So here it is, the long promised interlude. Hopefully this will keep you interested till I can get the next chapter ready. Also, just so you know this takes place a short time after Arkunov had assassinated Grathan's son.

Interlude: Sith Politics

"So... what do you think?"

Dannark tilted his helmeted head towards Mako.

"What do you mean?" He replied, she could hear the frown in his voice.

"The job," Mako said. "It's crazy isn't it? Not only do we need to kill a Sith, but her dad wants us to do it? All so he can save face?"

Dannark shrugged, "What do you want me to say? It's one messed up way to run a planet."

"I just thought you'd be more shocked, that's all."

"You forgotten I grew up here? Sith are completely insane, nothing about them surprises me anymore."

"Hadn't forgotten," Mako said. "I asked, you ignored me. So unless you feel like sharing, I won't know anything else."

For a long moment Dannark was silent, so long that Mako thought she had upset him. But he eventually said, "I didn't have what you would call an... enlightened childhood. I don't like to talk talk about. Not with just anyone. In short, Sith don't exactly make for nurturing parents. Especially for non-sensitive children. I was lucky not to be drowned as a baby."

Mako's eyes widened in horror, "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Mom wanted to. She's Pureblood Sith and a bigot even by those standards. I got lucky that Marr decided I could be useful."

"Wow. They sound like a wonderful couple..."

Dannark gave a grunt of laughter. "That's one way of puttin' it," he said. "They never married, Sith usually don't. Unless it's political. Most of the time... pairings are arranged through some sort of algorithm they have running in the Citadel. Supposedly gives the best chance of producing force sensitive kids."

They were silent for a long while after that, and Dannark continued to lead the way through the back alleys of Kaas city.

Eventually, Mako whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Huh, what did you say?"

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

Dannark came to a complete stop and looked down at Mako. His helmeted head tilted to one side, he was frowning again. "Why are you sorry? Not your fault. 'sides it was a long time ago."

Mako, suddenly embarrassed, looked down at her feet and mumbled, "I know that, but it's just sad that happened to you."

There was a hiss of decompression, and when Mako looked up, she that Dannark had removed his helmet. He smiled down at her, "Thanks. But don't worry about me. I ain't gonna lose my cool just because I'm back on this dumpster fire of a planet."

"You must hate it here."

"Yeah, but I'll deal with it. 'sides, doesn't matter how I feel. We've got a job to do, and a scumbag to kill. I ain't gonna let a few bad memories stop me from putting a hole it Tarro Blood's head. So, we'd best get to work, hadn't we, partner?"

She grinned back at him, "You've got it, Big Guy."

"Now, let's get goin'. We've got a Sith to kill."

"Right... how are going to do that?"

"What do you think Marr kept me around for?" Dannark smirked, "I spent most of my childhood learning how to kill Sith and Jedi."

"So you've done it before, killed a Sith?"

"Yeah. It's not as hard as you think. Once you learn the trick."

10 Years Earlier- Dromund Kaas

Crete Drellik snarled in pain, clutching his bleeding side with one hand, his ignited lightsaber in the other.

He couldn't believe it had come to this. Reduced to little more than game by his master. Darth Marr had decided that he was unworthy, a failure of an apprentice. At first, Crete had thought himself lucky, after all he had been allowed to live. That delusion soon vanished.

The failed apprentice had been tossed into the jungle, with only his lightsaber. Normally that would have been more than enough to ensure his survival. It would have been, if not for the hunter.

Marr's non-sensitive whelp. The shameful secret that had been forged into a vicious weapon.

There was a ripple in the force, and suddenly Drellik was raising his lightsaber. Preparing to stop the attack coming his way.

The shot was absorbed by the crimson blade, but was not sent back along its trajectory. The whelp had chosen to attack with a slugthrower, which was only slightly more useful than a blaster. The only advantage it possessed was that they couldn't be deflected back at the shooter.

Snarling, Drellik charged in the direction the shot had come from. He may not have had the boy's precise location but it was something to start with.

His crimson blade sliced through tree branches and vines, but when Drellik finally cut through he found no one there. Reaching out with the force, Drellik tried to find the non-sensitive brat. But he couldn't, there wasn't even a trace.

Impossibly, the boy was hiding his presence from the Sith Apprentice.

"No. No," Drellik hissed. "This shouldn't be possible."

Drellik knew Marr had brought in a number of tutors for the boy. Everything from assassins, to bounty hunters and even a couple of Mandalorians. But this shouldn't have possible, even with all that training, a non-sensitive should never be able to overcome a Sith.

