Many thanks to those who reviewed and sent PMs for the previous chapter, I am most pleased to know how much you enjoyed my battle scenes, and I can only hope that I continue to provide on par, if not superior, writing to compliment it. Please, enjoy the next chapter, and keep the reviews flowing!

Chapter Eight

The Fall of Umbara

Zhar laughed aloud as the Republic ships turned about to a full retreat, their spirit to protect Umbara broken against the might of the Sith fleet they faced. It truly didn't help them that Zhar's personal ship alone wreaked havoc and destruction among fighter and capital ship alike, let alone the bombardment from the rest of the cruisers and fighters under his command.

Once his fun had run its course, and the remaining Republic ships jumped to Hyperspace to escape destruction, Zhar returned to the Basilisk for an update on the Sith ships and the battle planet-side. Striding onto the bridge, Zhar went straight Admiral Setis and his apprentice, who were both busy monitoring a three dimensional holoprojection of the planet, with many pings of light representing their forces and the reported positions of the Umbaran defenders.

"What is the situation of the fleet," Zhar requested, glancing at the ground battle momentarily.

"Several fighters lost, but otherwise we suffered no damages in the battle, my Lord." The admiral stated, sounding extremely pleased with the results, "the ground battle however; we're not having as much good fortune. Lord Fury seems to favor a heavy handed aggressive tactic which is giving the Umbarans too much time to regroup and counterattack."

"Hmmm," Zhar said absently, it sounded like Septin's style, and while it allowed the Marauder to cut loose and wreak his own vengeance, it often posed a big problem for any who followed his command. "Bring us closer to the planet, we can add our ground forces to the attack to support and reinforce Fury."

"As you command, my Lord," Setis replied, issuing the command to return to close orbit. Turning to Dziqis, Zhar grinned, "Ready for your first battle?" he asked casually.

"More than ready, Master," was the eager reply. "I'll give the order for shuttles to be prepared, my Lord, you may go ahead and clear the path for us if you wish." The admiral said helpfully, gesturing at an aide who starting working the internal communication array.

"Excellent Admiral, I trust the fleet will do well in your care until we return." Zhar said, turning back to the hangar once again. A Darksider's work was never finished when it came to war. Gesturing for Dziqis to make for the lead shuttle, Zhar used his comlink to summon the rest of Gaze Squadron to act as fighter escort, even while he climbed once more into his fighter.

The shuttle took flight, along with three others, and Zhar piloted himself out and around them, keeping a sharp eye out for any anti-air defenses that remained from the original landing. It was a good thing he did too, as the resistance seemed to have reacquired a few of the batteries, and launched a volley of turbolaser bolts at the approaching shuttles. Flipping his ship over the lead shuttle as they entered the atmosphere, Zhar redirected himself and pelted toward the defensive tower, firing full auto at it.

The first two shots ruptured the shielding around the tower, while the rest did heavy structural damage, collapsing the tower within moments. Following his lead, the other fighters of Gaze Squadron took to the other towers, shattering them as efficiently and clearing the way entirely for the shuttles.

The fighters flew over a small plaza, firing a barrage to clear it of any opposing troops and flattening some of the decorations to make room as the shuttles came in for a landing. Zhar landed among them, leaping out of his fighter as the cockpit opened, lightsaber activating and deflecting blaster fire as some knot of resistance that had been forced into hiding from the fighters came out to try and kill the new invaders.

Dziqis lead the charge from the first shuttle as more troopers spilled out, returning heavy fire and keeping the Umbaran's pinned down so that the Force users could close space and carve through them with their lightsabers. Working together, troopers and Darksiders were a most efficient destructive force. It was a tactic that Zhar was sure that Septin wouldn't have used, so confident he was in his abilities alone.

It wouldn't surprise Zhar if the younger man had made his way to one of the objectives on his own already, and was even now slaughtering everything in sight. Well, so be it, the Emperor had his uses for the likes of Septin, and Zhar would not fault the craftsmen for the hammer he used when it was needed.

