Hey everyone! Here is chapter thirty-one! I had a good discussion with a reviewer on AO3 shortly after the last chapter dropped and I just wanted to take the opportunity to restate that all reviews are welcome, no matter how critical. I try to respond to everything and, believe me, it's more than possible that I made a mistake, you've read enough of this story by now to know that. Obviously good comments are welcome too, or even just your favorite flavor of ice cream, I don't particularly mind. I've only ever deleted comments on FFN and those were all spam comments which clearly were neither about the story, about me, or about my readers. Anyway, enough rambling for engagement, here's the chapter.
Secrets of The Outer Rim.
Act III.
The Hunters and The Hunted.
Chapter XXXI.
Schemes of The Emperor.
"What was that?" Schweva asked as we plugged in the wayfinder and jumped into hyperspace, heading back to Dromund Kaas. What was that is a good question, considering how chaotic things got in that hangar at the end there. In a few short moments, Phanza and I entered into a fight with the three hunters, Schweva snuck aboard the ship, and we disengaged, choosing to run rather than fight. Phanza launched Force lightning at the hunters before the fight, but it didn't seem to affect them, not much anyway, so, what does that mean? Well, my guess is that these hunters have combat data about us from the Battle of Taaszon, much of it could perhaps be gleamed from Vader directly. So, to continue on with my line of thinking, I suspect that these hunters, much like Vader and the Inquisitors, will be yet another weapon in Palpatine's arsenal to use against us, yet another force searching for us and trying to disrupt our operations, and, if I'm correct, they may prove to be an even bigger problem than Vader and the Inquisitors.
Vader and the Inquisitors hunt enemies of the Empire, the Jedi in particular, but, unless I'm wrong about this, these hunters are meant to target us specifically. Vader must have put two and two together and connected the lightsaber-wielding red-skinned Nautolan and Zeltron from the Star Cluster Casino with the red-skinned Nautolan and Zeltron from Taaszon, but, rather than passing this information down to the common clones, it was given to these hunters specifically. So, my theory continues, these hunters were scoping out the casino and waiting for the two of us to return and, once we did, they planned an ambush on the terrace, targeting Phanza's office. Sure enough, that was exactly one of the places where we visited on Nar Shaddaa, so, the lead hunter fired off his assault cannon, knocked us out, and they would have had us if Phanza hadn't come to and Force choked them. Now, this is only my theory for now, based mostly on the fact that they happened to predict exactly where we were and had armor designed to deal with Phanza's most common Force attack, but I think it holds water, as a working theory until we learn more information, if nothing else. I was interested to hear what Phanza was thinking though, to see what she was able to gleam from all this.
"That, my apprentice, was a clumsy display on our part. I thought we had time to act, the behavior of the common clones once we entered the casino supported this, making me too confident, thinking that perhaps the Empire had overlooked this for just long enough that we could cover our tracks and disappear from the known galaxy. Of course not though, the Imperials had assassins waiting for us, enhanced humans as far as I can tell, perhaps recruited from the mercenary corps rather than selected from the clone ranks. They are irregular units, independent of the typical Imperial command structure, subservient to the Empire directly, and terminating us seems to be their primary objective. I very much expect to be seeing them again." Phanza replied, her findings similar to mine, though she brought up something interesting with the mercenary comment. These men did not seem to be clones to me, the leader's voice didn't match up with the voice I've come to know from the clones and they had slight variations in body type. Now, there are a handful of specialized clone units out there that aren't an exact match to Jango Fett, but this seems like a rather radical departure if they are supposed to be clones.
"So why not just kill them?" Schweva asked, referring to the fact that we probably did have some opportunities to have killed at least one of the hunters on Nar Shaddaa. The Force choke was one, though admittedly I'm not sure how easy it is for Phanza to Force choke three individuals just after being knocked out, but she is certainly capable of impressive Force feats when fully conscious, so perhaps it's not completely out of the question. There is the fight in the hangar as well, when Phanza and I could have done something, though if their armor could survive Force lightning, I wonder how effective lightsabers might be against them. If my working theory is correct, then I would certainly image Palpatine would design their armor to be lightsaber resistant, especially if it is only these three units. The reason things in this galaxy aren't usually lightsaber resistant is that materials like cortosis and beskar are rare and expensive, and getting rarer and more expensive as time goes on, so equipping an army with cortosis armor is economically unfeasible.
