After The Bloodbath
When Nox and Lennell Juuntos emerged from the turbolift, after the long ride down, the dark lord found his followers had been waiting for him in the tiny turbolift lobby. It was a mild surprise for the dark lord.
He expected they would be well on their way to leaving the planet. Nox had forgotten to announce the ceremony to elevate Calaverous, and without a reason to be here, he expected they would have scattered. It did not occur to him that, at that moment, he was a hero and that the others wanted to be seen at his side.
Nox, with Eviscerous at his side, led the train of Sith lords as they proceeded down the corridor towards the grand entry chamber. They found the Imperial troops overseeing the labor of their captured Republic prisoners.
They had already cleared out the many bodies of both Imperial and Republic dead from the corridor, the great hall, and the grand entry chamber. The prisoner labor teams were in the process of dismantling the destroyed Republic war droids and carrying the scrap out of the temple pyramid.
The Republic soldiers had not only been disarmed, but had also been forced to remove their outer armor, and their heat resistant, anti-shrapnel, mesh fabric under armor. The prisoners were allowed only their soft fabric armor linings, which protected their skin from chafing, and their boots. Quite a few of them weren't wearing armor linings, because the added layer made it uncomfortably warm in their armor. The Imperial soldiers, thus, permitted those prisoners to retain their heat resistant, anti-shrapnel, mesh fabric under armor, as well as their boots.
Temporary battery powered floor lamps had been installed in the grand entry chamber. It would be some time before the lighting in the chamber would be repaired. The explosive entry and assault of the Imperial troops into the temple, almost an hour before, had caused more damage to the antechamber than anything the Republic forces had done in their assault.
However, that didn't matter to the victors, the Sith. From their perspective, it was all the Republic's fault.
As the Sith lords neared the grand chamber at the end of the corridor, Nox overheard an officer giving orders to a squad of combat engineers.
"At the far end of the corridor, are a pair of turbolifts. Take those up to the Dark Council chambers and search for explosive traps and demolitions. Mark them for deactivation and removal. I'll send the specialists up after you to disarm the devices."
"Yes, sir!" the squad leader answered.
Nox stopped to speak to the officer.
"There are many bodies up there as well," Nox told the officer, before ordering, "Send Imperial troops to clear those out, too. However, do not permit those filthy Republic scum to enter our sacred council chamber."
"Yes, Dark Lord!" the officer replied, crisply as he snapped to attention.
"One more thing," Nox told him, "The body of Darth Arkous is up there. Ensure his remains are treated with the utmost respect."
"It shall be done, Dark Lord," the officer replied.
A wave of fury overcame the young officer as he watched Nox and his followers proceed to the temple exit.
"Of course the bodies of our fallen troops are just so much refuse. Isn't that so, Dark Lord?!" he thought bitterly.
It never occurred to him that there were Sith with the ability to plumb the thoughts and feelings of others. He had no idea that Nox was one of those who could sense and understand the context of his emotions."
Nox stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face the young man.
"Do you not like your orders, Captain?" Nox snapped sharply.
The dark lord's tone expressed his deep displeasure at the man.
"Dark Lord, there is nothing wrong with your orders!" the young officer exclaimed, his heart suddenly racing with terrible fear, "They are perfectly correct, Sir!"
"Is that so, Captain?" Nox pressed the young officer, "It seemed to me that you had a sudden fit of anger and hatred towards me as I issued you my orders."
The captain was flummoxed, having no idea how the dark lord could know what he was feeling. He was sure that his face was impassive, set like stone. Calaverous, however, had gained an insight into something that the others had missed.
"Wait! Darth Nox can interpret the emotions of others?!" Calaverous then surmised, "Then he can deduce what we are thinking from what we are feeling?!"
It was as though a great veil had been torn down from its wall mounted back hooks, exposing a great secret that had been hidden from all the galaxy, and he was the only one to see it.
"So! This is the secret to the dark lord's incredible success in his interrogation of prisoners!" Calaverous thought, excitedly. Realizing that he'd just gleaned another secret dark Force technique.
"Dark Lord," the officer pleaded, "I wasn't angry at you! I became infuriated at the thought that one of our great leaders had been slain at the hands of those dirty Jedi!" he lied, and Nox knew it was a lie, he could sense the man's fear and doubt, confusion, and turbulently conflicting emotions.
"Get back to work, Captain," Nox commanded sharply, scowling at the officer.
The dark lord then turned about to resume his steps to the exit.
"Yes, Dark Lord!" the young captain, acknowledged, greatly relieved that he'd survived the fury of a dark lord of the Sith.
Nox and his party made the long descent down the seven hundred meter ramp to the temple grounds at the base of the pyramid. He raged again at the sight of the temple's near complete destruction with its toppled obelisks and ruined gargantuan statuary. After walking another few hundred meters from the bottom of the ramp, Nox and his party of Sith lords stepped into General Riiy'enni'sansa's command post.
