Debrief

Nox entered Lord Frennus' old office and found that Xalek and Talos were not present. Then he remembered the hour. It was already night time.

He thought to himself, "Perhaps they've already left for the day, or they've moved their operations to the apartments..." Aloud, to himself, he said, "What a mess."

As he left the office, he failed to realize that Khem Val did not follow him out.

Khem Val asked himself, "Will I find his plot to betray me in this place?"

Nox walked to the conference room and found everyone in attendance waiting for him including, to Nox's amazement, Vulgren. He sat at the side of the conference room with the junior officers. His eyes were cast to the floor, not meeting Nox's. Nox wondered why he hadn't run. He spared a quick glance at Vulgren as he took his place at the head of the conference table.

Wanting to get to business, Nox announced, "Let us begin."

Nox started to give an account of his operations against the Republic Commandos and his encounter with the Jedi Master. Sometime during his brief, he noticed that Khem Val was absent from the conference room. Something didn't feel right to him, but he decided to deal with it later.

Yennis, noting Nox's very foul mood, thought to improve Nox's mood, saying, "Forgive my forwardness if I observe that it is a very rare privilege to see a ruler of the Sith Empire return fresh from battle. We hear of the many exploits of our rulers on the Dark Council from others, but only a very precious few of us are fortunate enough to see it for ourselves."

Nox's foul mood, from what had just occurred in Vulgren's office, had not improved at all as evidenced by his rather snappish reply, "Let's keep to the subject here. There is too much work that needs to be done."

If General Riiy'enni'sansa at all felt slighted by Nox's brusqueness he hid it rather well, as he replied in an upbeat and positive manner, "Of course, Dark Lord. We are ready to get the job done. How do you wish to proceed?"

Nox, for the first time since meeting him, carefully regarded Yennis, and thought, "A Chiss general? An alien commanding human Imperial troops? He must be quite accomplished to have been elevated to such a high grade in rank, even if this is a backwater post." He resolved to watch him carefully, thinking, "If he's any good, I'll recommend him to Moff Pyron."

Nox's tone was still brusque, however, as he asked the general, "Did your people find anything of use from what was recovered at the commando bases?"

A medical droid approached Nox and speaking quietly, announced to the dark lord while seeking permission, "Dark Lord, I shall attend to your injuries while the briefing is in progress. Do you approve?"

Nox approved, ordering, "Yes, but keep quiet."

The droid began to treat Nox's injuries without another word, keeping quiet as ordered.

Yennis commanded his intelligence officer, "Major, begin the briefing."

The major, a human, introduced herself and began her briefing.

"Major Nordath Fey, intelligence officer for the 897th Infantry Division, Dark Lord."

Nodding towards the two Black Ops team leaders seated at the far end of the conference table, she reported, "Black Ops recovered communications equipment along with data pads containing contact information with encryption keys for several entities operating on Taris on the Republic's behalf. In addition, several decrypted messages have been recovered. Most were after action reports of operations conducted by the commandos against Imperial assets. Black Ops also recovered orders to take out top Imperial leaders stationed here on Taris, and orders to sabotage several targets."

Nox, having heard nothing except for a list of things Black Ops had recovered, interrupted saying, "Tell me something actionable. I don't want to hear about a list of what was recovered. Tell me where they will strike, when they'll attack, etc."

Nox found her no-nonsense style of speaking, with a strong and professional military sounding voice a stark contrast to that airy messenger from before.

The mere thought of her caused fury to take his mind from the conference for a moment as he raged at himself, "That blasted spy, Millie Kine! She deceived me!"

Khem Val spoke out loud, breaking him from his scorching rage, telling Nox, "My master, your weak minions cower before your fury! Ha!"

Nox, noticing Khem Val had decided to show up to the conference room, recovered his composure. His oppressive pall of darkness and demon-like rage abated. The officers, gathered for the conference, began recovering from their maddening terror. This was the second time they had been overcome with such awful terror because of Nox's putrid aura. The first time was earlier, when he was in Vulgren's office.

Nordath Fey resumed her report with difficulty. Her strong confident voice was gone. She spoke with a shaky voice, barely holding back her fright.

"These commando units, - which my dark lord a-annihilated, w-were to carry out ass-ssassinations of t-top Imperial leaders, - including D-Darth Komo, Lord Vulgren, and top - army officers."

