Into The Temple!

It was time to move out, and Darth Nox addressed his strike team.

"Those assigned to Darth Zash shall follow her to the lower academy and the libraries to destroy all enemies you come across. My team shall search the upper academy and the Dark Council Chamber. Do not think that because you are going to the lower sections of the academy and the libraries that there will be no Jedi. Their objective here is to steal or destroy our holocrons."

"They're just copies," Zash said, asking, "Why risk everything for copies. Even if they destroy our entire library, we can easily replace them. Darth Arctis made copies of everything."

"You know that," Nox said, "I know that, but they might not. Also, remember what General Yennis said. He thinks they are going to demolition the temple. Their true objective might not be the capture of our libraries, but the destruction of The Temple of The Sith, and the academy and the Dark Council chamber within it."

"What about the Dark Council archives?" Zash asked.

"What about them?" Nox asked rhetorically, reminding Zash, "You know those are uploaded to the central council archive in the Citadel after each session. Hopefully, Arkous had the foresight to destroy them before he was killed."

Nox turned his cold gaze towards the youth.

"You shall stay here at the command post."

"But Master, I want to fight!" he told Nox, passionately.

"Do not raise your voice at me again!" Nox shouted vehemently at the youth.

The young man was startled, but he did not back down, not because he did not fear Nox, but because he did not fully understand what Darth Nox was. It was as though his terrible fear of the dark lord, earlier, was completely forgotten.

"But Master…"

Nox reached his hand for the youth. The boy's entire chest felt as though it were being crushed from all sides. He found himself unable to breathe because of it.

"Do NOT make me repeat myself!" Nox ground out, furiously, "You will only get in my way and get yourself killed!"

Nox shot his hand forward, as though shoving at something, and the youth stumbled backwards and fell onto his buttocks. He found that the crushing sensation was gone, and that he could breathe again.

"Master, you said The Force was going to test me today," the youth said, plaintively.

"Fine! Get yourself killed!" Nox relented, "Just stay out of my way, or I'll kill you myself!"

"Yes, Master!" the youth said, enthusiastically.

"Virulous, you will have charge of him," Nox commanded, "Keep him away from me. Don't go out of your way to save him or anything. Let us see if The Force is with him or not."

Virulous was obviously pained by the assignment, rolling her eyes, but she answered correctly.

"As you wish, Dark Lord," almost as an after though, she asked, "Do you want me to teach him anything?"

"Yes. How not to test my patience," Nox replied testily.

The plan had already been formulated and briefed. Instead of two companies of heavy Infantry, as Nox had ask for earlier, he got a complete battalion, reinforced with a company of medium and heavy war droids in addition to a self-propelled ray-shield generator.

Nox peeked around the corner of the fallen obelisk just in time to see the first air bursts of artillery and heavy mortars. Blaster cannon fire was ineffective against the enemy's ray-shield, so artillery shells and mortar bombs were used. To minimize damage to the stone work, the fuses had been set to detonate the munitions in the air.

The rate of fire was so high that a near continuous heavy rain of shrapnel pelted the Republic heavy infantry, which pierced the armor of many of the enemy. There were so many shells and bombs exploding in such a small volume of space above the troops that the individual explosive blasts could not be differentiated. It sounded like a long explosive roar. The munitions burst at such a rapid succession that the concussive blast waves of the exploding artillery shells and mortar bombs pounded the troops through their armor in a continuous surge.

The Republic troops were forced to give up their positions outside of the temple entrance and retreat into the temple. Meanwhile, Imperial troops, reinforced with medium and heavy war droids, had been rapidly marching up the seven hundred meter ramp to the veranda abandoned by the enemy. Their quick march up the ramp was not unopposed, however.

Whereas the enemy troops had to abandon their positions and retreat into the temple, their war droids kept their positions and continued firing on the rapidly approaching Imperial forces. A lucky break, saw that a large piece of shrapnel struck the emitter array, causing the effectiveness of the ray-shield to drop by over sixty percent.

This allowed some of the blaster cannon bolts of the Imperial war droids to pass through. Imperial soldiers fired their blaster rifles anywhere on the ray-shield to further degrade its effectiveness. This in turn permitted a greater number of the war droids' blaster cannon bolts to get through with more of their energy.

While the energies were not enough to blast holes into the droids' hulls, the resulting effect was that the armored hulls got very, very hot. The dangerously high heat radiated from the armor of the Republic war droids to the droids' internals, cooking up the electronics, circuitry, and the hydraulic systems within.

