Chapter 13: Target: Taris
The dream awoke her from a sound sleep, she sat up in bad was an excited gasp, her heart pounding in her ears. He breathing heavy, she looked around her tiny cabin, hoping no one had heard.
"Damn," Avaryss panted, "no, no, no, no, no."
Her hands went to her face, she feared that she might cry out, and did not want the crew to hear her.
So what if they do, you are in command here. You can do what you wish.
True, but at the same time…somethings that are private should stay private.
She nodded.
She had no intention of sharing this with anyone, perhaps…ever.
Slowly, she regained her composure, she breathed and found her center, she remembered where she was, and what she was doing.
Slowly, the cold simmering anger of the dark side returned, bringing her back to the present, banishing the last of the heat and confusion that tried to spill out of her dreams.
She sighed, and took a deep cleansing breath, letting it out and with it any sense of confusion that remained.
It was just a dream, she thought to herself, and for once she knew it to be true.
She had had dreams, and Force inspired visions, this felt more like the former than the latter.
Of course, that made it no less distracting.
Sighing again she kicked off the covers and rose from her bunk. Her cabin aboard the Fury was far more luxurious than most, but that was to be expected, as an apprentice to a Darth, she was expected to have access to finer things, after all, should some Imperial come aboard for a meeting, he had to see evidences that he was addressing someone that was here on the will of a high lord, not simply a common courier or soldier.
Now that she was taking her first steps out into the Empire, it was important that the common soldiers came to see her as not just a blade, but as part of the Sith Empire's ruling class.
Fear and respect needed to be earned. A Sith was not simply about their powers, but the reputation they possessed among their Imperial allies.
Once they had reached their destination, she would start earning hers.
The air was cool in her cabin despite that, she was sweating. She shook her head again, and looked towards the small 'Fresher station in the corner.
She checked the chrono next to her bed; she had just enough time for a sonic shower, before emerging from her chambers. If Mister Rink was to be believed they were still two hours out of from their destination.
That was good; she could use the time to explore what she had been experiencing, what had brought her back from a sound sleep.
Her eyes narrowed.
Desires were useful, they drove you to succeed, but they could become a weakness if one was not careful, especially if they were discovered by an enemy.
She would not let this desire interfere with her mission. It was a distraction, nothing more.
She had no time for distraction.
Yet, in this quiet moment her mind replayed what she had been experiencing, making her shudder.
She closed her eyes, trying to will it away.
That did not work, if anything she saw, felt what she had been experiencing again, as clear as she had while she had been sleeping.
A weak moan escaped her lips.
IOI
She had dreamed that she was back on Korriban, back in the quarters she had shared on many a night with Fehl.
She found herself in bed, her body being ravished by strong male hands, and the deepest of desires.
Even now, the memory almost took her breath away.
She had thought it had been Fehl, at first, but as her eye adjusted the shadows, she had realized that it had not been her former lover; this…was something older, and far more personal.
Her dream friend ran his fingers down her body, making her moan softly as he awakened her passions, his lips found her neck, her shoulders, her ears. He was breathing heavily, drinking her in; filling her with both heat and want, as their unclothed forms moved against each other.
"Fenn," she had moaned, "Oh, Fenn!"
The name had come to her in a vision, a name that she knew to be true. He responded to her soft cries of passion by increasing his attack on her yielding body.
He was behind her, moving with her, guiding her down onto the bed, she whimpered, lost in her desire, as she lay down. She realized that they was not alone, Taya lay next them, watching with hungry eyes, both enjoying the show and eager to join in.
Her friend's lips found hers as Fenn continued to pleasure her. Taya was wearing nothing but a sly smile as she joined in on the fun.
"Hi there," she purred as she kissed her friend, bringing even more heat and want.
Yet, it was Fenn that truly held her attention, his voice drawing her in.
"Keera," he panted, "Keera."
"Keera," Taya had cooed between kisses, her fingers running down her body, making her quiver...
"Keera."
Avaryss' eyes widened.
