Ty'karus made his way up to the third floor. He came to the ornate doors with Sith markings and stopped. The doors were flanked by two robed and masked Acolytes. They were for show more than protection. His master loved ceremony but did not rely on traditional Sith methods of protection. At Ty'karus suggestion the walls to this room had been reinforced, the floors, walls and this side of the door were then lined with an energy field. With a simple flick of a switch enough energy would be discharged to kill any intruder, Jedi, Sith or droid, it would not matter.
Ty'karus was accustomed to waiting on his Master. His Master was likewise happy to keep him waiting. Today, however, much to his surprise the doors opened shortly after his arrival. The acolytes ushered him in.
The room was simple, a single raised throne like chair sat in a square room lined with draped walls. A single bright light shone from behind his master. It was bright enough to leave him in shadow while blinding anyone unable to shield their eyes.
Blinded or not he could see his masters image in his mind. Ty'karus had burned it into his mind long ago. His master was tall for a human, tall and powerful. Due to his liberal use of the dark side he required a respiration device and was rarely out of his warrior's armor. Ty'karus was one of the few still alive that knew that Lord Mott had a cybernetic arm. He had been there when his previous master Lord Tissan had cut Lord Mott's arm off. Tissan had made the mistake of believing the fight over. Lord Mott laughed at him for his error when he stood over his corpse.
Ty'karus kept his hands clasped at his chest and walked up to the throne. He dropped to both knees and bowed his head.
"I live to serve my Master. Thank you for seeing me." He waited in silence. Ty'karus had served his current master for almost a decade. Lord Mott had slain Ty'karus former master and taken him in service, much to Ty'karus surprise.
His master clicked a switch on the arm of the throne and a one sided holo projector sprang to life. It was square and one foot on each side. Images flashed across the screen readable only from one side. All Ty'karus could see were swirling colors and random patterns.
"Six months and not a word. I trust you have made progress Casius."
Ty'karus nodded his head. "My master I have. Which report would you like first?" Ty'karus waited in silence as his Master reviewed more information on the holo screen.
"Midi-chlorians." The words dripped with disdain.
"The Jedi have the bulk of the information correct but they have missed one crucial connection. It is unlikely that the information I have obtained will ever be discovered by the Jedi as they are averse to conducting research such as I have." His master raised a hand, Ty'karus fell silent.
"I appreciate your thoroughness Casius, I will review your full report later, for now be brief." From behind one of the draped walls a serving droid delivered an item to his Master and then scurried back behind the drape. Ty'karus was unable to see what it was and there was no way to use the force to discover what it was.
"The midi-chlorians do not provide contact with the force, they are purely parasitical. They feed off of a part of the force's energy that most sentient life does not access. For this reason, they are more abundant in those who have a stronger connection to the force. It is therefore understandable how some could believe that midi-chlorian count determines force capacity or even creates the connection."
"You have something to add to that, I feel an excitement in you Casius. Your Inquisitors lust for manipulation drips off of you. Speak." His master came up through the ranks as a warrior. He chose Ty'karus for his particular skill set, the same skill set that kept Ty'karus away from his master most of the time, an attempt to minimize his being manipulated into an early grave.
"Master I have leaked a modified set of my findings out into the wild. I found an ideal place for this seed." His Master's anger flared only for an instant and was contained.
"I imagine there is a reason you did not seek permission first? And that there is a substantial benefit to me, as I paid for the research!"
"Yes to both my Master. I had planned to turn the information over to you for direction when I learned of the perfect place to plant the information, unfortunately the location was about to be compromised, leaving me to choose between losing the perfect location or your displeasure at my presumption. I chose to risk your wrath rather than risk failing you by missing an opportunity." Ty'karus fell silent.
"Bold as always, where is this perfect garden that you have planted my research?" Lord Mott asked.
"When I learned that the Sith rebel, Lord Grathan was conducting a number of research projects I arranged access to his mainframe. I managed to plant my research into his computers, just before his estate was attacked by Darth Baras's apprentice. My Master."
Lord Mott sat in silence for a moment, Ty'karus remained on his knees, concentrating on his breathing. He looked as his Master began to chuckle it was low at first then broke out into a genuine laugh. A moment later he regained his composure.
"Amusing as always Casius. Daring and amusing. So what exactly does this seed contain? He asked.
