Dark Power, Betrayal, and Intrigue
Virulous had been training herself on a daily basis, as her master had instructed, increasing her ability to call on more power at will from the Dark Side of The Force. Her encounters on Tatooine, during her mission of vengeance for Darth Nox, had unlocked her potential for drawing great power from the Dark Side, but Nox noticed that she was sparing with her use of that dark power. He was disappointed.
"For this ritual, you must draw all of the power that you can potentially concentrate, without holding back, and without tiring or relenting," Nox had told her, and then cautioned, "Not only must you increase your endurance in concentrating the power of the Dark Side, but you must improve your ability to guard your mind from such concentrations of Dark Side power."
So, Virulous trained daily, increasing how long she could keep it up, until she was able to saturate herself with the Dark Side of The Force for several hours without feeling that she would go insane. Now she stood before her master, demonstrating her progress. She found herself, deeply gratified with her master's reaction.
Darth Nox smiled and literally applauded her success.
"You are now ready, my apprentice. I will now teach you the ritual of Force Walking."
Without warning, Nox suddenly reached his hands towards her and used The Force to lock her mind from her body. Virulous collapsed to the floor and watched in terror as her master pulled his hands back towards himself, as though he were pulling at something. Virulous' terror was magnified tenfold as she felt, not her life force, but her very soul being drawn from her body.
"Do you understand what I'm doing to you, my apprentice?" Darth Nox asked her, "Do you understand how I am pulling at your existence? Learn it! Understand it! Concentrate and focus at what I'm doing to you! This is the technique you will use to draw the Force Ghost into your being!"
Virulous suddenly understood that while she was utterly at his mercy that he was not going to kill her. He was actually teaching her the technique. Though she was still filled with terror, she willed herself to study just exactly what her master was doing to her and how.
She realized that her technique to draw upon the life force of her foes to heal some of her injuries was very similar to what he was doing to her, except that instead of drawing from the source, her soul, he was pulling at the source itself!
Nox watched the wild terror leave her eyes as they refocused on him. Nox let go of her soul and returned control of his apprentice's body to her. Virulous, most unsteadily, attempted to rise to her feet, falling back onto her buttocks. Her body shook, trembling both with the effort it took just to stand up, she was greatly weakened, and she was filled with the residual fear that continued to course through her being.
Virulous, finally on her feet, was out of breath. Bent over with her hands on her knees, she panted for air. She looked at Nox who stood quietly, watching her reactions and waiting for her questions. Her voice trembled with the high levels of adrenaline coursing through her blood stream.
"I honestly thought you were going to kill me, Master," she confessed to her lord.
"It is why I had to sneak this lesson onto you. You wouldn't have cooperated if I had told you ahead of time what I was going to do to you," her master confessed, and then asked, "but did you grasp the concept? Did you understand?"
"Yes, Dark Lord. I understood what you did."
"Can you do it?" Darth Nox asked his apprentice.
"Yes, Master. I can."
Nox immediately turned to his ship droid.
"2V-R8, send in the researcher."
As the droid went about to carry out its task, Nox told Virulous what was going to happen next.
"You will now perform this technique on the Sith researcher. He is not weak, Lord Virulous, but he is not your equal. When you pull on his soul, do not stop where I did. You must pull his existence into your being, into your very mind, and imprison him there."
"Yes, Master. I understand."
The researcher walked briskly into Nox's office. He noticed that his apprentice stood beside him, and seemed to be winded.
"I wonder, what secrets he's just taught her?" the Sith researcher thought.
When he'd reached the right place, he knelt before his dark lord and introduced himself.
"Dark Lord, you honor me…."
He didn't get to finish his greetings, collapsing to the floor with terror plastered on his face. The Sith lord tried to fight off Virulous' attack, but he was caught unaware. Virulous did as her master commanded. Using all of the power of the Dark Side of The Force that she could command at will, she pulled on his soul.
She hadn't thought that it would be as difficult as it was. She found herself in a monumental battle to pull the Sith lord's soul out. He was resisting, using The Force to free himself from her grasp. Then she felt it. He had learned her technique, and began to pull on her soul.
Virulous began to worry that she would not be able to pull it off. She thought of Nox's warning.
"He's not weak, but he is not your equal."
But her attempt to demonstrate what she'd learned had quickly become a battle of life and death. She began to doubt herself.
"Did Darth Nox lie to me?" she asked herself, starting to panic, "Am I really not prepared for this technique? Did he set me up to fail?!"