Equipping three elite operatives in such armor, while still demanding a high price, could prove to be worthwhile, especially when tasking them to hunt down enemy Sith. Anyway, my point is that maybe killing them in the hangar wouldn't have been easily. The last opportunity then, I suppose would have been to use the ship's guns against them. This is, admittedly, something that could have been done, but, on the other hand, once the three of us were onboard the Chancellery, we were content to simply escape, at least I was. I wasn't sure what exactly Phanza and Schweva's reasons were, and it seems that my Chiss counterpart is questioning it as well, so, the two of us looked over at Phanza, wondering about what our master had to say.
"Well, we've proven that we can at least escape this current lot. I would imagine that killing these three is going to demand a significant escalation out of Palpatine, and, quite frankly, I don't know what could replace these three hunters. For now, I believe the best course of action is to learn what these hunters are, how they fight, how they track us, and how we can beat them consistently. At the same time, we continue to try and fight the Empire, try to divide their attention, and, if we can, try to diminish Palpatine's ability to produce elite soldiers." Phanza replied, spelling out her tentative plan. I could sort of understand what she was saying, to fight the enemy we know, even if barely, then having to constantly watch out for whatever Palpatine could try next. I would imagine that, eventually, Palpatine is going to tire of these hunters and replace them anyway, but we could buy ourselves more time by toying with them. So, I suppose this is a safe plan for now. I don't quite know how we can prevent Palpatine from replacing these elite hunters, but maybe Phanza will develop a plan for that going forward.
"So...what happens now?" I asked, wondering how we go from here. Presumably Kyenia Cheraid will be running damage control on the ground on Nar Shaddaa, trying to throw the Imperials off the scent and prove that the casino really does belong to a Chiss Consortium - the paper trail pointing towards Copero will probably prove invaluable in that regard - but what's going to happen to us? We're in a ship escaping from Nar Shaddaa, heading to Dromund Kaas, at least for the time being, but what happens next? Are we just going to go back to our new hiding place and rebuild for as long as we can? Or are we going to begin attacking the Empire soon, trying to follow though on Phanza's plan? I feel like we need to do something, after the Battle of Taaszon and getting outmaneuvered here on Nar Shaddaa, we really do need a victory, preferably soon.
"We're at a clear numerical and logistical disadvantage against the Empire, but what has really been hurting us recently is that we don't have the intelligence advantage any more. Ever since Vader eliminated my spies on Coruscant we've been at an immense disadvantage. We need a way to reestablish our surveillance network within the Empire but we can't risk human lives - we don't have nearly enough people to spare anyway - so we need another way." Phanza explained, hitting the point that, if we could just predict some of the Empire's movements, know the location of some of their ships, or get an insight into one of the Emperor's schemes, we would be in an infinitely greater position that we are now. The problem is, for the most part, we've been forced to react to what the Empire is doing - getting caught on Manaan, we abandoned our plans and ran, being found on Taaszon, we had to fight and retreat, even going all the way back to the first visit to Nar Shaddaa, we didn't get any information out of the underworld, we ran into Vader and the Third Sister instead. If, for once, we could catch them off-guard or force them to react, then maybe we could actually have an affect on the Empire.
"How are we going to spy on them without actual spies?" Schweva asked, the apprentice wanting to know what our master was doing as she disengaged the hyperdrive and began plotting a new route. We were now floating somewhere in the galaxy, probably in the outer regions of Hutt Space, somewhere between Nar Shaddaa and Dromund Kaas, while Phanza punched in some new coordinates and changed our destination. I was suddenly grateful that Phanza had our lightsabers and other weapons onboard this ship - we weren't taking them on Nar Shaddaa, but Phanza didn't want us to be completely disarmed - a precaution, but a precaution which proved to be a good choice in retrospect - we were entering an unknown situation and I would rather have the benefit of being armed than not. Once she was done plugging in the new coordinates, Lady Attam turned around and filled us in on the situation.
"Well, ever since the fall of the old Sith Empire, there were legends of various superweapons made that could have turned the tide of the war against the Republic. I'm sure most of these weapons were ill-thought would-be miracles designed to save a doomed civilization with little regard for anything else, but one of them seems to have held promise. The legends speak of a weapon described as a sort of atmosphere surveillance bomb, a weapon that would be unleashed from orbit over a planet and would explode within the atmosphere, releasing a swarm of hundreds of thousands of minuscule surveillance drones, these little, almost insect like units would disperse across the planet, some flying around endlessly and surveying that way, others burrowing into the roofs and walls of key targets, others there simply to be caught. The idea was not to avoid detection, but to release so many projectiles that it was impossible to find all of them. I have no idea how far in development this Swarm weapon went, but, there is more to this story." Phanza began.
