The black ship named the Silent Fang, was attached to the outer hull of the hanger using magnetic clamps and a hole had been burned in the side of the station to let the squad board undetected. A few dozen soldiers stood guarding the transport, when they saw Lord Briza running toward them, they can to attention.
"TAKE OFF!" Briza screamed, as she, her brother and the two jedi boarded the ship. The ship detached from the station and took off, with the remainder of the squad securely on board.
No more than a few seconds later, the space station was torn apart from a large explosion erupting from the core. The resulting shockwave shook the ship violently, as ship-sized fragments were being hurled to all sides by the emens force of the explosion, one of the fragments hit the starboard of the ship. Alames chimed in the cabinet, as the pilot tried his best to get the ship under control and the maintenance crew scrambled to repair the damage before they had a serious air leak on their hands.
All the while three of the family members had quickly strapped themselves in the passenger seats, only Tikala still stood. As soon as the ship was repaired and ready, Briza send a message to the task force to return to Dromund Kaas, and soon after they too were flying through hyperspace.
First then, did Briza remember that her fellow lords had just died on the station. She didn't know if they would have had the time to save them or not, but one thing that was for sure... Darth Imperious definitely would not be pleased to hear of their demise, not to mention the failed mission.
But now she faced another problem. "How would she explain the two jedi passengers she had with her". Now that she glanced around, she noticed several of the crew members looked puzzled at the new arrivals.
"This is my new Apprentice, a powerful rogue jedi." Briza was quick to introduce and continued. "And she is-"
"They cannot see me. To them I'm but a shadow." Tikala whispered in explanation.
Briza, looking back at the crew member, now noticed that no one was actually looking at her new found sister. In fact, they were all looking at her with an confused expression.
Despite the koltur spray he received to cure his blaster wounds, Mathorn mostly just wanted to murder all these darn imps! To his knowledge, they had brought only suffering and mayhem wherever they had gone.
Tikala noticed her brothers unease with a clear hint of hatred and lay her hand on his shoulder, whispering softly. "You can't blame these people for the sufferings of billions. They are only doing their duty. Do you sense any evil or malice around you right now?"
Mathorn shrugged, but as always, his little sister was right. These were calm and seemed friendly. Now that he thought about it, his new sister too seemed calm and inviting, not like the other sith he had fought in the great war. While she was clearly connected with the darkside, he didn't feel like it was about to devour everything it could get its hands on, and thereby it was not an immediate thread to him or his little sister.
Briza waved Mathorn over and blinked to Tikala for her to follow, as she opened a door into a small cavine. When all three had entered, she locked the door and looked around at her new half siblings. "Now we can speak in peace."
Mathorn was the first to speak his boggled mind. "Ahm... am I the only one who still finds all this weird and confusing, we go to a space station to save a jedi master and instead we end up finding a sith lord who is really our half sister and an agent who is also our half brother? It just seems too wacky to be a coincidence."
"This is no coincidence, the force wants us to meet." Tikala told them with conviction and continued to speak her belief. "I firmly believe we are meant to work together to solve this mystery."
Briza had to agree with Mathorn, this seemed to abnormal, but the whole will of the force seemed too far fetched to her. Still it presented a unique opportunity. "Then I have a plan. Come with me to Dromund kaas, as it seems to me this mystery has its origin in imperial space. Besides that, I have just reported that, 'you' Mathorn, is a rogue jedi who got away from your order and seeking a new life of freedom."
Tikala nodded at the words, but her facial expression turned to disagreeal. "I agree that we would be better situated from your home, than a jedi temple, to uncover this. But it sounded to me like you were recruiting Mathorn as your sith apprentice and I will not allow you to push him towards the darkside."
Briza smiled, as she knew this part would surface. "It is my intention to use you as an apprentice Mathorn, but light or dark matters little, as long as you behave like a sith apprentice."
"Well, I do need a master to complete my knighthood, but I doubt the order would have liked it to be a sith lord who finished my training." Mathorn pointed out, as a joke. "Maybe both of you could train me? ...Perhaps?" He continued, suddenly giving it serious thought.
"Trained by a sith lord and a jedi knight... that could be interesting to see." Briza hypothesised and nodded in aprovement.
