A/N: This is a re-write of the forged alliances fic i wrote last year. it was my first real swtor fic, and honestly was a bit of a mess. so! it's been reworked to flow better and line up better with ostensibly (the sequel to this), both stylistically and plot-wise. it's also much shorter, so there'll be less focus on the in-game events we've all played through a dozen times and more focus on anything new/changed.

Captain Adina Kartier. Currently serving on Ziost. Received commendation from Darth Arkous after the Battle of Ilum.

Lana shook her head and scrolled through the rest of the dossier. They could do better than a middle-aged soldier with a wife who taught primary school. Aside from her apparent connection with Arkous, there wasn't anything about Captain Kartier that jumped out at Lana.

No, attacking the Jedi temple on Tython required… bigger players.

Like the Emperor's Wrath, a charming and graceful woman who lacked the aloofness and disloyalty of her predecessor. Or the former Cipher Nine, whose identity Lana still wasn't entirely certain she'd gotten correct, given that the agent had all but disappeared from Imperial records the previous year.

There were others, too, of course; when Darth Arkous had asked Lana to assemble a ground team, she'd put together dossiers for a half dozen potential candidates. Arkous had offered a few suggestions of his own, and Lana had added them to the file, despite not agreeing with many of them.

But Arkous was insistent, even going through the trouble of meeting with various Sith in person in an attempt to recruit them. And each time he returned, it grew increasingly easier for Lana to determine that it had been a failure.

When he returned this time, after a meeting with a fellow Dark Council member, Lana could sense his disappointment almost as quickly as she sensed the Sith himself. "Since I've yet to hear back from Darth Nox, I assume she won't be joining us?" Lana looked up from her datapad as Darth Arkous entered the office, her words clipped.

Lana's original dossiers had deliberately not included Darth Nox — she was volatile, and far too quick to act for such a delicate mission. But Arkous was fond of his fellow councilor, and had insisted on arranging a meeting with her regardless. From the looks of it, he hadn't been successful in convincing Nox to join them.

"I'd hoped to take advantage of her hands-on approach," he stated simply, not quite admitting that Lana was correct. "She did, however, speak quite highly of an Intelligence agent she worked with recently. Ven, I believe the name was. If memory serves, that was one of the names on your list, wasn't it?"

Well, it seemed there was a positive outcome to Arkous' meeting with Nox.

Pulling up the information she'd collected on the agent, Lana crossed the room to where Arkous was now sitting at his desk, handing her datapad over with a sharp nod. "Agent Zaara Ven. She worked with Imperial Intelligence for several years before it was disbanded. Her… unique achievements have put her in an unusual position — she declined the position as Commander of Sith Intelligence, and has since worked as an independent agent in collaboration with the Empire. Her accomplishments are quite extensive."

Arkous scrolled through the information thoughtfully. "Assume you're right, and this is the Cipher Nine… I may be more familiar with her accomplishments than I had realized." After a moment, he set the datapad on his desk. "She's worked alongside the Wrath."

"Yes." Clasping her hands behind her back, Lana paused as she tried to recall the details. "A few years ago, on Tatooine, and more recently on Makeb. Both collaborations were extremely successful."

"I see."

While Arkous had only outright protested one of the names Lana had presented, Darth Evris was the only one they had both agreed on completely; as the Emperor's Wrath, Evris seemed a natural choice to lead an ambitious strike at the heart of the Jedi. However, they'd been unable to get in contact with her. The Wrath had all but disappeared after her wedding a few weeks before — an opulent affair that had seemed to capture the attention of half the Empire. While Lana couldn't exactly fault Evris for wanting time away, the planned assault on Tython was far more important than avoiding the public eye.

When Arkous said nothing else, Lana cleared her throat. "Shall I contact Agent Ven and Darth Evris, then?"

He dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "Leave that to me. Perhaps our agent will know the best way to get in touch with the Wrath. In the meantime, however, I've acquired additional information that may be vital to our success. I believe we should discuss the matter with Lord Goh."

"Of course, my lord."

"Havoc Squad can't take Korriban. Not alone."

Colonel Darok's expression didn't waver. "They've taken ambitious targets in the past. And we aren't sending them in alone."

Theron crossed his arms, frowning down at the holodisplay of the Sith Academy. The information they had on Korriban was far from detailed, but enough to effectively plan an attack.

