splatter on Lady Zash’s robe, and my master casually shifted farther away.  Lady Shalath had somehow managed to avoid getting her own clothes soiled entirely, and I was pretty sure that the action had been deliberate. I wondered just how many games these Sith were actually playing, and I paid closer attention to anything that they might do to put the other off balance.

“I’m not sure why they would ship the Darths off and force the rest of us to stay in Kaas City, but I for one am tired of it,” Lady Shalath said.  “I’ve been sending my apprentice out to complete various rituals to procure the ingredients I will need for my next alchemical experiments, so that whenever they lift this ridiculous lockdown, I’ll be able to return to work immediately.  But I’ve lost contact with my apprentice!

“The man has done this before, so I’m not sure why this time is marred by such bad luck, but regardless,” she continued, “regardless, I am not about to delay my research any longer.  I’ve already petitioned Darth Marr for permission to be excused from this lockdown, and although I was denied, I shall continue to petition until this pointless insanity is over.”

“Well, Chiara, that’s precisely why I invited you to meet with me,” said Zash.  “You see, I’ve been searching for opportunities to test my apprentice.  She’s quite a remarkable creature, but she’s going to need quite the stack of successes under her belt if she’s going to amount to anything on Dromund Kaas.”  I held my blank expression, but the fur on my neck wanted to rise.  I took a silent, deep breath and held it tightly.

“Well, I knew you had to have found something special because, really , Zash, weren’t there any better candidates?  Have the Overseers completely lost their touch?” scoffed Shalath. My master frowned delicately, fingering one of the jeweled rings she wore on her left hand. 

“I know she’s not what you might expect, but I think she will surprise you if you give her a chance,” said Zash.  “After all, she pacified the Dashade, didn’t she?”

“It’s not bound to you, Zash?”

“Oh, no!” laughed my master. “No, the beast is sworn to my apprentice.”  She sipped her drink with a smile.  “If my little Cathar manages to prove herself worthy to me, I intend to declare her my official apprentice...and my heir and successor.”

“Zash!”  Lady Shalath gaped at her, and I got the sense that her surprise was genuine.  “A slave is one thing, but an alien?  Have you lost your mind?”

“I’m pursuing something, Chiara, that will make my previous discoveries look like dross in comparison,” she said gleefully.  “And I think that this slave, this Cathar, is precisely the person who will help me achieve it.”

“What an extraordinary thing to say!” said Lady Shalath, visibly uncomfortable.

“She’s extremely powerful and most enterprising.  If you give her the chance, she will find your missing apprentice.”

“Perhaps, Zash,” said the Sith.  “You, apprentice!” She snapped her fingers at me.  Mindful of my master’s previous instructions, I obeyed the ignominious summons.

“Yes, Lady Shalath?” I said, bowing my head.  I tried my best to keep my voice level and my speech clear and unaccented. The humiliation burned in my heart.

“My apprentice, Maraad, is no longer answering my calls,” she said abruptly.  “His holo reports his location to be deep within the forests of Dromund Kaas.  I want you to fetch me the artefacts he had on his person.”

“Yes, my lady,” I murmured.  

“I assume he’s dead,” she said.  “But, if, by some miracle, he hasn’t quite reached that point, I want you to help that failure along.”  

“As you wish, my lady,” I said, feeling a little sick at the vicious glee she showed as she ordered me to murder her apprentice. She held out her datapad, and I almost fumbled in my haste to draw my own from its pouch and press it against hers, allowing files to transfer instantly.  

“That’s everything you’ll need,” she said.  “Maps, location data, description of the runes you’re looking for--everything I was going to use myself, if Darth Marr hadn’t interfered.”

“Yes, Lady Shalath.”  I waited silently for further instructions.

“Well, don’t just stand there, go and get my apprentice!”  I looked at Lady Zash for permission, and she nodded, gesturing with her still-full glass of alcohol.  In spite of all the drinking she’d done, I didn’t think she’d actually consumed a drop. 

“Good Luck, apprentice.”

Chapter Text

Khem and I left lunch and headed back to Zash’s home to gather supplies that we might need, something moderately similar to what we’d taken with us to the jungles previously.  My master met us there a few hours later as we waited for a droid to return with some field rations and fresh water purification tablets. 

“Well, Apprentice,” said Lady Zash.  “There’s your excuse to go beyond the wall.”

“Why do we need me to go beyond the wall again?” I asked, knowing full well she hadn’t said a single thing about my real mission. 

“There’s a Sith Lord by the name of Gratham who lives in an estate beyond the wall,” said my Master.  “It’s near enough for you to stop by on your way and on your way back; the perfect cover. I have a contact there, a scientist, who’s been working on developing a special item for me.  His name is Dorotsech, and he’s one of Lord Gratham’s top researchers.”

“What exactly is he making?”

“An interdictor field that will trap and hold any droid that comes within it,” she said smugly.

“Any droid...or any cyborg?” I asked, seeing immediately what she intended. 

“Skotia is more than enough machine to be affected,” Lady Zash said.  “This is the last piece that we need; that cyborg is still stuck on Korriban, selecting a new apprentice, so we have plenty of time for you to get the weapon, find Chiara’s apprentice, and make it back here to set the trap.”

“It is dishonorable not to face your enemies in fair combat,” grumbled Khem.

“Silence!” she snapped at him.  “It is prudent to use every advantage to advance one’s power.”  She turned to me.  “Dorotsech will meet you early tomorrow morning in the market area of the compound at the front of Gratham’s estate.  Remind him that I will pay him half again what I promised him when I successfully use the item.”

“Of course, my lady.”

However, an early morning meeting meant that Khem and I had to go on another nighttime speeder ride.  We took a public speeder out to the wall, a towering structure that jutted out of the massive jungle trees, dark against the dusk.  I wondered briefly why someone would build such a thing in such an odd place; it didn’t seem to be protecting anything of note, but then again, perhaps in the distant past, some powerful Sith had more obvious reasons.  Not wanting a history lesson, I didn’t bother asking Khem what he knew of it. 

We chartered a private speeder to take us directly to Lord Gratham’s estate, and we arrived in the early hours of the morning. The massive main estate and its various outbuildings were surrounded by a tall, well-guarded wall, but outside the main gate, a small village had been built to support the needs of the various staff and support people and droids that served the Lord. There were people already up and hard at work, so we shouldered our packs and began to walk towards the section that appeared to be the market.  I smelled food.

“Khem, keep an eye out for our scientist,” I said, remembering the image Lady Zash had shown me.  I led him through to a small bakery manned by a human youth and two droids.  After purchasing caf and a parcel of meat-filled pastries, I stood by the tall table and watched the crowds.  The locals were intimidated by my presence, and although they queued to get their own food and drinks, none stopped to eat at the other available tables. 

“There is the man,” growled Khem.  I turned quickly to see a small human, not much taller than I was, slipping into line at the cafe.  He bought a small cup of tea and approached us, choosing to stand at the table beside me.

“My lady, my name is Dorotsech,” he said, with a little bow. “I have created the device that Lady Zash ordered.”

“Excellent,” I said. 

“I’ve been testing it,” he said, “but because I didn’t have much warning of your coming, I did not have time to prepare the new power cores necessary to power the device.  I can do so, but it will take me all day to harmonize the correct frequencies to suitably sustain the field.”

“I see,” I said.

“The device is finished!” he quickly assured me, “And I can meet you here again tomorrow to provide you with it and the cores.” 

“I suppose that’ll have to do,” I said, feeling very put-upon. “As it happens, I have business of my own to take care of in the area. I’m not sure when I’ll return, but I assume it won’t be long.  If I’m not here, you’ll just have to continue to return to the cafe every day until I am, is that understood?”

“Yes, my lady,” he said, a stressed tone in his voice.

“Lady Zash wanted me to remind you that she pays you very generously,” I said, “and that upon successfully testing the prototype, she’ll give you what was agreed upon.”

“My Lady Zash is very magnanimous,” he said, fiddling with his drink. I didn’t know what that meant, so I sniffed haughtily.  “Please reassure our Mistress that I will be the soul of discretion.”

“See that you are,” I said warningly.  He got the message, if the large gulp of tea he took was any indication.  

“I’ll see you soon, my lady,” he said.  With a small bow, he hurried off.  Khem and I finished our breakfast, in no hurry now that we’d met our contact, and then Khem and I headed out on our journey.  Lady Zash had provided plenty of credits, so I hired a speeder and had it head out over the jungle trees, away from Gratham’s estate and deeper into the wilds of Dromund Kaas.

“We’ve reached the coordinates, my lady,” said the droid pilot. I peered carefully over the side of the open speeder, down at the thick, practically seamless canopy. No room for the vehicle to land; I couldn’t even see down to the jungle floor.

“Where is the nearest clearing?” I asked.  It paused for a moment, accessing the most recent aerial maps of the region.

“East by Northeast, almost a kilometer,” it reported.  

“Let us out there,” I ordered. 

“I cannot guarantee your safety,” said the droid flatly. “The...”

“I accept the risk,” I said, and it obeyed me. I sank into the force, feeling the familiar wind chill my soul in spite of the humidity that had only worsened the deeper we drove into the jungle. My forcesight blossomed around me, and I focused on sensing any living creatures or lurking dangers in the trees.  Nothing stood out to me--just the expected flora and small creatures, both on the ground and in the branches.  “We can land.”

Khem and I climbed out after getting the speeder’s comm frequency and unit number for our return journey.  Shouldering our packs once more, we began hiking through the jungle, back towards where Lady Shalath’s apprentice supposedly lay. Khem was always more lively once we were outside.  He moved deceptively lithely, making almost no sound as he slipped between the thick underbrush.  I was smaller than he was, but I felt like a nerf, tromping noisily through the mud, getting my feet stuck in roots and grass, slipping on the moss-covered stones, and even breaking smaller branches accidentally. 

I didn’t need Khem to tell me when we’d reached our destination.  We came to a section of forest that stank of decay and death.  At the foot of one large tree lay the body of something humanoid, positively covered in flies. I stepped forward and fanned with my cloak, driving them away and revealing what had clearly once a Sith Pureblood. It was slumped, large, bloody bandages wrapped around its already-decaying limbs. Maraad’s red flesh was oozing and swelling in the places that it was still intact; scavengers had begun to devour his body, quickly reclaiming it for the soil. 

“He fought well,” said Khem, looking down at the ground.  I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he could see that told him that.  

“There were many vine cats,” he said, gesturing around the area. I realized that there were corpses of the beasts in various stages of dismemberment strewn all about the area. Khem pointed specifically at a tree, at marks where a lightsaber had hacked away some of the lower branches.  “They attacked him from all sides, including above, but he defeated them all, for they did not feast on his flesh.  He died from venom, not wounds.” 

“Where are the runes?”  Lady Shalath had sent her apprentice with five carved crystals so that he could complete a ritual and acquire whatever it was that she needed.  “Where is his pack?” I held my breath and gingerly used a nearby branch to shift the corpse, but it wasn’t beneath the body.  Thinking he might’ve ditched it during the fight, I paced the area, looking for signs of where he could’ve dropped it, but found nothing. 

