Darth Nox Roars!
Following his call to Moff Valion Pyron, and after setting up his shuttle transport, Nox called Andronikos Revel.
"Hey, Boss, what do you have brewing?" the pirate asked casually.
"Find Khem Val. Arm the ship for heavy space combat, and get a platoon of heavy infantry loaded for ten days of combat. Be ready for launch as soon as I board the starship in Kaas City spaceport in six to seven hours."
"All Nine Hells, Boss! Who're you going to war with?!" Andronikos exclaimed, adding, "By the way, I'll need fourteen hours to prep the ship and get the troops with their supplies."
"Fourteen hours?! I don't…!" Nox started to blast out, but bit off the rest.
Nox held his tongue, stifling his first impulse which was to shout at and berate the semi-retired pirate. Andronikos could see the fury in his employer's eyes. He could easily tell that his employer was struggling to hold back. He could see the dam of fury was at the busting point, and that soon his employer would not be able to hold back any longer. Andronikos figured he'd better explain.
"It's fourteen hours, because I've got to order the military around, and they're all about filling out forms and following procedures. But don't worry, Boss. I'll be sure they know it's your ship and that you're in a ripping hurry."
"Very well. I'll be there in fourteen hours," Nox said, very plainly seething with rage.
"The blasted Jedi are on Korriban," Nox explained, revealing to the pirate the source of his fury.
"All Nine Hells…," Andronikos replied soberly, realizing what was at stake. He asked, "You don't want me to get Virulous, too, Boss?"
"No. I'll contact her myself," Nox replied brusquely, cutting the connection.
Shortly thereafter, Virulous' holographic image appeared above his device.
"What is your will, Dark Lord?"
Nox took note that she did not kneel.
"Hmmm… It seems she does not believe she needs to show me the proper respect anymore," Nox thought, testily, "I'll have to rectify this misunderstanding of hers."
"Have you completed your mission?" Nox asked, tersely.
"I have, my lord, and I have succeeded," she replied solemnly, with quiet pride.
"Oh! That explains her change in attitude!" Then a realization struck him, "Is she even Virulous, anymore?"
Realizing, with a pang, that she might not even be the same woman that he'd fallen in love with, Nox decided not to call out his apprentice on her failure to kneel before him.
"Does she still love me? Does she even still consider herself my apprentice anymore?"
He asked her, much less tersely as some of his anger left him, "When will you be ready to return to me?"
"My lord, we have already left orbit," Virulous reported, "In an hour we shall enter hyperspace."
"Bring your forces to Korriban. You will join me there," Nox instructed, explaining, "The Jedi have invaded Korriban with a strong military force."
The quiet pride, evidenced on her face, morphed into ever increasing outrage as she replied, "I look forward to showing you my new found power, Dark Lord," Then her face twisted into a mask of fury as she snarled her declaration. "I will destroy those filthy Jedi!"
"First meet with me, my apprentice," Nox cautioned, "We must present a single, powerful force, and not attack piecemeal."
"As you say, Dark Lord," Virulous replied evenly, though fury still showed on her face, "When my task force arrives in orbit, I shall contact you for instructions."
"Very good, Lord Virulous," Nox replied, cutting the connection."
Nox ensured that his droids had finished packing and that everything was in readiness to begin the march to the pickup point. Then he walked to the pit and inspected the work of his other droids. The contents had all been burned to ash and the tub melted into a solidified cooling metallic puddle at the bottom of the pit. The organic matter in the soil surrounding the tub had also been burned to ash and the remaining minerals had melted into a glassy slag.
"Bury the pit, then join the other droids to carry my equipment. Don't forget to bring the shovel and plasma torches with you," Nox ordered.
Nox drove himself hard, relentlessly slogging his way through ten kilometers of jungle. Because using his lightsaber would have started fires, Nox used the very large vibroknife he'd provided to a droid to quarter the carcass earlier. He slashed his way through the dense wild jungle, using The Force to shove the cut vegetation out of his way. This allowed him to maintain a high rate of movement, and ensured that the path was wide enough for his droids and their cargo to pass through.
In two hours he arrived to the designated pickup point. Despite using The Force, he was exhausted. It was a strenuous work out. Nox sat on a crate that he'd ordered one of his droids to set down. He broke out a compact military field ration, and began to eat, taking sips of cool water from an insulated water bottle.
A short while later, Nox could just barely make out the whine of an Imperial shuttle craft in the very great distance. The shuttle's whine grew louder as it neared the pickup point. He called one of his vassals. Incredibly, the vassal did not answer his call, so he left a message.
"Lord Calaverous, return my call at the soonest. I have orders for you."
He then called his other vassal. The kneeling holographic image of his strongest vassal appeared above his handheld device.
"Dark Lord, you honor me greatly. I am ever ready to answer your call in service. What is your will?"
"Darth Eviscerous, bring your full power to my service on Korriban. There I shall unleash you on Galactic Republic forces – and on the filthy Jedi who defile our sacred temple. While your forces destroy the hated Republic army scum, you shall fight by my side with your apprentices, as we rid the galaxy of these vile Jedi."
"Dark Lord, I shall be at Korriban the soonest!" Eviscerous promised, then declaring with real passion, "I shall bring misery and death to the Jedi for their sacrilege! I shall crush them into dust, Dark Lord!"
"When your task force arrives to Korriban, you and your apprentices shall join me aboard my starship," Nox instructed.
He could barely hear his vassal's reply over the banshee scream of the shuttle overhead as it began its landing descent.
"It shall be as you command, Dark Lord."
"Very good, Lord Eviscerous," Nox said, cutting the connection.
The downwash of the shuttle buffeted him as it descended the last few meters to the ground in the small clearing. The twin engines' banshee screams wound down as the engines were idled. When the ramp came down, a crewman descended it.
He approached Nox and, for an instant, shock and wonderment flashed across the Imperial soldier's face. In a flash, his shocked surprise was gone and the soldier snapped to attention, and vigorously stomping his boot on the moss covered jungle floor, he snapped out a parade grade salute.
"We are deeply honored to serve you Dark Lord!" the solder shouted, to be heard over the engines, "I am Sergeant Stadd Raimus! I'm the loadmaster for this shuttle!"
Nox waived his acknowledgment, and the sergeant snappily ended his salute.
"Is this everything, Dark Lord?!" the sergeant asked indicating the neatly stacked packing crates and the droids.
"Yes, Sergeant!" Nox shouted, "Load it all aboard!"
"Yes, Dark Lord!"