"In the last few years, there have been scattered rumors of an old Sith superweapon hidden somewhere on Telos IV. I never put much stock into these rumors, doubting that a Sith weapon could survive this long in the known galaxy, but I suppose at this point, we're all becoming rather desperate. I suppose Telos is relatively remote and not overly important to Imperial operations at this stage, so we can manage some cursory investigation, at very least." Phanza explained, this was a brief detour on our path back to Dromund Kaas, investigating some rumors at very least because the Swarm weapon, if real, could prove to be exactly what we need. So, we're going to go to Telos IV, get a definitive answer as to whether or not the Swarm is on the planet, then, well, either we have the weapon, or more likely, Phanza can filter out these rumors whens searching for any sign of where it may be. That being said, Telos IV seems like a very unfortunate place to have a Sith superweapon on, given the planet's history of suffering under a Sith orbital bombardment - in fact, on closer examination, a misinterpretation of events could be exactly what's fueling these scattered rumors of an ancient Sith superweapon on this otherwise random planet.
"Understood, mistress." Schweva bowed her head as we made the jump to hyperspace, a new target in our sights, a search for an ancient spy's dream weapon that could turn the tide against the Empire, and some wild rumors guiding our next move. This wasn't a good position to be in, we certainly weren't working off of any solid leads here, but what other options did we have? It was either this or going back to Dromund Kaas and waiting for an opportunity to arise. As I've said, we need to stop being reactive, and if this wild goose chase is the beginning of that, then I'm willing to accept it.
The Chancellery arrived in orbit over Telos IV, the main inhabited world of the Telos system. Telos had been a Republic world and was a fairly significant world for what it is. The world is nowhere near as important and wealthy as Coruscant or Nar Shaddaa, for instance, but it is rather bustling for the population of the world and the part of the galaxy that it was in. The planet had a large orbital space station circling it - the hub of most of the business and trade - something which has been there for thousands of years, ever since the restoration effort began. I believe the space station was supposed to be a temporary feature, but, the way life in the galaxy goes, sometimes temporary things become permanent and sometimes plans never materialize. To that end, despite thousands of years of effort, Telos is still not entirely inhabited. Most of the planet is hospitable and serious agriculture and settlement is underway in multiple areas, but there are still massive zones of the planet which have barely recovered from the ancient orbital bombardment.
"I'm going to scramble the landing codes once again and request passage to the surface. As far as the landing authority, the Empire, or anyone else will know, our ship is a low-level pleasure craft." Phanza explained, transmitting a brand new set of Republic registration and landing permissions, created by a scrambling device built into the Chancellery. Presumably this is how she has gained access to Nar Shaddaa, Manaan, and all these other worlds in what Taaszon considers the known galaxy - as in, the galaxy as known to the average people of the galaxy, in contrast to the galaxy as it is known by Taaszon - but I have to wonder for how much longer this is going to work. Yes, for now, Republic clearances are still grandfathered in under the Empire, but, eventually, the Empire is going to bring in their new permissions and their new codes, and I think they'll do this soon, because Palpatine wants to establish his control over the galaxy as soon as possible.
"They've granted us permission," Schweva reported, sitting in the co-pilot seat, opposite of Phanza who was in the captain's seat. Neither of them were actually flying, because, once we got landing permission, Phanza set the autopilot on for descent. The Republic codes were still working for now, but, like I said, I am concerned that, soon enough, the scrambling computer won't do us any good, because the Empire will come up with a new system, especially if Palpatine or his subordinates realize that we're using phony codes to move across the galaxy. The ship passed the space station and headed down for Telos itself, breaking through the clouds in the atmosphere into the skies of Telos, revealing the world before us. Directly below us, there were rolling green hills with little villages and farms, places which looked almost untouched, but the scars of war were still evident.
The rolling hills were not even a good thing, as closer examination revealed that this hills were just grass grown over the craters, cracks, and canyons created by the orbital bombardment. The greater horrors of the planet could be seen in the distance to the left, where a red rayshield wall surrounded a blackened landscape of death and destruction. These closed off zones which haven't been revitalized yet still carry the wounds of bombardment, unexploded munitions, and even radiation left over from one of the greatest and most obvious atrocities carried out by the ancient Sith. Now, for whatever reason, there are rumors that the ancient Sith were planning something else here, with the scattered mentions of a Sith superweapon somewhere on Telos IV, perhaps the remnants of yet another atrocity that was just barely avoided. Perhaps not though, perhaps the superweapon here is the Swarm, something that doesn't actually harm the planet or the people it affects, something which only extracts information, and something that we need to find. The only question is, now that we're on Telos, what do we do?
