A shuttle emerged from hyperspace within sight of the planet L'Caar. It glided slowly toward the planet, drifting like a predator toward prey.
Veklar Kaison stepped into the control room of the Jedi Temple on L'Caar. The droid manning the station turned and saluted as Veklar entered: "Sorry to interrupt you, sir, but a shuttle has just entered the atmosphere and is headed in our direction."
Veklar rubbed his chin. "Open a commlink channel and ask the pilot the objective of their visit."
"Yes, sir," the droid replied, sitting back down in his seat and signaling the incoming shuttle.
Jedi Master Veklar had been meditating when s summons sounded on his commlink. He had arrived in the control room somewhat disgruntled, but now he was on high alert. An unannounced shuttle was most certainly out of the ordinary, and it was his duty as the Jedi Master of the Temple to make sure that there was never any danger from outside forces.
Veklar waited several moments behind the droid's chair. There was no reply from the shuttle. Maybe they were in trouble.
Veklar reached out with the Force. He couldn't feel anything. Suddenly, there was a twitch in his mind, and he felt… darkness. It was there for just a moment, and then gone, like a breath of wind. The Dark Side.
His eyes snapped open and he leaned forward to activate the Temple's inner comm system: "This is Jedi Master Veklar Kaison. There is an unauthorized and possibly dangerous shuttle approaching the Temple. All available Jedi Knights please report to the landing pad." He looked back to the commanding droid. "Lock down the Temple after I and the other Jedi exit the building."
"Sir?" said the droid, clearly confused.
"Just do it!" Veklar was already racing through the door of the control room.
"Y-yes, sir," amended the droid.
Without responding, Veklar dashed off down the passageway.
Veklar and the other Jedi stood in a semicircle, Veklar in the center, awaiting the incoming shuttle, which was now in sight. Its design was civilian, unequipped with weaponry of any kind. Judging from its appearance, the ship wasn't at all dangerous, but Veklar knew that he had not been mistaken. There was something dark on that ship, and they were about to find out what it was.
The shuttle landed, and after a moment, the shuttle's landing ramp slid down with a hiss, producing a surprising amount of steam for such a small ramp. It was impossible to see the inside of the ship. Several Jedi shifted uncomfortably and fingered their lightsaber hilts, no doubt preferring action to all this tense waiting. Veklar heartily agreed.
Out of the mist marched a figure clad in a black robe, a hood obscuring its face. The creature stared at Veklar for several seconds, eyes hidden in shadow. Then, before any of the Jedi could react, he flicked his wrist and flung his arm sideways.
The first of the Jedi didn't even know what hit them. A red lightsaber blade, spinning so fast it seemed to be a solid red circle, beheaded the Jedi closest to the Dark Lord of the Sith before they could react. Veklar, sensing danger before the blade was thrown, backflipped out of its path, the only effect of the attack a smoldering gash in his robe. The lightsaber hadn't even touched his skin. The other Jedi were not so lucky. All but four out of the original fourteen acted too slow and were cut to pieces by the flying saber.
After completing its circular trajectory, the Sith caught his lightsaber with ease and held it in ready position. The powerful darkness was no longer disguised, but sliced through the peaceful flow of the Force on L'Caar like a knife. The four Jedi activated their lightsabers along with Veklar, ready for anything.
The Sith seemed unperturbed by the fact that he was outnumbered five to one. Then Veklar saw why. He wasn't outnumbered. Four more Sith, presumably the Dark Lord's apprentices, appeared, stepping out of the mist like shadows. They took their places beside their master and activated their lightsabers.
After a tense moment, the five Sith charged, each choosing a separate Jedi. The Sith Lord came for Veklar, no doubt sensing his prowess in the Force.
Their lightsabers clashed, sending sparks flying.
Veklar shoved the Sith back with an exertion in the Force, barely budging him, but creating just enough unbalance so that Veklar could backflip away. He landed lightly on his feet and brought his blade up just in time to save himself from a flurry of powerful blows initiated by the Sith. Then he took a turn on the offensive, but not recklessly as the Sith had. He was only feeling his opponent out. He stepped back, ready for the next attack.
He saw that two Jedi and one Sith had fallen, the victors now fought. The other pair was still locked in combat.
The Sith Lord did not attack Veklar with his lightsaber as the Jedi expected, but instead sent a branch of forked lightning at the Jedi Master. Veklar was immobilized with pain for a moment, but then managed to get his blade into the path of the dark energy. The lightning stopped zapping him, and instead branched out around him, whirling like a cyclone. Veklar angled the blade with precision, and the lightning shot back at the Sith.
It enveloped the Dark Lord for a moment, but then the crackling energy was terminated by the Sith, and Veklar rose from a crouch. The Jedi attacked with a vengeance, driving the Sith back a couple of steps, and then blasting him back several meters more. The Sith somersaulted backward though the air and landed on his feet, sliding back a couple more meters before coming to a halt.
