From the moment she realized the Emperor was gone, Hella expected to hear from the Hand. They did not disappoint her. She hadn't even arrived in the Dromund System, anticipating the emergency meeting of the Dark Council, hadn't even received a notification that the Council was going to meet—usually she got such notices as a courtesy—before the Hand sent her a message.
"Wrath."
"I've been expecting your call," she observed to Servant One. "You should know, I'm on my way to Dromund Kaas now. The Council will want to hold an emergency session, and I felt it prudent to attend in person."
"Good."
"What happened?"
Servant One considered her, more as if deciding how much she needed to know to fulfil her purpose. "The Republic assaulted Dromund Kaas. One of their Jedi champions—accompanied by the traitor, your predecessor—attempted the impossible feat of destroying the Emperor."
It didn't sound like a Jedi thing to do, trying to kill the Emperor. She knew, ex post facto, that they'd tried to capture him once before, nearly a year ago, and that the attempt failed. The Voice went missing not long after that. "Did this Jedi survive?"
"We believe so."
Interesting.
"This Jedi succeeded in defeating the Voice. Something unexpected occurred: the Emperor's consciousness was wrenched from his Voice."
"So where is he now? Dead? Dying? Licking his wounds?" That was one thing she disliked about the Hand: they did need to be periodically prompted to give details or context.
"The Emperor slumbers, gathering his strength," Servant One answered, as if this was not something she should concern herself with. "The Imperial Guard has the matter in hand; in his absence, they will defer to you. As the Emperor's Wrath, you will soon be called upon to rain fury on the Emperor's attackers."
She had wondered what the Imperial Guard would do. They were always such a wild card; fanatics to the Emperor, incorruptible in their loyalty, impossible to subvert or suborn. What they would do, how they would function, if the Emperor was somehow out of reach… that was a question for which she never found a satisfactory answer.
"Of course. Traitors cannot be tolerated."
"You will speak of this to no one. The Hand will contact you with further orders. In the meantime, assuage the Dark Council. Keep them together and continue your service to the Emperor. In the absence of the Voice, you are his truest representative."
"I shall honor his faith in me," she responded demurely, stomach quivering at the sudden exaltation from Emperor's enforcer to his representative. It was the kind of power that most Sith would trip over themselves and trade their sword-arm for. To Hella, it seemed a poisoned sweetcake left out to tempt the unwary.
"No less than we expected. That is all." Servant One nodded to her, then severed the connection.
Out of the Servant's sight, Hella began to pace around the holoterminal, slowly, thoughtfully. The idea that someone—a Jedi, accompanied by the former Wrath, no less—succeeded in forcing the Emperor into a somnolent state was… interesting. Not as troubling as she might let others think she found it.
One conversation with his Voice was enough to convince her that the galaxy would be better off without Emperor Vitiate in it. The man—and she used the term loosely—was an empty, rotted-out hole in the Force, insanely powerful, unspeakable dangerous… and evil in a way that made the most depraved Sith look like cute, fluffy altruists.
If anyone had the Empire's interests at heart, it wasn't the Emperor. In fact, she might go so far as to suspect he didn't have anyone's interests at heart, not even his own. He was a void, a hole, an emptiness sucking at its surroundings to fill itself, ever gorging, never sated.
She still wasn't sure how to go about setting herself against the greatest threat to the Empire in existence. For the moment, the best she could do was to keep the Dark Council from trying to sprint off in all directions now that the one thing that held them in check was unable to do so.
She could count on Marr and Vowrawn to stand in the same general corner she did. Especially Marr because of his carefully hidden ideals; Vowrawn only because he seemed to have decided she was not someone he wanted to cross. So much the better, in this case.
Nox would be on her side because it benefitted the Twi'lek to know she had a powerful backer. Nox was a weak leader, disinterested in helping run the Empire. As an academic however, she was quite gifted.
Three out of twelve that could be counted on to move the Empire in productive directions.
Decimus and Arho, Baras' replacement, would go where the war was. Both had to rely on Marr and Vowrawn to some degree, the former because defense of the Empire was his sphere of influence, the latter because one couldn't win a war without logistics competently handled.
That meant maybe five out of twelve she could hold together. The others, though… their Spheres required less cooperation.
And Ravage had never forgiven Nox for killing Thanaton.
Zhorrid's replacement, Mora, was a wild card. Without a true Imperial Intelligence, or Sith Intelligence, to manage, her position was weaker than her predecessor's. She might throw in with a power bloc if she thought it would improve her position.
Acina was another that, while she couldn't be counted on, might be swayed. Acina liked the idea of women in charge, since the Dark Council was historically a male dominated body.
Still, Hella thought sourly, being of the same gender was a pitiful place to begin an alliance. She wouldn't trust such an alliance.
Marr was a strong voice on the Council, certainly the most rational.
She supposed she could always begin arranging for accidents here or there in order to cull the most off-their-leash members of the Dark Council.