"Are we going towards the exclusion zone?" I asked as Phanza punched in some new instructions and the ship began turning to the left, aligning itself exactly with the closed off zone that I saw when I observed the planet. I almost sighed internally, of course we're not going to the friendly space station, we're not going to the scarcely populated, green parts of the planet, we're going directly to the scorched, radioactive, extremely dangerous part of the planet. I wasn't even particularly surprised though, our missions aren't ever particularly safe, not even this one, which is just supposed to be a somewhat out of the way but otherwise quick task before we return to Dromund Kaas. In any case, Phanza's justification did make some sense.
"Yes. Telos has been continuously populated and rebuilding for thousands of years and, despite how slow, inefficient, and corrupt the process has evidently been, I very much doubt they would have overlooked an ancient Sith superweapon. If there is any truth to these rumors, we'll find it in the remaining exclusion zones, this one happens to be closest so I think we'll search it first." Phanza explained, raising a good point. I still didn't like the fact that we were flying directly into a nuclear wasteland, but at least we were inside a spaceship and Phanza was making it sound like we were just going to take a basic look, searching for anything that might warrant greater investigation. A suspicious structure, a sign of post-bombardment activity, or generally just something that isn't supposed to be anything. If we don't see anything that piques our interest, we'll keep going, if we find something that doesn't belong here, meanwhile, then we'll go in for a closer look. How exactly that will look given the circumstances, I don't know, all I knew is that we were flying over searching for any sign of a Sith superweapon.
We were flying over perhaps the fourth or fifth of these little exclusion zones, places which were either too damaged to save, too remote, or just not worth the great cost it would take to revitalize them, even after all these centuries. These areas, for the most part, were just wreckage, charred lands, and four thousand year old ruins that contained absolutely nothing. This particular zone was looking the same when, suddenly, in the distance on the right, we saw a strange object, something which shouldn't have been there. It wasn't just one thing about this structure that stood out, rather, it was a number of things, it looked just a little bit too new, it seemed just a bit too intact compared to the other ruins, and it just didn't fit into the style or the architecture of pre-bombardment Telos. Phanza and Schweva noticed this seemingly out of place object as well, and, soon enough, the Chancellery was angling towards it, flying in for a closer look.
"There's lights on that thing, they're blinking." Schweva observed and, sure enough, through the dust and smoke, I could see the blinking pattern of lights, mostly white, with a handful of red and blue lights, blinking in what almost seemed to be a pattern, but I couldn't be sure without knowing what the lights were and what these colors represented. What I could tell was that this was a working, operational piece of technology in an exclusion zone on Telos, not only that, but, being this close to it, I could tell that this definitely wasn't here before the bombardment. This has been here for awhile, the blowing dust and radiation has had an effect on this object, but its overall state and the fact that it still works means that this was put here or launched here or even built after the Sith destroyed this part of the planet. This relatively small object, shaped almost like a gently sloping pyramid but with a flat, mesa-like top, didn't seem like it was a superweapon in of itself, but this thing definitely connected to some kind of mystery, the only question is...is it the mystery we're trying to solve?
"Does it match ancient Sith tech?" I asked Phanza, knowing that the Nautolan would have the greatest chance of any of us three to identify this. That was really the last piece of confirmation we needed, if this was Sith technology, from the Sith Empire specifically, then the rumors of a superweapon on Telos were true, we would just need to find out whether or not it was the Swarm. If it was anything else, then quite frankly, it was probably better off leaving it in the ground or wherever it is, because a superweapon that's actually a weapon never leads to anything good. I refuse to be on a side that would be willing to use a weapon that, no matter what, will lead to civilian casualties, in fact, a superweapon will more than likely cause thousands of times more civilian casualties than actual military targets. The alternative is that the Empire gets their hands on it, which is even worse, because the last thing the galaxy needs is Palpatine armed with a superweapon capable of acting on a planetary scale, who knows how many billions of people would have to suffer in that scenario.