But Zhar was another sort of tool, and thusly he would function differently. Ordering his soldiers to spread out and secure the area, Zhar brought out a datapad that was connected to the central hub of the monitoring network from the fleets above. "There are pockets of fighters all over this sector," he explained quickly to Dziqis, "and it appears our main force is at the hangar."

"What is your command, Master?" the younger Sith pureblood questioned.

"You will take half our forces and join those at the hangar, leading them to secure the main power supply of the city. Once we cut their power the city will fall quickly. I will take the other half and march on the government sector, storming it only once the shield generator connected to your power supply goes down."

"Yes, Master," Dziqis said, dashing off with one of the officers rallying half the soldiers to follow. The boy was eager, and possibly reckless, which was why Zhar had sent him to lead the less difficult part of the mission, as he had dealt with one overly ambitious apprentice before, and wasn't too ready to do so again.

Shaking his mind from those thoughts and refocusing on the task at hand, Zhar called for his half of the attack force, and oriented themselves to push through the heavily defended causeways toward the government sector. A few more decisive battles here and the world would fall easily, he thought.

Hopefully their will was breaking after the destructive path that Septin had obviously carved through them already, just waiting for Zhar's precise strike to drive them into submission. He chucked to himself, even separated, he and Septin worked well together… the irony was tasteful, although the Marauder would intensely disagree.

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Luna carefully led the way down the winding passages at the bottom of the massive pipe that was hidden in the girl's bathroom. Yoda and the four professors were behind her, but she was more than confident in her strength in the Force to warn her of danger, from a monster of Slytherin's or otherwise.

When they arrived at a door flanked on both sides by serpents, it seemed to justify her reasoning for the Hogwarts lot, but Luna was already certain. This was the Chamber of Secrets, in more than one way of thinking. Not only was it the legendary place of the past, but it simply reeked of the Darkness' influence, and had to have been his base of operations.

Testing the strength of the magically imbued stone with the Force, Luna felt that she and Yoda together could move it, but the real worry was what they would find on the other side. Magic and the Dark Side screened the internal network of caves from her view, and she feared what sort of horror they were walking toward. But for the sake of the Force sensitives of Earth, along with the need to banish the Darksiders from this place, she nodded at her goblin friend, and together they threw their might into the current of the Force.

Professor Trelawney gasped as they did so, and the others followed suit as the door began to swing open of its own accord. Momentarily Luna recognized that the old Divination Professor was sensitive to the power of the Force, but only faintly and highly untrained. It was somewhat comforting to know that, even while she had been in school, she was not alone against the Darkness and his minions in the Force, even if Trelawney would not have been able to help her.

Walking in with what stealth remained with them after practically announcing themselves by opening the door, Yoda and Luna both held their lightsaber hilts in hand for a fight, and therefore were more than prepared for what they found within.

Around a half dozen Darksiders faced them, scattered through the central hub of a high tech security and communication network, wires and cables extending throughout the base levels of the castle. The wizards might have been shocked at this discovery, but Luna was not surprised with her hindsight. This would explain why the Darkness spent so much of his time in hiding while at school, if he was here working on this magically resistant piece of hardware.

Four crimson lightsabers flared to life, answered by the violet and green of the Jedi. The four professors raised their wands, uncertain how to fight such opponents, but willing to die for the safety of a child, even ones they had yet to meet. Drawing on their strength and convictions, Luna centered herself in the ebb and flow of the Force, becoming a conduit of the unimaginative power that it held.

The remaining two Darksiders fled, presumable to guard their students and prisoners, while the four launched themselves to attack. Leaping to the side, Luna gracefully dodged the first stabbing blow, parrying the second adept's blade as she spun to contend with the first, her powerful Soresu defenses showing throughout her countenance. She was a protector first and foremost, and this style embodied her choice and role, even as the whirling dervish of Ataru emphasized Yoda's power and destructive capabilities when the usually mild mannered goblin was roused to fight.