He found Virulous there. Expecting to also find Zash, he became somewhat disappointed when he found that she wasn't there, too. He wanted to press Zash for her support and force her to yield to his ambition.
"Darth Zash hasn't returned?" Nox had asked the Chiss general.
"Dark Lord," Yennis replied, "After she instructed that I send a team to the Dark Council Chambers to search for explosives and traps, she demanded a starship to leave the star system. She was in a terrible hurry to return to Dromund Kaas."
"The coward," Eviscerous said disgustedly, under his breath, but he was plainly heard by all present.
General Yennis, however, expertly effected not to hear. Instead he went ahead with a situation report, although unsolicited.
"Dark Lord, if you'll permit me, I'll get you caught up on our present situation."
Nox decided to put the matter of his rival, Zash, to the side for the time being and instead tend to the matter at hand.
"Yes. Tell me what's happening. I don't hear any shooting. What's that about?"
"After coming to terms with the fact that their navy had left them behind," General Yennis, told Darth Nox, "and given that they had accomplished their primary mission, their officers had been given discretion whether to keep fighting or to surrender."
"Their primary mission?" Nox asked, his interest piqued, although he had an idea what that might be, "What was their primary mission?"
"The death of Darth Arkous, Dark Lord."
"Ah. Yes," Nox said, "The Jedi I slew confessed that was their goal," then he asked, "Then, what was their secondary mission?"
Now, the Chiss general allowed his feelings to show on his face. His disgust showed as he swept his hands to the vista around them.
"This," he said, adding after a brief pause, "The destruction of The Temple of The Sith, and the Sith Academy and Dark Council chamber within." Shaking his head in great disgust, he went on to explain, "Dark Lord, our engineers continue to find explosive charges set inside the temple.
"They had demolished the giant statues and the obelisks in this fashion before finally taking control of the temple. Darth Arkous and his remaining forces held out long enough to greatly delay the enemy. Then you arrived in time to stop them from demolishing the pyramid, itself.
"It is fortunate that you arrived when you did. The speed and violence of your assault interrupted their work inside the temple and saved it, Dark Lord."
At that moment, Moff Valion Pyron and his entourage of staff officers entered General Riiy'enni'sansa's command post.
"Dark Lord," the moff said, "I am deeply honored to find myself in your august presence, again. I have received a preliminary report, from General Riiy'enni'sansa, of the success of our operations here to retake the temple, and to destroy or capture the enemy.
"I am deeply gratified to find you safe and victorious over your enemies, Dark Lord."
"We utterly crushed them underfoot," Nox said, adding, "Every last Jedi that defiled our sacred temple and the Dark Council chamber is dead."
"Forgive me, Dark Lord," Virulous said, "One Jedi escaped."
Nox became greatly infuriated on hearing this.
"How did you allow this to happen, Lord Virulous?" he asked, his voice hardened by anger.
Virulous quickly bent to her right knee, planting her right fist onto the ground.
"Dark Lord, he had a very great head start, and although I had gained on him, he made it to his ship, and immediately launched it, making his escape."
"I hadn't heard about an escaped starship," Nox said, in frustration.
Nox turned to face his military leaders, looking alternately between the General and the moff.
General Yennis explained.
"I was still in the middle of my report, Dark Lord, when the moff arrived and paid his proper respects to you. I hadn't gotten to that part, yet."
Nox looked as though he would start berating the Chiss general, but the Chiss continued his report, before Nox could speak.
"The ship's launch was immediately reported to our fleet in orbit. Hopefully, they intercepted it, Dark Lord."
Nox turned to face Moff Pyron, looking as though he expected something from him. Valion Pyron turned to his staff.
"Find out what's happened with that ship," he commanded, "Get me a report, quickly," he said, with quite a bit of austerity.
Nox waited quietly the entire five minutes. It was the most stressful five minutes either the moff, or the Chiss general had ever endured in a long time, and the stress was not relieved when the report was finally made.
A holographic image of an admiral commanding the fleet's defensive posture reported to Moff Pyron. He had no idea that, just outside of the pickup range of the staff officer's holo-transceiver, Darth Nox was listening.
"Moff Pyron, upon receiving a report of an escaping starship, fighters were scrambled from the four nearest Harrower-class dreadnoughts. The fighters were almost within attack range when the starship, quite dangerously, executed a hyperspace jump, just outside of the planet's atmosphere."
Nox's anger grew upon hearing this; he asked the moff a pointed question.
"Moff Pyron, why use fighters, knowing they have such limited range?" implying incompetence and pointing out what was obvious to him, "The very same Harrower-class dreadnoughts which launched those fighters could have blasted that starship with their ion cannons!"
The admiral giving the report heard Nox's voice and realized that Moff Pyron was in the presence of the dark lord. So, when Moff Pyron asked him to explain the reasoning to the dark lord, his expression on the holographic image changed from bored professionalism to great worry.