Virulous stopped her line of thought, vehemently scolding herself.
"Stop whining about being betrayed! The life of a Sith lord is always a battle of life and death! I will be the victor because I am better!"
With that, Virulous mustered all of her will power and poured herself into a bath of hatred. She filled herself with a desire to make the researcher suffer. She found herself wanting to consume his soul, simply to experience it. Suddenly, Virulous became the predator, killing its prey.
She ripped the Sith lord's soul out as though ripping his heart out of his chest with her bloodied bare hand. The Sith lord's soul evaporated. Virulous found herself grasping at thin air, as it were. The Sith researcher lay dead on Nox's rug, and Virulous found herself, panting heavily for breath, after her monumental effort.
She felt absolutely exhausted. Her eyes seemed to open, when they were already open, and seemed to see anew, when nothing in her view had been obscured. Instead of seeing her opponent's soul, she merely saw his lifeless body sprawled on the rug. Struggling to catch her breath, she turned to look at her master, and found him grinning broadly, and nodding his great satisfaction.
"You have done very well, my apprentice," he told her, declaring, "You have made me proud. Now, listen carefully, to consume the Force Ghost's power and absorb his knowledge, simply imagine that you are eating him whole. Swallow him down in one bite. Do you grasp the concept I'm describing, my apprentice?"
"As though I were... absorbing his life force... to heal my injuries..., Dark Lord," she said between breaths for air.
"Yes! My apprentice understands! Now, I will teach you the final lesson. That is, how to draw a Force Ghost out from hiding."
"Dark Lord," Virulous politely interrupted her master, "May I rest for a short while? I will prepare my datapad to take notes, as you present your lecture, but I am spent," she said, still panting for air.
Nox sighed before replying, "Very well, Darth Virulous. Please return ready to receive my final lesson on this subject. I will permit you to take notes as you see fit. You may go," Nox said, dismissing his prized student, "Return in an hour."
"Thank you, Master," Virulous said, bowing her head.
Virulous then turned to leave Nox's office, shambling her way to his office door. She was surprised at herself.
"Stars above! I really am woefully spent!"
An hour later, she had returned as instructed. Her victim's body had already been removed from Nox's office. She presumed it had been gifted to the Dashade.
"I shall feast well!" she imagined Khem Val saying upon receiving the corpse.
"Dark Lord, I return as instructed," Virulous intoned, "but I have a question before we begin with the final lesson."
"Yes, Lord Virulous. What is your question?"
"Master, I had his soul firmly in my grasp. When I attempted to shove it into my mind, his soul evaporated into nothingness. Did I fail in some way?"
"A Force Ghost is the existence of a Sith lord or a Jedi who had learned how to maintain their existence by not become One with The Force," Nox explained, adding, "There is a very specific set of requirements that must be met, and split second timing is crucial, to successfully anchor your existence so that it does not dissipate into The Force. When he died, he was unable to do this, so his soul became One with The Force."
"Oh. I see," his apprentice said aloud, while thinking to herself, "Of course! I should have realized that myself!"
Nox spoke darkly, adding an observation that had not occurred to her either.
"Lord Virulous. You have seen many deaths. You have seen your foes fall at your feet many times. However, this is the first time you have ever seen a soul dissolve into The Force."
The impact of those words rocked her core, and a new realization occurred to her.
"The dark lord knows how to become a Force Ghost!"
"Force Ghosts don't seem to do very much, Dark Lord. What value is there to continue one's existence, if you can't do anything with it?"
"Ask Vitiate what value there is to being a Force Ghost," Nox replied.
"Yes, Dark Lord. Now I see the value," she told her master, and then asked herself, "Will Darth Nox become the next Emperor Vitiate?"
"Then let me begin the final lesson," Nox announced.
She took careful notes of what Nox said, realizing that it was the easiest part of the lessons he had given her to date.
"Basically, I just have to project my presence, through The Force, to annoy the Force Ghost. The Force Ghost will materialize to stop me from making a nuisance of myself," she thought.
Virulous smiled at how silly her simplification of Nox's final lesson was.
She momentarily forgot herself, and told Nox what she thought.
"So, basically, I'll be the obnoxiously loud, new neighbor, and aggravate the Force Ghost into appearing to tell me to keep the noise down…"
Virulous realized that she'd taken too many liberties and expected her master to frown disapprovingly. Instead, she found herself amazed at what her master did.
He laughed, with real mirth.
