He was more human than mechanical but that was not outwardly apparent. Instead of a robe he wore a cape that was secured around the back of his neck, it billowed and flowed with each step, avoiding his shoulders but obliterating most of his torso and legs when he came to a stop. The armor that covered his body was a blinding white that was accented with silver that was just as startling. Each joint seemed to shrink from the rest of the mass it connected together, giving the illusion that he was put together instead of just being whole. His face was masked, or perhaps it wasn't a mask at all. The skull-like appearance shrank to a hollowness the closer it came to his jaw, two fangs dropped well below where the rest of the mask ended. The sides held an attached, elongated half-disc, much as if his ears had drooped and sagged and become distorted. The airholes for breathing were no more than three long slits in the area of where a mouth would be and immediately above them skewed triangles of red shot forth from where ones eyes would rest. His steps were slow, drawn out, emphasized as if performed by some remote device.
"Who is responsible for this?" he commanded with all the assurance of one who should not be reckoned with.
Feet shuffled, glances were exchanged but no one spoke. Each afraid of being the one to utter the first word. Finally, to their relief, the Scout entered.
"Lord Gnillihs, I am sure once you see my reasons for bringing you here you will understand." His voice didn't quaver, in fact, it seemed more assured than ever.
"If you will follow me."
"I will do no such thing. Speak, now."
"As you were informed, I have discovered something that I am sure you will find most disturbing. If I were able to tell you it would have been done already. This is something that you had to see for yourself." The scout gestured to the open doorway that he had walked hours before when they led the children from his vessel.
"It will be worth your time," he added.
------------------------
Mio rushed quickly into the room, her hands flying across the buttons as she released Treg.
"There isn't much time, you have to –"
His hand came up immediately, sending a crashing wave across her face that propelled her to the floor, "You!" he spoke, in his calm voice before muttering under his breath, "bitch" before wiping his hand across his face.
Mio didn't know if she was more shocked at his choice of words or that he had actually smacked her. She quickly rushed out all she had to say, "I'm sorry Treg, I was young, I wanted the glory as much as you. I made mistakes. But I'm here to make up for that. Dr. Sargac is with your other friend, Carth Onasi. He has him in the original lower lab, he plans to inject him with our newest implant. Treg, you have to leave now, Sargac might be back any minute."
Mio spoke as she remained in her fallen position, "I tried to make everything right. I contacted the Republic, I sent them coordinates we found in the droid on your ship. It accessed our mainframe and we accessed his. It matches with where Sargac has been going." She held out a datapad, "Revan has just been taken to that same location." Her tone was sorrowful, "I'm sorry Treg, the implant is taking over, when I last saw her –"
"How do we stop it?" he demanded.
"I – I don't know." Her voice became soft, hopeful, "Treg, the republic will take care of that – they are ready for a total bombardment of the planet and moon. I'm sure Revan will be there, she will also be destroyed…"
His words were venomous as he ignored her feeble attempt at excuses, "You don't know? You spend all these years here and you don't know how to stop the implant? Did the prospect of having Dark Lord Revan in power again not mean anything to you? Were you that wrapped up in your own ambitions?" He gave her a disgusted look, "Never mind, I already know the answer."
Treg's thoughts were racing as he realized that Sargac had be working not only with Revan when she was a Dark Lord, but Malak and now theSith who was trying to become the new Dark Lord. The fact that his experiments had contributed to this current state, and Revan's current state, we almost more than he could bear. But Sargac was the real reason for his failed experiment, or depending how you looked at it, succussful, was what he needed to concentrate on. Treg's own knowledge had to be a plus, despite the desperate situation. And Mio, how should he take her? Was she trying some other tactic to lead him into a state of false security, or could her actions be taken at face value? His guard was definately up and unless she gave him more reason than just this, he was not going to fall into her hands again. She had already taken so much from him, he would be a fool to trust her completely at this point.
He finished dressing in the clothes she had left for him before he turned again, deciding to address her in a formal manner. At least that approach was safe, if he let his true feelings out there was a chance he would compromise the situation. "Operative Mio, I understand your position, but at this point I outrank you and I must admit I'm embarrassed that you didn't perceive the threat of a restored Revan greater than the past four years of your life! She's a threat, a tremendous threat, more than anything you tried to discover here. That should have been your first priority. With these memories and the dark side, she will just find some other lab to carry out her plans. And mark my words, she will not fall victim to the republic attacks!" Unable to ignore his personal feelings any longer he spat out his final words, "To think I shared my bed with you!"
The look of shock crossed her face before she replied, "You… you know I work for the republic? You work for the republic too?"
Contempt wasn't even a suitable word to describe what he was feeling, "Please Mio, I know you already figured that out when I confronted you earlier. I also know that everything was a lie, our marriage, your feelings for me!"
