The rain drummed against the glass panes of the Dromund Kaas apartment towers. Lights faintly blinked on building roofs across Kaas City, the only other sparse movements visible from above were air speeders. Distant ships were hidden by the heavy gray clouds of the planets constant downpour.
The Emperor's Wrath looked over the cityscape from the dry comfort of his home. The place he called his stronghold was brand new, barely decorated and empty. All he needed there was a firm bed and sustenance.
Essan had taken the Sith name of Skordus, symbolic of the chaotic nature of his father. He had barely known the man. Rattataki died young, and the young grew old quick. There was much to do today.
He boarded his ship to launch departure for Belsavis. Once there, he took his speeder through the icy canyons and green patches, swooped near a herd of feral varactyl, stopped at the entrance of a bunker. There was still a number of artefacts to be discovered in the depths of Belsavis, below even the deepest levels of the prison. The temple was turned into a tomb, and the prisoners were its guests.
Masked behind the faceless image of the Sith Acolytes, wearing the hooded armor and robes of gray and black, Darth Skordus ignited his lightsaber, blazing blood-red blade ready for battle.
Prisoners charged him as soon as he'd passed the first elevator. They fired their blasters at him. He was already in a state of semi-transe, barely registering his own movements but his lightsaber batted off the laser bolts coming from left and right. A Duros and a Trandoshan lost some limbs, felt to their knees and were rapidly killed with a slash to the chest and neck. Skordus paced with determination around the dark maze that was the buried temple, visiting each room, dispatching more pirates and criminals. There was more gun fire, a scuffle of voices shouting and screaming. Skordus went towards the origin of those sounds, at the end of a hallway. The shouts stopped as well as the blaster fire. Only one presence was left, and its Force imprint was singular among those, twisted and cowardly, of the outlaws.
But there was none to see but a handful of scattered bodies on the ground. Essan stood in the middle of them, deactivated his lightsaber to be in the dead silence.
"Show yourself," he commanded. "Assassin."
A breath, as if someone had been practicing apnea, and the sound of a cloaking device being switched off. In front of him appeared a medium-heighted Twi'lek woman in dark garb, holding a vibroknife in one hand, and a box in the other. The latter showed carvings of ancient script.
"Who are you?" she asked with a sneer.
"I am Darth Skordus," he answered. "The Emperor's Wrath. You're a spy."
"Cipher Nine, Imperial Intelligence," she corrected, going over one of the corpses to loot his ammunition. "My spying days are over, my Lord. I'm just here for the credits."
"This artefact you carry. How much do you think it is worth?"
She stopped and looked at him defiantly. "I don't care about old religious trinkets. Did you come here for it?"
"Do not try to trick me..." Still clutching his lightsaber, Essan prepared to counter with his will. The orange-skinned woman squinted her blue eyes at him.
"I would give you the artefact, and in return you would give a good word from me to the Emperor. Where is the exit?"
Essan hesitated one second before taking the box from her offering hand.
"You're almost there. I've cleared the way out."
The object was inside the box. He could feel the extra weight, and it almost attempted to call to him through the Force. Cipher Nine walked passed him, barely avoiding to brush against his armor as she paced with confidence over the trail of dead bodies.
"The Emperor doesn't bother with lowly servants such as you or myself," he growled.
"In that case, you owe me. My Lord."
She stopped again to inspect the pockets of a dead pirate. She noticed he was still watching her.
"I've been in this cave for two days collecting data. I found the box in he lowest level, if that's any use to you."
If that unfortunate encounter wasn't enough, his mood was pitted when he found the same Twi'lek reporting back at the snowy and desolate Domination Outpost. When he checked in with the local Imperial base, the mission terminal notified him that he would have personnel report to him. As their superior in command, it was his duty to accept their work in his service. The computer selected the officer nearest his position.
"Cipher Nine, reporting."
He turned to face the orange-skinned Twi'lek. Her face showed nothing more than a monotonous gaze. Essan took a deep breath.
"I do not require that you work for me, Cipher. Be on your way."
Not replying immediately, he waited and she appeared genuinely confused.
"I'm looking for work," she said, insisting. "My Lord, all you need to do is confirm my service status under your orders, that way I will get paid."
"And I will do that." He tapped the confirmation key on the terminal. "And payment for the holocron?"
She checked her datapad before stowing it back to her belt. "There's more of those, on many other planets. Admit that it would be far more interesting to see who gets the most of them first."
Essan frowned at her confident smirk.
"Most of them are stored in the Sith Academy on Korriban. The few that are undiscovered lie in dangerous places. Such quests are not to be taken lightly."
She folded her arms and stood in the cold silence while snowflakes landed upon her head and shoulders. Essan mustered his self-control to prevent a chill to run down his spine.
"Or we could go bounty hunting," she said. "Remember that you owe me, and I only hunt big game. Having the Wrath by my side would profit us both."
"Catching random criminals does not contribute to the war effort," Essan objected.
"How are holocrons helping us, then?"
He was looking forward to the hours of studying, meditating, translating and research once he would be back home with his artefact. During that time, the Republic still etched its patch towards the destruction of the Empire, and he would have only done self-improvement.
"You make a good point."
"It's fortunate that I'm with Intelligence."
He smiled behind his mask. They were agreeing on going after the most wanted outlaws of the galaxy and not to seek ancient history about the Force users.
"Let's get to it, then," he said.
"Good," she replied with relief in her tone. The headed towards the planetary transport. "First, we need some supplies and intel. A quick jump to the Fleet will do."
He hesitated, climbing on board after her. "How about we meet at a rendez-vous point?"
"What would be the point of having the Wrath on my team? With your name on the paycheck, we get the highest prize."
"You are mistaken, Cipher. Imperial assets are scarce and we shouldn't exploit them."
"That's where you are mistaken," she corrected. They were led by the transportation droid to sit in the passenger cabin while the ship started the ascend. "The Hutt Cartel deals with credit movements and launders its dirty profits through Imperial deals. Us taking their money is only putting the credits back where they belong."
Essan wasn't comfortable sitting and arguing with someone in public. Luckily, the shuttle was empty. No one visited Belsavis anymore.
"How is it that someone as capable as you must work outside your assignments?"
Cipher Nine observed the silence for a couple of seconds, as if debating with herself whether or not to respond.
"I'm between assignments," she calmly said. "I just finished dealing with a particular individual who attempted to kill me after destroying my identity."
"Another spy?"
"You could say that, but he did so much worse than spying. Needless to say he got what was coming to him."
During the next pause Essan sensed the raw hatred and anger that flowed from the woman sitting opposite from him. Her serene appearance was admirable.
"And now you are working with a Sith," he commented.
Her cyan eyes fixed the ceiling lights for better alternative to the missing viewports.
"We'll see how that goes."