Thanks to those who reviewed, really helped me the last few days when I hit a spot of writers block trying to start a new RoDV chapter, but things are almost smoothed out on that front once again. Great things lie ahead still, and I am just as excited to hear what people think of upcoming events as I am sure you are to read them. ~F
Chapter Forty Two
The Second Battle of Tanaab
Fury had been more than pleased when the call to assemble rang out through all the fleets on the front lines, summoning them to gather with the final invasion armada. Out of the many warrior and tacticians among their command structure, he was selected along with a small handful to be at the very forefront, assigned to be the first fleets on the battlefield of their invasion, and even now he overlooked the world of Tanaab with a superior grin.
The little Republic fleet, modified beyond the prototype that he and his warriors were already famous throughout the Empire for defeating, as apparently many others had failed against similar styles of ships, could not stop them due to sheer numbers alone.
"Prepare to engage," he commanded, even as the communications officer relayed the message to the other four fleets temporarily under his command. Thrusters fired to full, even as literal swarms of fighters were ejected into the cold vacuum of space, screaming across the void of space toward their prey, which seemed oddly lighter than a normal Republic fleet, but Fury was not concerned with that, whatever tricks they sought to pull would fail, even if they were destroyed hundreds more were following them, and the iron fist of the Empire would crash down upon this world for their defiance.
As the cruisers passed around the last clusters of asteroids and started into the open area that ran straight at the planet, a hailstorm of projectiles launched from the floating rocks, catching the rightmost fleet off guard, disabling and destroying a few of the lighter ships that formed their escort.
At the same time, to their left flank, out of a pair of massive nebulas roared several heavily armored frigates, protecting a dozen wings of bombers, which started unloading their missiles and other ordinance onto the fleet there, creating as much chaos for the vanguard as possible.
Fury growled in irritation at the superb tactics. They were successfully delaying the inevitable. "Recall a port of the fighters at assist the fleets," Fury grudgingly commanded, "keep pushing forward, we can't allow ourselves to be distracted from our goal of crushing this pathetic world and moving on toward the Core."
"Yes, my Lord!" the crew in his immediate proximity announced, relaying his orders and putting thrusters to maximum.
Then something rang out in the Force, and Fury widened his eyes, "Shields double front, now!" he roared, and the crew hastened to obey, even dropping other tasks to make sure they were defended even as a pair of massive beams launched from one of the command ships of the Republic fleet, racing toward them with glowing precision.
The prismatic energy washed over their shields as the rose at the last moment like a torrent of color, managing to lap around the edges of their defenses and damaging some non-vital systems of the ship nonetheless.
"Return fire with long range missiles! Keep pushing forward!" Fury demanded, watching their projectiles arc through space as the fleet lumbered after them. Before the missiles reached their intended targets however, a massive barrier erupted into sight for only a moment, before hundreds of detonations splattered across the seemingly empty field of space.
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Luna watched in amazement as the new prototype shield projector caught and countered every piece of ordinance that the Sith fleets fired at them. Her fleet had been supremely modified by Hermione shortly after the battle of New Terra, along with the others that had fought at that battle, and the Ravenclaw girl had not held back in the slightest, even adding many of her own staff and their prototype weapons to their arsenal.
"How long until the arc lances are recharged," she asked the scientist in charge of the new high powered cutting photon lasers.
"Several more minutes, General," The man replied, watching the readouts on the console he stood at.
"And the flanks of the advancing fleet?" she asked turning to the communications officer.
"They are holding as they continue to be pummeled by our outer defenses. It is only the first wave however, and already we can detect another group of fleets entering the system, it's only a matter of time before we're overrun."
"The evacuation is approximately 40% complete," called another from the far back of the bridge, before Luna could even ask, "We need more time to load those who were farther from the cities with spaceports."
"And she shall." Luna said sternly, "launch our fighters to counter those preparing to engage us, and prepare the new point defense systems. I refuse to pull any punches at this point."
"As you command!" another scientist said, grinning madly as he punched many buttons on his terminal. Those that had come from New Terra seemed the most pleased to be unleashed to utilize their experiments upon the Sith, and for the time being Luna tolerated their lack of morals at the massive amount of devastation that their weapons could cause. They were at least on the side of the Republic for the time being.
