On the outskirts of the city.
As they strolled on the ascendant walkways that overlooked the forests underneath them, Mathorn, who had forgotten how long they had to walk to reach their parked speeders, got bored and decided to ask a question. "By the way sis? Are you able to use force lightning?"
"Do you want to find out?" Briza replied in a menacing tone. Mostly because he called her sis in public, despite nobody else being around.
"Do you have to make it sound like a threat? I only asked." Mathorn commented, with a hint of a complaint.
"No, I don't have to. But what's the fun in that?" Briza asked mischievously.
Mathorn sighed. "Suddenly I'm reminded that my sister is a sith lord."
"For your information, all sith lords know how to use lighting. Some just dedicate much of their training to perfecting it's destructive force." Briza told, as she figured it was best he knew about their adversary.
Mathorn thought for a moment. "Since I have never seen you use it. Does that mean you don't train in it anymore?"
"Not much anyway. To make lightning effective, requires the user to focus a lot of energy. I'll rather use my time to practice more sustainable force powers, such as Force Drain." Briza elaborated.
"I assume it's that particular ability you used on that eager unfortunate human earlier tonight?" Terrow asked with a small grin.
"Correct." Briza replied, making a grin of her own.
As they neared their parked speeder bike, Terrow noticed another speeder bike right next to it. He turned to his sister and sighed. "Let me guess, you stole that bike to get here."
"I would prefer the term borrowed." Briza nonchalantly replied.
"You know Sis, stealing is very bad, you should know that by now..." Mathorn pointed out, for the fun of it.
Briza sighed and replied. "Shut up Mathorn. When we are done here, they can have it back."
"Okay sis." Mathorn mumbled, as he and Terrow seated themselves in their stolen speeder, started the engine and set the course for their ship, with Briza following right behind them.
In the meantime back at the ship, Tikala had been occupied with reading news from the war and meditating on recent events. Lately the empire had attempted to conquer Corellia having only mixed success, much to her concern as that meant the empire could now threaten the core worlds. As she read the reports, she sensed her kin were returning. So when the ramp lowered to let the party people enter, Tikala stood in the entrance hall with a smile as she asked them. "So did you have a good night out?"
With a wide smile, Mathorn replied. "It was fun! You should have been there with us."
"Have anything turned up while we were gone?" Briza asked, as they ascended the ramp.
"Nothing of importance." Tikala replied. She sensed they were all tired, despite their good spirit.
"Thank you for keeping an eye on things Sister." Terrow said as they entered their ship.
"Your welcome, that was the least I could do." Tikala smiled in turn, as the ramp retracted and closed the opening.
Terrow was seated at his work desk, as a high priority call appeared on the screen. He only needed to notice the sender to know he had to act immediately. He found Briza and Mathorn in a conference room having a late night snack, and busted out, "Imperious wants to talk to you!"
"Tell Tikala to cloak herself and relay his call to this room!" Briza commanded hastily.
Tikala, who had heard the command, quickly cloaked herself in the force and shouted, "Clear." As Terrow rerouted the call to the conference room.
Briza and Mathorn quickly bowed as the hologram of Imperious appeared. Briza then quickly said in a tone of surprise. "My Lord? It's an honor-"
"Save it, I have little time for pleasantries, so listen up." Imperious cut her off and began speaking. "As you have seen first hand, Psiron can manifest his presents into his minions, no matter where they may be."
"I have learned that Psiron, together with his former master, have been gathering a rich collection of ancient sith artifacts. One in particular of importance is a small golden fountain called the Threads Of Souls. I believe Psiron has found out how to use it in an ancient sith blood ritual whereas to link himself to his mindless servants; he can freely choose if they should keep some of their personality intact or permanently brainwashed."
Briza pondered those words. "So he can't control anyone strong in the force just at his own will, he needs this fountain to complete his dominance over people?"
"Don't be too hasty in your assumptions. His mind dominating abilities can corrupt and alter anyone's perception almost instantly, even as a child unskilled force users would be an easy target to him. His former master needed to constantly train her mind to keep free of his influence, not that it did her much good in the end. If you should face him in person, remember to keep strong willed people at your side at all time." Imperious told, as he looked at Mathorn while uttering the last words, giving the zabrak an icy chill in the process.
Briza nodded and replied. "I shall heed your wisdom."
"I have given Darth Deedrah the order of adding you directly, when the opportunity to engage Psiron reveals itself. She should have a team assembled at that point." Imperious unraveled, then he added in a less foreboding tone. "Did he talk to you? Before you fought him I mean?"
Briza was strangely curious about the sudden shift in tone, as she replied politely. "He was trying to convert me to his side, but he did not speak of much else."
"What did he offer you?" Imperious really wanted to know.
