Ne'kral stood on the bridge of his ship, the Ruby Claw, and gazed out
at the stars, patiently waiting for his men to return with Orion, the one
who had killed thirty Dark Jedi, including his own son and disciple.
When Vondo-baas had introduced Ne'kral as an expert on the Sith, the Temple Master did not know that his childhood friend had actually become one of them.
************
Ne'kral had been part of an expeditionary group that had ventured into the Unknown Region a decade and a half ago. Two months into the trip, their ship discovered a world that served the Sith Empire as a military outpost. Since the expedition was traveling in an unarmed science vessel it was promptly disabled and captured. Most of the crew was sacrificed to the Dark Side, but the base commander was a lower-level Dark Jedi and upon sensing the Force energy of Ne'kral, reported the incident to the Sith High Command.
A week later, Ne'kral was brought before Gilejah, the current Dark Lord of the Sith. He offered the captured Jedi Knight an ultimatum: join the Dark Side and be the eyes and ears of the Sith in Republic space, or be sacrificed. Ne'kral hesitated only for a moment before betraying those who had counted him friends.
Gilejah gave Ne'kral the Ruby Claw and trained him in the ways of the Sith. Half a year after he had left, Ne'kral returned. Using the Force, he wiped the memories of the few people who had known of the expedition, thus concealing his true allegiance.
The traitor wasted no time. He went to worlds the Jedi Order had never investigated, finding those who were sensitive to the Force and young and impetuous, longing for a life of action and adventure. Ne'kral took them under his wing and trained them, designating a leader, and left them to grow while he went to another world.
Nar Shadda was the seventeenth such world Ne'kral had visited in his 'pilgrimage'. While he was constructing another sith cell, he impregnated a prostitute, who died giving birth to a boy. As his child grew, he was schooled in the ways of the Dark Side along with the rest of his father's disciples.
Ten years after his arrival, Ne'kral's group had grown to three dozen, for secrecy was the first and foremost rule Ne'kral imposed on his students. Then came the fateful day when Ne'kral decided to enlist the services of an assassin, Lored Kedaga.
He was hired to quietly eliminate a government investigator, who had been getting dangerously close to discovering the cell of Dark Jedi. Kedaga had been told nothing; he had merely been given a picture and the order to be discreet.
Kedaga killed three more times for them; he killed a crime lord who had tried to extort protection from the 'local school', a politician who had tried to enact laws to 'clean up the streets', and a Wookie bounty hunter who had been pursuing a bounty on a friend of Ne'kral's, a friend who had connections.
After that, it was decided that Kedaga would either have to join their cell or be killed, for he knew too much. When the offer came up while a fifth job was being discussed, Lored simply shook his head and replied, "I'm freelance."
The fifth contract was agreed upon. Kedaga was told to bomb a warehouse, when in reality it would be a trap. When the assassin arrived, he was ambushed by six of Ne'kral's adepts. However, they had underestimated him. Lored set off a powerful flare, temporarily blinding his would-be killers. Six shots rang out, and six bodies slumped to the floor.
By the time the shots had been reported and what passed for local law enforcement had arrived, the bodies had been disposed of and the area was completely clean.
Kedaga wasted no time. An hour later, he knocked on the door of the squat building that housed Ne'kral's 'clan' of Jedi. Two hours later he left through the back door, favoring his left leg as the assassin melted into the shadows.
Ne'kral had been away for political reasons, so he did not hear of the incident until he read the evening news vid. Shortly thereafter, the Sith was sitting in his private quarters onboard the Ruby Claw as he viewed the recordings made by small cameras he had hidden throughout the house.
Ne'kral's face was impassive as he watched his son open the front door and receive a slug in the face. He watched Lored calmly walk through the haven, a Force-nullifying ysalmari wrapped around his shoulders to strip the Jedi of their edge and level the playing field. A few tried to stop Kedaga by throwing their lightsabers, but without the Force to guide their aim, none of the projectiles came close.
The assassin was methodical, checking each room, missing nothing. When he came to the downstairs lounge where Ne'kral's three oldest and strongest students were waiting, sabers drawn, he smiled mirthlessly, tossed aside his slugthrowers, and beckoned them to attack.