And enough that they knew where the Dark Council chambers were.

"No, not at first. But by the time they reach the academy itself, they won't have any backup. And that's when they'll need it." He zoomed in on the display, highlighting the council chambers for emphasis. "Assuming they make it to the academy with no problems — and I'd be skeptical if we were sending anyone other than Havoc — how much of the Dark Council are we going to have to worry about?"

Darok still didn't seem concerned. "How much of the council is even intact? Between Corellia and Ilum and whatever their own infighting has likely caused them, it's surprising the Empire has accomplished anything this past year," he pointed out, circling the holodisplay and setting it back to a full view of the planned landing zone. "So unless you have a Jedi strike team that we missed the first time, that option is still out, and Havoc Squad is still our best choice."

Theron massaged at one of his temples with a sigh; their first attempt to find a Jedi both capable and willing to lead the attack had been entirely unsuccessful, but he hadn't been quite as willing as Darok to abandon the possibility. He'd considered reaching out to the Barsen'thor — she was a friend, and was certainly more than capable of leading this sort of mission. But given her history with the Sith and her general temperament, she was more likely to tear down the Academy and possibly ruin the one chance they had to gather intel.

So he'd kept looking. "Not a strike team, exactly. But I may have the next best thing," he revealed. "Master Cori Ven, to be exact. The name might be familiar — she led the team that infiltrated Dromund Kaas a little over a year ago. She's gone up against the Emperor, and if that's not enough, there's a whole list of victories the Order's got attributed to her."

"Cori Ven," Darok repeated thoughtfully, almost sounding impressed. "She would be an impressive addition to our ground team. I'll be in touch with Major Sohms to get everything worked out with Havoc, but if this Jedi is willing to work with us, I can make adjustments for that."

"Well, sorry, but when I get a message saying Call now, it's urgent, I'm expecting trouble." Leaning further back in her chair, Zaara propped her feet up on her desk, grinning up at Rei's image on the holoterminal. "But you know me," she teased, "just a simple servant of the Empire. I wouldn't dare ignore Darth Nox."

"You would, and you have," the rattataki shot back, crossing her arms. "Besides, what else was I supposed to say? Anyone else I would have asked was either busy or in the same room as me. And you know how chatty Darth Zhorrid gets. I had to get her out of my office one way or another."

Zaara raised a questioning eyebrow, but said nothing; she got the feeling that Rei's experiences with Zhorrid were far different than her own had been. Before she could say anything further, the terminal chimed to signal a priority holocall. "I have to go," she stated simply. "But in the future, let me know how urgent urgent actually is. You had me worried the Empire was falling or something."

"It might fall, if I have to sit through one more—"

"Goodbye, Nox." Making a mental note to call later and ensure Rei wasn't too upset with being cut off, Zaara switched over to the new call; eyes going wide, she sat up in rigid surprise as she realized she was speaking with a second member of the Dark Council.

"Agent Ven," the Sith greeted her. "A pleasure to meet the former Cipher Nine."

"The pleasure's all mine," Zaara responded stiffly, suppressing any discomfort the title still held for her.

"Darth Nox speaks highly of you and your recent mission on Oricon, though your various exploits in the name of the Empire certainly speak for themselves." He glanced off to the side, then returned his full attention to Zaara. "We've come across a rare opportunity, one that requires your expertise. The details are… sensitive, and will require further elaboration in person. However, I can assure you this is the first step in bringing the Republic to its knees."

It took an immense amount of effort not to squirm in her seat; at one time, Zaara would've accepted without question, but she'd become wary of missions that operated on a need-to-know basis. "I'll meet with you," she agreed cautiously, "but just so we're clear — I'm not agreeing to the mission. Not yet. I need more information before I commit."

"Of course." Thankfully, he didn't seem at all upset by her hesitance. "And, Agent — I'm aware that you're well acquainted with the Emperor's Wrath?"

She crossed her arms. "We're friends, yes. You want me to see if she's interested as well?" Zaara guessed.

"Precisely. I believe it's going to be very rewarding to work alongside you, Agent."

With that, the holocall fizzled to an end, leaving Zaara alone and only slightly unsettled. Despite calling the Wrath a longtime friend, she hated working with Sith. It was one of the reasons she'd had no interest in rejoining Intelligence after it had been dismantled and haphazardly re-organized — the organization would eventually be used like everything else with direct Sith oversight: to be a weapon in whatever petty war the Sith were waging with themselves.

