The transport skimmed low over the city, roaring through the air as it punched through the clouds, leaving black wisps reaching in its wake. A sky full of grasping hands.

Beneath, Coronet City burned.

There was no time to land, so a hatch slid upon along the side of the transport. A figure loomed in the red light of the interior, hulking and massive. He stepped from the transport and plummeted down through the air, crashing into the ground in a crouch, cracks splitting the concrete below him, hitting with more force than his weight would warrant. Slowly he straightened, a red-skinned colossus in full armour. Reflective black plates covered his chest and shoulders and down his arms, like he was wearing the gauntlets of an ancient knight, articulated at the joints in the same manner as a droid. A midnight black cloak hung from his wide shoulders, hiding the bladed sabre that was at his waist. He reached over his shoulder with one hand and pulled a cowl over his head, shadowing his vivid red eyes and the hissing respirator that covered his mouth.

He looked back up to the hovering transport, raising his arm to shield his face from the blowback of the lift generators. Above him, a smaller frame filled the hatch, this one leaping into the air. She did not fall as he had, but drifted down, one slippered foot delicately placing itself on the ground before gravity reasserted itself, holding her to Corellia. She did not look girded for war like her crimson companion, wearing a sort of toga-like wrap in myriad shades of grey and black, completely covering one arm, the other bare and hanging loosely by her side. What was most shocking to the Imperial troopers watching was not her attire, but her race. The woman was Mirialan, but anyone who knew the peoples would see that she was transgressive in all her aspects. Not only had she defected from the Republican cause and turned her powers to the path of the Sith, but where Mirialans tattooed themselves with strict geometric diamond designs to mark their achievements and maturation to adulthood, this woman had covered the shaved side of her head and one cheek with a mad swirl of spirals and circle, meaningless to anyone but her.

Overhead, the transport roared off, more deliveries to make. The whole of Corellia was a war zone and transportation was at a premium for both sides of the conflict. An officer shoved himself through the ranks of lounging troopers to present himself to the two Sith. His face was a curious mix of panting exertion and pale-faced fear. At one point this soldier might reach the ranks where he felt the massed legions in his command gave him a footing equal to a Sith, but for today he was a mere Captain. There were no end to the tales of unlucky soldiers killed for no more than offering a modicum of strategy to the religious fanatics.

'My lords Jadugar and Im'rayn, welcome to Coronet City. We are so pleased that the Darth acceded to our request,' the captain said, bowing in the Sith manner. He was promptly ignored by Im'rayn, who swept past him with less than a glance, moving towards the balcony of the rise the Imperials were stationed on. The hapless captain gaped, following her movements with his eyes. He turned back and started, heart hammering as he came face to face to the chest of Lord Jadugar.

'The Darth does not trouble himself with your requests captain,' the pureblood rumbled, his voice hollowed by his respirator. 'The situation here is unacceptable.'

The captain's hands began to shake uncontrollably. When the Sith started talking about "unacceptable", people began dying around them. Without a word shared, the troopers that had been caught nearby to the exchange began to edge away.

'My lords! The Guard here are being led by a cohort of the Green Jedi. They have rebuffed all our advances. Surely we meagre soldiers are no match for the power of the Force.' Snivelling toadyism, that was the best way, the captain judged. Everyone knew that the ego of the Sith was incomparable.

He was fixed with a red gaze, somehow the eyes seeming bright and powerful even in the darkness of the hood.

'There is no power greater than the Force,' said Jadugar and the captain slumped with relief.

'But they are merely Jedi.'

The captain's eyes widened and a low moan escaped his lips. He expected the cold hand of the his doom at any moment, wrapping around his neck with invisible strength, or lashing down his spine in agonising torture.

But nothing came, and the Sith lord pushed past him, moving towards the command table that had been set up . The officers huddled over it snapped to attention. All knew that their lives were on the line and they all started yammering at once, well-rehearsed excuses babbling off their tongues. Jadugar silenced them all with a look.

'Captain. Explain the situation.'

He hurried to the lord's side, clammy with cold sweat. He was alive! That almost made him gleeful, never an appropriate attitude around one of them.

