Many thanks to those who've reviewed the last few chapters! Things are really starting to heat up, both here at the posting level as well as the writing level, which is drawing significantly close to the end of the story. I already have a good plan of what will be accomplished next, before commencing on another large project, which I am very excited for, but more on that later on when it becomes relevant. Until then, please R&R and enjoy the next chapter! ~F
Chapter Eighteen
Sinister Motives
Kelrek was quite surprised, after the entire disaster that had occurred on Ord Mantell, that they had not so much as heard word of the Emperor's displeasure. The rebels had escaped, including those still on the planet, although the sorcerer was certain that the Imperial fleet had at least inflicted some damage to their fleet and made it so that they would not come back into the forefront anytime soon.
Still, the rest of the Republic remnant had been destroyed or else assimilated into the rebels and fled, which meant that the Imperial navy had swarmed over the last remaining planets that had held out against the rule of the Emperor, and successfully completed the war that had started decades ago.
But rather than celebrate, the Adept Trio had felt a twinge of worry through the Force. Something had occurred, powerfully, in the direction of the Imperial Core, and although they were not permitted to depart from their region of assignment until called by one in command over the military, it did not stop them from seeking out the source of this disturbance through the Force.
What they had sensed was… disturbing. There was a font of power in the core of the Empire's heart, fluctuating between the Light and Dark sides of the Force. It was almost horrifying to metaphorically look at.
"So, what are we supposed to do in light of this event?" Srillis asked, even as the three of them withdrew from the Force and the near blinding effect of the unknown surge of power.
"I highly doubt we're qualified, let alone permitted to do anything, let alone even know more than we do regarding this singularity…" Kelrek replied.
"Should we contact one of the Dark Council and seek further orders now that the war with the Republic is at long last ended?" Jenah offered.
"Possibly, but I would rather you contact Lord Diábolis and see what he would have of us…" Kelrek retorted, "He seemed to have an invested interest in what we did after the battles were ended."
"That is also a possibility." Jenah replied, turning toward the console and starting to open an encoded communication.
Kelrek contemplated withdrawing while the others spoke with the Sith apprentice, and possibly go back to his tinkering with the complex art of the Dark Side and ancient Sith sorcery. It was a small act of rebellion on his own, but he found it an act of meditation to tinker with those powers that he knew that the Emperor worked with on a daily basis.
Personally, Kelrek would be more than honored to serve directly under the Emperor and learn the secret arts directly from the master. Rumor held that there was a secret cabal of alchemists that served under the direct order from Darth Veneficus to create new weapons of the Dark Side and conduct research as he demanded.
However, the elite nature of those groups, plus the fact that there was likely a certain bias toward Kelrek specifically for knowing Veneficus before he rose to the throne of Emperor that prevented him from that aspiration.
But with Diábolis as leader over the Empire, there was a chance that Kelrek would at last be entitled to the position of honor and glory that he desired. Plus it would remove him from the possibility of being placed on the front lines anymore. Not that he was terribly willing to be separated from the pair that were almost like sisters to him, but Kelrek felt it was finally time for them to go their own paths and shine on their own merits rather than as a collective unit.
The strength of the Dark Side glorified the individual, and while there was an advantage that they had enjoyed during the war by building off their mutual strengths, that time had just passed.
"Lord Diábolis," Jenah said as the communication finally connected.
The Devaronian Sith Lord turned slightly to face them as the hologram flared to life. "Ah, the trio… I gather that the war is now officially finished…"
"Yes, my Lord," Srilis replied, and Kelrek stepped forward to join the others.
"Good, I do have need of some able bodied adepts such as you three." The Sith said, smirking, "there is a world that I need explored, on the edges of wild space. I am sending the coordinates to you now, but before you delve into any ruins or dense areas you will call and summon me with a report of rebel presence there."
The others glanced at each other, but Kelrek understood the need for the false report. Diábolis was assigned to investigate and eliminate the rebels wherever they are found, and if he was searching for something to help dethrone the Emperor that he did not want the man to know about, what better way to conceal it than to use what the Emperor had commanded him to do as a smokescreen.
"We understand, and will obey, my Lord," Kelrek said then, stepping forward and watching the data transfer to a blank data disk.
"Do not fail me, the fate of the Empire might just rest upon your shoulders with this endeavor." The Devaronian said, before fading from view as the holoprojection dispelled.
"This sounds rather traitorous, if we go through with it… I don't agree…" Jenah said as soon as the Sith Lord was gone from the screen.
