Chapter 63: And Her Name was Death
"Talk to me Holli, things are getting a little hot up here!"
"Shields down to forty two percent; I'm transferring power from non-essential systems, redirecting it all into the aft-shields. That should…"
KA-WHOMP!
The interceptor bucked beneath their feet, Avaryss was forced to grab onto the back of Rink's chair to keep from being tossed against the bulkhead.
"What was that?!" Rink shouted.
Holli's response came back garbled, over the loud buzzing static, it was almost impossible to hear.
"We just lost our port solar array," she informed them.
Rink cursed loudly.
"Damn it," he shouted," Stop blowing off parts of my ship!"
"Shields down to thirty six percent! I have a fire back here," Holli added, "Two-Vee help me, we got it get this under control."
The ship bucked again as another blaster bolt hit, then another and another. Alarms wailed in the cockpit.
Avaryss' grip tightened on the back of the captain's chair, Rink's hands flew over the console, the ship spun and juked as it shot away from the Sith fleet and towards Darth Terrog's station, his so-called Temple of Life.
They were hit again, and once more Avaryss was almost thrown down.
A Sith curse escaped her lips.
What did Marr think he was doing?! If he was trying to sell her so-called defection to Terrog's side, he was doing an incredible job. No one would doubt that the Sith Fighters were trying to destroy them. Still…
She frowned.
…If it wasn't for Rink's skill as a pilot, they likely would have been destroyed already. Ever since they had blasted out of The Terror's hangar bay, they had been under attack; a full squadron of Sith fighters had broken off from the fleet and were in pursuit.
Those fighters had all launched from the Terror.
Darth Feer was trying to kill them.
The realization almost made the young Sith want to scream.
I guess no one has told my master yet, well…Marr said he would only inform Lord Feer after we were on the station.
How lovely, she thought, thanks Lord Marr.
She dared a look outside the viewport. She could make out the enemy fleet, and the ring of probe droids that surrounded the ancient Rakatan station.
She had done as Marr had asked, and broadcast her decision to join Terrog, on an open channel. No sooner had those words left her mouth; the attack had come down on her in earnest.
She stared out at the field of probe droids, a virtual mine field of viral death.
If Darth Terrog refused to accept her, if he believed her coming over was a trap…"
None of them would be around long enough to care….one way, or the other.
The ship shook again as Rink sent her into a spinning dive, two concussion missiles shot past and exploded. The gentle thrum of the engines turned into an angry whine
She said nothing to Rink. The pilot had enough to worry about right now.
"Hold it together, baby," he murmured softly.
"Hold it together for daddy."
They continued to rush towards Terrog's defensive perimeter.
Hopefully the dark lord would accept her offer and let them pass by unmolested.
If he did not…?
Well they would be too dead to care.
Avaryss stumbled over to the communications console. Was it possible that Terrog had not received her message? The nebula might have blocked it, if that was the case…
She pressed the send button, slipping on a headset; she did not have time for a full holographic communication.
"This is incoming Interceptor to Terrog controlled station. We are taking heavy fire, and request safe passage and immediate clearance to land. This is Avaryss of the Sith. I seek an audience with Lord Terrog. My lord, if you can hear me, know that I accept your offer. You sent your apprentice to me on Dromund Kaas; He said you saw potential in me. I submit myself to your teachings. I humbly request safe passage and an audience. Repeat, this is…
The ship shook as it was struck again, Avaryss was almost flung off her feet.
Did anyone hear that? She wondered.
Did it make a whit of difference?
She looked up at Taya; her old friend was radiating nervousness. Avaryss suspect that she had come to regret her decision to follow her old ally out here.
It was a mistake that none of them would likely have to live with.
Taya laughed fatalistically.
"Well…I've heard being killed in a spaceship explosion is not the worst way to go," she said, "You are here one second, gone the next."
The blonde girl shrugged.
"It…it doesn't' sound that bad."
Avaryss' eyes narrowed, the dark side rumbled through her head like a distant storm.
Sentiment, it whispered.