The swarms of Neo-Sith fighters were almost upon them when their forces engaged, the high powered fighters of New Terra swinging in tight circles to spin around and attack the Sith fighters from the rear, even as the scientist announced the activation of his defense system.
From many small, almost tiny, weapon ports all along the hull of the cruisers launched dozens of concentrated spell beams, calculating and predicting the flight patterns of the attacking fighters, heavily damaging if not outright destroying those that got too close.
Even with all their new firepower however, the hulking Sith cruisers were still bearing down toward them, and the planet that they were guarding, with no signs of stopping. The Arc Lances seemed to have done severe damage to the lead ship's shields, but nothing much past that, other than superficial hull damage where it had washed over and around their deflectors.
Luna was unwilling to surrender however, and would have them all fight to the death over this world, if only to halt them for the briefest of moments, "prepare all batteries to fire once they're in range!" she commanded, but a communication broke through their array, refreshingly hopeful to their bleak situation.
"Hmm, Yoda you summon… Here I am, fight we will!" sounded the familiar voice of Luna's closest friend and ally in the Jedi order, even as out of Hyperspace the Terran's Fury appeared, ships blazing out a firestorm of power and fighters launching from their fleet to assault the enemy cruisers position.
The crew cheered as even more fleets started to warp in. Their call had been heard and answered by all who loved the Republic. Even spread out among the Republic fleets were hordes of personal ships, and even some pirate fleets, all crackling onto the comms channels to announce their loyalty to the government of the Galaxy, whether they obeyed it or not.
"Together, we must hold this line, at all costs to defend this world, and then fall back!" Luna ordered the assembled fleets, and heard a chorus of voices, in a multitude of languages, affirm in response. "For the Republic! For freedom!" she cried, and as one their many ships lurched forward, eager to bring the fight back to the Empire.
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Fury snarled as the Republic reinforcements arrived in mass to oppose them. It was quickly becoming more of a challenge to take this world, and momentarily he speculated that if every system was a battle this fierce, then the Republic wouldn't have anything left to conquer by the time they reached the Core worlds.
But, if it was a fight they wanted, so be it. The next wave of capital ships had arrived, and Fury gave the order for their forward guns to attack the Republic cruisers, let the private citizens and pirates watch as those who would defend them died in a fiery ruin.
"Release the Dark Adept squadrons," he ordered, smirking as within several minutes, the sleek angular fighters tore through space toward the enemy fleet. Through the Force he could sense that the Jedi were marshalling what starfighters they could, but they were just so heavily outnumbered that it wouldn't matter.
The surprise forces that had hedged the way of their initial push were scattered and fleeing, leaving the way clear for those who followed, but the pitched battle before the system was creating a perfect bottleneck, where eventually their ships would not be able to pass. They needed something to change, and soon.
Naturally, the urge to get into the fight himself was huge, but he remained where he was. The orders they were given were clear: total obliteration of the enemy, through the use of every weapon at their disposal, without risking the lives of their commanders. And regardless of how Fury felt about his personal combat skills being wasted here, he would obey.
The fleets behind them, who had entered the battle a short time after them, started into position to test out a new toy of the Imperial Science Division, a high powered forward cannon that ought to pierce shields and even hulls in a single attack, although with the tech brilliance of the Republic's development team, Fury wasn't sure what to expect.
The five ships armed with the weapons lined up in a wide wedge formation, over the rest of the fleets, and brilliant green energy started to form at the very tip of the triangular ships, aimed squarely at the command ships of the enemy, one a large pirate vessel and the other two Republic.
Blasts erupted as the green rays of death fired, two to each Republic vessel at the Pirates. The Republic ships flared up their barriers once more, and the devastating explosion rocked Fury's command ship with the resonance between the two energies, while the Pirates, who hadn't had such technology, were utterly destroyed in an explosion of fire and debris.
It seemed that they were in for a much more pitched battle than they expected, Fury surmised, but the Dark Side Adept squadrons were already making quick work of anything that drew near to their capital ships, and were working their way toward the enemy cruisers, evading their micro laser defenses, and lining up the shots for their hull-breaker torpedoes.
Fury knew the moment that they let loose the weapons. The smaller escort cruisers in the Republic fleets started to blossom with fire as the overwhelmingly powerful ordinance struck, puncturing hull and causing widespread damage to the ship as a whole.
