The Taris Jedi Enclave was deathly silent as a lone figure entered, closing and securing the door behind him. Once the door was secured, he dre back his hood and started walking slowly toward the main hall. Varek let his eyes wander across the hall as he surveyed the carnage.
"Master Ocera?" he asked, kneeling beside the master's charred corpse. Reaching out, he laid a hand across Ocera's face, closing the fallen man's eyes for the last time. As he did so, the Force spoke to him . . . .
~~ Ocera's lightsaber flashed, blocking and absorbing the Zabrak Sith's lightning, until the lightsaber's hilt exploded, overloaded. The Sith continued to pour lightning into the master...
No! he thought. "What happened here?" And where are Ashara and Master Ryen? Inwardly, he feared that both had fallen to the Sith. Of Ashara, he could find no trace, and that worried him. His worry grew as he came across Ryen's severed arm; the rest of Master Ryen was conspicuously absent. Picking up the arm reverently, he listened to the Force.
~~ Ashara sliced off Ryen's lightsaber arm above the elbow, then impaled him in the gut with her other lightsaber. "Why?" the Cathar gasped as he fell...
"No!" he cried out. "Ash, how could you? Why'd you do it?" No further answers were immediately forthcoming, so he continued searching the hall.
On the mezzanine, he found the body of a man he didn't recognize. The man's head sat on the floor not far away, eyes wide and mouth in an "O" shape, as if cut off mid-sentence, or simply taken by surprise. Gingerly, Varek touched the man's chest . . . .
~~ "Darth Thanaton made me a very generous offer; he's made me a lord," the man sneered. On the floor below, a male Zabrak said something he couldn't hear to Ashara, as a Human man and a Dashade looked on. "I'm terribly sorry, but part of the deal calls for your death, my lord. I'm sure you understa-" He was cut off as Ashara leapt at him, slicing with her lightsaber, anger evident on her face...
"No, Ash!" Varek exclaimed, staggering backward from the strength of emotion in the vision. He closed his eyes and attempted to calm himself. She's falling, he thought. She killed Master Ryen in a duel... He shook his head. No, he corrected himself, she only stabbed him in the abdomen and removed his arm. It's possible to survive both, with medical treatment. I need to know... His eyes turned to the ceiling in the opposite corner. Of course! The security holocameras!
A few minutes later, Varek stood beside a table in the enclave's archives, watching the security holo of the incident.
So Master Ryen did attack first, he thought. And Ashara ... I can't imagine what's going through her head right now.
In stunned silence, he composed a report to the Jedi Council, adding in his visions and appending the security footage. He paused for a moment before sending.
"I'm the most senior Jedi here," he said to himself. "Taris is no place for the younglings; I'll need to take them to Tython." Inwardly, he was relieved he had left the younger padawans at the Olaris settlement, as he knew they weren't ready for the carnage he'd witnessed, but he knew he couldn't leave them in the Army's care for much longer. Soldiers, he concluded, were generally ill-equipped to handle Force-wielding kids and teenagers.
Ashara was apprehensive as she set foot on Lord Kallig's Fury-class light corvette, the Dark Ghost.
"What am I doing here?" she asked herself aloud. "I'm not Sith." She stopped herself from denying that she was a dark-sider; she knew her recent actions wouldn't back up the denial.
"You chose to come with me, apprentice," Kal told her, as he and the ship's droid, which had identified itself as 2V-R8, gave her a tour of the ship. "I don't care if you call yourself a Jedi, Sith, or something else altogether. They're just labels; what matters are the choices you make."
"So," she asked after a brief hesitation, "how does this work? My being your apprentice and all?"
Kal directed her to sit on one of the central lounge's chairs, taking a seat opposite her. The Dashade - Ashara couldn't be certain if Khem or Zash was in charge at the moment - stood nearby. Not seeing anywhere else to put it for the time being, she placed the holocron on the nearby dejarik table.
"Mostly," he explained, "I'll be teaching you how to channel your emotions into power. That said, you'll need to learn how things work in the Empire. As my apprentice, your authority over my power base is second only to myself. On the other hand, my enemies will target you as well, trying to weaken me by killing you or converting you to their service."
"Thanaton will no doubt try and kill you," Zash commented. Well, that answers that, Ashara thought to herself, relaxing slightly. In the short time since she'd met the Dashade, she was less apprehensive around the Zash persona than she was the Khem one.
"Who is this Darth Thanaton?" Ashara asked, "and what did you do to make him want to kill you?" Kal and Zash exchanged looks. "The truth," she said coldly, giving them both a hard stare.