"I was offered to be his apprentice, and something about giving me a life after death." Briza told the truth, remembering the warning she felt in her mind as she received the offer.
Imperious pondered for a moment. "A life after death,'' he said. It sounds like he could be experimenting with animated dead tissue."
"There is no end to what this madman wouldn't do." Briza proclaimed her beliefs.
Imperious nodded and spoke again in a foreboding tone. "Agree. If left alone, he could destabilize our systems in the outer rim."
"The sooner Imperial intelligence finds him, the better." Briza added.
Imperious looked livid when he spoke. "The dark council decided to dismantle Imperial Intelligence." He told her flat out.
"Why?!" Briza asked in shock, this made no sense to her. Imperial intelligence has always been a vital part of the sith war-machine, dismantling it now seems almost unreal.
"Indeed why!" Imperious made no hint of concealing this fact frustrated him greatly. "Apparently, they want to split their resources. After the betrayal of Darth Jadus, half of the council now mistrust imperial intelligence leadership, no one would risk a single being controlling THAT sphere of influence again."
Briza felt a hint of regard in his tone. She could easily imagine Imperious would have loved that position for himself, now that she thought of it, he would properly be good at it too.
"While something new is certainly going to take its place. In the meantime I have tasked Deedrah with the mission of recruiting as many Imperial intelligence's original staff, we need a temporary intelligence unit of our own." Imperious proclaimed his intent.
Briza sighed in relief. "That at least is good to hear."
"I sense you have become a lot stronger, since we last spoke. The force is flowing through you like a tidal wave." Imperious said, sounding almost impressed.
"Yes My lord, I have indeed improved." Briza replied with a hint of flattery. She was quite sure it was the training she did with her siblings that made her so open to the force as a whole.
"Lord Briza, you have proven to be a strong and loyal asset to the empire. Continue to meet our expectations and you will be allowed to extend your powerbase." Imperious told in a firm, but satisfied voice.
This told Briza that she was finally on the dark lord's good side. "Thank you my lord. Your expectation is my highest priority." She was trying her best to keep a smile at bay.
"Good. We shall speak again." Imperious uttered and ended the connection.
Briza sank back in her chair, as she contemplated what he had told them and how they should proceed.
Mathorn, who had been silent throughout the conversation, spoke again. "As much as my republic friends are loving the fact that Imp IN is being killed off... We kinda need them right now."
"This is bad. We need information on Psiron's whereabouts." Briza cursed, rose up and left the room.
Terrow was reading a message from his former boss, when Briza came to speak with him. They only had to share one look to know what the other had just found out. "Yes, we have a problem." He uttered, while thinking to himself. "I'm so glad I work for my sister now, or I don't know where I would have ended up."
While Terrow had read reports on the Dark council members who disapproved of the Imperial Intelligence's somewhat independent way of operating. But just to dissolve it so utterly without an immediate replacement, seemed... surreal. He looked at his sister as he spoke. "After you helped me escape from Korriban. My adult life has mostly been centret around working as a fixer in Imperial Intelligence... Soon it's all gone."
"What is all gone?" Tikala asked, as she could easily sense something was wrong.
"Imperial Intelligence is being dismantled... We are sitting blind as of now." Briza complained to no one in particular.
Tikala thought for a moment before she carefully suggested. "I know this would be a long stretch, but I could get some support from SIS, I am a Jedi after all." She was not sure if her words would even be considered.
Briza turned it down by a single look, but spoke regardless. "Just by having jedi paid with info, we already need to tread carefully. Adding daily conversations with SIS to our traffic stream would definitely make us suspicious."
"At the moment, we are waiting for confirmation from Darth Deedrah on how to precede, she is our only reliable source of info at the moment." Terrow concluded.
Briza just looked at them with a tired expression. "At the moment, we can only wait... I suggest we all get some rest."
Mathorn shrugged. "With all the spark our night out had to offer... sure sis."
"I'm just happy we weren't out partying when Imperious called us." Terrow pointed out.
Briza nodded. "Had I known he would call us directly, I would have stayed here."
"We will just have Tikala tell him that she has kidnapped us and wants to trade us for ransom." Mathorn suggested with a grin.
Both his sisters just shook their heads and said in unison. "Good night gentlemen."
"Good night ladies." Terrow politely replied. Afterwards he looked at Mathorn with a raised eyebrow. "I'm glad you aren't the leader."
"Properly... I am too crazy anyway." Mathorn had to agree.
Terrow smiled as he uttered. "It's good to know you have some self reflection. But as our leader said, let's go to bed since we have nothing more to do right now."
"Will do little bro, no bedtime story needed." Mathorn smiled in return.
Terrow chuckled a little. "Good night Mathorn, I need to finish a few things, then I'll hit the bunk too."
