An Unimpeded Agenda
"Attention all hands. Attention all hands."
Nox, sitting at his desk in his stateroom stopped what he was doing to listen to Andronikos' announcement.
"We'll be dropping out of hyperspace in five minutes. We'll be dropping into a hot zone. All hands be ready for a really rough ride. It should be a whole lot of fun. Well, it'll be a lot of fun until we get blown into subatomic particles! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Khem Val shook his head disapprovingly at Andronikos' unprofessionalism as he fitted his heavy armored skull cap. He rose to his feet to admire himself on the holographic self-imager. The last time he'd worn his full armor was in the wars on Yn and Chabosh when he'd fought at Tulac Hord's side.
While he'd fought many enemies at Darth Nox's side, this was going to be the first time he would face an enemy army at Nox's side. It would be the first time that he would need to wear his full armor in three hundred years.
The Dashade monster was surprised that the suit of armor fit him properly. He was sure he hadn't regained all of his muscle mass since meeting Nox nearly sixteen years ago.
"I had wasted away while in stasis," Khem Val recalled, "but I have regained my strength while in my master's service."
Khem Val was convinced the suit of armor would fit too loosely on him until he had actually put it on. In his mind, regaining weight and strength reflected well on Nox's own power.
"As I feast on the strong enemies my master and I have slain, I become stronger. My master is great, and I am stronger than his enemies!"
He deactivated the holo-self-imager and stomped out of his quarters, stomping his way down the passageway and into the common crew section.
"Whoa! Khem! Look at you!" Andronikos exclaimed, "You look like you're getting ready to kill the whole planet!"
"It is because I can slay an entire world!" Khem Val exulted.
His heavy metal alloy armor sported an exotic paint scheme of red orange and yellow flames against a black background. His highly polished armor also showed the dents and scars of heavy battles in the ancient past.
"Just be sure you don't kill any of our guys, 'kay?" Andronikos said, jokingly.
"Our guys need only to stay out of my way, and they shall suffer no harm! Ha!" Khem Val said, in high spirits. He then asked, "Have you found the problem with my warblade, Pirate?"
"Yeah, I did," Andronikos answered, "It's three hundred years old. That old vibrosword gave you all it had left in it when you fired it up to shoo those people out of the Boss' way. It needs to be completely rebuilt. Even if I did fix it, it wouldn't last all that long. You may as well just get a new one – if they even make those anymore."
"That is unfortunate news," Khem Val said, his spirits suddenly dampened.
"You know, Khem?" Andronikos observed, genuinely curious, "That weapon I've seen you with all these years is more than plenty for killing Republic troops. Why do you think you need a monster like that old warblade?"
Khem Val looked at Andronikos as though he'd asked a stupid question.
"No. Seriously. Your regular vibrosword is a serious beast of a weapon. What could you possibly gain with that monster?"
Andronikos could hear the melancholy in Khem Val's voice.
"What you have seen me do with my regular weapon, I could do five times more with my warblade."
"You really wanted to bring your old warblade out for one more party, eh?" he asked the behemoth.
Khem Val merely nodded his massive head in reply.
"Alright, Khem. It won't be ready for this fight, but I'll see what I can do to get it working. Don't hold your breath though, and I don't think it'll last, even after it's fixed. I might not even be able to get it to work again," Andronikos said.
"There is no need, Pirate," Khem Val said, morosely, "I do not need to have everything from my old glory days," then with greater optimism, he said, "As I fight by my master's side, I shall have days of greater glory ahead!"
"That's the spirit, Khem!"
"I do not need your pity." Khem Val huffed indignantly.
"Two Minutes until the starship exits hyperspace," 2V-R8 announced over the public address system.
"I better get back to work," Andronikos said.
He launched himself from the lounge seat and rushed to the control bridge.
Darth Nox emerged from his state room, wearing his customary armor for which he was well known. He had been video recorded for many media reports in his flamboyant and stylish deep black and brilliant yellow armor. He was a dark councilor, and what he had to say was usually newsworthy, so he was in the news a lot. Nox was instantly recognizable, especially in his trademark armor.
This time, however, Nox had opted to wear the crown protector snapped into place on his armored collar. His face, from just below his lips to his brow was exposed. Also, the sides of his face above the jawline and just in front of his temples was exposed. His ears were protected under molded domes on the sides of the armored collar.
Nox saw Khem Val in his full armor and was surprised by it. He'd never seen the monster wear more than shoulder guards and vambraces. The only protection he usually wore for his lower extremities were shin and knee guards, and the behemoth had always fought barefooted with armored guards only protecting the tops of his feet. Khem Val would wear either a loin cloth or a kilt with only those few pieces of metal plate armor, and usually nothing more.
However, this time, the gargantuan beast wore a full suit of metal plate armor, including thigh armor, greaves, and sabatons. The monster even wore a utility belt with two enormous personal shield generators attached on each hip, and a helmet.
"You're really expecting a big fight, eh Khem?"
"My master, this is the armor I wore when I fought beside Tulac Hord on Yn and Chabosh! I now find a reason to wear this armor again, as I battle by your side on Korriban," Khem Val said, proudly.
"What?" Nox asked, a bit perplexed, and began to tick planets off on his fingers, "Belsavis, Taris, Hoth, Corellia, Ilum. You didn't think those were battles worth wearing your full armor for?"
"We have not fought on the front lines for any of those battles," Khem Val said, justifying his decision not to wear his full armor in those places with Nox, "Yes, my master. We did attack important strategic targets. We struck with great speed and violence, and we utterly destroyed many important enemies. Our crushing strikes made the fighting easier for the front line warriors.
"Yet, those were lightly defended targets, deep behind the lines of our enemies. They expected no such attacks from us. This time, my master, we shall fight on the front lines, where the fighting shall be the fiercest and where our enemies shall be the strongest. Also, this armor is ill suited for Hoth or Ilum."
The dark lord was reminded that both on Hoth and Ilum, they wore lightly armored extreme cold weather equipment. Nox simply shrugged and made his way to the command bridge.
"One minute until we drop out of hyperspace. Brace for heavy space combat," Andronikos announced on the ship's intercom.
In the overflow troop quarters, a platoon of heavy infantry had been making their final preparations to deploy for their mission as Nox's personal guard on Korriban. They remained in the troop quarters under orders from Khem Val.
"Do not trouble our master with your filthy presence while aboard his starship," Khem Val had told them when the platoon first reported for duty. He brusquely ordered the platoon commander, "You filth shall remain in these troop quarters, and shall not show your faces."
Lennell Juuntos wandered out of his quarters and into the common crew section. He spotted Khem Val and turned about to hurry back to his quarters. The behemoth had threatened to eat him if he saw him again, and the ship's captain vouched for the monster, too.
"Yeah, you wouldn't be the first of the Boss' apprentices that this brute's eaten," Andronikos lied, at the time, but then truthfully added, "Never let yourself be alone with him, kid."
Khem Val spotted the acolyte trying to flee to his quarters.
"Food! Come back here!" Khem had shouted at the hapless youth, "Report to my master in the control bridge. It is time for you to serve him. If you fail in your duties, I shall make you into my next snack!"
The youth did as he was told, giving the Dashade monster a wide berth as he rushed past. Lennell ran all the way to the control bridge, slowing to a walk only after he was safely out of sight of the behemoth Dashade.
