Venna returned to herself from her meditation only to find the tip of a red lightsaber at her throat. She looked up expecting to see one of the Sith Lords only to find her guard that had followed her into the temple. "So, thinking you could kill me and claim the secrets within this temple?" "You read my mind." He replied. Venna gave a small laugh at the irony of successfully defeating four ancient Sith Lords of immense power only to come to the saber tip of her very own guard. "If you think that I am going to let you kill me after my victory you are sadly mistaken!" She howled and with a swarm of sudden rage build up within her at his betrayal, she reached out with both her hands lifting him up off the ground and with the clench of her fists, crushed him into a fog of miniscule droplets of blood, fiber and steel then let them drift down to the ground in silence.
After recuperating from the sudden drain of force power she managed to painfully climb to her feet. She made a quick check of herself to find that only a few broken ribs and the saber wound remained with the saber wound nearly healed. The Darkside of the force rarely practiced the arts of healing but in her many conflicts and interactions with Jedi she had managed to mimic and develop her own form of healing which was nowhere near the abilities of a Jedi Healer but enough to retrieve herself or another from the jaws of death.
As she looked around at the temple she basked in her victory only to be interrupted by the dim glow of multiple lights that appeared within the chest cavities of the ancient Sith corpses. In the Besalisk corpse radiated a red glow, while in the corpses of the Kaminoan and Togruta emanated a cyan and violet glow. She walked over to the headless corpse of the Besalisk and ignited her saber cutting it open to reveal a Sith holocron. Switching off her saber she reached in and removed it. She scrutinized the hexagonal prism with great intensity. Normally a Sith holocron took the shape of a pyramid but on occasion they would take other forms as well. She looked at the Sith characters inscribed on it then removed the other holocrons form the other corpses. In her curiosity she walked over to the body of the Noghri in search of his holocron only to find it divided into two pieces. Nevertheless she scooped up the two fragments as well and carried them to a stone table where, while ignoring the sharp pain in her ribs, began to meditate and activate Lord Desiderious's Holocron.
Hours passed and Venna was consumed in the memorization of the knowledge the gatekeeper had to offer. She had so far learned that Lord Desiderious himself had lived during the time when the Dark Jedi had established the Sith Order and was prosperous on Korriban. She had also learned that his people where called Besalisk's and where from a world known as Ojom. Learning furthermore that the Sith Lord was in a unique situation when the deep space exploration vessel he was on at the time of his youth ran into a Sith war vessel. The Sith vessel captured it and enslaved its occupants. It was on Korriban as a slave he arose out of his servitude to one day become a Dark Lord of the Sith.
Venna thought back to her own similar history when she served an Imperial admiral and was forced to do despicable things. Inevitable it was what drove her to become Sith and was sometimes what gave her power even now. "The weak are culled and the strong are duty bound to be the tools of the culling. This is simply the natural order. Through the Orders teachings it naturally brings out these results." The gatekeeper explained. This philosophy of the Sith could find its origin since the very separation of the Dark Jedi from the original Jedi Order and it had not changed in thousands upon thousands of years. This was why Venna herself was such a strong believer in the Sith Order, 'it's truth had survived for so long.' This same philosophy had also given her the opportunity to be free of bondage which only sealed her dedication to live the ideals of the Sith Order.
"I lived during a time on Korriban where Sith warlords vied for power amongst themselves and vast armies marched against each other in glorious wars that lasted months and years. A time when temples and massive buildings designed to maximize a force user's ability to manipulate the Darkside of the force arose with the sweat and blood of slaves. This was also a time when the dark side was explored to the fullest possible extent. Wars designed to sacrifice warriors on behalf of one spell were acted all throughout Korriban, Ziost and the worlds under the shadow of the Sith. I was one such warlord." The gatekeeper explained. Venna grinned with anticipation, "Instruct me in the secrets of the Darkside." She spoke to the gatekeeper.