She used her sleeve to wipe tears from her eyes. General Yennis had been fighting off his own crippling fear while rubbing his temples and his face.

Nordath said to the troubled Chiss officer, "General, - y-you're - you're on this list, t-too."

Major Nordath Fey returned her eyes to the notes she held in both of her trembling hands. She did not wish to look at Darth Nox. She feared what she might see sitting there.

She said in her still shaking voice, "Th-There are two-oo - other sets of o-orders that were t-to be carried out at the s-same t-time. - Acts of sabotage aa-and vandalism, and a hijacking o-of Imperial broad - c-cast channels in order to broadcast their p-propa - propaganda when a - all of their operations were completed."

Nordath had trouble with the controls at first, but as she finally began to overcome her terror, she willed herself to concentrate and finally managed to bring up an image of a two dimensional topographical map and pointed out the target locations. As she continued speaking, a little bit of her strength returned. Her voice was still weak, but her stammering had ceased as she continued her briefing, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

She reported, "These acts of sabotage were to be committed simultaneously in the Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern sectors. It would not be possible for the slaughtered commandos to carry out the assassinations and the acts of sabotage spread throughout the region by themselves. This can only mean that other commando units would have to carry out the other assignments in order to satisfy their operational timetables, my dark lord."

Having fully recovered from the effects of Nox's noxious aura, Yennis interjected adding a comment clarifying that he believed there were others operating besides commandos.

He said in a clear and confident tone, "Other commando units, Dark Lord, or well trained militia operatives."

Nox was well aware of the effect his Dark Side aura had on non-force sensitives. He merely sat silently through their torment, waiting for them to recover as though nothing had been amiss. He wasn't inclined to do anything more than wait for the officers present to recover on their own.

Nox only nodded his agreement with the general's belief of the possibility that the commandos could train the militia to conduct sabotage on Imperial targets.

However, he asked the Chiss officer, "Have there been ambushes, acts of terrorism, or sabotage in the other sectors by Republic Commandos before, or just in the Western Sector?"

General Yennis replied, "Only in the Western Sector, Dark Lord, but this report indicates that they have intentions of spreading their activities to the other sectors."

Nox turned to Nordath, ordering her, "Major Fey, continue your report."

Nordath took strength from her commanding general's confidence, and spoke more calmly, "As you wish my dark lord."

She changed the image of the map to include symbols denoting the exact locations of planned attacks. Strength returned to her voice, and her military professionalism began to assert itself again as she continued her briefing.

"These acts of sabotage and murders are scheduled to be carried out twelve hours from now, Galactic Standard Time. The orders had an attachment that listed nine targets, not including the targets for assassination."

General Yennis nodded proudly as he listened to his intelligence officer regain her strength. Nordath read the list of targets as she pointed them out on the map image.

Then she concluded her report, saying, "The orders were issued by one code named, Light Bringer. We do not know who Light Bringer is. That is, we don't have information on that, yet, Dark Lord. This concludes my briefing. Have you any questions for me, Dark Lord?" She turned to Yennis, "General Yennis?"

General Riiy'enni'sansa turned to Darth Nox and pointed out, "Light Bringer might be your Jedi Master, but we'll get more evidence to learn who it actually is, Dark Lord."

Nox nodded, then suggested, "I doubt commandos could kill Darth Komo. His likely assassin may be that Jedi."

General Yennis nodded and said, "I'll take precautions against that possibility, my dark lord."

Nox surmised that Darth Acina would likely order Darth Komo's execution, if Komo kept his word and slaughtered her spies. Thinking of this, Darth Nox told the general, "No. I'll send one of my own to protect him."

Riiy'enni'sansa nodded and replied, "As you say, Dark Lord."

Yennis, continuing his analysis, said, "Dark Lord, these rebels have likely spread the word amongst themselves of the slaughter of 57 of their commandos at your hands. My guess is that they will have assumed that their security has been compromised and their orders intercepted. My intentions are to increase surveillance of the targeted areas, and increase personal protection for the targeted individuals, as a precaution."

Nox nodded to show he agreed with the general's assessment and plan of action.

General Yennis continued his analysis, saying, "The likeliest scenario is that they will think themselves compromised and will abandon their orders. If there are more commando units present, they may opt to relocate to new bases in case you go after them at their current locations.