Weakness.
Pathetic!
Any compassion that Avaryss might have felt was all tied up in her anger. She did not want it to end this way, not after everything she had seen and done in the last few months.
I'm so close now.
It cannot end this way.
It cannot!
In spite of his evasive maneuvers, Rink still managed to get them to the defensive perimeter that Lord Terrog's forces had set up.
As they drew closer, Avaryss could just start to make out the probed droids that made up the station's defensive screen, black spidery looking things with antenna and too many arms. When Avaryss closed her eyes, she could almost see the probes' optics powering up. She could sense their approach, the living death they carried stood out against the void like the light from a candle.
Twenty of the droids broke off from the main group; they sped towards the damaged interceptor, and the ships pursuing it.
Here we go, Avaryss thought.
Moment of truth.
"Come on Terrog," she murmured.
Take the bait.
Take the bloody bait!
She closed her eyes and reached out with the Force, trying to sense what would happen next.
Time slowed down, and in that moment she was assaulted by so many possible futures.
The probes attacked them, and they were destroyed.
The Sith fighters blasts destroyed them.
They made it through the droids only to explode from the damage they had taken getting here.
They had…
"BOSS! LOOK!"
Avaryss opened her eyes as Terrog's weaponized probes flew past them!
She did not need to look at the scanners to know that their pursuers were trying to fall back, to retreat, and make it back to the fleet. She could sense the pilots; terror as they tried to back off. She felt their panic as the probes latched onto several of those ships, felt the pilot's agony as the probes delivered their viral gift into the fighter's cockpits.
The sensation made her shudder.
The pain was exquisite.
Only two fighters managed to escape, she felt the relief from those men, relief that quickly turned to terror as they realized what Darth Feer would do to them for failing to stop his apprentice from reaching her destination.
Even now she could feel her master's presence. She could feel his attempt to get into her head, to commune through the Force as they had in the past.
She kept her mental shields up; she could not risk Terrog picking up on what was really going on.
I'm sorry master, but you must remain in the dark…for now.
All that Terrog could be allowed to sense right now was both Darth Feer's anger, and his apprentice's desire to reach the station. She did her best to hide any thought or feeling that might hint at their actual mission. She did not know if Terrog could sense the subtleties within the Force.
If the Emperor's will was with them, he would not be able to.
If this works, she thought, everyone that has fallen because of Terrog's mad schemes would be avenged, including the brave pilots that just died to sell this ruse.
Distantly she felt shame for what had happened. These pilots had been loyal sons and daughters of the empire, and their bravery had been manipulated by Darth Marr, used to sell his story, his plan that she was trying to defect to their enemy.
It is the duty of the lesser to serve the greater, the darkness whispered within her.
The strong are served, that is the way of the Sith.
She nodded.
Yes, she thought, it is the way, but it is also the way to seek vengeance for those that died in the service of the Empire.
Avaryss would avenge those pilots, just as she would avenge herself.
Terrog would die screaming.
No longer under attack Rink made straight for the station; the probes moved out of the way for the damaged ship. Rink shook his head as six of the probes flew in front of them, forming a wedge to see them safely through.
"Looks like we have an escort," he said with a nervous laugh.
The pilot shook his head.
"I think we are okay now. I have a good feeling about this."
Taya laughed nervously, Avaryss could feel her relief, that and her desire to pull her old friend into an embrace and a passionate kiss.
"Looks like we won," Taya said, "We have a victory."
Avaryss sighed.
They had achieved an objective.
It was not a victory.
The comm panel in front of Rink blinked red. He pressed one of the buttons; they were receiving an incoming call.
"This is Temple control to incoming Interceptor, welcome apprentice; The Will of the Force is expecting you." A feminine voice said over the comm.
Avaryss resisted the urge to sneer.
The Will of the Force indeed.
They would just see what title Terrog was worthy of when this was all over.
For now, though, she needed to play nice.
"This is Avaryss, thanks for the assist Temple control."
The Terrog loyalist laughed.
