Welcome to the backstory of Clan Taerich, taking place primarily during the Shadow of Revan expansion (with perhaps the odd flashback to vanilla SWTOR or the pre-story to that). I'll finish Last Hope and Outtakes from Odessen eventually... but this got in my head and refused to leave.

Inspired by ohlawson's "Recompense", which is a fantastic read and you all should check it out. No infringement intended!

If I owned Star Wars/BioWare, do you think I'd be writing fanfiction?

When one came down to it, the idea of launching a strike assault on Korriban's Sith Academy wasn't all that complicated on a datapad. The coordinates were set, the weaknesses identified, and the objective marked. Colonel Darok already had a strike force ready to deploy as soon as he and Agent Theron Shan could agree on was a leader for the team's ground forces.

"Major Darren Kota, Havoc Squad." Darok rubbed at his chin contemplatively as the named soldier's holo-image rotated before him from the projector. "Hell of a good commander. I've got him for the initial clearing strike, but would like him on the team targeting the Dark Council chambers."

"This guy's not known for restraint where the Imps are concerned. We need that Academy data intact, you said- he'll bomb the planet from orbit first and destroy any intel before we get our hands on it." Theron shook his head. "Pity Aric Jorgan's not the CO of that unit, he's better at keeping a cool head around Imps." But far be it from Theron to question the military decisions of General Garza… or his father (well, aside from that whole incident with the Ascendant Spear, but that was beside the point).

"Hmmph. What about the Barsen'thor… what's his name, Serral something-or-rather?"

"Reikart, and I'd say no. The guy's an archivist and a healer. He'll spend more of his time trying to personally 'cleanse the minds' of every Sith he meets on Korriban than doing the job itself." Theron rolled his eyes. "Jedi, right?"

Darok snorted. "I don't suppose you've got any decent ideas yourself, Shan."

"One so far." Theron tapped a button on his datapad, producing a new face. "Captain Korin, a Republic privateer. He's the guy who went up against the Voidwolf and lived to tell the tale. I hear he's the guy who's kept the entire criminal underworld from uniting under Imperial rule."

"A spacer?" Darok frowned. "I don't know I like the idea of having some lawless smuggler leading a Republic op."

"Maybe not. Our intel indicates that he's got enough of a hate-on for the Empire that he'll throw his lot in with anyone fighting them, and right now that's us. He's already taken out a few traitors to the Republic, too- might not be a patriot, but I'm sure we can persuade him to fight with us." Theron shrugged. "Besides, looking at his record, he's a hell of a quick shot and a pilot, and knows how to sneak around. Might be handy to have."

"Hmmmph." Darok eyed Captain Korin's face for a bit longer. "He fought at Corellia, didn't he?"

"Yeah. Made something of a name for himself there- y'know, after being the guy to find Nok Drayen's fortune and all. He was on Rogun the Butcher's hit list for years, and survived."

"... Might not be bad. I got one more suggestion for you first." The smuggler's face disappeared, replaced with that of a human woman. "Jedi Master Xaja Taerich, if we can get hold of her. Pity she's not around Carrick Station too often."

Theron shrugged as he eyed the Jedi's face. He didn't have anything against the Jedi, considering he'd been raised by them, but he wasn't that fond of most of the Order as it was, his mother being a significant reason as to the 'why'. Anyone else might have said he had long-standing mom issues. "Isn't she the one who went after the Emperor directly?"

"After being one of the Jedi taken captive and resisting a Sith brainwashing attempt, which is more than what can be said for the rest of her initial team. Anyone who can infiltrate Kaas City would be an advantage for us on Korriban. She might want a shot at taking out the Academy herself, finish the job she started on Dromund Kaas."

There was a long pause before Theron shrugged again. "Still would rather have Captain Korin, but I'll get feelers out for both of them. Have a contingency plan in case both of them are playing 'let's not answer the comm' today?"

Darok frowned. "I'll get Havoc on standby for the second wave of the assault. Hopefully Kota won't be as much of a liability as you think."

"No, I don't like the idea of sending one of the Dark Council on this expedition." Darth Arkous frowned, the ridges of his face shifting with the movement. "Darth Imperius in particular is too scholarly for this sort of endeavour."

"He is the one who fought Darth Thanaton all the way to the Dark Council chamber itself, as you recall, and won. I believe that says enough for his combat prowess." Lana Beniko looked to her master as she tapped on her datapad. Most comparatively-low-ranked advisors would need to be far more subservient to their overseers- Lana supposed she was grateful that Arkous had a higher focus on the task ahead than the traditions of rank and titles and proper submission. She was a Lord in her own right, after all- no need to pander like an Acolyte. "Besides, he's far more balanced and stable than Darth Nox is…"

Arkous scowled ferociously at the mention of the Sith assassin. There was bad blood there, apparently. "Imperius is still more likely to find the Jedi library and barricade himself in there until he'd satisfied that thirst for knowledge he seems to have. What of Darth Maglion?"

