Chapter 21
"Update me on your progress, Agent", the commanding voice of Gallius Rax told Mara Jade, who was currently watching in the distance Ragnos training the Knights of Ren. "Progress is going slow, I encountered some new allies on Korriban", Mara replied. "These new allies, former imperials or something else?", Rax asked her. "A sith cult", Mara said looking back at the group, "Their leader is a former inquisitor", she explained in further detail. The two remained silent for a couple of minutes before Rax spoke up again. "Can they be trusted?", he asked sincerely. Mara hesitated for a moment, could she trust them? They sure had the same goal, to eliminate Skywalker. But what about after? Will they continue to be with her, or would they betray her in the last second.
"I", Mara began still thinking in what to say, "Its hard to explain their motives. We're currently training to improve their attacks". Rax took it all in, but he certainly wasn't impressed. "You are wasting valuable time Mara Jade", he said in disgust, "Skywalker and the rebels are probably halfway to Thrawn, and yet you waste your time training useless -", Rax suddenly stopped. He slowly reached for his throat, choking for air. Mara slowly tightened her grip as she visualized Rax's throat. "I give you Palpatine's warship, and in return you dare disrespect me, Admiral Rax?", Mara asked amusingly. She watched as he slowly turned a dark shade of blue. He could've been purple at this point, but holograms never displayed anything without the infamous blue hue. Just then, Rax grabbed a small hand held device, instantly pushing the large button.
Mara immediately felt a shocking pain spread throughout her body. Her invisible grip holding Rax's throat vanished as she tried to scream out in pain, but her body was still in complete shock, her vocal cords giving out nothing but air. Then the pain stopped. Mara started gasping for air, as she angrily look at Gallius Rax as he just smirked back at her. "What the hell was that?", Mara immediately yelled out. "An inhibitor chip Palpatine installed weeks after the collapse of the inquisitor legion, my dear", Rax explained, "As his right hand man, I was instructed to install the inhibitor chip on you. When you underwent the procedure of assassin. The Emperor wanted to make sure that you remained in line incase you ever went rogue", he declared.
This brought many bad memories to Mara, the procedure was very painful. She had to endure pain beyond imagination, she was drugged, abused, both physically and mentally, all to become the perfect assassin for the Emperor. She even questioned how she was able to give birth at just eighteen after all the torture she had went through "I'll kill you before you have the chance to even think of killing me Gallius", Mara said with disgust in her voice. The only response she got was laughter. "Oh, Mara. I control you. So you must not talk back to your superior", Rax declared.
"I'd never kneel to a coward like yourself", Mara spatted out. But she would soon regret her words, as she felt the shocking pain spread again. Mara screamed in agony again, desperate for it to end. "I am the supreme leader of the Imperial remnants, Agent Jade. Unless you want to die before you even have a chance to complete the mission, I suggest that you remain quiet and continue with the task in hand", Rax said coldly, "Is that clear?", he asked slowly, as he also reached for the button again. "Yes Sir", Mara hesitantly answered.
"Now that you learned your place, agent, I expect you to hurry your 'trainees' and pick up your slack. Admiral Sloane will be arriving shortly to Korriban to deliver a modified Oubliette-class Transport. More spacious and faster than your Tie advance fighter. Do not fail me Mara Jade. Or you will face the consequences", Rax coldly ordered, before ending his transmission. Mara laid on the ground, wiping the tears strolling on her face. She wanted to end her life for so long, she doesn't want to endure it anymore. The emperor was gone, her child was dead, and here she's being tortured by some kriffing imperial. What else can go wrong? The only joy she'll ever get now is when she has Luke Skywalker's head dangling from her hands.
"Mara, are you alright?", Zyon asked walking towards her with the Knights of Ren following suit. He saw her laying on the ground, grunting noises. "I'm fine Zyon", Mara said hiding her emotions. She was well at hiding her emotions, as a trained assassin she couldn't display any emotions when on missions. Mara could still hear the cries of young children when she was ordered to kill them in her sleep. She shook her demons back inside, she'll deal with them later. "Pack your things, we're leaving", she said while getting up. "How? We won't all fit in your small tie fighter. And Master Ragnos isn't small", Ap'lek said turning to see the massive sith lord slowly making his way to them.
Just then, a star destroyer came out of hyperspace, entering the planet's atmosphere. "I see technology has really advance from my time", Ragnos said in awe. Several gunships and a single transport landed near them. Mara led the Knights and the revived sith lord towards the transport. Admiral Sloane waiting for them. "Agent Jade", Rae Sloane said as soon as she saw Mara, "Here is your upgrade, as requested". Mara acknowledged Sloane, gesturing to the knights to board the shuttle. "And what will you do with the villagers?", Mara asked Sloane as she put on her inquisitor's helmet. "Don't worry about the villagers. We'll take good care of them", Rae reassured her. Mara nodded and entered the shuttle, the engines roaring to life.
"And now, my faithful disciples, we follow the jedi to his death", Ragnos shouted gleefully, "Let this be remembered in history, as the return of the sith!". The knights all cheered, all blindly following and doing Ragnos's every word. Mara walked to the cockpit, surprised that Zyon had a helmet that was definitely not imperial. "What's with the helmet?", Mara asked him. Zyon seemed confused for a second before understanding the question, "Oh, this?", he said while pointing to a white mask with red marking in the middle, "Its a sith mask. Once used by Darth Jadus during the old republic. Marka Ragnos gave it to me, he said anything that a powerful sith had once possessed will give it's user extraordinary power. Plus, it hides my identity from the jedi", Zyon explained.
Mara rolled her eyes at her companion's beliefs. Soon, this will all be over. "Welp, time to hunt down the last jedi", she said to herself. "Relax Mara, it won't be like the battle of Phindar", Zyon said chuckling. "Don't even remind me", Mara said soon joining his laughter. The shuttle soon started taking off, Mara took one last look at the surface of Korriban and Sloane's star destroyer before making the jump to Mandalore.
Rae Sloane watched as the shuttle vanished to hyperspace. A stormtrooper commander started walking her. "Commander", she said, "What are your reports for the imperial survivors?". The commander took out a small datapad and began reading everything be had typed down. "Only half a squadron of Death Troopers. Still viable. And there are several children ranking from the ages of seven to three months old. Everyone else are unqualified for military service, Sir", the commander said before putting the datapad away. Sloane slowly nodded, "Good. Have the gunships transport the Death Troopers and all the children to the Star Destroyer", she commanded. "What about the others?", the commander questioned. Sloane stopped for to think, before making her final decision. "Eliminate the rest. The First Order will not have weaklings for an army. Show no mercy, commander". The commander nodded and signaled the other stormtroopers to follow him into the village to do the dirty deed.