'The Guard and the Green Jedi are currently holed up in this factory building here,' he explained, the interactive image of the table highlighting a rectangular building that had been cordoned off by Imperial troopers. 'Command wishes the factory taken as intact as possible and so far all our assaults have been driven back. The Guard are too entrenched to be shifted and...' The captain gulped. It was never good practice to raise complaints over tactics with Sith but what choice did he have? 'Our orders are to take the factory as quickly as possible so rather than wait for their resources to run out we've been pushing...'

Jadugar cut him off. 'Time is of the essence captain. The control of this planet requires a crushing grip on its means of production. The Republic sympathisers cannot be allowed to control that factory.'

The captain nodded and called up another simulation, this one showing movements of troops. 'With your presence lords, you may lead an assault of the factory, breeching in two locations, here and h-'

'No. Your men have already proven their inadequacy for the task.' The pureblood straightened up from his position of leaning over the map. 'We must maintain a strength in this sector and that requires Imperial soldiers. No. The Sith shall accomplish this task.'

'My lord!' The captain started. If two Sith were killed as part of some suicidal vanity project than he would be ruined. The Darth would flay him alive and use his skin as a dishrag. But the presence of Jadugar was oppressive and any protests died in his throat.

'You will believe captain. After you witness the power of the Sith, faith is inevitable.'

Im'rayn was surveying the warzone that was Coronet's factory district. She felt Jadugar move up alongside her.

'Do you ever think that the philosophies of the Jedi and Sith serve the wrong sides Jadugar?' She asked, holding a pose of thoughtful enquiry.

The pureblood grunted and she could sense his disapproval bleeding from him. He was such a blunt instrument. It made him fun.

'Just look at it. This is the result of the Republic, chaos. Do you not see the passions that swirl in such a place. Even when working as designed, the democracy of the Republic had thousands of competing desires all pushing against one another, a storm of emotions.'

'Where are you going with this Im'rayn?'

She ignored the question. 'Would not the Sith flourish in such an arena? With all those passions to harness and to bend to our purposes? And yet we flounder in a system that is made from order and conformity, the very suppressing of the passions we feed from. Do you think those cold Jedi look across at the Empire and long for its purity of purpose?'

'You forgot the Code. The Sith put the yoke to their passions to become strong, not to revel.' Jadugar's anger was a bristling cloud in Im'rayn's mind, but one he kept a close control over. They were of equal rank in the Sith order, so disapprove all he wished, she could nettle him - at least to a limit. 'And the Empire values strength above all else, that is why the Sith have risen to their rightful position of control. And that is why we must erase this Republic, this... shelter for the weak and the Jedi that coddle them.'

Im'rayn smirked, and used her free hand to brush through the long moss green hair that she allowed to hang free on one side of her head. She enjoyed Jadugar's company. He was a true believer, a knight of the Empire whereas she...

She had found her home in the Sith Temple. It was a world apart from the strict oppressive regime of the Empire, where everything had its place, and people were shaped to fit. The Temple was a riot in comparison, where the powerful lived in the worlds they could construct around them. There was no model for a Sith Lord like there was for a Jedi Master, no way of being. Each was individual, as numerous and unique as the faces they wore. Power was the only requirement and beyond that no one cared - or if they did then that was just more games to be played. Games of shadows and knives.

There was a Darth, the Sith liaison on one of the many worlds that Im'rayn had visited. She lived like an ascetic, drinking only water, drawing sustenance from the Force alone. To many she was seen as suspicious, a throwback to Jedi denial. Im'rayn had tasted of her mind, a mere glimpse and had seen the thoughts that the Darth meditated on.

Even she had been appalled.

There was no way to be Sith, there was only power. And Im'rayn had power which meant that she could be anything she wanted. And that was freedom without restraint.

'You are right of course, Lord Jadugar.' She trotted out the platitude without feeling, hand gesturing lazily. 'What then is our task for today? The Darth does drone on.'

Jadugar bridled but fought on. They had been paired together before, their disparate strengths melding well together. One day she would get a reaction from him, something terrifying in its intensity. She could barely wait.

He pointed to an angular building, one amongst many, each about as artfully constructed as one of her shits. 'We take this building. Kill all inside. There will be Jedi.'

'Alone?' She asked.