The students spread out, surrounding the assassin. One of them attacked from the side, hoping to surprise Kedaga, but without the Force he was no match. Lored saw him coming and quickly ducked and sidestepped. As he rose, a small durasteel knife appeared in his hand and buried itself between the student's ribs. The youth looked down, surprised, and collapsed, his lightsaber deactivating as it left his hand.
The second student, slightly trembling with fear, feinted high and came in low. Kedaga stepped in, allowed the sword to graze his right thigh, grabbed the kid's right hand, and broke the thumb, causing his opponent to drop his weapon and clutch his hand. Without stopping, the assassin came in and grabbed the student's throat. Digging his fingers in, Kedaga broke the skin and proceeded to rip out the organ.
As the child fell to the ground, blood flowing out of his open neck, the third student simply held up his hands, closed his eyes, and whispered "make it quick." Lored obliged him, stepped in, and snapped his neck. By the time the third student's body had finished spasming, Kedaga had gathered his dropped weapons and was heading out the back door.
Ne'kral had spent all of his resources and contacts trying to locate Lored Kedaga, but his efforts turned up nothing. Until two years later, when he visited the Jedi Academy and saw the assassin there, training with a lightsaber.
At first he couldn't believe his eyes, but an examination of the records revealed that he was now called Orion Amaturus, he had only been at the Academy for a year or so, and claimed to have no memory of his life before that.
The Dark Jedi found this most interesting. Since that day, he had kept a few loyal servants on the planet, watching Orion as best they could. Now, after all of these years, his revenge for his students was at hand at last.
************
Orion slowly became conscious, his head throbbing where he had been knocked out. As things came into focus, he realized things were going to get a lot worse before they got better.
He was strapped to an upright durasteel table in what looked to be an operating theatre. As Orion looked at the tools, the door slid opened and a man walked through. Orion recognized him after a few seconds.
"I know you! You fought with master Vondo at the Jedi Academy!"
Ne'kral smiled. "Yes, though we have met before that."
Orion frowned. "I wouldn't know, I don't remember anything from my life as Lored Kedaga."
"Nevertheless, you shall suffer for what you did to my disciples on Nar Shadda."
Ne'kral smiled grimly, and then walked over to the tray where his tools were kept and began to prepare for the torture.
When Vondo-baas had introduced Ne'kral as an expert on the Sith, the Temple Master did not know that his childhood friend had actually become one of them.
************
Ne'kral had been part of an expeditionary group that had ventured into the Unknown Region a decade and a half ago. Two months into the trip, their ship discovered a world that served the Sith Empire as a military outpost. Since the expedition was traveling in an unarmed science vessel it was promptly disabled and captured. Most of the crew was sacrificed to the Dark Side, but the base commander was a lower-level Dark Jedi and upon sensing the Force energy of Ne'kral, reported the incident to the Sith High Command.
A week later, Ne'kral was brought before Gilejah, the current Dark Lord of the Sith. He offered the captured Jedi Knight an ultimatum: join the Dark Side and be the eyes and ears of the Sith in Republic space, or be sacrificed. Ne'kral hesitated only for a moment before betraying those who had counted him friends.
Gilejah gave Ne'kral the Ruby Claw and trained him in the ways of the Sith. Half a year after he had left, Ne'kral returned. Using the Force, he wiped the memories of the few people who had known of the expedition, thus concealing his true allegiance.
The traitor wasted no time. He went to worlds the Jedi Order had never investigated, finding those who were sensitive to the Force and young and impetuous, longing for a life of action and adventure. Ne'kral took them under his wing and trained them, designating a leader, and left them to grow while he went to another world.
Nar Shadda was the seventeenth such world Ne'kral had visited in his 'pilgrimage'. While he was constructing another sith cell, he impregnated a prostitute, who died giving birth to a boy. As his child grew, he was schooled in the ways of the Dark Side along with the rest of his father's disciples.
Ten years after his arrival, Ne'kral's group had grown to three dozen, for secrecy was the first and foremost rule Ne'kral imposed on his students. Then came the fateful day when Ne'kral decided to enlist the services of an assassin, Lored Kedaga.
He was hired to quietly eliminate a government investigator, who had been getting dangerously close to discovering the cell of Dark Jedi. Kedaga had been told nothing; he had merely been given a picture and the order to be discreet.