Swatting each and every strike and stab away from her, Luna danced in a circle while her foes stalked around her like wolves. By contrast, Yoda was quickly and efficiently hemming his two opponents in, causing them to knock into each other more often than actually striking at him, so fast and agile he was in flipping and spinning through the air.

The first of the Darksiders finally made a mistake, rushing at Luna when he thought her guard had slipped while she faced away from him. Ducking the powerful swing that would have removed her head, Luna kicked out at his legs, following up with a massive shove through the Force to send the man flying away from her. The moment she had done so, the four wizards remembered that they were there, and spells began to pelt the man as he tried to rise to his feet.

The darksider deflected the first two, before a powerful stunner struck him in the chest from Flitwick, taking him out of the fight. Yoda was the next to dispatch an enemy, severing the humans' sword arm at the elbow as he landed squarely on the other Force user's chest. Turning back as the other charged, Yoda threw his small green saber, and Luna grimaced as the weapon impaled the other Darksider in the chest, killing him outright.

It wasn't a favored tactic of a jedi to go for the kill, least of all by stabbing or impaling with the lightsaber, but when needs had it, whether war or situations like this when time was precious, it was a permitted practice, but that didn't stop Luna from disliking to take a life. The final Force user was leaping at her again, and Luna sidestepped the attack easily, catching the man with a blast of the Force that smashed him against a giant stone pillar and knocking him out immediately.

"We need to follow the other pair of Dark Adepts," Luna called, "wait here and keep these three from escaping or getting out any messages."

Whether the wizards acknowledged or not, Luna didn't pay attention, and she and Yoda sprinted after the pair that would hopefully lead them to the children.

By the time they caught up to the pair, they had already arrived. By the Force's mercy none of the children were harmed, yet, but one of the two, a woman, held a small boy roughly in her arm, a lightsaber at the little boy's throat. "Not one more step, Jedi, or the children will die."

The pair skidded to a halt, sabers raised, "Release him, you will," Yoda demanded, his voice gravely serious, "all the worse for you it will be, if you do not."

"No chance, goblin," the woman said sternly, even as her companion pulled out a comlink and activated it, "Now the Emperor will know that this base is compromised, and your precious world will burn when he returns. Our fates however are forfeit for our failure, so we are leaving, and you will let us go, or the children will die."

"No!" cried a voice behind Luna and Yoda, while at the same time several concussive blasts rocked the two Darksiders. The boy fell from the woman's grasp, and Luna took no time in pulling him to her with the Force, sheltering the little boy with her own body as stone and rubble gave way under the powerful spells.

Professor Trelawney stood there, eyes blazing with righteous indignation, "You will harm no child in my home you horrid monster!" she shouted, her voice commanding great authority and power, almost jarring from its difference from her normally airy and mild tones. The Force rang through her, reminding Luna strongly that even those who had the barest touch of sensitivity to its call were capable of great feats.

The pair of Dark Side Adepts snarled, before raising their weapons, preparing to charge and tear the older woman apart, but just then Yoda flew at them both, propelled by the Force and whirling with his saber lit, the green spiraling in streams through the air. Grabbing Trelawney by the arm, as she looked like she was tempted to charge into battle herself, Luna pressed the child to her, silently thanking the other Professors for darting in to protect the pair, and turned to join her friend in their own fight.

Sabers clashed and sparked across the chamber, until one of the pair fell by Yoda's superior skill. The final, the woman that had threatened the boy, raised a hand, and Luna knew what would happen. Throwing the Force around her, she created her signature shield, absorbing and deflecting the bolts of blue lightning even as they left the woman's fingertips. So powerful was her connection to the Light, that the entire room was soon washed in the glow of the shield, shimmering and flashing as the lightning washed over it. Even the Darksider seemed in awe of the powerful technique, and the lightning slowly faded.

Yoda and Luna advanced, but the woman held out her weapon threateningly. "You cannot stop what is already happening," she said morosely, almost sad. "It has already begun, and the Galaxy will fall into the hands of its rightful ruler. Long live the Emperor!" she cried, turning her blade on herself.