Upon entering the darkened command bridge, the youth just happened to face the main canopy. He was treated to a rare sight enjoyed by very few starship passengers. The blue-white mottled glow of hyperspace had given way to the streaked traces of the stars which then very quickly shortened into pinpoints of light against the deep black backdrop of the vacuum of space.
Andronikos quickly slapped the fire control button to quickly begin the preprogrammed Identify Friend or Foe query sequence. The data generated was then fed to the next system in the fire control operations.
The artificially intelligent controller in the Target Identification, Acquisition and Engagement system immediately assigned priorities for the order of target engagement, in this case from nearest to furthest. In less than a second Nox's Imperial Fury-class Interceptor's fire control systems had completed all of their functions, identifying several warships in the vicinity, and determining which ones not to shoot at.
Andronikos, Nox, and the boy, braced themselves for the starship's automatically controlled wild maneuvers as the fire control system guided the Fury-class corvette against the nearest enemy target and to immediately begin firing upon the enemy warship.
This promised to be a heart racing experience for them all. Nox's warship would join the surviving Imperial warships in the area which Nox expected to be locked in a desperate battle over Korriban against the hated Republic enemy.
The starship, however, remained quiet, flying normally.
"Nothing's happening," Nox observed nervously in the commander's seat, "What's gone wrong?!"
"I'm checking, Boss," Andronikos replied, tersely.
Lennell Juuntos, could tell by the terse and tense reactions of his master and the ship's captain that everything had gone wrong.
After a moment, the semiretired pirate gave his report.
"There's forty warships in the area, Boss. All of them are ours."
"What?" Nox asked, in confusion, "That can't be right."
"We are being hailed, Master," 2V-R8 announced, "It is the Doombringer. Shall I accept the call?"
Andronikos, in the pilot's seat, was greatly surprised by this report. He snapped his head to look at the droid in the navigator's seat, disbelieving what he'd heard.
"Put it through," Nox ordered, also disbelieving the droid's announcement.
The holographic kneeling image of Moff Valion Pyron appeared over the center control console.
"Dark Lord, I am pleased to report that we've completely surprised the Galactic Republic naval forces here. We've destroyed two capital ships, three light cruisers, and four troop transporters. We've also inflicted heavy damage to the twelve remaining Republic naval vessels before they fled the battlefield. The cowards abandoned their ground forces on the surface.
"We have landed two corps of heavy infantry, supported by a division each of medium grade and heavy grade war droids. These war droid divisions were highly effective against Republic forces in the open desert. However, once we had reached the Temple of The Sith, we had to restrict their use to avoid damage to the ancient site.
"We've destroyed a fifth of the Republic ground forces, in the open desert, and broke their formations, forcing them to scatter across the desert. Heavy infantry and droid forces are running down the fleeing, Republic forces in the field.
However, operations at the Temple of The Sith has become stalemated. Republic forces and Jedi operating there have barricaded themselves inside of, and immediately around, the temple proper.
"We have limited our operations against them for fear of causing heavy damage to the ancient statues and structures at the base of the pyramid and on the temple's veranda. This is in accordance to Darth Arkous' orders to preserve the ancient temple. Yet, terrible damage had already been done to the ancient site when the enemy launched their raid.
"There is no doubt that we can destroy the enemy, but sending my troops in force will definitely mean the destruction of many ancient artifacts, Dark Lord. What are your orders?"
"Moff Pyron, you have my unmitigated respect for your extremely rapid response. I know your fleets traveled a very great distance. I didn't expect your forces to arrive until two and a half or three weeks after I had. How did you get here so fast?"
"Dark Lord, you honor me greatly! Thank you! It is the new fuel and the modified reactors. We were able to conduct a straight run continuous hyperspace jump from our position, midway between our hide position, and Korriban. Can you imagine it, Dark Lord? We conducted a sixteen thousand kiloparsec hyperspace jump in one shot!
"It cut several weeks from our original expected time of arrival with our original flight plan. The new fuel enabled our extraordinary hyperspace jump, but our fuel state is beyond optimal. It seems limitless. This fuel performs as advertised, Dark Lord! Your efforts in obtaining the Imperium from 24P36Q617-TSB have not been in vain!
"Unfortunately, if the Republic have been paying any attention, they'll figure out where the rest of our fleet is refitting and refueling. Not that they could do anything about it, Dark Lord."
Darth Nox recalled that Imperium was the new name for Isotope Five, and that it was Darth Marr's idea to rename Makeb to 24P36Q617-TSB. These new names were chosen to hide the fact that not only had the planet been saved, but that the Empire was mining the exotic fuel for its own uses.
"You've given me nothing but good news, Moff Pyron. Is there any bad news?" Nox asked his very powerful military vassal.
"Dark Lord, I regret to inform you that Darth Arkous is making his last stand, defending the Dark Council Chamber. The Jedi have breached the temple with Republic forces, as I've said earlier.
"We are fighting to reach the temple, but the enemy are very well dug in and have done a credible job of setting up ray shield defenses against aerial infantry assault. We are having trouble breaching their defenses to reach the temple, Dark Lord.
"Darth Arkous doesn't want us to use our heavy weapons; he wants us to limit our firepower to minimize damage done to the ancient site. Worst of all, we've lost contact with Darth Arkous and cannot reach him for new orders. As a result, we are unable to ask for permission to change tactics," Pyron reported before asking a second time, "What are your orders, Dark Lord?"
It was obvious to Nox that Pyron wanted new orders, and the dark lord suspected he knew what new orders Valion Pyron wanted.
"For now, Moff Pyron, continue to follow his orders," Nox replied, to the moff's great disappointment, "Do not allow the enemy to escape, and wait for the arrival of my strike team to assemble and to reach the ground. Continue with your attempts to make contact with Darth Arkous. If by the time I've reach the planet's surface you've yet to make contact with Darth Arkous, then I shall take over command and give you new orders."
Moff Pyron immediately realized that his benefactor didn't want his rival to survive this battle. He knew Nox wanted to lead the offensive. His discussion with Nox a few months before was all about Nox leading the offensive.
Arkous, however, seated over the Sphere of Military Offense presented an impediment to his benefactor's agenda. Moff Valion Pyron decided not to press Nox for new orders. This was a matter of Sith politics, he realized.
"We shall continue to apply pressure on the enemy, Dark Lord. We shall continue to whittle away at their numbers, but we shall maintain our current positions and prevent them from escaping into the desert wastes. Dark Lord, we look forward to your arrival on Korriban."
"Very good, Moff Pyron," Nox replied solemnly, before cutting the connection.
Darth Nox fervently hoped that Darth Arkous had been killed.
Turning to Andronikos, who was busy piloting the starship, Nox gave new orders.
"As my other forces arrive, you shall arrange for my Sith followers to board this ship. I shall gather all of my followers to me to create the strike team that shall enter the temple to confront the Jedi."
"You got it, Boss," Andronikos, replied, promising, "I'll take care of all the little details," then asking, "Who am I bringing aboard, Boss?"
"Darth Virulous, Darth Eviscerous, Lord Calaverous, and Darth Zash."
Andronikos looked up from his pilot's controls and swiveled his seat around to face Nox.
"You're really letting Zash aboard, Boss? Zash?!"
"She and her apprentices. You shall treat her with the utmost courtesy, Andronikos," Nox said.