"Darth Thanaton is one of the apprentices of Darth Actis of the Dark Council," Zash explained. "Actis is the head of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, which includes the Reclamation Service, and Thanaton is a stickler for tradition. One of those traditions is that the power base of a 'disloyal' Sith is to be 'dismantled'; in his mind that's just a euphemism for 'everyone killed'."
"That's just a waste," Ashara commented with a sour look on her face.
"That it is," Kal agreed. "My master was under Thanaton, and tried to kill me to gain my growing power. I survived; she ... did not." Ashara was certain there was more to the story, but she kept quiet and let him continue. "Thanaton declared her disloyal and tried to have me killed on a number of occasions, nearly succeeding the last time, though he didn't reckon on the ghosts I'd bound to me already saving my life."
"That's why you wanted my ancestor! You're gaining power for your next confrontation!"
"Perceptive as well," Kal told her, smiling. "You'll go far as a Sith."
"But my lord," she asked after a moment, "doesn't this infighting among the Sith weaken the Empire? I'm surprised it hasn't imploded already."
"It is the Sith way," Zash started to explain, but Kal interrupted.
"One other reason Thanaton wants me dead is that I plan to help reform the Empire. I will sit on the Dark Council one day, where I will be in a position to start making changes to policy, punishing large-scale infighting severely."
"A bold and ambitious plan," Zash commented. "And the first I've heard of it."
"You never told me all your plans either, Zash," Kal grumbled.
"I don't suppose the Dark Council will go along with your reforms," Ashara said after a moment's reflection.
"A few of them might surprise you," Zash commented. The Dashade walked over to the lounge's central holostation and played with the controls. A trio of figures appeared, one wearing a visored mask over his face. The other two were an older male Human and an older male Sith Pureblood.
"Darth Marr, head of Defense of the Empire and senior-most Dark Councilor," Zash explained, pointing to the figures in order. "Darth Mortis, head of Law and Justice. Darth Vowrawn, head of Logistics. All three we can count on for support, as they have each pursued these same goals, though with limited success, mostly inside their own spheres."
The figures changed, showing two Human men, the second with cybernetic implants and a Human woman who, even on a still holoprojection seemed to have a playful demeanor. "Darth Vengean, head of Military Offense. Darth Ravage, Diplomacy and Expansion. Darth Zhorrid, Intelligence. All three are wild cards, each with their own agendas and not people we can count on. My sources indicate that both Vengean and Zhorrid won't last the year; Vengean's likely replacement - his apprentice, Darth Baras - has ambition and no sense of loyalty to his own underlings, or his master. Zhorrid is just insane." Ashara shuddered looking at the image.
"Of the rest of the Dark Council," Zash concluded, "most are involved in power plays against each other."
"It'll be an uphill battle, and won't be fought overnight," Kal finished. "I need to gain power, binding more ghosts to me, and kill Thanaton. I've also got to start luring his power base over to my cause."
"Aren't you just engaging in the same infighting you're fighting against?" Ashara asked.
"Yes, yes I am," he admitted. "But the short-term infighting is sadly necessary to achieve my long-term goal. I hate to sound juvenile about this, but Thanaton started it when he tried to kill me after ... my master was removed from the picture." Ashara nodded slowly. She didn't fully understand things yet, and determined to meditate on these revelations. Her thoughts were interrupted by a change of topic.
"I understand it's a Jedi rite of passage to build their own lightsabers," Zash remarked, turning her - Ashara could no longer think of Zash as an "it" - attention to the Togruta. "Did you build yours?"
"No," she replied. "These were given to me when I arrived on Taris." I think Master Ocera built them, she thought sadly, holding one up and studying it.
"Then you should build your own," Kal told her. "In my quarters is a collection of adegan crystals; go ahead and select a pair, then take the time to build lightsabers that reflect the real you."
"In the meantime, I - ARGH!" Zash began, only to scream as Khem took control of their shared body. It growled something in its own language which Ashara thought sounded like relief.
Varek paused at the entrance to the Jedi Temple on Tython. A week had passed since he'd left Taris, a pack of younglings in his care, and upon arrival had had a group of Jedi Masters take them under their tutelage. While making sure none of the younglings had wandered off in the orbital station, he'd received a message, an order phrased like a polite request to attend a meeting of the Jedi Council.
So there he was, standing ill at ease at the doors to the Temple. He ran through a brief calming exercise in his mind; it wouldn't do to let the Council see his nervousness, even if they could sense it in the Force.