Nox stood back and watched as the shuttle's loadmaster, an Imperial Army soldier, organized the activities of the dark lord's droids, directing their work loading Nox's equipment and supplies into the shuttle. The loadmaster also told the droids where to stand and anchor themselves in the troop compartment.
"He's rather young, to be a sergeant," Nox thought, impressed, "He must be an exceptional soldier."
"Stand closer together, you miserable piles of scrap metal!" the sergeant bellowed at the droids, "Stop taking up so much space on my ship! You're cargo, not passengers!"
Finally, the loadmaster led Nox to his seat in the troop compartment towards the front of the shuttle. The two had to squeeze in between the double rows of droids, standing on either side of the interior, and then pass through the stacks of crates on either side of the narrow aisle.
After ensuring that Nox was properly secured in his seat, with the safety restraining field activated, the sergeant returned to the back of the troop compartment where he proceeded to raise the ramp.
The ear splitting whine of the twin engines was instantly nearly all cut off from the interior of the shuttle, bringing relative quiet to the interior. After ensuring the ramp was locked in place and a good seal formed, the loadmaster unfolded his seat from the floor, near the end of the aisle, raising it until the support struts locked in place. Then he sat with his back resting against the raised ramp, and activated the safety restraining field.
Nox watched his lips move, as the soldier reported the troop compartment's readiness for flight. Suddenly the dark lord was scrunched down into his seat by the g-forces as the shuttle instantly lurched skyward. Then suddenly, he felt as though he would be lifted off of his seat, but for the safety restraining field holding him in place, as the shuttle suddenly stopped its ascent.
The pilot suddenly performed a rapid horizontal spin which brought the shuttle craft to its heading for Kaas City, which left the dark lord feeling a bit unsettled. Finally, Nox felt the shuttle rapidly accelerate and rotate upward to a steep climb. Nox was pressed into the restraining field which held him securely in his backwards facing seat. The shuttle quickly achieved escape velocity.
Nox realized the shuttle would take a suborbital flight path to Kaas City. So, rather than a four and a half hour in-atmosphere flight, the flight would be less than two hours, most of it in sub orbital space.
"I've been on worse flights. I did tell them that I was in a great hurry," Nox confessed to himself.
The dark lord hoped the rest of the flight would be smoother.
Nox's transceiver vibrated in its niche on his utility belt. He picked it up and saw that it was Calaverous, returning his call. The dark lord accepted the call, and the kneeling holographic image of his vassal sprang into view above his device.
The shuttle changed its angle of climb again to what would be considered level flight, and the engines throttled back to idle. Suddenly, Nox felt weightless, but the restraining field kept him at his seat.
"It took you long enough to return my call," the dark lord said, chiding his vassal.
"I beg your pardon, Dark Lord. I was not in a position to quickly answer your call. I am, as always, ever ready to serve your will, Dark Lord."
Calaverous seemed uncomfortable over something, but Nox had no time for curiosity. He got to the point.
"Gather your full power and meet me in orbit over Korriban. The Jedi, with republic forces, have invaded the temple."
Whatever discomfort had been troubling his vassal a moment before, was instantly gone and replaced by sheer outrage.
"The Emperor's thousand years! What do those backwards, bug-ridden, raggedy, foolish heathen think they are doing at our holy temple?!"
"They think they are taking advantage of the fact that the Dark Council is fractured, and that we are on the verge of battling amongst ourselves to assert our right to be on the throne," Nox replied, adding, "They believe they can take advantage of our internal struggles to do whatever they want."
Calaverous took a chance and said what he thought Nox would want to hear.
"Any fool can see that there is only one way that struggle will end, Dark Lord, and that is with you on the throne."
"Do you really believe that, Lord Calaverous?" Nox asked, dryly.
The dark lord's facial expression plainly showed doubt in Calaverous' sincerity, and put the Sith lord on the spot. Calaverous realized that he'd erred in mentioning the former emperor, Vitiate and his thousand years, even though it was a common phrase used to express great astonishment among the citizens of the Empire. It didn't help that he was delayed in answering his dark lord's call, either.
"I was in the fresher! What could I do?" Calaverous thought, reflecting miserably, "What terrible timing!"
Therefore, Calaverous decided to put on a display to show his sincerity.
"Dark Lord, I'll kill and destroy anything that gets in the way of your ascension to what already belongs to you!"
Nox was surprised with his vassal's passionate declaration, but he was not yet willing to give Calaverous a pass. Calaverous was usually a laid back, subtle sort, whose deceptive affability belied his ever scheming and plotting ways. Nox doubted his vassal's sincerity, Calaverous always struck the dark lord as someone to keep an eye on.
"Deeds to match your words, Lord Calaverous. Your words are stirring, even inspiring, but deeds are firm, undeniable proof of one's passion."
"Then the dark lord shall see that my passionate deeds will match the fire of my words! I have the dark lord's orders. I shall meet with you over Korriban!"
Again, Nox was surprised by Calaverous' passionate response, as though he really wanted Nox to see his worth to the dark lord.
"Very well, Lord Calaverous," Nox said, nodding his approval and adding before cutting the connection, "Show me your resolute passion."
The shuttle was coasting smoothly in suborbital flight. Darth Nox leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to think.
"Moff Pyron is fully, four weeks from arriving. He'll arrive after it's all over. If I am defeated, he will mop up any Republic forces stranded on the planet. I will arrive in about ten days. Both Virulous and Eviscerous will arrive between two and two and a half days after I've gotten there. Eviscerous will bring a Harrower-class dreadnought and three Terminus-class star destroyers, and a division of light infantry. Virulous will bring a Terminus-class star destroyer and a regiment of heavy infantry. Calaverous has no troops, but he'll arrive from Taris about a day after I have."
Nox sighed, realizing he would be facing very bad odds, militarily.
"I wonder, how good is Calaverous in a fight?"
Twenty three months ago, he'd become aware of Lord Calaverous through a report submitted to him by Andronikos when the semi-retired pirate was overseeing the build of his highly modified Fury-class interceptor at Tandankin Shipyards. Calaverous was instrumental to Andronikos' success in getting the ship built and delivered on time. Darth Nox sent the Sith lord to Taris to administer the cleanup effort while Darth Komo was in hospital.
The dark lord reflected on Calaverous' performance on Taris while Darth Komo recovered from his wounds after an assassination attempt. When Komo returned to duty as the administrator of Taris' planet-wide cleanup and detoxification effort, he had nothing but praise for Calaverous and asked to keep Calaverous to help with the work.
