Author's Notes
So I was able to finish this fast because it was nearly finished when I posted the last chapter. So there will be a wait for the next. CK3 is fun but not nearly as much as I was hoping. It suffers from the usual Paradox plan of putting in the fun later DLC. Anyway, I'm getting tested for Nurgle's latest soup tomorrow so hopefully I'm all good there.
Stay safe everyone
"Today we celebrate the first of many Acolytes ascending to the ranks of true Sith. They have passed their Crucibles and through their training here have become ready for the next stage of their lives. To those that are staying or leaving for greater things, I say I am proud of you." I half lied as I stood at the head of the entire populous of the Academy. The Hall of a Hundred Hearths was filled with Acolytes, the graduates' families or those that bothered to show up, and the entire staff of the Academy. Behind me stood those that had passed their Crucibles, either fake or real.
I was finishing up the graduation ceremony. The Force Weapons had been handed out in a more ceremonious style, names had been called and some fake ritual words had been given. It was all for show, to make this moment feel more important than it really was. The Acolytes that were leaving were eating it all up and that had been the purpose of this. These lesser Sith would go out into the realm thinking themselves mystic knights with strange powers and skill with a sword. Ready to make themselves a fortune or become famous, they were mediocre at best but compared to actual knights sans a select few they would do well so long as they weren't stupid. The point of those leaving was to create a impression on the nobility of Westeros, a underwhelming one. To make those in power feel that their worst fears of the Sith weren't coming true.
The Hedge Sith as I have been internally calling them would wander around selling their services to the highest bidder. All of them were very aware that they couldn't just walk into a keep and demand it be theirs as that would invite me and the King's Wrath upon them. They would play by the rules of Westeros and in the end that would cripple them. The great splash of change that many nobles feared the Sith would cause would not come due to fact these Hedge Sith weren't anything special and they feared me coming after them for breaking the King's Law. They would effectively just become more pieces on the board rather than all of them collectively flip the table so to say.
Those that were staying on the other hand, that was another story. My new class of Neophytes would some day become true Sith, and in time Masters or even Darths all their own. They would come to fill out the ranks and start doing duties that were vital to the Sith Order. And eventually they would become the spearhead that I would use to conquer this realm and world. But for now, they had much to learn. Just like my second Apprentice Ivuc, I would giving them access to a library of Holocrons of my own creation, as well as those from the Sith and Jedi. I had been a busy boy in the last four years not only here on Terra but up in the sky as well.
"For those that will be leaving the Order, I encourage you to enjoy the festival that is going on outside. Enjoy this time before you leave and make your way across the realm. May the gods new and old smile down on your tales soon to be." And with that the ceremony was over and the crowds started to filter out of the hall to the festival that was taking place in Harrenhal's fairgrounds. I gave small pleasantries to the graduating Hedge Sith as they came up to me on their way to join their families and friends. The Neophytes however knew that after today I would taking them on a trip, they didn't where but knew that it was going to special. The last one to speak to me was Howland Reed, the only member of the Hedge Sith I felt sad at seeing him go but I understood his reasons. He was only Acolyte that was a heir to a keep and House.
"Tell me, what plans do you really have for us?" He asked immediately once the other Hedge Sith were out of earshot. I blinked but then smiled, happy that he was smarter than the rest. This was the man that would go on to father and raise Jojen and Meera.
"Only for you all to do your best at what you can do." I said knowing that I still needed to keep up appearances. Plus why give him what he wants right off the bat.
"Until the time comes for you to bring us all back to the fold." Howland said seriously and my smile evened out and I gave a barely noticeable nod. There will come a day when I take over the Seven Kingdoms and all those that have left the order will be brought back whether they want it or not. Many of them will resist and be killed in process, but I will not have stragglers threatening my hold on Terra. Howland nodded back and descended down the stairs to join the festivities.
The crowds and kids all left the hall, leaving only me and my keep's upper staff. My council of advisors and those I deemed important enough. Quinn, Pierce, Melisandre, Fay, Rathari, Qyburn, Xhola, my academic headmaster Hakhiz, and lastly Joanna. We all sat causally at a collection of tables set in a circle, servants brought us meals and drink and we all started to relax as we celebrated the successful graduation of the first Sith from our Order. It was a private party but one that was a long time coming. I sat back in my seat, enjoying the happiness and pride that my subordinates were feeling in the moment… while also enjoying the company of Joanna in my lap as she fed me grapes. Lyarra was at the moment taking care of the kids as she normally did, parties like this weren't her scene anyway so I doubt she would have enjoyed it much.
"I dare say that Lord Nagash that I never thought that I would see a day like this in my lifetime." My headmaster of the academic side of the Academy said in a jovial tone as he turned to. Hakhiz was one of the scholarly slaves that taught the children of Volantis' nobility and probably smarter than most grand Maesters, something Qyburn quite agreed with. I trusted him to not only oversee the classes of the Acolytes but also plan out the correct line of thinking needed to help the kids along. "Fine young men and women of all classes educated equally. I'm ashamed to say I did not at first think the lower born students would measure up but I am glad to be proven wrong."
"Agreed, I am looking forward to seeing young Nickola's further education." Qyburn said as he raised a goblet in agreement. The person he was referring to was the low born Neophyte once called Puff, I wasn't having that name be on the roster of Sith so I granted him a more proper name. The boy was honored once I gave him an altered story of Nickola Tesla and he was very much eager to work with Qyburn to develop electricity as his namesake did. "To the advancement of science, may we drag this backwater realm into the future!"
"Here-here!" Everyone shouted in agreement as we all raised a toast to that. There was no secret among those that were here that I planned to take over Westeros for myself and so speeches that could be taken as treason were common among this group. I trusted them all to be loyal to me above the King or anyone else for one reason or another.
