The Will of Ssassahnnah
While in orbit over Yavin 4, the Imperial Guard at the academy had been warned of the impending operation. The Imperial Guard requested and got two days to clear their trainees from the area of the operation.
Over those two days, Virulous watched and listened to the officers make adjustments to their plan. One thing that had changed was the size of the village. The Imperial Army's information on Yavin 4 proved to be woefully out of date.
Virulous was greatly relieved that she remembered Nox's advice to force the army to get updated intelligence from the Imperial Guard Academy on the Massassi. It proved to be a very important factor in the army's impetus to adjust their battle plans on the surface.
The small village they expected to find was now a large town, and the shrine was at the center of that town. That alone added complications to the mission, which was to fight their way to the shrine and create a perimeter to keep the locals out while Darth Virulous performed her mission at the shrine.
The colonel commanding the regimental ground forces had been studying the fighting tactics of the Massassi species. They were a big, burly, and powerfully built primitive people who found glory in war and death. They would not shy away from a fight, even if being slaughtered.
The individual Massassi warrior would tend to fight until killing and getting a trophy from his foe, usually the opponent's head and weapon. Then he or she would return to his or her hut to display their trophy.
Battles between Massassi tribes never lasted more than an hour. Long wars, fought over days, weeks, months were very rare. The last time the Massassi ever fought a very long and protracted war was under the leadership of Exar Kun around five hundred years ago. The war only ended, because Exar Kun was himself killed, but by that time the Massassi were nearly made extinct by the Mandalorians.
The Imperial Guards, over the centuries, had maintained an uneasy truce with the Massassi. The raid, would not be seen as a betrayal, because the Massassi were not sophisticated enough to understand that the Imperial Guard in their bright red shiny armor were actually on the same side as the Imperial Army, in their black heavy armor. As long as the Imperial Guard were out of the area, the Massassi would not think they had been betrayed.
"My lord, sensor readings indicate a population of around two million."
"What about naval orbital bombardment?" Virulous asked.
"We'd win the fight, but your shrine would be destroyed, my lord."
"Then we'll have to kill every last one of them in a ground battle?" Virulous asked the colonel.
"Not necessarily, my lord," the colonel replied, "If we kill the ten chiefs, their followers will withdraw. We just need to identify and locate those ten chieftains and take them out."
Thinking about what Nox had said about their god, Virulous realized that their god would likely command the Massassi to fight to the end, and the Massassi would likely obey without hesitation.
"At the shrine is their god," Virulous, told the colonel, explaining, "It is a long dead Sith lord who has managed to maintain his existence, and has ruled over the Massassi. They will fight to the last child if he commands it. I think he'll command it, Colonel Hobbis Kahn."
Colonel Kahn wasn't a superstitious man, but he'd seen plenty of Sith do strange and supernatural feats in battle. Who was he to say that there wasn't a Sith ghost ruling over the savages in that town. Then a thought occurred to him.
"Could this be why the village had grown as much as it had, a benevolent Sith ghost ruler?"
"Darth Virulous, my lord," Colonel Kahn said soberly, "then I fear the enemy will not yield until their god is dead."
He looked down, straight into the petite woman's eyes, and waited for her orders.
"Take me to the battle, Colonel," Virulous said, with steel in her voice.
"As you command, my lord."
He couldn't believe it. He was expecting her to order him to order his men to fight harder. Instead, she ordered him to take her into the fray.
The seal, which kept the atmosphere from escaping into space, was broken as the ramp came down, allowing the sounds of battle to boom and reverberate into the cramped troop compartment of the dropship. The whine of the ship's engines was nearly drowned out by the sounds of war.
Virulous wasted no time, moving quickly down the narrow center aisle, barely avoiding the austere narrow metal benches on either side while making her way to the ramp at the back of the small armored troop transport.
She was amazed at how agile the much taller, bulkily armored, and more heavily encumbered soldiers were as they exited the dropship ahead of her. The armored troops carried, not only their weapons, but additional equipment and supplies. She marveled at how gracefully they moved, and with such ease, out of the confined space.
"They must practice this a lot!" she marveled.
As her black medium grade flexible armored boot struck the top of the ramp, Virulous felt as though she had run into a wall of hot humid air saturated with an awful stench. At first she thought it was the stench of death, but it wasn't very long before she realized it was not death, but filth. Underneath her black rigid armored mask and skull protector Virulous crinkled her nose in objection to the stink.
The Imperial Army platoon she accompanied had been assigned as her security detail, and she was impressed by the tight discipline of the individual members. In less than twenty seconds the thirty men and women had exited the dropship and had already taken up defensive positions among the squalid hovels around the square.
Yavin 4's star shone brightly, and hotly. She was glad that the hood of her black robes, at least kept the hot rays of the star from directly heating her skull protector and mask. Her robes also kept the star's direct rays off of her flexible body armor, but the humidity was stifling.