Luna cried out and tried to stop her but it was too late. Before she could so much as take a step, the crimson blade was buried deep in the Dark Side Adept's belly, fatally wounding her. She fell, the saber clattering to the ground as it deactivated. All four wizards were stunned at the fanaticism of this stranger, but they were also preoccupied with getting the Force sensitive children out of their cells. All the boys and girls were crying, still so new to their connection to the Force, and hearing it stir so drastically during the battle, but at the same time barely any of them could help but stare at Yoda and Luna, clearly sensing the strong aura of the Light about the two Jedi.

"Ms. Lovegood," Professor McGonagall said after they had rounded up the children back in the main room, "would you please explain all of this madness now? What is going on in our school, where have you been all these years?"

"Dear Professor," Luna said, turning to face one of her idols from when she was a girl, a symbol of the powerful presence a witch could have in the lives of others, "there is far more than Hogwarts at stake in this fight we are waging. The fate of a Galaxy of beings, millions upon hundreds of millions of lives that are threatened by what we learned here tonight."

If anything, McGonagall seemed to take the information well, "I had gathered that from your strange appearance, and some of the things you had mentioned. Who were these people?"

"Servants of the enemies of our Order," Luna said, gesturing to herself and Yoda, "We are members of the Jedi, guardians of peace and freedom in the Galaxy, and they serve the Sith Lords, an evil Order that use the Force to further their own power and influence, trying to take control of the Galaxy. Think Voldemort and his Death Eaters, but on a much larger scale and uncaring of wizard vs. muggle…"

McGonagall to her credit didn't flinch at the name any longer, but she did blanch at the thought of a more widespread form of that madman, "Do you know who this… Sith Lord… is?"

"I have my fears, but they are only proved this night…" Luna said, "There is only one that it could be, if his reach came to even here in Hogwarts."

"Who?" the transfiguration mistress pushed, "Who has done this great evil?"

"None other than Harry Potter…" Luna said sadly, know that this information would burn the older woman's very soul. And it did. McGonagall seemed to sag within herself, turning to stare at all the machinery and the frightened children, "This all ties back to Albus and his delusions of placing the boy with his muggle relatives, doesn't it?" she asked, turning to face Luna once again, "I tried to warn him not to, you know, but the old fool was so brilliant and wise that he became a law unto himself."

She sighed, clearly frustrated with no outlet nearby, "What are we going to do now?" she asked, look over the small crowd of children, who ranged in age from five to twelve, "Should we try to take these children back to their families?"

"If the Sith are involved in stealing children, I severely doubt that they have families left to return to…" Luna commented sadly, watching as Yoda went and talked with the youngest of them, giggling and making jokes to cheer up the children, who found his height and speech pattern amusing.

"Then where? We obviously can't keep them here, if more of those Sith return…" McGonagall started, but Professor Trelawney broke in to the conversation just then, "They'll come with us, to the bright center of the Galaxy, to the very beacon of Light."

Luna glanced momentarily at the Divination teacher, a smile on her face. "Professor Trelawney is right, we have a place for them at the Jedi Temple, where they will be safe from the Sith, and can be trained to use their connection to the Force for good. It is where I was planning to take all of you, plus a few other allies, as we need help fighting the Sith throughout the Galaxy."

The four teachers looked at her, and Luna saw the fire in their eyes. They would come willingly, especially now seeing what the Darkness would do to children without their help.

Turning to the massive computerized system, Luna started to fiddle with it, trying to understand what sort of communications most recently was sent to and from it. What she found wasn't good. The Dark Side Adepts had managed before the Jedi and wizards arrived to send out several distress calls, signaling the loss of their base as well as Luna and Yoda's presence. It was highly likely that more Darksiders were even now rallying to retake the castle.