As the small hours of our party went on, I enjoyed food and great deal of drinking as I also enjoyed the merriment of everything in front of me, seeing colleagues relax at the fruits of their effort. Rathari was speaking with Quinn over the possible fates the Hedge Sith could have, those two will never change. Fay was trying her best to not appear to be getting drunk, my mission to turn her fun has been working. Mel was as normal acting the perfect but sensual lady all while giving me occasional bedroom eyes. I'm sure she still miffed about the fact our daughter wasn't made the natural way but instead I knocked her out and had the Doctor Droid do it artificially. I still found her physically repulsive given I know what she actually looks like under that screwed on Mask so there was no way I was doing the deed with her. Hakhiz and Qyburn were also speaking of the future, the advancement of Westeros both technologically and culturally.
Lastly there was Pierce and Xhola, who honestly were irritating me a little. Hiding their little affair. It's not like I would be upset, I had let go both Xhola and Vaera from my little web of lovers. Both weren't really in remotely the same league as the rest, even twins were closer to my heart. Xhola took the news well, I think she had been feeling the distance and wanted to explore her new life on her own. Vaera has spent too much time with Melisandre and did not take it well, she has begun trying to prove herself worthy of my attentions. But with this in mind I don't know why that Pierce and her feel the need to try and hide the fact they are obviously adorable together. I down another glass of wine as I mulled this over in my head. You know what. Fuck it.
"Pierce!" I shout and everyone stopped what they were doing as they looked to me and the man in question. "I'm mad at you."
"Uh…" He sweating bullets way to fast.
"Love you've been drinking too much again." Joanna said trying to take my attention away.
"I have but that doesn't matter." I waved off her concerns as I was having fun. "I see you… I see you and this beautiful woman and I think wow… they're happy together." I started but then Joanna turned my head to hers.
"You really have been drinking too much." Myahhh! No. I want to play matchmaker. I don't care that I'm pretty sure I emptied an entire barrel of Dornish Wine. So instead of listening to Joanna I instead stand up, was she on my lap… I can't remember.
"I can do it you know. As Lord of Harrenhal I could marry you right here and now." I said with a few more slurs to my speech than what was appropriate when talking about such things.
"No sir you don't actually have that power." Qyburn clarified… that didn't sound right.
"Wha… sounds like something I uh… I should be able to do." I blinked a few times trying to set myself to the wobbly room that we all were in. "Whatever, I don't like them sneaking around me. It's not like I would care about who Pierce or Xhola is fucking… wha?" Everyone just kinda stared looking away like there was something very awkward that had just been said. Something happened! I don't like this… I'm supposed to be the one that knows things that others don't know. The last time I didn't know what was going on I almost got Vette and her crew killed when we were stealing a pair of Gree Hyper Gates.
"Love… I think it is time for you to go to bed." I felt Joanna pull my arm and began to lead me away from the party.
"What… no! I wanna know…" I complained but then Joanna just grabbed my cheek and started dragging me off like some child throwing a tantrum. I am a god damn Dark Lord of the Sith, I am above this… and stuff.
"This is where you all will be living from here on out." Fay said as she led the Neophytes of the Sect of Manwë up the stairs of one of the Three remaining towers of Harrenhal. Renamed the Beacon Tower, it was to the left of the middle and highest tower and would act as the home of the Sect of Manwë. Part of the reconstruction efforts of Harrenhal was the new connecting bridges among the three towers, now all of them connected to one another to allow easy access for the duties of the Sith.
"So are we going to be supervised like we were when we were Acolytes?" Royn asked as he, Miana, Thoren, Jarman and Cayle walked up the large flight of stairs. The first level of the Beacon was surprisingly the jail and headquarters of the Black Cloaks, one of the duties of the Sect of Manwë was to eventually be wardens of the Order's prisoners so it made sense. Then above that was several empty floors that weren't at the moment being used for anything but storage. Then finally in the upper floors of the tower were the common areas and living quarters of the Sect of Manwë.
"No, you are now adults as far as Darth Nagash is concerned. You are members of the Order and must follow its rules but you are free to do as you please." Fay said before stopping in her climb up the stairs and turned back to the five young men and woman. "Understand the situation you are in, you will now be living free of charge, with all your needs met, in great comfort. However, it is commitment that you are making. You can leave the keep or even Riverlands but your actions must be made aware to the Order and sometimes they will be denied. You sacrificed your independence for purpose and belonging. But, as I said… follow the rules and you are free to do what you wish within those confines."
Fay finished her speech and turned back around to continue up the stairs, silently cursing the fact that there was no elevator. The neophytes followed her up as they thought on what she had told them. They were now adults, no longer confined to the Academy and could do as they want. They knew the rules that Darth Nagash had laid out for them, they weren't too restrictive. Mostly they just had follow his direct orders and the orders of higher ranking Sith. Other than that it was basic stuff like don't murder people or cause trouble for Sith Order's political standing.
They discussed among themselves what they would do first with this newfound subjective freedom. Both Cayle and Royn were making plans to spend their allowances on all sorts of things, visiting a brothel among the first things. After the incident with the Faceless Men, Acolytes weren't allowed free reign of the city and after that could only go into town if watched over by the guards. When they grew older this meant that none of them could indulge at a tavern or brothel. That all changed now. The other three however were more interested in possibly traveling out of Harrenhal for a time. Jarman wished to see his family, he knew that they would be disappointed that he stayed with the Sith but he wanted to explain himself. Miana wanted to return to the North mostly to rub her success in the face of her noble father and to visit a few of the Wierwoods there. Thoren had business with his father, something he wanted to do since his Crucible of Failure.