"Set course two point seven, our droids will guide you into hangar six. A welcoming party is already on their way, and will escort you to the master."
There was a brief pause.
"He is most excited to meet you, and begin your…evolution."
The transmission ended.
Avaryss frowned as she thought about what she had heard.
Her evolution?
So Terrog already had ideas about how he could…improve her.
He was in for a big surprise.
From what she had heard over the comm, the Jedi had not reached the station yet, as soon as they began their attack, she would be ready to begin hers, to make use of the distraction.
You must not give into Terrog's desires.
The voice that whispered in her ear did not sound like the one she was used to hearing. The dark side would often speak to her, but this did not sound the same, the voice was…different.
It was colder, and yet…somehow…familiar.
Your blood is pure, it must remain so. Terrog's work does not improve, it profanes. You are still young; you must continue to grow on your own. You must come into your own without interference.
Destroy the traitor.
Destroy them all.
Your line must continue.
It must not end with you.
Avaryss nodded.
The future was always in motion. She could not say what it held at that moment, before great events there was always uncertainty, the Force shifting quickly with even the smallest choice, the minutest detail.
She would need to be ready.
What was about to happen was beyond any mere task her master had assigned.
She needed to remain true to the goal.
She needed to trust in the dark side.
They flew past Terrog's fleet, the ships that were both his, and those of his sycophants. None tried to stop their advance, none tried to hinder them in anyway.
So far so good, she thought.
Marr's plan was working.
She checked her chrono. They only had about twenty minutes until Terrog's deadline. They needed to be on the station, and mission underway before that happened. They would keep Darth Terrog and his forces distracted.
They needed to give the fleet time, and the chance to strike at this place directly, if they did that, all else would fall into place.
As they approached the station, Avaryss was once again taken aback by how large it was. The information section claimed that it was about half the size that the Star Forge had been, but that did not mean that it was still not a massive.
As they drew closer, she could sense the growing strength of the dark side. The station radiated with it, it was a heady sensation; it almost made her sway where she stood.
It was not what she had come to expect from a medical station, a place of healing.
Taya felt it too, her old ally giggled.
"I can feel why the traitor feels so comfortable here," the blonde said smiling.
"This place feels…intoxicating."
"Yes," Avaryss agreed.
"It will be a shame to destroy it."
She watched as they drew closer, at first she had thought they would be docking at an airlock; the hangar bays along the stations diameter did not seem large enough to accommodate her ship. She quickly learned that was a falsity, the station's size was staggering.
The hangar that they had been directed to could have fit two interceptor class vessels easily and still had room for a row of Starfighters.
It was an impressive sight to be sure.
As Avaryss was starting to turn away, to summon the rest of her crew, there was a loud bang from the direction of the engineering compartment. It was followed by Holli shouting, and a string of very colorful curses.
Great, Avaryss thought
What now?!
"We just lost sub-light engines," Rink informed her, "But it won't be a problem, I can bring her in on repulsor lifts, we have enough forward momentum."
The damaged interceptor glided into the hangar, Rink fired the repulsor lifts and brought the ship around, the docking thrusters still worked well enough that they were able to land safely.
There was one final soft bump, and they were down.
Avaryss let out a breath that she had not even realized that she had been holding.
They had reached Terrog's station.
Now the next stage of the plan could begin.
She and Taya left the bridge, sending out word for the rest of the crew to gather. They did not have much time; Terrog's welcoming party would be there shortly.
They needed to have a plan in place before they arrived.
IOI
"So," Holli began, "Do you want the good news or the bad news, my lord?"
The engineer's face was more dirty than usual, the soot and smoke from the fire she and two-Vee had put out had left her a bit of a mess. Her eyes shifted color quickly, from blue to green, to red. It was likely a sign of nervousness, the changeling's equivalent of a nervous twitch.
Bad and good news, she thought the latter was unexpected considering where they were.
Avaryss smirked.
They were on mission, bad news seemed appropriate, better to face it head on.
"What is the bad news?" she asked.