"That's it, exactly!" her master said, adding, "Good. You are finally ready."
Virulous was deeply pleased and felt that her master had finally found worth in her. She caught herself, again, in another contradiction.
"If he wanted me dead, he's certainly had his chance. He's had me, twice, in a compromised position," she told herself, "but I am not dead. I have become stronger, and have learned a new technique, a technique that actually exists."
Virulous looked at her master, her face betraying nothing of what she thought.
"Then what have I been doing all of this time?! I have worried myself over nothing! I am a fool!"
She forced herself to pay attention. Her master was speaking.
"Now, Darth Virulous, prepare yourself," Nox instructed his apprentice, "We shall depart to Korriban. The Dark Council is assembling. Tell Khem Val to prepare also. We shall depart in six hours, the ship will be waiting for us in Kaas City Spaceport."
Kaas City Spaceport was the private spaceport used by members of the Dark Council, their apprentices, the ministers of the Imperial government, and by the highest ranking Moffs of the Imperial Army and Navy.
"Yes, Dark Lord. As you say," she said.
For the first time in months, Virulous felt that she would not be betrayed, that her master truly valued her. He had made her much stronger, and taught her a secret that made him strong.
After bowing her head to her master, Virulous turned and walked briskly to his office door.
Nox sat at his desk in the state room aboard his Imperial Navy starship, a Fury-class Interceptor, piloted by Andronikos Revel. He was rereading, for the fifth time, Keeper's report about the possibility that Virulous was about to betray him. Nox shook his head with a heavy heart. He found himself, fallen in love with her, and she was probably plotting to kill him.
"Of course I would miss the signs of betrayal, since I'm blinded by my feelings," he thought.
Nox blamed himself for not seeing it coming, for not seeing the signs. She remained distant to him, despite how he's warmed to her.
"Perhaps I should have been more direct, and simply told her how I felt," he reasoned, wondering if it would have made a difference.
The evidence was all circumstantial. She could have been plotting against some other Sith lord whom she thought was in her way, but Keeper could not determine who that Sith lord might be, and neither could Nox.
"Other than Darth Eviscerous, a viable candidate to succeed me for my seat on the Dark Council, I can't imagine who else she might be considering a threat," Nox thought.
However, the dark lord was dissatisfied with that possibility.
"But I've chosen Virulous to be my apprentice. She is my natural choice as inheritor of my seat. Why would she feel threatened by Eviscerous?"
Reading Keeper's report, he could see why his spy chief felt the same way, not finding anyone whom she could see as a threat. Keeper had cautioned the dark lord to be aware of possible danger to himself.
The security consultant whom Watcher Two interrogated, revealed no information about who it was that Virulous wanted targeted. Protus Security Consultants Group's records showed that they forwarded her request for additional services to an outside firm, but not which firm, and the additional services was never described. There was no record of who in the consulting group had handled forwarding the request.
The two droids Virulous contacted were stolen, and their central processing electronic brains were utterly destroyed when the two machines self-destructed. As for the theft of the two droids, both were newly manufactured and were diverted from their intended recipients, explaining why the war droid was unarmed. The Army hadn't received and armed its property.
The theft was carried out via an artful slicing operation, which changed the addresses of delivery, to the Happy Brewer's Pub and to the loading docks of that building. In other words, the slicing operation had fooled the manufacturers to deliver their stolen finished products, themselves. Immediately, thereafter, Virulous had been contacted via the Taxi kiosk droid.
When Watcher Two sliced into the taxi company's mainframe, she discovered that the taxi droid had been sliced and programmed to deliver its message to Virulous. The slicer was very competent, leaving no trace. Investigating the thefts and the slicing operations were dead ends for Watcher Two.
Watcher Two, however, did find another security video angle, from behind the two droids. Just over the stolen military droid's shoulder, from a high angle, the zoomed in video showed only the lower half of her face inside of the hood of her civilian jacket. Using a lip-reading software, Watcher Two was able to recover some of what Darth Virulous said to the droid.
Nox listed to the electronic voice speaking in sync with Virulous' lips, whenever the hood of her jacket didn't obscure her mouth.
"I've changed my mind. I no longer want their services. I've decided that … I did it myself. … appear weak by my rivals if I relied on such services."
There was obviously a pause, while she listened to the droid's response, before she asked the droid a question.
"Do the assassins actually work for Protus Security Consultants Group?"