These ships were left, crippled and useless, as the swarm of powerful fighters moved on toward larger targets.
"Press forward, I want space made ready for the next wave to appear," Fury ordered.
"My Lord, we're receiving a transmission from the Dauntless," an officer called, and Fury immediately walked to the projector, where a hologram of Darth Diábolis was waiting, the hooded Sith Lord watching impassively at the crew.
"Yes, my Lord, how can we serve you?" Fury acknowledged.
"We shall be arriving momentarily, make certain that room is cleared for our fleet. It is time to crush this first planet and move on." the Sith apprentice declared, and there was no room for argument or comment.
"At once, my Lord," Fury replied, turning as the hologram cut to bark further orders at his men. The massive Super Class ship would need plenty of space, or those in the way would be crushed as its massive frame pummeled into them from Lightspeed.
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Yoda quickly surveyed the scene before their fleet. Luna's defenders had done everything conceivable to hold the line until they had arrived, picking up volunteers from every system they dared stop at along the way to spread word of the Imperial invasion fleet. Even the goblin was surprised at the massive outpouring of sympathy and patriotism, even from the strangest of sources.
Pirates may not be the most trustable of soldiers, but they came willingly, and therefore Yoda would not turn his back on them. Therefore, when he saw the pirate command ship be destroyed by the Sith's powerful bombardment, he was quick to open communications with the rest of the small fleet that had joined them.
"Yoda this is, Jedi Knight I am. Rally around the Terran's Fury you must, if survive this battle you wish." He commanded, and while there was a lot of murmuring and complaints from the pirates among themselves, Yoda was at least glad that their ships turned obediently toward his fleet. Refocusing his attention of the ensuing battle, Yoda knew that theirs was a losing fight. However, the shuttles streaming from the planet led him to presume what Luna's plan had always been, and he signaled for them to move into a supportive position for the heavily battered fleet.
"Master," Ist said, reading a brief report that an officer handed her. "Knight Lovegood is having the planet evacuated even as they fight the Empire, and the planet is roughly eighty-five percent evacuated."
Yoda nodded, having expected as much. Luna was playing a long game with the Sith, seemingly wanting to create the perceived image that she was unstable and in danger of turning, going so far as to attack the main Sith fleet head on, while all the while she was doing everything in her power to protect other lives, as any Jedi could hope to do, and maintaining her own inner control. Possibly this was her attempt to draw out the Emperor once again, as their conflict had never taken to the front in a counter attack as they previously supposed.
It seemed that no matter what they attempted to do in this war, that the Neo-Sith Empire was determined to stay one step or more ahead of the Republic, which to the goblin Jedi seemed extremely suspicious, but in the midst of a pitched battle there was little time for those sorts of thoughts.
The second line of Sith battle cruisers started charging their powerful weapons again, and Yoda called to his crew, "The prismatic barrier, activate!"
The magically powered shield flared to life, catching three of the destructive beams before they got close to touching their flagship, although from the erratic blaring of the console where the engineer who maintained them, Yoda could only guess the amount of stress that such weapons were putting their defenses through. Ironically however, the scientist was looking rather pleased at how well his invention was doing.
"Concentrate your fire, on the nearest battle cruiser," Yoda instructed, pointing at one of those that had just fired its powerful anti-ship laser.
"Yes sir!" a nearby officer stated, at the controls of their own forward lances, courtesy of Director Granger of New Terra. The twin prismatic beams launched forth, joined in a surprise move of the Force by Luna's own at the same target, overwhelming the shields of the ship and tearing through its hull in a catastrophic explosion.
Making a mental note to have the Mage-born woman commended for such a weapon, Yoda turned to read out in his Padawan's hands. The system was over ninety percent evacuated, and they could safely withdraw now.
"The next system, instruct the fleets to pull back to. This world, the Sith may have, empty it is…" he said, smirking to himself at the execution of their plan. Luna must have read the same messages, or sensed their intent through the Force, as they all started to turn as one, erecting the prismatic barriers behind them to block attacks as they plotted their hyperspace routes to the next system that the Sith were likely to attack.