None of the Neophytes spoke of their more personal experiences with the Crucibles even with each other. Not whose life they witnessed, the words spoken to them in the tunnels, nor what their Failure was. It was silently agreed among them all that these things should only be discussed under the most strictest of circumstances. Darth Nagash appeared to approve of this as even he had not asked about what happened.
The five young adults finally followed Fay to the entrance door of the Sect of Manwë's common area. It was a finely crafted Weirwood double door with silver lining in the style of vines creeping at the door. Fay opened the doors and walked in, the Neophytes were in awe at the amount of majesty before them. White marble veined with silver covered the walls, floor, and ceiling, birch wood and blue veils of several shades broke up the white marble. A fireplace that was sided by four sculpted fountains stood at the very center of the common room and was surrounded by several fine white leather couches. Small alcoves were built into the walls to allow for privacy with tall windows nestled at either side to provide the entire room in natural light. Hanging in the air was a garden of hanging pots with all sorts of plants.
"Wow." They all said as they slowly stepped into their new living space. Fay meanwhile stood off to the side and smiled at the awestruck Neophytes, she personally thought it was all a bit much but she knew Naraiz liked a flare for dramatic and style.
"Pick any of the rooms on the next floor up, all of them are free. The third and fourth floor has suites but those are being saved for Sith Paladins." Fay explained as the Neophytes all started to get settled in.
"What about when we become Masters?" Jarman asked as he was already thinking ahead. This was his new home. He understood that the stated goal of every Sith was to find Balance but to him, he just felt his place was in the Light. Fay looked at the honor focused boy and knew in him was of a similar spirit to her.
"You are expected by the time to have reached that point to have found your own place outside of Harrenhal." She answered and got several confused looks from the Neophytes. They were still under the impression that the Sith Order was a purely Westeros Order and that was how it was going to be. Fay knew that by the time any of them reached master rank, and forget about Darth, Naraiz would have already begun his plans to take over Westeros. Many Noble Houses would likely be wiped out in the resulting civil war, or would be flat out purged afterward. This would leave many keeps empty and ready for a Sith master to take up residence. "Get settled in, tomorrow assemble in the Darthspire Tower early in the morning. Darth Nagash has a surprise for all Neophytes."
"What do you think the surprise is going to be?" Jadith asked as the Neophytes of the Sect of Morgoth all lounged around in their new home. Black granite inlaid with seams of gold was used as the foundation of the living quarters, Molding and furniture of oak wood and curtains of a vibrant array of red broke up the stonework's dark color. Just like with the Sect of Manwë, small alcoves were placed along the walls of the chamber with windows placed between them, however much of the light came from torches than sunlight.
"Perhaps we will be taking part in some arcane ritual or something to mark us as Sith." Nathar put out there as he leaned back in one the dark leather chairs that surrounded the central fireplace of the room.
"I mean do we really have to do more? The Crucibles felt more than enough." Mysa countered and they all nodded in agreement. They couldn't possibly think they had more to prove after going through all that.
"It's obvious, he's going to be taking us to the west." Victarion said and the others all looked at him confused. "Do you all forget that Darth Nagash originally came from the western seas. He's probably figured out how to return to his homeland and he's going to take us there."
"But no ones ever crossed that sea and returned." Jadith pointed out to which Victarion just shrugged and then turned around to start walking to the stairs leading to the dorms. The conversations began to die down and soon enough all but the girls had left to find their rooms. Both Jadith and Mysa stayed by the fireplace, silent and waiting for something. "Soooo… you're waiting for Miana or maybe she's waiting for you?"
"Yeah, but I guess it's a game of chicken. See who's going to cave first." Mysa chucked before she looked to Jadith. The Dornish woman's eyes narrowed as the other Neophyte just sat in her seat, innocently fidgeting with her fingers trying her best to not look like she was doing the exact same thing.
Mysa never paid attention to Jadith prior to the end of the Crucibles. Both her and Royn were the unexpected additions as they had never really stood out much as Acolytes. Royn at least however was near the top academically as all members of Puff… now Nikola she had to remember that, as a member of that bloc were. But Jadith was about as average as it got when it came to skills and impression as an Acolyte and so she really wasn't on the mind of most. Sure, she was good looking and a very friendly and approachable woman but that was about it. In the training yards she was average, in the classroom she was unimpressive, and with powers of the Force she was okay. So her being here felt… off to Mysa.
"Wow… they certainly were going for a theme here weren't they? Wonder what the other tower looks like?" Jadith said in her normal friendly if a little awkward way of making small talk. Mysa immediately ruled out her as some great seducer or spy, she was just too open with how she felt.
"You're just a down to earth commoner girl who's in over their head aren't you." Mysa said with her eyes still narrowed, there had to be some angel here that she was missing. Through her years acting as the leader of the Dorne/North Bloc she had gotten very good a sniffing out secrets and later after the… incident, finding things in the shadows. It made interacting with someone like Jadith confounding to say the least.
"Well that's just… you think so?" Jadith at first looked to be ready to stand up for herself but then wilted as Mysa's stare and truth of that statement really dug into her. "I just don't know if I have what it takes. Becoming a valuable member of this whole thing."
"Then why did you stay?" Mysa asked lazily as turned her head back to the fire. Jadith opened her mouth but closed it as they both heard the bridge doors open and close. The pair of young women both turned their heads expectedly toward the source of the noise which was followed by the sound of a gust of wind coming through. Mysa then heard a sudden Eep! sound and turned to see Jadith being held bridal style by Thoren.
"You saw nothing Sand." He said with a clear edge to his voice then in another gust of wind dashed up the dorm stairs with Jadith giggling and squealing in delight.
"Ah… that's why."
"Father, wake up." Nooooooo… I'm hung over.