Nox didn't know the levels of complexity that went into Keeper's success for obtaining the information and the video the way he had. However, he understood that Keeper was beyond competent at his job, and so was Khem Val who, according to Keeper, was the one who ordered him to dig into Virulous' potential treachery against him.
"That Keeper is damned good at his job, and how many times has Khem Val saved me from assassins' plots?" Nox wondered, and then decided, "I must reward them both, but especially Khem for a job well done."
Nox wondered if a law against commercial assassination services should be enacted.
"No. It would set some kind of precedent that would make it harder for me to destroy those who betray me…," he concluded.
In the end Nox decided to test her.
"Let me give her every opportunity to kill me, then. Let's see if she takes the chance."
Darth Nox left his two attendants out in the antichamber to wait for him as he strode into the Dark Council chamber. Nox had reached his dais and began ascending the steps to his seat, when he heard the chamber doors hiss open and then shut again. Nox looked to the far end of the chamber and saw that Darth Marr was the one who had entered, stomping his way to his dais in his heavy armor.
Nox knew that Marr had to be hot under the collar about what Pyron did. Nox was certain that Pyron had taken, not only his own fleets, but the fleets of one or two other moffs from Marr's hidden position high above the galaxy, and that Marr would have something to say about it.
"He must have already been well on his way back to the galaxy when he called me to complain," Nox speculated, "There's no other way he could have made it to this meeting in person."
Then remembering that Darth Arkous had a stake in this, too, carefully turned his eyes to look across the chamber floor to Darth Vengean's old seat. There Nox saw Arkous, looking straight at him. Nox realized that this special session of the Dark Council meeting was going to include an inquiry into Moff Pyron's actions.
As Darth Marr began to speak, Darth Nox turned his face forward, and would turn his head and eyes very slightly to look at whomever spoke. It was the custom of council members to not turn their heads too much. The seats, elevated on daises, were arranged in two slightly curved rows of six seats, like parenthesis, with a large open floor in between the rows. The curved arrangements permitted the dark lords to see each other without turning their heads too much.
"Without objection," Marr said, from behind his cybernetic mask in his baritone voice, "let us begin the special session of the Dark Council meeting."
"I wish to be recognized," Darth Arkous said.
"Why is he still alive?!" Nox caustically asked himself.
Nox felt vexed at Keeper's slow pace with removing Arkous from his path.
"Without objection," Marr said.
However, before he could give the floor to Arkous, Darth Vowrawn interjected.
"I object. This discussion is going to take up most of our time. Let's get the small stuff out of the way, first."
"I hardly consider massive budget cuts across all of our spheres of influence, small stuff," Darth Aruk said, a bit annoyed that Darth Vowrawn was attempting to change the order of the itinerary.
"Well, considering that we'll be discussing something that might result in the censure of one of our members," Vowrawn countered, "then in comparison, those massive cuts appear to be small stuff."
Nox knew that Marr and Arkous would make that attempt, and that if they succeeded with convincing the others to vote to censure him, it would make his claim to the throne, even harder. It would also make it possible for one of his enemies to propose his removal from the Dark Council.
Marr spoke, "Shall we take up the matter being brought forth by Darth Arkous, or shall we take care of the other items on the agenda? Those in favor of Darth Arkous getting the floor now, raise your hand and say aye."
Nox spoke up, "Based on what Darth Vowrawn has just said, you've consulted others about a matter that Darth Arkous, our newest member wants to address, but you haven't consulted me! What is the meaning of this, Marr?"
Marr ignored Nox, looking around to count the votes.
"Those against, raise your hand and say nay," Marr said, again looking around to count the votes.
One vote against and one abstention," Marr announced. The ayes have it."
The no vote was Vowrawn's, and Nox had abstained.
"Darth Arkous has the floor," Marr declared.
"Moff Valion Pyron has taken it upon himself to move several fleets. The question is did he act alone, or is he under orders from his benefactor?" The question was more an accusation, than a line of inquiry.
On impulse, Nox decided to be surprised.
"What?!"
Then turning his head to fully face Marr, he asked, "Marr, what have you done?!"
Darth Marr was clearly not expecting this. He turned to look at Nox.
"What are you trying to imply, Darth Nox?" Marr ground out.
"I told Pyron, that if in his expert opinion he believed you were mismanaging the fleet, or that it appeared that you were going to make a move for the throne, to return to me."
"What?!" Marr blurted, bolting to his feet.
