A/N: Ah, Well here we are, "Dark Side of a Rose" is one-year-old. With that in mind here is Chapter 27: Plots of Deception! (See Chapter 1 for my full A/N on the one year birthday of this story.)


Chapter 27: Plots of Deception


Only hours after the capture of the War Maiden, word of her capture had been making the rounds around the empire. Imperial Intelligence had been keeping an eye on her for a few months by this point, and some Sith were even thinking of 'uplifting' for a higher purpose. The intelligence on the War Maiden had just circulated through the dark council, though it was Imperious, who was back in Kaas city to maintain appearance, who realized who this girl was. Who she was, the fourth girl. Nora Valkyrie, the fourth piece of the prophecy. Normally one could not tell as her face was hidden by the mask she wore but like the other three girls, she wore the belt, the red belt with the knife. Imperious knew what the Jedi would do to her. Considering Imperial Intelligence had gotten information on what the Jedi had been doing to captured Sith or traitors to the order.

They would wipe her of who she was and then make her a cookie cutter Jedi, they did it with Revan, they did it to many who had fallen to the dark side and could not be redeemed. It was a disgusting thing the Jedi had implemented to counteract their own from falling to the dark side, though lately any one dark sided was subjected to this atrocity.

Though, among the Dark council, this was looked as the Jedi potentially embracing the Dark themselves, as the ability to rewrite memories was inherently Darksided. According to intelligence, it was one Jedi who did this, so the Dark Council concluded the Jedi must have degraded their standards or embraced the darkness.

This meaningless drivel didn't interest Imperious, the state of the Jedi wasn't of her concern. She was anxious she could possibly be sitting in the council chambers. Deciding she could get caught up with personal things later, she left. She needed to get back to Hiskal as soon as she had a plan down.

Leaving the dark council chamber's Imperious returned to her sphere. She needed to plan her actions carefully, she couldn't send in Ruby and Weiss as they stood, they would have to be disguised so nothing could be plainly tied to the empire, lest she want to ignite a war, a war she was working hard on preventing, till her plan could be seen through. Her train of thought was interrupted by a voice she knew all too well due to the damn respirator.

"Ah Imperious what are you scheming now?" the voice asked barreling out of the respirator.

"Nothing you need to know, Malgus," Imperious hissed, turning around to face the imposing figure that was Malgus. Her hands grasping for her lightsabers, Castle and Jackal, ready to draw them at a moment's notice on the tyrant.

"No need to be hostile, I have no intent on ending your life yet, you traitorous witch," Malgus growled at the signs of her immediate aggression towards him. Imperious still clenched her sabers, as the force storm's lightning cracked above her head. "your friends will die first and when you are the only one left and wishing for death will you have my permission to die," he taunted as Imperious knocked the brute out of her way with a shoulder strike. Malgus was one of the main enemies of her plan. He almost seemed to know it too, as he had frequently started to taunt her though due to his status shecouldn't, touch him and he could not touch her. Despitethis they both had plans for the empire that involved killing the other.


After escaping Malgus's presence, she walked out of the citadel and looked out over the City as she walked to the Taxi terminal. She was thankful one of the automated taxis was at the station, depositing a credit, she boarded the airspeeder and flew off to the shuttle terminal, reviewing her plans for the war maiden in her head she made her way to the shuttle terminal. I can't let the Republic know the Empire was involved in this, disguises will be needed, I wonder if Malserik still has that piece of junk light freighter, if he does they could look like smugglers, the force knows how the republic loves smugglers. They probably wouldn't even expect them, Republic Intelligence, is nothing compared to its Imperial counterpart, Imperious smirked, Ruby is going to love this Imperious admitted to herself as the taxi pulled in to the shuttle terminal.

With her plan Hatched, she got out of the Taxi and walked into the bustling terminal. From Darth's to commoners, the Shuttle System was the most efficient mode of transportation in the empire. She prepared to take the next shuttle to Hiskal. Though, as she was about to board the shuttle, she was shocked to find a panicked Malserik waiting in the terminal for her.

Darting over to her friend, who had taken his airspeeder all the way out to Kaas City, she asked of her dear friend, "Malserik what's the matter? What are you doing here?"