"Well," Phanza spoke, snapping me out of a very negative line of thinking. I sighed while listening to her, well aware of the fact that my state of mind has turned very negative since Order 66 and, even now, when I think that, despite all the tragedies around me, I'm not in a state of being actively depressed, my mind can go into some very dark and hopeless places without much effort. I'm sure that's exactly what Palpatine wants, but I can't exactly avoid it, because my mind keeps finding logical reasons to be worried and to feel hopeless, which I suppose is the tragedy of trying to resist against a monolithic empire controlled by the man who just destroyed everything I knew in a strategic masterstroke. Seeing where my mind was going, I decided I was better off returning to active listening, not wanting to get caught up in another negative trap "I wouldn't call it the most telling example of Sith technology, but enough of the aesthetic cues are there and the level of technological sophistication seems to be there. That would put it about three to four hundred years after the orbital bombardment, with a little over 3,500 years of wear on it. From what I can tell from this distance, it certainly seems plausible."
"Do we have a way of taking a closer look?" Schweva asked, pointing out that our job would be much easier if we could physically interact in this object. Unfortunately, this object happens to be on an irradiated wasteland which hasn't been hospitable for thousands of years, and I very much doubt that Phanza casually travels with suits of radiation-proof armor. Phanza has proven to be amazingly prepared, that much is true, but there is a difference between being good at planning and anticipating possible threats, and always having the solution to any possible problem. The latter is not achievable, not to a realistic degree anyway, when we're pursuing such a wide variety of missions and objectives in this battle against the Empire.
"Do we? No, but, perhaps there is a different solution." Phanza replied before getting up from her seat and moving to the ship's cargo bay.
Two hours later, Schweva and I had changed into new clothes and equipped our weapons before joining Phanza in the cargo bay. I was dressed in black trousers, black knee high boots, a heavy belt, and a pair of black gloves, with a hooded, red and black upper robe on my top, covering my torso and then hanging down behind my legs, in a rather similar fashion to the typical Jedi robes of the time. This wasn't the style I typically wore back in my Jedi days, but, other time, especially with our missions in disguise, I was growing more used to fighting in trousers, appreciating the greater freedom of movement. Schweva, meanwhile, wore a more traditional set of robes, dark blue trimmed in white, low-opacity patterns, the look completed with a matching set of gloves. The one thing our outfits did have in common is that we were covering up, even more than usual, and that's simply out of a fear of being exposed to the radiation outside.
Phanza, meanwhile, was sitting in the center of the cargo bay, meditating, as if she was putting her lightsaber back together. The thing is, rather than a lightsaber, Phanza was using one of those circular cleaning droids plus some quickly fashioned metallic legs she must have made herself, and what appeared to be a camera. That was when I realized what she wanted to do, rather than us going to the surface to grab a closer look, Phanza was going to use this modified droid - with its new legs for a greater range of movement, a camera to relay its findings, and likely some sort of a direct control mechanism - to take that look for us. I have to admit, this was rather ingenious for something Phanza came up with in two hours, especially given, to my knowledge, she has never been involved in building droids herself. Perhaps Phanza has done some maintenance on HK-107 over the years, but I think even that assassin droid is rather self-sufficient.
"It's done." Phanza announced as she finished meditating and the droid came together, the impromptu effort of a Sith Lord trying to build a droid, but something that worked nonetheless, standing on the ground in front of us on its own power and awaiting instruction as Phanza stood up. Lady Attam gave us our instructions first "We are going to go to the bridge and temporarily seal the door behind us, then, once the link with the droid is established, I want you to open the boarding ramp for just long enough for me to walk the droid off the ship. The second its clear, closing the cargo ramp and vent the rest of the ship. I see this as the best option available to us in terms of dealing with the radiation.
"Understood," Schweva bowed.
"Of course, master." I said at the same time, bowing as well.
With that, the three of us walked to the bridge and began doing exactly as Phanza instructed. First of all, we sealed ourselves off in the cockpit and set the Chancellery's ventilation system into two zones - the bridge and the rest of the ship - dividing them from each other. Once the ventilation settings were established, Phanza used the ship's computers to connect wirelessly with the droid, guiding its actions and moving it over to the edge of the landing ramp to make this as fast as possible. Phanza nodded to Schweva and gave the Chiss apprentice her signal. Schweva lowered the ramp and Phanza's droid began moving instantly, moving down the ramp as it was brought down, touching the ground almost as instantly as the ramp itself did. Then, once the droid was safely on the ground, Schweva raised the ramp all over again, waiting for it to retract and form the air-tight seal yet again. It was my time to act, so, once the ramp was in place, I vented the rear section of the ship, removing any of the radioactive, dusty, exclusion zone air that might have gotten in while the ramp was done. I took a sigh of relief once the process was complete, no longer having the responsibility of the ship's oxygen supply on my shoulders. Our focus then shifted to Phanza and her control of the droid.