"NO!"
She had woken in moments, sitting up in bed, panting softly. It took her a moment to remember where she was, and realize that she had been dreaming.
That realization brought her back to reality fast.
Damn, she thought.
What in the Emperor's name had brought that on?
She felt…shame.
She…she knew that she should not be thinking about such things. Fehl was what she wanted, who she wanted, it was her desire to bring him back that was one of her many drives.
So it is, the darkness within whispered, that doesn't mean that you can't have a little fun in the meantime.
Desire before duty, young Sith.
Except it had not been Avaryss that had been enjoying those desires had it? It had been Keera's name that the two had invoked.
Keera she thought angrily.
It had been hearing that name that had brought her out of her passions, brought her back from the dark desires that had wanted to stay in the dream.
Her eyes had shot open, blazing with cold anger.
Keera, she had thought.
Why was it always Keera?
A low growl escaped Avaryss' lips.
Why can I not forget?
Why can I not completely cast Keera Lylos aside?
She had no good answer.
She had tried many times, she had grown weary of being haunted by the Oridanna farm girl that she had been. The dark side had changed her, perfected her, but still…in some small corner of herself, Keera remained, or rather, an echo of who she had been remained.
It was frustrating.
She had spent a lot time over the last year trying to eradicating that part of herself. Keera Lylos: who she had been, what she had wanted, that had become a distraction. Avaryss' desires were not the same as they had been back when she had been a Sith Hopeful. She had…higher aspirations. Keera would have gone to her grave trying to slay Darth Feer, she lacked perspective; it was only through joining her master had she now found herself in a place where she could destroy him one day.
Avaryss frowned.
The part of her that was still Keera would have called her a traitor for thinking such thoughts, that an enemy could not be destroyed by becoming the enemy. Such an idea was as naïve as it was pointless.
Avaryss would never turn away from her path. It was the road to great power. She had come too far, sacrificed too much to stop now.
Whatever was left of Keera now seemed to have anchored itself to the sliver of light that remained within her being. That small connection to the light side remained, and proved to be as hard to toss away as Keera herself.
That part of her still reached out every now and again, offering her love, forgiveness, and some sort of redemption; a chance to make up for choosing to ally with Darth Feer.
She had no need for redemption, or forgiveness. As for love, she would have that again, once Fehl had been restored to her. She did not need her dream friend or Taya to fill the void left by Fehl.
He would be returning to her soon enough.
She had foreseen it.
Her lip quivered slightly, the memory of Fenn's hands upon her made her shudder. She had still been a naïve young girl the last time they had spoken, but even then, the desires that she now felt were there, Fehl had awakened them, brought them to full bloom.
She remembered the last time they had talked, back in the room with the fountains, how good he had looked to her, bare chested, standing in the warm mist.
Her body stirred.
It had been some time since she had felt lust, sought to slake her desires.
In truth, she had thought them dead…until now.
She missed having someone. Fehl was gone, and her curiosity about the boy she now knew as Fenn remained. Had she been a little older, more…experienced, she might have tried to seduce her dream friend, experience in her mind what she had enjoyed with her first lover. She could have shared with him what she had learned…
Would he have refused her?
Would any boy refuse to experience such…revels?
It was hard to say, he had always seemed so…dedicated to his path, a path that she now suspected was the Jedi way.
It would have been fun to corrupt him.
Enough, she thought, get your mind out of the gutter and back on the job at hand, you are on mission.
You need to start acting like it.
She cast any thought of Fenn aside, wherever he was, they would likely never meet, and if they did, it would likely be as enemies. Taya, on the other hand, would need to be dealt with.
How she was going to do that, she was not completely sure yet.
If I gave her what she wanted…it would bind her to me in a way that I would never need to worry about her betraying me, but at the same time, it would open me up to feelings that might prove distracting, especially as I continue my own operations against my master. Attraction was a useful tool, but it could just as easily ensnare the one seeking to trap, as the one who was supposed to be trapped.