She recoiled at first, shocked that her single, valiant, attempt to rectify the situation, the past four years, wasn't even acknowledged. Indeed she was a traitor in his eyes, and rightfully so. Realization set in that she had just tossed aside all her earlier sacrifices on this single futile attempt to win him over, and it had failed. She had been playing both sides and had lost on both accounts. But there was still a small chance, if only she could convince Treg, "No! It wasn't. I didn't plan to fall in love with you, but my duty came first. Hasn't your duty come first?"
His jawed turned hard, "Not any longer!" The fact that he was done discussing their personal relationship became clear as he continued, "Now what about that device you used before? You mentioned a self-destruct mechanism."
She refused to give him hope, not after he had just ripped it away from her, "It's never been used before Treg, we assume it will wipe out the entire memory bank of the user, render the implant useless or destroy the bearer completely."
"And what have the experiments shown?"
Her head hung down in sorrow, "That all memories will be wiped from the wearers mind."
His questions came in a rush, "How close for this device to work? Where do I get one and who might also have one of these?"
"I don't know, close, very close. We weren't concentrating on range at this point. There are only two, the one I used and the one Sargac has. He kept them as insurance. I don't believe anyone else knows about them. Treg, the republic is sending part of its army here, they should be arriving any moment. We can go over the details when they arrive..."
As if to drive home her statement, the entire room was filled with the sound of thunderous footsteps. Marching feet, metal against metal, weapons being readied all floated through the room.
Seeming oblivious to the chaos going on around them Treg continued speaking directly to Mio, "I need one of those devices, they stripped it from me. I want all your research forwarded, I want a complete rundown on everything that has gone on here. You can patch it through the proper channels. And now, I need to go find Revan."
"You can't Treg. Look around," her hands displayed across the room, attempting to bring his attention to all the troops and blasters readied at them.
"Amma Latia Mto'ryoka," Treg spoke the secret words then followed up by curling the cloth covering his right arm. The branding held out for all to see and immediately the guards lowered their weapons. The leader moved towards him, holding out a device that scanned over his tattoo. The readout confirmed Treg's identity and the order was given for everyone to stand down. His previous orders to Mio would be assured.
Only then did his face turned back to Mio who was staring at him dumbfounded as she spoke, "ALM? You are part of ALM?"
"Give me the damn device and get your sorry ass to working on disabling the implant and sending what I asked!" He moved abruptly, grabbing it from her outstretched arms, once she had brought it from her pocket.
He turned to the Republic troops gathered in the room, "And release Commodore Onasi, I assume you have already found him. I'm going to need him to pilot a ship." His steps were just past the exit when she spoke, apathy quickly being replaced by rage.
"And you condemn me? If you do this you are giving up your rank, position and mission because you care about this woman, a Dark Lord! Treg, there is much more at stake here."
He looked at her once more before he left the room, "I would never hold duty over personal affairs. But there is one thing you are right about Mio, there is much more at stake here."
"You do this Treg and I will have you brought up on charges of treason. That woman is evil and deserves to die. No matter how many times the Jedi try and save her, she is destined for evil and you know it. It is her destiny Treg, don't get caught up in it like so many others. Like your fracking brother in the Mandalorian wars. You have nothing to prove. Let it go Treg, you have nothing to prove!"
Her words kept echoing in the halls, in his head, as he moved through the compound. His identity obviously revealed to the rest of the reinforcements since they ignored him entirely after briefly consulting their datapads, his thoughts played out over everything that had just happened.
You are so wrong Mio, it is not about my brother any more. I don't care to prove myself better than him, even though I was the destined one not to succeed. He chose to follow Lord Revan in the wars and his death is not on my hands. Nor is it on hers. It was his choice. You would never understand Mio because you are incapable of love, you would never understand. I know you cared for me, but it was never love. Even if we would have had that child it would never have known your love. I've seen that love, felt that love, the love a Mother has for her child. The love Revan has for her children. That is what is at stake here. It is about reuniting those who hold that powerful bond because to deprive anyone of that would be the ultimate display of darkness.
And the love a father would hold, the love he knew he would have held for his child, was just as strong. The feeling Onasi has for those kids, for her, dammit. For the first time in years, after swearing adamantly to himself that he would never let it happen, Treg finally gave in and let the feelings of self-pity invade his soul.
I never asked to be force-sensitive, let alone in such a capacity that I'm just an empath. How foolish were they to even give me that light saber when they knew I was not even able to wield the strength of the force. I'm only able to feel all the raw emotions of everyone gifted, and even those who aren't, but have strong tendencies, like fracking Onasi. Of all the things for that experiment to leave behind, why did it have to be this? To see everyones soul is truly a curse and not a gift. Especially when it allows for one to fall in love with another, even though their destiny is promised to someone else.
The hair on the back of his neck stood and his thoughts cut short. Without realizing it, he had walked the distance to the ship and was now standing in the familiar hanger, eye to eye with the last person he wanted to see at this point. His actions came without thought, the threat evident, even if the reasoning was a bit misconstrued.