He turned to her. 'Yes. Why? Do you fear?'

Im'rayn tossed back her head and laughed.

They made their way leisurely down to the entrance to the factory. The Guard clearly saw them coming for they sealed the building, metal shutters coming down over the windows that they had previously been using to take pot shots at the Imperials. Any such opening would merely be an entrance for a Sith.

The main doorway was large, big enough to fit the ground lorries that would normally be coming daily, shuttling the supplies to and from the factory, and was locked down. The Guard had bonded the door shut, turning the factory into a fortress.

Im'rayn peered at the control panel at its side. It had been trashed, both shot up by blaster fire and then the innards pulled out. Contrary to popular belief, this did not have the effect of opening the door. She rapped her knuckles against the solid metal. The responding noise was dull and thick.

She turned to her companion. 'I believe you might be better suited to the heavy lifting Lord Jadugar.'

The pureblood grunted and swept back his hood, revealing his bald red head and blast scarred face. He twisted his body to glare imperiously at the troopers and command position in the distance.

'Witness!' He called out, his voice thundering.

Im'rayn rolled her eyes and moved to a position behind the warrior.

He set himself before the door, legs apart and arms held stiffly at his side. He bellowed like a bull and took a step forward, moving as if he walked through waist deep mud, each step a proclamation of intent. To Im'rayn's eyes he pushed a battering ram before him, an invisible but palpable force that slammed against the door with each of his movements.

It was crude and unrefined, the entire wall shaking and dust falling from the cracks. But for all that it was impressive. The metal groaned then squealed, rivets popping as it deformed, then crumpled in the middle. The punch of a goliath.

Jadugar took a deep breath, swelling with power, gasses hissing from his respirator. Im'rayn hopped from foot to foot. She alone of those watching could sense the carnage to come and the storm of power was tickling at her humours.

The pureblood crouched, setting himself like a sprinter, drawing the crushing force back into his body. There was a moment of quiet.

Then he leapt forward and the door exploded inwards, blasting apart like the petals of a flower caught in a gale. Jadugar disappeared, the force carrying him far into the room beyond. He landed amongst a platoon of Guard, tossing them aside, his lightsaber aglow and ripping into their bodies.

Im'rayn gathered her toga into her concealed fist and stepped lightly around the wreckage of the door. Her power might have been equal or even greater than Jadugar's, but it did not manifest in such a raw form.

The first guardsman who fired at her immediately dropped his rifle and shuffled to stand facing the wall, his shoulders shaking as tears streamed down his face. The second rotated in place, her eyes wide, her lower lip quivering. She pressed the barrel of her weapon to her crying comrade's skull and pulled the trigger. Then she took the still smoking gun and shoved it into her mouth, searing her lips and blowing the back of her head off.

Im'rayn whistled a jaunty tune, dancing over the sprawled limbs, surrounded in a whirlpool of seething negative emotions. Hatred, anger, fear, guilt... every lash of contempt, every twinge of self-abuse magnified and enhanced. Those without training or the resources to shield their mind were helplessly vulnerable. Around her Guards fell to their knees sobbing, or turned on their fellow, imagined slights and real divisions exploding into furious anger.

One soldier was shakily bringing his rifle to bear on her. She cocked her head and locked him with her gaze. Trembling he shook his head, muttering against some unheard exhortations. He had resisted her ambient manipulations but pinned with her power his defenses collapsed. He dropped his weapon and sat, staring at nothing. As she passed him she patted his helmet.

Across the room from her Jadugar was tearing his way through screaming Guard.

And yet...

The Guard had fallen to pieces almost too readily and where were the rumoured Jedi?

Im'rayn narrowed her eyes as a burst of comm chatter sounded off from the catatonic's Guard's helmet

...Fall back! For the love of Jesu, why aren't you falling back! Disengage immediately and regroup in the tunnels... The Jedi will take the rearguard...

Almost as if summoned, a green robed figure swept through the fog of Im'rayn's mental assault, lightsaber ignited. He was a young twi'lek, expression guarded, the noble mien of a calm defender. His blade lifted into position and Im'rayn smirked. Behind him, the Guard were retreating into a back room of the factory.

