CHAPTER ONE

Escape Evann

The Sith Lord, Alek Talus, paced inside his private meditation chamber that was dimly lit by scattered red light. All was silent except for the click of his boots on the metal floor, the humming communicator open to the ship's bridge, and the quiet whimpering from the floor by his feet.

A voice from the communicator interrupted his steps.

"Lord Talus, we are prepared to leave orbit."

"Proceed, Captain," Talus answered in a voice that was almost inhumanly deep, its tone inter-weaved with an unspoken threat.

Talus studied Anise. She sat on the floor with her back pressed against the side of the steps leading up the dais that housed a single over-sized chair. Her knees were pulled up into her chest. Her arms hugged her legs in tight and her fingers were locked tightly together and pressed down on her head. Her thick blood-red hair cascaded down her back passed her waist, tumbled over her shoulders, and pooled on the floor in tangled curls.

Talus dropped down onto one knee in front of her. He worked his hands through her hair to find a grip on her upper arms. He was able to close a fist around each of her arms and yanked her up onto her feet but she refused to stand on her own. She kept her head down and pulled against Talus trying to drop back to the floor but his grip remained strong until she finally stopped fighting and stood erect.

Talus pushed sections of her tear soaked hair behind her shoulders, away from her mouth and eyes. He placed his hand gently under her chin and lifted her head up towards his. She closed her eyes tight and squeezed a tear that ran down her face and dropped onto Talus's armored forearm. She sobbed and trembled in his hands.

"Look at me, Anise," he ordered her in the same fierce tone with which he commanded the captain.

Anise opened her almond shaped eyes which were too large for her tiny frame. Her pupils were black ovals centered on bright green disks that drifted slowly upwards to find Talus' gaze.

The vessel's course changed and moved tangentially from orbit. It's hull moaned as it pulled out of Evann's gravity.

Anise threw her head back and squeezed her eyes shut again. She pulled frantically away from Talus. He held on tight while she kicked and pulled away. She could not break his grip and he held her upright for as long as his patience would bear. He finally relented and she threw herself back onto the floor and curled up back into the same position against the steps.

Talus stood up.

"You must let go, Anise," he said forcefully yet almost pleading. "We have prepared for this."

The captain's voice returned from the communicator, "We are clear of orbit, my lord. We are ready to enter hyperspace on your command."

"Continue your present course," Talus ordered.

Anise let out a long guttural moan. Her body trembled and she slumped over onto her side crying and breathing through wet hair.

"You're doing this to yourself," he said to her, his voice now tinged with frustration.

"No," she pleaded in response.

Talus grabbed two chairs from a nearby table and placed them facing each other near Anise. He plucked her up off the floor and placed her in one chair and sat in the other. He tried to lift her head up again but she slapped his hand away. Talus closed his eyes and meditated, focusing his power in the Force.

For more than a decade Talus had studied little else beyond Force Bonds. After completing his training on Korriban his master sent him across the galaxy searching for artifacts. He came across a holocron left behind in wreckage that described a Force Bond so powerful that physical pain felt by one was felt by the other, augmenting powers in the Force could be shared, and even killing one member of the pair could kill the other. Intrigued, he kept his find secret from his master and continued to gather more knowledge from Sith archives, stolen Jedi holocrons, and bartering for what was kept secret by older Sith.

For years he practiced deliberately creating Bonds with lessor Acolytes during his frequent visits to Korriban, most of whom would die before completing their training, allowing him to refine his technique in secret. He began to see Force Bonds everywhere, not just between student and instructor but even between foes. Most of these Bonds were weak of course, and the majority of them went unnoticed by even their participants.

Talus' knowledge was so profound he doubted whether the Emperor himself could comprehend even a fraction of what he possessed. All that he studied was for this exact moment.

He focused all his power on Anise. He created a channel of energy flowing from his subconscious to hers. Like feelers they poked and prodded their way through her mind but they found no acceptance. The energy stopped before reaching her.