"The Wrath? If you can find him, he'll still be likely to destroy everyone and everything within the Jedi Temple- our own forces included, and the intel we're trying to get!" Lana shook her head. "He'll want to press on to Coruscant and eradicate every single Jedi and their supporters if he gets that deep into Republic Space. He'd just have better odds than Darth Nox at surviving."

"Although getting rid of the Jedi like this is tempting…" Arkous mused.

"Tempting, yes- but too costly and will take too much time. Imperius is better at staying within boundaries in the name of efficiency, and knows to restrain himself around valuable data."

Arkous frowned as he paced back and forth through the planning room. "... Fine, Darth Imperius. Have you a backup plan should he think too fondly of his texts and artifacts to leave them behind?"

"Yes, my lord. The Champion of the Great Hunt, Shara Verhayc, could be an asset. She's killed Jedi before, and their last Supreme Chancellor. It's not like this would be unfamiliar territory for her."

"Yes, the Mandalorian. Hmmm. She might be useful. But what of this man?" Arkous tapped a command into the holoprojector. "Cipher 9's infiltrated the Republic before. He might be able to get our forces past the Republic security protocols around Tython."

"Cipher 9? He is a good asset, but a little on the older side, is he not?" Lana frowned critically at the slowly rotating image of the spy's face. "What was his original name- Reanden Taerich, I believe?"

"With age comes experience, Beniko. Agent Taerich knows the value of hitting hard and fast where it hurts the most. And anyone still doing his job at his age is good enough for me."

Lana studied the spy for a moment, then shrugged. "If we cannot get Verhayc on the team, Agent Taerich may be a good fit. At the least, he and Darth Imperius together cannot be as difficult to work with as Darth Nox on her own."

Arkous glared at the space before him. "I would sooner work with a Republic dog than Nox."

"Of course, my lord."

Well, this was shaping up to be Theron's day. Both Captain Korin and Master Taerich had been on board Carrick Station within two hours of the plans being made, by their own designs, and seemed intrigued over the holo by the idea. The spacer sauntered into the briefing room first, dark blond hair in a purposefully-messy style that almost put Theron's hair to shame, hands tucked into the pockets of his leather jacket, habitually within easy grabbing range of both blasters on his hips. "Afternoon, gents," he said with a lazy salute as he picked a portion of the wall to lean against. "Gotta admit, most of the time when I'm talkin' to Republic military folks, it's over a table in a really cold room with me wearin' binder cuffs…"

Darok gave Theron a look, as though to ask 'Are you out of your damn mind?'. Theron just shrugged back at the taller man, then looked to the captain. "Well, if you really want, we can switch the briefing to a suitable room for-"

"Naaah, we're good." The spacer gave Theron a cocky grin. "What's this fancy-lookin' planning business, anyway?"

"I'd rather not explain it more than once," Theron said. "We're just waiting on the last member of the team to show up and-"

The door slid open, and a tiny redhaired woman in brown robes entered the room, wide eyes looking around. If Theron hadn't already been studying the dossiers of both strike team recruits beforehand, he would have called this woman a Padawan and then proceeded to kick her out of the briefing- but no Jedi Padawan had eyes that looked that old, or a young-looking face that seemed so fatigued already. She couldn't have been older than her late twenties, and the smuggler looked even younger. Theron himself was only a month away from turning thirty-two, but confronted with one of the youngest Masters of the Order, felt way older. "And I think that last person just arrived. Master Taerich, Captain Korin, I'm Theron Shan with the Republic SIS- I spoke to both of you over the holo. This is Colonel Darok, Republic Armed Forces." He almost missed Captain Korin visibly starting when he heard the Jedi's name, as though startled.

"Good to meet you in person." Master Taerich had a soft, almost-musical quality to her voice that Theron could pick up easier in person than over the holo. "What's this event you mentioned?"

Colonel Darok had saluted to the Jedi Master when she'd walked in, and now turned his attention back to the holoprojector. "We," he said with a note of gleeful anticipation in his voice, "are going to launch a strike assault on the Sith Academy."

"Korriban?!" Master Taerich's eyes widened in surprise. "When did we gain the military strength to attack the Sith homeworld?"