Kedaga killed three more times for them; he killed a crime lord who had tried to extort protection from the 'local school', a politician who had tried to enact laws to 'clean up the streets', and a Wookie bounty hunter who had been pursuing a bounty on a friend of Ne'kral's, a friend who had connections.
After that, it was decided that Kedaga would either have to join their cell or be killed, for he knew too much. When the offer came up while a fifth job was being discussed, Lored simply shook his head and replied, "I'm freelance."
The fifth contract was agreed upon. Kedaga was told to bomb a warehouse, when in reality it would be a trap. When the assassin arrived, he was ambushed by six of Ne'kral's adepts. However, they had underestimated him. Lored set off a powerful flare, temporarily blinding his would-be killers. Six shots rang out, and six bodies slumped to the floor.
By the time the shots had been reported and what passed for local law enforcement had arrived, the bodies had been disposed of and the area was completely clean.
Kedaga wasted no time. An hour later, he knocked on the door of the squat building that housed Ne'kral's 'clan' of Jedi. Two hours later he left through the back door, favoring his left leg as the assassin melted into the shadows.
Ne'kral had been away for political reasons, so he did not hear of the incident until he read the evening news vid. Shortly thereafter, the Sith was sitting in his private quarters onboard the Ruby Claw as he viewed the recordings made by small cameras he had hidden throughout the house.
Ne'kral's face was impassive as he watched his son open the front door and receive a slug in the face. He watched Lored calmly walk through the haven, a Force-nullifying ysalmari wrapped around his shoulders to strip the Jedi of their edge and level the playing field. A few tried to stop Kedaga by throwing their lightsabers, but without the Force to guide their aim, none of the projectiles came close.
The assassin was methodical, checking each room, missing nothing. When he came to the downstairs lounge where Ne'kral's three oldest and strongest students were waiting, sabers drawn, he smiled mirthlessly, tossed aside his slugthrowers, and beckoned them to attack.
The students spread out, surrounding the assassin. One of them attacked from the side, hoping to surprise Kedaga, but without the Force he was no match. Lored saw him coming and quickly ducked and sidestepped. As he rose, a small durasteel knife appeared in his hand and buried itself between the student's ribs. The youth looked down, surprised, and collapsed, his lightsaber deactivating as it left his hand.
The second student, slightly trembling with fear, feinted high and came in low. Kedaga stepped in, allowed the sword to graze his right thigh, grabbed the kid's right hand, and broke the thumb, causing his opponent to drop his weapon and clutch his hand. Without stopping, the assassin came in and grabbed the student's throat. Digging his fingers in, Kedaga broke the skin and proceeded to rip out the organ.
As the child fell to the ground, blood flowing out of his open neck, the third student simply held up his hands, closed his eyes, and whispered "make it quick." Lored obliged him, stepped in, and snapped his neck. By the time the third student's body had finished spasming, Kedaga had gathered his dropped weapons and was heading out the back door.
Ne'kral had spent all of his resources and contacts trying to locate Lored Kedaga, but his efforts turned up nothing. Until two years later, when he visited the Jedi Academy and saw the assassin there, training with a lightsaber.
At first he couldn't believe his eyes, but an examination of the records revealed that he was now called Orion Amaturus, he had only been at the Academy for a year or so, and claimed to have no memory of his life before that.
The Dark Jedi found this most interesting. Since that day, he had kept a few loyal servants on the planet, watching Orion as best they could. Now, after all of these years, his revenge for his students was at hand at last.
************
Orion slowly became conscious, his head throbbing where he had been knocked out. As things came into focus, he realized things were going to get a lot worse before they got better.
He was strapped to an upright durasteel table in what looked to be an operating theatre. As Orion looked at the tools, the door slid opened and a man walked through. Orion recognized him after a few seconds.
"I know you! You fought with master Vondo at the Jedi Academy!"
Ne'kral smiled. "Yes, though we have met before that."
Orion frowned. "I wouldn't know, I don't remember anything from my life as Lored Kedaga."
"Nevertheless, you shall suffer for what you did to my disciples on Nar Shadda."
Ne'kral smiled grimly, and then walked over to the tray where his tools were kept and began to prepare for the torture.