The droid's spindly spider legs allowed it to cross the small crater between where we landed and the strange Sith device in a way it wouldn't have been able to by rolling, providing us with vision of the ground all the way through. All the airborne dust in the exclusion zones was the rest of the orbital bombardment blowing away any vegetation and vaporizing any rocks, effectively just leaving the planet covered in loose dirt that could be blown airborne with any sustained wind. Unfortunately for us, Telos happened to be a rather windy world, so the black dust obscured our view even on the droid's short walk from the ship to the Sith device. It wasn't too bad though, because once we got there, the camera gave us enough of a good look to start making some real observations.
"There, look at that - we couldn't see it through the dust but there it is - a signal antenna, this is broadcasting a signal out to somewhere within the system!" Phanza reported, realizing that this device was, in fact, some sort of beacon, perhaps one attached to some sort of superweapon somewhere in orbit or at least within this system. Could that be the Swarm? Well perhaps. I could see how a device like the Swarm could be augmented to work with ground based beacons for a number of reasons, such as allowing the Swarm device to be released further away than immediate orbit and thus bypassing a planetary blockade. Alternatively, ground based beacons could be used to attract a greater concentration of Swarm spy devices, so, if this beacon were to be snuck into a key military espionage target, it could be overrun with hundreds of spy devices, provided this theory of its function is correct. In any case, the fact that there was a signal being transmitted out from this implied that someone was receiving this signal and, looking at the lights once again, I thought that maybe the white lights demonstrated the signals being sent, the red lights demonstrated it was moving across the galaxy, and the blue lights appeared once the signal was received and then once it was read.
"If I'm correct, then this signal is a variation on the old Sith Imperial frequencies. Fortunately enough, we happen to be from a civilization descended from the very same Sith Empire, and that means we can track it. Now...searching for frequencies...searching...got it." Phanza started working on one of the other computers in the cockpit, one that could handle the old Sith communication systems - some of which were evidently still used or at least usable on the Grand Duchy's systems - narrowing down the signal and, eventually, creating a triangular graph with three points: the beacon, our ship, and something floating out in the edges of the Telos system. We now had a location for this Sith superweapon but, the problem is...if someone has that weapon, then they can presumably find us just as easily. I hoped that there was nothing, but the target was moving, slowly, but not in an orbit around the sun, more of an outside arc around Telos IV while following the planet in its orbit. That meant that this superweapon wasn't just orbiting the local star, it was either moving on its own power or someone was moving it. In either case, we were going to go figure it out.
A silver, almost chrome pleasure craft with its sweeping designs and beautiful, curved panels hiding the massive arsenal for a ship of this size could be found in many places in the galaxy, but this was not one of them. The outskirts of the Telos system were a remote and utterly empty place, with nothing but a handful of icy rocks floating out there, or, at least, that is what the star charts would tell you. The fact of the matter is, there was something else floating out there, a dark, menacing predator hiding in the corner of the galaxy, but more than capable of striking out if anyone dared threaten its lonesome voyage. An ancient, brooding ship that shouldn't be here, floating across the handful of pieces of space debris hidden out in the outskirts of a star system. This was a Sith warship, not the largest, smaller than a Venator-class Star Destroyer or one of the Grand Duchy's Margraviate-class Super Dreadnoughts, but much larger than the Chancellery, and I had to imagine this was the biggest ship to ever grace this part of space. I almost felt like the ship new that, because it seemed terrifying beyond its size. Perhaps it is because the ship doesn't belong here, maybe it's because we're all alone against this ship, or maybe it's just being on edge with an unknown Sith weapon.
"This doesn't seem to be a superweapon to me, it looks like an old Terminus-class destroyer." Schweva replied, evidently identifying this ship as an old Sith Imperial design, a support ship no less. Again, this wasn't a ship of the line, it was a humble destroyer - not to be confused with a star destroyer, that particular bit of Kuat Drive Yards marketing caused some confusion - still, that didn't make the ship seem any smaller, especially since it now seemed to notice us. I saw Phanza pause for a moment, almost reaching to reveal the weapons, not to fire them off, but to make a statement that we could defend ourselves, if need be. Phanza ultimately decided not to do that though, deciding that such a gesture could and likely would be interrupted as a threat and lead to us getting outgunned. I took a deep breath, being very much grateful for Phanza's judgement this time. I very much don't want to get into a space battle with an Imperial warship.