You must accept me he said to her telepathically but she did not hear him. Her mind was shut.

"It's time, Anise." Talus opened the communicator to the bridge. "You may enter hyperspace when ready. Notify me the moment we reach Dantooine."

"Right away, my lord."

Talus tried to reach her again, offering her a Force Bond, it was met with the same rejection.

The Gage class Transport made its preparation to jump to light speed. Talus heard the changes in pitch of the ship's resonance, the inaudible creaks in the hull, the imperceptible clicks in the electronics; combined they formed a countdown in his mind. Each click he slid closer to the edge of his seat. Each pitch deviation he tried more desperately to reach her. She refused. One final chirp and Talus called out her name. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. The ship jumped.

Anise's head snapped up, her breathing stopped, eyes wide and frozen. She stood up from her chair. She exhaled once and cut an inhale short. Talus tried to get her to face him but she shoved him back into his seat almost knocking him backwards over the chair and turned her back to him. She grabbed her head covering her ears. Talus felt her reaching out to her planet, she tried desperately to reach Evann as it melted away through the light years behind them, unreachable.

She screamed in terror as Talus spun her around and held her face in his hands. He got down on his knees trying to get her to look at him. Her eyes rolled around but could not find his. Her knees buckled and her body went limp in his arms. He tried to hold her up for another moment then relented, letting her body collapse onto the floor.

Talus stayed on his knees and calmly refocused on his Bond, trying to offer it to Anise again. He pushed gently into her subconscious, then increased the intensity. He tried to drive his power into her mind, growling with effort. Her mind stayed closed tight.

Talus exhausted his power in one final effort. Snarling in his failure he jumped to his feet and kicked the chair Anise had sat in across the room. It broke against the far wall and fell in several pieces. He reached over her body and grabbed his chair and smashed it to pieces on the floor at his feet, inches from her still body. She did not react.

He took several steps away from Anise, seething. He turned suddenly towards her and shouted, "You will not deprive me!"

Talus fired Force Lightning from one hand striking Anise's body. The shock snapped her body rigid and she rolled away from him. She slid across the floor and rolled up into a kneeling position facing Talus as all the energy leaving his body converged into a point in the center of the palm of one of her hands. Talus raised his second arm and doubled the arcs of power leaving his body. The lightning struck her body again. She contorted from the impact for a brief moment until that second flow converged and vanished into the palm of her other hand.

The Force flowed through Talus' body, across the short distance between him and Anise, and vanished into her body, dissipating back into the Force. A circuit formed, Talus moved closer to her, he channeled all the power he could into her body. For a fleeting moment he felt success, until he could look through the intense purple light to see her eyes empty and dead. No new tears were falling, only a new clear stream ran from her mouth.

"You will feel me through the Force," he said to her.

He stepped closer to her, her lifeless eyes stared at his knees. The sting of failure snarled his mouth again. He turned away from her in disgust and tried to stop his attack but he could not break the circuit. Still the lightning flowed out of his hands involuntarily. He stepped back away from her. He sent a surge of energy out towards her and tried to stop the attack again and again he could not break the circuit. He searched for her gaze through the light but her expression had not changed.

The pain started as a single point in the front top of this head. The intensity magnified with each millisecond the Force drained from his body into Anise. The single point spread quickly forward and back across his head until it felt like someone was prying his skull open with a crowbar.

Talus fell to his knees, his arms out to his sides. The room went black as the pain caused him to lose consciousness. When he regained his thoughts he looked around the room. The visible lightning had vanished from his hands but the flow of energy continued into her hands. He could not stand. The splitting pain crippled his thoughts.

"Anise," he said weakly barely more than a whisper. "Can you hear me?"

He lacked the strength to find her eyes and sunk lower onto his knees, his body folding forward as he faded out again.

His mind wandered through the memories of his life. The first master he had when he was a young slave and had been shipped to Dromund Kaas. His subsequent discovery by a Sith Lord, forced into the Academy on Korriban. The treachery of his lessors. The cruelty of his Masters.