Yoda only caught a glimpse of the absolutely massive machine appearing at the edge of the system before their fleets successfully retreated to Lightspeed, and he released a breath of relief. That command ship would have spelled the end of their defenses if they had not already been finished.
"The next system toward the Core is Tirahnn," Ist commented, "Shall we send word for them to evacuate toward the Core?"
"Yes, the Sith… unstoppable they are. Only hope we have is to thin their numbers, until greater strength we receive." Yoda affirmed, not liking to admit it, but knowing that there was no way around the matter. They were outgunned and outnumbered, and only clever strategy had saved them so far.
Hopefully something came to help turn the tide, or the world of Tirahnn might end up being their graves just as easily as Tanaab might have been.
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Diábolis glowered at the pitifully empty system as the Dauntless entered real space around Tanaab. The Jedi had managed to fool his forward commanders, evacuating the system while they pitched a daring standoff, and managed to inflict moderate damage to those fleets that had fielded the frontlines as well.
Had Veneficus been here in the Apex, there would be a far different outcome to the magnitude of punishments that he handed out, including death most likely, but as Anguis no longer reported to the Emperor, and had desperate need for each and every warrior under his command for the time being, he had to simply remove those fleets that had greatly failed in their duties to the rearmost lines of the armada, and allowed Lord Fury, who had striven to take the system even while surrounded by incompetence, to join him on the Super Class Cruiser, taking an additional role of command in their invasion, and keeping the Marauder from potentially growing frustrated and getting himself killed prematurely in the long line of battles that they had yet to come.
The man's fleet was also added to the escort for Diábolis' command ship while newer, and significantly less important, fleets were rotated the front as they prepared to jump in waves to the next system.
"My Lord, Marauder Fury and his command staff had landed in the primary hangar," one of the minor officers said, approaching and offering a submissive bow and salute to the Sith apprentice.
"Good, inform the Grand Admiral that we are prepared to make the jump to Hyperspace at his command, staggered formation as before, so that the Republic must deal with us in waves. I hope that the individual Admirals decide to exit lightspeed at better locations this time, to avoid any unnecessary traps."
"As you command, my Lord." The young officer replied, hurrying to obey and escape the Sith Lord's presence.
Diábolis remained where he was, in the spacious meditation chamber built near the core of the ship, well protected from outside damage and other potential hazards of space combat. In due time, he was informed that Fury had arrived outside the chamber, and permitted the Marauder to enter, watching lazily from the miniature isolation chamber that provided the majority of the seating in the room.
"You wished my presence, my Lord," Fury stated, rigid and still as any military man before their commanding officer.
"Please, Fury, we are much more aware of each other skills to need something as tactful as formality," Diábolis said, slowly standing from his seat and crossing to a command console that controlled every aspect of the chamber. He activated a viewport even as the gargantuan ship started its warm up to launch into Hyperspace. "I summoned you because I did not want your skills to be wasted fighting effectively alone on the front lines. We have need of you before the final battle, and I cannot afford you to die so easily trying to pick up the slack for less talented commanders."
While it was clear that he had stroked the ego of the other Force wielder, Fury still seemed somewhat suspicious of Diábolis, "and what especial event am I now being reserved for?" he asked, turning to watch the stars around the viewport blur into lines and the wormhole of lightspeed appear.
"Why, the sacking of the Jedi Temple of course…" Diábolis said easily, "very few among our ranks have the physical prowess that you boast to deal with Jedi toe to toe, and we need every capable Dark Adept to be able to win that battle, which will prove to be the most difficult, and one of the last, of the war."
Fury mulled over the information in silence for some time, before simply grunting in acceptance and turning to look at his personal communicator, possibly reading a message from one of his officers or other subordinates.
"And what do you intend that I do in the meantime? Wait here on your ship like some prized weapon, to only be unsheathed when needed, but otherwise kept on a wall for mere decoration?" he asked pointedly, the venom in his words palpable.
"If that is what you wish to do, you are more than entitled to do so," Diábolis countered, but continued as he spotted the rage building up in the passionate warrior, "However, I do have several uses for a warrior of your caliber, and there is an entire facility for training that you would be free to occupy yourself with as you pleased."