"Uh… Dark Lord! I'm Admiral Hammit. Uh… Dark Lord, the trouble is that directly below the enemy starship, at the time, was the Temple of The Sith. If our dreadnoughts fired and missed, the ion cannon beams would have impacted the temple, and we would have probably also caused untold casualties among our own ground forces. The risk was too high. We simply…."
"That's enough!" Nox shouted, "I've heard enough!"
An uncomfortable silence followed which was finally broken by Lord Calaverous.
"Dark Lord, look on the bright side," he said to Nox's back.
Both Eviscerous and Virulous shot Calaverous incredulous looks at his brazen familiarity with Nox, especially while Nox was angry.
"When he gets back to the Jedi Council, he'll recount tales of horror and crushing defeat at your hands. The Jedi will fear you more than any other Sith in the Empire."
Nox turned his head slightly in Calaverous' direction, standing behind him, but said nothing. His features showing that he had not been mollified. Eviscerous felt a need to help his old friend and added his own two credits.
"Wait until they hear of the Dark Lord's great and powerful Dark Force attacks. And when this news is broadcast across the Empire, even the Dark Council will finally understand who their next emperor is going to be."
Moff Pyron and his staff, and General Yennis and his staff were floored on hearing those words: their next emperor.
"The struggle for the throne has finally begun!" Pyron thought, excitedly.
Nox's eyes changed on hearing Eviscerous' words, and his mood improved, too. This time, Nox turned about to face Calaverous.
"You make a good point," Nox told Calaverous, "but they should be given an even greater show, to drive home the point."
Calaverous silently thanked Eviscerous for saving his neck.
Nox turned to face the Chiss general.
"General Riiy'enni'sansa, how many prisoners have we captured?"
The cobalt blue-skinned general turned to his logistics officer.
"How many?"
"I don't have an exact count, General. It's approximately thirty thousand. We've captured the remnants of two divisions. We continue to round up more and that number continues to rise."
Nox had heard enough and cut in.
"General Yennis, speed up the capture of Republic forces. If you have to offer inducements to get them to surrender, then do so. I want them rounded up as quickly as possible."
"I don't believe they would believe that the Dark Council would be so generous with inducements, Dark Lord," Yennis answered.
"Offer them captivity with a chance to be traded as pawns at a later date, or a slow and desperate death in Korriban's deserts," Nox said.
"That's straight forward enough, Dark Lord," Pyron remarked.
General Yennis turned to Pyron.
"I'll need another two divisions of troops to form the prison guard detail. I'll need them to guard the prisoners, and to speed up their capture or destruction, Moff Pyron."
"You shall have them, General," Valion Pyron guaranteed.
The moff turned to his theater wide operations officer.
"Give General Yennis two more divisions."
"Yes, Moff!" his operations officer replied while snapping into crisp attention.
"Now you command a reinforced corps of infantry, General," Moff Pyron told Riiy'enni'sansa.
"Thank you, Moff Pyron," the general said to the moff, before turning to Nox and telling him, "I'll report to the dark lord when we have finished rounding up or destroying the enemy."
"Good," Nox said, nodding his satisfaction.
"I have one last order of business that must be addressed before I turn you all loose," Nox told his officers and Sith followers.
Khem Val had been standing at the side of the headquarters the whole time, silently listening. Nox waived Virulous over to the side where Khem Val stood, leaning back against the side of a broken block of red stone obelisk.
When Virulous had gotten out of his way, Nox surprised everyone with what he did next.
"Kneel before me Lord Calaverous," he said.
His dour expression and stern tone gave everyone the impression that Nox had not forgiven Calaverous' flip tone with the dark lord after all.
Calaverous had mixed feelings about it, himself, but he obeyed and knelt, hoping for the best, but waiting for the worst. Earlier, Nox had indicated he would elevate him to Darth, but Nox's present tone told him that he was in trouble. He could only hope that Nox would give him a chance to clear up any misunderstandings with the dark lord. Calaverous steeled himself, ready to fight for his life.
"I am Death!" Nox declared forcefully, "I am the doom of all who oppose me! Those who fail to kneel before me shall meet their ruin when I have rendered my judgment! My servant represents me well. The harbinger of Death, the voice of ruin goes before me executing my verdict of their ruination.
"A wave of my hand, an expression of my displeasure, a word of dissatisfaction, and my agent will go forth to carry out the sentences of those who stand in my way. The agent of Death goes before me, heralding my arrival. Let all tremble with fear of my herald's passage!
Rise, Darth Calaverous!"
Calaverous was deeply moved by the ceremony of his ascension, realizing that Nox had taken great care in choosing his words to define, not only his absolute rule and domination over the vast number of ordinary Sith, but in defining his role as judge, jury, and executioner of Nox's enemies.
"Darth Nox, Dark Lord of The Sith, you have greatly honored me!" Calaverous declared, rising to his feet, "I will never bring you shame! Even as I wreak havoc in your name, those who will grow to fear me, shall be filled with greater terror of you still. If your agent is as strong as I, then how much stronger is the Dark Lord who rules over him?!"