"The sub-light motivator has been fried. The ship is not going anywhere without that."
Voices filled the meeting room, some angry, some on the verge of despair, Avaryss stopped both with a raised hand, now was not the time for weakness.
They still had a mission to complete, even if this turned out to be a one way trip.
"What is the good news," Taya asked, "If there really is any?"
Ensign Holli smiled.
"The good news is that I have a spare motivator in storage. It will take some time to install though."
Avaryss nodded.
So they were not trapped here after all, good.
"How much time do you need to install it?" Beric asked.
Holli frowned.
"An hour maybe two, if I get to work on it right now and am uninterrupted."
Avaryss shook her head.
"I'm likely going to need you to help shut down Terrog's probe droids. You skills are necessary for the completion of this mission."
"We will have to find another ship then," Holli said, "This one isn't going anywhere."
Avaryss cursed under her breath.
She did not want to lose her ship. It had become a home of sorts over the last few months.
Of course, if they failed it would not matter would it?
They would all be dead.
"You can take Holli with you, boss, it will be alright."
Rink smiled broadly.
"I can get the ship up and running."
Everyone on the crew looked at him, the pilot's cocky grin faded.
"What?" he asked.
"What is with all the looks?"
Holli laughed.
"You are going to replace the motivator?" she asked.
"Yeah, I…"
"You?"
Rink snorted, he sounded almost insulted.
"Just because I've gone legit since joining the Empire doesn't mean that I've forgotten my past."
He turned to Avaryss.
"Sub-light motivators were worth a lot of credits on Nar Shadda, boss. I use to strip the things out of ships in twenty minutes back home."
He turned back to Holli.
"Yeah, I can install your motivator, Holli girl. Don't think that I can't."
The engineer gave him a dubious look, clearly she was not convinced.
"What pressure do the motivator's couplings have to be at for it to function during a long deep space flight? She asked.
"Four point seven," he answered, "a ship like this can handle four point nine, but why push it if you don't have to."
Avaryss looked at Holli; she gave the changeling an arched look.
Holli sniffed.
"It is four point six, actually," she said shaking her head.
She turned to Avaryss.
"I think he can do it…maybe."
The Sith nodded.
"Holli will go with us, Rink will get the motivator replaced, and 2V-R9 will help you." She said.
"Of course master," the servant droid said, "Happy to serve, and not be left in pieces, all hail the Empire."
She looked at the pilot.
"Work quickly; this ship is our way out of this place when all is done."
It will be done, boss," Rink promised.
"Piece of cake."
"See that it is, Mister Rink."
"I'm going to need someone to watch my back, though," he said, "When the bad guys figure out what we're doing, things could turn ugly real quick."
"Lieutenant Lylos and HK Sigma 3 will remain behind to cover you."
Beric looked at her.
"Are you sure about this, my lord?" he asked.
"The ship needs to be kept safe," she reminded him.
"We will be fine."
HK made that clearing his throat sound.
"Query: Master? How can you even think about going into wanton slaughter and not want to include me? Have I failed you in some way?"
"Not at all, my friend," she replied, "when they realize what is going on, our enemies will try to destroy our ship, they will be rushing headlong into this hangar, thinking to overwhelm this position with sheer numbers.
Avaryss smiled.
"All the Meatbags you want to kill will be coming to you. You will not need to follow me, they will practically be throwing themselves on your weapons, and while you are destroying them, you are serving my will, protecting my ship and slaying my enemies. That is your function, yes?"
HK fell silent, digesting what he had heard.
"Statement: I find your logic acceptable, master. I will slay any who approach without your leave. The Meatbag soldier and the Meatbag fool pilot will be kept safe.
Both Beric and Rink looked at the droid.
"Meatbag soldier?"
Fool pilot? Heeeey!"
Avaryss smiled.
"Do not try and kill each other while I'm gone," she ordered.
"I should be staying too, master." Quenya offered.
Avaryss looked at the Devish.