Theron glanced to Captain Korin, trying to gauge the smuggler's reaction to the news. But it looked like the spacer hadn't heard Darok at all- he was frozen, staring at Master Taerich like he'd seen a ghost. Definitely not the normal spacer way of eyeballing a pretty lady, Jedi or otherwise. Does he know her already? Maybe she's got a sister he's met or something. The Jedi seemed to be ignoring or unaware of the smuggler's stare.

"We normally wouldn't be able to pull an op like this," Darok confessed. "But we've identified a weakness in the planetary defences- now's the best time to exploit it before it's sealed up."

Master Taerich nodded slowly. "Reasonable. What's our objective?"

Straightforward and to the point. Much like most of the other Jedi Theron had ever met, his mother included. "We're not going to be able to launch a full-scale conquering of the entire system- we don't have the resources for that. But we do have enough to grab intel from the Dark Council chambers, maybe whatever Sith relics you can find. Figured you'd be the most knowledgeable about that, Master Taerich."

"Sith artifacts aren't my specialty, Agent Shan, but I'm sure I can improvise." The Jedi gave Theron a studious look, and for an uncomfortable moment the spy wondered if she had made the mental connection between his name and the name of the Grand Master. "If nothing else, taking them from the Academy should hurt the Sith almost as much as any intel we take."

Theron nodded. "Exactly."

Captain Korin seemed to have drawn himself out of his daze, and was now listening with a raised eyebrow. "So while there's a Jedi in on this for dealin' with the cranky ones with the lightsabers and their shiny objects, what am I doing?"

"The Jedi in question needs someone watching her back," Theron answered. "Preferably someone who can take out the grouchy lightsaber-wielding ones at a distance. I hear you're a pretty decent slicer, too." Not half as good as Theron himself, of course. If Theron met a smuggler who was a better slicing hand than he was, he'd eat his favourite red jacket.

Korin shrugged with perfectly faked modesty. "I got bored an' learned how."

"Well, if you fight like you talk, the op'll be in good hands," Darok spoke up. "Any questions from you two?"

"Is there anything in particular we're looking for?" Master Taerich asked. "And when do we leave?"

"For the second question, your shuttle's prepped now and waiting in the hangar down the hall- and I've got another Jedi tasked with longer term data extraction. Maybe you know him- Jensyn."

Master Taerich nodded. "I know him. We'll head out now."

"Good luck," Theron said as Jedi and smuggler turned to leave the briefing room- one composed and serene, one still pale and shaken, and trying to pretend he wasn't. "May the Force be with you." He set back to tracking the troop movements en route to Korriban, and lasted all of five minutes before looking up and at Darok's contemplative smirk. "What?"

"She's cute," Darok said with a grin. "Wonder how attached she is to that Code of hers…"

"You, sir, are the creepiest man I've ever met, and I've got Sith on my kills list," Theron growled.

"Not for me, Shan!" Darok shook his head emphatically. "The girl's young enough to be my daughter. I was thinking for you- she looks like she's around your age, maybe a little younger."

"Yeah, and you missed the part where she's Jedi." Theron rolled his eyes and went back to the display he was studying. "No way in hell am I getting involved with one of them."

"You need to get laid. Or are you this much of a grump normally when dealing with pretty Jedi girls?" Darok paused and grinned. "Or just jealous of that spacer she's gonna be spending time with?"

Theron scowled at Korriban's blue holo-form. "I've got better things to focus on than the odds of me- or you- getting with a Jedi woman."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll just plan on settin' you up with her after this op is done."

"Not interested, Colonel."

"... Ohhh, you swing the captain's way instead? Don't worry, I don't judge."

Theron turned away from Darok's grin with a glare and a renewed focus on his work. Darok could try his best to muddle with Theron's non-existent romantic life (which he did not need help with, thank you very much!), but the spy had work to focus on. He was a workaholic for a reason, dammit. That was about the only thing he had in common with most Jedi, and it wasn't likely to change.

As it turned out, Shara Verhayc held her priorities in a slightly different order than most of the Empire's citizens, and Lana found that out the hard way over the holo. "Sorry, dar'jetii, but Mand'alor's scarier than you are," the bounty hunter said, brushing a lock of brown hair out of her face. "And he's got me an' my crew elsewhere at the mo'."

"This is important," Lana insisted. "For the sake of the Empire-"

"The clans come first." Verhayc shook her head and grinned. "Good luck though." The Mandalorian's blue form winked out of existence, leaving Lana to grit her teeth in frustration.

"It's fortunate that Agent Taerich is already confirmed to be on Vaiken and knows his place with the Dark Council," Darth Arkous dryly commented as his advisor turned away from the holoterminal. "Any news on the Wrath?"