Suddenly, Drellik froze, a warning shooting through the force. Following the direction of the feeling, he saw a camouflaged mine just where he had been about to step.

"Did he honestly think that would work?" Drellik sneered.

"No," said a voice from directly behind him.

The Sith Apprentice whirled around, lightsaber raised to slash down, only to be met with the roar of a flamethrower.

He screamed in pain as his flesh began to burn, but at the last moment threw a barrier to protect himself. Roaring with rage and agony, Drellik lashed out with the force and pulled his attacker towards him.

The boy, barely more than ten standard years, glared back as he hovered before Drellik. He hovered before the Sith Apprentice, struggling in the telekinetic grip. He tried to raise the flamethrower strapped to his arm, but Drellik ripped it away and hurled it into the bushes.

"Non-sensitive scum! Did you think you actually had a chance? I am Sith!"

"Like that matters," the boy spat back, as he triggered the detonator in his free hand.

Drellik screamed with pain and rage, as the mine at his back exploded.

Shrapnel ripped through his body and the heat of the explosion seared his flesh. He was sent flying and crashed to the jungle floor, whimpering in pain all the while.

His lightsaber, which had fallen from his grip, lay in front of him. Just out of reach. In too much pain to extend his arm, Drellik tried to reach out with the force and call his weapon back. The lightsaber shuddered as the force grasped it, but never flew.

A boot crashed down on Drellik's hand, shattering both his concentration and his fingers. Marr's brat glared down at him, the metal of his recently fitted cybernetic eye glinting in the remnants of the explosion.

"No," Drellik whimpered, "I won't die like this. I am Sith. You are scum."

Pulling a slugthrower from his belt, Marr's brat pointed the barrel in Drellik's face.

"Shut the kriff up," Dannark said as he pulled the trigger.

"So, how are we going to do it?" Mako asked, as she and Dannark made their way through the jungle.

"Do what?"

"Kill this Sith. I get that you've done it before, but what's your plan this time?"

"Don't have one."

"What! Are you insane? There's no way you can do it without one!"

Dannark smiled at the incredulity on her face and then said, "You know the stories about Jedi and Sith seeing the future and reading minds?" Mako nodded. "Well they're true. A bit exaggerated maybe, but true. So the more you plan to fight one of them, the more chance that they'll sense somethin' coming. So we improvise. As for the mind reading, there are ways around that."

"Like what?"

"Thinking about one thing on your surface thoughts, disguising your real intentions. They'll have to make a real effort to find out what you're thinking."

"You can do that?"

"Yeah, I'm always thinking about assembling and reassembling a blaster. Especially when we're on this planet."

"Well that's all great," Mako said, unable to hide her sarcasm, "but isn't their like a full proof method for fighting a Sith?"

"Of course."

"Great. Why don't we do that?"

"Because I don't have a ship that can level Grathan's compound from orbit."

"Seriously?" Mako asked. When Mako didn't answer she said, "Great. I guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

Smirking Dannark replied, "That's what makes it fun."

After sneaking past Grathan's defences, which had recently been decimated in an assault, Dannark and Mako set about finding the Sith girl. It hadn't been difficult.

Mako had easily sliced into a terminal and found where Vereta Fraabaal was stationed. Dannark was displeased to learn that she had been expecting them. Even so, he didn't let his guard down. Keeping a pistol on her at all times; Mako quickly copying him.

"You're not even a real Mandalorian, are you?" She said, her voice filled with disappointment. "You look the part, almost. But that is most disappointing. When Lord Grathan's spies said my father contacted the Mandalorian enclave, I had hoped for a real Mandalorian. As I said, most disappointing."

Scowling behind his helmet, Dannark growled, "Figures you'd know I was coming. Just the way you Sith do things. Bunch of schuttas."

"Oh you're trying to be tough? That is excellent. At least try and make this enjoyable for me, would you? It's not as if you actually stand a chance of killing me. After all you're not Sith, you're not even a Jedi. You're just trash."

"Oh, great," Mako muttered, "we've got a true believer."

"Heard that speech before," Dannark muttered, as his wrist mounted flamethrower roared to life.

Vereta was able to raise a barrier at the last possible moment, her eyes widening in surprised rage. Snarling, she pushed back against the flames, forcing them back towards Dannark.

So focused was she on the fire, that Vereta did not see Mako point the slugthrower at her head.

Not until the last possible instant.

She jerked her head to one side, the metal slug carving a thin line across her face. The Sith Apprentice bellowed with rage and send a wave of dark side energy out from her body.

It slammed into the two bounty hunters and sent them flying backwards.