"He certainly is a good administrator," Nox thought, "but can he fight?"
The dark lord drifted off to sleep.
"Dark Lord?"
Nox awoke with a start, and saw the loadmaster standing before him. His droids were already carrying the last of his equipment off of the shuttle. The shuttle's engines were silent, but he could hear the sounds of a busy spaceport outside of the troop compartment. The dark lord, nodded acknowledgment and waved the sergeant off.
Without a word, the loadmaster turned about and walked to the back of the troop compartment and then down the ramp to oversee the droid's staging of Darth Nox's equipment and supplies. He also made sure that the dark lord's droids stood in a compact group as they waited for transportation. Sergeant Stadd Raimus hated when droids spaced themselves out.
"You're equipment, blast you! Stand closer together and stop taking up so much blasted space!"
He turned to look back at his shuttle in time to see Darth Nox walk down the ramp. At the bottom of the ramp, Nox turned to make his way to his droids and equipment.
Sergeant Raimus approached the dark lord and came to a stop two meters in front of him. Snapping to attention, he stomped his boot and rendered a snappy salute.
"Dark Lord, Captain Olean, the shuttle pilot, arranged ground transportation for you, your droids, and your equipment as we made our final approach to Kaas City Spaceport. They should arrive here within the next ten minutes."
"Very well. Carry on, sergeant."
Yes, Dark Lord! It has been an honor to serve you!"
The sergeant ended his salute and then made his way to the bottom of the shuttle's ramp. He then proceeded to make his way up until he entered the troop compartment where he conducted a final walk through, to be sure nothing was accidentally left behind. Then Sergeant Raimus proceeded to raise the ramp. Stadd Raimus was deeply impressed by the claw marks on the Sith lord's arm and on the side of his chest.
"Darth Nox was seriously banged up! Those claws had to be half a meter across! I wonder what unlucky jungle beast thought that it could eat that tough old Sith?!" he wondered, shaking his head in deep admiration of the dark lord as the ramp sealed shut.
Kaas City Spaceport was a very small spaceport which was reserved for the exclusive use of the Sith Empire's very elite. Among those who used this spaceport were dark councilors and their immediate Sith lord subordinates. However, it was the very high ranking military commanders – moffs with business at the military high command sector within The Citadel who used Kaas City Spaceport the most.
Before his disgraceful fall, the direct servants of Vitiate were the only other ones who'd made use of this spaceport. However, Vitiate's direct servants have not been seen, nor heard from since the former emperor's fall from the throne, and no one particularly cared.
Kaas City Spaceport was a tiny, twenty five square kilometer, expanse of white resicrete deck enclosed by a ten story high wall on all four sides. The spaceport was located in the southwest corner of Kaas City, within the City walls.
Nox was at the southeast corner of the spaceport. He looked around until he spotted his starship, about five kilometers away, near the southwest corner of the small spaceport. There were several flat-bed lorries approaching his ship. They were loaded with long white metallic crates, with black lettering and red markings. Those were used to store and transport anti-ship missiles.
Another group of vehicles were already parked near his starship. Nox judged they were conducting deflector shield diagnostics on the ship, as he'd seen the tell-tell signs of bluish white flashes around the exterior of his starship. Nox nodded his satisfaction, confident that his ship would be fully prepared for combat. Yet, he had to reflect on what Andronikos had told him a couple of hours earlier.
"I thought he said it would be fourteen hours before the ship was ready," Nox thought, "Then there are still twelve hours left before my ship will be ready for launch?"
It seemed to the dark lord that was an awful lot of time to prep the ship, when the logistical support units were already at the scene working on his ship.
The sounds of speeders approaching caught his attention. He turned in time to see a train of four Imperial Army box lorries come to a stop and settle down on their skids. The eight soldiers, drivers and assistant drivers, debarked from the cabs of their vehicles and casually approached the staged droids, equipment, and supplies.
One of the soldiers spotted Darth Nox and froze in his tracks, a look of great astonishment registering on his face.
"ATTENTION!" he commanded, stentoriously.
His fellow soldiers, on reflex, stopped their joking and laughing. They all came to a halt and stood rigidly at attention.
"HAND SALUTE!"
All eight men saluted. It wasn't until Darth Nox stepped from around the tightly packed gaggle of droids that the rest of the soldiers spotted and recognized the dark lord.
Nox came to a stop in front of the soldiers who'd stopped at attention in a disorganized group.
"You will take my droids, equipment, and supplies to The Citadel. Deliver everything to sub-level three hundred and seventeen, warehouse seventy two, within the domain of The Sphere of Ancient Knowledge."
The dark lord looked at the soldiers, as they responded, "Yes, Sir!"
"Who's in charge, here?" Nox asked.
"I'm the senior driver, Dark Lord!" one of the men responded, "Corporal Rethan is my name, Sir!"
"Do you need me to repeat my instructions, Corporal Rethan?" Nox asked.
"No, Dark Lord. I understand your orders, Sir!"
"Very well. I'll leave it to you."
Nox turned to leave, but stopped to express a concern.
"The instruments in those cases," Nox said, pointing at the ones he'd meant, "are very delicate and quite difficult to replace, treat them carefully."
"Yes, Dark Lord. We'll be careful with all of the gear," Corporal Rethan assured Darth Nox.
With that, Nox turned and used The Force to speed his way to his star ship, leaving the soldiers in utter amazement at how fast the Sith lord ran.
"What do you think, guys?" Corporal Rethan asked his fellow soldiers.
The soldiers slowly lowered their salutes (Nox never returned their salute), and relaxed their stances, as they watched the Sith lord run to the starship at the far end of the launch deck.
"I'd say, he was doing about a hundred and ten, a hundred and twelve kilometers per hour," the corporal estimated.
"Yeah. Thereabouts," one of his fellows replied.
"He looked seriously roughed up. Didn't he?" another driver asked.
Darth Nox slowed to a walk and made his way around his starship and around the support vehicles, inspecting the scene as he caught his breath. As he rounded the back end of the starship, he happened to see his servant descending the ramp, presumably to carry out some task related to preparations for launch.
"Andronikos!"
"Hey, Boss!" Andronikos replied, picking up the pace and closing the distance to Darth Nox on the resicrete deck.
Andronikos took on a look of concern as he neared his employer.
"You're looking kind of rough, Boss. Did you run into trouble? Anyone I need to take care of for you?"
Darth Nox looked down at himself, inspecting his arms and at the armor around his rib cage. That's when he noticed the slash damage to his armor, and the ground-in stains from the plant material from when he got knocked around by the mother vine tigress.