Virulous became thrilled when the high-pitched whine of the engines wound up to a banshee's scream as the dropship shot upwards, buffeting her in its downdraft and covering the sounds of battle. In a very few seconds, the ear-splitting banshee screams of the engines were themselves drowned out by their unforgiving body-reverberating roar, as the dropship vanished into the sky on its way back to space. In less than a couple of hours it would return with another load of heavy infantry.
Virulous looked around the square, as the maddening roar of ten, space-bound dropships faded into the relative quiet of ordinary explosions and blaster rifle reports. On the ground, in between the damaged and destroyed hovels built on all four sides of the open square, which the dropship had landed in, it became apparent to her that the Massassi didn't understand the concept of sanitation and hygiene. The evidences were on the ground, here and there, that they did not go far enough away from their hovels to do their business. It also appeared that their idea of garbage disposal was to simply throw it out the doors of their primitive huts. Rotting trash was everywhere.
"These savages better hope I don't step in any of their messes," she thought, disgusted by their habits, "I'll make them pay for soiling my boots!" she thought, imperiously.
The petite Sith lord giggled at how silly that sounded, but for the noise of the battle all around the square, no one heard her. She turned her head on hearing a suddenly intense volley of blaster rifle fire, and noticed a heavily armored soldier making his way to where she took cover.
The heavy infantry Imperial soldier had gotten a bit of a shiver down his spine as he approached the dark Sith lord. As he approached, she turned her head towards him, and under the hood of her black robes, was not a face, but a black void. He imagined that the Arbiter of Death had noticed his existence and had decided to take him to the Nine Hells with her.
The lieutenant squatted before her and gave his report, speaking loudly enough to be heard over the near constant blaster rifle fire, both near and far. As he did, he got a good look under the hood of her robes and could just make out her matte black armored mask which protected her face.
"My lord, I'm Lieutenant Renly Merrick. My platoon has been tasked with providing your security. It is our mission priority. I'm assigning second squad to provide close-in security. They'll be nearby at all times. I'll task my other two squads to scout ahead for threats and to cover our rear. In a short time, the entire company will move out, with our platoon covering the rear. We'll move to the north to make our way to the objective, which is the shrine. Does my lord have any questions?"
"Yes, Lieutenant," Virulous began, "Exactly how far from the shrine are we, and how long will it take for us to get there?"
"My lord, we are one kilometer from the objective. However, there are an estimated fifteen thousand enemy combatants that have taken up positions around the shrine, and thousands more are attempting to break through our regimental defensive lines to reinforce them. We'll have to fight our way through the shrine defenders to reach our objective. That might take hours. They have numerical supremacy over us, but it is balanced by our technological supremacy over them."
"Did you just say that we're evenly matched?!" Virulous asked, deeply surprised and in disbelief, "Have we suffered many losses?"
"Our losses are minimal, my lord. It's negligible. However, we are burning through charged battery packs for our weapons at a higher than anticipated rate, and our mobile battery charging units are strained to keep up with the demand."
"My lord, whatever advantages the Massassi may have in numbers has not been enough to overcome our superior firepower. However, our significantly smaller numbers has prevented us from taking advantage of our superior firepower. We can't seem to keep up with their ability – and their willingness – to keep reinforcing their lines while dying in waves. However, their numbers will eventually give out. It is fortunate for us that they are mostly armed with throwing spears and bowed weapons…."
Virulous held up her hand for silence and the lieutenant complied, falling silent.
"What are throwing spears and bowed weapons?" she asked.
"My lord, they are incredibly primitive weapons made from tree saplings, with one end tipped with a sharp metal tip. Those are the throwing spears."
The lieutenant looked around, and very quickly found an example for her to consider. Virulous realized that she'd been seeing them all over the place, but had no idea they were the weapon of the enemy. The lieutenant pointed to a few, much smaller darts with long shafts, sticking from roof tops and into the sides of some of the huts.
"And those projectiles are launched from bowed weapons," he told the Sith lord.
Virulous became incredulous.
"We are worried about sticks being thrown at us? Sticks?!"
"My lord, our armor and shielding give us limited protection against blaster bolts. However, only our armor is effective against their weapons. Although, we have had a few wounded with the darts launched from their bowed weapons. When the darts hit squarely, and not at an oblique angle, they penetrate the armor. Their throwing spears have caused greater injuries, because of their size and weight. However, they are easy to see coming and to take cover from.
However, we have the most trouble, when the Massassi close to within melee range. More of our troops have died from being struck with a club. The Massassi are huge and powerfully built, my lord. As a result, they do terrific damage when striking us with blunt weapons. Do not underestimate their strength, my lord."
Virulous could only shake her head in disbelief.
"The most powerful military organization in the galaxy is having trouble with backwards, spear-shaking brutes who don't even have the sense not to poo where they eat, walk, and sleep!"
After two hours of bloody combat, the company had moved forward only three hundred meters. Massassi bodies lay everywhere, male and female, their very old and their very young. Huts and hovels burned throughout the town. The Imperial soldiers were ordered to be conscious of their environment and try not to set so many fires. The Massassi homes were built of roughly cut wood and thatched roofs.