It would not be the first time that a hunter was captured by the hunted; the heart was unpredictable that way.
She sighed.
No, she would not be able to deal with this, not now, once she had returned victorious to Dromund Kaas, once this threat to the Empire had been averted.
Then she could start thinking about the future.
For now, she needed to stay focused on the job at hand.
She needed to find some way to remove Keera Lylos from the equation that was her life; she was jeopardizing her rise to power. She needed to distance herself from anything that might remind her of Keera and the Lylos family.
She needed to let that part of herself wither and die, no distractions, nothing to remind her of the past.
It would work, she thought.
It would by only a matter of time.
They were drawing closer to their target; she could feel it, even as the hum of hyperspace rumbled around them. The Fury set a brisk pace as it sped towards their destination.
Soon they would reach it.
She needed to be ready.
Her real mission was about to start.
IOI
She emerged from her cabin to find her servant droid waiting for her, Toovee nattered on about this and that, ship systems that he had tasked with monitoring.
"Everything is within acceptable perimeters, my lord," the droid said bowing, "So you see there is no reason for you to think about disassembling me."
Avaryss chuckled.
She had never once threatened the droid with destruction, but it seemed that he saw it in every glance she gave him. It was amusing at times, but it could also become tedious if he continued to harp on the subject.
He just might be on the verge of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
"Summon the others," she ordered, "It is time they learn why we are here, and what is expected of them."
"As you wish, mistress," the droid said bowing, "I will carry your orders out, so that you will have no reason to contemplate my disassembly."
The droid toddled off while Avaryss made her way to the ship's conference room. So far, her crew had proved to be useful on her two previous missions, and now that she had removed the dead weight that was Captain Slynn, she thought that things could only improve from here.
She saw ensign Holli emerge from the cargo bay. It was there that the engineer had set up shop, and was continuing her work on the salvaged HK droid from the deserts of Tatooine. The ginger haired engineer had made great strides since the droid had been delivered, she had managed to find a pair of functional legs, and had all but restored the head and chassis, getting the droid functional however, was proving to be a daunting task.
"I would say our friend here was hit by a very strong ion charge once," she had informed Avaryss, "It damaged several key systems in his central processing unit, if that is not enough; it looks like he suffered some kind of internal detonation."
"Something in his body overheated and exploded?" Avaryss had asked.
"Actually, it is more likely that someone breached his chassis and put a grenade inside. These droids were heavily armored against external attack, but having an explosive detonate inside them that caused a lot of damage, shrapnel even got into his internal processor, it is a mess in there."
Avaryss frowned.
Was it over then? Was the droid good for nothing but scrap?
No, she refused to believe it.
There had to be another way.
"Could it simply be replaced? Upgraded with a more modern system?" she asked.
"Maybe," Holli agreed, "But these old HK-50s operated on a different system then the models that came after; they were almost a hive mind, hunted in packs, according to my research. The droid factory that manufactured them is not in imperial records, and believe me, I looked."
The engineer shook her head.
"I'll keep at it, but…I'm not very hopeful."
"Do what you can," Avaryss said, "It would be nice to have him on our side."
The engineer had nodded, she had not given up. Avaryss could sense that through the Force.
She viewed this little project as a challenge, and would do what she could make it work.
Avaryss respected that.
Holli's star continued to rise in her opinion.
The engineer made for the conference room. Her frizzy red hair pinned up beneath her cap, her uniform and face stained with whatever lubricant the ship needed to stay flying smoothly.
She nodded to Avaryss as she passed.
Rink joined them a few moments later, swaggering confidently out of the cockpit, his uniform as ill-fitting as ever.
A spit and polish Imperial would have called him on that, but Avaryss did not care.
He flew well, obeyed her orders, and could kill for her if needed.
That was all she asked of the former street rat from Nar Shadda.
Avaryss joined them both in the conference room. Rink and Holli sat across from each other, as she activated the holo-projector, and began her mission briefing.
The image of a portly human in his early sixties with a bald head and handle-bar mustache appeared between them. The image, captured by Imperial Intelligence a few months ago, was the only picture that the Empire had of the man, their intended target.