"No, I don't believe it to be the case," Kelrek rebutted, smirking as he collected the disk. "We are aiding the Sith Lords, whether it is the master or the apprentice it doesn't matter…"
"Therefore," he continued, preventing any of the others from countering his argument, "It really doesn't matter which one of them we help, so long as it is beneficial to us in the long run."
It still did not look like the pair agreed with his assessment of the matter, but the fact that he had the data disk and they were not preventing him from handing it off to the navigation officer told him that they would go along with his plan for the time being.
All he needed was for this to continue until Lord Diábolis defeated the Emperor, and then they would understand that they were backing the future, rather than the stagnant past.
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Jedi Lord Berethon felt uneasy at the sudden shift in the Force. In the midst of the great tides of Darkness the pervaded the Galaxy, a spark of light so bright had surged, almost intentionally drawing attention to itself, before transforming into a truly horrific singularity, fluxing between extreme light and extreme darkness.
The last remaining Jedi Councilor from the wartime council turned slightly in his chair, seeking for a more comfortable position, but the strain on his mind was ever present. Something terrible had happened, and it greatly seemed that the Galaxy was drifting into a void wherein no light would shine at all.
If the Emperor and his Sith were not stopped soon, Berethon wasn't certain if the Jedi would ever have the strength needed to overthrow his tyranny and restore true peace to the Galaxy. Had he not already concluded that it would be suicidal, he would have taken the strongest of their Knights and Masters, and lain siege to the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, trying to eliminate the Emperor directly. But unfortunately, he had witnessed the terrible power that that man held firsthand, and Berethon was already gravely injured by that monster once.
The confines of his chair were testament to that already, and his ability in combat had suffered greatly as a result. He was reduced from the great warrior that he had once been to that of a consult, requested at times and quite often ignored and set aside otherwise. It was a fact of this new life of hiding that was as grating on him as it could be for a Jedi, to have skill but not the opportunity or ability to serve in any capacity.
Many times the Healers had tried to mend the vertebra in his back, to allow him freedom of motion once more. It had gotten to the point where he could stand under his own power for a few moments, but nothing more past that point. Berethon had greatly hoped that Severus Snape and his potions would have been able to cure him completely, but the Emperor had prevented them from attaining that sort of cure.
Now, Berethon was confined to rely on the strength of others, and learn the humility to ask for assistance in even basic things. A trial of his own after a manner of speaking, but one that he bore with longsuffering. As a Jedi, he understood the tenants of sacrifice and need. Whether he fully agreed with them in his personal opinion was another matter altogether.
Powering on the mobile chair that he used, Berethon turned and headed toward one of the saber training rooms. He had not drawn his blade since the day he lost the ability to walk, and he knew that his skills might have started to grow lax, but he had to do something to keep his mind from dwelling on dark things.
Entering the room, where many droids laid in wait for commands, he slowly started programming one to assist him build an entirely new saber style, that would be effective from the limiting range of his chair. He had a feeling that the base form would end up being Soresu, as patience and determination would be paramount if he ever had need of his blade once more.
One of the droids stepped forward, the arm mounted practice saber flaring to life with its yellow radiance. In answer, Berethon pulled forth his blue blade, taking only a moment to taper the blade slightly shorter than normal to account to his limited range of motion.
The droid stalked forward cautiously, and Berethon kept himself mobile, circling slowly to the left in his chair, saber held in a high guard, but well aware that the chair itself was a great weakness that had to be guarded against attack.
And sure enough, it was the first target that the droid went for. The training saber wouldn't damage the device, but it would disable it for a few moments, which would be disastrous if Berethon were in a real fight, but he struggled onward to keep to his defenses, and not try to lunge forward into his desire to return to Djem So and attack.
Instead, he waited, blocking and deflecting what he could and keeping the seeking blade from finding a target. The droid was relentless, programmed with all seven disciplines of lightsaber combat, and would rotate them routinely, trying to find a weakness in the Jedi Lord's defenses.
Finally, it settled on the highly aggressive Juyo, and attacked, stabbing and hacking sharply at Berethon, alternating between going for the chair and the Jedi's head, which allowed a full range of defense for the Lord to practice. Unfortunately, as it was not his preferred style, or even one that he routinely practiced, Berethon was not able to fully give himself to the Force and embrace the defensive style for long periods of time, as a true master of Soresu could, and he felt himself tiring quickly.
It was time to try and go on the offensive himself. Switching styles quickly, Berethon alternated to the basic of all forms, Shii-Cho, and attempted to use large sweeping strikes to herd his opponent away, alternating some light taps with the Force to deflect his opponent's movement and disrupt the droid's footwork. They were so light and minute that only the greatest of skill Force users would have been able to sense and counter them, Berethon felt, and were much more precise than the massive bursts of power that were used to bull over foes.