Virulous laughed when she considered the impossibility of obeying such orders, considering the materials the structures were made from. However, she inspected the surrounding hovels, as she followed her escort platoon, and realized that not only were the soldiers successfully avoiding setting too many fires. The need to take aimed shots to conserve battery power reduced errant blaster bolts that would have otherwise started a hut on fire. However, Virulous also observed Imperial troops actually putting out any fires that had been started.
"It would be a great humiliation if I failed my own mission after their sacrifices," she thought. Then chiding herself, "If I have time to waste on such pointless sentiments, then I should be meditating and preparing for my coming trial!"
Several hours had passed, and the company had pushed to within a hundred meters of the shrine. Every effort was made to not shoot at the shrine. As a result, there were gaps in their fields of fire, which the Massassi warriors took advantage of, effectively forcing Imperial forces to halt its advance.
Virulous also learned that part of the reason for the Massassi to so staunchly defend the shrine was that a very early attempt to secure and isolate the shrine had failed, alerting the Massassi that it was the objective, and allowing them to reinforce it the way they had. Virulous waxed philosophical about it.
"To me, it's an attempt to gain power. To the troops, it's a waste of time and resources to satisfy the whims of a Sith Lord. To the Massassi, however, it is a holy war. They fight for their god."
At one point, the outer regimental defensive line was breached, when a platoon had been overwhelmed and had to withdraw after running out of charged battery packs for their blaster rifles. The company had been split, forcing it to give way, widening the gap. Several thousand Massassi fighters got through and successfully reinforced the original shrine defenders before the gap was shut with the murderous combination of fires from artillery droids and heavy war droids.
The reports of blaster rifle fire were everywhere, but she nearly jumped out of her skin when a heavy war droid, on the other side of one of the huts, out of her view, let loose a long string of blaster cannon fire. The reports were so loud, that she initially thought it was enemy artillery exploding nearby.
Then she remembered, "The enemy doesn't have artillery."
Although they did have a few dozen captured Imperial blaster rifles, which they used effectively until their battery packs expired.
After the evisceration of their lines by the heavy war droid, a gap had opened in the enemy's defense, allowing the company of Imperial troops to rush into the gap and force the Massassi to reorient their defenses. With the shrine exposed to the Imperial troops the Massassi became desperate, recklessly throwing themselves at Imperial forces, only to be mowed down.
However the company commander had already anticipated this, and had called for a company to reinforce his position. The second company had arrived just as the first company began its push to split the desperate Massassi defenders. With the defenders split, the first company turned left and the second company turned right, pushing the Massassi away from the shrine. The way was effectively opened, to the shrine, for Virulous to exploit.
However, it was too dangerous for her to advance, hundreds of arrows and spears were raining down, not only on the troops of both companies, but in the area on and near the shrine in the gap created by the two Imperial Army companies.
The squad she walked with, tasked with the mission of providing her with personal security, halted and took cover where they could in between the huts. Virulous followed suit, wondering what the situation was ahead. After a short time, she spotted the platoon commander making his way towards her. She waited to hear what he would tell her.
"We are observing special phenomena in the area around the shrine. We believe a Force user is there aiding the Massassi fighters. As a result, we may lose our footing, here and will be forced to withdraw."
Virulous had never heard Force techniques referred to as special phenomena before, and thought it was funny. However, the mirth she had over it was fleeting as she realized that the Force Ghost was fighting alongside his worshipers.
"My lord, there is another complication," Lieutenant Merrick told her, "It seems that the town is not isolated. Many hundreds of thousands of warriors, from other towns and villages throughout the region are coming to the aid of these fighters, here. We're expecting them to make contact with the regimental defensive perimeter within the hour. If that happens, the regiment will be overrun, my lord."
"What about hitting them with an orbital bombardment?" Virulous asked.
"Orbital bombardment has a huge area off effect. We are within that area. So, that's out, my lord."
Virulous realized that time was running out, and that the Lieutenant was telling her to hurry it up, because the regimental commander was about to order an evacuation. The silence between her and the lieutenant had gone on for some time while Virulous thought things through. However, time was short, and the platoon commander wanted the Sith lord to take some kind of action.
"What are your orders, my lord?"
"Can we make a hard push to force them away from the shrine?" she asked the lieutenant, explaining, "I must get to the shrine."
The lieutenant, produced an audio only field transceiver.
Herf Krill six (HK-6), this is Resh Mern two (RM-2). Dark Actual wants the wall breached so that Dark Actual can access the core sample. Over."
A short time later came the response.
"RM-2 this is HK-6, stand by for three hundred ticks. You'll have heavy crate support. Over."
"Understood. Out," the platoon leader said, before securing his communicator.
"Alright, my lord," Lieutenant Merrick said to Darth Virulous, "In five minutes heavy war droids, and possibly artillery droids, will arrive to pour a heavy volume of fire on the enemy. We'll move in behind the droids and sweep up what's left. That will open up the area around the shrine. Then you can make your move, my lord."
