Ch 6: Traitors

Lord Druak was in one of the sparring rooms in Darth Malice's estate. He was using a practice saber against one of the elite sith marauders he had seen the first time he came to the estate. Both sith were sparring in a traditional way which entailed no armor or cloths except training pants. Druak kept up his soresu form against the other sith's acrobatic ataru form. Druak was very good at defenses during his time in the red reaper he had mastered all aspects of an immortal Juggernaught when it came to fighting other sith or jedI. The door to the room opened and a young sith pureblood who looked around 15 years old walked in. He resembled Darth Malice greatly, he had short red hair and red eyes, his skin was a darker shade of red and his had two claw like appendages on his chin. He walked to the side of the arena and stood next to an imperial guardsmen officer who was already in the room. This guardsmen officer was a young woman sith pureblood.

She was 24 years old with shoulder length dark red hair tied into a pony tail, 2 claw like appendages on her chin, yellowish red eyes and lighter red skin. Her name was Laura"H'm I'll bet the marauder is going to win" The 15 year old said. "Why do you say that?" Laura said. "Sith marauder's all out attack is merciless, I've studied it" The boy said. Druak didn't know who this kid was exactly but he wouldn't be belittled by him. The marauder continued his attack when Druak purposely allowed one strike to come through. The marauder moved in for what should have been a blow when Druak moved forward as if to absorb the blow. He instead used his offhand to grab the sith marauder by the neck and hurl him to the ground. Druak held him down , if this had been an ordinary human sith the battle would have been won, but this was a pureblooded elite sith.

The marauder thrust his own feet forward into Druak's gut and then used a burst of force energy to force Druak off him. The marauder quickly got to his feet and quickly swept his blades in a quick strike. Druak caught them with his own saber but the marauder did a quick kick at Druak's side. Drauk fell to the ground and the marauder came up with both his blades. Druak quickly with the help of the force hurled himself up and tackled the marauder to the ground. Druak held his training saber to the marauder's face. "I win" Druak said. He got up and the marauder got up too. "Well done, for now" the marauder said. "I'm sure someday you might match my skill" Druak said. "Save your patronizing words, I don't need them" The marauder said. "The offense lost?" The young sith said. "The best offense is a good defense" Druak said. "He's got a point , I mean your father is an immortal Juggernaught after all" Laura said. "Father?" Druak said.

He walked over and took a closer look at the young man and realized he must have been Darth Malice's son. He also saw something strange, this boy wasn't a pureblood after all, most who saw this boy even up close would say he was a sith pureblood, even some sith purebloods would say it. But Druak had seen many sith like this in the red reaper, they looked like purebloods but had small almost unnoticeable signs of other ancestry. This was usually the case in hybrids. Druak could tell what this boy's was, twilik. That's when it all made sense. The picture of that twilik must have been the wrath's wife. This boy's mother was a twilik while his father was the pureblood. This puzzled Druak, he would have thought that the wrath would want to preserve his families purity. If he had used a twilik for simple pleasures as some sith did, but to marry her was strange. He clearly must have known and worked with her for some time to have fallen in love with her.

"What's your name?" Druak said. "I'm Alacas, darth Malice's oldest child" He said proudly. "May I see your mother" "Why?" Laura said. "If I am to serve under the wrath, I feel I should meet all of his family" Druak said. "I'll accompany you there" Laura said, "I mean her no harm, do you think I would be foolish enough to forfeit my life before the wrath by harming his wife" Druak said. "It's not that I don't trust you, I just need to speak with her as well" Laura said. "Of course you do" Druak said. Alacas lead them down the hallways until they reached a room with two imperial guardsmen standing in front of it. "Lord Druak wishes to speak with the Wrath's wife" Laura said. One of the guardsmen nodded and the two stepped away from the door. The door then opened before one of the guards did. Another young sith walked out. This one was a young girl who looked perhaps 7 years old. She had long dark red hair tied back into a pony tail. She had two claw like appendages on her chin. She had yellow eyes but they weren't sith eyes, they were twilik. Every other part of this girl looked identical to a sith pureblood except her eyes. Druak realized this must have been Alaca's sister.

"I'm sorry Alacas you and your little friends can't see mom right now, she's nursing Skageps" The girl said. "Alaina I don't need your permission to see mother" Alacas said. "Your friends do" She said. "Listen little girl, I'm not going to be ordered around by you" Druak said. "You should be afraid of me, I am Darth Malice's favorite child after all" She said. "Run alone Alaina this doesn't concern you" Laura said. The little girl walked off, Druak was impressed , he had see sith like this girl before. Mostly sith inquisitors, sith who were very cunning and very frightening. This girl was more frightening that some adult sith Druak knew. The 3 sith walked into the room and saw it was a large bedroom.

The bed room was red and blue colored with several portraits of Darth Malice, his children and his wife. There were also several display cases with sith artifacts. There were also several objects made of gold and platinum in the room. In the center of the room was a large bed with black and red sheets. Sitting on the bed was a twilik woman who looked around 33 years old. She had red skin with black areas on her face and lekku. She wore fine silk robes and had a ring on her left hand's ring finger made of platinum with a sapphire stone on it. The twilik woman was nursing an infant sith,. The sith looked like his siblings, identical to a pureblood and was either one or two years old. Something seemed strange, if this was the wrath's wife why was she nursing her children herself?

