Chapter 21. The Rise of Darth Patheon

It took Darth Patheon six weeks to reach the outer rim world of Bakura where he refueled his ship. While on the newly colonized world Darth Patheon decided he needed an apprentice one he could easily dispose of after he killed Darth Arachni; he had often seen visions of Bao Durr's former apprentice Deila Shyren rising to power as a sith lord. So he decided to recruit her, but first he had to find her.

Deila Shyren had been consumed by the dark side in her quest of revenge; Darth Arachni had spared her a big mistake on his part in her mind. Darth Arachni had underestimated her and she would study him find a weakness and exploit it. Following his path of destruction was easy enough, but now the sith lord had an apprentice one who was extremely powerful and was the cause of the deaths of four powerful Jedi on Bothuwai. She had been hunting Darth Arachni for the past four years, avoiding the Jedi at the same time, but it was time to turn up the heat. Deila's thirst for revenge was unassailable and to quench it she took out her frustrations on Czerka Corporation.

Deila would attack corporate officers and Czerka warehouses in an attempt to get Darth Arachni's attention or interrogate Czerka officers on his whereabouts. Her latest venture brought her to the Czerka Corporate retreat on the tropical world of Spira, where she entered the spa resort and began killing the patrons. In her travels Deila learned to use the force to choke an individual; she held a Rodian in the air by her power and swung her lightsaber killing three humans; then she slammed five people into the wall and deflected blaster fire from security droids. The Rodian's neck broke and she dropped him to the floor; Deila grabbed a human in the force this time.
She levitated him over to where she was standing, "If you value your life wretch then tell me where I can find Darth Arachni…"

"I don't know…" The man said gasping for air, "…The sith contact us not the other way around…"

"Deila that's enough…" The strong male voice came from Jedi Master Shar Madriks who was standing in the door with three Jedi she didn't recognize. "If Master Bao Durr were alive he would be very disappointed in you…"

"He is dead…"

"He is one with the force…" One of the other Jedi said taking a flanking position a few feet from Deila

"The force ha… it failed to protect my master… it failed to protect Masters Rand, Bastilla, and Brianna…"

"No the only failure here is you…"

Deila was cut off from the exit and surrounded by a semi circle of armed Jedi who had yet to ignite their weapons. "If I must kill you to gain Darth Arachni's attention then so be it… but know this… you will have to kill me because I will never stop until Darth Arachni is dead…"

The Jedi looked at each other and it was Madriks who said; "So be it… the council wanted us to try and bring you back alive, but all I see around you is the darkness of your vengeance…"

The Jedi ignited their weapons and when they did Deila reached out with her mind and caused an illusion of Darth Arachni who appeared in a bright red flash. Madriks didn't respond to the illusion but two of the three remaining Jedi did and they attacked each other. The third Jedi knew how to protect her mind, but the real threat to Deila was Madriks. They were about to fight when a crackling light of energy engulfed the spell bound Jedi killing them.

"Y… M… P…" Madriks shouted something but the second blast of lightening drowned his voice out.

Deila couldn't tell what was said, but their actions told the story, because Master Madriks went after the unseen attacker while the Jedi turned his attention to Deila. The woman charged Deila and as they fought the sound of battle could be heard from the other side of the room. Deila saw an opening and jumped over the Jedi and stabbed Madriks in the back, while Uri Pathos grabbed the last Jedi in the force crush technique and killed her.

Deila switched off her lightsaber because she was no match for Pathos who had obviously turned to the dark side.

"Master Pathos…"

"Uri Pathos is no more… I am Darth Patheon… and if you want your revenge on Darth Arachni then agree to become my apprentice…"

Deila stared at the Jedi master, "You will teach me the dark side… what do you know of the dark side…"

"I know the way to destroy Darth Arachni… he will fall to my power… and I will share that power with you… agree to become my apprentice and then you shall have your revenge…"

Deila stood there for so long Patheon thought she would reject his offer but she finally stirred and took a knee before the sith lord. "My Lord I pledge myself to you…"
Darth Patheon was well pleased with himself; "You may rise… my apprentice… come let us leave this place we have much work to do…"
"What is your plan master…" She asked following him out of the building.
"Darth Arachni has an army and a fleet… we will need an army of our own… we need to find the Mandelorians…"

Liorran Fett was five months pregnant with her first child and she and Mandar had decided to stay on Magar, but Fett was trying to convince the clan lords to move their families to Mandalore or Keldabe. They didn't have a house persay Mandar and Liorran lived aboard his ship on top of a hill. The hill itself was dug out and the ship ran on the power grid in the hill.