“Do you see his pack, Khem?” I asked.  The Dashade shook his head, scowling. As I continued to search, I felt the desperation rising slowly in my chest.

I pulled out my comm and tried to call Maraad, thinking that the chime might alert me.  I heard the quietest, sublest ding, and I held my breath, focusing on trying to locate the sound. It was muffled, somewhere behind me to my left, and as I turned slowly and headed in that direction, I could barely hear it become clearer.  I persevered, step by step, sometimes closing my eyes to concentrate more.  Khem had fallen silent and stood behind me, like a great, hulking shadow. I called again. 

“There,” said Khem, just as I too identified the source of the sound.  It was a small hole, narrower than my shoulders, but wider than my head, situated just at the base of one of the massive jungle trees. I could barely see it between the tangle of roots. I carefully turned up the light clipped to my belt and held it out, shining it into the blackness, but all I could make out was the beginning of a tunnel. Clearly, some animal had dragged the pack down its burrow. Now what was I to do?

“Is the creature inside?”  Khem asked.  I shrugged, and he gave me that flat, unimpressed glare that made me realize what he wanted.  

“Right,” I said, stepping back a little and dropping my own pack.  Feeding my frustration into the force, I pulled the dark side closer around me and stretched out my feelings, trying to sense the life around me. My presence in the force was a small maelstrom in the winds around us; Khem was an odd shadow, not quite disturbing the way the force flowed around him, but not completely invisible only because I knew exactly where to look for him. The bugs around us were tiny specks of life among the larger presences of the jungle trees. At the base of the tree, two or three meters down, was a small creature.

“It’s there.”

“Probably a sleen,” said Khem, eyeing the hole and bending to examine it closely. 

“Can we lure it out?” I asked.

“Unlikely,” he said. I waited for a helpful suggestion, but nothing was forthcoming. 

“I don’t want to have to come back with a shovel,” I complained.  It seemed somehow very demeaning to have to do manual labor, but I didn’t think I had enough credits to buy an excavation droid, and I didn’t want to wait for Zash to send one from Kaas City. That would draw too much attention to my movements, anyways.  Khem laughed at me.

“Even now, you are still a slave,” he said.  

“Helpful as always,” I drawled, reigning in my fury at his accusation. The more I showed I was upset by his words, the more he would use them to attack me. My mind raced, trying to prove him wrong.  But in this, he was right.  I was thinking like a slave.  Five months earlier, I would’ve grabbed tools and dug them out, using my bare hands if necessary. But I was a Sith.  How would a Sith handle this? I wondered.  What would Zash do?   

Deep in the dark side as I was, I put forth my hand and tried to probe the burrow with the force.  I felt foolish, but I wasn’t about to quit. I wasn’t very good at telekinesis, but I knew how to do it. I’d never tried to lift something I couldn’t see before. I concentrated with all of my might, trying to locate the missing pack with the force.  I could sense something odd, something off, in the burrow, which I assumed was the crystal runes I needed, but I couldn’t seem to get my mind wrapped around them.  They lay at the back of the burrow, in a larger space where the creature still waited.  

The sleen was frightened but alert; its wariness felt sharp to my senses.  I knew that it was prepared to defend itself against me. I focused closer on it in case it was about to come boiling out of the hole and attack me, but it still stayed huddled in the darkness.  As my mind reached out even more to the creature, I found myself pushing back against its sharpness, and it was almost startling when it gave way before me.  It felt mellow, calm, and I pushed harder, suddenly wondering if I could influence it further, as Skotia’s apprentice had done with the yozusks and gundarks. I’d felt the influence of his mind over those creatures, so I tried to stretch my force awareness over the sleen, trying to imitate the web-like way he’d wrapped the force around the beasts. 

It felt like it took a long time, but Khem had not yet begun to complain when my consciousness shifted.  I didn’t know what I’d done differently, but all of a sudden, it was as if I slipped into place and everything went still. I could feel the sleen pressing back against my mental invasion, but the force held it firmly in my grasp, and it didn’t struggle much.  I pushed forward, deeper into the core of the creature, and it was as if I’d opened up senses that I’d never known I’d had. 

I could hear the way sound echoed through the underground chamber. The dirt felt cool under my powerful clawed feet. My full belly rubbed against the ground, and I opened my eyes. For a moment, I saw double--one point of view from outside the den, beside Khem Val, and another from within the hole, where I could  see clearly in the near-blackness. Then, as I closed my real eyes and concentrated on what the sleen was perceiving, I found myself viewing things in a spectrum of colorless texture that was entirely foreign.  Nevertheless, the outlines of objects were still distinctly visible, and there, beside the sleen, one pouch ripped open and completely shredded, lay Maraad’s pack.

Bite the pack , I urged the creature. Drag it again.  It couldn't understand my words, but its mind reacted obediently to my intentions, and it scurried forward to seize the leather bag in its mouth.  Then it turned backwards and dragged it centimeter by centimeter up the long tunnel. As it’s tail emerged from the hole, Khem Val made a sound of surprise, and I pulled back again from the sleen to open my eyes.  

I blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust my vision. The Dashade had his blade out, ready to attack as needed.  “Hold, Khem,” I said. I had to withdraw even further into my body, and my control of the sleen waned.  It bucked against my mind, and I held it tightly in the force.  “If it attacks, defend me. Otherwise, leave it alone.”

“As you command,” he growled. I seized the sleen again and forced my will down upon it. It resumed its slow passage out into the dappled sunlight beneath the forest canopy as I tried to find a middle ground between being so deeply in control of the sleen that I lost track of everything else, and losing control of the beast entirely.

“Get the pack, Khem,” I said, wondering if I could hold my influence over the sleen while the Dashade came near, for the small creature was practically flooded with fear in the presence of such a large predator. Khem huffed and gave me a sidelong look, but as I reached out with the force to urge the sleen away, he grudgingly stomped forward to get the bag.

“One of the runes is missing,” said Khem.  I pushed the sleen back down into its hole, urging it to search for the not-food in its burrow, and it quickly located a few scraps of leather, a multi-tool, and finally the crystal rune. It held it in its mouth and scampered back out of the hole. I was very nervous that the beast would swallow, leaving me no choice but to eviscerate it and retrieve the rune that way, but to my great relief, it made it out of the hole and dropped it at Khem’s feet. The sleen felt weaker to my senses now, as though its force of will was being lessened by my continued presence.  

I released my hold, and it gave a long shiver and then scurried back into its den.  My head felt as though I had sand in my ears and sinuses, like the one time I’d almost been caught in a sandstorm on Korriban, but triumph was singing through me.  I’d done it!  I’d handled my problem like a sith, displaying new prowess in the process!  Now I could control beasts!  Well, potentially control beasts, and with much practice , I reminded myself. 

“Lady Shalath will be pleased,” I mused out loud, hefting the heavy runes as I loaded them into Khem’s pack.  They were carved pieces of a semitranslucent crystal, sleek in their understatedness and heavier than I expected them to be; the runes were inlaid with something like durasteel. “Is there anything else that’s missing?” 

Khem didn’t fidget; his stillness belied the impatience I knew was filling him.  I opened Maraad’s datapad and started looking through his instructions, for I wanted to make doubly sure that I had everything I needed. As I read Lady Shalath’s words, an idea took root in my head.  I knew it was reckless, but riding on the high of my success, I felt like I could do anything.

“Change of plans, Khem,” I said, making a snap decision.  I held out the datapad, highlighting coordinates.  “We’re heading here.  There’s an altar, and we’re going to finish this ritual for Lady Shalath.”

“You’re joking,” he said.

“Nope,” I said, holding my breath as I bent over Maraad’s body to claim his lightsaber. On Korriban, the dead dried out in the desert climate until they were completely desiccated, weighing little more than my satchel.  Here, the corpse’s bloated, rotting, eyeless face made me want to vomit. I shuddered.  “Lady Shalath wants a vial of venom from a Sith-spawned beast. We go to the altar, place the runes and a venomous creature on it, and then I channel the force through the runes, which should change the beast somehow. We get the venom in this bottle” I held up a tempered glass vial from Maraad’s shredded pack “and we’re done.  Easy.”

“If I must,” he said, rolling his shoulders.

We trooped deeper into the jungle. We weren’t far from the spot; it was a shallow natural cavern in the side of a mountain, framed by two converging rivers. The altar inside was formed of large, roughly cut slabs of stone; some light came in through the broad entrance, though, so I didn’t mind going in.  I paused by the entrance; the dark side felt twisted, sideways, somehow, as though the force was following an invisible groove.  If this place has been used for a particular ritual again and again, over hundreds or thousands of years, that has to have had some effect on the force, I mused.  

I set the runes on the stone as Lady Shalath had described, and I dug out a set of beast snares and restraints from Maraad’s things. Then I settled down to try to find a creature.  The forest was surprisingly empty of animals; I sat, meditating, trying to force the dark side to bend to my will as I stretched farther, trying to find something.  Another sleen caught my attention, and I drew my web over its mind.  This one seemed rather docile. Once under my sway, it was perfectly willing to prance through the undergrowth towards my location. I wasn’t able to give it directions, exactly, but I could draw it closer to where I felt myself waiting.  Nearer, nearer, until finally, through its strange, colorless gaze, I could see the cavern.

“Khem?” I said, practically falling flat on my face as I came back to myself a bit and tried to stand.  My legs had lost circulation. It was almost night; I hadn’t noticed the passage of time, deep in my meditation as I was, and my view from the sleen's eyes hadn’t revealed the sunset’s vibrant colors.  The Dashade laughed at my blunder.  

“Khem, tie the sleen to the altar,” I ordered, trying to regain control of the situation and the sleen simultaneously, for my hold had slipped and the beast was in danger of fleeing. Under my thrall, the sleen did not struggle as Khem collared the creature and fastened its head to the altartop. I wasn't sure what sort of changes might take place, so I had him teather all of its limbs as well, just in case. The altar had more than enough anchor points installed in it. 

“Be ready,” I said. My earlier confidence had waned and as my doubts set in, so did my grasp of the dark side weaken.  I began to draw on the force, using each rune in turn as a nexus of focus.  Mindful of the strange echo of patterns in the force that I’d sensed previously, I tried to bend the flow of the dark side to follow what I thought had come before. I knew I was close. It felt almost right; just a little too wild and free.  I released my hold on the sleen’s mind entirely, and the beast began to thrash and struggle, hissing violently. Without my concentration split, I bent myself to my task and felt the exact moment it clicked into place. What started as a small wind roared into a gale of the dark side flooding through my body, through the runes, through the sleen, winding, twisting, melting, changing. The creature keened, a horrible ringing shriek as though it was dying, and the sound changed as I watched the sleen’s neck bubble and shift under the skin.  I let the power die away.

The sleen lay panting, its long tongue lolling out of its mouth, foam and blood dripping in equal measure.  The force had remolded its face to be more angular, less rounded, and its fangs were larger and more pronounced. Its eyes still faced forward, but the skull had grown ridges of bone around them to protect them, emphasizing its predatory nature.  The creature was obviously bigger, both in height and length, and I noticed how its fourth rear claw had become more pronounced, more barb-like.  The tail had grown a heavy, club-like scaly protrusion, which it was now whipping around as it growled and hissed, flailing against the cables binding it to the altar.  