"This is Sego Thunn," Avaryss said, "He is CEO and chief programmer for Thunn Cyber systems, a droid programming house that has risen to prominence in the last few years, providing droids and droid upgrades to some of the wealthiest families in both the Republic and the Empire.
The young Sith smiled.
"And we are going to interrogate him."
Rink snorted and leaned back in his chair, clearly he did not see the threat that this man had come to represent to the Empire.
"What's this Thunn guy done to deserve you, Boss?" he asked in his usual insolent manner.
"It is believed that he is a Republic agent," she responded, "He is being sought as part of an ongoing investigation into a matter of espionage in the Sith Empire."
"Does this have anything to do with the droid head we recovered on Nar Shadda?" Holli asked wiping away a spot of grease from her chin.
"It does indeed," Avaryss confirmed, "It took some doing, but Warmaster Feore was able to confirm that both the droid we recovered, as well as several others, had nothing in common but one thing.
She smiled wickedly.
"All of them have either been serviced by Thunn Cyber Systems, or received a TCS upgrade in the last two years. It is for that reason that we shall seek this man out, and find out exactly what he knows about certain…matters."
Avaryss knew that Holli and Rink were not totally in the know about all this, but that had been her master's choice not hers, the fewer people that knew all the details the better.
They were playing for very high stakes this time. The Darth desired that they leave nothing to chance.
Before leaving Dromund Kaas, Warmaster Feore had given her a full briefing on Thunn and TCS. It had been a dry, yet, informative story to be sure.
Thunn, a Corellian by birth, had begun his business at the tender age of seventeen. Back then he had been a simple boy working out of a speeder garage, with only the most basic of computer systems to aid him. He had made some discoveries early on that had revolutionized droid cognitive systems, and as a result caught the attention of several of the major droid foundries in the galaxy, and for a brief time he had worked as a code designer on Mechanis III. It was a positon that the young Thunn had excelled at, and in under ten years he had been a chief programmer on Mechanis, and within five years after that, had restarted the company he had first forged as a teenager, only now as one of the most respected names in the business, a name that brought with it both great wealth, and much prestige.
It was hard to believe that such a man would jeopardize his position by turning spy for the Republic. What Imperial Intelligence knew of the man suggested that he never shown any political leanings during any of his business. He had traded openly with both the Empire and Republic in the years since the Empire's return from exile. Finally relocating his business to a world not so tightly controlled by the Republic Senate and Jedi Order.
It was that world that was their destination today.
Avaryss pressed a button on her data pad; the image of Thunn vanished, replaced by that of a planet, a planet that had been long ago ravaged by war.
Holli shuddered when she saw, it, recognition flashed in her golden eyes.
"Taris," she said coolly, looking at her mistress.
"Thunn is on Taris?"
Avaryss nodded.
"He moved his operations there about nine years ago. Now, TCS is one of the largest employers on Taris, and a major player in the recovery effort there."
Avaryss smiled at the engineer.
"You've been there before?"
The girl nodded.
"My family moved around a lot, we sold our services as mechanics for hire out of our old freighter. We were called in to assist on Taris a few times, mostly to help stabilize some failing super reactor, or help repair some old power grid."
The girl shook her head.
"It is not a pleasant place to be, my lord."
Avaryss chuckled.
Holli's words were an understatement to be sure.
According to what Warmaster Feore had told her, Taris had once been considered the Coruscant of the outer rim. Centuries ago, it was a hub of both trade and culture for the Republic. Its value had made it a prime target for the Mandalorians, during their war of conquest three centuries ago, the planet had been liberated by the Jedi only to fall into Sith hands a few years later, when the Emperor had sent the fallen Jedi Revan and Malak as his envoys.
It was during that time, that the Sith had decided to make an example of Taris. Its citizens had been sheltering two Jedi that had proven to be a thorn in the side of the Sith.