None of the others on the Dark Council expected this. Suspicions and mistrust overcame them all. If there was a united effort to denounce Nox, he just threw a wrench into their efforts.
"Marr, are you and Arkous plotting to have me removed from the council? With me out of your way, and with control of the entire military, you can take the throne for yourself!" We gave you power to lead the Empire's war effort, to defeat the Galactic Republic, but you haven't returned the fleet to the war. Why not?! They should have been fueled by now. What are you plotting?!"
Darth Ravage shook his head in disbelief. His fury was building until he could contain himself no longer.
"I can't believe I got sucked into your scheme, Darth Marr. YOU LIED TO US!"
Darth Mortis shifted his gaze from Nox, to Marr, his face set like stone, but his fury shown through his eyes.
"Moff Valion Pyron is a highly decorated, highly respected leader in the military hierarchy. It's impossible to think that he would do such a reckless thing unless the conditions for my instructions have been met. So, either you are terribly mismanaging the fleet, or you are making a move for the Imperial throne in violation of the trust we gave you in our vote to grant you leadership for the duration of the war!"
"DO NOT BE FOOLED, DARTH RAVAGE!" Marr bellowed, then more calmly, "Darth Nox's vassal has made no complaint to me of my strategy. He is not a man who fears to say what is needed to any of us."
"He is also a man who will not endlessly repeat himself, if his expert advice is ignored," Nox retorted.
While the Council was reeling from Nox's wildcard maneuver, he threw in another wrench.
"I move that Darth Marr immediately transfer all offensive military forces to Darth Arkous, without delay. We clearly cannot trust Marr with our entire military under his sole command!"
"Nox! You vile lying wretch!" Marr shouted, "You are going to divide the council against itself! Exactly what the Galactic Republic wants!"
"When Moff Pyron gets within communications range, I'll ask him to report what precipitated his move. Then we'll know who's lying, Marr!"
Actually, Nox had made a huge gamble with that statement. What if Valion Pyron told the truth, that it was Nox's idea?
Darth Ravage seconded Darth Nox's motion to divest Darth Marr of all forces which fell under the responsibility of the Sphere of Military Offense. Then added a motion of his own.
"I move that effective immediately, all responsibility for military offensive operations be transferred to Darth Arkous. Rather than following the original plan to ease him into command."
Nox voted aye along with most of the Dark Council. Next, Darth Marr was voted out as leader of the Dark Council, and instead the Council voted to have co-equal leadership among all members. Darth Marr shook his head in utter amazement at how easily Nox turned the council against him with such a simple accusation and with no basis for it.
Darth Nox did everything he could not to smile or smirk.
The meeting devolved into chaotic finger pointing and accusations of double dealing.
In all of the chaos around him, Nox almost did not notice that only two dark lords kept silent. Darth Rictus and Darth Zash. They saw through Nox's masterful manipulation that reversed the table on Darth Marr's plan to discredit Nox before the Dark Council. Had Marr succeeded, Nox could say goodbye to his ambitions for the Imperial throne.
Just when he noticed Rictus' and Zash's silence, Zash spoke up.
"Should we continue to allow Darth Marr to lead our sessions in the Dark Council?"
The council chamber fell silent as the gravity of the question weighed on their minds. Nox thought carefully about how to take Marr down without seeming malicious about it.
"Well, keeping order in the Dark Council while we discuss the matters of the Empire doesn't mean he's in charge. It just means that he's done a good job keeping our discussions on track. Unless we are ready to vote Marr out of the Dark Council, I don't see a need to appoint someone else to keep order in the Council."
Darth Mortis was alarmed by Nox's words.
"What cause is there for voting Darth Marr out of the Dark Council, Darth Nox?"
"I suppose it depends on what Moff Pyron reports was the cause for his defection from Darth Marr's military leadership," Nox answered soberly, turning his gaze towards Marr, looking at him as though he had the marks of some vile disease.
Darth Rictus spoke up at last.
"I move that we end this line of inquiry. It has caused confusion and nothing has been accomplished except to sew distrust among our members. Let us move on to the next items on our agenda."
Nox spoke, deliberately taking Darth Marr's role of managing the meeting.
"All those in favor of moving on to the next order of businesses, say aye."
This act did not go unnoticed by Marr, nor the other dark lords.
Nox counted the votes, "Eight have voted aye, with one abstention. The motion is carried forward."
Darth Marr was the one who declined to vote, in this case. He had been utterly out maneuvered, and utterly humiliated by Darth Nox.
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