"We need to leave," Luna said swiftly as she drove her lightsaber into the system, welding and utterly ruining it. None of the others were in a mood to argue, and slowly herding the children out they departed. Finding the means to activate the stairs on the giant entranceway back to the bathroom was tricky, but Yoda was able to find the hidden level with the Force that magically brought a long staircase out of the piping to them.

Once they returned to the entrance hall the Professors had to stop and breathe, recovering from the ordeal of what they had learned and witnessed. The only one seemingly immune was Professor Trelawney, who was still riding off the Force through her limited connection to it. Luna pulled her comlink, sending an encrypted message to their ship and the droid they left to pilot it for them, signaling for it to come closer to their location.

She knew that the ship couldn't come directly into the Hogwart's grounds, due to the excessive magic what would scramble the sensors and other electronics, but the wide valley outside the grounds on the far side from the village would be well enough to land and outside the wards.

Once the children and Professor had caught their breath, Luna ushered them, along with the goblins and wizards that they had rescued outside and across the grounds toward the ward-line. Spotting the shimmer of the freighter coming down from the clouds as they arrived, Luna waved for it so that the droid would spot them.

The regrettably more primitive Earth people gazed up in shock and awe as the sleek metal craft settled down in the valley, the landing ramp extending invitingly. "Ms. Lovegood…" McGonagall said as the pair of Jedi started to lead them all onto the ship. Luna turned, eyeing the far older woman.

"What will happen when we leave here?" the woman asked wisely, stating a great deal more than possibly even she intended. Luna had to think about that. Obviously they were leaving this world for a long time, if not forever, but what were they going into. A war with the Sith? It was not a promising prospect for them, and the wizards might be better off staying out of the conflict.

"I don't know…." Luna said sadly, and honestly.

McGonagall seemed to accept that answer, and gingerly stepped onto the ramp, the other Professors, wizards and children following behind her.

Sharing a sorrowful glance with Yoda, Luna followed them onto the ship, and started the system to return them all to the Jedi Temple.

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Severus brewed in muted stoicism. As a prisoner here on some sort of space station in the middle of an unknown part of space, there was little he could do about his circumstances. Not that he was giving up just yet. There was plenty of time that he was allowed to wander freely in the station, aside from the areas he was forbidden from, but he was planning to visit those areas as well soon enough.

It was a matter of making sure he could slip past the guards set to watch over him. Regardless of their clear training and conditioning, they were only mortal beings, and they had weaknesses as well. At least that was the case with the one set to watch over him specifically. Several well timed slips with Legilimency had allowed Severus to infer the man's internal fears and weakness, about how he had been set to watch a lowly prisoner instead of fighting on the front lines for his master, and how disappointed he was with it all.

The man also had Severus' wand, which made him all the more a target for the wizard's attention. First objective would be to recapture that item, or else anything else would be a waste of energy. The man was very careful while Severus was brewing, having actually listened to the wizard when he reprimanded him for standing too close to a cauldron once, and chose to now linger just inside the room and watch Severus as he worked.

Setting aside a single cauldron closest to the guard with a simple boil cure potion was child's play, allowing it to simmer at just the right stage while he maneuvered between four other, more complicated potions. Calling to the guard while in mid stirring, Severus smiled to himself as the man turned, eyeing him pointedly.

"I am rather busy with these; would you lend a hand and put the quills into that potion over there?" Severus asked seriously, trying to keep everything under his Occlumency shields. Something allowed these people to sense thoughts and feelings of other beings, and he needed to block all that out to keep the man from seeing the truth of his words.

The man seemed to hesitate for a moment, and Severus felt something brush his shields, but when they held the man nodded, seeming to find nothing amiss. Approaching swiftly, the black robed figure snatched up a few from the pile of porcupine quills, and looking for confirmation from Severus, casually tossed them in.

Severus closed his eyes as the cauldron erupted instantly, sloshing the half-finished potion all over the man, causing him to cry out in surprise and fail about, trying to wipe away the festering boils as they appeared upon his exposed skin. Severus, having already prepared all the cauldrons in front of him to simmer, sprinted to the man, but instead of helping he lunged for the wand at the man's belt.