"Oh… I got into it with a vine tiger. I'm fine. Don't worry about it," he said, dismissively, then asked, "Is Khem Val aboard?"
"He left the ship a short while ago, Boss. He went to his flat to get his heavy armor and his war blade," Andronikos said, thinking to himself, "Just a vine tiger, eh? Nothing to get worked up about, eh?"
"Heavy armor?" Nox asked himself, puzzled.
He'd never seen the behemoth in heavy armor. Nox nodded acknowledgment of Andronikos' reply, then asked, "When will you be ready to launch? I thought you said it would be fourteen hours."
"It's like I thought, Boss," Andronikos reported, explaining, "I dropped your name into the right ears. Then, in no time at all, the Navy jumped into hyperspace to get your ship up and ready. So, I shaved seven hours off of my original estimate. We'll be ready to launch in six hours instead of in 12."
"I see. That explains why the ship is already being serviced," Nox said, in realization, "Very well."
The good news didn't seem to improve Nox's mood, however. Andronikos could see that there was no cheer in his employer's facade. Nox was restraining his anger, bottling it all in so that he could unleash it all on his enemies. The semi-retired pirate didn't want to accidentally set his employer off, so he made excuses to get out of Nox's line of sight.
"Well, if you don't have any more questions for me, then I'll get back to work, Boss."
Nox merely nodded his permission, and waived Andronikos away. The semi-retired pirate only made it three paces before Nox called to him.
"Actually, Andronikos. Call for a speeder to take me to The Citadel. I have some work to do there."
"You got it, Boss."
Andronikos resumed his steps towards the ordnance crew, who had just begun opening the ordnance crates, to inspect the starship killing missiles in preparation for loading into the missile bays. One missile had already been rejected and was left in its crate still on the flatbed lorry that had brought it. Another missile had just been ordered to replace the defective weapon from the ordnance depot to take its place.
"Didn't you inspect them at the ordnance depot before bringing them here?" Andronikos asked the ordnance officer.
"We did. This one must have suffered some damage on the way here," was the ordnance officer's reply.
The semi-retired pirate shrugged his shoulders at the ordnance officer as he pulled out his transceiver and called the Kaas City Spaceport flight office.
"When are you guys gonna send that speeder? Darth Nox has been waiting and he's starting to think you guys are making fun of him."
"What?! The speeder hasn't arrived, yet?!" The flight scheduling officer exclaimed, deeply worried, adding, "It should be there, now. Oh, wait. You aren't at landing pad five esk (5-E), you're at four aurek (4-A)."
"You people need to stay on top of these things," Andronikos said, as though in rebuke, then lying, "The dark lord came over to this landing pad ages ago."
Andronikos surmised that someone must have already ordered a speeder for his employer.
The speeder driver, who'd been waiting for Darth Nox, spent her time idly watching the lorry drivers organize the droids to do the work of loading several crates, and then to finally load themselves into the four cargo transports.
"That work looked like it could be fun," the assistant driver, a human female, said to the driver.
"It looked like a lot of work to me," the driver, another human female, replied, "I'll stick to this, driving VIPs around." With a sultry smile, she added, "I liked the blonde."
"Him, and the one with the auburn hair," the assistant driver replied, "I liked his beard."
"You like beards?" the driver asked, mildly surprised.
The box lorries had levitated off of their skids and were already making their way across the expansive white resicrete deck on their way to their destination when the speeder driver got the call from dispatch.
"Corporal Bavvet, Darth Nox has moved to landing pad four aurek. He's waiting there. Get moving."
"Understood. On our way," Gredna Bavvet replied, getting the speeder moving.
In a very short while, Darth Nox boarded the back passenger seat and Private Vannette Dunn shut the door before taking her place in the front passenger seat.
"The Citadel," Nox said.
"Yes, Dark Lord," Corporal Bavvet replied, getting the speeder on its way.
Three and a half hours later, the two soldiers saluted while holding the door open for the dark lord as he exited the speeder. Nox walked to the massive entrance of The Citadel, lost in thought. It hadn't occurred to the driver and her assistant to drop him at the entrance, itself. The driver had parked the speeder at the nearest passenger loading point to the door, thinking they'd done an excellent job.
The dark lord had to walk a hundred meters to the huge entrance. He passed dozens of Imperials as he walked, and without exception they stared at him – usually with expressions of shock or amazement.
"Was the dark lord attacked?" one stranger asked the other.
"If he was, the attacker is lying dead, somewhere," the other stranger replied.
There was no doubt in the public's mind that Darth Nox was the meanest and baddest Sith in the galaxy. His Kaggath, nearly two years ago, was still the biggest public display of Sith power ever covered by the media, and was still fresh on many citizens' minds. This was Nox's second Kaggath. His first was twelve years ago against Thanaton. Before then, such publicly spectacular blood feuds hadn't been conducted by any other members of the Dark Council going back quite a few generations.
Nox was not being particularly mindful of his surroundings; he was preoccupied with his coming battle on Korriban. So it took him a bit by surprise when someone stopped right in front of him and addressed him.
"You're so irresponsible, Darth Nox. You should take your personal security much more seriously. Have you forgotten? There's a target painted on your back, and I'm one of those taking aim at it," then in amazement, "My stars! What's happened to you?! You're a mess!" seeing Nox's condition, she raged to herself, "They're not following the plan!"
"Darth Zash."
Zash made a sour face at Nox. Nox had spoken her name as though it were a vile epithet.
He wanted nothing to do with her and made as though to step around her and her four apprentices. A thought came to him, however, so he stopped. Looking straight into her eyes, he made his opening pitch.
"I know you're looking for a chance to be elevated in the eyes of the others on the Dark Council, Zash. You're always plotting and looking for your next opportunity."
Zash hid her emotions very well from Nox, and the placid expression on her face hid the sudden panic which struck her to the core.
"Our assassins weren't supposed to strike, yet! Why didn't they follow the plan?! Have I been discovered?!"
Looking at Nox's condition, she knew he'd been in a serious battle.
"How would you like a chance for glory on the battlefield? It will definitely raise your status on the Dark Council if you can cover yourself in victories."
Upon hearing his proposal, Darth Zash became very, very guarded. She expected Nox was about to trick her into incriminating herself, so that he'd have proof those were her assassins before he killed her. Her attendants quickly sensed trouble in Darth Nox's words and their tension suddenly rose as well.
"What are you after, Darth Nox?" she asked, the sly humor gone from her tone.