"Wake up! It's time to wake up!" Little she-devils!
"Who put you up to this, let your father sleep." I said as I weakly tried to shove both Kassandra and Lilith away but I was still too hung over from last time to make a real effort. Kassandra was poking my cheeks while her half sister was just shoving my body as it hung on the edge of my couch.
"Mama Joanna told us to make sure you got up, she said we could do anything we want to do that." Kassandra explained as palmed my face and then started to pull at my lips and ears. I am the great Darth Nagash, Dark Lord of the Rule of Three Sith and one of the deadliest men in the entire galaxy… and I was reduced to this.
"Fine-fine." I groaned and then took a deep breath as I shut out everything but my connection to the Force. Even ignoring the small hands that were poking and shoving my body. I communed with the Light Side to aide in the clearing of my mind and body. I could feel my hangover going away like a godsend. With a relived sigh I pushed myself onto my butt and leaned back into my couch, the girls climbed up and kneeled at my sides… deciding to continue their prodding. "I'm awake, what are you doing."
"Annoying you." They both side with wide grins on their faces. Yup… they're my kids alright.
"As much I would love to retaliate, that would be childish."
"You've done it before."
"But I have things to do!" I stand up and try to leave the pursuits of my children but the instead just latch onto my arms and I have to drag them with me. The pair giggled as they attempted to slow me down. "Joanna! You set these little monsters on me now get them off!" I shout as I do genuinely have things to do today. I can tell that it was at least midday which meant that it was almost time for the Neophytes' little surprise.
I eventually found Joanna who looked very pleased with herself at my current state. But now the girls were with a far more competent parental figure so I was free to scare the shit out of some teenagers. I grumbled my way to a central chamber in the Darthspire, it was essentially a public forum spot where Sith could meet and discuss as they pleased. Harren the Black made these towers way too damn big.
Already the Neophytes were assembled, likely they had been waiting for some time. All of them were wearing the new clothes that I had in all the dorm rooms. It was effectively a very scaled down Sith robe. Longer sleeves, pants and robe skirt, and colored simple brown and white were large enough changes to not be blatantly Sith so they wouldn't draw attention. They all looked quite interested in just what was about to happen, in their own ways.
"I trust all of you have settled into your new residences well?" I ask as I approached them. These would be the first of my Sith, the ones I would point to as proof of my worthiness to the Secret Sith Army of Revan, the ones to lead and guide future generations, and the ones that would spearhead my war against the Jedi.
"Yes Darth Nagash, they were far more than any of us were expecting." Jarman said with several others nodding in agreement. The Neophyte dorms were certainly an upgrade from the single rooms they had as Acolytes. Now they had a bedroom, small living space attached, and their own bathroom. I made damn sure that Harrenhal would not turn out like King's Landing and so every building including the keep has functional plumbing.
"So what sort of surprise do you have for us?" Victarion asked slash demanded, clearly impatient and ready to prove himself.
"We will get to that." I said as I raised my hand, the sound of every door in the room shutting echoed around them. A small feeling of pressure now hit the Neophytes as I raised a soundproof barrier around all of us. "First, all of you will now be made fully aware of just what sort of Order you have joined. You have passed your Crucibles and so have earned the right to be called Neophytes and Sith, but does not mean you understand what it will mean to be part of the Rule of Three."
"You're talking about your plans to take over the Seven Kingdoms." Thoren bluntly put and a few of the others looked to him in surprise, namely Jarman, Jadith, and Royn. The others might be also surprised but simply didn't care or whatever.
"Partly." I answered as I crossed my arms. This was where I would begin to induct them into the greater plot.
"You are planning on betraying the king?" Jarman accused and I knew that he was going to be the problem child when I came to this.
"Half of the realm is planning that Jarman, get over yourself." Mysa snorted dismissively and the young man gave her a disgusted glare, she was still a bastard in his eyes so her speaking at all just made her words worse for him to hear. "Oh don't give me that, the Mad King is… mad."
"That doesn't mean you can just go breaking oaths." Jarman pointed out and looked back to me. "Darth Nagash, you can't seriously be planning on regicide."
"No, I'm not." I answered, but I wasn't about to give them the full scope of my plans. Just give them the understanding of what I was all about. "At the moment the King is partly under my mental command, this due to his crumbling mind, the Iron Throne's influence him, mental commands I have issued to him, and plain old manipulation on my part." I explained causally much to the shock and horror of pretty much all of the Neophytes.
"Mental commands?" it was Victarion that spoke first and I knew he wouldn't be too keen on the mental powers of the Force.
"The Force allows us to influence those of weaker or damaged minds. Now full scale mind control is an extremely advance form, the normal is the power of suggestion. I myself consider my skills to be of expert level but others might disagree. King Ayres is not my puppet but I have certainly got his ear more than others." I explained and some of them looked interested in what I had to say but others still seemed wary of the news of the mental powers of the Force. I wasn't too worried about convincing them, what would happen after this would do that for me. "To put it in simple terms, I have not taken any action against the crown. I merely know the future, and it does not paint a pretty picture for the Seven Kingdoms."
"The future?" Jarman asked and this was another power of the Force that had not been taught to the Acolytes.
"Yes, with meditation and clarity one can look into the Force and decern the threads of Fate. The Force can guide you to the most likely of futures. Using this power I have discovered that the Targaryens will be overthrown, not by me but by one of the Great Houses for crimes against them and the realm." I explained and Thoren stepped forward.
"You're going to remain neutral aren't you and side with rebels at the last possible moment." He said assured that he had discovered my plan. Very shrewd of him to correctly guess my intent. But I guess it wasn't too difficult to piece together given what I had said.