The other human tried to stop him, but the pain from the boils hampered his reflexes to the point that Severus' surprise attack knocked him back. Grinning slightly at the rush of power that his reunion with the wand produced, he quickly cast the Imperious curse on the fallen man, encountering quite the powerful mental shield, but easily overpowered while the man writhed in agony.

Once the human was under his control, Severus quickly went about cleaning the man of the potion and restoring his skin to how they were once before. Transfiguring a spare quill into a copy of his wand, Severus gave the fake to the guard, while secreting the real one inside his robes. So long as Potter or the leader of this station, a Centaur with a powerful dark aura, didn't try to learn if Severus had it, there would be no reason for anyone to question his powerlessness.

Meanwhile, he now had more than enough means to get into the restricted sections of the facility, and hopefully find a way off of it. However, Severus had no idea where he ought to even go once he was free from the station, but he would consider that once he managed to escape.

Directing the black robed man to lead him out of the potions lab, Severus was relieved when he found the metal corridor empty of other sentients. Pushing his will through his newfound connection with the other man, Severus directed him to take Severus to wherever the ships that could leave were stored, and he was less than surprised when the first place he was led was one of the 'forbidden areas.'

The door slid open for the black robed man, opening up into a massive room filled with the strangest looking vehicles that Severus had ever seen. At the far end was a large shield that held out the blackness of space outside, and Severus knew enough that that shield prevented the entire area from being sucked out into that lifeless void. Eyeing the ships around them, Severus was at a terrible loss as to what one would even be of best use to him. He was sure that his guard knew, but now didn't feel like the correct time to break out, with no knowledge of what was out there as of yet.

Turning back and returning to the lab, Severus had the guard return to his post, numbly following little suggestive orders here and there but otherwise letting the man behave normally as Severus brewed. He always did his best plotting over a cauldron.

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Bellatrix happily skipped down the landing ramp toward the ruined fortress on Khar Shian, the other Force users and Archeologists carrying out their equipment and other gear behind her. It was exciting to once again be out doing something, rather than just walking the same halls and bantering with the crazed Togruta High Prophet over who was more loyal to the Emperor.

Beckoning for one of the Darksiders, Bellatrix pointed at the closest entrance to the fortress, "What do you sense?" she demanded, eager to hear what she already suspected.

The Force user stretched out a hand toward the fortress, smiling as he touched the dark aura of the place, "It's old, so very old, and still brimming with a lingering malice. There may yet be something of worth within, but we ought to still tread cautiously."

"Of course, of course," Bellatrix said, brushing off the Darksider's remark. She had the information she wanted. Whatever was inside would be an excellent gift to the Emperor, and allow her to gain the prestige needed to one up Ocraadi once and for all.

Several agonizing hours later, when their base camp had finally been prepared and the laborers and archeologists had readied all their tools and equipment, Bellatrix gleefully jabbed her wand at the ruins, "Onward!" she commanded, leading the first team herself into the shadowy tunnels.

For a long while, they found nothing, simply old ghosts of ancient records that were mostly destroyed or already known about in the Sith archives. Several traps were happened upon, all disabled from previous looters and treasure seekers, which angered Bellatrix at the audacity. It was like muggles violating a wizarding graveyard for trinkets and other baubles, useless to them but priceless to those whom they had stolen them from.

Knowing the history of the Sith Lord Naga Sadow, Bellatrix was aware that she could expect no tomb to be here, as the Sith Lord had fallen on another planet far from them, which was already under Sith occupations under a different High Prophet, however, there might have been a tomb prepared for Sadow here that went unused by the Dark Lord himself, and might have treasures that were awaiting their master to be buried after a presumed long and prosperous life.

Several hours more passed, with nothing being found. A few of the laborers had departed, going back to check on base camp and relay messages from their team, but Bellatrix refused to give up so easily. There had to be the slimmest of clues hidden among the stone and choking vines of the rather temperate world, quite unlike its frosted host world that it orbited.