Dannark's jetpack roared to life, gaining control of his momentum and allowing him to land with something resembling grace.

Mako was not so lucky.

She slammed into a wall and slid to the ground, unconscious.

Snarling with rage, Dannark raised his wrist and fired a concussion missile towards the Sith. She swatted it aside with a small effort, not having enough time to put any real focus into it, for she was once again forced to raise a barrier to project herself from the roar of Dannark's flamethrower.

Roaring with fury, Vereta pushed the flames back just long enough, for to leap forward and draw her lightsaber. Hurriedly deactivating the flamethrower, Dannark activated his jetpack to get out of the Sith's reach.

He barely made it.

The crimson blade slashed at the bounty hunter, carving a long gash in his breastplate.

Swearing under his breath, Dannark fired a cable from his wrist. The metal wire wrapped around Vereta's wrist, just below where she held the ignited lightsaber. Before she had time to react, Dannark grasped the cable and pulled.

Hard.

There was a loud snapping sound and the Sith screamed in pain as the lightsaber fell from her now broken hand.

Eyes blazing with dark side power, she turned to unleash her fury upon the bounty hunter.

She was met by Dannark's fist colliding with her jaw. It dislocated under the force of his jetpack enhanced speed.

Vereta Fraabaal fell to the ground, unconscious.

Glaring down at the Sith, Dannark pointed his blaster at her head. Right between the eyes.

Yet he found himself hesitating, his finger hovering over the trigger. He pitied the girl, he truly did. Given to a foolish master, she had become little more than an entitled maniac. Absolutely certain of her perceived invincibility.

Most Sith were like that. Drellik, Lachris, even Arkunov wasn't immune to that weakness. Though he managed it better than many others.

Dannark heard a groaning from behind and turned to see Mako approaching. "You alright?" he asked.

"Just a headache, I'll cope. So, what do you want to do with her? Client wanted her dead, messed up as that is."

He shrugged, "She wouldn't be the first Sith to die from arrogance and she certainly won't be the last."

"But?"

"But what?"

"You would've pulled the trigger by now, unless there was a but. So, what is it?"

He didn't answer.

"You feel sorry for her, don't you?" Mako said. He didn't answer, so she continued, "Is it about her dad? About your mom?"

Yet again he didn't answer, but he didn't need to Mako. Even though they had only been working together for a little while, Mako was getting pretty good at reading Dannark's mood.

"Does that change anything for you?" Mako asked. She knew how important this bounty was, screw it up and they were out of the Great Hunt. No chance at victory and no chance at revenge on Tarro Blood. But she sensed that if she let Dannark ignore this, he would regret it and despite everything else going on, she didn't want him to regret missing the chance.

Dannark lowered the blaster, instead pointing one of the many devices mounted in his gauntlet at the Sith.

The client was not entirely pleased to see them, not at first.

"You froze her? Why? I was so specific in my instructions! Why in the galaxy would you do this? Why would you refuse a specific order and not... eliminate the target?"

Dannark stood taller. Putting his armoured bulk in the admiral's face and said, "It's a family affair, far as I'm concerned. Am I wrong?"

For a long moment the admiral hesitated, squirming in the bounty hunter's shadow, but eventually he said, "You're insightful. For a bounty hunter. As soon as you left, I knew I'd made a mistake. One I'd regret for the rest of my life. You've done me a great service... thank you."

Dannark only a short bob of his armoured head in response to that remark. Instead he said, "What are you going to do?"

"Contain her. Until she can be made to see reason. If she can be made to, that is." The Admiral reached into the drawers of his desk, and after a few minutes of rummaging produced a datapad. "Take this, it contains your fee and a writ confirming the completion of the bounty. Now if you'll excuse me, I need some time with my daughter."

Taking the datapad, Dannark turned and left without another remark. Mako on his heels.

Once they were outside, Mako asked, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied. The helmet turning his answer into a distorted snarl. But Mako knew he meant it, despite the tone.

Turning to face her, Dannark said, "Thanks."

Mako smiled and knew that he was as well, even if she couldn't see it behind the helmet. He had a certain way of tilting his head that gave him away.

As he turned to lead the way back to the Mandalorian enclave, Mako had a feeling that this partnership was going to work out perfectly.

And that's the interlude done.

Going to try and get the last chapter done for the end of August or beginning of September. Then try and get back into a more regular schedule.

Next chapter is probably going to be last one for this story, possibly followed by an epilogue. Whatever the case, I'll put announcement in this story to announce the sequel:

Sith Warrior: Plan Zero