I reached out to calm the beast, but the moment the force touched it, the creature ceased its mindless thrashing and focused on me.  The sith spawn was snarling now, an eerie sound from a sleen (or what once had been a sleen), and its energy was now entirely devoted to breaking free and attacking me. It was a little frightening to see that much menace coming from the creature. I tried again to cover its mind with the force, imposing my will upon it, but the dark side seemed to feed it, not control it. I was making it worse.  It managed to wrench its left rear foot free of the tether, and I gave up.

“Kill it, Khem,” I snapped.  The Dashade took three steps forward and swiped up with his sword.  The sith spawn tried to dodge but couldn’t escape him.  He cut deeply into its throat. Blood splurted everywhere, but it quickly slowed to a steady flow.  The beast was weakening, stumbling to its knees, but even dying, it stared at me with hatred. I was glad to have it gone.  I didn’t like the beasts on Drommund Kaas already, and comparing this thing with the sleen it had once been left me feeling rather unsettled when I considered what changes might have occurred with a fully grown vine cat or gundark.

Extracting the venom sacks was easy for me, who had grown up having to carefully avoid poisoning myself when eating the venomous lizards of Korriban.  I used a small knife to cut away the sleen’s head and mouth until I found the opening for the sac, and then, having placed a jar beneath the fangs to catch any venom that might drip, I cut into it and allowed the dangerous liquid to drain into my vial.  Protective gloves kept it from getting on my hands, but I was still very careful.  I didn’t want a single speck of the modified venom or even the blood to touch my skin, just in case. 

“I think that will suit Lady Shalath just fine,” I said smugly, stripping my bloodied gloves away. “Now let’s get back.”

Chapter Text

By the time we were able to find a suitable landing zone, summon a speeder, and return to Lord Gratham’s estate, it was midday and we had long since passed the time we were to meet Dorotsech. There was no hotel, but the Cantina did rent rooms on an hourly basis, so Khem and I paid the exorbitant fee they charged to rent a tiny room with a refresher and a double bed. Khem put his bedroll on the floor and immediately ignored me for the rest of the evening, which was fine by me.

The end of night found us again walking through the tiny market, heading for the little bakery. The caf wasn’t anything special, but I was actually looking forward to the pastries. As the sky started to brighten and dawn approached, I spotted the cafe and a harried-looking Dorotsech waiting for me, a medium-large crate at his feet. He saw us and the relief that crossed his face was comical. Nobody had looked at me that way since I’d become a Sith, so I was in a good mood as I purchased my breakfast and approached the table beside him.  

“Good Morning, My Lady,” he said, bobbing his head nervously. “I’ve brought the device.”

“Marvelous,” I said, taking a bite that was a little too large. A piece crumbled down my front.

“I’ve included the complete technical readouts and schematics, so Lady Zash should have no trouble finding someone who is able to deploy it for her,” he said nervously. “I tried very hard to make it portable, but to adequately hold a war droid, it requires installation. I’ve written some very simple instructions, but please tell our Mistress that if she requires anything else, I am always her obedient servant.” He licked his lips.

“Please remind her that this is a one-time use,” he said. “In order to achieve the level of localized immobilization, the device, once switched on, will entirely consume the power cores, and it cannot be wired into a power grid due to the harmonization issues I mentioned before. In order to be reused, new cores will need to be synthesized and installed.”

“Don’t worry,” I said cheerfully. “I’ll only need to use it once.” There was something in my tone of voice that made him uneasy.  

“I don’t want to know, I don’t want to know,” he protested, waving his hands up as if to bat away my words. “I’m only a researcher, and I’m in too deep already. I’ve been happy to help, but I need to be heading back to Lord Gratham’s estate.”

“Thank you Dorotsech,” I said. “You’ve been most helpful.”

With all the checkpoints we had to go through, we made it back to Kaas City in the late afternoon. Lady Zash was most excited to see us. She sent me straight to Lady Shalath’s home, which was actually quite nearby in the Sith District. Khem and I were admitted by a slave, a middle-aged human woman who escorted us to the parlor and provided us with refreshment before leaving us to wait. She did not invite us to sit.

“I did not expect you to return so quickly,” Lady Chiara Shalath began, sweeping into the parlor. I bowed deeply as my tutor had taught me, showing the respect that was due a Sith of higher rank, but not the obeisance of a slave. She stared at me, her upper lip curling. “What of Maraad?”

“I located your apprentice, my lady,” I said, pulling her apprentice’s lightsaber from my satchel. I placed it on both palms and offered it to her with another bow. It flew from my hands with the force into her own grasp.  

“Yes, this is his,” she murmured. “How did he die?”

“He encountered a pack of Vine Cats, my lady,” I said. “He defeated them, but died from the attack.”

“Of course he did, the stupid weakling,” she snarled. “Of course!” She wheeled and flung the lightsaber at the wall in a burst of fury, and I flinched in spite of myself. Khem didn’t move, his beady eyes fixed on Lady Shalath. The Sith caught his steady gaze, and I felt the tension between them as she recognized the implicit threat that he posed.

“He did fight well, Lady Shalath,” I assured her. “Nevertheless, I have recovered the runes that you required.” I drew them out of my bag, one by one, and set them gently in a row on the table. 

“Yes, they’re all here, and undamaged,” she said to me, eyeing me sideways. “I shall tell Zash you performed adequately.” 

“I also have this for you, my lady,” I said, placing the full vial of sith spawn venom on the table. She went very still.

“How did you get this?” she asked quietly.  

“Maraad’s datapad had the coordinates of the altar,” I said. “I knew that you would still need the venom, so I went and completed the ritual for you.”

“How did you know the ritual?” she asked.  

“Your instructions were clear,” I said, not understanding. “I caught a sleen and changed it into a sith spawn.”

“Maraad knew the ritual because I taught it to him,” she said. “How did you know how to power the runes?”

“I could sense it,” I said. “It was clear what had to be done once the runes were on the altar.”

“I see,” she said, fingering the vial. “Well, how entirely unexpected. I begin to see why Zash is so strangely taken with you.” I didn’t know how to answer that, so I waited quietly. Eventually she pursed her lips and nodded, as if coming to some decision, but whatever it was, she didn’t share it with me. 

“You’re dismissed,” she said crisply. “You may tell your master that I will contact her later.”

“Yes, Lady Shalath,” I said, bowing again. Khem gave the slight perfunctory bow he’d adopted in his time as my servant, and then we returned to Lady Zash.

My master didn’t call us to her the next day, or the next, but on the following day, I’d barely eaten breakfast when my comm dinged, summoning me to her private sitting room. Khem followed me even though he hadn’t been explicitly invited, because he followed me everywhere, fearing that I would die and his honor would forever be shamed. Lady Zash, to her credit, accepted my shadow with nary a pause.

“Apprentice,” she said, “the time has come for me to explain exactly how we are going to kill Skotia.”

“Finally!” I breathed.  

“The problem has always been the Dark Council’s recent edict against infighting here on Dromund Kaas,” she began. “Darth Skotia has grown weaker and weaker as he has incorporated more and more cybernetics into his body. He’s no longer the threat that he once was, and he knows it. He spends most of his time in Kaas City for that reason, using threats and blackmail to accomplish his goals now. Nobody has dared to kill him and risk death for defying the Dark Council.”

“I’m not particularly eager to experience that myself,” I drawled.  

“Oh, we’d both be put to death if the Dark Council can prove what we’ve done,” Zash said, surprised. “That’s why this must be perfectly executed, no mistakes, and why you must kill him alone while I establish an alibi.

“You see, whenever Skotia finally leaves Korriban and returns to Dromund Kaas, I’ve made arrangements for his ship to dock in a very specific landing bay. I’ve had some trusted servants install the anti-cyborg device in the doorway directly between the landing bay and the antechamber, so as he walks through, every cybernetic device in his body will short circuit and overload while the magnetic field holds him still. I imagine it’s going to be extremely painful.” She looked very pleased at that prospect. “How I wish I could be there to see the contortions on his malformed face when you destroy him! Alas, I will be at a party somewhere with lots of eyes and attention.”

“What about the bodyguards?” I asked.

“You’ve got their artefact,” she said. “I assume they’ll attack him, or flee, or something. But they’ll add to the confusion. Show it to them once Skotia’s trapped.”

“They pose no threat against me,” said Khem confidently. “I know their kind. They rely on speed over skill.”

“We will be accusing them of setting the trap that kills Skotia,” said Lady Zash, raising her eyebrows at me over the steaming cup of tea she held in her hands. “I’d prefer if they don’t survive the encounter.”

“Oh, they won’t,” I said. “I never intended to leave witnesses.”

“Good,” said my master. “Now, your alibi will be a bit more uncomfortable to implement, but I’m sure that you will bear it well.” Lady Zash took a small, ladylike bit of a tea cake and I waited impatiently for her to continue. 

“I will be sending you to the spaceport tomorrow. You and the Dashade will go to the hangar, where I have ordered a ship to be waiting for you. Officially, I’m sending you off planet to pick up something for me. However, when the ship leaves, you will not be on it. Instead, you will remain in the hangar, for days or even weeks if necessary, until we can spring our trap on Skotia. Once he’s dead, you will leave the hangar through the maintenance access and go to the landing bay next door, where you will again wait until my new ship can arrive, officially bringing you back to Drommund Kaas well after the murder has taken place.”

“So basically, you want me to pretend to leave, camp in the hangar, kill Skotia, and then pretend to come back to Drommund Kaas, is that it?”

“Precisely,” she said. “It’s not the most convenient, I know, but I’m confident that this is our best chance, and we won’t get another opportunity like this anytime soon.”

“I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment,” I said.

Chapter Text

Weeks later, I still felt like I’d been waiting my whole life to kill Skotia.  Lady Zash had sent me and Khem with instructions to hide in one of the large storage pods against the back of hangar.  She had made arrangements for the holocams to be briefly turned off, but we were still in danger of being spotted by anybody with eyes or optical sensors, so as soon as Khem and I had entered the hangar, we’d noticed how strangely deserted it felt, vacant except for the sleek personal starship waiting for me and my servant to “board and depart” Drommund Kaas.  None of the droid or human personnel were at their regular posts. The customs station was unmanned, and the office was dark and silent.

As we had watched, the starship engines began to spin and whine, and eventually it gently lifted off the ground and moved smoothly into the air as the aperture above opened to allow the pilot access to the sky. The ship had disappeared from view, and the ceiling closed behind it.  The bright hangar lights had switched off, leaving only the dim access lights to guide us to the stack of containers.  My lightsaber had served us well, for I hadn’t thought to clip my light to my belt for a task that was entirely indoors. We had checked each one until we found the one that was unlocked.  Inside, a rough camp had been set up; a portable toilet, two bedrolls, and a large stack of ration packs were all that I saw.  It was lit with flat, harsh fluorescent lights, and although it didn’t have windows, the slightest movement of air on my fur told me that somewhere, a vent was circulating the oxygen. It was noticeably smaller than the size of our quarters on the Black Talon.  Inwardly, I groaned.  Khem’s restlessness was going to be a nightmare.