Nox smiled on hearing that, and began to applaud, Eviscerous, Virulous, Pyron, Yennis, and all others in attendance applauded and cheered Calaverous' promotion. Khem Val, however, being Khem Val, did not applaud, but he did have something to say.
"If you ever betray my master, I will gladly feast on your flesh. You smell very tasty!" Turning to face Nox, the monster added, "My master is surrounded by such good food! I hope one of them will give me an excuse to feast!"
Calaverous was put off by the Dashade's declaration, but he tried to put a good spin on it.
"Well, if Lord Khem Val drools at the mouth for a chance to eat me, then perhaps I should take it as a compliment."
"Actually, you should!" Eviscerous declared, lightheartedly, "Lord Khem Val has exacting tastes, and will turn his nose up on a meal made up of weaklings!"
"Lord Eviscerous," Virulous said, "I don't know how seriously you meant your words, but they are exactly true."
Lennell, hoping the monster would say what he wanted to hear, dared to ask the behemoth, "Lord Khem Val, I smell terrible, and you wouldn't want to eat me, right?"
"Little morsel," Khem Val said to the boy's chagrin, drool escaping his lips, "I look for the day my master has no need of you. I shall delight in the marrow of your bones."
Unable to take the temptation any longer, Khem Val spoke with great impatience.
"My master, I must go feast!" Then pointing a monstrous finger at the Chiss general, made his demand, "Tell me, blue one, where were the bodies of the Jedi taken?! I must eat!"
The bodies of the Jedi had already been removed from the temple by the time he came down from the Dark Council chamber.
Yennis pointed at his logistics officer.
"Give Lord Khem Val the location of where the Jedi had been buried," he ordered, "and assign a droid work detail to help him dig them up."
Shortly after, with the information at hand, Khem Val departed to the mass graves, the droid work detail following in his wake.
"General Riiy'enni'sansa," Nox said, as the Dashade stomped off, "The precision and effectiveness of your Imperial forces was such, that I can only ask that you see to it they are properly rewarded."
"It will give me great pleasure to see it done, Dark Lord," General Yennis said, smiling with pride.
Turning to the moff, Nox said, "Your decision to appoint General Riiy'enni'sansa to command this operation was a very good one. See to it he is personally and properly rewarded," Nox said, nodding his great approval at the Chiss general.
"I have the perfect reward in mind, Dark Lord," Pyron said, to Nox. Turning to face General Yennis, he told the Chiss, "General Riiy'enni'sansa, expect orders transferring you to command of a full army group. Of course that assignment comes with a promotion to field marshal. It is well deserved," Pyron said, with a stiff nod to show that he'd meant it.
A field marshal was a rank high above generals and admirals, but one step below moff. As a field marshal, he could serve as a moff's deputy. If he showed his qualities and impressed the right people, he could even be elevated to moff.
General Yennis snapped to attention and rendered a very crisp salute.
"Thank you, Moff Pyron," he said, fighting to keep his strong emotions out of his voice.
Then stomping his boot, he executed a precise quarter left turn to face Nox and rendered another parade-grade salute.
"I am deeply grateful," he said to Nox, and remembering something Nox had said a few years past on Taris, the Chiss general said, "I know that the dark lord gives nothing because of graciousness, but because it is deserved and serves the needs of the Sith Empire. Thank you, Darth Nox."
Nox suddenly remembered the debriefing on Taris, following the quelling of the rebellion there. He smiled, touched by Yennis' words, and nodded his acknowledgment. That was all the sentimentality that Nox had time for, however, and got back to business.
"Moff Pyron, you and I must speak. There is a lot that must be done, and I want to get started soon."
"As you will, Dark Lord," Pyron said, stomping his boot on the ground.
Turning to Yennis, Nox asked, "Where is your conference room?"
Sweeping his hand to the ruined temple grounds around the command post, Yennis replied, "Where ever you find it convenient, Dark Lord."
As Nox looked about for a good spot, Pyron made a suggestion.
"If the dark lord has no objections, my starship is not far from here, a quick speeder ride to it, and we'll be there."
"Yes. That will do," Nox replied.
Turning to Virulous, Nox gave his orders.
"Lord Virulous, contact Andronikos and have him land the starship somewhere nearby. He is to wait on the ground for my return. Someone should tell one of the officers here, where Andronikos lands my ship so that Khem Val and I can be directed to it later."
After a moment to think, he added, "It would be wise to leave Khem Val alone while he eats. He can become quite the glutton after a good fight. He may not be able to resist if you or Lennell were to stand before him while he was dining. Just wait for Khem Val to finish eating and to return on his own."
"Yes, Dark Lord. As you will," Virulous said.
"Lord Eviscerous, Lord Calaverous, You have made me look good. I am proud to have such capable and powerful Sith following me. Increase your power, both of you. It will not be very long before I finally make my way to the imperial throne. Your strength will be needed at that time."
Both Eviscerous and Calaverous and their apprentices knelt before Nox.
"I look to the day when the Empire shall call you their emperor!" Eviscerous said, with great enthusiasm.