Mandar and Liorran were upgrading the weapons systems when Lurn Katz pulled up on his speeder bike. "Why is your helmet com off?" He asked walking up the stairs.
"Because I don't like being bothered unnecessarily…"
Katz shook his head disapprovingly, "Just like your father…" Fett smiled to himself. "I came to tell that the clan lords are assembling for a meeting…"
Fett looked at Liorran, "Are you going to be alright by yourself…"
"Yes I will go ahead…"
Fett went around the ship and down into warehouse where he grabbed his speeder bike and followed Katz to an underground hall where the clan lords met. Mandelore sat on a steel chair with the supreme war general at his side.
The Supreme War General stepped forward and spoke; "We call this meeting of war to order… let those with a petition come forward…"
A man dressed in dark robes with a Twi'lek at his side stepped forward. "I am Darth Patheon… and this is my apprentice Deila Shyren… we come to you with an offer that will restore the glory and honor of the Mandelorian empire…"
"You mean the glory and honor of the sith empire…" Fett said speaking up, some people laughed.
Mandelore stood up; "We will allow him to be heard…"
Darth Patheon looked around at the clan lords assembled before he began speaking again; "When you fought the Republic before they had Revan… that is not the case anymore… I am interested in one thing only and that is the death of a Sith Lord named Darth Arachni… he and his apprentice Darth Caos are preparing to strike coruscant itself…"
These words caused some of the clan lords to speak among themselves and it was a man by the name Varheath who spoke up. "Impossible the sith remnant was destroyed at Ruusan…"
"A ruse by the former leader of the remnant fleet… he wanted the Jedi and the republic to think they destroyed the remnant while he built up a fleet to attack Coruscant… the sith made promises to you… help me destroy Darth Arachni and I will give you Coruscant and the rest of the galaxy to rule…"
Some of the Mandelorians were skeptical others laughed at his proposal, but Katz asked from behind his helmet. "And you are just going to hand over Coruscant and the rest of the galaxy to us?"

"I will…" Deila looked at her master, "…My plan is simple …Darth Arachni plans to attack Coruscant …whoever wins that fight will be weakened by battle we will move in and finish off the winner… and with my battle meditation you mandelorians are garunteed a victory…"
Darth Patheon could feel the clan lords' approval, but he became worried when Fett spoke. "We have all heard this before… our pride lead to our downfall because we underestimated the republic and the Jedi… Don't allow the sith to be the downfall of our race… we are strong once again… and our strength grows greater each day… and there will come a day when the galaxy will tremble at our numbers… they will tremble at the very mention of our names, but not if we follow more sith lies…"
Some of the clan lords agreed with Fett and Deila thought his arguments would sway the council, but up; "Our time is now… and that day is here… none of the other sith lords promised to fight at our side… and now this Darth Patheon comes before us with another opportunity at greatness… I for one will not pass it by…" With those words the council members vowed to got to war with Darth Patheon.
Mandar stood up, "You can have this madness… I will have no part with it…" As Mandar left the auditorium Katz got up and followed as well.

With the call to war the mandelorians began preparing their warships and weapons for battle. Deila walked with Darth Patheon through a hanger that belonged to Mandelore himself. "Master when will my training begin… you haven't…"
"Your training has already begun and the best way to learn is by doing…"
"But you haven't taught me any sith philosophy or…"
"If you are going to question my methods then perhaps you can do better on your own…" He said interrupting her.
Deila became humble, "Forgive me master…"
"Yes… now I have a mission for you apprentice… I want you to go to Coruscant and observe the upcoming battle… and report back to me…"
Deila had her doubts; if the Jedi discovered her presence she would be done for and unable to get her revenge, but she kept her feelings hidden and obeyed. "I shall leave at once master…"

As Deila's ship took off Mandalore joined Darth Patheon, "My fleet will be ready in six hours…"
"Good… my apprentice will contact me when she has the information we need. While the rest of the Mandalorians prepared for war Mandar and Katz had their own plans. Katz decided to go to Mandalore and build a society there while Fett would travel to Keldabe.

As Deila traveled she decided to put herself into a trance and meditate on her recent decisions. As she was meditating a vision came to her of another sith lord; one she had only heard of and that was Darth Caos. He stood before her on a ship and a battle raged all around them. Darth Caos stood with his hand out towards her in friendship. Then all went white in a flash and a new sith lord was standing over Darth Caos' dead body. The sith lord was a Twi'lek and when she took her hood down it was Deila, but now she was the leader of the sith order.
Deila awoke from her visions and she thought about them for hours; ("There is a choice I must make…") She finally thought to herself. (Darth Patheon can't be my master…") She concluded.