Some of the Republic war droids began to malfunction, missing their shots, or misidentifying a friendly war droid for an enemy. Because of past tragic incidents involving "friendly droid fire," a backup identify friend or foe system was developed. The backup system recycled the targeting systems of malfunctioning droids before the war droid accidentally destroyed a friendly droid, or worse yet, a friendly Republic soldier.

At three hundred meters, the Imperial troops began to get impacted more heavily by the rain of shrapnel, but they were far enough away that the flying jagged razor sharp bits of metal could not penetrate their armor. At one hundred meters, the artillery and mortar barrage were lifted, and the medium and heavy war droids surged ahead of the soldiers, to close with the enemy droids.

With the barrage suddenly over, Republic soldiers attempted to rush back out onto the veranda, but that was a mistake. Ninety Republic troops tried to funnel out through the temple entrance, but were nothing more than a convenient mass target for the medium grade war droids to exploit. The Imperial war droids unloaded their heavy blaster rifles and medium blaster cannons into the throng.

In very short order, thirty four Republic soldiers were instantly killed and another fifteen were wounded, six severely and the remaining nine, were able to limp back into the temple to seek cover. By the time the Imperial troops covered the last hundred meters and stepped onto the veranda, the last of the Republic's war droids had been destroyed. Imperial soldiers and war droids took positions on the veranda on the left side of the temple entrance.

A few moments later, Darth Nox and his Sith strike team set foot onto the strangely unfamiliar veranda. Nox shook his head at the damage done to the exterior of the temple. The outer walls of the pyramidal temple at the veranda and around the temple entrance were filled with pock marks from blaster bolts and shrapnel, and the stone floor of the veranda was covered in a layer of millions of shrapnel shards.

Nox walked briskly towards the entrance, his strike team behind him, but a platoon commander ran out in front of the dark lord and spoke politely, but firmly to him.

"Dark Lord, if it is your will to face the concentrated fires of our enemy, then please proceed into the temple. However, if the dark lord wishes to recapture the temple, without taking unnecessary risks, then let us in there, first. We shall execute our forced entry procedure and get the dark lord inside."

Darth Nox was instantly outraged and was about to order the lieutenant out of his way, however, Khem Val said his say.

"If my master wishes to die gloriously, then let him."

Nox turned to face Khem Val and saw the look of stern disapproval on the Dashade's face.

The dark lord sighed in resignation and told the lieutenant, "Very well. Open up a way for me and my strike team."

"As the dark lord wishes," the lieutenant replied. He later received a medal for this act of heroism.

Nox and his team withdrew from the side of the entrance, and waited for the Imperial troops to make their move. A moment later, the Sith looked on as droids and troops rushed to take up positions on the other side of the entrance. A storm of bright blue blaster bolts issued from the interior.

Nox nodded his approval of how the Imperial troops conducted themselves. The droids used themselves as shields, masking the troops from a majority of the blaster fire. The soldiers, themselves, had activated their individual shield generators. Once in position, the troops and droids on both sides of the entrance unleashed a storm of blaster fire into the temple.

Inside, Republic forces had set up several portable polarized ray-shield projectors. After activating them, the projectors were configured to combine their projected ray-shields into one huge shield.

Most of the blaster bolts were absorbed by the ray-shield, having no effect on Republic Forces inside. A few got past the ray shield, but only struck the ancient red stone ceiling or the wall far beyond the Republic troops' defensive positions.

The thousands of bright red and blue blaster bolts flying past each other made for an intense display. The polarized ray-shield also gave off a brightly translucent golden yellow glow while also giving off tremendous heat. This heat was generated when the shields absorbed the intense energies of the red blaster bolts, while allowing the blue blaster bolts to pass through. All of these dazzling lighting conditions, and the terrible heat the Republic soldiers had to endure in their armor, served as a great distraction, a distraction that would cost them dearly.

Outside of the temple, an order was given. Imperial troops withdrew from the entrance and their places were taken by medium grade war droids, which continued the mission of firing into the temple. Another order was then given to launch a mine probe, an ESD-MP-43 (Electronic and Sensory Deprivation Mine Probe 43).

This mine was programmed to levitate into the temple via a narrow channel within the storm of blaster bolts flying past each other. The Imperials purposefully did not fire along a certain area to allow the mine probe to get through to its objective. Since Republic forces were shooting at the Imperial troops, their fires naturally went towards the sides of the entrance, where the red blaster bolts were coming from. The mine probe had a clear path in.

The highly polished, mirror finished, stainless probe reflected the red and blue blaster bolts flying all around it, camouflaging and hiding it from the Republic soldiers.