Soon enough he had the droid right where he wanted it to be. Snapping the saber in his hand around his head once for momentum, Berethon hurled the weapon, guiding its trajectory with the Force toward the droid's skull, where it impacted sharply. These droids were made with lightsaber combat in mind, and were a heavily enchanted Durasteel, which allowed them to survive even devastating blows from the weapons used on them, but the droid followed its protocols and deactivated when a fatal blow was recognized.
His blue saber arced once around the room and returned quickly to his hand, shutting off and returning to Berethon's belt as a single being started to clap.
Turning sharply, Berethon raised an eyebrow as he recognized Ist Nanraah, recently returned from her mission with Commander Flitwick.
"It's good to see you being active once more, Lord Berethon," she said respectfully, although there was a bit of mirth in her eyes.
The Jedi Lord smiled in reply, but he could sense that something was greatly off about the recently Knighted Jedi.
It took only a moment for him to realize what he sensed, "You were there, where that conflux of the Force occurred…"
"I was," Ist replied, stepping forward and hugging her arms at the memory.
Berethon allowed his chair to carry him forward, "Tell me what is troubling you," he requested, sensing the disproportionate amount of sadness and pain that the Bothan was feeling.
"It was Luna Lovegood…" Ist reported, and slowly started to tell her whole story, from the failure to rescue everyone from Ord Mantell because of the treachery of one commander, to locating the operative, Shade, and her own mission to the planet of Dathomir and the horrendous duel between Master Lovegood, the High Inquisitor, and the appearance of the Emperor himself.
"I was scarcely able to escape, with this," Ist finished, holding out the small, fist sized stone that sparkled with an energy that both Jedi had learned to associate with the Mage-Born exclusively.
"Director Granger had just left once more to further construction on the new base at Bakura, but I can send her word that you are alive and have something for us to use, but there is another here that might be able to give us a more direct answer," Lord Berethon commented.
"Professor Snape," Ist supplied.
"Let us go and consult our friendly Potion Master about this particular item that you have returned to us." The Jedi Lord said, summoning a small hand towel to dry his face as they departed the training room, bound for the power levels of Sanctuary Base and the labs that were the domain of the Mage-Born former teacher.
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Master Yoda was pleased with the amount of work that they had accomplished. Despite several close calls with patrolling Imperial fleets, including a pretty bad deal that went wrong with a now former supplier, they had managed to fill the hold with all sorts of materials that would go directly to building up the new base on Bakura.
In addition, they had worked tirelessly to spread the word to their allies and suppliers of this new base, and how they could get in contact with those on the planet to get clearance to land. Some had even requested to journey back on their ship, and so they were carrying roughly a hundred additional passengers alongside the cargo that they had been sent to acquire in the first place.
"Pulling out of Hyperspace shortly," Admiral Weasley said, and Yoda nodded his acknowledgement. It would be good to arrive back safely. Personally, the Jedi Master was eager to hear of news regarding his former Padawan, and perhaps any intelligence that the rebellion had gathered regarding the surge of power in the Force, which even as they cruised along he could still feel, waxing and waning between each side of the Force like the rising and setting of a sun.
It was eerily familiar to him, which was even more disconcerting. He hoped that Lord Berethon and the other Masters had already taken the time to investigate and determine what the source was, and whether they needed to sent a team of Jedi in to discover the truth of the matter firsthand.
From what Yoda sensed, it was somewhere in the deep core of Sith Space, and therefore fairly dangerous of a task. If anyone was to go, he expected that they might ask him and Ist to make the journey, and privately he wished for that to be the case. If it was familiar to him in the way he suspected, he felt that it might have something to do with Luna Lovegood, and her mysterious disappearance toward the end of the war.
He had not felt the ripple in the Force that heralded her death as others had described, and still held to the belief that his longtime friend was alive, somewhere out in the wilds of the Galaxy. If he could find her, perhaps he could persuade her to return and aid the Rebellion in their fight against the tyranny of the Emperor, perhaps finally end that monster once and for all.
He knew it was a long shot, but if they stood any chance against the dark power of Veneficus, it would have to be with Luna at their side, and the embodiment of the Light that she was.
"Exiting over Bakura now," Weasley announced, as the ship started to slow, and the starlines veering back into the tiny pinpricks that they were. The spells hiding the planet melted away as the ship entered the field it covered, and communications were sent down to the base that they had arrived safely and were beginning landing their supplies and new recruits.
Yoda moved from the bridge at that time, wanting to be among the first planet side, in order to see if there was anyone who could answer his questions, as well as see to it that the new recruits from his ship found their way to whatever processing facility was set up for them.