According to Warmaster Feore, Darth Malak had ordered the carpet bombing of Taris, the entire planet had been left in ruins, millions, if not billions, of beings had died…
…And still the two Jedi that Malak had sought had slipped through his fingers, or so the stories said.
Avaryss had shaken her head at the story.
That is why you never send a Dark Jedi to do a Sith's job. Malak's reaction had been overkill to the extreme. He had not even warned the Sith on the surface of Taris before beginning the bombardment. Many Sith warriors and troopers had perished that day.
It had been a wasteful and clumsy move, clumsy and stupid.
Of course, what could one expect of one who had once followed the Jedi code?
In the centuries since, many had tried to breathe life back into the corpse that had been Taris. The Republic had spent billions of credits trying to restore the place to its former glory, and had only been partially successful, most of the planet remained in ruins, ruins that were now overrun by swamps and marshes, swamps now populated by diseased and dangerous predators.
Holli was right.
It was not a pleasant place to be.
"Taris is technically under Republic control," Avaryss informed them, "But given the state of things there, the Empire does maintain a presence, and for this reason, Sego Thunn has been able to deal with not just the Empire, but the Hutts and the Mandaloreans as well."
Avaryss crimson eyes narrowed.
"It is the perfect place for a Republic spy to ply his trade, but now we are aware of his actions."
She grinned evilly.
"It falls to us, to stop him."
"Sounds wizard," Rink chuckled, "Though, I can't imagine that the pubs are just going to let us lean on such a…respected business man, spy or not."
"I suspect that we will meet with some Republic resistance," Avaryss agreed.
"We going in alone on this," Rink asked, "or are we gonna have back up this time?"
"Sith resources on Taris are limited," Avaryss said, "However, House Feer has managed to contact an Imperial black ops team operating on Taris. They have offered us their support in carrying out this mission."
Rink shrugged, he did not look overly pleased with them having Imperial aid. Despite his recent elevation, he remained resistant to authority.
"So we use these black ops guys to breach security, so that you can have a little chat with our droid programmer friend."
"That is the plan, yes," Avaryss replied.
"Do we really need their help," Holli asked.
Avaryss gave the girl an arched look; she expected resistance from Rink, but not from the engineer.
The girl blushed as red as her hair.
"If this man is a businessman, perhaps we could offer him a deal? Why involve Imperial Intelligence if we do not have to?"
Rink chuckled.
"You did hear the part about the guy being a Republic spy, yeah?"
"If he is, it is likely doing it for money, you said it yourself, my lord, he had never shown any political leanings."
Avaryss nodded.
Holli was not the first to suggest such an action. In fact, Warmaster Feore had tried to set up a meeting between her and Thunn. Supposedly to set up a deal to upgrade the droids serving the Empire in the Itae system, such a large contract should have been too lucrative from a man like Thunn to resist, but apparently he had.
"His droid responded to my request," Feore admitted sullenly, "He said his master was unavailable and we would need to be put on a waiting list."
Avaryss had sneered when she heard that.
"He is aware that we are Sith, yes?"
"That was made clear to the droid, yes."
She had laughed.
"Clearly the man does not value his life, does he? Another Sith might have ordered his execution for ignoring them."
Feore had agreed with her. It was a risk on the man's part, and now seemed to support the fact that he was likely a Republic agent.
Only someone who had protection would dare risk angering a Lord of the Sith.
"We have no choice," she informed Holli, "Thunn has rebuffed our request to speak, so we must employ more…direct methods."
Rink grinned.
"You gonna make him pull his eyes out with your spells, boss?"
Avaryss sneered.
"I would prefer a more…civilized conversation, but if he gives me no choice. I will respond…accordingly."
An alarm chimed softly above them, Rink nodded and rose from his seat.
"We are coming up on Taris," he said stretching, "I'll get us ready to come out of hyperspace."
He left without another word.
Avaryss looked at Holli.
"You will accompany me on this mission," she said, "I need someone who is familiar with this world."
Holli sighed and shook her head.
She did not look happy.