Keekay had expected Nari, to put him through a series of incredibly hard challenges or some kind of trial. But instead forced Saysha to allow him to accompany them on their operation claiming that by seeing Keekay in combat would suffice in place of a series of trials or tests. With the decision made Saysha, Keekay and Nari took a Mandalorian shuttle and headed for the nearest known location that bounty hunters gathered.
"Follow my lead." Nari spoke through the helmet of his suit. Saysha gave a curt nod and signaled with her head for Keekay to follow which he obeyed. Nari was armored in his gold Neo-crusade armor, while Saysha was armored in red neo-crusader armor which was the equivalent of a sergeant in the Republic army. Keekay was in the blue recruit or warrior ranking armor. Nari led the two to a table where they took a seat. It was not long at all before a request for skilled bounty hunters to track and hunt down a Sith Lord with such a high bounty on his head began to attract a lot of attention. Before an hour had passed Nari, Saysha and Keekay found themselves trailing behind a fleet of bounty hunters heading for Dromund Kaas where they had discovered his location.
"This is Master Saysha, my padawan and I, are heading in the direction of Dromund Kaas following a fleet of hired guns. Meet us there on the outskirts of the main city." Master Saysha spoke into her secured com badge. "Woa Atin, I get the impression a lot of Jedi are coming to join us." Nari said with a hint of a question behind his statement. "And?" "Well, I don't know much about the force but I do know that if you plan on bringing a bunch of lightside force users to a darkside planet you'll be more obvious than an activated lightsaber." "I am aware of this, that is why each of the Jedi chosen for this mission have been chosen with great care. Most of them have the ability to hide their presence from force users as well as non-force users." "I hope that does the trick then. There really would be no honor in dying before I even get to face a challenge." Nari said through his respirator. When the other Jedi had met up with Saysha the massive group divided up again into medium sized groups and separately entered Kaas city.
Keekay looked around him at the hundreds of guards stationed at posts all around the city. Many of the guards had been arresting bounty hunters and some had even been getting into fire fights with them. He assumed it was because they had been so desperate to find this Sith Lord that they began to bribe the Imperials and even take desperate measures. After all there would only be one collector of the bounty. Platoons of troops marched in formation past them every few seconds to come to the aid of the overwhelmed guards. While Sith of all ranks strode past them without giving them a second thought and completely ignoring the ruckus at the entry gates. Their own arrogance was their weakness, believing Dromund Kaas was an impregnable fortress world where the only assassins where agents of the Sith.
As they walked further into the dark aura filled city Keekay could also see long lines of slaves forced to drag heavy equipment and supplies to continue the development of Dromund Kaas. He watched as Sith would simply cut down civilians for minor offenses but Keekay had to push on setting aside his Jedi nature to render aid. Their objective was not to bring freedom and Republic justice to the Sith home world, but to capture one Sith lord. Saysha, Nari and Keekay where traveling with five other Jedi dressed up as bounty hunters, the purpose of why they had switched into traveling in a large group as opposed to small two to three man groups at the start of the operation was because they would be less likely to run into trouble by being stopped by a Sith or a patrol. So long as they didn't threaten Imperial guards or patrols.
"Atin, where do you suspect this Sith Lord to be in this hive of Sith and how do you suppose we smuggle his body out of this city?" Nari asked. As he looked all around at the hundreds of skyscrapers that towered and vanished into the dark and gloomy rain clouds. "One step at a time." She replied. "Master Saysha, this is Jedi Knight Nexi. My group and I have spotted a Sith that looks like our target, he's heading into a building about 1 mile away due east of your position." "Very good, have all our forces gather in front of that building my group and I are on our way now." Saysha ordered and her entire group broke out into a full sprint to reach the building.
