Chapter 2 up. Thanks for reading. Enjoy.

Darth Marr walked aggressively into his office in his stronghold on Dromund Kaas, only relaxing once the door was closed and he was alone. Dark council meetings alway had a way of irritating the Sith Lord, even though he had to admit they were easier to handle when done over holo. Most of his fellow council members were on Korriban, enjoying their seats of power while the real leaders did the real work.

It had only been about six months since Marr had returned from Yavin 4, where he had been forced to forge a temporary alliance with the Republic in order to defeat Revan. Their victory, if it could be called one, had stopped Revan's efforts to summon a corporeal Sith Emperor, but everyone present knew the damage had already been done. The Sith Emperor was now loose, apparently without a body, planning his next move.

The council, though angry about the alliance with the Republic, was now eager to search out their former emperor. The only problem being, finding an incorporeal being was proving to be an almost insurmountable task. Marr had the bad feeling that the Emperor would only be found, when he was ready to be found. It could be months, years, even decades before he'd show himself. The Emperor had nothing but time.

Meanwhile, Marr was left to try to pull the Empire together, while his fellow council members did nothing but try to rip it apart. Infighting amongst the stronger Sith was making the day to day operation of the Empire more and more difficult.

At least all was stable for the moment and, more importantly, Marr had gained one very useful thing from his time allied with the Republic: he got to observe the Grand Master of the Jedi order peacefully. Normally, a Sith would never get the chance to observe and converse with the leader of the Jedi, any more than a Jedi would be able to do the same with a member of the dark council. Jedi and Sith, particularly the more powerful ones, tended to fight each other, rather than talk, when sharing a space.

Marr got a chance to truly size up Satele Shan. Though Shan was a slight woman, her power was unmistakable. Her utter lack of emotion left a bad taste in Marr's mouth, but she had a way about her which only proved why she was the leader of the Jedi and dubbed the most powerful currently living amongst them. She was also Revan's most powerful living descendant, which only added to her strength.

The most curious observation was how Shan interacted with her own people. She was fair and almost courteous with members of the Empire, but her attitude towards members of the Republic seemed subtly strained. Particularly with the Agent who worked closely with Lana Beniko, my new head of Sith Intelligence. Marr had learned from Beniko that the SIS agent so pivotal in the tracking of Revan was the Grand Master's son. From what he saw, the relationship between mother and son was very professional. Too professional.

Marr knew from intel gained from Jedi turned to the Darkside that Jedi were more/less forced to beg off any kind of attachments, which made the fact that their Grand Master had a son strange and slightly amusing. Even their own leader was unable to follow their ridiculous code.

A beeping from his holo table pulled Marr from his musings. He stood and activated the holo. An image of his apprentice, Lord Ragnor, appeared. He had sent Ragnor to lead the efforts to take the planet Balmorra for the Empire. The planet was a treasure trove of technology, including weapons, war droids and defensive tech, all of which was being put to the service of the Republic. That had to end.

"I have news from Balmorra, Master. We have officially revealed the Republic is secretly backing the Balmorran Resistance, thus breaking the Treaty of Coruscant. The news has been made public on Republic worlds and their government is being forced to abandon and disavow all Republic troops on the planet. We have also taken several key manufacturing facilities, including the Balmorran Arms Factory. A full report is on its way to you now."

Marr grinned, though his apprentice could not see it under his usual armored facemask. "Excellent. I look forward to reading it. You've done well."

"I must also report that my apprentice did not survive the final assault on the factory."

Marr nodded. "His arrogance finally outweighed his usefulness, I see."

The young zabrak Lord Ragnor has taken as an apprentice had been reasonably powerful in the Force, but he'd also been unruly and didn't like to take or follow orders. He had a way of arguing with his betters. Marr figured he wouldn't live very long. As a general rule, you did not talkback to a Sith powerful enough to kill you. This was a lesson often learned by Sith too late.

"I'm on my way back to Dromund Kaas now, but I didn't leave completely empty handed. I have an added bonus from my time on Balmorra. A gift for you. One of the Jedi who foolishly defended the factory was captured alive. I normally wouldn't have bothered, but there's something interesting about this Jedi, Master. Her display of power is curious for someone so young."

Marr remained silent, thinking. He normally enjoyed taking captive Jedi and either twisting them to the darkside or tormenting them to death for what information he could extract. He had been responsible for corrupting more Jedi than any other member of the council. Unfortunately, with the current state of the Empire, Marr was in no mood to play games. His apprentice seemed to sense his master's ill mood.

"I realize it might not be the best time for a captive, Master, but wait and see what I've brought. You will like this one." Ragnor said, backpedaling slightly from his master's silence. Unlike this dead apprentice, Ragnor knew not to irritate his master.

"We shall see." Marr replied, ending the transmission.

Lord Ragnor was Marr's most powerful apprentice. The pure blood sith came from a very long line of Sith, proving time and time again his value as an apprentice to a dark council member. The young man had earned his title, being oddly perceptive about what pleased his master.

"Perhaps I'll let him make an attempt to turn this one." Marr said to himself, returning to his seat and opening up the report from Balmorra. The kid was ambitious and in need of a new apprentice, afterall. Young Jedi were always easy prey.

To Be Continued...