"Nothing against Lieutenant Lylos or your droid, but you will be needing a Force user if Terrog attacks this ship. The traitor may be sending his own Sith. Rink and Lylos could be overwhelmed. My new powers may be proving most useful, if that happens."
"And what new powers might those be," she asked.
Quenya smiled.
"I will be showing you, when Lord Terrog's welcoming party arrives."
There came a beep from up front, towards the cockpit.
It was the ship's proximity alarm, people were approaching.
Terrog's welcoming committee had arrived.
Avaryss straightened her hooded cloak, she checked her combat suit over one last time before they begun."
"Rink…get to work on the ship," she ordered.
"The rest of you, follow me," she led them down the corridor towards the boarding ramp.
This is it, she thought.
And here we go.
She walked beside Beric; she could feel her brother's concern, his worry for her safety.
It was sweet, but unnecessary.
They needed to do, what they needed to do.
"If I should not return," she murmured, "You know what to do."
He nodded grimly.
She had prepared a message for him after her battle with Sy Dar Bynn's master. Her near death during that fight had caused her to reevaluate some things, make…preparations should something go amiss.
Beric had seen the message, he might not have liked it, but he understood why she had composed it.
"I know," he agreed," but that does not mean that I don't want you to come back. I would miss you sis if you were gone."
He gave her a sad smile.
"It is the destiny of soldiers to lose those they care about."
"I suppose it is," she agreed, "Just not yet."
He nodded his expression one of both worry and brotherly love.
"Yeah, not yet."
IOI
As the boarding ramp lowered, they were all assaulted by the smell of the alien station, a stench that was a mix of both medicine and decay.
Avaryss wrinkled her nose. She had expected for this place to smell like a medical bay, the antiseptic smell that seemed to get everywhere, even when you had only stopped for a few moments.
This station…did not smell like that.
It was akin to what she had gotten used to on the battlefield. Decay mixed with whatever supplies the med droids used to try and aid the wounded. The hangar itself was made of a strange dark-copper-colored metal, with white glowing light panels built into the floor.
Along each wall stood four bronze colored alien statues, kneeling creatures with long conic shaped heads and eye stalks. All were clad in armor, and all wielded what looked to her like some form of light pike.
The Rakata, she presumed.
There had been a time, many millennia ago, that the Rakata and their so called Infinite Empire had been the growing power in the universe. They had been the Sith of their time, one of the first truly space faring races, enforcing their will through the might of their technology and the dark side of the Force. To her knowledge, only the Sith people had managed to resist them, only their pure blood ancestors had stopped the tide of the invaders. It would be many centuries later that the Dark Jedi exiles would make sense of what the Rakata had left behind, and started forming an empire of their own.
Yes, the Rakata had been a power, but then…for some reason, the Rakata lost everything. Their connection to the Force was severed, and their empire fell.
History was not really sure why, and few records remained of that bygone era. Occasionally, Rakata technology or monuments were discovered on this world or that, but since the time of the Star Forge, she had heard nothing about any significant find with military applications had been discovered.
Until now.
She looked around, taking in her surroundings. If this was a medical station like their agents thought, she was surprised to find warrior statues. Wouldn't the Rakata have chosen something less…authoritarian to decorate such a place? The Sith certainly did not pay tribute to their conquests at their medical stations.
What would be the point?
The hatch at the end of the landing bay opened, a company of twelve soldiers entered, led by a woman in black and red armor.
Avaryss could sense the Force in this person, the connection seemed…normal. Which meant this was one of Terrog's recent converts, not one his apprentices. The soldiers seemed normal as well; they did not feel like the monstrous…things that had attacked the Feer estate.
Avaryss smiled and went down the ramp to meet these new arrivals, her crew followed after her. She could sense their feelings, the jittery excitement that all felt before going into battle.
And still…nothing from the Jedi, she thought with a shake of her head. Perhaps Marr's plan was not going as well as he had hoped.
Perhaps the Jedi were already dead.
They aren't, the dark voice within her whispered, you would know if Fenn was dead, you would feel it in your bones.