"The modified information correctly confirms that there is a correlation between midi-chlorians and the force. It incorrectly theorizes, that there may be a way to boost ones' connection to the force through midi-chlorians. The potential for misinformation and misdirection of resources is significant. My Master." Ty'karus had been proud of his work and his luck in finding an out of favor Sith lord with a panache for research.
"I approve, but do not make a habit of risking my wrath in favor of your own methods." Ty'karus bowed deep nodding his understanding. "It pleases me that the most likely dupe in all of this will be Darth Baras and his rising star apprentice. Now what of your other mission?" Lord Mott sat forward, expectation oozed from him.
"The holocron is locked in cargo hold of my ship. I would not risk bringing it here alone. Master." Landing on the estate pad was forbidden to all but Lord Mott. Any ship that got to close to the estate would be blasted by underground turbo laser cannons. Sith trusted their apprentices and staff only so far.
Lord Mott moved his fingers over the motion sensitive holo pad. "I have dispatched a squad of my guards and a pilot to bring your ship here. I will personally take possession of the holocron. Did you test it Casius?"
"My Master forbade me from using the holocron, I obeyed. I only examined the external markings to ensure they matched the ones you supplied." In the ten years he had served Lord Mott that order had been the hardest to follow. The holocron held ancient knowledge. Lord Mott had been promised favor from a Darth if he was able to recover it. More than that Ty'karus did not know and it vexed him greatly.
"You have done well Casius I am greatly pleased with you, yes indeed. Now before I show you my gratitude I understand you have taken an apprentice, tell me about her." Ty'karus could not prevent the sense of apprehension that shot through him like a wave.
Lord Mott sat back his robed head cocked slightly to one side. "Why the apprehension my servant?" Ty'karus took a deep breath and forged ahead.
"She was a Jedi apprentice, Master. I know how much you enjoy Jedi. I was concerned that you would." Ty'karus let his voice slip just a moment, everything was now a gamble, his fate and hers rested in the hands of the force.
"You thought that I would want to take her to play with and leave you to find another is that it?" Lord Mott chuckled again. His enjoyment of Ty'karus apprehension and fear fueled his twisted passion and enjoyment. It rolled off of him in waves of dark energy.
"You have nothing to fear, it is true I love to play with Jedi." His emphasis on play enhanced the perversion now flowing from him. Mott loved playing with Jedi, torturing them for days or weeks. His skills were not equal to an Inquisitor but his lust for the work was unequaled.
"A mere apprentice will not sate my appetite though. She is yours, part of my gratitude for recent service. Have you turned her to the dark side yet?"
"No my Master and I do not plan to." Ty'karus replay was almost a whisper. 'All cards on the table now, calm stay calm'
Lord Mott sat in silence before speaking again. "I have given you significant autonomy due to our unique relationship. That will end here and now if I am displeased with your reasoning." Ty'karus could feel that his master had pulled in the full extent of his connection to the force. Failure at this point would most certainly mean death.
"The Jedi are still recovering from signing the treaty of Coruscant. There order is fractured and the potential for discord is great." Ty'karus began.
"Yes yes I know all this get to the point my servant" Lord Mott's aggravation was growing.
"My goal is to pull this Jedi apprentice to the middle, between light and dark. No threat to the Empire and not enough of a threat to the Republic for them to assign serious resources to retrieve her. In the past the Jedi council had moved against the Sith to recover any Jedi turned to the dark side. The end result has always been loss in one form or another. We lose the turned Jedi or we lose imperial assets or worst of all the turned Jedi returns to the light side and we lose valuable information and credibility.
"I believe that pulling the Jedi to the middle will weaken the Jedi order while minimizing potential risk to us. At the same time is shows the galaxy that the Jedi are not all united. Lastly it is possible that the Jedi council will spend significant time debating how to deal with such grey's or shadow Jedi. Ty'karus waited, there was nothing else to do at this point.
"Interesting. It has little in down side for the Empire or the Sith. How did you accomplish this turning? In brief Ty'karus!" Ty'karus relaxed slightly as his Master used his name again.
'Not out of danger yet' he thought.
"I taught her to feel Master. The Jedi have become so fearful of falling to the dark side that they forbid almost all feeling. Pushing a Jedi to the dark side can take a great deal of time and they fight against it constantly. My method uses a subtler approach. I simply helped this apprentice feel, happiness, grief, sorrow, lust. I was careful to guard her from the dark side. I cautioned her repeatedly to avoid fear and hate. This won her over as it flew in the face of everything the Jedi have taught her a Sith would do." Ty'karus could feel his heart beat increase. He evened his breathing and worked to settle it. Unable to touch the force without his Master knowing, made things much more challenging.