"As long as I don't got to sleep with her, Boss. She's been after me for the longest, and she's given me the creeps for just as long."
Andronikos thought back to when it was discovered that Zash was a geriatric 130 year old crone when she attempted to possess Kallig's body.
Up until then, everyone believed that she was a vibrant and attractive thirty-something woman, but she was using a Dark Force technique to maintain her youth. To this day, no one ever learned of the thousands of slaves she'd sacrificed over the decades to keep her youthful appearance and to extend her life.
Zash attempted to steal Kallig's body but failed when Khem Val disrupted her ritual, resulting in Zash and Khem Val sharing the Dashade's body.
The consciousnesses of Zash and Khem Val constantly warred for control of the Dashade's body. When he reigned supreme in his own body, Zash was shoved into the subconscious mind. When Zash held sway, it was the Dashade's existence that was entrapped in his own subconscious.
This war of control lasted nearly ten months. During those ten long months, Kallig made many deals with Zash while she controlled the Dashade's body, and he received many assurances from her. She included many inducements, including granting him the access codes to all of her financial accounts, and gave him the locations of her secret research.
Even Khem Val, who could not hear their exchanges while he was trapped in the deep recesses of his own mind, expressed his fear that Kallig was plotting against him.
Andronikos recalled how Kallig surprised everyone when he betrayed and then entrapped Zash's consciousness in the Rakata mind trap, which the Sith lord then abandoned in the deep ruins of Taris. He'd intended that the device would be lost and never found again. Such was Kallig's hatred for Zash.
Khem Val was at a loss, not understanding why Kallig would save him. He had nothing to offer his master. Zash had given him so much wealth, and had given him so many guarantees for access to her most secret research. The only thing Khem Val could think of was that Kallig would hold him forever in the Sith lord's debt, making him worse than a servant. Khem Val would become Kallig's slave, because his debt to the Sith lord could never be repaid.
Kallig's answer to the Dashade's inquiry, "Why did you save me?" deeply surprised the Dashade.
Kallig had told the Dashade monster all of those years ago, "You saved me from her, Khem. You could have been freed from my service and let her have her way with me. However, you honored your commitment to your oath to serve me until you could defeat me. It was my turn to save you. I owed you a debt that I had to repay."
Kallig had thought to use the Dashade's sense of honor with those sappy words, to bind the behemoth to his service forever, but he inadvertently ended up making a friend instead.
Andronikos shook his head to prevent his brain from conjuring an image he did not wish to imagine.
"Yeah, she's got a brand new, hot bod, athletically toned, nice curves. But it was a Jedi's body before she took it over!" he told himself.
His brain rebelled, successfully conspiring against the pirate, and conjured the unwanted image anyway. Zash, in Khem Val's body, blowing kisses at him.
"Oh! Gross!" Andronikos thought, repulsed and shaking his head to be rid of the image.
"She's changed bodies once too many times for me, Boss!" Andronikos said aloud.
He hoped that speaking aloud his objections about Zash constantly changing bodies would distract his brain from its pranks.
"She gives me the creeps, Boss. That ain't her body!"
"Well, she's in possession of it now, Andronikos. For all intents and purposes, that makes it hers. You don't agree?" Nox asked, mildly surprised at the semi-retired pirate's declaration.
"If it's in your hand, nine times out of ten, the law will say it's yours, eh Boss?" Andronikos said, quoting an old adage.
"Hmmm... How strange," Nox thought, puzzled, "Darth Zash has quite an attractive body, and her face is quite comely. Why does it matter to him where she'd gotten it?"
Nox found himself mildly surprised at the pirate's unexpected squeamishness.
Andronikos turned to look over his shoulder at his employer.
"Would you do her, Boss?" Andronikos asked, overcome with curiosity.
"Oh! I hate Zash with a passion! I can't look at her without wanting to run my sabrestaff through her! It doesn't matter whose body she's got on, or how attractive it is. I want her dead."
"I thought we was gonna fight the Republic, Boss. Are we gonna kill Zash on your ship?" Andronikos asked, confused about Nox's intentions.
"This time, I need her help dealing with the Jedi. I can't kill her, yet."
After a moment's silence, Andronikos changed the subject.
"Don't worry, Boss. I won't cause any trouble for you, but Khem's gonna get all worked up with Zash aboard the ship."
"I'll speak to Khem Val. He won't embarrass me," Nox assured the pilot and captain of his starship.
"If you say so, Boss," Andronikos had replied, doubtful of his employer's assurances. He swiveled his seat to get back at the controls while thinking to himself, "The ol' monster will just bite her head off. Yep, first chance he gets, Zash becomes Dashade food."
Over the next twenty hours, galactic standard, the others arrived on various Imperial military starships. Eviscerous arrived last.
His troops were not needed since Moff Pyron had flooded the battlefield with heavy infantry supported by medium and heavy grade war droids. Darth Eviscerous ordered his forces back to the Tatoo star cluster to resume their security patrols. He kept a single Fury-class interceptor in the system for his own transportation back to his task force when the fight on Korriban had come to a close.
Lord Calaverous, who arrived first, surprised Nox the most. Calaverous arrived with three Terminus-class star destroyers and a division of heavy infantry. All were on loan to him from Darth Komo. He was going to owe Komo a great debt, but Darth Komo also stood to gain favor with Nox, for unselfishly supplying these forces.
"You have done well to come up with so many troops and naval assets, Lord Calaverous. However, they will not be needed. Moff Pyron is here with overwhelming force. Order your units back to Taris."
Nox saw the disappointment and frustration in Calaverous' facade and decided to say something about it.
"Lord Calaverous, I am impressed with your resourcefulness. It is not easy to come up with such scarce resources. I will remember this."
"The dark lord honors me greatly!" Calaverous said.
The ambitious Sith lord hoped he sounded genuinely sincere. Since he was competent in his control of The Force, and in control of his thoughts and feelings, he succeeded in convincing Nox of his sincerity.
Calaverous hoped the tradeoff would be worth whatever favors Komo would ask of him for the use of his forces. He knew Komo would ask for a lot. He just hoped that whatever those favors were wouldn't lead to his untimely death.
With the Sith lords assembled on his starship, Nox was ready to face the Jedi. Back in the control bridge, Nox gave his orders to the semiretired pirate.
"Take us to the ground, Andronikos, and get us as close as is possible without getting us blasted out of the sky."
"You got it, Boss."
The pirate then made contact with Moff Pyron's staff. He asked for landing coordinates on the planet's surface, and for coordination with ground forces to transport Nox and his party to the Temple of The Sith.
Andronikos explained the Imperial Army's plan to get Nox and his people to the temple, after which Nox got on the ship's overhead and gave his orders to the Sith aboard his ship.
"Attention. We are on our way down. When we land we shall be met by an armored ground transport. We must rush off the starship and into the armored transport. The area is subject to bombardment, so we must move swiftly. I'll lead the way, and you shall follow me. Lieutenant Garfelt, I do not need your infantry platoon. Do not deploy. That is all."
Virulous, standing a few meters to the side of the heavily armored Khem Val, swept her eyes across the common crew section. Like Calaverous before, and Eviscerous after her, she had ordered her military forces to return to whichever star system they had come from to resume their normal duties.