Curiosity struck him, as Nox realized he knew nothing of his old master from the time before he'd met Zash as her apprentice.
"Have you ever fought on the front lines? Or have you ever fought in a large battle in your past life, Lord Zash?"
"Are you challenging me to a Kaggath?!" the fear in her voice was real, "Why?! I did nothing to warrant this!" she lied.
Her apprentices grasped their weapons, deep worry etched on their faces. Nox's lips curled in a mocking sneer.
"Don't worry, Lord Zash. I'm not after your head. Not yet, anyway."
"Then what are you talking about?! Explain yourself!" Zash demanded.
Nox was about to speak, but noticed that crowds of onlookers were beginning to form at the passenger loading areas and just inside of the huge entrance of the cavernous lobby of the gargantuan government building. The onlookers were waiting for a duel to commence.
"Get on with your business!" Nox shouted, angrily, at the crowds, "Get moving! All of you!"
The growing crowds quickly broke up. The onlookers ran, expeditiously dispersing. Nox returned his attention to Zash and stepped closer, lowering his voice.
"It's up to you, if you want to join me. I'm on my way to Korriban. The Jedi are conducting a raid on the Temple of The Sith. Darth Arkous is alone with the guard forces trying to hold off the Jedi and their two divisions of Republic forces. I'm on my way with my strong followers and what few military units I could muster."
Nox stepped away from Zash, looking at the shock and surprise registering on her face, followed by a look that he recognized as quiet fury.
"You aren't trying to lure me into a trap, are you, Lord Nox?"
"Meet me in orbit over Korriban. I am gathering my followers to me so that we can confront the Jedi in the temple as a single force."
"First they take out our Emperor, and now this," Zash said in a low voice tinged with fury. Inside, Zash was jubilant, "I'm safe!" She said through clenched teeth, "The Jedi are really pushing our buttons!"
Nox merely nodded as though he agreed with her, but a troubling thought persistently echoed in the back of his mind.
"Keeper, you had better not have left a trail that will lead to me!"
"Darth Marr has my military forces. So I cannot contribute troops," Zash confessed, then promised, "but I'll be there with two of my followers."
Nox nodded his head once in acknowledgement, then suddenly walked off to enter The Citadel on his way to his offices. Zash didn't realize that she'd just revealed to Nox that, of her four main followers, only two were any good at combat.
"She has many new followers, but she can only rely on two of them for combat?" Nox wondered in amazement to himself, concluding with a sneer, "Then she is very weak."
Nox customarily entered his opulent office via his private turbolift, but this required that he be dropped off at his private speeder port four sublevels below his offices. Since he was delivered to the public entrance, he had to enter through his reception office. There, he was surprised to see the young acolyte who'd thwarted his experiment very early that morning.
"Remind me of your name," Nox demanded.
"Master, I am Lennell Juuntos," the youth said, then in amazement, "What happened to you?"
"What?"
Nox didn't care for the youth's familiar tone, but remembering his battered condition, excused the youth's reaction.
"I had a run-in with a vine tiger," he said to his unwanted apprentice's greater amazement.
"Wow! You fought a vine tiger?!" Lennell exclaimed, forgetting himself, and forgetting who his master was.
"And I won," Nox boasted, letting the youth's impertinence slide, but then he got to business, "Acolyte Lennell. You will now face a great trial of combat. Get your weapon and report to my ship at Kaas City Spaceport. My ship is at landing pad four aurek."
"Yes, Master! I'll be there!" the youth swore.
"Wait," Nox ordered.
The dark lord entered his office. The youth waited in the reception area. Five minutes later, Nox re-emerged, handing the young man a new credit card.
"Ask for directions to the military armorer. Purchase a suit of armor. I strongly recommend a medium grade flexible armored suit. It provides limited protection, but is light weight and allows freedom of movement.
"Also, be sure you purchase a molytex mesh under armor liner suit to wear beneath the flexible armored shell. I recommend the flexible armored shell be made from shocked nylaflex or heat-treated molytex molded panels. Shocked nylaflex provides slightly less armor, but is lighter in weight and more flexible than heat-treated molytex molded panels.
"Whatever you decide to get, be sure to be at the ship at…," Nox looked at the chronometer on his holographic transceiver, "nineteen hundred. That's in less than four hours."
"Yes, Master."
"Get moving," the dark lord commanded before ducking into his office
The door slid shut behind Lennell's master as the youth ran out of the reception office to make his way to the armorer.
Nox walked nearly a hundred meters across his hand woven masterpiece rug to his massive, hand crafted natural wood desk. Making his way behind the huge desk, he sat in his luxurious overstuffed office chair. Then, from his utility belt, he removed the twelve datacard cases containing the micro datacards with the telemetry data from his experiments earlier in the day, placing them in a drawer, which he then locked.
With that, Darth Nox finally relaxed. His scientific data was safe for his study at a later date. He planned to go over every bite of data with a very fine-toothed comb as it were, to unlock the mysteries of each Force ritual he'd experimented with that day.
"Heh, heh," he chuckled, thinking, "All I have to do is come back alive from Korriban. Then I can study these data to my heart's content."
"2V-R…." Nox began to call out to his droid, but stopped.
He realized that with Andronikos preparing his starship for combat, the ship droid was most likely on the starship, and not in his office.
Nox stood from behind his desk and walked to his hidden private fresher. Once inside, he removed his blood red and deep black armor, and his under armor, placing each piece in the armor cleansing and repair system.
Nox entered the fresher and took a much needed and refreshing shower. He examined the bruise on his left side, and tested for broken ribs. There were none. Heading into battle, as he was, he counted himself lucky that the ugly bruising was the worst of his injuries.
Shortly after, Nox emerged from his private locker room in his famous brilliant yellow and deep black traditional Sith styled armor. His famous armor consisted of a semi-rigid cuirass with a tall rigid neck collar which protected the back and sides of his neck and flexible armored sleeves extending just past his elbows. The sleeves of his molytex under armor extended from beneath the armored sleeves to his wrists. His armored gloves and armguards protected his hands and forearms, overlapping his armored sleeves just over his elbows.
The lower portion of his armor consisted of a flexible armored kilt embedded with semi-rigid armored panels protecting his thighs. The armored kilt extended to just below his ankles, concealing his armored boots with shin guards.
Beneath his armor, he wore a molytex mesh one piece underlining body suit which gave additional armor protection, but more importantly offered superior thermal protection. While it didn't give perfect protection, it could save him from the worst of a lightsaber burn.