"Come with me, what I have to say isn't something the public should hear," Malserik said as he led Imperious back to his airspeeder. Imperious was extremely confused as to Malserik coming to Kaas City. This action surprised the Darth, as Malserik never, Never left Hiskal. Once in the Aerocar Malserik told Imperious, that the shuttle she was to return to Hiskal in had a trap laid for her by the group that had just made an attempt on Waldstahl. It was Malgus's order, the Dark Fists, yet again. It was at that moment, Imperious realized why Malgus was being more obnoxious than usual.

"So, how did you find out about this scheme," Imperious asked as the airspeeder lifted off the ground, though before Malserik could respond a large detonation rang through the Shuttle Terminal. Malserik sighed as he had effectively saved Imperious.

"Ruby got a hand on the Darth that led the attack," Malserik smiled as they began the flight back to Hiskal, "Needless to say, she found out about a lot, hence why I am here, besides that, I found out something important about Ruby, Weiss, and Miss Nikos."

"What would that be?" Imperious inquired, as she wanted to know anything that related to her young friend.

"I'll tell you when we get back to Waldstahl, you wouldn't believe me if I told you now" Malserik stated, he knew she would like to see proof of what he had to tell her, he couldn't believe it himself. Who Ruby was had now been revealed to him, though before he could continue, Imperious said something that shocked him.

"Well then, I look forward to what you found out" Imperious smiled, She knew Malserik must have something incredible to share if he is holding off on sharing it, "But I have news of my own, I found the fourth girl," Imperious smiled, as Malserik got the console's holo-comm open, dialing all of their Scrolls.


In Hiskal, Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha were sitting up at the snowy overlook on the fortress. They were relaxing after the defeat of their third Darth along with four other Lords, though this was a major attack on Waldstahl, not Hiskal. This attack was aimed at them and Malserik. Ruby, knew Malserik would make it in time, though she couldn't help but feel the relaxation was preemptive. She wanted to go with Malserik, but he wanted the knights to be at Waldstahl if some more Sith showed up.

Over the past two months, Malserik and Imperious taught Weiss and Ruby some very advanced force techniques like a force lightning field and advanced force illusions. While this happened they also taught Pyrrha what they knew and she didn't, along with Pyrrha teaching showing them how to unlock secrets of holocrons and other various Sith artifacts. Something Malserik only gave them basic knowledge in, Pyrrha on the other hand actively taught them how to utilize the full power of the Holocrons.

The three effectively trained each other. Though, the thing that really touched Malserik and Imperious's cold hearts, was how they had fun doing it. To most Sith, joy, and friendship would be considered a grave weakness, to these girls it was a strength beyond belief. The Trio supported each other in battle, not letting one fall.

With the information Ruby recovered from the Darth, it was obvious somebody was plotting to kill Imperious, hence why Malserik left with such haste to meet with Imperious, though he seemed quite frantic with something else before the battle, as he was doing a genetic examination to check the girl's lineage as force users. Something that concerned the girls as they wondered Did he find something?

Waiting for Malserik to retrieve Imperious, Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha, sat underneath the gazebo discussing the battle, though the main thing they were discussing was, what they had witnessed. Malserik in battle, this was the first time any of them had seen him fight at his full, demonstrating SturmKreig's full potential as a lightsaber. The reason for the topic was they were trying to take their minds off of the stress and anxiety of Imperious's potential demise.

"Why do I expect you to build a saber like that now Ruby?" Weiss inquired as Ruby was enthralled by SturmKreig's rotary ability. If one aspect remained of old Ruby, it was she was still a nut for weapons. This was apparently more than ever, considering the seventeen-year-old girl was trying to figure out how the system worked for her knowledge. Though before Ruby could retort, Pyrrha slid a comment in.

"I'm surprised you haven't let her do any work with Mitternacht, Weiss," Pyrrha interjected teasing her, "you afraid Ruby would do something you don't like. She did some wonders on Aurum-Lamina." Pyrrha smirked at the white-haired heiress of Waldstahl, who remembered Pyrrha commissioned Ruby for assistance in the rebuilding of her saber.


About a month prior, Pyrrha's shoddily built saber had started to deteriorate due to the parts not being built to withstand the power of an unstable blade, something Pyrrha swore upon keeping. asking Ruby for assistance on rebuilding her saber. Ruby was more than happy to assist with this task.

Ruby had Aurum-Lamina apart in minutes, she could tell the saber was made from scrounged parts and parts of less than stellar quality. all Ruby felt comfortable recovering from the saber was; the cracked orange crystal the cable and some of the circuits, minus that Ruby was going to have to start from scratch. Using a much more potent battery and phrik alloy, Ruby got to work on the design. though Pyrrha also wanted an upgrade adding an angled guard emitter along with a dual phase function.