She counted the Sith aboard her master's ship, Eviscerous with three apprentices, Calaverous with one, and Zash with two. Counting herself, her master, Khem Val, and the youth who'd survived Nox's experiment, it made their numbers thirteen strong.
"This is all the dark lord could muster?" she thought, a bit disappointed, asking herself, "What about those Sith he has decoding and translating ancient holocrons? Couldn't any of them participate in this battle?"
Virulous did not account for the fact that, although those Sith were steeped in the knowledge of Dark Side rituals, they were mainly elderly academicians and not warriors. A number of these scholars had become addled by Dark Side corruption. So, they tended to be useless on the battlefield.
Khem Val always regarded potential rivals and enemies of Darth Nox with deep suspicion. He stood quietly eyeing everyone in the common crew space. Virulous, standing a little ways away from him had been revealed to be a threat to his master through his surveillance. However, after returning from her mysterious mission, it was quite apparent to him that she had become an even greater threat.
Khem Val, a predator who naturally preyed on Force users, could sense how strong in The Force a Sith lord, a Jedi, or an untrained Force sensitive was. The Dashade beast took note that Virulous didn't smell like her usual self.
It was as though he'd never met her before. The behemoth Dashade could tell that the petite Sith lord was much, much stronger than before. He didn't recognize her. To him, she was different, someone else.
When Virulous first laid eyes on Khem Val in his colorful battle armor with its flame motif, she was struck with how much bigger he seemed. He took up a lot of space all by himself! The armor made him even more intimidating than ever.
Eviscerous, genuinely interested, felt that he needed to say something to the Dashade about his armor. Eviscerous was decked out in his own heavy plate armor, which was cobalt blue with black markings and accents. He stomped his way to within two meters of the behemoth and stopped, looking the monster over and nodding his appreciation at what he saw.
"Your armor is eye catching, functional, and intimidating, all at once! Which armorer did you commission to have it made?"
"Tulac Hord commissioned a Mandalorian armor maker to produce this armor and gifted it to me," the Dashade said, proudly.
It was common knowledge that the Dashade was woken from stasis by Nox, sixteen years ago, and that the Dashade was put into stasis by Tulac Hord over three hundred years ago.
A young Kallig wanted everyone to know about his power. So he told anyone who'd listen about the Dashade's origins, and about how it was he who'd freed and subdued the monster.
This explained why no one was surprised, nor incredulous, about Khem Val's assertions that Tulac Hord had gifted him a suit of armor.
"It is splendid," Eviscerous said, nodding his approval, before turning away to return to where his apprentices sat.
"You just wanted to see how long you'd last before he ate you," Zash teased the Sith warrior.
"No, Dark Lord, I really had a genuine interest in his armor," Eviscerous confessed, "It was especially intriguing to learn that he'd gotten it as a gift from Tulac Hord. That makes his armor an antique, and explains the exotic paint scheme. Exotic decorations on armor was something that was done very long ago. You'll only see examples of it in museums these days."
"Khem is a living antique. He belongs in a museum," Zash said loud enough to ensure the Dashade heard her.
"And you belong in my stomach, Witch!" The behemoth countered, sharply.
"Now, now, Dark Lord, don't antagonize the Dashade. I don't think he's eaten recently. He might be hungry," Calaverous said, with humor in his tone.
As though amused, Virulous said, "I wonder. Why did Darth Nox invite you to come with us anyway?" She purposely omitted Zash's title, dark lord, "We all know how much he hates you, and here you are surrounded by his most powerful followers."
Zash became greatly alarmed. It was true. In lounge seats in front of her were Calaverous and Eviscerous and their followers, and standing behind her were Virulous and Khem Val.
Zash slowly rose from her seat, believing that she was about to be assassinated. Her two apprentices also rose to their feet, grasping the hilts of their weapons but not detaching them from their belts. Zash and her apprentices looked ready for a fight.
Eviscerous, greatly amused, shook his head in disbelief at Virulous' childish provocation, while Calaverous gently planted his smirking facade into the palm of his hand.
"Darth Virulous, such remarks are unhelpful," Eviscerous said, with a light chuckle at the reaction his ally had gotten out of Zash.
Yet, he felt compelled to remind his petite ally, "Darth Nox is focused on destroying the Jedi who have desecrated our holy temple and who have done harm to our pride as Sith lords. The dark lord is not interested in settling scores with anyone else. At least not now, he isn't."
Then turning his head to look at a fearful and furious Zash, he told her, "Dark Lord, you can rest assured that the dark lord is not interested in betrayals and back stabbings. Perhaps later, but not now. Today, we shall present a unified front against our common foe, the Jedi."
Zash looked unconvinced until Khem Val shouted in disgust.
"Witch, I would have already torn out your throat if it wasn't for my master's stern command to do you no harm!"
That finally convinced Zash. The Dashade's furious admission had given her peace of mind. Khem Val was not a liar. If it was Nox's intention to kill her, the Dashade would have attacked her on sight.
She and her followers resumed their seats, but Zash turned to give Virulous a dirty look just before she sat. Virulous didn't even smirk. She merely kept her eyes on Zash as she returned to her seat.
"Some little girl will get severely hurt if she doesn't remember her place," Zash said in a stormy tone.
"I have Arus' knowledge, her wisdom, and her cunning. I'm not the same as before," Virulous said, coolly.
Zash had enough of Virulous' disrespect. It was the second time that she did not address her by her title, dark lord. Zash stood and turned about to face Virulous. She was going to make a demonstration of her power, but the look on Virulous' face gave her pause.
Virulous had on the look of a fiend. Her grin was that of a predator about to strike. Zash had never seen that expression on the once demure and reserved petite Sith lord. Khem Val shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Zash turned her eyes just in time to watch him wipe drool from his mouth, reminding her that he was waiting for the slimmest of excuses to striker her down – and eat her.
In the end Zash confessed to herself that it would be unwise to pick a fight with one of them; they might all retaliate. So, in the end, Zash only spoke sternly to Virulous.
"Remember your place AND mine, little girl." Zash said, her voice shaking with fury.
Virulous kept her grin, but kept silent. Her impudence was too much, Zash had to do something or she would lose face in front of her apprentices and Nox's followers.
"Say it! Say my title, little girl," Zash commanded.
Darth Eviscerous spoke.
"Darth Virulous, keep in mind, Darth Nox's wishes, and his goals."
Virulous' predator's grin diminished. Her gaze turned from Eviscerous and back towards Zash.
"Dark Lord," Virulous said, acquiescing.
Zash turned to face Eviscerous.
"Darth Eviscerous. That was diplomatic of you, but I am capable of straightening out my own problems."
Eviscerous nodded once his acknowledgement, and Zash resumed her seat.
Suddenly, the ship shook quite severely. Virulous and Khem Val, who'd been standing, both staggered greatly, but quickly regained their balance. Shortly after, Darth Nox rushed out of the command bridge and into the common crew section, the youth hot on his heels.
"Everyone, follow me!"
The Sith all sprang to their feet and ran after Nox, towards the main airlock and the ramp. As the Sith ran down the ramp, they could hear the sounds of fierce fighting coming from all directions. It was as though there were battles raging all around them. However, this was an illusion. The many sounds of battle were merely echoes bouncing off of the sides of the narrow ravine within which the ship had conducted its very hard landing.