For head protection, Nox wore a unique armored collar, also fabricated with the same materials as his flexible armor, which protected his neck, throat, his jaw and the back and sides of his head including his ears, but his crown above his ears was exposed. The part which protected his throat was brilliant yellow, and the rest of the armored collar was deep black.
There was a separate piece which snapped into place, to protect the crown of his head, but he had never before opted to wear it. This piece was fabricated using a rigid lightweight armored material. It was the same brilliant yellow as the rest of his armor ensemble, but the rim of the rigid skull cap was deep black. This time, he had it attached to his utility belt, where he could quickly grab it and snap it onto the top of the armored collar when the need arose.
Darth Nox had to make arrangements for a transport to his ship. Normally, he'd tell his droid to make the arrangements, but with the droid unavailable, he had to make the call himself. As he stared at his transceiver, it occurred to him he had no idea who to call.
Nox secured his transceiver as he made his way back to the area hidden by his holocron shelves. Five meters to the left of his private fresher was his private turbolift. It went down, four sublevels, to his private speeder port.
Unlike the very high speeds of the main turbolifts that serviced the building, this turbolift moved at a leisurely and sedate pace. The lift opened to a short corridor inside the sliding doors which exited to the speeder port.
Nox turned right, away from the speeder port towards the stairs on the right at the end of the short corridor. He took the stairs up one level into the headquarters of the Imperial Reclamation Service. He had to ask for directions to navigate the maze of corridors, offices, and cubicles until he got to the main office suite of the headquarters.
Darth Nox had only been to the headquarters of the Imperial Reclamation Service twice in the fifteen years since he'd started his service in the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge when Zash, Lord of The Sith, took him as her apprentice.
The young officers and junior enlisted, serving in the headquarters, had never seen the dark lord in their offices before. The senior officers and senior enlisted, who'd been there for years, however, had painful recollections of his previous visits.
Regardless of their experience, worry and dread began to wash over them all. The previous two times that Darth Nox had been to their headquarters, the Sith lord had carried out the executions of a few of their officers for some failure or other. No one was ever really sure why these officers were executed, however.
A heroic officer approached the dark lord and introduced himself. His peers and subordinates all felt pangs of dread and despair as they watched their favorite leader march towards his probable death.
"Dark Lord, you honor us greatly! We are proud to be in your service! I am Colonel Harten Larred. I am the administrative control officer tasked with overseeing the proper documentation of all artifact finds. How may I serve you?"
"Arrange for my transportation to Kaas City Spaceport. I shall wait at my private speeder port."
The colonel's eyes blinked rapidly in surprise and his features showed some doubt that he'd heard correctly.
"Do you not know where my private speeder port is, Colonel?" Darth Nox asked.
"Oh, uh, yes, Dark Lord. You want to wait there for a speeder transport to Kaas City Spaceport."
"Yes, although I hope I shall not have to wait for too very long," Nox said with a small bit of concern in his tone.
"I'll be sure you are not kept waiting, Dark Lord."
"Good," Nox said.
The dark lord turned to leave, and seeing the maze before him, realized he didn't know how to get back.
"Where are the stairs that go to the speeder port below?"
"This way, Dark Lord."
The colonel escorted Nox to the stairs. As Nox took the steps down, the heroic colonel returned to his desk. There, he made arrangements for Nox's transport. Everyone in the office sighed in great relief when the colonel returned, unharmed.
At the bottom of the stairs, Nox turned left into the small corridor and walked past his turbolift, touching the door contact, which opened the sliding doors to the speeder port. The private speeder port was tiny, only supporting two vehicles at one time. The air currents buffeted him, but there was no danger of getting blown off the deck.
Darth Nox stood on the platform outside of the mega building hundreds of sublevels below ground level. He looked across the five hundred meter wide chasm, up to the top of the gargantuan rock cliff face to where ground level actually was. The massive speeder and taxiport of The Citadel was three hundred and four stories above his private speeder port, and around the corner of the mega building, seven hundred meters to his left.
It was as though he were deep down in a narrow canyon. He could hear the echoes of the speeder traffic very high overhead. The narrow sliver of sky, which he could see indicated it was late afternoon, Dromund, Dromund Kaas' star, would set soon.
Nox sighed, resigned to expect a long wait before a speeder would arrive to his private speeder port. It was over a three hour drive to the tiny spaceport in the southeast quadrant of the city.
"I'm going to be late for the scheduled launch," he thought out loud.
The dark lord shook his head in mild disgust. He hated his appointments showing up late and hated showing up late to his appointments, unless it suited his purposes. He walked to the edge of the platform, which extended beyond the side of the mega edifice.
Looking down hundreds of meters to the bottom, Nox let out a big wad of spit and watched it fall, making turns and swoops as it descended through the swirling currents of air. Nox lost sight of it long before it hit the bottom.
The dark lord had been waiting some time and was about to return to the office to ask the colonel to call again, and to light a fire under their butts, but just then he started to hear the echoing approach of a speeder in the canyon-like gap. The echoing approach of the speeder as it descended into the narrow canyon was distinct, so he knew it wouldn't be long. Nox moved back from the platform to the passenger waiting area so that the speeder could land.
"Uhg! It's about time!" he sighed, frustrated, adding facetiously, "I only had to wait thirty minutes."
Shortly, thereafter, the speeder slowed to a stop on the taxiport landing deck. Darth Nox stepped towards it, when a powerful sense of impending doom overcame him. Nox used the Force to dash back into the passenger waiting area and to the sliding doors. As he neared the doors, he blasted them into the building and out of his way with a massive Force Push attack.
Darth Nox ran into the building, just as the speeder exploded, killing its driver and assistant driver. The blast wave traveled into the small passage way and caught up with the dark lord throwing him forward.
Darth Nox regained consciousness. The world seemed to spin greatly around his head. He was initially unable to sit up. Imperial officers calmly issued orders, as sergeants and corporals shouted commands and harangued the troops to move quickly to carry out some urgent task or other.
Lights were shined into his eyes and a question was asked.
"Can you hear me, Dark Lord? Do you feel pain or numbing anywhere?"
"Summon Colonel Harten Larred. I will have words with him," Darth Nox said, slurring his speech.
"I'm here, Dark Lord," the colonel said, concealing his great worry.
Nox's vision finally began to clear and to focus. Nox spoke in a measured and seemingly calm manner as he finally managed to sit up against the wall of the passageway.
"Colonel Harten Larred, tell me about your coconspirators. For whom do you and your fellows work?"