When they got there the last two groups where arriving as well. "Master Saysha," Master Sarr greeted. Everyone could feel their tension rising. "Ok, Master Baowan will take a meditative stance on the entrance floor. Four of our knights will guard him while he provides his battle meditation as support for us. Four of our Masters will stand in front of him and the Knights for when he comes. We are going to draw him out into the foyer of the entrance. Keep in mind that we may not only be facing him but imperials and possibly other Sith. I guarantee you others will hear and get curious so we have to do this quick. The rest will get into a cover position until we can spring our trap and please keep in mind that only five of us will be able to attack him at any given time if we circle him so spread out give him space and force him to have to make far reaching movements, let's go."
Quauhtli was rotating his newly attached metallic hand at the wrist surveying the servomechanisms that allowed his hand to function. He was on his way to the landing pad at the top of the skyscraper to return to the Emperors Wrath when a very thin young looking Mandalorian appeared at the top of the staircase next to the turbolift. Despite the highly rare outdated Neo-crusade armor he wore, he thought nothing of it until the Mandalorian removed his helmet revealing the facial features of the young Jedi he had nearly killed on the battlefield of Alderaan.
Quauhtli's eyes shot wide open and his jaw dropped in utter astonishment as his brain registered what his eyes where showing him. "Next time kill me." the young boy said as he reached out towards a set of glass lounge chairs and a table. Quauhtli was so taken aback by this ghost kid that the flying pieces of furniture went unnoticed until they hit him; freed from his trance with fresh warm blood trickling down his face, chin and neck from the shards of glass embedded in his skin. Quauhtli ignited his new saber and began to pursue the young Jedi who had taken revenge on his face and then fled down the stairs after his engagement.
Still in hot pursuit of the fool who had managed to track him down all the way to the beating heart of the Sith Empire he ran across the foyer where he came to a sudden stop due to the unexpected defensive stance the boy took in front of nine Jedi's with one in deep meditation. He looked at the Jedi with the same perplexed expression. Just then six, then four, then three other Jedi's grappled down or used jetpacks to land onto the ground of the foyer afterward igniting each of their unique lightsabers. From out behind an unassuming pillar stepped forth the Togruta Jedi Master that had relieved him of his hand along with a Mandalorian clan leader wielding dual blaster pistols with a vibropike attached to his back.
Quauhtli smirked realizing just how much planning went into this ambush due to the fact these Jedi were clothed as bounty hunters, "clever boy, you're walking corpse." The large procession of Jedi reached out towards the large Sith and in one volley that would have imploded a non-force user threw a wave of force thrust towards the Sith. The Sith Lord launched himself with blinding speed high up into the air passing the fourth floor in the opened ceiling foyer and evading the death wave. When he landed he rolled forward closer to the young boy, jumping to his feet and reaching out with his mechanical hand with the intent to snap the boy's thin neck as he had done so before with others who got in his way.
But when he did the Mandalorian reached out with his wrist weapon and let spew arcs of deadly flames. He retracted his arm quickly but he had only recently received his replacement hand and was still getting used to having no sensation in the mechanical prosthesis. The result was the stream of flames melting all the inner workings of his artificial hand making it as effective as a metal stick that couldn't even grab his own saber. He howled in a sheer fit of rage due to the fact that once again he had lost the use of his hand, cutting his effectiveness in combat by half.
The Sith Lord however was far from done. Before any further action could be completed against him he used the force to give him a burst of speed right beside the Mandalorian where he elbowed him in the face with his arm that bore his now useless hand then shoved the prosthesis into the Mandalorian's abdominal area of his breast plate lifting him up off the ground and throwing him at the Togruta Jedi Master before any Jedi could react.
Keekay's eyes went wide with astonishment as the Sith Lord had effectively disposed of a Mandalorian clans leader and had rendered his Master ineffective in combat while she scrambled to get her friends body off her. Keekay jumped into action quickly and used the force to propel himself at the Sith lunging forward and thrusting home his own saber into the lower back of the Sith who grunted in pain before turning his head awkwardly to Keekay who had him at a visual disadvantage.