The party of Sith lords, had dashed down the ramp of the starship, across two meters of red rock encrusted sand, and then up the ramp and into the armored troop carrier, which had backed to a stop immediately behind the starship. The safety crew chief immediately began to raise the ramp of the armored ground transporter. As soon as the ramp shut, the articulated tracked armored carrier lurched forward, accelerating across the red sand and gravel at the bottom of the ravine.
Nox's starship blasted gravel and sand everywhere as it shot into the sky. The thunderous roar of the starship could be heard and felt through the armored hull of the tracked armored vehicle. Mere seconds later, the booming reports of dozens of large caliber artillery shells, raining down into the ravine, drowned out the starship's powerful roar.
The concussive blast waves of the high explosive shells reverberated through the armored hull of the transport. It was as though several overgrown rancors were banging the sides of giant metal drums with boulders. Almost nonstop was the sound of shattered rock, gravel, and metal shrapnel peppering the armored hull of their transport.
"Dark Lord, you were not exaggerating about how quickly that artillery would come down on us!" Darth Eviscerous said, laughing.
"Ha! This is like Yn and Chabosh!" Khem Val chimed in, "We shall have our fill of war, here!"
Eviscerous nodded agreement with the behemoth.
Meanwhile, Calaverous, Virulous and Zash all held their eyes closed. Each of them were sure that one or more of those artillery shells would impact the top of their transport and obliterate them all.
The passengers of the armored transport fell silent, but the cacophony of the bombardment continued, and Eviscerous turned his eyes to the youth, sitting across from Nox, he wondered at the dark lord's wisdom in bringing the youth to the fierce battle. Eviscerous wasn't the only one who had reservations about the youth going into a war zone, however.
Virulous, as a way to distract herself from the bombardment outside of the vehicle, wondered to herself what use the child would be to Nox.
"If he gets in the dark lord's way, I'll end him when the dark lord isn't looking," she vowed to herself.
Just as quickly as the rain of artillery began, it had suddenly ended. After that, the mechanical sounds of the armored tracked vehicle would become a constant racket that would fill their ears the rest of their trek towards the Temple of The Sith.
The growling roar of the engines, the whining grind of the transmission gear boxes, and the distinct screams of the twin turbines feeding compressed air into the engines, to be mixed with highly compressed hydrocarbon fuel vapor, made themselves heard, in the absence of the din of the artillery barrage.
The growl and whine of the drive train varied in pitch and intensity, depending on acceleration, deceleration, and turns, making it seem as though the armored transport was commenting, complaining, and harshly criticizing the rough treatment its driver was putting it through.
In contrast, the monotone metallic rattle of the tracks seemed to keep time, as the four drive sprockets caught the links of the four tracks of the articulating armored transport. The crushing grinding sound of the tortured rock and gravel added to the noise as the tracks ground into the rock encrusted sandy terrain. The rattling cacophony was monotonous to their ears, and the vibrations through the hull of the armored transport was numbing to their bodies.
The passengers kept silent for the next thirty minutes of the jarringly rough and bumpy ride, as the tracked transport sped across the red rocky and sandy landscape. The armored transport zigzagged to dodge large boulders scattered across the widening red desert valley floor. It ascended and descended as it traversed the undulating red sand dunes as it neared the mouth of the valley. The articulated tracked armored transport then made a mad dash across a wide expanse of utterly flat rock encrusted, sandy plains.
Darth Nox sat across the narrow aisle from Lennell Juuntos. He had been lost in his idling thoughts, but as his mind seemed to become aware of its surroundings, the dark lord found himself staring at the youth. The boy seemed busy studying his fingers and nails.
Nox began scrutinizing the youth's armor choices in the dimly lit interior. It appeared to the dark lord that the youth had followed his advice on the armor types and materials the boy should get. Then he noticed the youth's weapon.
"I cannot believe that you are actually bringing a training baton to the battlefield," Nox, incredulous, said to the boy.
"Master, this isn't a training baton, it's a standard Imperial Army high energy edgeless vibrosword," Lennell told his master, "I got it, when I got the armor."
From Nox's point of view, it amounted to the same thing. He remembered his time as an acolyte, and that's what he was armed with, a standard Imperial Army edgeless vibrosword. It was as low end as it got when it came to melee weapons. Training batons were just one or two steps lower.
Nox never knew why it was called a vibrosword, however. It was a very high energy vibrating rod that caused significant damage to flesh and bone on contact, but it didn't cut the way an edged vibrosword would.
"The Force shall test you this day, Acolyte," Nox told the survivor of his failed experiment.
Zash noticed the child for the first time and instantly recognized him. She got up from her seat and staggered her way towards the front of the bouncing, zigzagging troop carrier. She then brazenly sat on the vacant bench seat beside Nox in the troop compartment.
"I was told you had died, Acolyte Lennell," Zash said pointedly to her poached Academy student.
"I snagged him out in the wastes on his way to some tomb or other, Lord Zash," Nox lied, "Since he went missing, the Academy likely believed him dead."
The youth's heart beat furiously with fear upon learning that the tall beautiful woman across the narrow aisle from him was Darth Zash. He was on trials at the Sith Academy for her.
"You know better than to poach another Sith Lord's potential apprentices, Lord Nox," Zash said, sternly.
Nox shrugged. He'd been caught red handed. It was a serious violation of protocol and tradition.
"What can I say, Darth Zash. You've got me," he told her.
However, Zash could tell that Nox didn't give a care about what she thought or what the Dark Council would say if she told them about it.
"Return him to me," she demanded.
"No," Nox said, simply.
"Compensate me for him," she demanded, next.
"What do you want for him?" Nox asked.
"Twenty million credits," Zash said, smugly, without hesitation.
It was a wholly unreasonable demand, and she knew that Nox would balk. Without even hesitating, Nox produced a blank credit card and his datapad. To Zash's shock and dismay, she watched as he transferred credits into the card and then casually handed it to her.
Zash had no other choice but to accept the credit card. She waved her datapad over the card and was stunned when she verified that Nox had actually given her the money. Filled with doubts and consternation, she returned the emptied credit card to Nox. However, in a sneaking attempt to catch Nox in a lie, she suddenly directed another pointed question at the child.
"When did Overseer Ragate send you to Darth Nox?"
The young man spoke before Nox could silence him.
"I was in the desert, on my way to the tomb of Naga Sadow. Darth Nox stopped his speeder in front of me and told me to get in, Dark Lord."
"He learns quickly!" Nox thought, deeply impressed with the boy.
Zash leaned back against the vibrating armored inner hull of the transport. She had no proof that the Academy gave her apprentice to her rival. After thinking it through for a bit, Zash also came to realize that no one on the Dark Council would have the motivation to challenge Nox over the matter.
While it was a serious violation of longstanding tradition, it would not be all that big of a deal to any of them. After all, it wasn't any of their apprentices that had gotten poached. It was her apprentice. She would end up appearing weak for not doing something about it herself.
Zash decided it wasn't worth making a fuss over this minor transgression, deciding to move on instead.
"What is your plan, once we enter the temple?" she asked Nox.
"I'm going to lend Lord Calaverous to you," Nox told her, "When we enter, you'll go down into the lower levels of the Academy and the libraries. Kill any enemies you find down there.
"I'll take my team to the upper Academy and the Council Chamber. When you have destroyed our enemies down below, join me up in the Council Chamber."