"Very well, Lieutenant," Virulous said soberly.
Very carefully, while concealing her presence to her foe, she concentrated power from the Dark Side. She was going to perform a Dark Force ritual to kill as many of the Massassi near the shrine as she could. In the back of her mind was Darth Nox's warning that the savages were somewhat resistant to The Force.
Virulous poured everything that she could in saturating herself with utter hatred and fury as she gathered the power of the Dark Side. Having completed his task, Lieutenant Merrick left the presence of the Sith lord and returned to his command post to lead his platoon for the coming action.
He had to step across the narrow dirt street to the huts across the way to keep in cover and out of sight of the Massassi archers. He didn't tell the Sith lord, but he'd already lost two men dead and six wounded and out of action from archers who'd figured out how to land their darts squarely on target, to get armor penetration.
Plus he had one unlucky blaster cannon operator who'd gotten struck on the head with the shaft of a spear. The spear had missed by a wide margin, but the spear shaft swung like a bat and struck the hapless soldier on his helmeted head. His head was fine; the helmet had done its job, but his neck had broken.
Virulous was startled out of her meditations when the explosive staccato reports of four heavy war droids let off a murderous barrage of blaster cannon fire on the Massassi defenders.
"Platoon, forward!" The lieutenant shouted at the top of his lungs, "Charge!"
Virulous rose to her feet and ran forward with the troops. The entire company that she was with had surged forward in a general assault in one direction, with the other company surging in the opposite direction. Massassi, replacements were already filling in the destroyed lines and threatening to reform their lines defending the shrine. However, the Sith lord let loose her attack.
Eight Massassi collapsed dead outright, and a few dozen more were gravely injured, collapsing to the ground, greatly weakened as Virulous, in a general area attack, vacuumed the life force of anything in that space. The Imperial troops of both companies, supported by medium war droids, pressed their attacks.
The Massassi, tried desperately to reform their lines, but now that the objective was out of danger, the two artillery droids joined the four heavy war droids in delivering a near continuous barrage of heavy blaster cannon fire and artillery blaster fire.
The racket was deafening, but Virulous forced that out of her mind as she found herself face to face with a long dead Sith lord, who was once a female Sith Pureblood. The Force ghost had manifested itself in white robes.
The surviving Massassi chieftains saw Virulous emerge from between the destroyed hovels into the open area around the shrine. His heart sank and he howled in a particular grieving manner. The hordes of Massassi warriors momentarily shifted their attention to the shrine, thinking their enemy was desecrating the home of their goddess, only to see that the situation was much worse.
The Black Goddess of Death had come, as prophesied by their White Goddess of Life. The two goddesses would battle to the death. Their goddesses' prophesy was absolute and nothing would change it. The Massassi warriors, male and female, elderly, adult, and child alike all began to wail and to throw themselves to the ground in apparent despair.
Imperial troops ceased firing on an enemy which seemed to have given up in despair. The confused troops were unsure of what to do, as officers and sergeants debated what actions to take. Even the droids stopped shooting on orders from their handlers.
The war, for the time being, had come to a sudden halt, as approximately eighteen thousand Massassi warriors, in the immediate area, lay on the ground howling their agonized grief. After tens of generations, the prophesy had finally come to pass, and it happened during their lifetimes. Today, their beloved goddess of life would be defeated by the hated goddess of death.
Virulous had been unnerved by the wailing. Although she did notice that the fighting had stopped and that Imperial forces were reorganizing their lines. In the meantime, here and there, individual Massassi warriors began to sit up, facing towards the shrine. She turned to the Sith Force ghost, unable to contain her curiosity.
"What's wrong with them?" she asked the ghost.
The Force ghost replied, "Yavragh hari'eem?"
Virulous was flummoxed at hearing an ancient dead language spoken to her. Having studied the ancient writings of many ancient, long dead Sith lords, she understood what was asked, and replied in that ancient dead tongue of the Sith Pureblood.
"What's happened to them?"
"I have prophesied this day," the Force ghost replied, explaining, "They are mourning my coming demise."
Virulous smiled under her armored mask on hearing that.
"So, I'm going to win our coming duel?" she asked the ghost.
"Yes," the Force ghost answered, smiling back at Virulous, adding, "You will win this duel."
Virulous realized she was being mocked.
"I have been telling my worshipers that when the Black Goddess of Death defeats the White Goddess of Life, that they were to worship you. They would endure a thousand year reign of death and misery, until the goddess of life returned.
"Now you've come. I will gain your body, and continue to reign as their goddess of death. The thing is that as the goddess of death, I shall require that the greatest among the Chieftains battle to the death, to appease my appetite for death, before I depart to the stars to bring death to the tribes of the stars."
"How do you plan to gain my body?" Virulous asked, the smile under her mask deteriorating.
The Force ghost, told Virulous what she feared to hear.
"The moment you attempt to usurp my existence, I will turn it on you. I will usurp your existence instead and make your living body my own," the Force ghost confessed.