"Yes, once it has been made clear of the Targaryen crimes I will side with rebels. Ingratiating myself to them and securing more power for the Order going forward. Beyond that I have more plans to orchestrate the situation to the point where I am the only true choice to claim dominion over Westeros." That would all I tell them as things could change in ways I hadn't expected. Things like Robert and Lyanna actually falling in love. I have ideas that will allow me to get everything I want but there's still a danger of failure. "Why am I tell you this?"
I ask this and the entire room goes quite as they think on it. I had just effectively admitted to plotting to take of Westeros even if it was not directly. They were native born Westerosi and half of them were of noble birth, their ties to the realm were older and some could say stronger than to the Order. I watched as Jarman figured it out and looked me dead in the eyes, conflict raged behind them.
"Because our duty is to the Sith, and the Sith alone." He said not liking this as it was a gross quagmire for his morals. On one hand he felt a duty to his homeland and the Andel people, his House and the oaths they had to the Crown. But then, he had chosen to stay in the Sith, abandon all his ties to the outside world and submit himself to the Order to the day he dies. I'm sure that he was picturing what he might have been should he had left, the Force User leading the opposition to me.
"Correct. You are no longer subjects to the Iron Throne, but Sith." I said before I started flaring a bit of my power in the Force. The pressure of which caused the Neophytes to all take a step back and visibly flinch at the sheer power they felt in the Force. "When in private you will call me Lord Nagash as is proper for Sith. You will be given missions at times, however most of your days from this point forward will be spent learning and training until such a time you proven to myself or Lord Rathari that you are worth of a Sith Rank. But now, now you come with me."
I stopped flexing my power and undid all the security measures in the room. The Neophytes staggered back and took several breaths to calm their nerves. When they looked up I was already walking towards to stairs further up, waving for them to follow. I'm sure after a few looks to each other, they began to follow me up. Through the tower we climbed until we reached the very top where the empty landing pad awaited. There I stopped, just in front of the steps the large metal platform. And there we waited, in silence.
"Uh… Lord Nagash, what are doing here?" Nikola asked, already doing as I said and calling me Lord. The Title of Darth in the Empire was given to the highest ranking members of the Sith Order, however the prefix of Lord was used by those not of the Sith Order and by Sith whose rank was too low to be considered quote unquote true Sith. It was considered improper to refer to anyone with a Darth title directly as a Darth unless you also had such a rank or were introducing them to another. Lord was seen as more as a title that carried more respect and authority rather than symbolic meaning.
"We are waiting." I answered much to the irritation of the young men and women.
"Waiting for what?!" Karne shouted and I glared back at him with Sith eyes and he shrunk back down. "… my lord." I needed to impart into them that I alone was the authority in their lives. Not each other, not the Iron Throne, or even their own families. We stayed right there, in returned silence until I felt the wind change.
"It is time for you all to understand just how small and petty the problems here on Terra are." I said much to the further confusion of the Neophytes, partly because they were not familiar to my naming of this world as Terra. But those thoughts were put aside as they all looked up toward the sound of a spaceship descending through the clouds and coming to land. Their jaws dropped as the star ship, an average light freighter that was part of the small fleet of ships that belonged to my growing faction on Dromund Kaas. I watched as it landed perfectly and its boarding ramp slowly descended. My eyes lowered back onto the man walking down the ramp wearing clean pressed Imperial Officer garb.
"My apologies for the delay my lord, the crew is still getting used navigating those rings." Major Andrnath said as he snapped into a crisp Imperial salute as he stood before me. He was one of the highest ranking members of my Loyalist Faction in the Imperial Sector. And a former valedictorian of the Dromund Kaas Officer Academy and discharged Major of the Republic Navy. He had been outed by a overly bigoted Jedi General who fabricated retroactive orders that Major Ingall never completed so he was discharged for failure of duty. He has since been picked up by me and now runs the supply lanes for my little support network.
Over the last four years me and Cipher Nine have been working to collect all those that we discovered to be talented, driven and inspired by the old ways. Those that dreamed of a return to the old Empire and secretly prayed for the return of the Sith. Unfortunately for us, while most Imperials longed for the days of the Empire… the Sith not so much. The general sentiment of mortal humans ruling mortal humans had grown in the thousands of years of being stomped on by the Force Using Jedi. Thankfully not everyone was dumb and I was able to convince a good deal of these possible recruits of either my own personal worthiness of leadership or of the vision I had for the Sith.
My Loyalist Faction was a secret one, growing on the back of the Imperialist Resurgents led by House Alizua. It comprised of two parts, an underground spy and secret logistics company, and my own House Rhyhall. The first acted on the orders of Cipher Nine going around to the various bases I had set up across the galaxy. It was good to have dudes again, the lone wolf thing was getting old really fast. All of these men and women had been checked by both Cipher and Jaesa to see if there was any possible leaks or turncoats, and with those two doing the checking I can rest easy. The Imperial Dragoons, has they had come to call themselves, ran the classic spy missions of gather information, distributing information as needed, dolling out bribes, occasional wet work, that sort of thing. They also ran supply runs to the listening posts, depots, and Cloning Sites that were spread across my eventual territory.
House Rhyhall on the other hand wasn't really a physical group as it was a legal and political one. While the Dragoons did the leg work, my House was the face. It mostly comprised of me, Cipher, and at times Jaesa meeting with select members of the various factions of Dromund Kaas. To the whole of Kaasen nobility and society House Rhyhall was just a ancient name and a fringe House with very little power. But I was making connections and was slowly gaining a reputation for providing pristine artifacts of the old times. The fact most of these were just made by my own two hands not even a week earlier was never mentioned. Even so, I was slowly pushing my House into the Imperialist Faction where I would overthrow their leadership… at some point.