"Unavailable," Lana lied smoothly. No point in Arkous not knowing she hadn't bothered trying to get in contact with the Wrath. There was a limit as to how many psychopaths she had the tolerance for in a day, and one who had all the rage of the Emperor exceeded that limit. "However, Darth Imperius is en route to our location and should be here momentarily."

Arkous frowned. "Hmm. That scholar decided he found something more intriguing than ancient tomes?"

"That scholar," spoke a third voice, "is right here and can hear you perfectly fine." The dark-clad Darth Imperius strode in, all six feet of lanky build and a voice distorted by the mask on his face. Lana had always thought the newest induction to the Dark Council was far younger than he carried himself, but he never took that mask off- if rumours were to believed, the mask of the ancient Lord Kallig himself. Nobody was quite sure who he was, as he'd abandoned his birth name after killing Darth Zash and usurping her place. The only one who could have identified him outside of his Sith title, an instructor from Korriban named Harkun, had been found dead not long after Imperius had ascended to the Dark Council, to the rejoicing of many a Sith who had suffered under his tutelage. It was suspicious, but the academic Sith was nothing if not thorough in hiding his trail, and was currently fixing Arkous with a gaze that, if his body language was any indication, hinted that he was quite displeased.

"... My apologies," Arkous finally said, inclining his head minutely to the other Dark Lord. "It's good to have you join us."

"I'm sure," Imperius said flatly. "Is there anyone else involved with this mission that your associate did not wish to share details of over the holo?"

"One other," Lana spoke up, looking to the door as another man strode in. For being the only Force-blind person in a room full of Sith, Agent Reanden Taerich didn't seem to be overly concerned with his safety, and only offered polite nods to everyone else in the room. Lana supposed that the man who'd been responsible for the demise of Darth Jadus wouldn't be too worried by other Sith. "Darth Imperius of the Dark Council, Agent Taerich, one-time Cipher 9 from Imperial Intelligence."

"I am Darth Arkous," the other Dark Councillor introduced himself, "and my associate who contacted you is Lana Beniko. You do not require further introductions?"

"We've met," Imperius said, returning the nod back to Taerich. Lana wasn't certain, but she thought she sensed something through the Force from the other Sith, something that hinted the other was… pleased with Agent Taerich's presence.

"My lord," Taerich quietly said in acknowledgement of Imperius' statement, then looked at Lana and Arkous. "What's this about?"

"We're preparing for a strike assault on the Jedi Temple on Tython," Lana said without preamble.

Darth Imperius gave no visible reaction, aside from perhaps a slight tensing of his frame. Agent Taerich merely blinked. "The Jedi Temple? That's no small feat. How lax have the Jedi become in their planetary defences?"

"Not enough to properly raze the planet to its core," Arkous said (and he did sound quite regretful about that fact), "but enough to send the Republic reeling and the Jedi scurrying. There's been a lapse in the planetary security that we're exploiting before the Republic Navy realizes it. We're striking for any intel held within the Jedi Council chambers, or any relics that might be of use to us that the Order is hoarding."

Imperius did seem intrigued by the prospect of stealing Jedi relics. "How long do we have before this hole in the defences closes?"

"It's uncertain," Lana answered, "which is why we're striking now. The first wave of the assault will be arriving shortly- your shuttle is prepared for departure within the next half hour."

Taerich raised an eyebrow. "That was fast," he idly commented.

"We are nothing if not efficient, Agent Taerich." Lana offered a small smile that indicated she could probably take the credit for the op's efficiency. "Any questions?"

Imperius and Taerich looked at each other for a moment- then the Sith shrugged. "None. We will contact you when we've reached Tython."

That was easier than expected, Lana silently mused as she inclined her head to both strike team leaders. "May the Force serve you well out there." She watched both Sith and agent leave the room, and saw them enter their shuttle through the security cameras before the vessel lifted off with the rest of the second strike force.

She never saw Darth Imperius pull Agent Taerich into a private area of the shuttle and remove his mask to reveal a very young face (only in his early twenties), long brown hair, and a pair of brown eyes, now wide and worried-looking. "Dad…"

She also never saw Reanden Taerich grip his son's shoulder tightly, only now showing the fear that had closed around his heart when he learned of the mission objective. "Better start praying she's not there, son."

Clan Taerich (Xaja, Korin, Sorand, Reanden) are my own OC's. Shara Verhayc and Darren Kota are two of my friends' OC's who are important to my own characters. And anyone you recognize from SWTOR obviously isn't mine.

There will eventually be proper explanation as to how the assorted Taerichs are related and know they're related in future chapters, maybe the odd oneshot that I'll throw into Outtakes from Odessen. Hang onto your questions about that for the time being, and all shall be made known in time, I promise (unless I forget).

Thanks for reading!