Darth Nox's warnings that it would be a battle of life and death began to echo in her mind.
"But how did you know I would come?" Virulous asked, her confidence waning greatly.
"I have waited a very long time for this moment," the Force ghost admitted, "The Force has shown me this day, and it is finally here!"
Virulous thought about abandoning the ritual, and simply leave the Force ghost behind, but then she thought about how disappointed Darth Nox would be. She could not bear that thought. Especially now, when the dark lord had embraced her, acknowledging her power and welcoming her into his heart.
She also thought about how her reputation would suffer greatly as the officers reported their sacrifices for a Sith lord who then fled, in cowardice, from her own mission, bringing further humiliation to her master, lord, and now lover. His ambitions for the Imperial throne would suffer, and it would be her fault.
"What is your name?" the Force ghost asked.
"Why do you need to know that?" Virulous asked, then attempting to taunt the Force ghost, added, "Once you become my slave, you won't remember it anyway."
"The times have changed," the apparition lamented, "A civil people introduce themselves before a duel to the death. This way the victor will know who it was she defeated."
"Then tell me your name," Virulous said, trying to turn the war of words on the ghost.
"I am Arus, Lord of The Sith."
Virulous was shocked beyond words. She was facing a Sith lord whose writings she'd been studying for years as an archaeologist for the Reclamation Service. She'd learned some of the most effective Force techniques from her writings, and from her master's writings. This meant that the ghost would know how to defend against every technique that she'd learned from the long dead Sith's writings.
This also meant that Arus would be using those very techniques against her. She would have to be extremely alert and ready to defend against those techniques.
"Arus is the creator and master of these techniques!" Virulous agonized, bitterly asking herself, "What have I gotten myself into?!"
"I am Darth Virulous," she said, simply, weakly. Her voice exposing her loss of will.
"Good!" the apparition said, "When I meet with your master, I will know by what name I should be called.
Virulous felt burned by the ghost's deception, realizing the ghost wanted to know her name so that she could reach Darth Nox.
"If I fail, my love will be in danger," Virulous thought, cursing her own weakness, "My failure will be his undoing!"
"You know who my master is, too?" Virulous asked, her voice exposing her fear.
"I do not know his name, yet. But I know he is extremely powerful in The Force, a master of the Dark Side, and a very powerful ruler over much of the empire," Lord Arus said, adding as an aside, "I'm amazed that the Sith Empire has endured as long as it has, but I am glad that when I return to the Imperial capital, that I shall have a new opportunity to rule over the Sith."
A few of the hardened male Massassi warriors, including the survivors among the ten chieftains, ended their mourning and sat up. They took up their duty to resolutely bear witness as the two goddesses faced off. They watched their beloved goddess of life standing her ground against the vile goddess of death. They hoped against hope, but knew there was only one way this would end.
The other Massassi soon began to follow the examples of their leaders, ending their wailing cries and sitting quietly, facing the shrine.
At the Regimental defensive lines, the fighting raged on, as Massassi warriors continued their vain efforts to breach Imperial lines. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Massassi warriors from other towns and villages moved ever closer to the regiment's defensive position which formed a ring with a radius of two kilometers from the center where the shrine was located.
At the headquarters of both companies at the shrine, official word had been received from regimental headquarters. All fighting at the shrine was to cease, and the two companies tasked with getting Darth Virulous to the shrine were to consolidate their positions and prepare to resume the fighting, or to withdraw upon completion of Darth Virulous' mission.
Lieutenant Renly Merrick watched, unimpressed, as Virulous stood silently staring off into space. However, there was no doubt that the, now docile, Massassi were captivated by her presence, where she simply stood, staring off at who knew what, where, or when.
"What an incredible waste of time and resources this has all been!" the platoon commander bitterly thought, as he added another name to the list of his dead and wounded, "We have been spilling our blood over nothing! Damn these Sith and their strange and old superstitions!"
"I have been a fool!" Virulous despaired, "Why did I think that I could do this? Why did he have to lie to me? I fell in love with him; he knew this, and yet he still betrayed me! He wanted Arus as his apprentice, not me!"
Virulous turned to leave the shrine, taking a few steps, determined to abandon her mission and abandon her master, but then halted in her tracks. She had an epiphany.
"There I go again, feeling sorry for myself!" Virulous thought, excoriating herself, "It is why I have been so pitifully weak! I have been a joke to Khem Val! It is why Darth Nox could not respect me. It is why he has been disappointed in me! I have been my own obstacle!"
Virulous turned about to face Lord Arus. Underneath her armored mask, her face became a visage of savagery. She remembered what Darth Nox had told her.
"It was because of my strong will that I maintained most of my personality, but if I had not been so stubborn, I might have lost my core being, my core desires. You will not be the same person after you've subsumed the Force ghost's existence. Your personality will also change. If you don't want to become the other's personality, then you must exert a strong will."