The ESD-MP-43 darted to its preprogrammed attack position in the temple. The instant it detected an active search and identify signal sweep across its shiny and highly reflective hull, it activated its targeting system spoofer. This made it very difficult for the Republic war droids to lock on to it, and destroy it.

The instant the probe reached its targeted attack point and came to a complete stop, the ESD-MP-43 began its programmed attack pattern. It began by deploying two munitions. The two munitions shot out of the mine probe, one right after the other.

First was the high intensity levitating flash illumination munition. It ended up ten meters in the air where it held its position, levitating above and in front of the enemy, where they could see it. It was instantly followed by a very high explosive, encased in cellulose, which ended up five meters directly over the heads of the enemy.

In rapid succession, only thousandths of a second apart, the flash munition went off, followed, by the high explosive, and concluded with the ESD-MP-43 destroying itself in the process of emitting a high yield EMP discharge attack.

Outside, despite the sunny daylight, Nox became amazed as he witnessed a brilliant shaft of ultra-white blinding light shoot out from the interior, and instantly after, he felt the blast wave through the rock under his feet. A billowing cloud of red dust shot out from the temple entrance, which the light made appear to be a blinding white-red shaft of light.

Immediately after the dust shot out, he was powerfully thumped by a compressed wave of air, the shockwave from the blast inside the temple. All of the Imperial medium grade war droids at the entrance where knocked over by the shockwave. Immediately after that, some of the billowing red dust started to get sucked back into the temple entrance and the brilliant light flickered and suddenly ended.

An officer shouted at the top of his lungs, "GO! GO! GO! GO! FOR THE EMPIRE!"

A mass of hundreds of Imperial heavy infantry rushed into the temple entrance, with other officers and sergeants repeating the command to go while urging and haranguing their subordinate troops into hurried compliance.

Nox noticed that while all of the medium grade war droids at the entrance had been knocked over, only a few had gotten back up. The others, it turned out, were damaged or destroyed by the EMP discharge attack. Those few droids which got back up, left the battle. These droids made their way to a repair center to be checked out by technicians to determine if the droids were safe to be returned to service.

Nox forgot about the droids as he and his party rushed into the throng of heavily armored troops rushing into the temple. It was very dark inside. The lighting system had been damaged from the blast. The interior was illuminated with the flashes of the blue and red blaster bolts flying past each other. In very short order, Imperial troops destroyed the few remaining war droids which had survived the EMP attack.

Nox was not inside very long before the shooting had stopped. The interior became nearly pitch black, except for some daylight fighting its way in through the choking red dust at the entrance. The Imperial soldiers began to switch on their helmet lights and proceeded to drop illumination flares onto the temple floor.

The air inside was choked with the heavy red dust which was settling quickly to the temple floor, coating everything inside with a fine dusting of red. Nox and the others in his party suffered the discomfort of coughing and sneezing because of the dust, but the air cleared quickly as the heavy mineral dust settled.

Republic troops who'd survived the blast began to regain consciousness, but they could not see. The Imperial soldiers had to shout their orders at the tops of their lungs, to be heard by the beaten Republic troops. Not only were they blinded by the intense light, but the blast temporarily impaired their hearing.

The Republic soldiers were hurriedly disarmed and forced to remove their helmets. The blinded Republic men and women were then forced to link arms in groups of ten. The defeated soldiers were then guided out of the temple and to the hasty field prison established for captured Republic troops.

Nox watched and listened as the battalion commander issued orders to his subordinate officers.

"Phalanx Company! Conduct your operation in the lower chambers. Go!"

"Yes, Sir!" the infantry company commander stoically replied.

"Aegis Company! Move out to the upper chambers. Go!"

"Understood, Sir!"

"Engineer Company!" the battalion commander said, turning to another of his subordinates, "You know your mission! Search every nook and cranny of this maze of a temple. Deactivate any demolitions you come across. Move out behind the infantry units, but don't trail too far behind. Time is essential."

"Yes, Sir!" the combat engineer company commander replied.

"Juggernaut Company," the battalion commander said to the officer in command of that unit, "You'll stay here, in the reserve. Be ready to reinforce Phalanx and Aegis companies as needed. In the meantime, continue to process these prisoners."

"Yes, Sir," the young officer replied, less enthusiastically than his peers.

He was slightly disappointed with his somewhat boring orders.

Nox watched as hundreds of soldiers proceeded to the passages which would lead to the levels above and below. He turned to Zash and waved her after the troops heading to the lower chambers. Clearly she didn't like that, but nonetheless complied.

"Follow me, Team Zash!" Nox's former master said, with false cheerfulness, "Let's see which team will kill more Jedi! Will it be Team Zash or Team Nox? It's obvious that…."