"What uses do you have for me?" Fury stated almost immediately, and Diábolis smirked. The Marauder may not like it, but training the Sith apprentice's personal guard would be chief among his duties for the short time that they had before the end, and Diábolis wanted to make sure that the man's skills did not flash out of the Galaxy so easily once pure battle with the Jedi ensued.
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Veneficus watched the wormhole of Lightspeed with a bored expression. He was not pleased to have once again been taken from what important objectives he had foreseen to clean up yet another of his underling's messes.
What was worse was this time it was a failure of Bellatrix herself, who to this point had been nothing but overwhelming excellent in her success rate, priding herself in being his 'most favored, and trusted' minions, not that he would truly care or trust another living being for any reason, but let the madwoman have her delusions.
However, in addition to failing to destroy the New Terrans and their manufacturing operations, the witch had also completely disappeared, leading to the near destruction of her fleet, which had barely managed to limp back to Dromund Kaas at the same time that the Emperor had returned from Mustafar. He could have sent an admiral or two to investigate, but he felt that it would be prudent to go himself, as the world in question was his creation, and perhaps it was poetic that it should be he himself that destroyed it.
He was just starting to slip into another meditative trance, when the communication system from the bridge sounded a tone throughout his private chambers. "Your Majesty, we've detected a ship bearing one of our Imperial frequencies, shall we leave Hyperspace and investigate?"
The Force was strangely silent regarding the matter, and Veneficus was disturbed by that fact. "Yes, perhaps they have news of our missing fleet."
All around him, the Eternal Emperor felt the ship slow back to real space, and a presence blossomed into the Force outside the ship, strikingly familiar to Veneficus. He smirked, wondering what sort of platitudes Bellatrix LeStrange would give for her failure, and how best he ought to respond to it. But, something felt off about the signature in the Force, different from what he was accustomed to when it came to the mad witch.
"My Lord, the ship is not responding to our directives," the Commander said moments later.
"Bring it aboard with a tractor beam; she might be injured, so send a medical team along with the typical security sweep." Veneficus instructed, suddenly curious why there was such a strange reading from the Force regarding her, but he brushed it aside.
There were far more important matters to attend to regarding his war than to worry about one commander, however sentimental she may be to him. Turning to another section of his meditation chamber within the Apex, Veneficus felt the magical runes he had etched long ago start to react to his probes with the Force.
There were several intense rituals that he intended to use for the coming battle at New Terra, and he would need complete focus to make them effective. Sealing his communication channel to eliminate all distraction, as well as setting his guard to block all entry to his chambers, the Eternal Emperor conjured up both magic and raw Force energy, holding the Elder Wand aloft in one hand as he manipulated the power with his other.
With several dramatic flourishes of the wand of power, wards erected themselves around the circles, preparing to house and contain the spirits that Veneficus would soon invoke back to the living world.
Rhythmically, he ran a finger across the smooth stone of the ring he wore, while focusing in his mind's eye those who he sought. Ancient Sith Lords, long dead to the Galaxy and all but forgotten, formed from the air within the runic circles, immediately bound to the areas and unable to affect anything without, a necessary precaution when the apparitions were wont to try possession to retake physical bodies of their own from time to time.
Four spirits in all he summoned, four from times long past. His master, Darth Millennial, was the first who came, most willingly, to his side, followed by the progenitor of his Empire, Darth Bane. The human Sith glowered at Veneficus, but whether it was because of how their last conversation ended, or just a general dislike, Veneficus knew not.
Even more ancient than these, Naga Sadow's spirit rose in power to greet Veneficus, recognizing one who had been blessed for his position by the great Marka Ragnos, while the sly form of Ludo Kressh stuck to the back of the group, unwilling to meet the eyes of the currently living head of the Sith Order.
"Masters…" Veneficus started, knowing that there would be much time required for what he sought from these, and he might end up having to break the wills of these four Sith before he could do as he wished with their spirits, "We have much to discuss concerning my war against the Jedi…"
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Bellatrix knew that she would not be able to fool the guards of Emperor Veneficus' flagship for long, so when the calls for her to dock or respond came, she feigned that no one was aboard, or that the crew was injured. She knew that, as the most loyal of all the Emperor's minions, she would have commanded a great deal of favor, and that the man might have developed a blind spot in his great vision where she was concerned.