“Oh look, Khem, more rations!” I had said in a faux cheerful, singsong sort of voice.  He’d merely scowled at me.

“Someday I will devour you, little Sith,” he had said, his favorite thing to say to me.  At the time, I’d scoffed and rolled my eyes.  

Days later, though, I was the one who was about to pop from sheer miserable restlessness.  Khem had decided to prove he was better than I was by flinging himself into meditation and reading, devouring histories in languages that I didn’t even recognize.  Spite drove him to sit hours in perfect stillness, which was contrasted by my ever-increasing fidgeting. I had my schoolwork to study, as well as my own meditation and force studies, but being unable to leave the cell-like room was stifling.  I found myself humming tunelessly, gnawing on my datapad stylus, or even picking at my fur. Outside, we heard starships come and go at all hours of the day and night with no discernable pattern, so reluctantly, in order to stay hidden, we stayed in our little prison, passing every miserable minute together.  

At long last, on the 18th day, Lady Zash commed me.  I didn’t bother getting up when I answered. “Apprentice, there you are!”

“Finally!  I was beginning to think you’d forgotten me,” I said rudely. 

“I’ve got news for you,” she continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “I just got confirmation!  Skotia left Korriban an hour ago.”

“You can’t mean that I have to wait any longer in this force-forsaken hole!” I protested, the desperation in my voice quite real. 

“This puts him arriving on Dromund Kaas in a little under 5 days,” my master said implacably.  “In preparation for his arrival, I will schedule the removal of your shipping container in 4 days, so you’ll need to vacate the container and hide yourselves somewhere else using the stealth field generators I provided,” she said. 

“Anything else I can do for you?” I said sarcastically.  “Maybe we can do your washing while we’re at it?”

“Oh, oh, you’re teasing me, apprentice!” she laughed. “We’re so very close.  I’ll ping you again when Skotia’s ship is detected entering the system.  Don’t lose your focus.”  She hung up and I dropped my head back onto my mattress with a groan. 

“I hung in stasis for over a thousand years,” growled Khem, not opening his eyes from where he knelt in meditation.  “You are breaking after two weeks.”

“You weren’t conscious, and you know it, Khem,” I snarled back, feeling my claws extend in my fury.  “And then you became my slave and cried over the dead Sith Lord that locked you away.”

“I would have served Tulak Hord until the Sun died away,” he said, sorrow abruptly replacing his anger.  I had failed to provoke him.  “I would have slain Death itself to defend him!”

“And I thought I was crazy,” I muttered, my anger morphing into irritation.  I knew what was coming next, and sure enough, Khem began a chant that I knew far too well, beating his head into the ground. Apparently, Dashades mourned by smashing their ugly faces into the floor and babbling until they felt better. I lay back, once again turning to my datapad and headset to distract me from his ritual.  It didn’t help much, of course, but I had to do something!

The fourth day, Khem and I were ready and concealed behind the mobile refueler which was parked in a corner of the hangar, when the lights powered on, the ceiling opened, and a small cargo hauler landed. A small crew of colorfully painted droids efficiently piled out of the spacecraft, and the young male Rodian leading them took his datapad over to the shipping containers and began scanning them to identify his cargo. 

“Of course it’s on the bottom,” he complained, typing something into his datapad.  “Alright, boys.”  They beeped and whistled cheerfully in response.  There was a large hoist by the wall, and with the help of his droids, cables were attached to the stacked containers, and then the stack was shifted, one by one, until the hideout that I’d just spent 3 weeks living in was lifted off the ground.  

“Load ‘er up!” he ordered.  The droids rolled it carefully over to the ship, where the magnetic claws clamped it tightly. “Okay, everything back in the pile.”  The crew restacked the other shipping containers and left; Khem and I relaxed again as the hanger descended into semidarkness.  Not much longer now. I felt the burn of anticipation in my stomach; it was because of Skotia I was stuck here.  He was the reason I had been so miserable.  He’d tried to have me killed, and he was standing in my way.  I wanted him dead so badly, I could almost taste my hatred.  Khem watched me pacing back and forth, seething in my fury and drawing the dark side closer, tighter around me. 

My comm dinged as Lady Zash sent me a message.  I’m at my party now, it read, and I can’t wait to see you when you get back to Drommund Kaas.  I expect to see you very soon.  Meet me at the Nexus Cantina.  

“It’s almost time, Khem,” I said. We took our chosen spot at the entrance of the hangar, where Skotia would have to get past both of us to leave.  The lights began to click on, and above their electronic hum, the grinding sound of the ceiling doors opening made us activate our stealth field generators.  My palms were sweating, and I wiped them on my robes. I couldn’t see Khem, but I knew he was there.

We waited, silent in our stillness. Skotia’s ship descended slowly and delicately set down on the floor; the ramp descended and the two Trandoshan bodyguards came out, weapons ready.  They sniffed the air and looked around suspiciously.  The Darth himself followed them closely, striding purposefully towards the exit and forcing them to rush to be at his side.  Three steps from the anti-cyborg field, one of the aliens stopped their master.

“Someone lurks unseen,” it growled, sniffing the air.  Skotia paused, and his one human eye narrowed as I felt the force swell sharply around him.  It felt like a cloud of knives, lunging out and cutting any defenses that I might’ve raised through the force.  He knew I was there, so I sneered and let the stealth field drop.  Khem remained hidden, and I sensed him inch away from me, although I couldn’t quite pinpoint him through the force, resistant as he was to its effects.

“It is the soft-skinned toy of Zash,” one of the Trandoshans said.  “What shall we do with her, Master?”

“Nothing yet,” Skotia declared.  The Trandoshans had their weapons out, searching for Khem and any other threats with all of their senses.  “What makes you so bold as to meet me here, Slave?”

“I’ve been asked to kill you,” I said idly, feeling my fangs grow and my claws extend.  The dark side was boiling over inside of me now, and I was almost giddy with anticipation, too far gone to be afraid.  “And I hate to disappoint.”

Skotia laughed, and the indicator lights on his cybernetic implants began to blink and flash faster.  “Skeesk,” he said, indicating one of the Trandoshans.  “Kill her.”

“Just a moment,” I said, drawing their attention to their sacred stone relic.  I held it up with one arm, hoping that it wouldn’t break if I was forced to drop it to defend myself.  “Recognize this?”

“It has the tablet!” said one bodyguard.  “What to do brother?”

“We must obey,” murmured the other, and both bowed deeply at the waist to me, holding their bows.

“Clever,” said Skotia, applauding mockingly.  “Zash must’ve stayed up late to think of that one.”  He dusted his gloves.  Then like a viper, he slammed one hand out in a powerful force push that sent one Trandoshan sprawling against the far wall.  As the second was turning to attack, he clenched his fist and the beast began to strangle, held up by the force grip to suffocate. “But the bodyguards are nothing.  Just show.”  

Khem leapt from within his invisibility to attack, his weapon descending behind Skotia. The stealth generator disguised smooth, gradual movements, and it completely failed as the Dashade flung himself into battle with a finesse that I’d never seen before, but the Darth managed to ignite his lightsaber and block just in time, though he had to drop the Trandoshan to do it.  I’d watched as Khem tested himself against beasts and apprentices, but Skotia was a veteran warrior and was a talented bladesman and held his ground with moderate effort.  The Trandoshan almost seemed to be impeding their combat.  Skotia pushed him away and then launched himself backwards, towards me, with a spiraling twist of his body that helped him avoid a quick swipe of Khem’s blade.  I only had time for one quick squeak of terror.  I’d barely begun to fumble for my lightsaber (I let the stone tablet fall, which didn’t shatter as it narrowly missed my foot but definitely lost a few pieces) when Skotia passed through the doorway in front of me.  

The instant he stepped into the field, his metal feet were frozen to the durasteel flooring, Skotia had the presence of mind to deactivate his lightsaber as he fell, shouting in bewilderment. The rotating magnetic field targeted him, and I watched as his body twisted at unnatural angles to accommodate the powerful, unrelenting pull.  The device’s emp abilities kicked in, and his wiring sparked and caught fire in places as everything briefly overloaded.  His life support stuttered and failed, and the indicator lights in his eye went dark and smoke trickled out of the socket.

“What is this?” he cried.  Khem kept well back.  The Trandoshan stood there, bewildered, and my Dashade neatly beheaded him in his distraction.  One less thing to worry about. “Did you...Zash!” he bellowed.  I was impressed he could gather enough air to shout, but already he was gasping harder and his voice was quieting. “Zash, you’ve killed me!”

“She’s not here,” I snapped.  “This is all me.”

“Mind...less,” he stuttered, his speech growing more and more labored.  “You don’t...know what Zash...can do.  Think! Think of how...long she must have...plotted my death. She will ...kill you...like she’s...killed me.”

“If that day comes, I’ll be ready for her,” I snarled, and I shocked him with lightning.  He gasped, but he seemed to already be so near death or so overwhelmed by pain already that it didn’t have the debilitating effect that it usually did. Held firmly by the anti-droid field, he couldn’t convulse or rip himself free.  I let it end and he sagged.  His one eye was bloodshot and unfocused as it stared in my direction.

“Mind...less,” he repeated, no longer able to maintain the strength of force or body to stay upright.  He collapsed down to the ground, his mechanical arms also trapped there in the magnetic field.  “Zash.  Zash!”

“How dare you say another woman’s name while I’m killing you!” I snapped, actually angry that he was dying at my hand and didn’t even acknowledge me!  He bared his teeth at me, which was surprisingly intimidating, considering he had a human mouth and was literally on the cusp of death.  I sent one long, continuous stream of lightning at his body, watching as it traveled along his various cybernetic parts and pieces, melting flesh and twisting metal until it was a steaming mess.  He died cursing Zash’s name. It disgusted me, but I admired the way he fought his death until the end.

I felt very unsatisfied.

Khem and I waited a couple more minutes until the anti-cyborg device ran out of power before trying to approach the body.  As tempting as it was to take something as a little token of my defeat of a Darth, I knew better.  I told myself it was because I didn’t want to risk blowing my cover by being discovered with a piece of dead cyborg, but the real reason was that I knew he had been right.  

I hadn’t killed him; Zash had.  Skotia had died because of the plans she’d laid, the preparation she’d made, and the stratagem she’d employed. I was merely the weapon she’d used to take him down, but I was under no delusions that I was essential to this process.  I knew that if it hadn’t been for the lockdown, impeding the movements of all non-sith, she would’ve used assassins or mercs to kill him. And I hadn’t done some grand feat in killing this man; I’d stood idly by, not even drawing my lightsaber, and while I had used lightning on him, he’d have died without it as the emp blast had destroyed his life support.

Khem had checked the Trandoshan lying limply by the hangar wall; it was dead, so there was no reason for us to linger any longer.  We made our way over to the hangar maintenance access tunnels, which were barely large enough for Khem to slip into.  Presumably they’d been built to accommodate slaves or droids of various types; I could walk almost normally, while Khem had to turn sideways and occasionally crouch, but that was enough.  As before, all holocams were deactivated and dead in their sockets as we passed.