If she was had this kind of wealth and power why not use a wet nurse. Then again perhaps she wasn't that kind of wealthy person. She must have been born low in wealth which made sense considering she was a twilik. The twilik woman looked up at them. "What's going on, Alacas, Laura what are you doing here, who is this sith lord?" She said. "I'm sorry Lady Vette, this is lord Druak" Laura said. "Pleasure to meet the wife of Darth Malice" Druak said. "Lord Druak my husband told me about you. He was very pleased with your work on Vapos" Vette said. Druak hadn't seen Darth Malice since he returned from Vapos, Finale told Druak Darth Malice had work to do with the emperor. "It's good to hear that" Druak said, "Excuse me, my lord" A familiar voice said. Druak turned around and saw Finale in his black robes. "Lord Druak, Darth Malice has returned and wishes to speak with you" He said. Druak walked out of the room and to Darth Malice's planning room. Inside he saw Darth Malice and General Pierce speaking to Admiral Quinn , Lord Trigon, and Lord Williams.

"My lord you summoned me" "Yes, for the last few days I've had to speak with emperor Ikoral on the matter of the traitors. The disk you recovered had the names of 4 sith lords. We believe that more are at play than these 4 but it is a good start" Darth Malice said. "I haven't heard anything about it in the news, they haven't been executed?" Druak said. " This matter has to be dealt with right, I cannot be in 4 places at once, if I try and kill them all myself I will give the others a chance to try and run to hidden strongholds" Darth Malice said. "We have to kill them all at once" Lord Williams said. "Exactly, now the four traitors are Darth Tarion, Lord Falik, Lord Gaul, and Lord Yuip" Druak knew who two of these sith lords were. Darth Tarion was a human cyborg , he was a veteran from the sacking of coruscant and one of the most feared sith in the empire, he was also well known for his private training secessions with darth Malgus. After Malgus was killed by the same JedI who would later kill the emperor Tarion was greatly suspected to be a traitor but there was no proof, until now.

The other sith he knew was Lord Gaul, Gaul was a human and a very cunning sith tactician, during the late great galactic war Gual had led many successful military campaigns. "All 4 must be killed at once and their estates must be ravaged for information on other traitors" Darth Malice said. "I'll make sure guardsmen are sent to each of their homes after they're dead" General Pierce said. "Lord Falik works in citadel overseeing, I will end him" Darth Nox said. "Darth Tarion is the most powerful of the 4 so killing him will be my pleasure" Darth Malice said. "Lord Gual and Lord Yuip have worked together in the past before, so they will probably be together at Falik's estate" Darth Nox said. "Lord Druak, you Lords Williams, and Trigon will deal with them. The attacks begin tomorrow, act swiftly and end them" Darth Malice said. Druak left the room and went to ready his things. Inside his chamber he made sure his armor was ready and his Lightsaber was in good condition.

The door to his room opened and he saw Laura walk in. "Good news, I talked to Darth Malice, my squad will accompany you on your mission" She said. "I don't need your help" Druak said. "Perhaps not but you and I have more in common than you think" Laura said. "We have one big difference my dear I have the power of the force, you do not. I have respect for imperial guardsmen but as an Elite sith I am more skilled" Druak said. "Are you, why not put that to the test" She said. "A duel, I never turn down a challenge" Druak said. Later in one of the sparring arenas.

Drauk had gotten down to his training pants while Laura was down to training pants and a training top. Druak had a sparring blade while Laura had her electro staff. A few gaurdsmen and a pureblooded guard officer as well as one of the elite sith marauders and the elite the elite sith Juggernaught. Standing next to the elite sith were Alacas and Alaina. "The last time I underestimated Lord Druak he proved me wrong, he will win" Alacas said. "Don't count Laura out yet, we gaurdsmen are trained to fight sith" one of the guardsmen said. "Lord Druak is an elite sith Juggernaught, he is no average sith neither am I" Alaina said. "I never said anything about you" The gaurdsmen said. "But you were thinking it" she said giving a particularly wicked smile to the gaurdsmen. Though none could tell it the gaurdsmen was generally frightened of the little girl. Druak and Laura exchanged several blows, Druak had to admit she was good, better than he would have thought.

Druak's immortal defense still held strong against Laura's attack. Laura saw an opening and struck low at Druak's legs forcing him to move back. Druak saw her come at him high. He quickly threw his saber in the way to hold back the blow. He then used the force to amplify his next strike which rattled her. He then moved onto the offensive switching from Soresu to Ataru form. He did several acrobatic blows which forced Laura to move back and back. He eventually knocked her staff from her hands. Instead of lurching back to try and retrieve her weapon she came forward grabbing Druak's blade arm and using good martial art to hold him in position as she forced him to drop his blade. Druak then broke free with a burst of force energy then used his own martial art to strike hard at her stomach . He grabbed Laura by the arm and tried to hurl her over his body but as he lifted her up she wrapped her legs around his head and force them both to the ground.

Druak got up quickly and grabbed her by the neck and forced her back down . Druak moved his face close to hers "I win" he said, "No you miscalculated" She said smiling. "Miscalculated what?" Druak said. Laura moved her head closer and kissed him. This caught Druak completely off guard and she used it to snatch his waist with her legs and force him off her. She tried to come back but he quickly retaliated with a tackle that forced her to the ground again. "Nice try but I am stronger than you" He said. Druak got up, although he won Laura put up a better fight that any non pureblooded sith he had faced before. "You are skilled Laura, you have my respect, you may not be force sensitive but your sith purity makes you stronger than any non true sith I've ever faced" He said extending a hand down to her. She took it and got up. "I suppose you are more skilled than me, but I am still coming with you tomorrow handsome" Laura kissed him again and walked off.