"Identify yourself." a male voice rung out through the communications system, now having tracked our signal down. I imagine the fact that we're not showing any weapons and that we're on a Sith Imperial frequency is the only reason why we're not being shot at right now. The man's tone in that curt, two word demand didn't exactly refute that theory, it very much came across as a threat, and it definitely conveyed the theme that this man did not want anything to do with us. Schweva and I both turned to Phanza, apprentices flocking to the master, hoping that the Nautolan had the answers we lacked. Fortunately for us, the red-skinned Nautolan leaned in and activated the microphone, providing the mysterious presence with an answer.
"This is Lady Phanza Attam, captain of the Chancellery and Dark Lord of the Sith. I request permission to board your vessel." Phanza responded, identifying the ship and herself, but not her purpose. Phanza did drop the fact that she was a Sith Lord, given that this was clearly a Sith warship of some sort and this whole situation generally stunk of the Dark Side, which should help our cause. Then there was the fact that she asked for permission to board, making it clear that this was not a hostile gesture, even if we all knew that whoever is in command of this ship would not give up a superweapon lightly. I assume Phanza's plan is to get onboard and away from the turbolasers before stating what she truly wants. In fact, I think she'll remain pretty tight-lipped even once we're onboard, the Sith Lord observing the numbers and strength of our potential adversary before doing anything that could be perceived as a threat. I took note of that, this was going to be somewhat of an espionage mission, finding out just what this ship is, whether or not the superweapon exists, and, if there is a superweapon, is it the ship or is it something onboard the ship? That is all in addition to finding out just who is in possession of a nearly four thousand year old Sith warship.
"You may proceed. Port side hangar." the voice replied, just as clipped and to-the-point as before. Whoever this voice was, presumably the leader of whoever is manning this ship, was not exactly making us feel welcome, or really coming across as conversational, though the fact we were being allowed onboard suggested he was at least open to speaking with us. Thus, the Chancellery flew forwards, at a slow, controlled, non-threatening speed, and landed exactly in the hangar where we were instructed. I watched as Phanza, now dressed in a black, waist-revealing robe with small bits of purple trim, stood up, curved-hilt lightsaber at her hip, hood over her head, and tattooed head tails over her shoulders, making no secret of the fact that she was an armed, dangerous Sith Lord. Schweva and I followed her example, dressed in the same outfits we wore in the cargo hold, weapons at our hips, and standing behind Phanza on either side, the obedient apprentices trailing the master, ready to protect her at any sign of trouble.
"I suspect a welcoming committee the moment we step into the hangar. Be on your guard." Phanza instructed us as she lowered the ramp and stepped down, the two of us following her. A Nautolan Sith Lord, her Chiss Sith apprentice, and the other apprentice, the girl who doesn't know if she's Zeltron, human, or Sith, if she's Jedi, Sith, or neither, or if she's seriously fighting the Empire or simply prolonging a suicide by combat. I know that I'm the confused one, I know that I'm the one that clamors for decisive action while being unwilling or unable to do anything decisive about my life. I know that by not deciding if I want to be Jedi or Sith I've only failed to live up to being either one. I know that, as I stand here, about to get involved in the competing schemes of two Sith Lords while another runs the whole galaxy, I'm squandering the second chance given to me. Vision in the crystal cave or not, I know that Ullara Avdune never envisioned this when she sacrificed herself to save me, her Padawan, a girl on the brink of becoming a Jedi Knight, now reduced to following along a Sith Lord on her random misadventures in hitherto fruitless attempt to fight the Empire. I even had the nerve to wear what I thought was a Jedi-like outfit while doing it.
Of course, my increasing self-doubt was only one of the obstacles we faced in this hangar because, just as Phanza predicted, as soon as all three of us were on the hangar ground, we came to a stop as a red lightsaber ignited in the shadows. A double-bladed red lightsaber, to be exact. Two blades igniting as a red-skinned Twi'lek girl, dressed in dark gray and black robes, advanced towards us, soldiers in glossy black armor flanking her. They were not clone troopers, but their armor had some similarities, too many similarities in fact, another sign that Palpatine was rubbing it in our face that he was rebuilding the Sith Empire right underneath our noses. These soldiers may have not been clone troopers, but that didn't make them any less hostile as they raised their weapons at us. I saw Phanza's hand twitch, ready to seize her lightsaber with the Force and fight back at a moment's notice, but waiting to see where this was going first. The Twi'lek woman with the lightsaber, the Sith, was clearly the one making the judgement call here, so Phanza waited for her to make her call.