We waited in the next hangar over for another hour.  Every second made me nervous that somebody would somehow discover Skotia’s body and our cover would be blown, but everything went seamlessly.  I felt empty, like all the tension had wrung me up and tied me in knots, leaving no room for victory.  The spaceship from weeks before came and landed in the hangar; Khem and I waited a few minutes, then made our way back up and out of the spaceport.  Nobody stopped us.  Nobody screamed about the murder of a darth. We got in a speeder, and we left.  

Chapter Text

We were dropped off in front of one of the fanciest buildings I’d seen.  The outside kept to the standard Kaas City color palate, but the inside featured shiny metals and jewels and soft, delicate shimmersilks.  The attendant at the front desk really didn’t want to let me and Khem in (and I didn’t blame her; we didn’t smell at all nice after spending so many days in that box) but when pressed, she reluctantly had us escorted to Lady Zash since my master had apparently made known that she was expecting my presence and had paid accordingly. 

Khem and I followed the diminutive human woman into a small elevator and stepped out into a large room full of Sith Lords and Ladies; Khem and I were some of the only aliens, and we were very underdressed in the sea of bejeweled, embroidered robes and meticulously coiffed hair. One end of the room was dominated by a long dais, which featured actual, live musicians and singers performing.  Twi'leks undulated on the stage and in the dancing crowd below. Off to the side, a long and well-stocked bar manned by droids seemed to be the most popular feature of the room, narrowly followed by a sunken area of the room which was surrounded by sitting and standing Sith.  I took a closer look, curious to see what was so engaging. 

I abruptly tore my gaze away from the scene and scanned the couch-lined walls, searching for Lady Zash, grateful that my fur-covered face prevented my blush from being visible.  I had seen enough to know that my master was not one of the participants or the onlookers, and that was more than enough for me.  I’d never been fond of that particular activity, in spite of my species.  Being a slave and unable to refuse had utterly removed any desire I had to engage in such diversions. 

Thankfully, Lady Zash had spotted me and was gesturing me towards her.  She sat with a group of chattering Sith women, and while I didn’t know her conversation companion, the jeweled brooch on her chest bore the crest of a darth. “I’m so sorry,” I heard her saying as I approached, “but I really must speak with my apprentice!  She’s just returned from off planet, delivering something rather sensitive.”

“Lady Zash,” I said. I bowed to her, absolutely nailing the elegant move that my tutor had drilled into me.  She smiled proudly.

“Thank the Emperor you’ve arrived,” she said.  “It doesn’t matter how much one drinks or plays, these parties are DULL!  I hope you’ve come to cheer me up.”

“I have done as you commanded.” 

“Of course you have, my magnificent apprentice!” she said.  “How was your journey?”

“Uneventful,” I said.  “It went exactly as expected. I...”  Her holocom chimed, and she drew it from her belt.  I noticed that her fingernails had been buffed and painted with a golden shimmer that matched her eyes.  She smiled smugly and gestured for me to be silent as she answered it.

“Darth Thanaton!” she gushed.  “What an unexpected pleasure!  I’m honored, my lord, but why call me?” The hair on my arms stood as I realized exactly why he was calling her.  This was to be our first test.  Would our alibis hold up under the incoming scrutiny?

“You have nerve, Zash, NERVE!” snarled Thanaton, “But I thought you were smarter!”

“With all respect, Darth Thanaton, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  She hit the right note of confusion and innocence.

“Don’t play ignorant with me, Zash, Skotia’s dead, and you killed him!”  The tiny holographic Darth stabbed one finger out for emphasis.

“Skotia? Dead?”  Zash’s voice rang with incredulity.  “That’s the first I’ve heard of it!  When did this happen?”

“Just now, Zash.”  Thanaton’s voice was low and furious, and I could see he was pacing a bit, for the holo struggled to properly keep him in frame. “What did you expect to gain? His title? His position?  You know it doesn’t work that way.  Where’s your discretion?!”  

“Discretion?” stammered Lady Zash.  “I’ve been at this party for ages!  I may have had a bit too much to drink, but I’m fairly certain I haven’t murdered anyone!” She laughed. “Though I have always fancied Skotia’s chambers.  So much more shelf space!”  Thanaton’s face grew even darker at her mockery. 

“Zash, I don’t want to have this conversation by holo,” he seethed. “Report to my chambers immediately!”

“Yes, Darth Thanaton, it would be my pleasure,” she said brightly.  The communication cut, and she sighed, still looking very pleased.

“Should I be concerned?” I asked, very aware of the effort it was taking to keep my claws sheathed.

“Give me time to talk to Thanaton,” she said.  “And don’t worry.”  She leaned in to me, lowering her voice and raising her hand to disguise the movements of her mouth.  “You’ve done your part, and now it’s time for me to play mine.  We did it, apprentice!”  

My master said her goodbyes to the gossipy Darth and then the three of us made our way out of the Nexus Cantina.  She summoned a speeder for herself to the Citadel, and Khem and I made our way home to shower and eat and sleep and get some force-blessed distance between us, even if it was just from one room to the next.

Lady Zash summoned me to her that evening. I hurried to her private sitting room, eager to hear the results of her conversation, and she met me, beaming.  The first thing I noticed was that she’d changed her robes; her crest remained the same, but the border around them had changed to the spiked cogwheel of a Darth. 

“I have good news, apprentice!” she trilled, clasping her hands in real excitement.  The force felt smug and languid around her, so full of self-satisfaction I could almost taste it.  “I just left that insufferable Thanaton, and you would’ve been proud of me.  I went in for a reprimand, but I emerged a Darth. ”

“You’ve certainly earned it,” I said respectfully, thinking of the preparations she’d made to kill Skotia.  But my words must’ve pricked some unseen vulnerability in her, because she made a sharp gesture with one arm. 

“I did more than you realize!” she snapped.  But just as quickly, her anger flowed back into its confines and she was once again gleeful at her new position.  “More importantly, now we can finally act.  Do you remember the map that you recovered that pointed us towards the power of Tulak Hord?”

“Of course!”

“The first piece of that artefact, the main piece, is here, on Dromund Kaas, in the deepest chamber of the Dark Temple,” she explained.  “Skotia continually denied my requests to go there and study its effects. Now I have his title, his chambers, and his authority; he always said I would enter the Dark Temple over his rusting corpse.”  She laughed, not quite a cackle, but low and melodic and menacing.  

“Before I went to Korriban to choose an apprentice, a furious apparition awoke in the Temple, implacable in its anger, murdering all who dared to trespass on the innermost chamber,” she explained casually, as if a homicidal ghost was something you encountered every day.  “But in my meditations afterwards, the force granted me a vision, the strongest I’ve ever seen! An apprentice of low origin humbled himself...or herself, as it happened,” she added, nodding at me, “before the apparition, pacifying it.  

“That’s why you and your peers were chosen,” she explained. “You must go into the temple and bow before the spirit.  I believe your humility will be the key.”

“You believe?” I scoffed, before I could think better of it.  Zash didn’t appear to get angry, but a sense of imminent danger filled me through the force and my fur stood on end. 

“I can’t lie to you,” said Darth Zash earnestly.  “There’s no guarantee that you’ll return.  But I believe that you’re the one I saw in my visions, the one that can assuage the Spirit and gain access to the Dark Temple’s inner sanctum and the artefact within.

“Look at all you’ve achieved already!” She encouraged me.  “You found that holocron locked away in the City of Marka Ragnos on Korriban, one that full Sith Lords and even a Darth or two have been unable to access.  It opened for you and no one else.  And then you opened the chamber to release this Dashade.”  She pointed carelessly at Khem Val, who bared his fangs at her.  “Did you know that shortly after you arrived here on Dromund Kaas, a foolish acolyte went to that chamber and removed the rods, sealing the chamber once more?”  She stared deeply into my eyes.  “Nobody else has been able to reopen it.  Not even Darths have been able to open it.”  

“Why not?” I asked, my mouth suddenly dry.

“Who knows?” she said.  “There is so much about the mysteries of the Force that we don’t understand! I don’t know why my vision called for a slave-born sith, but I can tell you this--you have a great destiny.  I have seen how powerful you and I shall grow together.  You are going to go to the temple, you are going to humble yourself before the Spirit, and you, my magnificent apprentice, are going to succeed where everyone else has failed.” She beamed at me. 

“Since you recovered the map, I’ve devoted myself to studying the chamber in question,” Zash continued.  “I even snuck into the temple once while you were still on Korriban, but things didn’t quite go to plan.  This is where you come in.”

“What happened when you tried to get in?” I asked.

“Without Skotia’s key, I couldn’t get through the doors,” said my master.  “When I tried to force my way in, the Spirit attacked me, tormented me with visions and weakness of soul until I realized what it was attempting to do and forced it back.”

“What was it trying to do?” I asked sharply.

“It was drawing on my connection to the Force to strengthen it,” she said.  “I certainly believe that this apparition is strong enough to manifest itself to other force sensitives if it so chooses.”

“And you think that I’m the one who can do this,” I said again.  I knew she’d already answered that question, but I was afraid, and she was patient.

“I do,” she said.  

“Then I’ll go,” I said.  “Do we know anything about this ghost?  His name, or who killed him?”

“His name was Lord Kallig, and...”  Khem roared suddenly, and I leaped out of my chair in fright as Zash’s lightsaber appeared in her hand out of nowhere, crimson and deadly in the small space.  I cowered behind her as Khem roared again.

“You will not defile Lord Kallig’s tomb!” He threatened.

“Silence, monster!” She ordered viciously.  “You will do as you’re told.”  He snarled again at her, his fangs flashing red in the glow of her weapon.  

“My oath to Tulak Hord is greater than anything that binds me to this infant,” he said warningly.  “I will not defend you against Tulak Hord or his heir.”

“His heir?” I asked.

“Aloysius Kallig was Tulak Hord’s protégé,” said Lady Zash.  Khem had stepped back and folded his arms across his chest, so she allowed her lightsaber to lower, although she didn’t deactivate it.  “He died in a trap that was intended for Tulak Hord, and so Tulak Hord ordered the construction of a grand temple to serve as his tomb and a warning for his enemies.  He had the sith who was responsible buried alive in the foundation, along with the traitor’s entire household.”

“I will not defile the great Tulak Hord or Lord Kallig,” Khem repeated.  “I will not enter the tomb.  You will face the ghost alone.”  His face was dark and furious, but he held himself stiffly. 

“Just get me into the temple,” I said.  “I’ll do the rest.”  He grunted his grudging assent, and I sighed in relief and came out from behind my master.

“Listen to me, Beast,” said Darth Zash.  “The next time you threaten me, it will be your last.”  She pointed her saber directly at his face, and Khem scoffed but said nothing, so she deactivated it and stowed it away in her sleeve. 

“Prepare yourself, apprentice.  This is your final test.  Succeed, and I shall declare you my heir. Succeed, and we shall be on a path to the power of Tulak Hord.”

Chapter Text

There were several checkpoints that we had to pass on our way to the Dark Temple. Darth Zash had given me official permission, so at each stop the soldiers examined our ID chits and consulted their datapads and then ushered us along. The guards grew progressively more suspicious, more on edge, and the terrain we passed grew less and less civilized.  At the final outpost, I noted that several soldiers wore extra armor and carried large assault cannons.  I nervously considered what kind of beasts would pose such a consistent threat as to necessitate such precautions. 