As they explored, Bellatrix grew a large measure of respect for Naga Sadow, from his brilliance of a decoy base on an inhospitable world, to the grandeur of his tactical knowledge and combat. The human had to have been great, to become the successor of Marka Ragnos, the proclaimed greatest ruler in Sith history.

But even the murals and other carvings, among the many stories and legends they depicted, not a one hinted at what the purpose of this fortress was, other than to guard the southern tip of the Sith worlds, even though Bellatrix knew that Sadow used this place as his primary base and keep.

Soon, even the Force users were starting to be ready to quit until the next day, but Bellatrix simply snarled when they suggested it, striving on until she had retraced her steps through the fortress for the third time, examining every stone and object in detail for a sign, a whisper of some secret hidden within.

"It makes no sense," she cried eventually, whirling on the last being that had remained with her, the same that had probed the fortress when they landed, "you said you felt power still remaining here, but where is it?"

"I said it seemed that way," the young man clarified, looking about the chamber wistfully, "but it could be from any of a hundred things, or multiple together. I apologize my lady, but it could even be that the Fortress feels us unworthy to find its secrets…"

"Unacceptable!" she shrieked leveling her wand at a random section of the far wall, letting spells at random fly out. It wouldn't do to injure her powerful allies, when they were actually doing their best to assist her in this endeavor, of their own free will and not under orders.

The walls buckled under her barrage, unaccustomed to rage and power directed in such a manner, and one powerful blasting hex shattered the stone completely, revealing a section behind it that was previously hidden, leading down into a darkened passageway. The young Darksider looked dumbstruck, even as Bellatrix felt the waves of dark power from that hidden passage.

"Well, that's one way to find it…" she huffed, tossing sweat streaked hair from her face.

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Lord Fury felt the power of his rage flowing through him as the charged the main government building of Umbara. Other would have simply slowed him down in this, and haste was demanded to defeat this weaklings once and for all. If Fury slaughtered their planetary leadership, their resolve would shatter.

Blaster fire rained all around him, but the whirling of his dual sabers kept him in a small pocket of calm while the deflected bolts exploded outward, cutting down swaths of his foes before he even needed to reach them. it was disappointing how easily they died, and Fury longed for a worthy adversary, a Jedi perhaps, for him to fight, however that seemed unlikely to happen here, and he contented himself with mowing through the Umbaran security forces with impunity.

One got a lucky shot to his shoulder, but Fury latched onto the pain and anger at his slipup, and threw one of his blades at the offending sniper, impaling the fool in the chest, the saber boring straight through before it spiraled back to Fury, clipping several more as it flew. With a roar of power, the Marauder leapt into the air as his second saber smacked into his hand, landing with a shockwave that sent the last guards blocking Fury from his goal flying.

A massive blast of the Force blew the doors right off their ornate hinges, clearing the room beyond as the doors crushed those waiting to ambush him in the antechamber. The others were already fleeing further inside, clearly trying to protect their leaders and find alternate means of escape from his wrath.

It wouldn't do them any good though, Fury could sense his old master coming with a battalion, and they'd go systematically, preventing anyone from leaving alive, which would buy Fury all the time he needed to reach the leaders first.

Just the presence of his one-time master was enough to fuel the fires of his anger for a connection to the Dark Side so deep that Fury could feel even the heartbeats of his prey, cowering in their seat of power.

With that pulsating through his mind, and rage in ample supply, Fury surged forward, crashing through room after room, brutally dispatching and dismembering anyone, civilian or security, that he encountered.

Sensing Zhar's approach put Fury into a fouler mood than ever, if possible, and he took out his irritation on everything within range of his weapons. It didn't take long for him to reach the center of the building, blowing through several barricades and thoroughly terrifying those lucky few who managed to escape him.

Destroying the last doors between him and the leaders of the planet, Fury composed himself, squashing his plentiful rage into a cold knot, saving it for the right moment as he had been trained. It was time for a small amount of talking before he finished the deed.