Zash nodded acceptance of Nox's plan, and turned her head to regard Calaverous seated across from her. Calaverous gave her a nod while wearing a thin smile. He was disappointed, wanting to fight alongside his dark lord. He wanted Nox to see what he could do.
"Darth Nox honors me greatly!" Calaverous declared, while hiding his disappointment, "I shall not bring shame to you, Dark Lord. Darth Zash shall see that all of your vassals are strong!"
"Vassals? Not servants?" Zash asked, taking a dig at Nox's followers.
"Vassal, servant," Eviscerous observed, philosophically, "They mean the same thing in the end. Vassal just has a nicer ring to it. And when the dark lord has ascended the vacant throne, you too, Darth Zash, shall become his vassal."
Zash immediately shot Eviscerous a look filled with her furious displeasure.
"First, he has to ascend the throne," she said, caustically, to Eviscerous.
"Do you doubt that I will, Darth Zash?" Nox asked his rival.
"A lot can happen between now and then, Darth Nox," she replied, adding, "Your ambitions may not be realized."
Nox shrugged.
"I am quite confident that I will realize my ambitions," Nox said, sweeping his hand to indicate his followers, adding, "I have already accumulated great power." Looking pointedly at his accidental follower, he said, "And my power continues to grow."
"I can't believe you're taking this child into a battlefield," Zash said, critically of Nox. Then turning to the youth, "How old are you, child?"
"Dark Lord, I will turn thirteen in only three months," the youth said, as though trying to prove he was no child.
"It's one thing to send a child into dangerous tombs to collect ancient artifacts, or to copy ancient texts carved in stone, but to an actual battlefield? He'll be facing hardened Republic troops and Jedi. Just look at his armor. It's all brand new, not a single scratch on it. He has no experience at all. You're basically sending him to his death," Zash said, shaking her head at Nox.
"He destroyed a Force ghost in the Dark Temple," Nox said, looking at the youth, "He'll be just fine against the Jedi."
"You took him to the Dark Temple?" Zash asked, incredulous.
"I sent him into a dangerous temple to collect ancient artifacts," Nox lied, "While searching, he was accosted by a Force ghost, but he handled himself well."
Zash turned her gaze to the youth. Fascination filled her expression.
"You sent him into the Dark Temple?" she asked, amazed.
Nox said nothing to that, merely keeping his eyes fastened to the youth. The other Sith lords in the armored tracked troop carrier, all turned their eyes to the youth, amazed at what they'd heard about him.
"I could have asked for a hundred million credits, and you would have paid it," she said.
"I would have paid it," Nox confessed, this time, truthfully.
The armored vehicle suddenly rocked violently to the right, the passengers were thrown out of their seats. The interior sounded like being on the inside of a giant metal drum getting violently beaten with a giant durasteel sledge hammer wielded by an enraged monster. Something obviously hit their armored troop transport, very hard.
The tracked armored transport made a sharp turn towards the left and then ground to a very hard stop. Whatever it was that hit them on the side, was now hitting them on the front of the armored troop carrier.
Each time they were hit, the hull reverberated and the articulated tracked armored transport shook violently as though a huge bell tolled the hour. It seemed as though it would never stop, but the vehicle was hit on the front only four times. Immediately after the gonging and violent shaking had stopped, the armored carrier resumed its trek across the barren hot red rocky desert, turning to the right to return to its course.
The safety crew chief staggered forward in the troop compartment and stopped before Darth Nox and Darth Zash, who'd just returned to their seats along with the other Sith lords.
"Dark Lords, we were struck by artillery blaster fire, but our shields held up. Our escort tanks took out the enemy heavy artillery droid that ambushed us. We have resumed our march to the temple. We should be arriving within ten minutes," the safety chief waited for their responses after completing his report.
Darth Zash said, "Very well."
Darth Nox asked, "Why did we turn in the direction of the artillery droid and stop?"
"Dark Lord, we turned to face the enemy droid to present the smallest target and to concentrate our shielding power over the smallest area," the Imperial soldier explained, "This way we could take more artillery blaster hits before the shields gave out."
"It sounded as though the hull was getting beaten," Zash observed.
"That was the concussive blast waves that hit the hull after the bolts disbursed against the shielding, Dark Lord," the Imperial soldier explained.
"Very well," Darth Nox said, "Carry on.
"Yes, Dark Lord," the safety crew chief said before returning to his seat at the very back.
Ten minutes later, the tracked vehicle came to a lurching halt, but not for long. Almost as suddenly, the tracked armored vehicle began to crawl forward, proceeding slowly and making turns, right, and then left. Suddenly, the vehicle lurched forward as the vehicle made a high speed dash, before grinding to another sudden halt.
The safety crew chief rose to his feet and faced the Sith lords.
"Dark lords, my lords!" he shouted to be heard, "When the ramp drops, rush out of the vehicle and stay close to the stone wall! Follow the wall all the way back! You will find the forward battle command post! May The Force serve you well!"
The safety crew chief resumed his seat, and spoke something unheard into his communicator. The armored tracked vehicle lurched forward again, in a mad dash. This time the armored hull reverberated with the blast waves of dozens of lower powered blaster bolts. Nox realized they were being hit with blaster rifles, and not war droid mounted blaster cannons or artillery. The impacts were much less severe.
Suddenly, without slowing, the tracked vehicle lurched to the right, traveled straight for about ten more seconds and came to another grinding halt. Immediately, the ramp began to drop, and the safety crew chief stepped down the ramp. The soldier turned to face the interior.
"GO! GO! GO! GO!" the soldier shouted while pointing in the direction the Sith Lords should run.
Darth Nox was next to last to exit the troop carrier. He ran along the very tall red, solid stone wall. Lennell Juuntos stayed behind Nox. As he ran, Nox noticed carvings on the face of the wall and became shocked. This was no wall; it was one of two giant obelisks, which had stood for thousands of years in front of the pyramidal Temple of The Sith, which housed both the Sith Academy and the seat of the Dark Council. The ancient five hundred meter tall obelisk had been toppled.
Realizing where he was, Nox stopped and turned to look to his right, at The Emperor's Approach.
The Emperor's approach was a fifty kilometer long seven hundred meter wide grand road. The amazing distinction of this road was not its length and width, although that was amazing in and of itself, but that it was carved. It wasn't paved. It was carved, carved from a range of mountains.
On either side of the grand road were gigantic statues, which had all been carved from the same mountains as the road. All seventy one pairs of the nine hundred meter tall statues, which were spaced seven hundred meters apart along the fifty kilometer length of the road, and the road itself, were literally one carving – fifty kilometers long.
Extending for another fifteen hundred meters, at the end of the grand road, carved out of the same red rock of the mountain range, was the temple complex. Within the temple complex, which was one thousand five hundred meters squared, was the pyramid itself. The pyramid, named the Temple of The Sith, was one thousand three hundred meters high at its apex, four hundred meters taller than the gargantuan statues.
Originally, the two rows of statues represented worshipers, facing their god walking along the center of the road. Each pair of statues, stood, facing towards each other with their arms down at their sides and their heads stooped in worshipful reverence.
The object of their reverence was the forgotten god of the very ancient Sith Pureblood peoples. This forgotten god approached the temple complex at the end of the grand road.
However, this ancient historical fact was unknown to the current inhabitants of Korriban and unknown to the Sith adherents in the temple. The true history had been forgotten.