"The Empire's power shall grow, and we shall see a new era of unbound glory under your rule, Dark Lord!" Calaverous declared.
Virulous was envious that she was not sent off with such words from her master, but she knew that he simply took her for granted and expected obedience from her. In that moment, she realized that even then, as powerful as she had become, she was not truly free.
She remembered how she had made a brazen confession of desiring to remain the apprentice of the dark lord, for access to his teachings. So, she did not sulk. Virulous was a different woman. Not self-pitying as before.
"The Dark Lord shall properly reward my loyalty to him, or I shall undo everything he has built!" she swore to herself.
As Valion Pyron had promised, the speeder ride to his Fury-class Interceptor was not long. Inside the air conditioned starship, seated at the head of a proper conference room table, Nox sipped at a glass of cool water. Then, realizing how thirsty he was, took several liberal gulps from the glass, emptying it.
Setting the emptied glass down, Nox turned his eyes towards the pitcher. Immediately, a droid picked it up and refilled Nox's glass from it. This time, he took a few leisurely sips from the glass, setting it down when he'd had his fill.
When the dark lord had set his drinking glass down and turned his eyes towards the moff, Valion Pyron began to speak.
"Dark Lord, taking into account your stated goal of recapturing territories we had previously conquered but then lost to our foes again, and taking into consideration that this was also Darth Marr's intent. I took the necessary steps to begin the campaign of re-conquest."
Nox was taken by surprise on hearing this, and was a bit confused.
"I don't understand, Moff Pyron. Your fleets are here over Korriban, helping to throw these marauding Jedi and Republic forces off world. Also, your fleets have just arrived from the deepest reaches of space, from outside of the galaxy. How could you have already started the campaign?"
"Dark Lord, if you'll remember, I said that I would recruit other moffs to add their fleets to mine."
Nox nodded affirmation, remembering what he'd told the moff in reply.
"Yes, I recall, and I told you not to expose yourself to betrayal."
"Yes, Dark Lord, I recruited only those whom I knew I could trust. I have six hundred twenty seven moffs and field marshals who have added their army and navy groups to my command for my offensive operations scattered throughout the galaxy. I have well over three thousand ships, including nine hundred sixty Gage-class troop transports.
"Darth Marr is left with the remaining twenty nine thousand warships. That should be more than enough to conduct defensive operations and to have enough left over to take possession of the territories we recapture."
Nox was in shock at what he'd just heard. He fully expected to have no more than twelve ships, and a quarter million ground troops. It was already a surprise, when Andronikos had announced that there were forty Imperial ships over Korriban when they'd first arrived. Now, however, Nox was looking at an armada that could fully engage in offensive operations in a few hundred star systems simultaneously. There was a problem, however.
"I wanted to be at the fore of such operations, so that I could be seen as the conqueror. That was my intention," Nox told the moff, calmly, although he was quickly heating up with anger.
Pyron nodded affirmation of what Nox had told him.
"Dark Lord, I had the impression that soon after our conference, here, that you were going to announce the destruction of the Jedi raid on Korriban and the beginning of your campaign to retake lost territory, while also launching a punitive campaign for vengeance on the Jedi and the Republic for what they did, here."
Nox realized that Pyron made a good point. It was good advice, and the dark lord already had an idea for just such a speech. It was exactly his intent to make such a speech, but the reach of Pyron's operation was unexpectedly in such a huge scale. This meant that his speech would have to be epic, and he needed to do something to make the Republic pay at an epic scale.
Then it hit him.
"Wait, Moff Pyron. The fleets are attacking, throughout the galaxy, now?"
"Yes, Dark Lord. It's already begun," Pyron confirmed, explaining to Nox, "I diverted one of my naval battle groups to Korriban from my original target, Corellia. The rest of my navy groups continued on to their objective."
"I see," Nox said, thinking about how quickly he would need to act, to be able to lay claim for all of these actions.
"About Corellia," Nox said to the moff, "My feeling is that we would not be able to capture it again. The Republic have likely reinforced it beyond our ability to capture it without expending a terrible cost in personnel, ships and material. Therefore, I think we should simply raze it into toxic rubble, like Taris."
"Actually, Dark Lord," Moff Pyron said, smiling in genuine appreciation, "I think the same thing as you do. However, I mistakenly believed you wanted it captured, so I planned accordingly. I have another six hundred ships and twenty million ground troops, added to my Corellia assault force, from the other moffs operating with me on Corellia.
Nox took on a look of concentration as he weighed whether it was worth it to try. After a moment, he shook his head.
"It will be too costly," Nox said, then adding, "and we will end up bogged down in guerrilla warfare and terrorist attacks, forever." Shaking his head again, he told Moff Pyron, "Just raze it. It will fit in as part of my punitive campaign to avenge what they did to our temple."
"Then with your permission, Dark Lord, I will send new orders to those forces."
"Yes, give them new orders before they become fully committed."
Nox listened as the Moff contacted and then gave new orders to his deputy moff commander.