"I am Darth Virulous," the Sith lord proclaimed, "I am the apprentice of Darth Nox, Dark Lord of The Sith. I know everything about you, Arus! You know only that The Force has told you I would come. Your time among the Sith ended seven hundred years ago. Now your reign as goddess of these savages will end today!" Then, remembering something Khem Val loved to say, she added, "You shall become my food!"
Virulous didn't allow Arus to answer, immediately launching her attack and beginning the ritual.
Somehow, word of what had happened at the shrine had reached the Massassi warriors attempting to penetrate the regimental defensive perimeter. They began to wail and to throw themselves onto the ground. Just as the fighting had ground to an unexpected halt at the shrine, Imperial forces seemed to be tripping over themselves as they halted counter attacks and in great confusion, retreated to their defensive positions.
This time, however, the regimental commander ordered the capture of Massassi warriors for interrogations. Regimental Military Intelligence had contacted the Imperial Guard Academy and obtained programming for protocol droid language translation package upgrades.
The Massassi captives were all too eager to talk about their goddess and her prophesies. They had been waiting for the Black Goddess of Death to come challenge their White Goddess of Life. Virulous happened to match that description, but how did they know that it was her? The Massassi captives were asked, this.
"We felt her presence; we felt her disease; she is death, rot, corruption," was the answer Imperial Military Intelligence officers got back.
Lieutenant Merrick had ordered his platoon to eat quickly and to drink water. He sat, watching a still and motionless Sith lord, still staring off into space. He'd just finished eating his rations, and had put his helmet back on again, when he suddenly felt a wave of nausea overcome him.
He felt dizzy and his stomach became adamant about rejecting his just eaten lunch. He quickly removed his helmet and vomited onto the ground in front of him. He cursed under his breath, wondering if he'd caught some strange local virus, but hearing the retching of several of his men and women around him, made him think that they'd been attacked with a biological weapon of some sort.
"Would the Massassi have such weapons?" he asked himself.
Just then, his nausea became much worse, and he became filled with great unreasoning fear. Lieutenant Renly Merrick looked in the direction of the Sith lord and saw that her hands were outstretched as though grabbing at something and pulling it towards herself.
Merrick was shocked into great fear and wonder as he watched the Force ghost of some unknown ancient Sith lord materialize, five meters from where Darth Virulous stood. The Force Ghost, robed in white vestments, itself seemed to be pulling at Virulous.
Lieutenant Merrick took a sip of water from his canteen, rinsed out his mouth, spitting the filthy water from his mouth, before finally donning his helmet, anew. He activated the battlefield visual relay system in his helmet, and after contacting his company commander recommended that the video feed be relayed to the headquarters of both the battalion and regimental commands.
A noisy disturbance caught his attention, and he watched as the warrior-children of the Massassi fled from the otherwise solemn gathering around the shrine and their mothers chase after them. The male adults were retching, too, but they remained where they sat.
He returned his attention to the battling Sith lords, one was his sovereign, the other was an ancient, long dead Sith lord, whom he realized might become his sovereign if the ghost won the battle.
"All my life, I thought the Sith were full of themselves and their silly superstitions," Merrick thought, disbelieving his eyes, "Now here I am watching a Sith ghost-goddess battling to save her worshipers and to save herself!"
Virulous suddenly went flying, tumbling end over end. The Massassi cheered, but their excitement was short lived as they all seemed to remember that the results of the battle would not change. The Black Goddess of Death had gracefully steadied herself in midair, and then gently settled down onto the firm ground, on her feet.
The goddess of death panting for air, and the goddess of life, a look of great worry on her features, both stood their ground, sizing up the other and contemplating their next moves.
"I didn't want to do this," Arus said, disgustedly, "but you leave me with no choice! I didn't want to damage your body, but you will learn what differentiates us!"
"What, that I'm young and pretty, and you are… ancient and dead?" Virulous replied, tauntingly.
"Soon that will be my young and pretty body. I hope I don't damage it, too much," Arus replied, adding, "The difference between you and I is that I can't feel pain!"
Lieutenant Merrick's eyes were painfully blinded when a bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck the spot where Virulous stood. It happened so fast, and the blinding glare of the lightning strike made it impossible for him to see what actually happened. His eyes were full of spots and he couldn't see directly ahead for several seconds.
"Oooooh! Lightning to the top of her head!" he exclaimed before asking himself, "What exactly is the protocol for accepting a ghost as a proper authority over a military unit?"
Imperial soldiers under the orders of Sith lords, sometimes found themselves pitted against each other when their respective leaders were locked in battle, but as soon as one or the other was defeated, the soldiers ended their fighting and united under the victorious Sith lord. However, the victor here was a ghost.
"RM-2 to YT-3, how do we report to the Sith ghost if the ghost wins? Over."
"YT-3 to RM-2, I don't know that one. I'll call up the chain of command and find out. Out."
If it weren't for the fact that he was broadcasting the video feed up the chain of command to the unit commanders, his question would have seemed ludicrous.