"I would agree on the condition that, I am allowed to send messages to the jedi order." Tikala said, layed out her temes.
Briza was in no way happy to allow communication with the sith's sworn enemy, but if she was going to win her new and powerful jedi sister over and use her in an upcoming struggles to maintain her new power base. She needed to win her trust based on more than similar bloodlines. "If you only report about your own and Mathorn's status, I will allow it."
"We are in agreement then." Tikala smiled chipperly. "Since we are working together now, could you share your reasons for operating this far from your own core worlds?" she asked politely.
Briza thought for a moment, debating how much to reveal. In the end, she told almost everything, from when their own battleship had opened fired on them, to right before she stumbled upon Tikala.
In turn, Tikala told the entirety of their mission mentioning the station workers who fell dead before her, after she had tried to use force persuade to get them to answer her questions.
That story left Briza puzzled. She knew of many horrifying techniques within the darkside, but this one was one of the more extreme. "I can only think of our emperor who would be capable of such."
"Question, how old are you... master Briza?" Mathorn asked suddenly, since he would like to know if he was big brother or little brother.
Briza didn't see age as a matter of great import, but she did catch what her new apprentice was getting at, so she replied directly. "I am thirty one Dromund kaas cycles."
"I am twenty three Coruscant years, or cycles if you prefer." Tikala infomed in her usual polite tone.
"Twenty Five... cycles here." Mathorn told them flat out.
"I'm not familiar with Coruscant's cycles. How much is that in Dromund kaas cycles?" Briza asked, as she pondered the difference.
"Where is Jonathan when I need him, he knows planets and cycle stuff." Mathorn complained and remembered he left his datapad back on the golden ray.
Briza went to the door and opened it. "Agent." She firmly called, where after her younger brother came over.
"Milord?" Terrow replied politely and bowed before entering and closing the door behind him.
In the little cabin, Terrow took a seat next to the two jedi, who greeted him with smiles.
"Terrow, question one. What is the difference between Dromund kaas cycles and Coruscant cycles? Second, how old would I be in their calendar." Briza asked directly.
Terrow rubbed his head, while he calculated the numbers in his head. "Well, it takes Dromund kaas 312 days to orbit the sun and it takes 368 days for Coruscant to do the same, which would make you twenty seven and myself twenty two Coruscant years old."
"Hi sis, we have a new big Sister and a little Brother." Mathorn beamed cheerfully, almost childish, as he looked a Tikala who just nodded slightly in turn.
Briza replied with a shook of her head, while closing her eyes in apparent resignation at Mathorn's words, but she did find it fitting that she was the oldest and thereby naturally the leader of their little family. One thing struk her though. "Tikala, would you be able to conceal your force presence from anyone, even members of the dark council?"
"I believe so. I have only had trouble concealing yourself from my master and Grand master Satele Shan, but I have been told that people who know me, can sense my presence better. So in the end, yes I believe I could remain hidden from your superiors."
"Briza, I have an idea." An idea Terrow had been toying with for some time now. "Since you were technically saved by me, you could use your rank to file a request for me to be transferred to your powerbase. That way I would be able to use my time exclusively on digging up information for your missions."
Briza lite up. "Of course, that wouldn't be suspicious, since it easily could be interpreted as a reward for your service to me." She smirked but with a clear hint of pure happiness in her voice. "Wait here, I will file the request immediately."
As Briza left, Mathorn nudged his new Brother in the side with his elbow. "So, why aren't you an evil sith lord? Like everyone's favorite big Sister?"
Terrow sighed at the question. "...Well I tried... and failed miserably. You could say I'm not very strong in the force. Had it not been for Briza, I would have died in training."
"So she has a heart!" Mathorn uttered with a wide smile. "That's a relief... Now if we can only get her back home to Tython.. I want to introduce her to Jonathan and Urr'Tar."
"She will make her choice, when the time comes." Tikala spoke her peace, she knew that her imperial siblings could end up facing a similar situation, as the one Mathorn and she found themselves in now.
Terrow wasn't sure how to reacted. He wouldn't want Briza, or himself for that matter, to defect to the republic. Aside from the oath he had sworn to never betray the emperor or the empire, the bureaucratic republic just seemed incredibly inefficient and corrupt for his taste.