"Therefore, we should increase patrols in all sectors to increase our chances of detecting their movements. We can start now by deploying hunter killer droids, surveillance droids, and sentry droids to the aforementioned target locations to show we're on to them. If they opt to move to their new bases, our sensor droids should catch any movements they might make as they relocate."

Nox asked, doubt clouding his face and tone of voice, "You don't want to send troops out now?"

Yennis told Nox, "My Division is packing up now. They'll hit the road and be on the march to the Western Sector by early tomorrow morning, but they will not actually arrive here until late morning the day after tomorrow. However, I can send out warnings to the other Imperial forces posted in the other sectors to get things rolling in those areas. Also, we have plenty of droids here in the Western Sector. Those can be programmed and deployed withing a couple of hours, my dark lord."

The medical droid finished treating Nox's injuries and said quietly, "Treatment is completed, Dark Lord. Here is a supply of Kolto injectors if you need them for pain. Please follow up with your primary doctor for a check up."

The droid placed the cartridge of injectors onto the conference table in front of Nox, then walked out of the conference room. Nox absently secured the cartridge of injectors in the supply compartment of his utility belt.

As he returned his hands to the table, he pointed out, "There is still the matter of the rebel militia. They could conceivably mobilize now to launch retaliatory strikes against Imperial assets. Don't you think, General?"

Yennis pointed out to Nox, "Colonel Nann had no other assets assigned to him because no one had any idea how bad things really were in the Western Sector. His brigade was eviscerated when it lost all of its command elements. They are demoralized and useless as they are. I can't use them. We'll have to depend on the droids until my own troops get here, Dark Lord."

Darth Nox countered, "Even if they are useless in tactical operations, they could at the very least be used to post as guards and sentries to protect critical areas in this sector, at least until your division arrives.

General Yennis nodded his understanding and replied, "As static security forces, they can still serve a need. I'll see to it, Dark Lord."

Nox stood and said, "Inform me as the situation develops. I have other matters to attend."

Yennis, and everyone else in the briefing room, stood as the general replied, "Yes, Dark Lord."

Nox was about to pass through the doorway to exit, but stopped.

He turned around and asked, "What's been done about Lieutenant Millie Kine?"

Yennis looked at his security manager and said, "Major?"

The security manager, a human, introduced himself, "Major Riv Danthk, security manager for the 897th Infantry Division, Dark Lord. She has been questioned. We have discovered that she is actually an infiltrated SIS agent. She is being held in custody pending arrival of Imperial Intelligence agents to retrieve her."

Nox said, "I'm glad I asked." He turned to face Yennis and said, "I don't want her leaving Taris. I will personally deal with her. Escort her to my apartments, immediately. Also, make arrangements for a carbonite freezing apparatus to be sent to my apartments.

"When those Imperial Intelligence agents arrive, bring them up to speed with what's been happening, then task them to investigate Imperial Settlement Number Two. I want them to identify the SIS agents operating there. If they are identified, use Black Ops to capture them."

Yennis replied, "As you wish, Dark Lord."

Darth Nox added, "Give the agents whatever support they ask for to accomplish their tasks."

Then he turned and left the conference room. Khem Val had already gone on ahead of Nox, who had started to realize that Khem Val was up to something. Outside of the headquarters, Nox was about to board a speeder whose driver, an Imperial soldier of the disgraced infantry battalion, was tasked to take him back to the apartments. Khem Val finally arrived outside and joined his master, just in time to board the military staff speeder.

On the way back, Khem Val spoke, asking. "My master, why do you seek her prison?"

Nox was shocked into surprise. His eyes opened wide and his mouth opened a little, as he wondered to himself, "Where had I blundered to let Khem discover my true purpose?!"

However, Nox quickly recovered. He shook his head slowly as he said aloud to himself, "Truly, everything is coming undone. What a rotten mess this is."

Khem Val said, making an assumption of what he believed Nox had intended, "Then it is as I have suspected. You will bring that witch back out."

Nox spoke calmly, quietly, "We'll not speak of it here, Khem. Wait until we're back at the apartments."

Nox eyed Khem Val, fury in his eyes. Fury, not at Khem Val, but at how The Force seemed to be betraying him at every turn.

Khem Val remained silent the remainder of the trip, but his eyes bore fearlessly, defiantly into his master's eyes.