Talus mustered the strength to open his eyes once again. He tried to move his head but could only roll it to one side. He saw Anise now standing in front of him.

"You…you're killing us…both," he managed to squeeze from his throat before fading out again.

In his mind's eye he saw the first man he ever killed standing before him, a face he hadn't seen in twenty years. He was a fellow Sith Acolyte. He couldn't remember what the Acolyte did, only that the instructor ordered them to fight to the death without the use of weapons or the Force. It wasn't to be much of a battle.

With weapons or even just the Force the Acolyte may have had a chance. A barehanded fight meant only that this was to be an execution and a painful one. Talus towered head and shoulders above all the students and Masters. He was more than just tall, he was well proportioned and heavy framed. He was bigger, stronger, faster, and more ruthless than the other students. He accepted the role of executioner and meted out a slow and brutal death. He never asked why. And he would accept the same role repeatedly in the years that followed.

He opened his eyes again. Still the power drained from his body. He was immobile. He felt hollow inside. He had no power left. It felt like what was leaving his body now was his soul itself. He raised his eyes to see Anise staring out over him. His mind was shutting down. Yet somewhere nearby he felt a third presence in the room. He tried to focus on it but it left him. He closed down again.

The presence returned a time later this time more agitated. The interruption woke Talus and he latched onto it with his conscious mind. The presence was like a signal flare in the room burning with anxiety. Talus tried to pull away from Anise by following the emotion, using it to fill the hole she had created. More activity swirled around the room. Talus could locate it near an entrance. The presence left but the fear lingered like a fog. He pulled the emotion into his mind trying to keep it from escaping. It was something he could do.

Another presence entered the room, this time drowning in fear and confusion. Talus pressed Anise out of his mind, stripped out the memories, and centered all of his strength on the fear. He felt it as if it was his own. He anchored it in his mind and used it to pull away from her.

He finally recognized the source of the fear. He inhaled deeply and opened his eyes. The Force had stopped draining from his body though he did not know for how long it had. He rolled his eyes up again to see Anise still standing expressionless. He lacked the strength to stand or even move. He tried to swallow.

"What…is it…commander," the words scraped from his throat.

"My lord," the officer responded nervously. "We have reached Dantooine and we are in orbit."

Talus flexed the muscles in his legs under him to see if he had the strength to move. He did not.

"You were to alert me…," he tried to catch his breath, "…when in system."

"Yes, my lord," he answered, unsure how to proceed. "I've tried…sir, we've been in orbit for two days."

Talus was too weak to express surprise.

"Sir," the officer continued nervously, "Darth Vuull demands a report on our progress."

Talus ordered the officer out of the room. Alone again with Anise he slumped over onto his hands and knees and crawled away from her. He let his anger grow. He drew on the dark side, pulling its power into his body cell by cell, fueling his mind and body with its power until he finally had the strength to stand.

At the peak of his power fueled by rage he turned to Anise. She stood in the same position. She continued to stare at nothing but her eyes were no longer empty. They were filled with anger, his anger. The green eyes had faded to Sith yellow. He could feel the dark side swirl around and through her.

Anise, he called to her in his mind. Her head slowly turned toward his.

Talus ordered the officer back into to the room.

"You will have one of the new slave girls assigned to her" he ordered while motioning to Anise. "I want her cleaned up and back here wearing attire more suitable for a Sith in one hour. Prepare the landing party as planned. We will complete our mission and then contact Darth Vuull. Leave at once."

The officer left quickly. A young slave girl entered and bowed before Talus. He directed her to Anise still standing motionless. Her anger had subsided with his, her eyes once again a bright green. The girl tried to coax Anise to follow her but she ignored her.

Go with her Talus whispered to her silently. She obeyed and followed the slave girl out of the room.

Alone again Talus leaned back in his chair. He ate the rations that had been delivered to him to regain his strength. He thought of Anise and smiled to himself.