The Sith, ignoring the searing pain near his kidney area and back handed Keekay across his face with his full forearm. The blow sent the boy rolling and toppling across the foyer floor. Had it not been for his thick heavy armor the Sith would have severed his own spine with Keekay's saber and his forceful twist. But he had been saved because the saber did not enter deeply.
The other Jedi immediately engaged him as Keekay slowly tried to regain his senses. With one hand inoperative, a decent flesh wound and a Master Jedi who was an expert in the art of battle meditation boosting the skills of all the Jedi around him. The Sith Lord was holding his ground against superior odds as the Jedi slashed and hacked at him no longer driven by the intent to capture him but with intent to end this monster. The Sith spun his massive lightsaber in large arcs all around him forcing the Jedi to maintain distance. Whenever they would stray too close he would suddenly stop mid arc and deflect or parry whatever blow that came at him and counter the attack with an attack of his own.
Keekay watched impressed in a grotesque way as the Sith deflected strike after strike then shove the hilt of his saber up into the nose of one of his opponents instantly killing the Jedi unfortunate enough to have his nasal cavity jammed into his skull. He was strong or desperate enough that he would even collapse his opponent's skulls with his own who managed to get close enough to his heads reach. He was using everything he could to survive and or win, knees, elbows and teeth where not spared in this struggle of life and death.
In the mere seconds that had passed with all that was transpiring Saysha climbed to her feet and reached out swiftly with the force grabbing hold of all the Jedi and pulling them to the ground including her padawan who was rushing head long into the fight then in one fluidic motion turned her three sabers ballistic and distanced them so their time until impact was spaced out. As the Sith spun his saber to deflect the oncoming threat he parried all but one which slammed hard through his chest plate dragging him inches off the ground, pinning him on the wall with a loud thud and effectively impaling him like a stuck fly. He looked down at the protruding saber hilt then grabbed it and switched it off. He slid down the wall unable to hold himself up.
The Jedi climbed to their feet and walked toward him. He weakly reached for his saber and held it like he was going to defend himself even on the verge of his inevitable demise. Saysha's three sabers obediently returned to her. "Before we end you as a threat to the Republic, Sith. You need to tell us where your apprentices are. Your kind of power must not be allowed to flourish." Saysha stated sternly. He began to laugh painfully through his gasping of air, "You think, you think I am the Master?" He asked struggling to breath. "No, I am not the Master, I am the apprentice." "You sorry excuse for a sentient being, you lie!" one Knight yelled as he pointed his saber at him. "It doesn't matter, if I am anyway. She'll be coming for you all." He replied with a weak grin which sent chills down everyone's backs. He deactivated his saber and let it roll out of his hand onto the ground.
Master Saysha reversed her saber to aim it at his skull. Just as she was about to end his life the turbolift doors opened and two royal guards stepped out. The two red armored Sith froze at the sight of so many Jedi standing over this one Sith who was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall and corpses of what appeared to be Jedi dressed as bounty hunters littered the foyer. Nobody moved and only stared at each other for a good minute before one of the Red Guards swiftly reached out and unleashed a wave of force lightning electrocuting a few unprepared Jedi while his comrade ran to the nearest alarm and pulled the handle alerting security forces of a slave rebellion. Slave rebellion or not there would be a swarm of Imperial troops and their Sith commanders that would be leading them at their location in seconds.
Saysha and the Jedi who had been ready for a distraction used their lightsabers to block the veins of violet death that reach out from the guard. This gave their prime target exactly what he needed and used a force push to hurl his enemies far away from him. With every ounce of strength the Sith Lord had left he managed to lift himself up and drag himself along the wall to the turbolift where he made his escape covered by the two Red Guards.