Tikala could sense her little Brothers thoughts and softly asked. "If I may ask? I have heard stories of Dromund kaas, but what is it really like?"
"Well first of all, it's a swampy forest planet, and lightning clouds fills the sky. " Terrow told and continued in more dark tone. "It is said, that the emperor created lighting storms in the atmosphere to keep invaders at bay."
The door opened and Briza entered. "I have filed the request for your transfer to my powerbase."
"Powerbase? Do you have your own personal army or something?" Mathorn asked surprised, it sounding to him as if he was going to war again, but this time on his Sister's side.
"All high ranking sith lords have their own place of operation, mine was inherited from my late master, Darth Veness. I have a large number of droids, but most of them are servant droids, only a hundred are build for combat." Briza elaborated for her siblings. She was really starting feel like the elder of this new family.
"A Darth? What does Darth actually mean? And will you become a Darth in the future?" Mathorn eagerly wanted to know.
"Darth means an embodiment of death, only the greatest of sith lords may bear the title 'Darth' And will I become a Darth... that remains to be seen, only if I prove myself to the dark council, can I be elevated to the title of 'Darth'." Briza explained, but she did know one thing. If she could get her new siblings to help her, her chances were high.
"Darth Briza, lord of awesome jedi." Mathorn smirked in delight over his own cleverness, but to his dismay no one seemed to share his enthusiasm.
"He definitely isn't lacking in confidence." Briza thought to herself, as she pondered how good an apprentice he could become. "One thing is certain, he needs to be educated in sith society and culture."
"I am tired, where can I sleep?" Mathorn asked.
"You can sleep next to me." Terrow offered his hospitality.
"Fair enough." Mathorn muttered satisfied.
"I will just stay hidden in the cargo hole." Tikala uttered. For her, the comfort of a bed was rarely needed, as she would mostly meditate to regain her strength. Only after months had passed by, was sleep a requirement.
"No you won't, you will share my room." Briza offered in a friendly but firm voice.
"It's not necessary. We Jedi meditate instead of sleep." Tikala explained in a calm tone.
"What is this jedi nonsense! Every creature needs to sleep." Briza declared, not in the mood for a discussion.
"Just go with her. I don't think our new Sister takes no for an answer." Mathorn suggested with a grin, to him this was funny.
Tikala sighed. She knew arguing would get her nowhere. "If you wish."
"Good. This way." Briza smiled softly and gestured for Tikala to follow.
Terrow remained silent, but inside he was smiling "it's good we are doing so well together, despite our different allegiances."
Mathorn followed Terrow to the crews quarters, plenty of bunkbeds were unoccupied as the result of the people who had died on the space station.
After the brothers had made themselves comfortable, Mathorn, who slept in the bed right above Terrow's, leaned out over his bed and asked with a very curious tone to his voice. "So... How is it to be an imp?"
Terrow looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"You know, working for the dark side, torturing people, constantly fighting for power and bowing down to an evil emperor." Mathorn told in a casually voice.
Terrow just chuckled and asked. "Is that how the republic sees us?"
"Pretty much." Mathorn replied with a grin.
Terrow thought about asking Mathorn about the life in the republic, but this was neither the time or place for such direct questions... "Sorry about shooting you in the back earlier. I hope you don't bare a grudge." Terrow apologized, as he knew what grudges could do to some people.
Mathorn just shrugged. "Naah, it barely hurts anymore... Let's just say you owe me a drink and call it a day."
Terrow chuckled, this was not at all the way he pictured a jedi. "Sure... I'll show you a good cantina tomorrow."
A human navigator who also was about to go to bed, commented in a low voice. "All you Zabraks looks the same."
Both Mathorn and Terrow had to suppress a laughter. Aside from their different skin colour, they did look very similar.
"This has been a crazy day, I wonder if tomorrow is going to be even more strange?" Mathorn pondered in a low voice.
"Aside from visiting Dromund kaas, and having a drink at one of local cantinas, I don't know." Terrow replied in an equal low voice.
Mathorn had a thousand thoughts running through his head. He felt odd laying in a bed on an imperial stealth ship, but not long after, fatigue won and sleep overcame him.