"How dare you assault our world, invade out government facility, and kill our people!" the Prime Minister of Umbara shouted, rising to his feet from his throne like chair. The pompous fool thought his bluster could intimidate an Adept of the Dark Side, it was almost laughable. But Fury could respect the man's courage to stand up against certain death.

"This world was ours long before your people ever came to be born," Fury shot back, smirking as the leader faltered. "The Sith ruled here for millennia before your glorified Republic and the corrupt Jedi drove us out of the Galaxy. Time and again when our nation would rise up, your vaunted Republic would stomp on us again, no more. We're taking back all the worlds that were once ours, and we will annihilate every being that stands in our way, starting with you, right here, right now…"

The man fell back into his chair as Fury's blade activated again, and the other ministers and leaders started to panic when he cut down the last of the security guards. Their blinding fear was a delicious sensation for him to feel, and Fury relished every moment as he slaughtered them all.

Amid the wreckage of their destroyed chamber and their mutilated bodies, Fury waited as Zhar and his force approached. The man stepped through the destroyed entry way, and Fury kept his hatred for the man well in check as to not attempt to kill his old master once again. it was not the time yet, as they still had a job to do for the glory of the Emperor.

Looking over the carnage, Zhar frowned, but nevertheless addressed Fury, "It is finished then?"

"Yes, High Prophet…" Fury responded, refusing to speak the man's name aloud, it would send him over the edge so soon after battle and bloodshed.

"You powers have grown remarkable since last saw you in action, Sep…" Zhar started, but Fury could not bear to hear the man say his name either, and he cut him off. "Yes, well there was good reason for us not to see each other for that time, now wasn't there…"

Zhar simply shrugged, turning to give orders to his soldiers to secure the building, not that Fury didn't know that they already had done so; the old man was as methodical as he was predictable. "While this little chat was all well and good," Fury said after a moment, "But I have other objectives to secure before this day is done."

"As you wish," Zhar said without turning back, "the Emperor will be arriving within two standard hours, so I hope for all our sakes you are finished by then…"

"I will be," Fury replied, measured tones barely containing his hatred at the man's patronizing voice. He stormed from the room, knocking aside two officers as he passed, and made his way out of the building, before accepting a speeder that was waiting for his use.

His own forces had moved on from the hangar to the main power regulator and had shut it down with help from Darth Diábolis, and they all were waiting for him to arrive before moving on to locating the ruins of the assassin's academy. For once, the Sith apprentice's company would be far more welcome than it usually was, Fury though bitterly. Better the snide comments of a stranger than the grating presence of a man who ought to be dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Assassin know once as Colin Creevey smirked as he felt the subtly change in the flow of magic throughout the Galaxy. He was by no means one of the Jedi or Sith, able to feel the Force as they did, but he accomplished very similar telepathic feats with his arcane arts. Something big was happening, and it had the subtle flair of dramatics that Colin associated with the Emperor.

Sitting in a local cantina on the capitol world of Coruscant, a disgusting dive that most upstanding folk would avoid, he allowed himself to relax his guard slightly, as pursuit of any of his jobs were highly unlikely to follow him here, especially when the biggest and latest took him into the heart of the Jedi Temple.

Paranoia didn't start to cover what Colin felt about that job. As smoothly as it had gone, it felt too good to be true, and he half expected the Jedi to follow him any moment. Dumping the last of his current drink, he swallowed the burning liquid with a sneer and tried to forget about that. He was trained by the Emperor personally, but if he didn't allow the memories and thoughts to sink behind his Occlumency then they would find out, if he ever ran into one who knew about the attack.

Seeing as how even the public was unaware of the violation of the Temple, Colin doubted that even most Jedi were aware that it happened. Just then, a commotion at the front of the cantina turned his head. 'Speak of the Jedi,' he thought bitterly at the robed figures walking in, 'and they will appear.' Hopefully the pair now entering was looking for some other lowlife, and would pass right over him. Somehow, Colin wasn't willing to give them a chance, and stood to leave.