*Special thanks to jedicommando13 (who is responsible for a good chunk of this chapter, if not half) for permission to use his OC (Jedi Commando).

Sunset

Darth Koran strode to his destination proudly, the way a true master of the Force should. He knew his power was growing, faster and faster. Soon he would be able to overthrow his master and perhaps Dooku, and truly take his place as a Sith Lord, not some worthless Darkside acolyte. Then he could destroy the Republic by Sidious's side, then he could relish in the final destruction of the accursed Jedi Order.

After that he had grander plans. The Nightsisters who slaughtered his family, they must die too, the most painful and agonizing death he could give them. He grinned as he thought of torturing them with Force lightening, driving them mad with Force insanity, and breaking them into quivering cowards. Then he could relish in the pain, feeling it echo through the Force, letting it dominate him. Yet he would not stop there, what else could stop him from making his home Dathomir a fortress, a true citadel of the darkside? If the Nightsisters perished then he could easily quash the lightsided Force witches, the weak servants of the lightside who failed to realize their true potential were a nuisance that needed to be rid of. After that, what was to stop him from taking total control of the galaxy?

He knelt before his master, barely hiding his disgust. He respected Darth Bromander, but all true Sith dream of betraying and overcoming their master. He asked, "What is thy bidding?"

"You should know by now you weak fool." His master turned around and spat at him. "You are weaker than I first imagined."

"Perhaps you need reminding of my power," he replied, "Give me a mission and you will not be disappointed."

"Well," his master began slowly, perhaps sensing a possible betrayal, "Count Dooku and the Seperatist council have noted the effectiveness of clone commandos…"

"They're concerned by droids with feelings? Gunray and his ilk are bigger sniveling cowards than I first thought."

"Shut up, I've yet to finish," Darth Bromander probed Koran's mind, he flinched as bit as terrible thoughts thrust in, then waded in their power. Darth Koran's master continued, "Those commandos you met before. You must kill them."

"My pleasure master," He remembered the last time he had met these foes. He was just supposed to keep the droid forces and Neomodian cowards in line. Instead the Republic had sent a clone command squad to ensure that his staging ground was destroyed. He was sickened. One of them actually had some worth, a connection, a connection with the Force. He brandished a lightsaber to match Koran's and held out against the Maskashi barrage with a basic version of form V, the man was trained, but very little. Perhaps Koran could expand that power.

He flashed backed to the duel. The two other clones blasted at him, aiding their brother, Darth Koran kept the blasts at bay, barely, but he did and continued to fight the Lightsaber wielding clone. Their blades touched and he grimaced as he tried to push forward, he was unable to tell the emotions of the other man, they were hidden by a helmet and the face shared by millions of his brothers. Koran tried to tempt his foe, "Why do you subject yourself to being stuck with these things? They are the same, worthless, hopeless. You on the other hand, you have potential, you are literally a one in a million find, embrace your power!"

The clone just sneered back in the Concord Dawn accent, "Ni nu akaanir ner vode par gar." The clone then gained the advantage and swatted Darth Koran's lightsaber away and one in blood spattered armor knocked Koran out with the butt of his rifle.

Koran's thoughts returned to the present day…

Forsaking his lowly knee before Bromander, he departed her presence without as much as a look backward. Koran would, this time, instill in his master more than a former regard of the meager merits of trust that she allowed him… As he schemed he knew that his planned success of this mission could change their relationship forever. In his ecstasy, Koran nearly walked off an extension bridge platform on his way to the hangar. The grand schemes of tomorrow seemed quite tangible the whispers of power whetting Koran's appetite.

If anything, the site of a prototype M25-infiltrator bolstered Koran's mood. Koran had, throughout the years, always retained a passion for weapons and machinery. The allure of their deadly beauty and engineering marvel had always intrigued him. Though he hadn't personally built the M25I, it was his original design, his plan. It was another sign of his genius, or genius he claimed to have. His designs were all of its sleek curves, the revolutionary engine system, its static missiles, and its unique cabin. The ship completed his being as much as his lightsaber did.

Koran boarded his prized vehicle and was off. As the vessel was much too small to achieve light-speed, a ring awaited him just outside Darth Bromander's flagship, Draco. Docking was always a bit rough, but nothing could pervade Darth Koran's good mood, more narcissism entering his being, at the moment so it went unnoticed. He punched in the coordinates for the proper sector of space he was headed to, and then the all-to-familiar blurred stars made themselves known from outside the cock-pit windows. The beauty of the stars never ceased to amaze spacers looking for adventures, Jedi studying the mysteries of the Force, even old soldiers. Yet then meant nothing to Koran, and as he soared through space, he finally began his pre-mission self-briefing ritual as was custom.

"Let's see," he spoke aloud to himself. "Mission type: Termination/capture, Target(s): unknown clone squadron/Separatist compound, Destination: Datho-…" Koran cut himself off. He had not given any thought about the where of his assignment until the present moment. Dathomir… a land of varying, intense terrains, predatory wildlife, cool climate, and worst of all THEM: the infamous force witches. Suddenly Darth Koran's steel bubble of joy was decimated. He only thought these next words. "They will pay… all will pay…" A brief, maniacal chuckle left Koran's lips. The slaughter of his young life had gone on far too long un-avenged. The thought of revenge was- arousing.

This tangent of thought brought Koran all the way to the outskirts of the Quelii Sector. Here is where the M25I brought itself out of light-speed. Auto-pilot could have carried him into Dathomir's atmosphere, but Koran switched it off after he passed Koratas, a moon of his former home planet. Darth Koran was quite the pilot, and an avid fan of it at that.

Upon entrance into the outermost layers of Dathomir's thick clouds, he was pervaded by an unnatural sense of darkness and fear… No- not fear, the Sith did not bother with such petty emotions. Koran decided it was but his mind readying himself for the trials ahead. But as the M25I descended further into the fog, his tensions grew. Koran found that he was, in fact, more fearful of returning to the land of the Night Sisters than he'd been during his initial encounter with Darth Bromander. If anything, this increased his anxiety.

Filled with uncertainty and fear, Darth Koran landed just outside of the forest belonging to the Nightsisters, known for their preference of the Dark side, and the utter destruction of a certain mountain village that once stood nearby…

Notes:

"Ni nu akaanir ner vode par gar"- Mando'a for "I won't fight my brothers for you"

The M25 Infiltrator is a reference to and is based off Darth Maul's original Sith Infiltrator, appearing in The Phantom Menace. But, whereas the original was quite large and angular, the M25 is much smaller, sleeker, and curvier than its predecessor.