However, as the spots began to clear from his eyes, he was able to make out the petite Sith lord, still standing, an activated lightsaber in one hand, held overhead, as though she had intercepted that bolt of lightning with her weapon. Her other hand was outstretched as though she held something in her grasp.
The Force ghost of her enemy seemed paralyzed, hovering half a meter above the ground and drifting towards the tiny Sith lord. Virulous deactivated her lightsaber, quickly returning it to her utility belt so that she could free her other hand to gain better control of her prey.
The arresting mechanism on her belt failed to activate, and her weapon fell to the ground at her feet. The Sith ghost was in her hands, held there by the power of The Dark Side of The Force. Virulous wore a predator's grin under her mask as she imitated Khem Val, again.
"Now, I shall feast!"
Virulous did as she was trained. While forcing Arus into her mind, she opened her mouth wide and made as though to take a huge bite out of her prey. Her mind whirled, and the world went into a dizzying spin, before everything went black.
Lieutenant Merrick received a transmission from his company commander.
"Word from the regimental commander is that if the ghost wins, we quickly withdraw, and then report to Darth Nox. We'll let Darth Nox decide what to do with the ghost."
"Understood, Captain. Also, I have an update. The ghost is gone and Darth Virulous is down, out of action. I have members of Second squad loading her onto a stretcher. Can you send a battlefield med team to the shrine?"
As Merrick's commanding officer answered in the affirmative and prepared to send him the med team, the lieutenant watched his men flung about like dolls. Most of the squad members scrambled to their feet and ran from the groggy-headed Sith lord who moved sluggishly as she sat up. A few had hit the ground particularly hard and had trouble moving, but they did their best to crawl away from the awakening Sith lord.
The petite Sith rose from the stretcher and staggered her first half dozen steps as she meandered, unable to move in a straight line before coming to an unsteady stop. The greatly disoriented and unsteady Sith lord placed a hand to the side of her head, shaking it as though trying to clear it. She nearly lost her balance.
Then looking around where she stood, she spotted one of his injured men who'd finally gotten up to limp his escape from the Sith lord. The Sith lord reached her hands towards him. His man collapsed to the ground in a heap. She looked around again, and again reaching for a young injured soldier as she did her best to crawl away. Suddenly she stopped moving altogether, no longer crawling.
"Blast!" Merrick cursed under his breath, "She's killing my people!"
The tiny package of death looked about her surroundings and her black void of a face, under the black hood of her robes, locked onto him. The Sith lord walked much more steadily, making her way to where he had been taking cover.
"Blast it all!" he cursed, again under his breath.
As the Sith lord approached, with each step that she took towards him, he felt weaker and sicker.
He collapsed onto the ground where he'd been crouching. It took a great deal of effort to roll onto his back, as he fought for air, despite having removed his helmet. His face was bathed in his sweat, as the Arbiter of Death came to a stop, standing over him.
"I am done here. Order the troops to withdraw. Have one dropship waiting for me at the square where we landed, and the Hammer Strike waiting for me in orbit. I shall return to the Hammer Strike when I have finished my business with the Massassi."
The Sith lord turned and walked back to the pristine white shrine. The further away she'd gotten from him the better he felt. After a few moments, he finally felt strong enough to relay her orders to his company commander.
Lieutenant Merrick thought to himself as he made his report. "She sounded the same, but why did she seem like someone else…."
After relaying her orders, he watched as she sat on the small stone bench and briefly felt a terrible crushing force. He became mystified by what he saw at the shrine.
The Massassi watched as the goddess of death rose unsteadily to her feet. She staggered towards the servants whom she tossed aside and then devoured their souls. She then spoke to the chief of her servants. The black armored warriors who served their black goddess began to quickly withdraw and leave their city, roaring back into the sky, to the stars.
The Massassi could feel the dark disease of Ssassahnnah as she neared them, making her way to the altar of Arus-sahnai. The altar was constructed of crudely carved white chalky stone blocks, slabs, and pillars. A set of rough steps ascended to a dais upon which a crude bench was set; the throne of Arus-sahnai.
Dozens of large, colorful clay pottery jars sat on the columns. They were each covered with snugly fitting lids, which kept the contents dry, the black sooty ashes of burnt offerings to Arus-sahnai collected over many long centuries.
The six survivors among the Ten Chieftains, the many hundreds of war-band leaders, and their tens of thousands of warrior followers all sat quietly, witnessing the beginning of the reign of their new goddess. Ssassahnnah ascended the white steps of the alter. On the dais, she turned about to face them all. The black goddess of death slowly swept her black void of a face, first this way and then that way, as she regarded the massive horde of Massassi warriors, sitting quietly and waiting.
Ssassahnnah, Black Goddess of Death, sat on the bench. The instant her fundament made contact with the crude throne, the dozens of clay jars all shattered explosively, sending out black and dark grey clouds of soot and ash. When the clouds of ash had settled, the pristine white chalky stone alter where stained black and grey. The ground immediately around the shrine was covered in the dark ash.
To the Massassi, the era of darkness and death had begun. Many generations of great sorrow loomed ahead of them.