It was a weakness that she hoped to exploit this day, and kill the vile half-blood that had taken away her Lord.
Feeling the Death Eater touch down within the Emperor's ship, Bellatrix knew she had limited time to act, and disillusioning herself, she moved with great stealth around the sweeping security team, slipping off the blast boat and onto the deck of the super class star cruiser. Finding the location of her hated foe would not be easy, nor would killing him, but Bellatrix was furious out of her mind, with only her hatred left to keep her from breaking down completely.
How dare the Sith turn her from what she had known and loved, and trick her into abandoning her Lord for some pretender, to fly among the stars and worry about the fates of hundreds and thousands of muggles and their alien races. Magic was Might, that was the Dark Lord's motto, and she would avenge herself of his downfall this day.
Droids may have spotted her as she passed, but Bellatrix made sure to walk with purpose, so that the vile contraptions took no note of her, while the organic enemies were oblivious to her movements, let alone her presence.
The only fear she had was encountering a Force user before reaching the Emperor, as that would be someone she'd have to kill, for fear of discovery. The blasted telepaths would sense her murderous intent immediately, and Bellatrix had little defense from their talents and powers, not that she feared to fight them, as they were just as unaware of her skills in battle as well.
Luckily, she seemed to easily circle around anything that might discover her, and found herself at the edge of a long bare corridor, with only a large double door at the end, guarded by several of the elite Arcanamach, royal guards of the Emperor himself.
Bellatrix knew that this would be the beginning of the great move she had to make. Taking a running start, she threw herself at the trio of guard, who looked up long before she had reached them, their weapons activating and cries for her to halt sounding.
She barely registered that these had seen through her disguises as she unleashed the power of magic upon them, sending curses and hexes in many various shades of light fly at the three royal guards.
Unfortunately, they did not want to simply lie down and die for her, intent on dodging around or parrying away her spells with their lightpikes, before advancing, clearly desirous to simply impale her on the end of one and present the corpse to their beloved master.
Not that Bellatrix would allow such a simple death to befall her. Leaping backwards and executing a full flip in the air, Bellatrix blasted the floor with a powerful charm, turning the metal as slick as ice, which she knew wouldn't stop the Force wielders, but it would divide their attention for when she followed up by a pair of blasting hexes at the electrical panels that lined the walls.
Having gained much knowledge in regard to how the Empire build their ships, Bellatrix was not surprised by the torrent of electrical discharge the exploded from the now ruined consoles. The three Force users attempted to leap for safety, but only two made it. The third unfortunately was in the thick of the now icy floor, and slipped as he attempted to dodge, keeping him in place just a moment too long, and he was throw bodily into the heavy wall from the detonation.
From the angle of the massive helmet, Bellatrix was sure that the guard had broken his neck from the impact. Facing off now against her two remaining opponents, more wary of her now, they continued to advance, and Bellatrix was forced to come up with a new strategy to defeat them.
Apparating closer to the door that was her goal and on the other side of the guards, Bellatrix turned to watch as the Arcanamach whirled angrily, brandishing their weapons and preparing to charge at her again. Dark Magic washed from her wand, flowing down the corridor in an endless heat of fiendfyre.
Whatever the guards expected, for her to so brazenly use such a destructive weapon was not it. One was immediately consumed, while the other amazed even Bellatrix by twisting on the spot, and actually apparating with a thunderous crack. The vile Emperor had even combined their people with his warriors, creating some dark hybrid with both powers like himself. He would pay for such defilement.
Slashing her wand viciously, Bellatrix tried to cut off the guard from any sort of movement, either to advance or retreat. Finally, once he had given up and tried to simply attack by throwing his overlarge weapon did she strike however. Weaving out of the way of the hurtling object, Bellatrix snapped up her wand, catching the man with a freezing charm that instantly removed all ability for him to move.
Finally, a shattering curse blasted armor and flesh apart, adding the fuel of his body to the patches of cursed fire that continued to burn, heedless to the fire retardant that was pouring from the ceiling.
That the occupant of the chamber beyond had not been roused by the fighting or the alarms as the fire started was strange enough, but Bellatrix knew that the Emperor would consider such things like an assassination attempt to be beneath his notice.