“The path is not well maintained, my lady,” warned the officer in charge of the checkpoint. “The stones at least prevent the trees from completely obscuring the road, but the other plants have completely overgrown it. Will you require an additional map?”

“I’ll take whatever you have,” I said gratefully.  It was cloudy, and I didn’t want to risk taking longer than I had to on this journey in case it began to rain again.  “Do you have any other advice for me?”

“Only to be extra cautious, my lady,” he said.  “There are not many who pass this way and return unscathed.  They say the Dark Temple changes a person.”

“Wonderful.” I drawled.  “Come, monster.”  My Dashade was stomping around.  He carried a small bag with a couple of rations and his sword-cleaning kit.  I hadn’t dared ask him to carry anything for me, so I reluctantly put my own large pack on my back and headed out through the gate into the forest beyond.  

The remains of an ancient road stretched out beyond us.  It was made of meter-wide slabs that had shifted and settled over the years, so grass and vines and even small bushes grew in the cracks and along the edges, but just as the soldier had assured me, I could still make out where I needed to go. I wondered why Zash hadn’t ordered a speeder for me to go the final distance, but I was certainly not going to be stopped by a few kilometers now. 

We didn’t encounter many beasts along the path, but Khem was practically vibrating with the urge to explode into violence, so when a pair of some foolish quadrupedal carnivores came bounding out of the underbrush at me, he didn’t hold back.  He snarled a battle cry and leaped forward, unsheathing his blade in one quick motion and swiping a beast across the side as he kicked the other directly in the face.  His clawed foot smashed the creature directly into the ground, and he stomped on it twice, savoring its panic, and its death.  The other beast was trying to flee, but his broadsword was too quick for it.  

Khem shook its body off of his blade, glaring at me.  He didn’t speak, but I didn’t need him to.  I knew what he thought.  I was antsy enough as it was, heading to a challenge that very well might end up killing me; I desperately hoped that my master was right, that I was the correct person she needed.  I wasn’t laboring under any delusions--Zash had been very clear.  She needed me for one purpose, and one purpose only.  I knew that if I’d refused to go to the temple, if she had been unable to persuade me to obey, I wouldn’t have lasted very long. No apprentice would survive long when her master had turned against her!  No, my course had been set for me, and once again my only choice was to succeed or die. 

Bitterness grew in my chest. Harkun, my former overseer at the Korriban Sith Academy, had repeatedly given me challenges meant to kill me. That I’d succeeded in spite of it all was a testament to my strength and determination and my “great destiny”, and in the privacy of my own mind, I was terrified that my “luck”, whatever blessing of the force that had “chosen” me to be the one capable of retrieving holocrons and opening doors, would run out and I would die a terrible, painful, awful death, quite possibly eaten by Khem Val.

I was fighting my hardest, trying to learn and grow in power and skill, but it seemed like no matter what I did, I was by far inadequate.  Just once, I wanted my successes to be because of my own abilities, not because of some mysterious destiny or because an ancient warrior slaughtered my enemies for me.  But here again, I was heading towards a challenge that was almost entirely out of my control. All other avenues were closed to me. And I didn’t want to die.

I could sense the temple ahead of us.  Khem and I had been walking for a few hours now, and it was almost like a subtle weight was settling more firmly around my shoulders with every step that we took. As we followed the unlit path, the jungle around us grew quieter, and the faintest whisper of voices began to speak in my mind.  None of it was in Basic or Cathar or any language I spoke, but every word was laced with malice.  Khem Val walked behind me.  He still hadn’t said a single word to me since we’d disembarked the speeder, and I didn’t need the Force to sense the hatred and fury pouring off of him.  His muscles flexed spasmodically, as though every second, he had to force himself to contain the killing blow he so desperately wanted to give me.  

I knew that entering and disturbing Lord Kallig’s tomb was pressing the very borders of the vow he had sworn.  Khem viewed Lord Kallig as the rightful heir to Tulak Hord, and so the idea that I would trespass upon the temple, the grave, that Tulak Hord had built for his second-in-command, violated every instinct he possessed, and only his people’s honor stayed his hand.

It was afternoon, but the trees were so thick around us that it was quite dark.  I could see clearly, of course.  My Cathar night vision was far better than that of a Human.  Khem had a harder time of it, but with his heat-sensitive cones, I shone brightly to his gaze, so he could follow after me that way at least. We kept shoving our way through the undergrowth, following the overgrown trail straight towards the heart of the Dark Side convergence that I sensed ahead. 

As we finally emerged from the treeline, I smoothed back my fur and flexed my hands, giving in to the urge to allow my claws to extend.  A perimeter had been created around the building, no doubt maintained by the occasional droid team, by cutting down most of the forest and burning away the vegetation, which had left large black char marks on the surrounding stone walls.  The pathways were falling apart, crumbling into gravel, and that made the climb up rather challenging.  My boots slipped more than once, but I managed to maintain my balance.  The Dashade trooped behind me like a malevolent shadow.  

Within the temple grounds proper, nothing grew, in spite of areas where dirt and soil had piled up in corners and cracks of the fallen stone walls. I wondered if some ancient sith alchemy had cursed the area to be devoid of life, or it was just regularly treated with poison. It was unsettling, regardless, to be entering an area on Drommund Kaas that didn’t scream of life through the force.  Rather, I was increasingly sure, the dead ruled this area of the Sith capital world. Occasionally on Korriban, particularly in the tombs or in the ancient city of Marka Ragnos, I’d felt this sense of peering eyes, of being surrounded and watched, but never had it been so prominent. Here, I could feel what seemed almost like echoes, as though a distant crowd observed and mocked my progress. 

I passed by the silent surveillance droids that stood guard around the outside and entered through the enormous archway.  I wondered if Khem would follow me inside or if this would be his limit, but he didn’t hesitate at the threshold. A fine layer of dust and dirt covered the entrance hall, borne in by the wind that tugged at my robes and fur. It grew deeper and thicker, the farther in we went.  I could see the traces of beings who had gone before, but there were no fresh footprints, either of man or of beast, which set my mind a bit more at ease. The carvings along the entrance had been worn away by the constant battering of wind and debris, so I could barely make out anything. 

Once we were inside, we entered a great central hall where things were in much better condition.  The thing about monolithic construction was that, broadly speaking, buildings lasted much longer than smaller, delicate ones. The stones were still smooth and in some places even rather polished, and while there was the occasional pillar that had suffered some damage to its ornate carvings, for the most part everything looked relatively untouched, in spite of the many years that had passed since its construction.  The temple’s ancient illumination orbs were long since extinguished; nothing in the entire building seemed to have any power at all. Light dimly filtered in from a complex system of skylights and mirrors in the ceiling. Carved stone figures flanked the pillars, very reminiscent of Korriban’s ancient Sith statues, their heads respectfully bowed.  

Khem Val was taking everything in; he had been in stasis before Lord Kallig’s murder, and this entire construction had occurred years after that.  The whole building was eerily still to my physical senses, but within the force there were voices speaking as though from a great distance, and I kept thinking I saw flickers of movement out of the corner of my eyes, only to find nothing there.  

As we reached the far side of the main entry hall, the Dashade behind me stopped to stare up at the great statue that towered at least 50 m above us, dominating the entire hall.  It wore great stone and metal robes and armor which were inlaid with a precious stone that looked greenish in the light.  The face was completely concealed by a skull mask, and it wore a helmet with short, horn-like points that gave it an inhuman menace.  It was mostly illuminated; I could make out large hearths at its feet, where fires for sacrifices could’ve burned. 

“Do you recognize him?” I asked Khem.  For a moment, I didn’t think he would answer.  “Is it Lord Kallig?”

“Yes,” he said finally.  “Lord Kallig was known for his prowess in battle, both with the lightsaber, as well as his abilities with the force. My Lord Tulak Hord drew many sith to him who sought my Lord’s power, and Lord Kallig brought great glory to my master.  He is deserving of this honor.”  

Lady Zash had provided me with a generalized floorplan, and so I headed towards the back, past the statue, to a great set of double doors inlaid with crystal designs that seemed familiar somehow. I drew Lady Zash’s key from my satchel.  It was a large metal cube, which slotted easily into the central mechanism of the door.  Some mechanical mechanism must’ve been triggered, because the great doors split open and swung wide.  I stared inside, wide-eyed, at the pile of broken bodies before me.

“Turn back! Do not disturb Lord Kallig,” Khem burst out urgently behind me.

“I must obey my master,” I protested, shaking my head.  

“Then I will await your return,” he said implacably, clearly implying that I would not return.  I turned away from him and stepped through the door.  I was in a small stairwell which reached the top of the temple.  The stairs hugged the walls, leaving an open central space which housed a great twisted crystal-encrusted carving of a tendril, or a root, or something.  The floor was littered with the bones and bodies of Sith Lords.  They had fallen to their deaths, or been killed and then tossed down to the bottom, I observed, seeing the crumpled heaps in front of me. They had clearly failed to counter whatever threat, whatever test, the apparition had in store.  

My humility will pacify the apparition , I repeated in my mind.  As a former slave, I knew humility. My old master, Lord Myon, hadn’t demanded much obsequious subserviance, but other sith visiting his household certainly had, and other slaves had told their own harrowing tales.  Resigned, I set my satchel down by the stairs and gazed upward, looking for traps or any clues to what might be in store, but the darkness around me felt cloying. I removed my cloak and folded it neatly on my bag, and then removed my outer robe and set it aside also. In my tabards, tunic, and leggings, I knelt before the stairs.  The force felt quieter, but my sense of being watched hadn’t subsided; rather, there was a greater sense of anticipation and malice which did nothing to set me at ease.

“Lord Kallig?” I called in a clear voice, reaching out with the force again to try to gain a greater picture of what I might face. It seemed to be nothing but an empty stairwell.  The actual chamber of the tomb was at the top.  “Lord Kallig, may I approach?”  Nothing answered, and I felt silly for expecting a response.  Still, I waited a very long time, just in case. “Lord Kallig, your servant approaches.”

I took the stairs very slowly, one at a time, on my hands and knees.  My hololight attached to the back of my gauntlet, so I examined each step before advancing.  I hugged the wall, keeping myself far away from the central precipice. I couldn’t hear or see anything dangerous, and I felt ridiculous taking such precautions, but the pile of corpses at the bottom of the stairwell reminded me of the price of failure. Step by treacherous step, I crept upwards.

“Lord Kallig?” I called, pressing my face into the stone to keep my eyes averted.  The whisperings in the force were almost entirely silent now, and an awful sense of doom and dread had settled upon me.  My pace had grown slower and slower as I sank deeper into my ruminations.  “Lord Kallig?” 

I was a couple hundred steps up now, and my hands, face, fur, and clothes were covered in the dust of the temple.  Remembering Lady Zash’s description of her own encounter with the ghost, I realized that I was experiencing something similar. My humility will pacify the apparition , I repeated again.  I kept my body low and small, despising every moment, and drew on the indignity of it all and fed it to the Dark Side of the Force, using it to steel myself against the despair that was no doubt part of his attack on me.