"You sure you do not wish to take Rink?" she asked.
"As you said, you have been here before. Your experience may come in handy. I assume you know how to defend yourself. I saw you with that carbine on Nar Shadda."
"I've had basic training, sure, but…"
She looked at the look on Avaryss's face.
She knew in that moment that she had lost.
She nodded glumly.
"As you wish, my lord," she said, her green eyes looked pained, through the Force she radiated unhappiness, but she would not complain or refuse.
Holli was Imperial navy.
When a Sith gave you an order, you obeyed.
She stood and headed for the armory. After she was gone, a strange thought came to Avaryss.
She had been watching Holli during the briefing, had it been her imagination or had the girl's eyes changed color again. Not only that, but she had thought she saw Holli wipe the grease from her chin at the start of the meeting, yet when she stood to go to the armory, it was back…again.
Avaryss reached out with the Force, sensing the engineer's presence, she felt nothing but her nervousness at leaving the safety of the ship; that and her worry about meeting people from Imperial Intelligence.
Holli's concern for meeting with anyone from intelligence was understandable, most in the navy did not like or trust the information service, too many officers had met their end because of Intel's investigations.
In this though, her concerns were baseless, these men were technically imperial army, not Intelligence forces. Feore had vouched for not only their skill but their discretion as well.
They would be useful pawns in this endeavor.
She felt the ship shift back to real space; that strange sense of pseudo motion as the Interceptor returned to real space.
Avaryss returned to her quarters.
She needed to prepare herself for what was to come.
The Force was clouded; it offered no hints about what they would soon face.
She expected resistance. If Thunn had created the droid program, the Republic would likely have taken an interest in ensuring his safety. Avaryss intended to use the block ops soldiers as pawns, to test those defenses.
She did not expect all if any of them to return, but that was fine.
The Imperials existed to serve the needs of the Sith, and right now, those needs were her needs.
If she needed them to die to complete her mission, then so be it.
What good was an expendable asset if you did not expend it?
The weak were made to pave the way for the strong…
Such was the way of the dark side.
IOI
The journey down proved uneventful. The Fury's false transponder fooled the Republic's ground control team, and the interceptor slipped past without incident.
Avaryss gave Rink the coordinates for their rendezvous with the black ops troopers. He maneuvered their ship easily through the busy space lanes, past the few functional buildings, and over the ruins of the city scape that had burned so long ago.
The sight made Avaryss shiver.
The dark side was very strong here. The mass destruction almost three centuries past had left a mark on this world. It was amazing that the Jedi considered this place worth saving, worth redeeming.
To Avaryss, it felt like it would always belong to the Sith.
The coordinates led them to a ruined factory district by the look, it was more swamp then urban center, but that likely only served to hide the operations of the Empire.
Before them an entry port opened on a half standing skyscraper, revealing landing lights. Rink brought them in easily, touching down gently on the hidden landing pad.
Avaryss and Holli were already at the ramp, as it lowered, gases hissing from the opening, the Sith and the engineer strode down. Holli clad in a breast plate and combat helmet, Avaryss in in a set of armored robes with a full mask and helmet covering her features.
She figured her youth and gender might have been a distraction. By appearing to be just another armored Sith, she hoped to avoid any…distraction.
An Imperial officer met them at the ramp, the blue and red pin on his breast marked him as a colonel in the Imperial army.
He saluted as they approached.
"Colonel Essada at your service, my lord," he said, "Welcome to Taris."
Avaryss nodded.
"No pointless pleasantries," she said flatly, "Good, I'm told that you have been briefed on my needs, Colonel Essada…"
"I do hope that you are prepared to meet them?"
The Imperial nodded. He gestured for her to follow, while Holli fell in step behind.
The Colonel did not even acknowledge the engineer, but that was to be expected.
A Sith was on the deck, it was her needs that mattered.
The base looked to have been some kind of hidden bunker; the walls appeared to be reinforced, but showed markings that suggested that it had survived great heat.