During this small interim, Veklar saw, over the shoulder of the Sith, the last Jedi being viscously run through the back. He didn't only see it, he felt it. He could feel the blade sliding through his fellow Jedi's body, the white-hot blade melting flesh.
Hopelessness filled him, not for himself, but for the younglings in the Temple. They would be massacred. They would be massacred because the rest of the Jedi responsible for them had not done their one and only job: keep them safe.
The Sith cautiously surrounded him, circling like marine predators, about to strike. Then all four attacked simultaneously. Veklar tried to flip out of their midst, but he was flung to the ground with the Force. He raised his lightsaber to defend himself against the nearest apprentice, but he misjudged the timing fractionally. His hand fell to the duracrete, his lightsaber along with it. The pain was horrible, but Veklar fought to stay conscious. He wanted to look the Sith Lord in the eyes as he died.
The Sith closed in, forming a circle that grew smaller and smaller, like a noose. How ironic. The Sith Lord laughed. "You have failed Jedi. And you are just the beginning." He raised his lightsaber. Then he brought down the blade and ended Veklar's life.
Lord Kacius stared down at the body of Veklar for a moment. This Jedi had had no fear. He had not been afraid of pain nor death, and he did not seem to resent that fact that he was about to die. It seemed he had simply considered it as a necessary part of life. He admired him for that.
Very few people were truly fearless, and this man had been. Sith fed off the fear of their opponents, and this man left no weakness to be seen. He was a worthy adversary. The Sith Lord would have preferred to call off his apprentices and defeat the Jedi one on one. Even some Sith had honor, but he had more important things to attend to.
He turned to his apprentices. "Search every inch of the grounds. Let no one escape." He turned to leave, but then added as an afterthought: "If you find any cameras, memory banks, or transmitters, destroy them. We cannot allow the Jedi to visit and discover the truth."
Bowing, the apprentices said as one: "Yes, Lord Kacius." Then they started off to the Temple.
Satisfied that his orders would be obeyed, Darth Kacius returned to the shuttle to inform the others of his success.
He walked over to the long-range holotransmitter and activated it, waiting several seconds for the device to find a connection.
After a few moments, a hologram of the collective Sith Lords Darth Malthus, Darth Maeden, and Darth Shyanaa appeared. Maeden was of the Sith species, and like Kacius, preferred to wear his hood up. Shyanaa, a female human, had been beautiful before becoming a Sith, but when she had, the beauty faded from her face and had been replaced by a mask of hatred, and bloodless, bone-white malice. Her appearance gave even the darkest soul a pang of fear. Darth Malthus, the most powerful of them all, was a human who tended to retreat deep into himself to think of deep, philosophical things that seemed worthless at the time, but somehow always managed to come in handy. He was somewhat of a philosopher, but when fighting was involved, he was unstoppable.
Darth Maeden spoke first, his voice a raspy drawl: "Have you captured the Temple, Lord Kacius?"
"I have. It was as we expected. The Jedi were not prepared for an attack of any scale."
"We have been waiting quite a while for you to call," said Darth Shyanaa. Her voice smooth, and not at all fitting to her face. "We were beginning to hope… Oops." She had obviously slipped on purpose, as her smirk made clear. "I mean, we were beginning to fear the worst."
Sith Lords were, and always would be, rivals. The only reason they were working together was to restore, at least to some extent, the Sith Empire that Lord Vitiate had created. The Empire had been completely destroyed by the Republic in the few years after Vitiate's fall. The Sith were now spread across the galaxy. It had been pure happenstance, or by the will of the Force, that they had met. It was a known fact that once the Empire had been restored, there would be an all-out battle to determine who would be the leader.
"I ran into a Jedi Master," Kacius said, ignoring the comment by Shyanaa. "That is why I didn't call sooner."
Malthus' slow, deep, booming voice entered into the conversation: "I am currently en route to Dromund Kaas now. There we will convene and decide what our next course of action should be."
"Agreed," said Kacius. "I will depart as soon as my apprentices return from destroying the Temple."
Darth Shyanaa grinned. "Be sure you don't run into another Jedi Master. I don't fancy waiting that long again."
Darth Kacius ended the transmission, gritting his teeth and trying to ignore Darth Shyanaa. Then he left the ship to aid his apprentices. As he walked by the body of the fallen Jedi Master, he again felt respect, but also disgust. It was people such as he who had torn apart the Sith Empire, and it was people like him who would receive the revenge against those who had lived before him. This Jedi, under the right circumstances, would have made a magnificent Sith. Darth Kacius shook his head. Circumstances rarely fell in the way most needed. The best one could do was continue.