At the top of the dual ramp in the massive central hall, he once again ran through his calming exercises. Taking a deep breath, he entered the Council chamber.
The Jedi Council chamber was a large, nearly circular room dominated by a circular table, the centerpiece of which was a holoprojector. As he feared and expected, the projector was replaying the security footage he'd salvaged from the Taris enclave.
From her seat on the side, Grand Master Satele Shan stood up to greet him. A hero of the Great Galactic War, Varek estimated her age to be around sixty standard galactic years, though he couldn't be sure; she moved with the grace of a woman half her age. Others he recognized: Tol Braga, the Kel Dor negotiator; Jeric Kaeden, the current Battlemaster; Syo Bakarn, one of the longest-serving Masters on the Council; Bela Kiwiks, a soft-spoken red-skinned Togruta woman; and Master Oteg, a small green-skinned Master less than a meter tall whose species - the name and homeworld of which they kept closely-guarded secrets - had produced a series of Jedi Masters going back almost to the Order's beginnings. Of those, only Oteg was not physically present, appearing only as a hologram. There were a few others he didn't recognize.
"Welcome, Padawan Varek," the Grand Master said, her voice clear and strong. "Thank you for joining us."
"We've been reviewing your report on the loss of our Taris enclave," Master Bakarn said. "The loss of Masters Ryen and Ocera at the same time is unfortunate..."
"Say it like it is, Syo," Kaeden told him. "It's a tragedy."
"More tragic is the loss of Padawan Zavros to the dark side," Tol Braga commented, "though with care she might be redeemed."
"Another one of your pipe dreams, Master Braga?" Kaeden scoffed.
"No one is beyond redemption to the Light Side of the Force," Master Braga chastised his compatriot. I wonder if he includes the Sith Emperor in that, Varek thought to himself, not believing it possible.
"Which brings us to you, Padawan," Master Kiwiks said. "You not only took it upon yourself to investigate when you felt your masters become one with the Force, but you also cared for and brought the younger padawans back to Tython. Such a sense of responsibility at your age should be commended. If they were here, I'm sure Masters Ryen and Ocera would be proud of the man you've become, and the actions you've performed."
"Therefore," Satele finished, "it is with great pleasure that this Council bestows upon you the rank of Jedi Knight."
Varek just stood there for almost a full minute, stunned to silence as he took in their words. "Masters," he finally said, "I'm honored, but I never passed my Trials. My lightsaber skills are..."
"Irrelevant," Master Oteg told him. "I haven't used a lightsaber in over two hundred years. You do not need to be a lightsaber duelist to be a Jedi. More important than a lightsaber is your thorough and inquisitive mind, and you've proven to have the Force as an ally."
"Master Oteg speaks for all of us," Satele told Varek. "Still, a word of advice: do not mistake caution for cowardice, nor arrogance for confidence."
"One last thing, Knight Varek," Master Bakarn told him. "I understand if you want to take a few days, maybe even build your lightsaber at the Forge, but this is a time-sensitive matter. This 'Lord Kallig' is an unknown to us. We need you in the field finding out more about him and this ability of his to bind Force Ghosts. Do not engage him directly - nor Ashara Zavros, especially if she has indeed become his Sith apprentice."
"Yes, masters." He bowed.
"We've arranged for a small hyperspace-capable shuttle for your use," Bakarn told him. "Good luck."
On board the Dark Ghost, Ashara sat in meditation in the ship's cargo hold. A pair of lightsaber hilts hung suspended in mid-air, slowly assembling themselves. Unlike her previous lightsabers, these had a slight curve to their hilts.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and stood up, grasping her new sabers and igniting them. The blades gloed crimson, lighting up the dark hold, with a black core sometimes visible through the red, depending on how she held them.
The young Togruta smiled. Finally, she thought, a pair that feel right in my hands.
Behind her, standing in the doorway, Kal smiled darkly . . . .
Okay, so no Sun Tzu quote this time, sorry. I'll see about adding one in later.
I originally had a lot more planned with Zash giving exposition on the rest of the Dark Council, naming each member and what sphere they control, but I cut it because it seemed unnecessary at the moment; I may give a full rundown later, but only if it becomes relevant. I noted that Darth Zhorrid wouldn't last; apparently, her seat (previously Darth Jadus's seat) was empty during the Chapter III endgames, when the Wrath and Darth Nox fought in the Dark Council chambers. This establishes that Darth Jadus did not have Zhorrid killed by Cipher Nine, though it is likely the rest of the Dark Council would kill her later on.
Thoughts are certainly appreciated.