Unusual to find such a thing in a city, maybe it had been some criminal's hideaway, or smuggler cache. That fit with what Master Feore had said about Taris before its destruction.
The criminal organization known as the Exchange had been said to have had a base here, perhaps this had been one of their safe houses.
Not that it had proven very safe when Darth Malak had come.
Colonel Essada said nothing of his operations, he simply led her deeper into the base.
Clearly the man was focused on the mission.
He would be a most useful pawn indeed.
"I sent a recon drone, to scout the Thunn building, par Lord Feer's request," he informed her, "We have a report waiting for you if you wish to see it."
"I do. Tell me, what is security like? Is it breachable?"
"I suspect it is, once a proper distraction has been arranged. "I've already dispatched several of my soldiers to draw off some of the Republic's security. Several accidents are about to happen, I'm afraid the Republic will be quite busy, and unable to respond if any alarms are tripped by Director Thunn."
Avaryss chuckled.
So far, she was starting to like this Colonel Essada. He had anticipated her needs.
Such men could go far, if they stayed that course.
"I would advise against a direct assault on the building, my lord. A lone infiltrator would have greater success," the Colonel continued, "The droids that TCS uses are programed to respond to large scale incursions. There have been several incidents involving large packs of Rakghouls in the area."
Avaryss gave him an arched look.
"Rakghouls?"
"Local predator, pale skinned monsters, diseased and extremely dangerous, Thunn is quite paranoid about them I've heard."
"Perhaps we can use that," Avaryss suggested.
"Perhaps so, my lord."
Avaryss shivered in anticipation. It seems that Feore had been right to involve these men, they seemed more than professional.
Perhaps they were not so expendable after all. She would still send them to their deaths of needed, but for now. She was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
"I would like to bring one of your troopers with me," she informed the colonel, "Perhaps a trained sniper…that may prove useful.
She grinned beneath her mask.
"He may not make it back."
The colonel nodded, considering her needs.
Finally he smiled.
"I have just the man, my lord. One of the finest snipers in my command, and with some skill in demolition as well, he should prove most useful, I'm sure."
"Sounds good," she said, "I hope he will not be missed."
"Think nothing of it, my lord, my men understand what the Empire is asking of them, and more to the point, this man seems to have been courting his own death. He is a good soldier, but seems eager to meet his end."
"He is suicidal?" she said, no longer feeling as confident about this.
"He will not kill himself, no, but he will not hold back if you need for him to leap into a position where escape is impossible. He is willing to die for the Empire, in fact, I think he wants to."
Avaryss nodded.
A fanatically loyal soldier did have his uses, and if he was determined to die for the Empire, so much the better.
She would feel no shame in sending him to his death.
The colonel led her into a large chamber, filled with both weapons crates, and what looked to be espionage gear. It appeared that Colonel Essada and his men were more than prepared to hamper the Republic's recovery efforts here. A group of six soldiers sat around table playing cards.
They barely acknowledged their commander's entrance.
Avaryss was about to comment on that, but Essada beat her to it.
"They are fighting men and women, Sith. They need their diversions."
She said nothing; it was Essada's command after all.
He could run it as he saw fit.
He whistled loudly, that got his soldiers' attention, and in that moment he said a name that Avaryss had never wanted to hear again, one that she prayed to never hear again.
"LYLOS!"
Avaryss froze.
What?!
"LYLOS! FRONT AND CENTER MAN, THIS SITH HAS NEED OF YOU!"
A soldier rose from the group, and made his way over to them.
Avaryss felt the bile rise in her throat.
No…it couldn't be?!
The soldier saluted and stood at attention. He looked the spitting image of his father, the same hair, the same cool eyes, and easy competence; He moved like a man born to serve in the military, just like their father had. She had not seen him in years, thought that she would never see him again, but here he was. He was here…standing before her.
Damn!
She was grateful for the mask and helmet in that moment; he could not see her face.
He could not see the shock that was there.
"Lieutenant Beric Lylos reporting for duty," he said.
Avaryss shivered.
Oh no.