Finally I came to the small landing at the top of the stairwell.  An archway on one side opened up to the great hall of the temple again, featuring a view of the ornate and bejeweled shoulders and head of the statue of Lord Kallig.  Opposite it, a similar archway led to a small dark antechamber--my destination.  I could see that the thick layer of dust near the edge of the central pillar was disturbed; this place was dangerous.  My fur stood on end as I edged towards Lord Kallig’s tomb. There was something almost solid in the force there, waiting for me.

“You DARE disturb me!” The raging voice was suddenly all I could hear, and I clutched my ears in pain, trying to block it out.  “ You will DIE!”   A foreign something poured into my head, filling me with despair and self-hatred.  Almost before I realized, I flung myself towards the central pillar and the 50 meter drop, for death was preferable to continuing on like this.

What saved me was the fact that I was on my hands and knees, pressed up against the wall like a slave. My desperate leap was more like an awkward lunge, and as I slammed into the ground, the pain flared and cleared my thoughts for a fraction.  Something was pressing on my mind, clouding my thoughts as I had done to the creatures of Dromund Kaas.  The urge to jump was not my own.  The urge to stand and run was not my own.  I dug my claws into my palms and bit my lips, tasting my own blood, and found even more clarity. The Dark Side around us was filled with howling, screaming rage, and I was screaming too.  

I sent a powerful blast of lightning directly at the place where I could sense the darkest concentration of malice, but it passed through the spot as though nothing was there and bounced off of the crystals of the pillar, reflecting and illuminating the area. Raising myself to my knees had been a dangerous mistake though.  The malevolent force inside my mind redoubled its efforts to get me to jump, and I found myself lunging again towards the edge.  I dug my claws into the ground and pressed my face against the stone, painfully digging into my bones. For an infinitely long moment, I both wanted to die and wanted to live, wanted to jump and wanted to freeze, wanted to flee and wanted to fight.  My mind was both mine and not my own, and I thought I might shatter from the compulsion.  Every part of my being strained against my enemy; I could picture my thoughts bucking and writhing under the slimy coating of despair that crushed me.

“Yes, yes!” Abruptly the pressure disappeared from my mind, and I gasped for air, sobbing in my sudden freedom. The dark malice in the force coalesced into a shining human form wearing the same skull mask and horned helmet as the grand statue.  Lord Kallig stood before me.  I realized that he was speaking ancient Cathar, just as Khem did.  “I have been waiting for you,” he said.

“I have come to humble myself in your presence, Great One!” I stuttered, trying to get my breath to stop hitching.  I was seeing and hearing him through the force, but I didn’t know how to communicate back in the same way, so I hoped that speaking aloud would be enough. 

“ Ah, you don’t know me,” he observed. “Has our family fallen so low that the daughter of my daughters does not know the name of Kallig?” He paced away from me, rubbing his brow sorrowfully.  I took a chance and shifted my body so that I was less lying on the floor and more crouched before him. He didn’t seem to notice or care.

“You are my descendent, by how many generations I do not know!” he said abruptly, striding towards me and gesturing with his hand as though he could lift me.  He couldn’t, of course.  He was incorporeal.  But I obeyed and raised myself to sit on my haunches, still kneeling before him.  He flicked his fingers at me impatiently, and I hesitantly rose to my feet, intimately aware that if he chose to try to possess me again, I might not be able to resist flinging myself to my death.  But he seemed completely beyond that now, and the force was no longer screaming a warning at me.  “But know this.  I felt your movements in the force, and they stirred me from my nightmare.  Your strength in the force has awakened me from my stupor.”

“What do you mean, my Lord?” I asked, clasping my hands behind me to discreetly hide how I was digging my claws into my palms, just in case.

“When the weaklings of this planet trespassed my tomb, I rose and was once more a Lord of the Sith!” he proclaimed, spreading his arms wide in an eerie facsimile of the statue outside.  “But now I see that my hour is come and gone.  Now I see that it is your strength, not mine, that will lead our family to glory once more!”  

“How can I be your descendent?” I blurted.  “I’m a former slave!”  

“That is my shame,” he said.  “If I had been wiser, I could have secured my family’s greatness. But I let down my guard.  I was betrayed by a man called Tulak Hord, whom I trusted as a friend.”   

“History says that you died in a trap meant for him,” I said.

“LIES!” the sith apparition bellowed. I flinched ever so slightly towards the wall.  “He poisoned me and then murdered me in my weakness! I was his heir, his most trusted general, and I mistakenly thought that he would behave with honor.  But he was a coward.”   I was grateful that Khem downstairs was unable to hear the apparition’s words through the force.  He wouldn’t tolerate any slight against his master Tulak Hord, dead or not.

“In restoring our bloodline to glory, you must not make the same mistake,” he warned me. “Treachery is the Sith’s endless game, and you must win it.”  He paced away from me, deeper into the darkness of the antechamber of his tomb, and although his force body glowed bright blueish white to my sight, it was clear by the way that nothing else was illuminated that it was yet another force illusion. I followed him to the stone box where his body lay, my flashlight helping me pick my path past another two dead Sith Lords. 

“The Sith throw flesh endlessly at what they cannot control,” he said offhandedly.  “I knew if I made myself enough of a nuisance, you would eventually come to me.”

“I am honored, my Lord,” I said, sketching a proper respectful bow of an apprentice to a Darth.  I couldn’t make out his expression, but he felt pleased through the force. 

“Blood of my Blood, you shall restore the power of the name of Kallig,” he said.  He indicated the sarcophagus, and I gathered the force to me to smoothly slide the lid away. Lord Kallig stood over his body; the bones had long since crumbled into dust, but the man’s armor remained. “Take my mask and my saber and show it to those who would deny your heritage. Resume the honor that is rightfully mine and make it your own.”

“Thank you, honored Lord,” I said humbly.  The apparition gestured again, and I took the mask and the saber from where they lay in the tomb. The weapon required cleaning and a new power source, but it was inlaid with more of the crystals that seemed to be everywhere in this temple, and I could imagine how they would shine when the blade was ignited.  The mask was patterned after a skull, a thin layer of a matte metal that seemed human on the outside but was definitely formed to fit a cathar face on the inside, if the broad, flat nose was any indication.  I tentatively slipped it over my head, fastening the straps behind my neck and head and noting where it could attach to a helmet.  I expected it to limit my vision, but the material forming gaping eyes of the mask, although appearing black and empty from the outside, did not noticeably impede my sight. I assumed that a human would struggle to see, but I was a Cathar--yet more proof that Kallig had indeed been my ancestor. 

“Yes!” said Kallig, his satisfaction echoing through the force.  “You will be a worthy heir.  Beware your master. Beware your apprentice. Never be taken by surprise.  Do these things, and you will be unstoppable.”

“My master sent me here to find an artefact that Tulak Hord hid in your tomb,” I said, suddenly remembering Darth Zash’s mission.

“The great betrayer left a piece of the artefact hidden beneath my sarcophagus,” the ghost said.  At his direction, I pressed against a small square of stone, which popped out to reveal a tiny chest.  I was curious, but the chest was locked.  My curiosity would have to wait. “Take it, but be careful.  I know not what it does, only that betrayal follows it everywhere.”  I struggled a little to replace the sarcophagus lid, but eventually I managed it.

“Don’t worry about me,” I said, perhaps more confidently than was warranted, if the skeptical tilt of the ghost’s head was any indication.  “I can take care of myself.”

It was that moment that we heard Khem Val’s voice.

Chapter Text

“Sith!” came the bellow up the stairs.  “Sith, do you yet live?”  I supposed that he’d heard my screams earlier, but perhaps he wasn’t able to hear my conversation with my long-dead sith ancestor.  Certainly I hadn’t thrown myself to my death like the other sith had.

“I’m fine, Khem, keep watch,” I shouted back dismissively.  Kallig practically jumped, which was an odd gesture of surprise from a ghost.

“Khem Val?” he asked sharply.  I nodded proudly. 

“I found him locked in a stasis chamber,” I explained.  “I was seeking an ancient starmap that Tulak Hord left behind on Korriban.  It leads me to this artefact, actually.”

“Sith, have you disturbed the tomb of Lord Kallig?”

“I got the artefact, Khem, I’ll be down in a minute!” I hollered down the stairs, feeling slightly childish in front of my ancestor. 

“Is the Dashade sworn to you?”

“Temporarily,” I admitted.  I was going to explain further, but I heard the scrape of metal on stone and hurried out to the landing to see what it was, for the temple had been utterly silent up to this point.  I couldn’t see what was going on, but I turned up my light and shone it down into the space below me.  In that dim light, I saw Khem Val climbing the stairwell, his massive sword drawn and held in one fist. He peered up at me and snarled.

“Go back down, Khem,” I ordered. “I’ll be finished soon.”

“I will not,” he growled back. “How DARE you wear the mask of Kallig!  You dishonor the heir of Tulak Hord. You disturb his sacred rest.”

“Obey me, monster,” I snapped, panic rising in my chest.

“If the spirit of Lord Kallig will not destroy you, then I will,” he said.  My heart dropped to my feet. “My vow to Tulak Hord is greater than my own honor. I will live with the shame, or I will die in my shame. But first I will feast on you for your disrespect. How I have waited for this day!”

“But what about your promise?” I asked frantically. “A year and a day?”  Khem was halfway up the stairs now. I began to desperately look for a path to escape, but although the landing was partially open to the great hall below, there was no way down.

“My oath to Tulak Hord and his heirs is greater than anything else I have sworn.” Khem was resolute.

“You must stop him!” Kallig said urgently. 

“But I’m his heir!” I burst out.  “Kallig’s heir, I mean!  He’s here, and he told me that I was his descendent!  He gave me the mask!”

“LIES!” snarled Khem. It was difficult to make out his words now, furious as he was.

“No, really!” I said, my body starting to shake with terror.  My mind flashed and I knew that cornered as I was, I had no chance of escape.  Even if I’d had an avenue to flee, he’d have overtaken me quickly. My only hope was to convince him to back down.  I couldn’t match him in a fight, ancient and strong and treacherous as he was.  The death waiting for me was not going to be an easy one. Did I have the strength to fling myself off the edge if it spared me the horror of being eaten alive?

“Kallig was a Cathar, like me!” I shouted down, although Khem was less than 100 steps away now.

“I used to spar with Khem Val!” offered the ghost.

“He used to spar with you!” I repeated, looking frantically at him.

“You will die and the shame on Lord Kallig will be avenged!” said Khem firmly.

“Once, I allowed Khem Val to eat one of my apprentices!” said Kallig.

“He let you eat one of his apprentices!” I shouted.  Khem was 30 steps away now.  He didn’t falter in his movements.

“You will not deceive me,” growled Khem.  He licked his fangs in an unnecessarily long gesture and hissed.

“I’m not lying!” I pleaded. But the Dashade wasn’t going to be convinced.

“Help me!” I begged my ancestor.  I steeled myself to jump. At least I would be dead when he ate me.