The Jedi scrambled to their feet and quickly dispatched the guards. "What do we do?" a Knight asked Saysha. "Into the turbolift, this place is about to be swarming with Imperials. Call your ships to come pick you up on the roof and return to Republic space." The Jedi quickly grabbed the sabers of their dead comrades and ran for the turbolift's as Imperial troops entered the building firing at them. Saysha along with four Jedi, her padawan included, where quietly contemplating the exchange of events on the ride up to the roof of the skyscraper. As they exited the turbolift onto the roof they could see their target's shuttle was well on its way back to its mother ship.
Venna had been studying the ancient texts for days now. She had also been under the direct tutelage of the Sith Lords holocrons and she had learned a great deal. Instantly she returned to herself from her meditative trance when she felt the presence of her ship enter into orbit of the planet. She could also tell that her apprentice was in distress. Venna made her way up to the surface where an Imperial shuttle landed in front of her. When the shuttle hatch opened her tall two meter apprentice strode down the boarding ramp to greet her.
Quauhtli took a knee before Venna, he could feel the increase of power over the force. "My Lord," Venna took one look at the newly attached prosthesis on her apprentice's hand. "I see your skills are dulling, Lord Quauhtli." She stated flatly. He didn't respond. "We'll address your failure later. Right now have the entire crew of the Emperors Wrath begin the process of transporting all documents, trinkets, tablets and statues from the temple below to the ship, I want that library emptied."
Within minutes, hundreds of shuttles descended upon the planet's surface carrying troops, officers and Sith ready to carry out the orders of Darth Venna. The entire operation was massive as shuttles transported material and crew back and forth for hours on end. Darth Venna along with her apprentice and captain stood on a ridge as they surveyed the entire operation. They had already lost a few men to the traps of the Sith library but Venna had ordered them to continue the operation.
"My Lord, if I may ask, how do you plan to keep this a secret?" Deva asked as she watched the hundreds of men and women scurrying about to accomplish the task at hand. "They have all forfeited their lives whether they know it or not. A secret such as this cannot be kept secret with a crew of this size. The three of us will exterminate them all once they have finished the transportation of the documents and we are ready to enter into hyperspace." "Then with your permission my Lord, I will return to the ship and prepare for the cleansing." Deva replied. Venna gave curt nod of permission.
When Deva had taken a shuttle back to the ship Venna aimed her next comment at her apprentice without looking at him. "Explain to me why you're missing your hand. With the advanced techniques I have trained you in, it is inexcusable that you would lose your hand in combat. Explain yourself now and prey your answer is satisfactory." She demanded in a low menacing tone. Quauhtli felt a chill of uneasiness slither up his spine. He explained most of what had transpired trying to give his story a more heroic tint on his behalf and leaving out the fact that he had lost the same hand twice knowing surely she would kill him on the spot.
"You mean to tell me that there is a group of advanced Jedi that managed to penetrate and escape the defenses of Dromund Kaas and they are now hunting you." "Yes my Lord." Quauhtli replied reaching down to his saber in the event he had to use it. Quauhtli had also left out the fact that he informed the Jedi that there was a much stronger Sith Lord out there. Venna gritted her teeth under her lips as she could feel her rage building. She had discovered so many secrets of the Darkside only to find out that she didn't have the luxury of studying them and was now at risk of being hunted due to the stupidity of her apprentice. Though Quauhtli didn't tell her that he had informed the Jedi of her existence she already knew that through him they could find her. With the collapsing Empire she knew full well that she was on her own.
Venna abruptly sent her steel boot into the gut of her apprentice while she called the hilt of his saber to her hand via the force. He collapsed to the ground and was about to jump to his feet when he found his own saber tip at his throat. "You have risked everything, you have risked my operations, my plans, and you have even put me at risk of falling into the spotlight of the Republic and their Jedi slaves. If I didn't know any better I would suspect you of intentional treachery. However, this situation may still be salvageable and that might save you." Venna deactivated his saber and threw it on the ground before him then turned to the excavation in progress again facing away from him. "Next time you reach for your saber, remember your training and do not hold back." Venna said with a newfound disdain for her apprentice. "Now before you return to the ship get me a medical droid."