"Welcome orders, Moff Pyron! Let me get to work recovering our ground forces."
"How many did you get on the ground already, Deputy Force Commander Teck?"
"We've only gotten a few hundred thousand on the ground, establishing invasion points, Moff Gregany Teck replied, "I can easily recall them and withdraw rapidly."
"Very good, Deputy Force Commander Teck," Moff Pyron said, adding, "You can thank Darth Nox for those orders."
"Glory and praise to the Dark Lord! He has clarity of thought and demonstrates great wisdom!"
"Indeed!" Moff Pyron agreed, "I'll let you get to work," he said, cutting the connection.
Nox liked the praise.
"I've spent enough time on this," Nox said, adding darkly, "I must take care of some business, here."
"I'll see to having the prisoners transported to one of our penal colonies, Dark Lord."
"No. I have other plans for them," Nox said, scowling.
"As you say, Dark Lord," Valion Pyron said, realizing what Nox was going to do.
Nox had left the Moff's starship and rode the speeder back to General Yennis' command post.
The Dark Lord hopped out of the speeder and made a beeline to where General Riiy'enni'sansa stood, receiving a report as he inspected a real time holographic map of the temple and the surrounding terrain.
Nox came to a stop before the general, looking as though he had something to say. Yennis snapped to attention.
"What are your orders, Dark Lord?" the general asked, crisply.
"Organize the mass execution of every one of these Republic scum. I want it broadcast, live, across the Galaxy," the dark lord said, as though he had ordered a tent be erected.
"What? Dark Lord, I don't understand. Wasn't it your intent to use them for prisoner exchange or to hold them for ransom?" Yennis asked, sincerely hoping he could change Nox's mind.
Nox could tell through The Force, that Yennis was horrified by his orders and repeated himself.
"But, Dark Lord," Yennis said in a state of bewilderment, "we have well over thirty thousand prisoners." Yennis shook his head to clear the vertigo that overcame him as the enormity of what he was tasked to accomplish washed over him. "We'll have to execute them one hundred at a time…."
"That will take too long," Nox interrupted. After a moment to think, Nox said, "Leave ten thousand in the prison camps. March the rest into the deep desert, away from the Academy under watch of the war droids. Bombard them from orbit."
Yennis recovered his sabacc face, too late, as he tried his best to hide his revulsion at such wholesale slaughter. He did not know that Nox could read his emotions like a datapad, and could make an educated guess at what the general was thinking at any given moment.
"As for the remaining ten thousand," Nox had been saying, "execute them five hundred at a time, on the bottom of the ramp of the temple. Use the droids to add to the carnage. Assign work droids to start digging mass graves, and assign other work droids and speeder lorries to carry off the bodies to the mass graves."
I want all of it broadcast across the galaxy, both the bombardment and the executions on the ramp. Leave their blood to soak the ramp. Don't wash it off."
General Yennis' lip quivered. He never expected to ever receive such an order.
"Dark Lord, did you actually mean to commit murder on such a scale? I…."
The look Nox gave him caused him to remember just who it was he was speaking to. The dark lord was reputed to be a very ruthless Sith ruler of the empire, and now he was seeing it on display. What made it worse was that Yennis was to be the instrument of that ruthlessness.
"Forgive me Dark Lord. I was not prepared to receive such an order," the Chiss general said, truthfully. Then nearly choking on his words, he promised, "I will harden my resolve and will… see it done. I will not fail you."
"You had better not fail me. I want to send a very powerful message to the Republic. Leave our holy world and our holy temples alone."
"It will be done as you have commanded, Dark Lord," Yennis said, bowing deeply at the waist.
"Good," Nox said, in a tone that warned the Chiss general that failure would carry a very high price.
A few hours had past as Nox watched the Imperial soldiers work as they handled their prisoners. They were efficient, quickly killing those who attempted escape and haranguing their prisoners into completing laboriously heavy tasks. The Republic prisoners reluctantly, sullenly carried out their instructions, but they obeyed their captors.
Having seen enough, Nox decided to go to his starship and learned that his highly customized
Fury-class Interceptor had landed to the north of the temple complex. An Imperial soldier drove the staff speeder taking Nox past a small army of medium duty work droids. The droids were industriously digging mass graves to the east of the temple complex. As the speeder zipped past, Nox spotted a few humans, combat engineer droid handlers, supervising their droids.
Nox sat in the back passenger side seat. He slid to the driver's side and looked out the window of the air conditioned speeder. The route the speeder took curved to the north around the eastern side of the mass graves.
Nox counted five trenches in various states of completion. Each grave was going to have a five hundred body capacity. As the speeder passed by the hard working droids, Nox saw white tape staked to the rocky desert sand with metal rods, winding and fluttering in the hot breeze.
The white tape outlined where the other graves would soon be dug. The graves, when completed would be arranged in five rows of five graves each, and the droids were presently digging out the first row of five.