Overloading the door lock, Bellatrix slipped inside the moment it opened, resealing the room hastily to draw as little attention to her intrusion as possible. Unfortunately, it seemed that that was an unnecessary precaution, as the Emperor was in the room, facing the far wall in some sort of trace, mumbling to himself amid a ritual circle.
Bellatrix went utterly still, crouching low and pressing into the shadows as best she could. She occluded her mind, doing everything in her power to remain as small and insignificant to her mortal enemy as possible.
The younger man either did not notice or was not occupied within the confine of this area, as he stared into space and conversed with those unseen to Bellatrix. She was well aware that the Sith Emperor had great powers to see the future and know things that were hidden, but she had never seen him use such abilities in person before.
It was not nearly as impressive as she had thought that it was before, but that could also be because of the removal of the compulsions on her mind making her loyal to the Sith's cause, and forgetting of her own heritage and the Lord she had all but abandoned.
"I know Masters, but there is no other options left to me, the forces I have amassed are only good for so much. The Jedi have powers in the Light the dwarf me alone, but if we were to combine our powers… but if you would only consider the possibility… You're leaving me little choice but to do so…" the man was saying, as if speaking to someone in the very room.
Bellatrix took aim with her wand, knowing that this was her best shot to eliminate Potter once and for all, avenging her master as well as ruining his reign of terror that had destroyed their home planet.
"Avada Kedavera," she cried, rising to her feet as the green jet of death flew at the man she hated above all others.
"Yes Masters, I sensed it…" the Emperor stated as, above all baffling things, Bellatrix's spell stopped short right before striking the Sith Lord.
Slowly, the man turned, his yellow-orange eyes burning in the semi darkness as he glared at her. "I suspected that you'd betray me before the end, Bellatrix, but I had hoped that we still had quite some time left before I had to cast such a useful tool aside for something better."
She snarled in response, raising her wand, but she had to dodge to the side as her spell was flung back at her with greater force than it had left. She hit the deck hard as behind her a wall sparked and started to burn from the curse's impact.
Even as she rose from her crouch, the Emperor was already striding across the room, strangely away from Bellatrix, seemingly unconcerned about her attempts to kill him. She fired another killing curse, only for the Emperor to shimmer briefly, moving so fast that he seemed to blur as he dodged around the spell, allowing it to strike the wall behind him with another brilliant flash of light and fire.
"Yes Masters…" Veneficus said slowly, going back to not addressing Bellatrix, but his own insane imaginings. "She will be dealt with promptly."
Bellatrix readied her wand, even as the Sith Lord drew his own from within a black sleeve. It was not a wand that Bellatrix was familiar with, long and thin with several large knot-like sections upon it, nothing like the wand she recalled seeing the boy use before, but it had been many years since she personally watched him perform magic.
"Now Bellatrix, you will now face the wrath of a Sith Lord…" the Emperor stated flatly, as though it was just another routine exercise, and not a battle of life and death. Had the boy become so overconfident that he lost sight of what it meant to truly live, she wondered, but all thoughts were dashed when she had to shield from a powerful dark curse, which resounded like a gong off the shimmering bubble of energy that she had conjured.
Bellatrix had always wondered if the man had given up training his magical core for battle, but as he snapped off spell after spell of such raw magnitude, Bellatrix had to concede that the Emperor probably would have been able to out duel herself and the Dark Lord if the man was still alive to fight here and now.
But she had desperation of her side, and a surge of vengeful anger washed over her, allowing her the time she needed to dodge the next concussive jet of light, and begin her retaliation. Back and forth the dark curses flew, seeming to be redirected by not only the combatants, but the objects in the room and some of the more important fixtures in the walls as well.
The Emperor seemed to be well prepared to meet any such attack, but Bellatrix was slowly gaining the upper hand, using her advance knowledge of Dark Magic to keep pushing the duel to new heights of magical destruction.
Even if she failed to kill the man, she would at least take this ship down with them she mused, even as she released fiendfyre once again, watching the towering beats of flame loom over them both.
But, amazingly, Veneficus didn't even flinch at the appearance of one of the most powerful spells in existence. In a motion that was partially a wave, partially crushing his hand into a fist, the Emperor seized the beast of flame through his telekinetic powers, crushing the very magic right out of it. "You're technique is outdated, Bellatrix," he taunted, raising his wand again.