"That is not the case, Dark Lord. As ordered, by my dark lord, I contacted the speeder pool and quickly arranged for your transport. After that, I have no knowledge of …"
Nox interrupted, as he unsteadily regained his feet, against the advice of the emergency medical response unit leader.
"You called for a transport from outside of the Imperial Reclamation Service?"
"Well… yes, Dark Lord. The Imperial Reclamation Service headquarters doesn't have a speeder pool," the colonel answered, his voice slightly quavering.
"How do you get around? If you need to get around, how do you do it? Don't you have any speeders that you use?" Nox asked, evenly.
"We rely on the 5727th Mobilization Division to supply us with transportation, Dark Lord, as do many of the headquarter elements of other units at The Citadel. We don't have our own vehicles at the headquarters," Colonel Larred answered, clarifying, "All of our speeder pools are with the forward deployed archaeological units scattered throughout the galaxy."
The colonel gulped back his fear, which he managed to hide well from his subordinate officers and enlisted personnel. However, Nox could not only sense his terrible fear, but also a complete lack of deceit.
A sergeant marched right up to Darth Nox and Colonel Larred. Coming to a complete halt, he snapped to attention and rendered a parade grade military salute to Darth Nox. Nox nodded his reply, waiting for the sergeant to speak. The sergeant pivoted to face the colonel and reported.
"Colonel Larred, Military police are here with two Sith observers. We are holding them off, as you've ordered."
"Did you summon them, Colonel?" Nox asked.
"Yes, Dark Lord."
"Why?"
The colonel seemed perplexed at the question.
"Dark Lord, a terrorist attack and attempted assassination had just been perpetrated. So, I called the police."
Nox turned to the sergeant.
"You said Sith lords were with them?"
"Yes, Darth Nox, Sir. Two Sith lords."
Darth Nox closed his eyes and reached out with The Force. He could feel their fear, and their hatred. He opened his eyes and looked around a bit and noticed the medical droid with the emergency medical response team.
"Droid, sit there against the wall," Nox ordered, pointing where.
"Patient 34-YTH-73, it is strongly recommended that you follow the emergency medical response team's medical advice," the droid replied.
The emergency medical response team leader repeated Nox's order, pointing where.
"Sit there, EMR-123PKM-WR45."
The droid sat as ordered. Nox then issued new orders.
"You will all pretend that is me," he told the emergency medical response team and the personnel of the Imperial Reclamation Service at the scene, "You will pretend that you are administering emergency medical attention to me. Say things that suggest that I am unfocused and unable to understand instructions."
"Yes, Dark Lord," the men replied, with looks of doubt and confusion on their faces.
To the emergency response team leader, "Ensure the droid does not reply to any inquiries. It is to remain still, and remain silent."
"Yes, Dark Lord," the team leader replied, before issuing the droid its orders, "EMR-123PKM-WR45, remain still, and do not move from that spot. Reply to no inquiries, and disregard all instructions except mine."
"Understood, Sergeant," the droid replied.
Nox stood before the droid, and asked, "Droid, what is my medical condition?"
The droid remained silent.
"Stand up, Droid."
The droid remained still. Stepping away from the droid and turning the personnel, Nox issued new orders.
"Colonel Larred, you will stand over there," Nox said, pointing where, "Keep your eyes on the droid and at the EMR team working on it."
"Yes, Sir."
"Wear a look of great concern on your face," Nox ordered, adding a caution to all, "Do NOT under any circumstance look at the real me. Always keep your eyes on the droid."
"Yes, Dark Lord."
"Sergeant, escort the military police unit and the Sith here. Point at the droid and say, There is the dark lord. Then I want you to leave. Do not stay in the area."
"As you command, Dark Lord," the sergeant replied, stomping his boot and turning about, before marching off to carry out his very strange orders.
Darth Nox walked a bit away from the scene and stood against the wall, where he waited for the investigators to arrive. The wait, however, was not very long as they heard the sergeant say his line.
"There is the dark lord."
The emergency medical response team leader spoke his line as the Army military police soldiers and their Sith lord observers approached.
"The dark lord seems confused."
As the emergency medical response team leader shined a light into the droid's eyes, one of the Sith lords spoke to the droid.
"Are you well, dark lord?"
The medical response team members and the Imperial Reclamation Service officers and enlisted were all in shock and deeply amazed at how the Sith lords and the military police actually believed that the droid was the dark lord. They all remained silent, however, as the charade played on.
"What's happened?" Nox asked in a frail and confused tone, "Where, where am I? Who are you?"
"Can you stand, Darth Nox?"
"What? I don't understand?" Nox said in a feeble voice.
Suddenly, the Sith drew, activated and attacked the droid with their lightsabers. Before the Sith lords could turn their weapons on the Imperial soldiers at the scene, one of the two was struck by a thick white bolt of lightning that instantly killed him and assaulted the ears of all present with its powerfully explosive crack.
The second Sith lord, realizing what had transpired, charged at Darth Nox in desperation, but he was struck in the back with blaster pistol fire at the hands of Colonel Larred. The Sith lord fell dead, on top of his still activated lightsaber. The Sith lord's dead flesh began to burn when the saber beam had cut its way into the dead Sith's armor.
Darth Nox used The Force to extract the weapon from underneath the dead Sith, and again used The Force to deactivate the weapon. He walked to the two dead bodies and looked at their faces. He didn't recognize either man, and therefore could not tell which of his rivals on the Dark Council the assassins served.
"Colonel Larred, find out who these two men are. Find out which sphere of influence they work for and report it to me."
"As you command, Dark Lord," Colonel Harten Larred answered.
Nox turned his attention to the four Imperial military police soldiers, who were frozen in shock at what had transpired.
"Who sent you to kill me?"
"Dark Lord, I swear, I don't know anything about what just happened here. We were ordered to respond to a bomb blast. These two Sith lords were assigned to accompany us, and we…"
"Who assigned them to accompany you?" Nox interrupted.
"Captain Yerris Buttahn assigned them, Dark Lord," the military police sergeant replied.
"Colonel Larred, accept the weapons of these four police and confine them under guard in one of the archives down below," Nox commanded, adding, "When I return from Korriban, I shall continue the investigation."
"As you command, Dark Lord," the colonel replied.
Then pointing at a few of his subordinates, he commanded, "Take their weapons and communications equipment. Take them down to sub-level three fifteen, warehouse twelve."
"Yes, Sir!" A sergeant replied crisply before snapping orders at his enlisted subordinates.