Before Zash could land her barb against Nox, Lennell, excitedly, answered.

"It will be Team Nox, of course!"

Angered by the interruption, she spun about to face the youth, to give the upstart a piece of her mind. However, his youthful exuberance, displayed in his exited grin, caused her to instead shake her head and smile in amusement.

"Don't die, Acolyte Lennell," Zash told the youth, "It will be a waste of your master's twenty million credits if you do."

"The boy is so painfully unaware!" Virulous thought, shaking her head in amazement, "Team Nox?! He said his name without his title! Doesn't he know better than to butt in on a discussion between dark lords?" Virulous rolled her eyes, thinking, "No wonder Overseer Ragate gave him up…"

"Master, I swear I won't die!" the youth promised, solemnly, "I won't let your money go to waste!"

Clearly, Nox was not moved, but Khem Val laughed merrily on hearing that.

"Do not fear, my Food!" Khem Val said to the youth, "Even if my master loses his money, I will not let your death go to waste. Even if you are no more than a bite or two, I shall relish your great flavor! I will not let your meat go to waste! Ha!"

"Enough with the chittering!" Nox blasted, irritated, "Let us be on our way!"

The passageways to the side and the back of the great anti chamber exploded with the sounds of blaster fire. Yet, Nox and his team walked briskly to the wide worn stairs at the back of the great entrance chamber which led to the upper academy. Meanwhile, Zash walked briskly to the side of the chamber, towards a corridor leading to narrow stairs which led to the lower academy and the libraries.

As Nox and his party ascended the ancient red stone stairs, the blaster rifle battle seemed to thin out and sputter before coming to an end. At the top of the stairs, the dark lord looked down the length of the corridor. It was littered with the bodies of the dead. Wounded Imperial and Republic troops also littered the corridor, writhing and moaning in agony.

He proceeded carefully down the corridor, stepping over the dead and dying, until he reached a wide entryway at the left side of the corridor with no doors. Nox carefully peered into the great hall.

It was a dual use audience chamber and martial arts training hall with a very high ceiling. If the acolytes were not listening to a lecture or a sermon from one of the overseers, then they were practicing one or more of the seven lightsaber combat forms. While most students, who studied here, managed to master two or three of the lightsaber forms, only a very few were talented enough to master most, if not all, of the lightsaber combat forms.

As Nox slowly scanned the great chamber, he took note of the scores of dead, strewn all over the red stone floor. Deep in the chamber, well away from the only way in and out of the chamber where four Jedi, in white armor, covered in drab brown ragged cloaks and robes.

Nox moved into the chamber, again stepping over the dead and moaning wounded, both friend and foe, alike. Behind him entered his party. Nox took note of the dead Sith overseers and their dead acolytes with their training batons.

"Dark Lord," Darth Eviscerous said, "I ask leave to handle these four."

"That would make it an even match, Lord Eviscerous," Nox said disapprovingly. I don't want any even matches. I want slaughter."

Without taking his eyes off of the four Jedi, Nox turned towards Virulous.

"Lord Virulous, you and Khem Val shall attack on the right while Lord Eviscerous attacks on the left."

"As you command, Dark Lord."

Eviscerous sent one of his apprentices to join Virulous and Khem Val. Virulous proceeded to encircle the Jedi to their left, and Lennell began to follow behind her. Nox called to the youth.

"Boy. Stay here with me. Watch their battle and learn from what you see."

This time, the youth did not complain, doing as he was told.

"Yes, Master," Lennell said, bowing to his master.

Nox watched as Eviscerous and two of his apprentices moved to flank the four Jedi on the left, the enemy's right, and as Khem Val, Virulous and one of Eviscerous' apprentices moved to flank the right, the enemy's left.

The four Jedi split into two groups of two, turning to face their flanking attackers. Nox immediately realized his error and made a snarling smirk.

"Boy. If you don't want to die, then quickly get behind me and step back a ways."

"Yes, Master," Lennell said, moving quickly as ordered.

The youth turned about just in time to see two Jedi, high in the air, coming down and swinging their lightsabers downward in an attack against his master. A third Jedi, headless, crashed onto the red stone floor, ending up in a heap. Nox had ignited one end of his sabrestaff and brought it up, horizontally.

He caught both of his enemies' saber beams on the beam of his weapon, using The Force to reinforce the power of his blocking maneuver to counter their Force powered strikes. Nox bent to one knee under the weight of their powerful strikes, but he quickly got back up and thrust his right hand forward, placing his hand on the breastplate of the Jedi on his right, using a sharply focused Force Push attack against the Jedi's heart.