Ten minutes had gone since the speeder left the graves behind. The Imperial soldier drove the military staff speeder to a stop right behind Nox's starship, at the bottom of the ramp. Nox got out, after the driver activated the gull wing door.
Nox walked from the speeder towards his waiting starship but stopped in his tracks. The dark lord turned about to look at the back side of pyramidal temple as the speeder quietly pulled away. It was plain and featureless. To the south side of it, out of his view, was the temple entrance and the ruined temple grounds. Nox turned about again and walked to the ramp of his starship.
Khem Val had been waiting for his master's arrival. The Dashade giant had already removed his splendidly decorated ancient full body armor, and had changed into his customary heavy armor which consisted of vambraces, shoulder pauldrons, a back plate to protect his back, knee and shin guards, and foot guards which only protected the tops of his feet and toes. The Dashade also wore an old fashioned leather baldric belt, which held his massive savage vibrosword over his back.
"My master arrives glorious! We slew many powerful foes, and I enjoyed a bountiful feast!" the Dashade exulted, "My mistress, Death, has looked kindly on me," he said, reverently.
Nox smiled at his most faithful servant, giving delighted applause for his friend as he stepped onto the bottom of the ramp of his starship. The behemoth servant joined his master, ascending the ramp by his side.
"Your servants have all departed," Khem Val informed Nox, "They took other shuttles or starships to depart from this world."
"Darth Virulous, too?" Nox asked, surprised.
"She remains aboard your starship, my master," Khem Val said. Lowering his voice, he added, "She has changed, Master. Do not easily turn your back to her."
"Do you remember when I had changed?" Nox asked the Dashade monster, "It was because I consumed the Force ghosts of those ancient Sith lords."
"I remember, my master," Khem Val, affirmed, "With each ghost you consumed, you smelled older, stronger, darker," the Dashade did not say aloud, "and tastier."
"It is the same with her," Nox said, "I sent her away to consume an ancient Sith lord's Force ghost. It was inevitable that she would change. Do not fear my old friend. I have already been watching her carefully."
The two passed through the main air lock and walked through the short passage way to the common crew section. As Nox and Khem Val rounded a corner, Nox saw Andronikos, Lennell, and Virulous seated in the luxurious lounge chairs.
Andronikos greeted Nox as soon as he saw his employer, ignoring Khem Val. The monster said nothing as he made his way to the far side of the common crew space. He was so obvious in his mistrust of Virulous, as he kept protective watch over Nox.
"Hey, Boss! Lennell was talking about how you guys really put a hurt on them Jedi," the semi-retired pirate said, "Says he helped to take one down," he added, dubiously.
"He stood his ground against the vile wretches," Nox said, his face a blank slate, "and even saved my life," he added, his eyes locked with Lennell's.
Somehow, Lennell Juuntos did not draw pride nor satisfaction from Nox's seemingly very grudging praise.
It wasn't that Nox didn't want to acknowledge his accidental apprentice's accomplishments. It was that Nox was trying to understand why it seemed that The Force dropped a child prodigy into his lap. Lennell was as naive as they came, blissfully ignorant, but he was ridiculously strong in The Force.
"Darth Virulous," Nox said, turning his gaze from the boy wonder to his very powerful apprentice, "he will never have your standing. So, I hope you do not mind if I formally take him on as my apprentice. I will also rely on you to mentor him."
"I will do your will, Dark Lord," Virulous said, her face a blank slate that gave nothing away of what she really thought.
Nox returned his gaze towards the boy.
"You are no longer Acolyte Lennell," Nox said, "You are now, Apprentice Lennell."
For once, the boy reacted appropriately. Dropping from his lounge seat to his hands and knees on the ship's deck, Lennell thanked his master enthusiastically.
Returning his gaze to Virulous, Nox smiled pleasantly.
"Darth Virulous, you have established yourself in the eyes of my most powerful followers, rivals, and enemies. You have shown them that you are indeed powerful in your own right, and belong by my side as my primary follower.
"In a few days, I shall make an announcement to the galaxy. In my declaration to the galaxy, I shall position myself to be able to walk into the Dark Council Chamber, a few weeks later, and dare any to deny that I belong on the throne.
"You alone shall stand at my side in the council chamber, and when I have ascended the throne, I shall elevate you to the Dark Council. However, do not be disappointed if I continue to conduct my research and continue to have full access to the libraries and archives of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. There are things that I am still researching, and I must have full access to its repositories of knowledge."
Nox understood that Virulous allowed him to see how very disappointed she was on hearing that from him, but she quickly wiped her facade clean of any emotion. Nox's continued access to the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge amounted to having someone looking over her shoulder while she tried to get work done.
"I hope my dark lord will not interfere while I run operations, Virulous said."
"I am only interested in doing my research. I'll leave it to you to administer the sphere of influence," Nox assured her.
Virulous dropped out of her seat and onto her right knee and, planting her right fist onto the deck, bowed her head and made a vow to her lord.
"I stand ready to destroy those who would stand between you and the Imperial throne, Dark Lord."