The six survivors of the Ten Chieftains rose to their feet and approached the alter of Ssassahnnah. They stopped outside of the ash covered area around the alter and bent themselves, lowering to their hands and knees, before lying prostrate before the Black Goddess of Death.
The goddess of death spoke in the primitive Massassi language.
"I have eaten Arus-sahnai, White Goddess of Life, yet I still hunger. I shall consume all of the Massassi," the dread goddess of death declared, then commanded, "bring all of your people before me, so that I may feast."
The chieftains were greatly troubled by this. The senior most among them spoke.
"Dread goddess of death, spare our people! We beseech you! Fulfill the prophesy and travel to the stars to devour the people of the stars!"
The other chieftains chorused their elder chieftain.
"Devour the people of the stars!"
"Give me a sacrifice!" Ssassahnnah demanded.
The Massassi were greatly saddened by this. Yet, they obeyed. All had been foreseen by their beloved white goddess of life, Arus-sahnai. An era of sorrow, misery, and ceaseless death was about to descend on the Massassi peoples, unless they could convince the Black Goddess of Death to leave their world for a year, to return again for a fresh sacrifice.
The chieftains, already versed, had already prepared the sacrifice. In short order, sixty Massassi adult males, sixty adult females, and sixty cubs were rushed forward and forced to their knees before the goddess of death. The chieftains then quickly retreated, giving a wide berth from the shrine, lest they too, be consumed.
Ssassahnnah seemed to be inspecting the offering brought before her. The elder chieftain began to worry that the black goddess of death found the sacrifice insufficient. However, she suddenly reached with both hands towards the sacrificial pawns. The Massassi watched as the one hundred and eighty victims all collapsed, limply.
The elder chieftain was saddened that she had reached into the masses of those seated before her and had take several of those as well. He was glad, however, that he had gone far enough back to avoid being consumed by the goddess of death, Ssassahnnah.
Ssassahnnah signaled to the elder chieftain, and he immediately lifted himself to his hands and knees, before speaking in a loud voice, so that all could hear.
"Oh dread goddess of death, what is the will of Ssassahnnah?!" he asked.
"I am full. I am satisfied. I shall depart for the stars." the black goddess declared, "There, I shall feast on the endless souls of the peoples of the stars. I shall spare your people, but I shall return in a thousand years for a sacrifice."
Not only the elder chieftain, but all of the Massassi who heard Ssassahnnah took note of the discrepancy. The prophecy, as given by Arus-sahnai, had deviated, but for the better. The people remained silent, however, not wishing to give the goddess any ideas of returning every year for her sacrifice.
The goddess continued to command her worshipers.
"Build a statue of me and worship my image so that you will never forget me," Ssassahnnah commanded, adding, "I may return from time to time to demand your service, but in a thousand years I shall require a huge sacrifice of your people."
The elder chieftain, overjoyed, shouted, "We obey your will, dread goddess! We will build an idol of you, and shall worship you forever! We shall always be ready to obey the will of Ssassahnnah!"
The petite goddess of death rose to her feet and immediately walked down the soot stained stone steps and left her alter and her worshipers where they sat knelt or lay prostrate. Her departure was quite sudden and unceremonious.
The petite Sith lord made her way quickly to the crude neighborhood square where she had first landed with the escort platoon. The dropship was waiting for her there, along with her escort platoon and their dead.
The petite Sith lord ascended the ramp, at the back of the dropship and entered the troop compartment. As she entered, she had to step over each of the eight dead bodies of the soldiers in body bags and laid side by side on the deck of the transport.
The men and women sitting on the crude benches were somber. Some of them dared to turn eyes filled with hatred and fury towards her, as she passed by where they sat. Six of their comrades where injured by her. They had escaped and had already been taken to medivac shuttles.
However, the Sith lord was lost in her thoughts and hadn't noticed the hostile looks of the troops in the transport. The Sith lord finally reached her bench at the front of the troop compartment and sat, facing the rear towards the ramp which was already closed but was still sealing itself against the vacuum of space.
As in the descent to the battle field, the heavily armored troops had their backs to her, their helmets at their feet. So, she could not see their faces then, either. The fury and hatred the troops had for her was because she had murdered two of their comrades. Two of the eight dead were her victims.
Lieutenant Merrick seethed in abject fury. From the crew compartment, apart from his troops. He watched the Sith lord through the armored transparisteel portal. Although, he couldn't see her face behind her mask, he could tell by the way she stepped over his dead, and the way she sat, that the presence of his fallen subordinates did not even register with her.
He watched as the ramp came up and shut tight. The crew chief, seated at the very back, next to the ramp called out its status.
"Ramp is up. Seal is made. We're space worthy."
With that, the dropship's whining engines increased their banshee screams and the troop carrier lurched up into the air, accelerating to low orbital velocity. In forty minutes time, the dropship would land in its landing bay aboard the Terminus-class star destroyer, the Hammer Strike. After unloading, it would return to the surface to pick up another load of Imperial Soldiers.
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