Still, the Sith weren't all bad all the time — they had an Empire to run, after all — and Zaara's unique position allowed her to pick and choose which of their battles she fought for them. This one, at least, seemed worthy of her time.

Standing, Zaara stretched and grabbed her jacket from where it lay on her desk before leaving her cramped office. It wasn't much to look at, just a small room on the top floor of Lys' apartment, but Zaara was grateful for the space regardless. The rest of the apartment was far more opulent, more befitting a Sith of her station, complete with a private landing pad and an armory and a kitchen larger than some of the places Zaara had lived.

It was a welcome change from the last place Lys had lived, a well-earned change considering all the success she'd had as the Wrath, along with finally getting married. Zaara never had learned what happened in the two years between the initial engagement and the wedding; she normally went to Vette for gossip on Lys, but she hadn't wanted to elaborate on the topic and that alone was enough to keep Zaara from prying.

Zaara was halfway down the stairs to the main level and beginning to seriously consider pulling out her holocomm to call Lys when she found her in the room below, curled up on one of the couches beside Quinn, asleep. The captain was scrolling through a datapad, an ignored holovid running quietly in the background.

Leaning forward onto the railing, Zaara cleared her throat. Quinn glanced up, annoyance flashing in his eyes. "Whenever she wakes up, let her know Darth Arkous has a job for us. I have to go collect my crew." He offered a small nod in understanding, and Zaara added, "And stop scowling, Captain. It's unbecoming."

Cori should've known they'd draw a crowd.

It hadn't occurred to her, at first, considering she'd carved out time for practice nearly every day since returning to Tython, always at the same little grassy patch in front of the temple. However, she hadn't accounted for the fact that she'd always trained with Kira or, though it was far less common, one of the other masters.

But since she had chosen Scourge as a sparring partner, their otherwise routine practice had drawn a growing group of curious Jedi — both masters and padawans, some of them children.

Cori's training blade flared as she gave it an experimental twirl, the grip and weight of the weapon still unfamiliar despite weeks of using it. Her eyes scanned Scourge as he waited, baiting her into making the first attack. Earlier in their training session, she might have, but as it was she was beginning to tire; no one could match Cori's skill quite like Scourge did, leaving her more tired and sore than she would willingly admit.

She was nearly prepared to give in and make the first strike when she heard T7, the droid beeping erratically as it navigated through the crowd of onlookers.

Jedi = received holocall in chambers / Holocall = priority

"A convenient excuse to quit, Jedi."

Cori handed off her training blade to Kira before turning back to Scourge. "This doesn't mean you win."

"A draw, then?" he proposed. "Which puts us at seven each, and…"

"Forty three ties," Kira cut in. "By my count, at least. Which — can the two of you just start over, or something?"

"The agreement was first to ten," Cori called over her shoulder, following T7 back through the already dissipating crowd. "So, no." She picked up her pace, heading straight to the meditation chambers that had been granted to her while she was on Tython. She accepted the call right away, smoothing her haphazard robes as the terminal sprang to life with the image of a man with cybernetics and a simple red jacket.

"Master Cori Ven. Just the Jedi I was hoping to get a hold of."

Narrowing her eyes, Cori clasped her hands in front of her and racked her mind, trying to determine whether she should recognize him or not. "Just Cori, please. And who… what is this about?"

"I'm with the SIS," he explained. "Probably best to leave it at that for now. We've got a little operation we could use your help with, if you're up for it. We'll have to fill you in on the details in person but, put simply, this could turn out to be the most valuable strike we've made against the Empire yet."

Cori frowned; striking at the Empire had been what had driven her back to Tython in the first place — to rest and rebalance herself in the aftermath of one too many battles. She had always known she'd have to go back, to continue fighting for the Republic, though she hadn't anticipated the day would come after only a short month at the temple.

"Okay," she decided after a moment of deliberation. Cori supposed she was as ready as she'd ever be to get back to work, anyway. "Just tell me what you need."

"Like I said, we'll talk more in person, but let me introduce you to the leader of the assault team you'll be working with."

A second person stepped into view, a heavily armed mirialan with a ponytail and an easily recognizable insignia on her armor. "Major Sohms, Havoc Squad. I'm not fond of working with Jedi — no offense — but Theron tells me you know how to get shit done."