"Lieutenant Gert, you shall establish a guard force, and create a guard schedule to stand guard at the makeshift brig where these soldiers shall be confined. Post no fewer than four guards per shift. Close access to sub-level three fifteen. No one is to access that sub-level, excepting the guard detail, until the dark lord has taken custody of these prisoners."
"Understood, Sir," Lieutenant Gert replied.
The military police sergeant spoke with a slight tremor in his voice.
"Dark Lord, I swear we had no knowledge of these assassins. It is routine to have Sith accompany military police to crime scenes that involve other Sith lords. I didn't even imagine something like this would happen."
Through The Force, Nox could sense that the sergeant was telling the truth, but he gave him no reason to have peace of mind.
"When I return, I expect a written account from each of you, of how you were selected for this assignment, who selected you, how long these Sith had been working with your military police unit, and anything else that you can think of that will help with my investigation into what transpired here."
"Yes, Dark Lord!"
"Don't even think you can get away with lying to me. You cannot lie to me. I'll know it," to the soldiers assigned to take them to the makeshift prison, Nox commanded, "Take them away."
"Colonel Larred," Nox said, "find out which transportation units are involved with the speeder that was assigned to transport me. Get the names of unit commanders for each of these units."
"Dark Lord," the colonel pointed out, that would be the 5727th Mobilization Division."
He could tell that Nox was thinking about more to say and waited for additional orders.
Nox shook his head in disgust before continuing.
"I don't like it. The military police are involved, too, but we have no other choice. Coordinate with the Army military police to arrest that entire mobilization division. I want them arrested and jailed, with the goal of protecting them from assassination. There are witnesses and conspirators among them."
"Dark Lord," Colonel Harten Larred said, "if the dark lord finds it difficult to trust the Army, I could get the Imperial Navy Headquarters to supply Naval Investigative Services police troops for the arrest raid instead. Does the dark lord approve?"
"Yes! Do that!" Nox said, greatly approving, then adding, "I'll leave the rest to you, Colonel. The goal is to ensure that the witnesses and conspirators are not killed, so that I may interrogate them when I return."
"As you command, Dark Lord," Colonel Larred said.
The colonel was greatly relieved, believing that Nox no longer held him responsible, but he was wrong. Nox unfairly blamed him, believing that the colonel's stupidity allowed this to happen. He intended to rectify the matter when he returned from Korriban.
Darth Nox stepped away from the officers and soldiers as they carried out their tasks. He produced his portable transceiver and placed a call.
"Everyone's onboard, Boss," Andronikos said, adding, "We're just waiting on…"
Andronikos interrupted himself.
"Boss, you're looking banged up, even though you've changed armor. What happened?"
"Bring the ship to the Citadel. Pick me up in the taxiport in front of the building."
"Yeah, Boss. I'll be there, fast."
Nox cut the connection, and without another word to the troops made his way up the stairs and then through the maze-like passageways, which ultimately led to the turbolift. Frustratingly, he had to ask for directions along the way.
Nearly twenty minutes later, Darth Nox exited the turbolift and stepped into the lift lobby. It was crowded with bureaucrats, military officers, military security, with a smattering of Sith lords here and there.
Using The Force, the dark lord of the Sith elevated his voice so that he would be heard over the din of humanity echoing in the cavernous lobby..
"OUT OF MY WAY!"
The sea of people parted, as many fled to get out of the dark lord's way. Nox proceeded, unimpeded to the cavernous lobby of The Citadel. His voice had filled the large space as well, and was echoing. The massive throngs of people in the enormous lobby stood still, nervously looking about to see where the dark councilor was, so that they could figure out which way to move to get out of his way.
As soon as he was identified, by his trademark brilliant yellow and deep black armor, the people fled out of his way. Their murmuring voices echoed low in the cavernous lobby, as they remarked to one another the disheveled and bloodied condition of the dark lord.
As the dark lord approached the massive entrance to The Citadel, he started hearing the high pitched whining engines of a starship, his starship. Massive crowds of humans, and a few aliens, were still trying to enter the gargantuan government building. And there he spotted Khem Val.
The beastly Dashade swung his monstrous war blade, an oversized, overpowered vibrosword. The Dashade shouted obscenities at the hapless citizenry, threatening to cut them down and eat their carcasses if they did not clear from the massive building entrance.
The mobs scattered from the entrance for fear of their losing their lives. Darth Nox strolled out of the gaping entrance of the massive tower on his way to the back of his starship, parked right outside the building's entrance.
"Heh… Heh… Heh…" Nox gave a low mirthless chuckle, thinking, "My enemy will learn very soon that he has failed to destroy me. He will be drenched in fear as I close in on him and unmask his identity."
Nox suddenly remembered Zash's very guarded behavior.
"She couldn't possibly be in any position to challenge me. It can't be her. Can it?"
He decided to keep close watch of her, and Keeper came to his mind.
"That fool! Luring the Jedi to Korriban! I should execute him!" Nox thought, savagely, but then Darth Zash came to mind again.
"I still need him, but it might be more trouble to keep him."
Nox was torn about what to do about Keeper.
He strode up the ramp of the starship. Khem Val fell in behind his master up the ramp and then into his master's luxuriously appointed Fury-class Interceptor.
The ramp almost immediately came up and shut tight as the airlock established its air tight seal against the vacuum of space high above the atmosphere. The engines wound up their banshee screams and the starship levitated quickly into the air. It rose so quickly that it was already half way up the height of The Citadel.
Zash was standing at the window of her opulent office looking down at Nox's Starship as it rotated ninety degrees facing straight up. The massive panes of transparasteel windows had been masking the high pitched whine of the engines, until Andronikos barely nudged the throttles to one percent light speed.
The engines, shrieking screams, penetrated Zash's windows, as the ship shot upwards, but their screams were suddenly covered and obscured by their gargantuan thunderous roar. The starship's engines' roar filled the entire sky, and caused hundreds of millions of windows in Kaas City to vibrate violently. The roar of the twin starship engines were transmitted inside every home, every office, every business, in the megalopolis and into much of the jungle surrounding the walled city.
The starship's thunderous roar continued to echo across the sky, drowning out the sounds of speeder traffic throughout the city long after the starship had left the planet's atmosphere.
Darth Zash had stepped away from her violently vibrating window in her office, on the seven hundred and twentieth story.
"Aruk! That fool! Why couldn't he follow the plan?!" she thought furiously to herself.
She continued to stare out the window of her palatial office, with her sky-high view of the city below. However, all that filled her mind was Darth Nox's roar through her violently shaking window as he shot into space.
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