While looking through the various crystals that Malserik had Ruby found one that had a lava-like glow and was searing hot to touch with her nonmetallic hand. Malserik told Ruby it was a Lava crystal and advised against it being used in a lightsaber, especially one with an unstable blade, like Pyrrha's. though Ruby, wanting to prove Malserik wrong in his predictions, had installed the crystal anyway when she complete Pyrrha's saber.

when ignited the saber produced a lava-like blade that was unstable, the blade was super heated, for a lightsaber. where a lightsaber blade would only burn this one ignited it in flame, a feature Pyrrha quickly fell in love with. the deployable handle on the side made it easy to use the saber as a guard shoto and the guard emitter would be excellent to hook the blade of an opponent.


"Ruby contributed enough to my saber, as I have contributed to hers." Weiss replied indignantly, she didn't mind the Idea of Ruby doing a few tweaks, she just wanted her saber to be hers and hers alone.

"If Weiss likes Mitternacht the way she is I will respect that," Ruby interjected, her voice had been subtly changing over the course of the months of being with Imperious, as she now spoke with an imperial accent. If that was one thing Weiss loved about how Ruby was changing it was the imperial accent. It made that dolt actually sound intelligent and tolerable to listen to. It also made it harder for Weiss to ignore her, as Imperious had done a lot of work getting Ruby to calm down, which she did.

"Which I love Mitternacht the way it is, and thank you, Ruby, for respecting that, though please stop personifying our lightsabers. It's weird enough when you do it with yours," Weiss frowned stating the truth it was in reality quite weird when Ruby personified Rose De Sang when other people were around, though both Imperious and Malserik did not seem to mind it.

"Aww, but it's fun," Ruby whined back playfully, "As for Malserik's saber, by the force, I would love to take that thing apart!" Ruby squealed like her younger self would overseeing a new design for a weapon, though inside that excitement was a new undertone, lust.

"Yes and then you would go cabin fever locking yourself in your room till you could make a system like that on De Sang," Weiss said bluntly when their scrolls started to blink informing them of an incoming call. Ruby answered hers a blue figure of Imperious appeared saying "Don't ask questions meet us at hanger two in Waldstahl noIt'surgent!" the trio cleaned up their food and went back inside.

The trio was waiting in hangar two where they found a ship that was a utility freighter, as they entered they saw Malserik's airspeeder land beside the other ship and out came Malserik and Imperious, who the girls were glad to see unharmed. They were frantic moving out of the speeder though it was a mix of both panic and relief from what they could tell. Moving toward them, Malserik went aboard the freighter. As they closed with the blue eyed sith, they heard her say one thing "We found her," this made Ruby Weiss and Pyrrha go cold with shock. They knew where Nora was.

"Awesome!" Ruby cheered, following it up with an inquiry of, "So, where is she?"

"On a republic transport heading to Tython though it will be in dock around Naboo for refueling," Imperious spoke, this caused the trio's hearts to sink, tanking their mood. Though Imperious cheered them up by explaining her plans for this mission to recover Nora.

"For this to work, you will three will have to disguise yourselves, Neo will help you with this regard," Imperious explained, the three of them were curious of this requirement, "This is to conceal your identity as Sith, you will be playing the role of smugglers in distress. With this role in mind, it will avoid Imperial implications."

"So how will we be in distress?" Weiss asked as Imperious smirked in an unsettling way.

"Disable the hyperdrive, then jettison the parts, Malserik will artificially damage them to make it look like a general part failure," Imperious explained as Malserik walked back out of the ship, signaling that the task she just mentioned was complete. "Now this is the most difficult order, No survivors, and the Pride of Alderaan is to be scuttled, along with this freighter," Imperious ordered, her voice was stern with this fact. They would have to wipe out the ship. Unexpectedly, she got no complaints from them, instead, they had smiles on their faces.

Like true Sith, taking pride in deception, Imperious thought as she continued with "Lastly, for the sake of concealment you will be given blaster's please use them, and your are lightsabers a last resort, and for the love of the force don't say your names once, use aliases." Imperious finished as she dismissed the girls to prepare for this operation.

With the plan in place, and their disguises on, they felt confident, as this was to be their first mission against the Republic, their enemy. With her plan explained, the Trio got ready then departed. They had to be quick as if they weren't Nora would be bent to the republic's will, forcefully.