The Jedi, however, guarded against the attack and leapt backwards to avoid any follow on attacks. Nox was already, spinning to the right, bringing up his right foot, for a spinning back kick against the other Jedi, which the Jedi avoided by also leaping back. Unfortunately, he leapt back into two of Eviscerous' apprentices, who had run their saber beams into the Jedi's back, killing him.

Eviscerous watched as the four Jedi leapt in the attack against Nox. He quickly used The Force to pull one of the Jedi towards him.

"Help the dark lord!" he shouted at his two apprentices.

When the Jedi landed in front of Eviscerous, he immediately engaged in single combat against the Sith lord. Even as Eviscerous conducted his battle, Virulous also engaged the Jedi in a very different style of combat.

She used a very sharply focused telekinetic attack aimed at the head of one of the airborne Jedi. His head vaporized in a red mist of shattered skull fragments, brain matter, scalp, hair, and blood. Khem Val ran towards Nox. Virulous became amazed at his speed considering his gargantuan size and all of his armor.

She watched as Nox's two remaining attackers leapt back and used the opportunity to use another dark Force technique. It was a modified version of her favorite technique which she used to paralyze her victims. The Jedi, nearest to her, took a couple of extra steps back from Nox and suddenly found that his legs stopped responding to his will and simply gave out from under him.

It took a great deal of effort, but he broke out of Virulous' attack and began to scramble to his feet, but Khem Val landed, both armored booted feet, on the Jedi. Severely, stomping the Jedi. Khem Val quickly stepped off, moving forward with the momentum of his great leaping attack. He came to a crashing halt, spun about and brought his savage vibrosword down, cleaving the Jedi in two.

Eviscerous stepped back as the Jedi made two rapid strikes, first at his left, then at his right side, but Eviscerous quickly parried both, protecting his arms. He then launched his counter attack against the Jedi, swinging his weapon horizontally, knowing the Jedi would block it, but his saber attack was just a distraction which he used to disguise his Force Push attack.

The Jedi Knight, thinking to block the simple lightsaber strike, found himself surprised as he few end over end, crashing into the bodies of dead Republic and Imperial troops and of the massacred acolytes. He tried to quickly regain his feet, but was knocked down when the bodies of two heavily armored Republic soldiers crashed, one right after the other into his back.

The velocity at which the heavy bodies struck him was such that he had the wind knocked out of him. He struggled to rise, getting to his hands and knees, but before he could get to his feet, two heavy armored boots crashed on either side of him as a bright red saber beam shot out from his chest. The Jedi collapsed, dead, beneath his Sith conqueror.

Lennell Juuntos, already in shock at the violence he'd witnessed, watched in horror as Khem Val decapitated the helmeted head from the torso of the Jedi he'd slain. The Dashade monster deactivated his vibrosword and returned it to its bracket on the back of his armor. The monster picked the helmet up from the floor, and removing its contents let the helmet drop at his feet.

The beast then sucked the blood from the bottom of the severed neck. He then activated a vibroknife, which he took from his utility belt, and lopped off the top of the skull. The gargantuan brute then sucked the brains from the severed head.

Khem Val nodded appreciatively at the quality of his quick snack, tossing the head aside. The monster then stomped his way back towards Nox.

"Don't you want to eat more, Khem?" Nox asked his faithful servant, magnanimously adding, "Enjoy yourself. I'll give you more time."

"It is my hope that better prey awaits us ahead, my master," the monster replied.

Meanwhile, Virulous walked up to a dead Jedi and picked up his weapon before making her way to the youth.

"Here, Lennell. Take this weapon. That baton is no good in this environment," she told the youth, "get rid of it and use this instead."

The boy did as he was told, abandoning his standard Imperial Army edgeless vibrosword. Lennell activated the weapon, which turned out to have a green saber beam. He learned quickly that he needed to use The Force to maneuver the weapon. And began to practice his thrusts and strikes with it.

"I hope that wasn't all of the Jedi," Zash said from the doorway behind Nox, "I haven't gotten the chance to kill any." Then, upon seeing the youth, she exclaimed, "The boy yet lives, and he has a lightsaber!" Greatly amazed Zash asked the youth, "How did you get that?!"

"Darth Virulous gave it to me," the boy answered truthfully.

"Oh," Zash said, her amazement gone.

Wanting to put an end to the pointless chatter, Nox cut in.

"What about the troops that went down to the lower levels?" Nox asked Zash, "Did they come up with you?"