"It's no problem at all Major, it takes either real skill or the Force to navigate those damn things." I chuckled before the two of us looked back to the Neophytes still gasping in awe of the relatively unimpressive ship.
"So these are the Feudal Worlders you have selected?" He said as we waited for them to reboot their brains.
"Yes. It's going to be quite a while before we can start looking for Force Sensitive without attracting the Jedi's attention. But this world seems to produce a very abnormally high number of them so we should be fine." The Force Sensitives of the galaxy were far from my reach. The jedi had both their own specialized units looking for them along with the Republic Military doing the same. I wouldn't be surprised if they secretly tested babies for Midi-chlorians count in public hospitals.
"What is that?!" Cayle seemed to be first one to find his voice and senses. Me and Andrnath looked to the still shell shocked Neophytes as they all focused on me for answers.
"This is a star ship, a rather cheap one at that all things considered." The major gave me an amused glare at insulting his craft but he knew that his vessel was borderline junker. Such was the realities of life at this moment. "This craft is able to not only fly through the air but also into space. Travel between stars and visit other worlds."
"You're not from across the Western Seas are you." The Grayjoy asked as the realization dawned on him of the truth of my origins on Westeros. I smirked as they all looked to him and then back to me, the same idea forming in all their heads.
"Are you… human?" Nikola asked and I frowned, that was a dumb question for the smartest one of them.
"Yes I'm human. Humans exist on other worlds. In fact, this world was only accidently seeded with humans." We were starting to edge closer and closer to territory I didn't want to get to. Questions that would send them into a crisis for some of them. Especially if get into questions of religion. But they were un avoidable but I'd much rather they be up in the void when that happened. Would give them no place to run. "I will explain further once we are abord. Come-come."
"You want us to get on… that." Miana asked seemingly one of the more fearful ones. But Victarion, Thoren, Nathar, and Karne all stepped forward without hesitation. The others looked among themselves and tentatively followed their peers forward and climbed up the stairs to the landing pad. They stopped at the boarding ramp, looked up to the strange metal ship that was before them and with a little Force Push from me stepped onto the boarding ramp.
"It is a rare treat to see a reaction like that." Major Ingall chuckled as we watched the Neophytes walk up the ramp with eyes wide at everything they saw. Even the more stoic ones were in awe.
"Yes, but we need to get them up to speed fast. Is everything set up on Kylis Station?" I planned on taking the kids to a nearby space port in the Ulicia System. It was a relatively safe corporate station with minimal Criminal/Jedi/Republic elements, it was also mostly human so the alien shock wouldn't be so hard on them. I also had several of my spies infiltrate the station, I was taking no chances.
"Yes my lord. Everything has been reported as all clear for our little trip. However the Fabricator-General is requesting your presence back at Lehon." I didn't want that. Dealing with Huldrak and more relevant BI-6 is not something I want to do while wrangling the doe eyed Neophytes.
That had been the biggest success in the last four years on the galactic stage. Me finding the Lehon System and Rakata Prime. The Infinity Shipyards were… not remotely intact but two of the Seeds of the Infinity Engine were hard at work fixing it. Thankfully they seemed to communing with Shipyards and were on a sort of autopilot to do just that. At the moment the Infinity Shipyards were only at twenty six percent functional and they were not producing ships for my fleet. The systems within it were in a state of lockdown for the time being, and we were still trying to figure out how to bring it back. The worst possible theory was that the shipyards needed to be fully operational, which was projected to take at least a decade.
I had still had roughly thirty years before the start of the canon start of the Clone Wars. My guess is that during this time The Last Hutt War will take place, something akin to the Naboo incident will happen, and then bang… this galaxy's version of the Clone Wars starts. That's my working theory and I was planning my schedule around it. It would give me enough time to train up a good chunk of Terran born Sith, enough to prove to Revan's secret Sith Army to join my cause. Also it was enough time to create my Clone Armies without using accelerated aging, that was a big sticking point to me as the Clone Legions were not meant to be used and discarded like in Canon. They were meant to last long after the Republic and Jedi had been dealt with.
As it pertains to the Infinity Shipyards, thirty years was certainly enough to create a large and powerful enough fleet, including the super ships. A lot of my grand strategy with dealing with the Republic relied on having a stronger navy than them, they would certainly outnumber us in terms of troops and not with shit droids either but trained and battle hardened soldiers. The Republic would have the middle of the road type of army, average soldiers at average numbers with a core of elites and war worthy Jedi leadership. Meanwhile the CIS would have massive amounts of troops at low to average quality, most likely greater economic power and the easier war goal of just dragging on the war to the point of stalemate. Lastly, I would have the least amount of troops but at the best quality, my own super soldiers, the best fleet, but also the least territory and a vastly smaller number of battle ready Force Users. As far as I could tell things seemed even and it would come down to tactics and strategy unless something unexpected happens… which it probably will. My best strategy would be lock down my territory and only ever expand where the enemy was weakened by each other's fighting. Was it a honorable way to wage war, fuck no. Was it the smart way to wage war, fuck yes.
In the end of it all, my naval power was key and a extra decade would severely cripple my possible total fleet power. Huldrak was spending all his time either gawking over the Rakatan tech or trying to unlock the Shipyards. Thankfully he was at least able to access their records and found us a good number of seeded worlds that were still unknown to the galaxy. These have become my Legion Worlds, in that the Clones would be born, trained, and inducted with the skills of the primitive humans of those worlds. I know I'm just stealing the concept of the Space Marine Legions from 40k but there is a method to my madness. However right now the Kaminoans were more interested in building their numbers back up and relearning their cloning skills than actually cloning me my armies.