"I learned her background, personal history, I isolated events that could be focused on to bring forth light side emotion. Family, religious faith, repressed sexual feelings. I will spare you the details master. In short I played against the lack of freedom and self-expression inherent in all those who are Jedi. She now wants to feel, to embrace her emotions. She has no care if I tricked or manipulated her. She genuinely does not want to go back to the Jedi." He bowed and fell silent.
"Impressive, most impressive. Have you kept any records on this conversion?" Mott asked. 'Almost home now just a bit longer' Ty'karus thought.
"No master, I did not think it prudent. I can create a full report if you wish." Mott leaned forward once again. The scent of the dark side rolling off of him had changed. It has the smell of opportunity and deceit.
"You will make an encrypted voice recording, masked of course, on the basic principles of your work and provide it to me. You will keep no other records. Given what I am feeling from you and your apprentice I assume that your process works best when you can foster a sexual bond of some kind?" his voice was now analytically and all business. Ty'karus had not expected his Master to want to embrace his "project" this was a wrinkle to say the least.
"Yes Master." Mott pulled back his hood and stood down from his throne and motioned Ty'karus to rise. Ty'karus rose and thanked his Master with a small nod. Mott surprised Ty'karus by taking his arm in his. Mott led him out of the room arm in arm and continued to conversation.
How long would it take to research each potential convert? Once the process was initiated how likely was success? Could Ty'karus provide projections based on available information?
Did Ty'karus believe that this work could be pursued by other Sith or was it limited to the arena of an Inquisitor? His master grilled him for almost three hours. The questions all leaned to a more strategic slant, as was to be expected given his masters background.
"One last question Casius. How did you justify the fact that you serve me, A lord of the Sith?" Ty'karus smiled at his master. "My lord, I simply told her the truth. I have no political ambition and that my master indulges my true passion, research. She was surprised when I told her that there are Sith who focus on such things."
As the questioning neared an end the arrived back at the front entrance waiting room. Akita was kneeling on the floor in meditation. She rose to one knee as they entered the room, her head remained bowed.
Lord Mott let go of Ty'karus arm and motioned him to stand to one side of the room.
"Rise child and greet me." His voice was gentle, sickly sweet. Akita rose to her feet.
"I am honored to meet you Master of my Master." Mott smile widened. He turned to Ty'karus and motioned him to take a seat.
"Such a sweet polite child. Let me see you. Take off the robe." Akita dropped the robe without hesitation. Lord Mott's eyes danced over Akita's body, he nodded his head in appreciation.
He reached out with a cybernetic hand and gently lifted her chin so that her eyes met his. Fear rolled off of Akita.
"You are afraid of me child?" Mott asked. Ty'karus could sense that Mott was basking in the fear. He had watched, many times, as Mott pleasured himself during interrogations.
"Yes Master." Akita responded. 'Good girl short honest answer.' Ty'karus thought.
"You are not afraid of him though?" Mott pointed at Ty'karus but did not take his eyes off of Akita.
"No Master." Ty'karus could feel the stress rising in Akita, she had never been this close to someone so powerful in the dark side. Combined with the dark flow over the city it must be overwhelming for her.
Mott was clearly enjoying this but Ty'karus could see that he was searching her face and her feelings.
"Do you love him?" Ty'karus took a risk and embraced a sliver of the force to keep his feelings under control.
"I don't know Master, I know that I need him." Akita kept her chin up as Mott directed but lowered her gaze.
"There there child, no need to be ashamed or embarrassed by your feelings." Mott let go of Akita's chin and took a step back.
"How does he feel about you?" Akita paused. She had to work to resist the urge to look to Ty'karus. 'Answer him Akita!' Ty'karus mind screamed at her.
"He needs me, wants me." Ty'karus could feel Akita's pain and conflict. He knew that Mott would be swimming in it. Mott clapped his hands together and turned to Ty'karus.
"Sweet child. Stay here, I will have words with your master then you can both be on your way." He smiled at her again, then signaled Ty'karus to join him. Ty'karus fell in beside his master as they walked through the main floor of the estate.