"No. They're rooting out demolition charges throughout the lower academy," Zash replied, adding, "That Chiss general was right. He was wise to send in the engineers."

"I will reward him for his cunning," Nox promised.

Zash walked into the chamber, with the Sith who'd gone to the lower academy with her, surveying the death and carnage.

"You've lost all of your soldiers!" she exclaimed, mildly critical.

Then noticing a few survivors, here and there, tending to the wounded.

"Oh! Some are still alive! So, you didn't lose them all!"

Nox was becoming irritated with her needling, but he remain silent, not wanting her to know that she was getting under his skin.

Meanwhile, Darth Eviscerous walked to one of the Imperial soldiers.

"Have you called for a medical rescue team?"

"No, Lord. The Republic has a signal jammer set up somewhere, we can't contact anyone outside."

"Send a runner outside to call for medi-aid reinforcements, to take wounded prisoners and to rescue our own wounded," Eviscerous ordered.

"Yes, Lord!"

Eviscerous turned to make his way towards Nox and found that all of the Sith strike team had reassembled. As he approached the strike team, he and the others turned their attention to the entrance, where the sound of metal scraping against stone and metal clattering against metal came from. The Sith became instantly alert.

"Zash," Nox asked, "You're sure none of your troops came up?"

"I'm certain of it."

"I'll go look, Master," Lennell volunteered, running to the doorway.

He looked in the direction Zash had come and then turned his head the other way. Nox could tell by the boy's reaction, followed by the sudden clatter and stomp of dozens of armored troops, that it was Republic forces.

The boy ran towards Nox, but Virulous waved him towards her. Lennell veered towards Virulous as instructed.

"Lord Virulous, Lord Eviscerous, buy me a little time," Nox instructed.

"As you will, Dark Lord," Virulous said.

"Yes, Dark Lord," Eviscerous said.

Darth Nox began meditating, building up his hatred and rage. The power of the Dark Side grew within him, and his vile aura could be felt by all. However, there was a new quality to this aura, and Virulous recognized what her master was doing.

"If you don't want to die, then shield your minds," she warned her fellows.

Looking at the boy, she realized he had no idea how to do this.

"Create a thick barrier around your mind with The Force," she told him, "Like putting your mind in a box made of The Force."

She knew how difficult that was and didn't expect him to survive.

Darth Nox released a blast wave of Dark Force energy that expanded as it radiated outward from where he stood.

The Republic and Imperial survivors in the great hall, collapsed dead in a wave, and from the corridor came a great clatter of armor as the running troops fell dead. At that instant, the Sith all felt the presence of Jedi, as they shielded themselves with The Force.

"After them!" Nox shouted, as he ran for the doorway, hopping over the bodies of dead soldiers.

In the corridor, Nox had to clamber over the heaps of dead armored Republic troops before being able to make a mad dash to the far end of the corridor. He was too late. The doors of the left turbolift slid shut with a hiss before he could get there. The two Jedi had escaped.

Nox immediately pushed the call button for the turbolift, hoping the other turbolift was already at his level. It was not. He would have to wait for the turbolift to come down.

None of the Sith with Nox had ever seen, much less heard of the Dark Force ritual which Nox executed, except one individual. While Nox's followers moved quickly over the piles of dead troops in the corridor, Zash and her apprentices allowed themselves to fall behind.

"Dark Lord," one of her apprentices whispered his question, "What Force technique is that?"

"I don't know it," Zash whispered back, yet again realizing that her former apprentice had indeed surpassed her, not only with the strength of his powerbase, his military power, the strength of his Sith followers, but his power in the Dark Side was also beyond her imagination.

While she knew that Nox's raw power was unmatched, he had absorbed the power of four Force ghosts, she had no idea how deeply her former apprentice had steeped himself in the study of the Dark Side and of Sith Sorcery. She also did not know that when he absorbed the power of the force ghosts that he had also obtained their combined knowledge.

Very few Sith Lords understood the deep mysteries of The Force, and of the Dark Side of The Force, to understand how to manipulate it to perform strange god-like techniques. She was one of those few, and her knowledge was solid, but she found herself realizing that her former apprentice had knowledge that she lacked.

Zash had to admit to herself again, how grossly she'd underestimated him. She could not escape the fact that if Darth Nox discovered her part in the attempt on his life, within his domain in The Citadel, that she was finished. Darth Aruk was her ally and her coconspirator, and now her liability.

"It seems I have to clean up a few loose ends," she thought to herself again of Aruk.

Zash finally arrived to the small turbolift lobby at the end of the corridor. She regarded Nox carefully.

"That was a very interesting technique," she told Nox, "I don't recall reading about it in the archives."