"Identify yourselves - all three of you." the Sith demanded, still brandishing her lightsaber, and demanding our names. Phanza, naturally, took the lead, making the introductions, still deciding to play along, at least for the time being.
"I am Phanza Attam, Dark Lord of the Sith, Dark Councilor of the Grand Duchy of Taaszon, and Keeper of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. I represent an organization of the Sith that has survived continuously since the fall of Dromund Kaas and has recently returned from exile, resettling our old capital world. These are my apprentices, Schwevaa'aphere'enda, the Chiss, and Zaliza Vyvan, the Zeltron." Phanza responded, sharing exactly who we were and why we mattered in the world of the Sith, but continuing to avoid stating our purpose here. I also took note of what Phanza focused on in the introductions - Dark Lord of the Sith, meaning that she was a Darth, if not the outright leader of the Sith, and I suppose either definition applies at this point. Dark Councilor rather than Grand Duchess, showing that even now she doesn't want to be the leader, merely part of the leadership structure. Then Keeper of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, which, to my knowledge, was a post on the old Sith Dark Council which Darth Imperius herself occupied, apparently Phanza herself holds that post for Taaszon, or at least styles herself as that title. One more thing of note is that she stuck to the cover story of me being a Zeltron, evidently wanting to protect the fact that I was, ostensibly, the last major concentration of Sith blood in the galaxy. I had no idea what particular fervent Sith would do to me if given that information.
"Follow me." the woman simply said, not introducing herself. All she did was turn off her lightsaber - at which moment all her troopers lowered their guns and stood at attention - and turned around, walking towards the elevator. I glanced at Phanza and, without wasting another moment, the Nautolan started following, the three of us passing through the gap made by the awaiting troops. A show of force. That's what it was: a show of force to intimidate us, to keep us on our toes, making sure we were constantly uneasy in this constantly uneasy place. I had a feeling that these Sith were different from the Sith of Taaszon, these Sith were no strangers to the Dark Side, to them, fear was a tool. They wanted us to be scared and they wanted to thrive off of that. Thus, the show of force, thus, we were following a Sith, presumably the Sith apprentice of the man who spoke to us on the intercom, and thus, despite outnumbering her three to one as we entered the elevator up to the command deck, I still felt like we were at the disadvantage. This is how Sith liked to operate, and I'm sure none of that was lost on Phanza.
This tense feeling remained the whole elevator ride until, finally, the door opened on the top level and, the apprentice, standing exactly where she was for the whole elevator ride, gestured for us to leave. We glanced at each other again, the three of us uncertain why she would remain on the elevator, but Phanza ultimately decided that progression was the key here, so we left the elevator, the doors sealing shut behind us. The bridge was directly ahead now, various computers and stations manned by crew members, mostly aliens, though a handful of humans, though that wasn't what was drawing my attention. My attention went straight to the far end of the hangar, where, looking through the glass and overlooking his ship, stood a tall, ivory-skinned male in black, high-collared Sith robes, a collar which his head still stood high above, along with his thin, spindly neck. I knew what species this Sith was, but I have to admit, it surprised me to see a Kaminoan Sith, especially here of all places, on an ancient Sith warship with a lightsaber on his hip.
"So, you're the newcomers." the man spoke as we approached, stopping just before the steps which led up to his observation platform. The Kaminoan Sith still had his back to us, facing the stars with his arms crossed behind his back, the only part of him that we could see were his hands and the back of his head. This, too, was a show of force. The Kaminoan Sith was showing that he was so powerful, so confident, that he would turn his back on three Sith without even an inkling of fear. Phanza understood this as well, so, with a hand on her hip, she took a step even closer, now literally standing right where the first step began, and, from this position, she began speaking to her male counterpart.
"Yes, my lord. We come in search of rumors of ancient Sith weapon, I assume that we have found it." Phanza explained, only now revealing our true purpose here. This, finally, got a reaction out of the Kaminoan Sith, only it wasn't the reaction I was expecting. He tensed up for a moment, as if surprised, that part wasn't weird, but next, in his deep Kaminoan voice with a hint of raspiness to it, he began to laugh. Schweva and I glanced at one another before the Sith Lord finally decided it was time to explain himself and let us in on the joke.
"I should have expected as much. That is what draws most of the lambs to the slaughter. Unfortunately for you, you'll find no weapon here, nor will you have the chance to hunt for weapons ever again."
Cliffhanger!