He was alive, and probably his friends too. They were likely up to something, perhaps Master Jas had a plan, but what was it?
What could it possibly be?
The leader of the welcoming party waved to her as she approached. For this meeting Avaryss had left her battle helmet and mask behind, though she did wear the bracer that had come with it. She did not need the helmet to use it as a weapon if she needed to.
Part of her had hoped that either Fehl or Terrog would have been among the ones to greet her that would have made things easier.
They are smarter than I thought. Terrog took the bait, but only so far.
Lucky him.
"Well, isn't this a surprise," the group's leader said when she finally got a look at Avaryss and her crew. She was a young woman, about Avaryss' age, perhaps little older, blonde haired and blue eyes, but with a nasty scar running down the left side of her face.
She grinned at Avaryss, an ugly thing what with the scar and all.
"Hello there, Farm girl," the other Sith said, "It has been some time."
Hearing her old nickname gave Avaryss pause.
Farm Girl?
"Do I know you?" she asked the other Sith.
The girl smiled.
The names Olanna, we met back on Fury 9. I was one of the squad leaders that were serving there when you arrived."
Avaryss thought back, using the Force to enhance her memory.
She smiled.
"Ah yes," she purred, "I remember now. You were one Bryden's friends. You led the training group that always got picked to train with us."
Olanna nodded.
"Bryden could be an ass, but he knew what he wanted and how to get it out of other people."
She gave Avaryss a sly look.
"So…did you ever let him up your loading ramp? He seemed pretty obsessed with you back then."
Avaryss' fingers clenched into a fist.
Yes, she remembered Bryden, and his obsession. He had expected her to surrender to him because he was, at the time, stronger than her. When she resisted, when she did not give into his charms he had tried to kill her, motivated as much by his own petty desires as he was by Darth Feer's promises to rise him up if he succeeded.
"Bryden and I were never close," she replied, "I was focused on my studies at the time, and had no time for such…distractions."
"I'm surprised to hear that. He was never the one to take no for an answer."
"No he wasn't," Avaryss agreed.
Which is why I killed him.
Of course, she did not tell her old classmate that.
She wanted to keep things cordial, at least for a few moments more.
"Looks like we're on the same side now," the other girl said, "Master Terrog told us to bring you to the lab straight away; he will meet with you as soon as he had dealt with the enemy ships outside. The traitors don't stand a chance against the Sith fleet."
Those enemy ships are the Sith fleet, Avaryss thought.
The only traitors in here are you and your allies.
Olanna was just starting to natter on about her life after Fury 9 when the alarms first went off. Avaryss tilted her head and reached out with the Force. The aura of the dark side was powerful here, but it did not entirely eclipse the light that had found its way onto the station.
The deck plate rumbled underneath them.
"What was that," Olanna said looking around, she turned to two of her soldiers.
"Castin, Trell go find out what is going on, what is up with that alert?"
"Oh that won't be necessary," Avaryss informed them with a wicked smile.
Olanna gave her a confused look.
"Huh?"
"It has been a pleasure seeing you again, Olanna," the young Sith said warmly, "I would say that we should do this again, but…"
What are you talking about Farm Girl?"
Avaryss smirked.
"Good bye Olanna, and when you Bryden, tell him hello."
What are you…?"
The traitor did not get the chance to finish her sentence.
Avaryss activated her lightsaber the blade up her sleeve, hidden until that moment. The weapon had been less than a centimeter from Olanna's rib cage when the blade emerged…emerged and punched through her chest, piercing her heart.
Olanna gasped and looked down; seeing the crimson blade buried up to the hilt in her chest.
"Wha…?"
She fell without another word, not really understanding what had happened and what was going on.
Avaryss and her allies drew their weapons and struck at Terrog's soldiers. The escort troops had not been prepared for battle, much less to fight four Sith, an HK droid a changeling and an Imperial commando, they all died swiftly, not a single one reached the alarm. Beric and HK targeted the security cameras, both in the hangar and outside of it.
She could not say that they still had the element of surprise, but for the moment they had secured the hangar.