"Actually, I developed the technique," Nox lied.

Virulous looked at Nox from the corner of her eye with a tiny smirk. She knew it was a lie. Virulous had learned the technique from ancient stone tablets stored in the warehouses in the levels below the Imperial Reclamation Headquarters. However, when she absorbed Lord Arus' Force ghost, she also gained all of her knowledge and life experiences, and this included knowledge of an improved version of the same technique her master had executed.

In fact, while on Yavin 4, she had executed that very technique twice. The first time was her directional attack, which she executed on the Massassi hordes defending the shrine. The second time, she used the improved version on the Massassi who'd been offered her as a sacrifice to their black goddess of death. However, the scale in which Nox executed the technique was orders of magnitudes greater than hers, making her realize the great difference in power between her and her master.

Meanwhile, Nox enjoyed Zash's reaction. She had become quiet, and her antagonistic behavior had ended. Nox also enjoyed the reaction of his Sith followers. Eviscerous, Calaverous and their apprentices all seemed deeply impressed.

Virulous became greatly surprised when she heard Lennell's voice from behind her.

"Master, will you teach me that…."

"No," Nox replied curtly, cutting his accidental apprentice off mid-sentence.

Virulous was shocked that the boy had lived through that experience. Even with her power, in The Force, she could feel the terrible power that washed around the protective barrier she'd set up around her mind.

"He only heard me explain it once. He didn't have a chance to practice it. How could he…?"

She didn't know that Nox had already taught him how to shield his mind. Her part was to remind the youth to put up his defenses.

"Young man, you are special," Virulous told the youth, adding with real mirth, "If we're not careful, you'll end up learning all of our secrets."

Nox heard that and had an idea for ridding himself of the boy.

"He is a quick learner," he said to Virulous, adding, "Would you like him as your apprentice, Lord Virulous?"

Virulous was astounded at the question, her master was acknowledging her power and was offering her freedom. However, she wanted to refuse.

"If I take on an apprentice, then you will cease to teach me your powerful secrets," she said, "I wish to continue studying under your tutelage, Dark Lord."

Nox was the only one not surprised by her answer.

"You would deliberately remain chained to your master, Darth Virulous?" Lord Calaverous was shocked into asking, "The dark lord has offered you freedom and you said no. Frankly, I'm scandalized."

Darth Zash, Darth Eviscerous, Lord Calaverous, and their apprentices waited in suspense at what Virulous would have to say for herself.

"I can claim my freedom any time I wish. I am very strong in The Force. However, the dark lord has such deep knowledge of Dark Force techniques, and I wish to learn everything I can pry out of him."

Her answer was brazen, and everyone was deeply shocked that she'd say as much in Nox's very presence, and stupefied by his own response.

"My apprentice truly reflects my great power. I have such a powerful follower and she freely chooses to remain my servant, simply because she wants greater power," Nox said. Smiling and nodding his great approval, he added, "I am truly pleased."

Virulous bowed deeply, then knelt before Nox.

"I serve you with everything I have, Dark Lord, my Master."

Zash, Eviscerous, Calaverous, and their apprentices were scandalized at how subservient Virulous behaved in their presence, but it was proof of what they heard. A powerful Sith Lord had willingly remained in servitude, because of Nox's even greater power and deeper secrets.

Eviscerous spoke, changing the subject.

"Dark Lords, I recommend that you both remain here, while I and my apprentices go ahead. We shall secure the antichamber to ensure your safe arrival before we enter the Dark Council chamber."

"That is not necessary; we can take care of ourselves," Nox told his follower.

"Dark Lord, soon you shall ascend the throne and show the galaxy that you are Emperor. We cannot risk exposing you to the powerful ambush that we know will be waiting for us," Eviscerous replied.

Zash became incensed.

"He is not the emperor! The Imperial throne is not his!" she blasted at Eviscerous.

"Will you stand in his way, Dark Lord?" Eviscerous asked Zash mildly and politely.

However, it was very clear to everyone there, as he looked straight into Zash's eyes. That he meant to take her out on the spot if she continued to impede Nox's ascension to the throne.

Looking around the turbolift lobby, Zash was again reminded that she was essentially surrounded by enemies. She swallowed her pride and kept quiet.

"Very well Darth Eviscerous," Nox relented, adding, "I'll wait here while you go on ahead."

"Dark Lord," Calaverous asked his sovereign, "I would like to join Darth Eviscerous' vanguard."

Eviscerous replied, "Lord Calaverous, you must remain, to keep Darth Nox and Darth Zash safe."