'Using the cannon fodder as bait? That is most unlike any Jedi I have ever met,' said Im'rayn, flexing the fingers of her free hand.

The twi'lek scowled and pointed with his saber. 'Do not presume to ju-'

But she was not at all interested in his righteous preaching and before he had even finished his sentence she was reaching out with her power, forks of indigo lightening arcing across the distance. He flung his saber across his body just in time, the light catching the hostile energies. The glare was blinding and Im'rayn laughed with glee as she struck again and again, her arm pulsing, veins rising black on her green skin as she poured her power against the Jedi.

A red disc spun through the air and the twi'lek's head was parted from his shoulders. She let the lightening dissipate and glared at Jadugar.

'He was mine.'

'He is dead and the others flee. Be satisfied with victory.'

'I am not,' she snapped back, but he hushed her with an outstretched arm, before pointing past the machinery that hung heavy in the factory.

A Jedi watched them, their jaw bunched with cold fury. In their hand was clasped something, an object that Im'rayn could not make out at that distance. She squinted, her mind skating across the surface thoughts of the Jedi. Her eyes widened.

'A tra-'

There was a clap as the explosives set into the ceiling of the factory exploded. Dust and chips of concrete rained down on the pair as girders groaned and snapped. Im'rayn yelled and Jadugar roared as great chunks of roof collapsed, an avalanche of metal and stone.

But the ceiling did not all come down. Im'rayn spun on her toes, looking at where Jadugar knelt, the vents on his respirator fully opened as he sucked in purified oxygen. His colossal body was hunched, fingers splayed on the floor, grunting and wincing. She looked up. Above them, floating like logs on water, Jadugar held the weight of the roof on his shoulders. Like giant hands holding gravel, smaller sections shifted through his incomplete grasp, fist sized boulders crashing down around them.

Im'rayn glanced over her shoulder. With a burst of speed she could be aside in a moment.

'I... will...survive this.'

She turned back to face a fevered stare from Jadugar, mulling over the words he had spat out. And then up at the ceiling. If the rumours were true, betrayal dogged the pureblood's every step. A master had attempted to blow him up, leading to his scarred face, and others had turned on him on the many planets he had fought on. But their ends had all circled back to his red blade.

Im'rayn sighed and turned her thoughts to the hovering weight above their heads. She did not have the type of power to reinforce Jadugar's hold, but neither would that help his predicament. Rather she nudged them aside, delicate strokes of her hand, creating a space above them.

Finally, she rested her hand on Jadugar's shoulder plate and he relaxed, the ceiling smashing down around them. As a lesson on the virtues of gratitude, Im'rayn guided a hefty rock to crack against Jadugar's arm.

The giant, as he wearily rose to his feet, just seemed to ignore it, which was very rude considering all the efforts she had exerted on his behalf.

'A trap for Sith,' he growled, clipping his lightsaber to his belt.

'One that almost closed on us.' Im'rayn noted, awaiting her due thanks.

'But for the weakness of the Jedi. Had they sprung it earlier, we might have been caught unprepared.'

'The Jedi are not the type to blow up their own soldiers.'

Jadugar rolled his shoulder, his mask hissing. 'And so they fail.'

Im'rayn kicked a piece of trailing cable, part of the fallen and crushed machinery. 'Yet they succeed in keeping the factory from the hands of the Empire.'

That brought Jadugar up short. If she could not see, she could certainly sense the frown that was being etched across his face.

'We were not told of these tunnels the Jedi escaped into. Without such a route to flee, they would have ever attempted this plan.'

'But there was such a route and they did,' said Im'rayn, a note of playful cruelty entering her voice. She did not care one whit which side controlled Coronet City, just as she did not have a care for who ended up ruling the system. 'Oh my! How will the Darth receive this report, I do wonder?'

Jadugar shot her a dark look, his gauntlets creaking as he clenched his fists. She smiled sweetly up at him, stretching out her neck to present a deliciously tempting target for him. But he swept around, cloak flapping.

'We will ferret out these tunnel dwellers like the vermin they are,' the pureblood declared, striding from the ruins of the factory.

'But first, it would behoves us to discover just why the Captain's intelligence was so lacking.'

Im'rayn smirked.

Well, the day wasn't a complete waste then...