The statues, the temple complex, and the road were all carved out by the blood sweat and tears of well over twenty million slaves over a period of eight generations just over eight thousand years ago, well before the time of the Dark Jedi on Korriban.
The trillions of tons of the megalithic red stone blocks quarried from the fifty two and a half kilometer range of mountains were used to build massive tombs, grand monuments, and opulent palaces all over Korriban. Much of these ancient constructions remain buried under the sands of Korriban's deserts around the globe to this day.
Archaeologists continue to make new discoveries, uncovering more about the ancient, nearly forgotten civilization of the Sith Pureblood from before the time of the Dark Jedi, and before the beginning of the dominion of the Sith lords.
The Officers and the enlisted men and women of the Imperial Reclamation Service had been tasked with the conduct of archaeological digs all over Korriban. With great enthusiasm, these military archaeologists continue to uncover very, very ancient history.
However, the Sith lords in the hierarchy of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge have always primarily concerned themselves with any discoveries relating to the Dark Jedi and their Sith descendants. For them, it has always been the search for lost ancient dark secrets of The Force which drove their search for history.
While trillions of tons of the megalithic stone blocks, carved away from the mountains, had been transported around the planet for their grand constructions, tens of billions of tons of the same rock had been crushed into small rubble. This crushed rubble was laid down in a circle a meter thick and ten kilometers in radius. Precisely in the center of this circle of crushed rubble was the massive temple complex.
Over the millennia, the hot desert winds of Korriban filled in the spaces between the shards of rubble with the tiny grains of red sand. This resulted in an artificial, extraordinarily flat, rock encrusted sandy plain as far as the eye could see.
The resulting effect was very aesthetically appealing. From at least ten kilometers away, and in some cases from much further away, depending from which direction one viewed the temple complex, one could see to the center of the artificial rocky plain. There, where the Temple of The Sith stood, was the exact center of the circular plain, twenty kilometers in diameter.
Standing on either side of The Emperor's Approach, leading to the mountain sized pyramid, were the impossibly tall colossi. All one hundred and forty two of them were arranged in seventy one pairs, stretching fifty kilometers out, beyond the border of the artificial plain.
Four thousand years after completion of the colossi statuary, the massive temple complex and the mountain sized pyramid at the center of the artificial rocky plain, the Dark Jedi found Korriban and settled in. Using the power of The Force, they wowed and enslaved the Sith Pureblood. They co-opted some of the Sith Purebloods' massive constructions, while deconstructing others to use the quarried stone blocks in other constructions.
The Dark Jedi intermarried with the naturally Force sensitive Sith Pureblood, who were not very skilled at using The Force. These Dark Jedi sired very powerful well trained Force sensitive children. Sometime after that, the descendants of the Dark Jedi began calling themselves the Sith, and the lords of the Sith, and dark lords of the Sith.
By his decree, Marka Ragnos, the first Emperor of The Sith, had renamed the temple and the road, changing their names to the Temple of The Sith, and The Emperor's Approach. Their original names had been erased from history and memory. Also erased from history was the original religion of the Sith Pureblood, and the name of their god.
Marka Ragnos decreed himself the god of the Sith Pureblood. He was to be revered and worshipfully obeyed by his common Sith Pureblood subjects.
After over eight thousand years, erosion caused some of the statues to suffer severe damage. Some of the heads, bent forward in obedience, had broken off, falling nine hundred meters to the feet of the colossal statues. Giant shards of the scattering rock caused great damage to the statues from which the heads had fallen, and also caused great damage to the road, and to the other statues immediately around them. Over time, some statues not only lost their heads, but also a shoulder or two.
And now the Jedi were here.
Nox was shaken by what he saw. All of the colossi on The Emperor's Approach had been destroyed. Nox took in a deep breath and let out a roar of utter unbridled fury! He was filled with unmitigated rage and hatred. A foul and dark aura had poured from his being and blanketed the area.
The poor youth, always in the habit of leaving his mind unguarded, was caught in Nox's aura, and was immediately filled with unreasoning terror. He found that he could not breathe, and in a panic ran from Nox in the direction which would take him into the enemy's kill zone.
The boy's life was saved, however, when Darth Eviscerous used The Force to pull the youth towards him. He caught the boy with one hand and set him down beside him. The poor kid collapsed to the ground, clutching at his chest, unable to breathe.
"The dark lord's influence is most powerful," Eviscerous counseled, "You only need to recognize that it is your master's power, and that your master has no designs against you. If you understand this, then you will be able to stand up to take your place beside your master against his enemies."
Besides counseling the child, Eviscerous did nothing else for the boy rolling on the ground before him, gasping for air.
Lennell finally remembered Nox's lesson on shielding his mind, and began to apply The Force, as a barrier.
Eviscerous watched, as not very much time had passed, and the youth quickly regained his ability to breathe. Darth Eviscerous, said nothing more, but he was impressed with the boy's recovery. He thus returned his attention to Darth Nox who had lost himself in rage and hatred.
"Will we be able to work with the dark lord?" Eviscerous asked himself, "Will it be safe to fight by his side?"
Darth Nox's dark aura was crushing, and it taxed Eviscerous to defend himself from it. Darth Eviscerous turned his attention to the ruined monument that was The Emperor's Approach. His own fury rose at the outrage that had been perpetrated on their ancient monuments.
Foremost on his mind however, was the enormous dark and foul aura emanating from his dark lord. He had no doubt the Jedi had sensed Nox's presence and would prepare themselves for the coming confrontation. Their element of surprise had been lost.
Darth Eviscerous was also quite amazed. This was his first time feeling the dark lord's aura, and he immediately understood the reasoning behind the gossip about Nox. Behind the dark lord's back, he was called The Demon of the Nine Hells by a few imprudent officers and many of the enlisted who worked at the Imperial Reclamation Service headquarters only a few sublevels below Nox's office.
Eviscerous had heard rumors that the dark lord was experimenting on the very, very dark and forgotten arts of The Force. Eviscerous never believed in such dark arts. He'd always thought of such notions as foolish stories. Yet, recalling that Nox had brought Zash back from beyond The Force, and in light of this vile and very dark aura manifesting from his dark lord, Eviscerous found that he could no longer dismiss the notion of lost and forgotten very dark Force techniques.
Eviscerous took a few steps towards Nox, intending to get the dark lord's attention, but a huge armored hand on his should stopped him. Instead, Khem Val approached his master and came to a stop beside his lord, towering over him.
"Now my master is ready to bring death to all of his enemies. Let us flood the halls of the great Temple of The Sith with their blood, my master. It will be a great offering to my mistress, Death."
Without a word, Nox turned and made his way towards the forward command post, stepping past his faithful Dashade servant. As the dark lord made his way, he spotted the youth. There was terror in the boy's eyes, as though he beheld a terrible fiend before him. For the first time ever, Lennell was truly terrified of Nox. He found his master more terrifying than the Dashade had ever been. In the boy's eyes, Nox was the monster and not Khem Val.
The poor boy's body shook; his lips trembled, and tears left his eyes, as his dread master approached. Nox locked eyes with the youth for a brief moment. Scorn and derision for the trembling child overcame him.
"Weak," was all the dark lord had growled to the boy before resuming his steps to the forward command post.
"What does one have to do to gain that kind of power?!" Calaverous' apprentice whispered to his master.
