Interlude Part One
Darth Tyrannus sat in his comfortable highbacked leather chair. A glass of wine sat untouched at the edge of his desk – a desk that was actually made of real wood. The desk would have cost a fortune on the city world of Coruscant, but on his home world of Serenno, wood was quite abundant. Lush forests covered most of the planet itself, and Tyrannus much preferred the green vegetation to the stale city air and light pollution of galaxy's capital planet. Truth be told, the desk was still a fortune. Tyrannus had commissioned the most skilled woodcraftsman to create it for him, and it was a thing of beauty.
The wine was expensive too – a rare vintage that he needed to go off-world to obtain, and it would have been the highlight of his evening if he had not just gotten news of his next assignment. The last holographic lines of his master's face faded from the projector on his desk as he looked out the cliff-side window of his study onto the world far below. An incredibly powerful force adept girl was being tracked by his master, and it was now his job to bring her to him. He was also being brought a tool, sent from his master. A tool that would aid in his capture of the girl. This so-call "tool" would arrive tomorrow morning. Curiosity flared in his mind.
The Sith's plans were about to come to fruition and Sideous was sending him on an errand to fetch some force sensitive girl, instead of being where he was needed. Either this girl was more important than she seemed, or Sideous had some other plot going that he didn't know about. Both were possible. Both were dangerous. Sideous was a master strategist, and while Tyrannus was pretty sure he was a major player in the plans to come, you could never be quite certain with someone as skilled in deception as his master was. He would need to plan his next steps carefully. He sighed. The only thing he did know for certain at the moment was that he had no choice in the matter. His master had ordered him to capture this girl, so that is what he would do. Tyrannus pressed a button inlaid into the cool wood of the desk and the hologram of a droid projected from the desktop.
"Your excellency?" the droid inquired.
"Prepare my ship. We will depart tomorrow morning." Tyrannus ordered. His deep baritone voice echoed though the large chamber of his study.
"Yes, your excellency." The droid's metallic voice replied.
Droids. The brainless cannon fodder of the separatist movement. Sure, most of them had processors meant to draw quick calculations and react appropriately in most situations, but an actual sentient brain could look past the raw data and be subjective when the situation called for it. You couldn't beat a droid's loyalty though. The only way to change that was to reprogram it, which admittedly was still a drawback, but one that didn't happen too often. How many battles had he won with metal and hydraulic fluid instead of loyal flesh and blood? Hmm. Food for thought.
Tyrannus picked up the glass of forgotten wine and sipped at it slowly. The warmth it brought traveled down his chest and through his gut, extending to his limbs. The rare vintage from Alderaan began working on his mind, and eventually his mood began to lighten where dark thoughts had been forming. He sat for a while in silence, eventually finishing the last dregs in his glass and retiring to his master suite to get some rest before his master's delivery arrived in the morning.
-FIN-
Tyrannus woke on his own accord and immediately got out of his large four-poster bed. He stretched, taking into account the growing number of aches and pains that came with advanced age. The countless battles, sparring sessions and duels had not helped his body age any slower. But that was neither here nor there. Tyrannus knew that his mind was sharp, and medical advancements would allow him to remain far longer than the universe had originally intended. He walked over to the wardrobe in his suite and dressed himself in a light shirt as well as loose slacks that he tucked into high polished leather boots. A sash around his waist and a robe completed his ensemble and he made his way to the landing pad in front of the castle. As he passed ornamental gardens and obelisks, he watched a small ship enter the atmosphere and make its way towards his location.
His robes billowed out behind him as the exhaust plume of the ship sent gusts of wind his way, but Tyrannus didn't flinch or hold up his hand to block the dust and debris. A ramp extended from the belly of the small ship and a floating cage hovered down the ramp flanked by two large battle droids.
As the cage neared him, Tyrannus couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Darth Maul, one of his old enemies, drugged to the gills and missing his cybernetic legs was laying in the middle of the cage. The cage stopped directly in front of Tyrannus and one of the battle droids approached holding out a holographic projector in its metallic hand. You've seen better days you old fool he thought.
"A message from Lord Sideous, your excellency." The droid squawked at him.
Tyrannus took it out of its hand and dismissed them both with a wave of his hand. He flipped the device over and pressed the button in the center of it. His master's face projected above the devise and floated over his palm. After a pause of several seconds, it began to speak.
"Tyrannus, listen carefully to my next instructions. The girl you seek is extremely powerful and it will take all of your resources to obtain her. If bent to our will, she will be a powerful ally. As you can see, my former apprentice has seen better days, but he will be of vital use to you. He is the one who trained the girl in the dark side of the force, and something leads me to believe that she cares for him. Use him as leverage to get her to cooperate if needed. In your ship's navigation system, I have sent you a signal that is being used to track the ship she is traveling on at this exact moment. Follow the tracking beacon, find the girl, and bring her to me…ALIVE."
Sideous's holographic face faded away and Tyrannus sneered at this new turn of events. Bringing this girl into their ranks sounded a lot like breaking the Rule of Two. He thought of past events and how his master had forced him to get rid of or betray those he attempted to train himself. The hypocrisy was clearly evident, and anger flooded him as he looked down at Maul in his cage. Maul was what happened to Sideous's apprentices when there was no further use for them, and to Tyrannus he was the living embodiment of his own future if Sideous decided to turn on him. Tyrannus shook his head clear and motioned for one of his own droids to come forward.
"Put this filth in the ship's holding cell and prepare to leave."
"Yes, your excellency." The droid saluted and pushed Maul's floating cage towards Tyrannus's ship's loading ramp.
Tyrannus himself boarded the ship and once everything was secure and ready, gave the order to leave the atmosphere of Serenno and make the jump to hyperspace. Thoughts of betrayal and paranoia hung heavy in his mind as his ship locked onto the source of the tracking beacon that would lead him to this force-sensitive girl his master was so interested in. Suddenly, the tracking beacon showed that the girl's ship had left hyperspace and was headed towards a nearby planet. The planet was roughly a day's travel away from his own position.
She must have noticed she was being tracked and doesn't want me to know where she's heading Tyrannus thought. That was fine. He wouldn't have to chase her all over the galaxy now. He had his droids readjust his own ship's heading and laid back in his opulent pilot's chair. As he dosed off, he wondered what surprises this mission had in store for him.