"I'm sure that the Fabricator-General can survive a little longer without my direct supervision." I waved off the Major's words as I started way into the ship. I had a lot of questions to answer and eleven fresh eyed teens to enlighten.
"They have probably left by now." Lyarra commented as she stared up into the cloudy sky that masked the star ship's arrival and exit. In her arms was her young Ulric, the little one had just woken up and started crying for his mother. "Do you remember your first trip to the heavens?" The Stark woman asked as she turned back around and rejoined Joanna who was resting from bring the rest of the children to their classes.
Naraiz's children were somewhat of a semi-open secret in Harrenhal. Much of the upper staff knew who they were much lacked much of the personal details. They simply accepted that they were their lord's children and were loyal enough not to ask questions or say anything to anyone. The rest of the of the keep only rarely saw them, some thought they were exceptionally young Acolytes, others wards of some other noble house. But like before, they didn't question as they all trusted their lord to what was right. The Acolytes sometimes saw them, but Naraiz children rarely left the Darthspire where they lived.
That was slowly starting to change. The older children were beginning to start classes with the other Acolytes of their age. The cover story was there was no cover story, they were just another child of the keep and it was left at that. It didn't always work, but kids were kids and so rarely did anyone believe the rumors that Pandora or her siblings were the children of Darth Nagash unless they were already in the know. Harrenhal was already notorious for being extremely difficult to get spies into, as any new face would be immediately be screened by both the Black Guard and at times Naraiz himself. As for people already working in the keep, they were either former slaves thar owed their lives to Naraiz and so would never betray him or they were original serfs of Harrenhal that were there the day he had slain the ghost of Harrenhal the Black and so revered him to highly to take a bribe to spy. The spy masters of Westeros all collectively gritted their teeth at the impenetrable information fortress that was Harrenhal.
"Oh I do, he took me to this wonderful world filled with lights and towers. I had never seen so many people in one place, an entire world covered in city… ah and the parties they had." Joanna smiled fondly as she soaked in the memories of her time among the stars. Naraiz had taken them both on their own personal trips, for her it was to his homeworld of Dromund Kaas. There he showed her the night life, the fashion, all sorts of wonders and pleasures of the modern galaxy. It was a fantasy come true.
"Hmm, mine wasn't so glamorous. Just me and master enjoying the beach far away from all worries and problems of home." Lyarra had a more subdued off world vacation. Naraiz had taken her a world favored my the galaxy's elite a private paradise. A world of islands and rising spires of mega trees that grew from the seafloor. It was just them as they spent two weeks with only Droid servants as their company. "I'm sure those kids will enjoy their first taste of the galaxy a bit less than we did."
"Oh, did Naraiz tell you what he was planning on doing with them." Joanna smirked as she knew that their man tended to favor Lyarra only slightly more than the rest of his lovers. She wasn't sure if this was just because she was first to truly get his heart or some sort of guilt over what he had done to her but Joanna knew that the preference was there if only just a little. She wasn't jealous, she loved Lyarra just as much and maybe was in the same boat as Naraiz. But she did know how to use this and was able to get Lyarra to convince Naraiz to tell her things he was hiding from everyone.
"Only that he'd enjoy it." Lyarra giggled and Joanna rolled her eyes at the sadistic nature of Naraiz showing itself. "But more importantly, have started to-" Lyarra was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door. They both looked to the door and to each other, they hadn't called for a servant nor was one expected otherwise. Anyone else that had business in Naraiz's quarters were already in the room. "Maybe something happened to the children?" Lyarra asked as Joanna stood up and walked over to the door to see what was going on, and returned with Xhola behind her. "Xhola, has a raven come?"
"No, I wanted to speak with the two of you." The Summer Islander said with a meek but ready voice. The two older women both looked at each other, committing to helping this poor girl however they could. Out of all the former slaves of Lys Naraiz took for himself they liked her the most. The twins were far away and too childish for them and Vaera was too fanatical and that was saying something.
"This is about what happened at the party." Joanna smiled as Xhola nodded her head as her face was flushed. "We all know that Pierce is sweet on you, and I understand why he'd want to keep in the dark."
"Lord Rhyhall hasn't been with me in years and you heard what he said, he gave his blessing." Xhola said knowing that Pierce had very good reasons why he acted the way he did. Given what had happened she understood but this was different. She wasn't Jaesa and she had always known that, they all did. She was a former slave that he took in out of pity and a small bit of ego. And even still it wasn't like she was with in any sort of relationship with him anymore.
"Ugh… he's such a child when he's drunk. But I guess I'd take that over him being a angry drinker or a sobbing one." Joanna complained while Lyarra just smiled, both of them had very different ways of thinking about the man they loved. Whereas Lyarra was pure devotion, Joanna tried to keep things as a partnership… though she was rarely as successful as she thought she was. "But Naraiz's actions aside, Pierce also needs to come to terms that you both obviously have feeling for each other."
"He does, I know he does." Xhola said blushing and Joanna immediately got a cat's grin as she got the picture. "But he's scared to take it out into the open. I was hoping to use what happened to convince him that it's okay but… he's been avoiding me."
"What!?" Joanna shouted as she grabbed ahold Xhola's shoulder's "Men! Can't do a single thing right at the best of times. Come on, we are going to find Pierce and remind him that he has obligations." Joanna then began to drag Xhola out of the room, intent on making sure that Pierce understood that he was denying a wonderful woman that only deserved the best. And to hells that he was going to squirm his way out of it.
"Good luck you two." Lyarra called out in support, happy that these small little troubles had overtaken some of the larger schemes of the realm. She had very much settled into the role of the doting wife (slave), loving mother, and supportive sister. The Stark came to enjoy the quiet and protected it fiercely. She would act as her beloved master' oasis of calm domestic life in the ocean of galactic plots and strife.