The Purging of Terrog's station had begun.
No survivors.
No mercy.
She looked down at the slain former squad leader. Olanna had never done her any harm personally, she had been shutta, just like her fellow squad leaders, but she had been nothing special.
Now that she was dead, Avaryss felt…a little more free.
Another person from her past was gone, another person that had known her before Avaryss.
Destroy the past, so that you can embrace the future.
Master Adaz had taught her that.
It was one many of his lessons that remained relevant today.
"We need to secure this hangar," she said as she deactivated her lightsaber. "Beric deploy some of the sentry guns from our stores, we can use them to funnel any would be attackers into a kill box. Holli…find me a computer terminal; see if you can download the schematics for this place, if we are going to find the controls to those probes outside; we will need a map."
"And I will be providing us with reinforcements, my master," Quenya said smiling, "With your leave of course."
Avaryss blinked.
Reinforcements?
She was not sure what the Devish meant exactly.
"Proceed, apprentice."
Quenya nodded.
"As you will, master."
The Devish reached out with both her hands and Force. She closed her eyes and began to murmur, Avaryss did not recognize the language, probably something from Devaron…maybe.
"All my life," Quenya whispered, "My whole life I've been a slave to the dead. Ancestors whose accomplishments haunted my very steps, ghosts of the past being more great than I could have ever hope to be. My Masters were being no better, men who could only say how weak I was, how I was being a disgrace to the name of Sai Malloc."
The dark side rose up and began to sing, the melody was a beautiful as it was terrible.
Quenya opened her eyes they blazed with green light.
"Death is not being the end, it is the being the beginning, my beginning! I will never be a slave to the dead again. The dead are being mine now, they are being my slaves! They will be the ones serving for my glory, my power!"
She raised her hands overhead.
"ARISE MY PUPPETS! YOY ARE BEING CALLED TO SERVE!"
"ARISE!"
As one the bodies of the slain escort troopers began to twitch. Olanna's body spasmed as she sat up, and looked around with dead eyes.
Avaryss took a step back as the men and women they had slain stood up, or at least tried to, one or two had lost a leg during the fight.
Quenya smirked as the bodies she had raised stumbled over and picked up their weapons, picked them up and began taking defensive positions around the ship.
Quenya nodded, pleased with herself. She looked exhausted, but...
Avaryss shook her head.
She had no idea that Quenya had known how to do that?
"Where did you learn that?" she asked.
"I was having some time to read while you were in quarantine," she confessed, "There were being some very interesting Sith texts in the Citadel on Dromund Kaas, and the librarian had such a weak mind.
Te Devish smirked.
"It is amazing that every Sith on the planet is not helping themselves to those archives."
Avaryss nodded, this was…unexpected, but useful none the less.
Quenya had grown since they had met outside that Jedi safe house.
No one could doubt her allegiance to the Sith now.
"So you are a necro-path," Taya said, "I've heard of your kind, but I've never seen one until now."
Quenya laughed.
"A necro-path? That is not being my name, but it does…does…yes…"
Quenya turned to her giving her a toothy predator's grin.
"Quenya Sai Malloc is being no more. I am being Necris now. I am Necris, apprentice to Lord Avaryss."
She bowed before her master.
"My power and my puppets are being at your service, my lord."
Avaryss nodded.
Necris, she thought.
The dark side had rewarded her with a cunning new servant, one now truly committed to the Sith.
"You will stay here and protect the ship, Necris, as we discussed.
"I will be being done, my lord."
Avaryss turned back to the rest of her followers.
"Holli, we need that map now."
"Finding it now, my lord," the engineer promised. Her data pad blinked as she plugged into one of the station's computer terminals.
The young Sith nodded. Everything was falling into place.
Today, House Terrog would fall, and House Avaryss would rise.
Everything they had faced up to this point had prepared them for this, and when it was done, there would be one constant, one undeniable fact.
Avaryss would rule.
Let all in the Empire recognize that, her time was now.
Avaryss would rule.