Nox wholly approved of Virulous' attitude, nodding his satisfaction that she did not fear to voice her demands in exchange for her loyalty. After all, she was a powerful Sith lord and soon would become a ruler over a part of the Imperial government.
"Rise, Lord Virulous," Nox said, "Rise, Apprentice Lennell."
The two rose to their feet and returned to their seats.
"Did you want to take off now, Boss?" Andronikos asked.
"No, Andronikos. I still have business on Korriban to attend over the next couple of days. I'll tell you when I'm done, here."
"Then, if you don't need me for anything special, I'll go over the ship a bit. I noticed a drop in performance when we dropped out of hyperspace coming here. Since I know we'll be planetside for a while, I'll take a look at the motion-drive generator couplings. I'm hoping it's those that's the problem and nothing to do with the hyperspace drives."
"Just be sure the ship will be ready to depart when I say," Nox cautioned.
"I won't do anything that'll get us grounded, Boss."
With that, Andronikos got out of his chair and made this way to the ship's engines.
"R8, join me in the engineering department!" the semi-retired pirate called out.
A few hours had passed, Nox had been alone in his stateroom catching up on administrative duties related to his responsibilities as the ruler of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. New budget proposals, new projects, personnel staffing issues, were the concerns facing his sphere of influence.
The Imperial Reclamation Service was stretched thinly across the galaxy. The organization was having a difficult time staffing all of their dig sites and having trouble providing security at their inactive dig sites.
Field Marshal Rett Herden, commanding the Imperial Reclamation Service was asking Darth Nox to increase his budget by eight hundred and seventy nine billion credits, so that he could establish, three new divisions of military archaeologists and security forces.
Despite Nox's policy changes, which he had given the field marshal, it was proving to be more difficult than anticipated to simply shut down low priority dig sites and man them with security forces until other dig sites were completed. Work at a dig site could last years.
It was apparent that the Imperial Reclamation Service needed to be expanded. Field Marshal Herden's memorandum pointed out all of the problems facing the organization and why it was necessary to grow the size of it.
He needed to recruit, train and equip three hundred and seventy five thousand Imperials to man three new divisions, and then deploy them to help strengthen their positions at existing archaeological dig sites across the galaxy.
Nox had decided to set Field Marshal Herden's request on the back burner. His intent was to hand it off to Virulous after he'd ascended the throne. He'd give her his recommendation to adopt Herden's plan and let her handle the rest. He decided that he would grant her the budget to fund Herden's plan, figuring that, as emperor, he'd be able to do anything he wanted, budget-wise.
The door chime sounded. Nox saved his work, and blanked his monitor screen.
"Enter," he said, civilly, as he rose from behind his desk and made his way to two comfortable chairs with a caf table between them.
Virulous entered. She was out of her armor. Wearing casual Sith styled attire. She carried her chromium plated lightsaber, out of sight, in a belt pouch hanging over her pelvis.
Nox smiled pleasantly, standing in front of his luxurious chair. He waved his hand, with a flourish, towards a chair across the table from his. He sat as Virulous settled into her luxurious seat.
"These have been very hectic times, filled with uncertainty, and fraught with danger. Yet, we have prevailed gloriously over our enemies," Nox said to his very powerful apprentice.
"It is a travesty, what they have done to our very ancient monuments, Dark Lord," Virulous responded.
"When we are alone, will you call me by my given name?" Nox asked, telling her, "It is Kallig."
Virulous lowered her eyes and spoke uncomfortably.
"I'm not the same woman you loved, Dark Lord," she said, contritely, "I'm sorry, Dark Lord. Although I'm attracted to you, I do not feel the same way about us as before," she confessed, gulping back her fear that Nox would not take kindly to rejection.
He surprised her however.
"I figured this might happen," Nox breathed out, "I am deeply grateful that you have chosen to be honest with me about your true feelings for me."
He looked at her, as she returned her eyes to him, surprise registering on her features.
"I want you to consider, restarting our courtship," he told her, sighing as he added, "I hope I can fall in love with the new you, and that the new you will fall in love with me."
"You flatter me greatly, Dark Lord. I already like the direction you are taking this," she said, genuinely smiling at him.
"Will you join me for an informal dinner tomorrow evening?" Nox asked.
"I will be delighted, my lord," the new Virulous replied, still smiling.
The two fell silent and the silence became awkward.
"Well…. Ummm….," Nox said, trying to think of something else to talk about.
"I'll check in on General Yennis, for you, my lord," Virulous offered, simply as an excuse to leave Nox's quarters.
"Yes, ask him to forward me an update on the upcoming executions," Nox said, realizing how much of a buzzkill it was to bring up such morbid business right after their otherwise lighthearted conversation.
Nox smiled and shrugged awkwardly, and Virulous answered with an awkward shrug of her own as she stood from her chair. Nox stood as well, walking her to the door. She left his stateroom without another word, but looked back at him to smile. Nox turned back to his desk and the door hissed shut behind him.
"Well, that could have ended better," he thought.
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