"Ugh… so many questions." I grumbled as I came into the cockpit of the freighter, there the pilot and Major Ingall were. Unlike most mortal men and women, he also enjoyed the sight of hyperspace. He also found the sight calming and I supposed that I should be worried about that but I couldn't find it in my heart to do so. "I gave them a few edited children's Holo-Vids to watch to distract them."
"It will be difficult uplifting them, though I supposed it will get easier with time my lord." The Kaasen Imperial said with a thoughtful chuckle as I stood next to him. I just grumbled a bit, my woos of teaching young adults about space, aliens, and all the other nonsense a naïve man or woman would need in their situation. Thankfully none of them seemed to be breaking and I had avoided the topic of religion, I think they were all just too wow'ed by it too think of the Gods. I sighed but then perked up as I heard a small beep on my wrist-comm "Oh… that's good." I said after I had checked my wrist-comm, the Major looked to me with a puzzled look.
"Something happen my lord?" I chuckled at his question as I started to work on several very important things now that I had gotten the news I had been looking forward. Heads were going to roll and important people were going get very mad in a few moments.
"You know of the Holo-Net Major?" He gave me a slanted unamused look and I continued. "Well long ago it was centered on Nar Shaddaa, in the Holo-Net Nexus. But around eight hundred years ago, the Second Hutt War broke out and it was the only time that the Republic was able to reach the core worlds of the Hutts."
"Yes, I learned all of this back in my academy days." The major said as he returned his gaze to hyperspace zooming around us. Apparently I was just droning on and boring him. I should change that. "The Republic knew that their offensive wouldn't last so settled for destroying key targets while they could. One being the Holo-Net Nexus."
"Exactly, they had set up their own servers, networks, and other digital infrastructure to account for the loss of the Nexus. They got away with it by saying they were taking it out of the hands of the few and spreading the Holo-Net across many smaller centers." I waved off the thinly veiled coup that the Republic pulled. Yes, the Holo-Net was no longer centered in one spot as it had been for many years. But now all the new centers were firmly in the control of the government or puppets of the government. "However, the core foundations of the Holo-Net remained the same. And as someone that lived during the time were those foundations were still settling and had direct access to it… that someone could use that knowledge to bypass many safe guards on the Holo-Net."
"My Lord?" The Major looked back at me with a keen interest, as I couldn't possibly suggesting what I was.
"Don't get your hopes up too much." I sighed wishing for the chance to take the entire Holo-Net. But for now I would have to settle for a million little backdoors. Using the knowledge of the old Holo-Net systems allowed me and Cipher, mostly Cipher, to cut down to the bone of the current day Holo-Net. All we needed was direct access to the systems. "Cipher has just informed me of his successful mission to infiltrate a Republic Server Hub and place a remote access transmitter. If I so wanted, I could use this to access the code of every non-military encrypted site on the net."
"It sounds like you have something in mind my lord?
Kaliyo yawned as she dragged herself out of her room, the days had been getting rather boring. Her gang had been pretty dominant for the past year and things had quieted down. Honestly she was looking for a new powder keg to trip over… and then her Vid-screen snapped on all by itself.
"Fuckin' thing." She mumbled as it flicked across the channels all by itself. Then her head snapped over to the sound of her personal computer booting up. "Oh shit have I been hacked, how… I had blue boy fix me up!"
"Boss!" She heard one of her underlings shout from down the hall. Him and a few others ran into her place which she would normally shoot them for but something was clearly off. "It's the Holo-Net! Something fucking with it, it's happening everywhere!"
"What?" So this wasn't a attack on her? Then that meant it had blue boy and the Sith written all over it.
"Everywhere, anything that has a screen and is connected to the Holo-Net is going crazy." One of her other goons explained and now she was sure that this was one of Naraiz's schemes.\
"-Morning, today's forecast calls for blue skies.-" They all heard and then turned to her Vid-Screen as it started playing music none of them every heard before. On the screen was a wall of text reading Ever Wonder Who Pulls the Strings that Bind The Republic. Now to give you a idea. Everyone you are about to see is either corrupt, a criminal, a degenerate, or all three! Sit back and enjoy. The screen then started to show the picture of a government official, high ranking Military member, corporate executive, or Jedi. With each hit of the music's beat it would change. "-Sun is shinin' the sky. There ain't a cloud in sight…-"
The song continued to play and Kaliyo just had a massive grin on her face. If this was indeed playing everywhere on Coruscant, fuck… if it was playing everywhere connected to the Holo-net… she was getting her powder keg after all.
Reviews
Rapidnoob - soon? no
Zhawarudo - do you not remember THE WHEEL OF PUNISHMENT? It's also been four years and there has been plenty of chances for Naraiz to yuk it up a bit in front of the Acolytes.
AO Black - It should, there's already a World of Darkness mod. Yes on all counts
Reads too much - I simply took Viki's devotion he had for the Drowned God he has in the books and put it toward the Sith Order. As for the Crucibles, the first was designed push a Acolyte to their physicals limit and then teach them the value of individual life. The second their survival skills against a unrelenting and terrifying foe, as well as force them to confront and deal with their inner doubts. The last is more or less a final boss fight against personal demons, when their fighting they are strained to the emotional limit and all sorts of things can happen then.
VoteableDuke - The Republic has Spartans and Naraiz's Astartes will be nowhere near as OP as 40k Astartes
wishitweretrue24 - Currently the Temps are Jango, Sir Friend Zone, Oberyn, and Drogo. I'm thinking one more but don't know. More like entire battalions of 4s and less than a company of 2s. Plus Naraiz is making his own super soliders
dorze - the story is in the process of being Beta'ed. And sorry but the lemonade will continue to flow as I see fit