Cold, slimy foreignness poured into my mind again, and this time I didn’t try to fight it, hoping that it would make my death easier. I tried to immerse myself in the force and think of nothing.  Which was why I was surprised when I found my lightsaber ignited in my hand.  I spoke, but it wasn’t my will that moved my mouth and it wasn’t my words that issued forth.

“Back, Beast!” Kallig ordered, flicking his lightsaber up in an aggressive guard position that I recognized but had never used.  “You serve the child of Kallig now, and you will obey her.”  Khem Val was too far gone to stop.  With a roar, he held his sword out wide and swung at me.  Kallig was not used to my body, but that didn’t prevent him from catching the blow and deflecting it wide, slashing in with devastating speed and scoring the Dashade on the thigh.  I felt my ancestor’s disgust at the physical weakness of my body, and I resolved to train hard to fix that if I survived this encounter.

Khem gave a cry of surprise and stepped back to reassess the fight.  I had never hit him in combat; never even come close, so to be so effortlessly caught off guard had shaken him, but he was already regrouping. Kallig spun my lightsaber in front of me in a flashy defensive maneuver that I assumed would be pretty good at deflecting blaster fire.  I was trying to keep my mind quiet and blank and empty, so that my terror would not be a distraction for my ancestor.  His possession was an odd feeling, rather detached, and I suddenly remembered the first line of the Sith Code--Peace is a Lie.  This calmness was definitely a lie. I didn’t like it, but anything was preferable to death.  

“Do you recognize me now, slave of Tulak?” asked Kallig, my lips twisting in a smirk that felt oddly familiar to my face.  “Do you recognize the way I fought at the battle of Yn and Chabosh? I, Aloysius Kallig?”  The saber flicked forward again, faster than I could see; Khem blocked it instinctively, but it didn’t seem like Kallig was actually trying to kill the Dashade. “This is how I slew General Agimar and took my rightful place as Tulak’s heir!”  Kallig swung--I swung--at Khem’s legs, and he backed away from us instead of defending this time.

Kallig--I--said something in an ancient language I didn’t understand.  His presence in my body was weakening, and I felt my fear growing. He was not going to be able to help me much longer.  Khem was gaping at me, and Kallig moved my hand in an unfamiliar gesture.  It was enough.

Khem Val dropped to his knees in front of the stairs, allowing his weapon to clatter to the ground, not even sheathing it, as he prostrated himself before us. “Forgive me, great Lord!” he begged.  “Heir to my Lord Tulak!  Forgive my dishonor.”  I didn’t understand the language he used, but Kallig did, and I caught the meaning from him.  It was a strange exchange of information.

“This child is my heir,” said Kallig, sheathing the lightsaber and attaching it to my belt.  “Your oath to Tulak Hord and to me now binds you to her.  She is all that is left of his legacy, of my legacy, and you are to obey her every desire.  Is that clear, Beast?”  I was mostly in charge of my body again, the apparition’s influence waning with every second.

“Yes, Master, Yes, Lord Kallig,” said Khem.  He shuffled forward to place his head on first my left foot, and then my right.  Once again he spoke in Catharese. “I swear myself to you.  How blind I have been not to realize, not to recognize Lord Kallig’s greatness in you, Sith!” He crawled back, repeatedly pressing his forehead to the dirty stones. “You, who bested me in the tombs!  You, who rescued me from my imprisonment! You, who are but an apprentice yet show forth such mastery of the force!  Forgive me, Lady Kallig.” I smiled, and it was all me.

“He serves the child of Kallig now,” exulted Kallig in my mind.  “Tulak murdered me, but now we have stolen his greatest slave! What a fitting end to the legacy of Tulak Hord!”

“I didn’t know myself until today,” I said, deciding to be gracious. “I am honored to accept your oath, Khem, and we will work together to restore the honor to the names of Kallig and Tulak Hord.”

“Lady Kallig!” he murmured reverently, pressing his head again and again into the floor in worshipful bows. 

“I hunger for the day that our power will be restored. We will meet again,” Kallig’s voice echoed in my head, and I felt his presence drain away completely.  I staggered a bit, and Khem jumped to his feet to steady me.

“Let’s get out of here, Khem,” I said, looking up at the Dashade, whose face was as concerned as a vicious, bloodthirsty assassin monster could be.  Slowly, we made our way back down the steps, swinging the big heavy door shut behind us.

Chapter Text

I nervously brushed my gloved hands over my robes, feeling the way the shimmersilk glided under my fingers. This was the nicest clothing I’d ever worn in my life, and I didn’t want a single stray hair to mar its shining surface.  I’d had three fittings for this outfit, as Darth Zash had insisted everything be perfect for the formal ceremony that evening.  I was to be proclaimed her heir and formally recognized as the heir to Lord Kallig of old. My master was throwing a huge party and had invited many Darths and Lords and their apprentices, and just thinking of all of the eyes on me made my mouth dry and my stomach churn.  My robes bore Darth Zash’s crest on my arms, directly over where a pauldron might rest. Over my heart, intricately embroidered and set with semi-precious stones, was the symbol of Darth Kallig, an all-seeing eye that I remembered from my time in the Dark Temple.  

There had been a large ceremony when I had been declared her official apprentice last month, of course, but it had been a joint affair with two other Lords whose official apprentices were broad-shoulder human males.  I had looked positively tiny next to their hulking figures, Khem ever lurking behind me.  As the apprentice to a Darth, I had taken the oaths of service to my master last.  She had stared hungrily down at me as I knelt before her, and I felt the heat from her blade almost singeing the fur around my face. As was tradition, I had taken my oaths of loyalty to the Emperor, to the Sith Order, and to the Dark Side, not my master.  Everyone knew and acknowledged the reality that treachery was the Sith way, and that weakness on my master’s part invited, obligated even , me to attempt to usurp her. 

After I’d returned from the Dark Temple over two months ago, things had been different.  Darth Zash had eagerly accepted the locked artefact from my hands and secreted it away in her new chambers at the Sith Citadel. She had insisted upon hearing every detail of my journey and oohed and aahed at all the right places.  She had smugly revelled in the accuracy of her vision and marveled that I, a Cathar slave-turned-Sith-apprentice from Korriban, was actually the descendent of an ancient and powerful Sith Lord. And she rewarded the risks I had taken to acquire her artefact. 

She had arranged for me to have my long-awaited private apartment, as was customary for apprentices on Drommund Kaas, with steward droids from her own household to take care of my needs. Khem and I had settled in nicely, and while I was still expected to attend many lessons each day, I was afforded opportunities for additional luxuries, as Darth Zash seemed to want to make sure I understood that my fortunes were tied to her fortunes, my triumphs to her triumphs.  She still seemed to exercise an unusual amount of oversight over my day-to-day activities when compared to my fellow apprentices with whom I shared the apartment building. 

The more obliging, the more helpful Darth Zash became, the more unsettled I felt.  Altruism was not the way of the Sith, and yet she seemed to be eagerly setting me up for every success. She repeatedly gloated about the marvelous future we had, reassuring me that I was essential to whatever destiny she had forseen.  She had aggressively pursued naming me Kallig, which although it certainly raised her prestige, did much more for my own status than hers. I was about to be named her full heir, a process that meant I would practically be her child--everything she owned, all of her assets, her responsibilities, even her apprentices, would come to me upon her death. I couldn’t see a single benefit for her, aside from the mysterious goal she was pursuing, which she still refused to tell me the details of. 

No, in spite of her cheerful, helpful demeanor, I’d seen enough glimpses of other aspects of her personality to know that she was a very dangerous woman. The detail she put into her planning, the effortless way I’d seen her kill--I was uncomfortably aware that the moment I ceased to be useful to her, the moment she achieved whatever glory we were seeking, the moment I completed whatever it was that she needed me for, she would try to kill me herself, or have me removed in an unexpected attack, rather than risk the danger I posed. 

My changed relationship with Khem Val provided much security for my future.  His perpetual disdain and impatience had vanished entirely, and while his level of protection hadn’t changed, attesting to how seriously he’d taken his honor previously, the snide comments had been replaced with instruction. He still spoke incessantly of the great sith of old, but it was always with the explicit or implicit implication that it was to help me become like them. His malice had turned outwards, against the rest of the world, and I hadn’t realized how much I had feared him until I could release it.  A tension that I hadn’t realized existed was lifted from my back, and my nightmares greatly subsided. I had always struggled to use my terror of him to increase my grasp on the Dark Side, so having that relief allowed me to focus on more consistent sources of power, like my hunger for strength, or my perpetual insecurities among the educated, elegant sith around me.

“Apprentice!”  My master glided into the room, resplendent in her elegant robes of gold shimmersilk that matched my own.  On her breast, she wore her own crest, and on her shoulders, the crest of Darth Thanaton, her direct superior within the elaborate hierarchy of the Sith. “How wonderful you look!”  She embraced me delicately, sweeping in and back away from me in a cloud of sweet floral perfume that made my nose itch, although I knew better than to show my discomfort. An attendant from the club we were at had followed her inside with a medium-sized box. 

“I have something for you,” said Darth Zash.  She opened the box to reveal Lord Kallig’s mask, polished and burnished to perfection, although interestingly, the long nick in the side of the cheek had been left unrepaired. Perhaps she didn’t want anyone to forget the history of the item. “I had it reset and resized to fit you!” she beamed.  “Try it on!  I want to see you wear it.”  

I accepted the helmet from her and examined it.  A series of clasps allowed me to easily detach the mask and place the head covering over my fur; my ears slid into the soft foam perfectly, and I realized that she’d had a complete acoustic system added, allowing me to hear everything effortlessly while providing protection from sonic attacks and unexpectedly loud sounds.  The neck guard was made of thin metal panels that molded to my neck, reminding me uncomfortably of the slave collar I used to wear not that long ago. I buried my unease before my master could sense my weakness. 

Once comfortable in the helm, I held up the mask and looked at it for a long moment.  It was mostly made of various dark, dull metals, but the ridges around the gaping skull’s grin were polished to a shine.  I got a vicious sense of glee when I imagined myself, a mysterious figure, emerging out of the darkness--the terrifying leer would be the first detail anyone would make out.  Inside the mask, the lenses had been replaced, and a new voice and filtration system had been fitted into the mouth.  I took a deep, anticipatory breath, and carefully placed the mask over my face, feeling the magnetic seals engage.  My first breath of air was silent, but strange.  After a moment, I realized I could no longer smell the subtle scents that I usually ignored on the air.  I felt strangely vulnerable. 

“Magnificent,” breathed Darth Zash, her favorite word to use in regards to me. “You will wear this tonight, and I want you to continue wearing it when you’re out among the Sith,” she ordered.  “It lends you such an air of power and mystery!  I want everyone to recognize you as the heir to Kallig and give you the respect that you deserve.”

“As you wish,” I said, bowing my head.  I was a little startled by the mechanical echo to my words; modulation of my voice was something that had to have been added specifically, since many masks did not have that feature.  Darth Zash smiled proudly.  

“Now come, apprentice,” she said.  I fell into step beside her.  Behind me, like a silent, menacing shadow, Khem Val followed.  The club attendant opened the double doors in the wall with a press of a button, revealing a dais in a vast, dimly lit room that was lit with spotlights and packed with onlookers.

“They’re waiting for us.”