In Waldstahl after the trio had departed on the light freighter Imperious was watching Malserik gathering up his data, He was frantic moving around his lab faster than a Jawa in a scrap yard. Imperious relaxed with her arms crossed leaning on the dark metal walls of Malserik's lab. She could hardly guess what Malserik was doing, considering she didn't even know what half the equipment in this lab did.

"You said you genetic tests of our apprentices revealed something you found disturbing," Imperious spoke to remind Malserik why they were here.

"I know!" Malserik yelled cursing in various tongues he understood without a translator. He finally pulled out a data pad that was under a light pile of stuff, "Okay, there we go, Have a seat Imperious," Imperious took a seat at the cluttered island counter across from Malserik. "So, you know how the prophecy specified the Daughter's of Jedi, Correct?"

"Yes, what of it?" Imperious inquired with a smirk curious how this information could rile her friend up so much.

"You won't believe who they are Daughters of," Malserik said shifting the data pad over to Imperious whose eyes went wide at the info in front of her, the resemblance to Ruby's mother was there in spades, but then, her supposed father Ruby talked about him a lot, but this report pointed at another man to be her biological father, a man Imperious held in high regard by this report, Revan. With the image they had of Revan's face in the Imperial database, Ceres noted the eyes, the golden eyes matched. Though she had to confirm what she was reading with Malserik, so she asked,

"Are you saying Ruby Rose is the Daughter's of both Revan and Meetra Surik?" Imperious asked in disbelief of the report. Her voice giddy with excitement, If Ruby was his child, that would explain her power.

"That is what the genetic testing I have done can conclude. Weiss is the Daughter of Atris and a Remnant, Pyrrha is the daughter of Vima Sunrider and a Remnant," Malserik explained, as Imperious eyes went wide. The daughters of Jedi lost to time, this only made her curious about who the fourth's parents would be. With that thought in mind, Ceres replied with,

"Impressive so that's where Vima and Atris went," Imperious said with a smirk, "one of the greatest mysteries of the Jedi Civil War solved." Imperious smiled relaxing back in the padded chair. "Ruby being the Daughter of both Revan and Meetra, That explains her prowess in the force," Imperious said, "Malserik I think once the girls get back, we need to let them know who we are."

"I take it we will induct them into the order?" Malserik inquired resting back, himself.

"Correct," Imperious nodded. They left the lab to go elsewhere to discuss the plan in secret. That Location was one only Malserik and a few of those he trusted most knew about, the Vault, their order's card up the sleeve, along with the source of Malserik's title as Librarian.


Drifting near the republic depot around Naboo, Ruby now disguised in the normal attire of a smuggler. Wearing a wig with red hair and green contacts in her eyes, she refused the makeup treatment Weiss and Pyrrha got, to complete the look, she even had a blaster on her belt. Just like Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha had put on their disguises Weiss had a black trench coat on as along with a black wig and but no contacts as for the most part Weiss's eyes were still normal. Pyrrha had put on a Blonde wig and blue contacts. They looked the part of three smugglers, they had blasters but they had their sabers concealed just in case of a Jedi. Neo had helped them get there looks just right, she was good with helping people disguise themselves, though her and Roman were aboard the Whispering Specter a few systems out.

Ruby shut down the hyperdrive by taking a few quick to reassemble parts out, then hiding them in a smuggler hatch in the cargo bay. She hated this ship already, it was too crappy and old along with rusty and jagged from lack of use. Though, Ruby couldn't help but smirk, as this plan was crazy enough to work. Imperious told them to drop into the system and feign a distress call with their engines disabled and as they docked with the republic ship, they would strike. Once they had Nora they would retreat back to the recall point and dock with the Whispering Specter, then scuttle the ship. Though there was one part of the plan that had all three of them groaning, they were to use blasters and only resort to their sabers, if needed.

"Drive is down!" Ruby yelled letting Weiss know to engage the distress beacon getting the ship's attention. From there they waited, checking over their equipment, concealing their sabers and checking their blasters.


A/N: Well for this chapter I just enhanced the original setup for the next chapter, also I wanted to further the Malgus Imperious rivalry that will come into play later in the story. Also, I am going to say this I am at the point where I have less and less ideas about how to fill in sections of the story, minus coming up with new elements, as I am getting it to territory where my writing style wasn't as bad.

Not really much else to say for now.

Blitzing Raptor.