"Murder all of the gods and eat their hearts," Calaverous answered, as though he'd told a joke.
Yet, neither man laughed, as each man realized that, figuratively speaking, it was precisely what might actually be needed to gain such terrible power.
Darth Nox struggled to recover his composure and regain control of his dark aura. He realized that if he if he didn't, it would negatively affect the performance of his military officers at the headquarters.
The boy felt sudden relief, when Nox finally contained his dark, vile and terrifying aura.
Darth Nox, followed closely by Virulous and Khem Val walked past the four heavily armored Imperial troops, who were in varying states of recovery from that crushing aura. These Imperial soldiers were guarding the entrance of the ray shield protected forward command post. Darth Eviscerous and Calaverous with their apprentices, and the boy entered the headquarters behind the dark lord and his inner circle of followers.
Darth Zash and her two apprentices brought up the rear. Zash was horror struck by what she'd experienced.
"What has he become?!" she asked herself, concealing her growing fear.
Zash remembered Nox's battle against Acina in the Dark Council chamber. It was during that session of the Dark Council, after his victory over Acina, that The Force freed her from Nox's shackles. The members of the Dark Council saw fit to elevate Zash to the Dark Council, over Nox's furious protests. She succeeded Darth Acina and was given control over the Sphere of Technology.
"He was at the peak of fury and hatred," Zash recalled, "His power in the Dark Side was something fearsome to behold back then! Yet, now? What is he?"
Zash realized that she had been greatly underestimating her former apprentice, now her rival on the Dark Council. She knew that when they returned to Dromund Kaas, Nox would begin his investigations into who tried to kill him at The Citadel. She realized that eventually he would discover her part in the plot.
"Oh, well…, Aruk has to die," Zash decided about her accomplice on the Dark Council as she stepped into the headquarters, "It's his stupid fault for not following the plan. Aruk deserves to die."
Zash waved a hand at her apprentices, and they stopped in their tracks as she proceeded to the situational command table, where Nox, Eviscerous, Calaverous and Virulous had already taken their places.
Nox, seeing that Zash had joined them at the table turned to face the commanding general leading offensive operations against the Galactic Republic raiders at the Temple of The Sith. The dark lord remembered him from his time on Taris when he put down the rebellion and poached Darth Komo from Acina's powerbase, but he could not recall the Chiss general's name.
"Very well, General, introduce yourself and begin the situation briefing."
"As you command, Dark Lord," the Chiss general replied, "I am General Riiy'enni'sansa. Please refer to me by my core name, Yennis."
Darth Nox regarded the cobalt blue-skinned Chiss general, whose head of pure white hair was styled in a military crew cut. The dark lord remembered his precise way of speaking, which was not cold and calculating, but rather cheerfully stoic.
However, this time, Nox noted that the Chiss spoke in a dark and somber manner as he reported the latest information.
"I regret to begin my report with the news that Darth Arkous has been killed in battle, Dark Lords. Galactic Republic forces and the Jedi have completely taken over the Temple of The Sith. We believe the Dark Council Chamber has fallen to them as well, although the Jedi did not say so.
"The Republic's psychological warfare unit thought to use the news of Darth Arkous' death to break our spirits, but that news only gave us a greater resolve to honor the heroism and steadfast commitment of the deceased dark lord with our own actions of bravery and honor."
Yennis had no idea that this was the best thing Darth Nox could want to hear. He truly expected, and feared, that Nox would descend into another storm of fury. The Chiss had barely recovered and composed himself in time for him to present himself to the party of Sith lords. To the Chiss general's great relief, Nox did not descend into another terrifying fit of rage. Although Nox maintained a calm demeanor, he did not hold back in his promises of utter destruction.
"Do not fret, General Yennis. Not only shall the Jedi on this world pay with their lives for this outrage. Not only shall we kill every last Republic soldier who dared step foot on this holy world, we shall make the whole of the Galactic Republic weep for their foolhardy adventure.
"I shall make the whole of the Galactic Republic feel exquisite agony and sorrow for desecrating the holy world of Korriban. They shall all lament, from the most vaunted leader of their peoples to the lowliest laborer performing the most menial task. Every one of them shall suffer utter grief for what they have done here."
"May you make it so, Dark Lord!" the general said, his voice shaking with sincere fury.
"About the tactical situation here, what do you recommend, General Yennis?" Nox asked.
Eviscerous greatly approved, and was greatly impressed that Nox was not too proud to ask for the expert advice of his generals rather than just give orders. He'd seen other Sith lords who thought they knew best, and instead made things go terribly awry. It made him feel better, that he was not the only one who asked his military generals and admirals for tactical advice.
"Dark Lord, we are operating under the very, very strict rules of battle as set forth by Darth Arkous. We are using only light weapons which is greatly impeding our ability to force our way into the temple. These restrictions are causing too many casualties among my forces, and is not a winning set of rules.
"I want orders to lift the restrictions, Dark Lord. I am perfectly aware of the physical damage that will result to the pyramid, but I feel that heavy firepower and the speed it will grant us is the only way to quickly retake the temple.
"Dark Lord, based on their utter disregard for the ancient monuments, the way they targeted such ancient and majestic works of art…"
Yennis paused, shaking his head in abject fury, before continuing.
"Forgive me Dark Lords," he said, nodding towards Nox and then Zash, "I lost a bit of my self-control. The point is, that I fear they may be setting explosives in the temple to destroy it, too. I want to get in there quickly to stop them and to search for and remove the explosives."
"We seem to have no other choice, do we, Darth Nox?" Zash asked her peer on the Dark Council.
"Very well, General, your requests are granted," Nox decreed, and then asked, "Do you have the schematics for the temple layout, General Yennis?"
"I do, Dark Lord. Darth Arkous transmitted those to me before we lost transceiver contact."
"Very well," Nox said, and then gave his orders, "Get me and my strike team to the temple entrance at the top of the ramp. I want two companies of heavy infantry to enter the temple with us. They shall support us as we search for the Jedi. I want to move out in ten minutes."
"As you wish, Dark Lord," the general acknowledged, adding, "It is my highest honor to be serving directly under your leadership again, Darth Nox."
"I see that Moff Pyron has taken my recommendation, and has taken you under his command," Nox said, and you've earned a promotion to major general. Well done."
General Riiy'enni'sansa was stunned on hearing this. He did not know that his assignment to a top military unit and promotion were because of Nox's recommendation to Moff Pyron.
He remembered when Nox recommended that young sergeant for promotion to lieutenant. When Nox made the recommendation, the young sergeant had thanked Nox for his graciousness.
Darth Nox had responded sternly, "I give nothing because of graciousness! I give only what is deserved."
"My dark lord honors me greatly! Thank you, Darth Nox!"
"You did very well on Taris, and now you are here. I have confidence that you'll have things well in hand, now that the restrictions have been lifted," Nox said, magnanimously.
Eviscerous was deeply impressed with how Nox treated common military officers. He remembered how well he was treated when Nox elevated him to Darth. He didn't know that Nox's generosity in granting awards and promotions extended to common officers.
He also noticed that Nox's mood had improved. Eviscerous incorrectly surmised that it was because Nox was gratified to see that a competent commander was in charge. He had no idea that Nox's good mood was because of Arkous' demise. He had no idea that Nox had been freed to carry out his secret agenda unimpeded.