"Darth Eviscerous," Calaverous replied, "He's got Darth Virulous, and the Dashade. He doesn't need me, too."

While Eviscerous was trying to be diplomatic about things, claiming to be interested in the safety of both dark councilors, Calaverous was not. Zash already understood that Nox's followers had no interest in keeping her safe. In fact, it was only because of Nox that his followers stayed their hands.

"Very well, Lord Calaverous," Nox said, as the right turbo lift door hissed open, "You may join Darth Eviscerous' vanguard."

"The more the merrier," Eviscerous said to Calaverous, smiling.

"It'll be like old times," Calaverous said in reply, also smiling.

Nox was reminded that well over ten years ago, before their rise in rank and power, Eviscerous and Calaverous worked together as criminal investigators for Darth Arctis, and then later for Darth Thanaton, as the two attempted to ascertain how Zash, Lord of the Sith, had killed Darth Scotia when Nox was her apprentice. In reality, Zash did plot Scotia's death, but it was Nox and Khem Val who carried out the assassination.

At the time, no one would believe it was he, a mere apprentice, newly graduated from the Sith Academy, who'd done it. What confounded the pair of investigators was the fact that there was no physical proof that Zash had done it.

In fact, she was at a dull party with other Sith lords at one of Kaas City's very exclusive night clubs. She had witnesses. Her alibi was solid. In the aftermath of Scotia's death and her subsequent criminal trial before the Dark Council, Zash was awarded Darth Scotia's title and his dominion by the Dark Council under the loud protests of Darth Thanaton.

As soon as the turbolift doors hissed shut, Nox pressed the turbolift call button. Then he turned to face Zash.

"When this is done, Lord Zash, I plan to take our military and reconquer those worlds Marr sacrificed to buy us time. I also plan to conduct a punitive campaign across Galactic Republic Space. I will make them pay dearly for this outrage."

Zash said nothing. She merely stared off into space.

"I know you don't like hearing talk of my eventual ascension to the throne, Lord Zash," Nox told her, "but you had better get used to it, and you had better face the reality of it."

He waited to see what she would say.

"The Dark Council will have the last say," she replied.

"Then you intend to stand in my way," Nox said, nodding confirmation of her position.

"I will follow the Dark Council's will," she replied carefully.

"The Dark Council will follow me," Nox told her, "They have only one other choice, and he is weak."

Zash knew perfectly well that Nox spoke of his rival Darth Marr.

"That's quite a thing to say about the most powerful Sith in the empire," she said, and then pointed out the obvious, "He controls virtually all of the military. He leads a Dark Council of participants willing to follow him. You put him there with that vote, Lord Nox."

"And recently we voted that power out of his hands," Nox reminded her, adding, "I intend to bring about the end of our war with the Republic."

"You intend to sue for peace?" Zash asked, intending to deliver a barb.

Nox smiled at her weak attempt to provoke him.

"I intend to so ruin them, that they shall beg me to end the war," Nox said, adding, "and they shall have their peace, after paying retribution and after dismantling the bulk of their navy."

"They'll never agree to dismantle any part of their navy," she replied, scoffing at the absurdity of his proposed demands, then pointing out, "You don't even have the military forces to conduct such a campaign."

"That will change," Nox said before adding, "In the face of my campaign of rage and ruin, they will agree. I'll give them an out," Nox told her, explaining, "I'll compromise. I'll demand that they decommission and dismantle a significant number of their capital ships, but I'll allow them to build a large number of smaller, less armored and less armed ships to take their place."

Zash merely shrugged her shoulders and shook her head doubtful. Nox shook his head at her stubbornness and shortsightedness.

"During our time of peace, we shall rebuild our own military, and ready ourselves for the time when the Galactic Republic violates the treaty requirements. They shall start from a position of weakness, and we from a position of strength, for our third and final war against our greatest enemy."

"So, you want the treaty to fail?"

"Of course. How else will we be able to destroy the Republic?"

"We could just keep fighting them," Zash said, thinking it was obvious.

"We have been badly hurt, Lord Zash. We must recover."

The left turbolift doors hissed opened.

"Let's go," Nox ordered.

Zash bristled at being ordered about. She was going to say something about it, but felt the presence of a strong foe behind her, and thought better of it. When she turned about, she saw Lennell standing there, a look of exhaustion and stress on his face and slumped shoulders.

"Lord Nox," she asked, following Nox into the lift, "What did you do to that boy?"

"He watched the bloody massacre of a few Jedi and watched Khem, suck the brains out of one of them."

"I see," she replied, shaking involuntarily, having witnessed the monster's feasting in the past.

19