The shuttles started spilling forth from the cruiser en mass, and Yoda marveled at just how many more ships came up from the surface to meet them, as well as take their place on the larger ship and unload it all the faster.
It seemed even he had underestimated the amount of beings in the Galaxy that wanted to overthrow the Sith Empire, as the planet was literally brimming with beings of all races and species, united in their one desire: freedom and the restoration of the Republic.
Even more surprising was the lightning fast time that it took for those on the surface to recognize a Jedi Master in their midst. Crowded corridors were opened to him in a flash, and every conceivable amenity was offered to him, which he politely refused despite the need for his own refreshment in due time.
But for the time being, he was still on his mission, and he knew exactly the best person to report to. "Director Granger," he said, entering the main command structure.
The woman in question turned from speaking with other high ranking rebels, her face transforming from serious concentration to pure joy. "Master Yoda! I am so pleased that you've returned safely!"
The goblin Jedi Master was momentarily confused, and glanced at the others for understanding. Commander Flitwick and some easily recognizable Republic officers were looking particularly serious.
"Happened, what has?" Yoda asked, turning back to Ms. Granger and trying to tell what she was referring to in the sorrow in her heart.
"We've heard back from your Padawan," she started, and Yoda's heart jumped for a moment, wondering if she was injured or killed. "She found something on a private journey when she got separated from Command Flitwick."
"Found?" Yoda said, pressing for details.
"More of a who, than a what…" Hermione continued, hesitating before seeming to decide to come forth fully with the truth. "Oh Yoda, she found Luna on Dathomir."
Yoda was confused by the news, "Good news that is, why so much sorrow there is?" he asked, seeking clarification.
"Luna was seeking for something that is magical in nature on the planet, something that the High Inquisitor had in his personal vault, and he arrived when she and Ist were seeking it. They fought and before they escaped, the Emperor arrived in person… Luna's dead, or something far worse…"
Yoda felt his heart sink at that. With that, all his thoughts of their ability to actually defeat the Emperor were dashed aside. "And my Padawan, became of her what has?"
"She is fine, reportedly, and last I heard is traveling back to Sanctuary rather than here." Ms. Granger replied. "Apparently she thought that I would be there rather than here and had something important to deliver."
Yoda was relieved that at least Ist had survived unharmed, even if they had truly lost his old friend. There was a shard of curiosity as to the item that his former Padawan was returning to them, but that could wait. He needed to focus on more immediate concerns while the emotions passed that might cloud his thoughts unless addressed properly.
Therefore, after a few moments of readying himself mentally, Yoda started the long process of reporting his adventure and all that they had acquired from the various worlds that had lent aid in secret to the rebellion.
There would be time enough to meet with Ist and go over everything she had witnessed with regard to Luna, but for now, Yoda could wait for that reunion for those feelings to return.
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Severus was not pleased to be interrupted so soon after removing Ms. Granger and Shade from his presence, but one did not refuse the current leader of the Jedi Order when he came floating into his underground laboratory.
"Lord Berethon, what can I do for you?" Severus said, turning and peering over the workbench at the open door. There was an additional figure beside the Jedi Lord, one that was very familiar to him.
"Ah, Knight Ist, a pleasure to see that you've returned safely," he added as the pair moved fully into his vision. Longer distances were starting to become harder to make out for the now very old man, despite the long lifespan of Mage-Born.
"Greeting, Professor," the Bothan replied, bowing formally.
The chair bound Berethon merely inclined his head in greeting, although even that amount of recognition was enough for Severus to feel the sharp sting of regret. He had been the one to elaborate to the Jedi Lord on how the new medicine he might be able to make with the use of the Philosopher's Stone could cure his spinal damage, and despite Severus' failure to acquire the knowledge about creating the legendary substance, the Jedi had shown nothing but patience and forgiveness.
It was a response that Severus wasn't accustomed to, even after all these years. He still vividly remembered the pain from Voldemort, or the equally scarring looks of disappointment that Dumbledore would give if he failed either of the two masters he once served. So have such an understanding and longsuffering response was well outside his expectation as to cause him equal pain, inflicted by himself no less, rather than by the actions of another.
Severus understood why there had been so many devoted to the Jedi and whatever path they chose to pursue, even in the terrible times of war. They lead through action, asking nothing in return from those they helped, and championed the causes that they declared to all.
"We were wondering Professor, if you are not too busy with your work, whether you might be able to inspect an item that young Ist has brought back from her most recent mission," Berethon requested. There was no possible way for Severus to deny the man even if he was inclined to do so.
"Of course," he replied.
"The item seems to have a powerful magical aura, and without Director Granger here, you were the next choice to turn to for answers regarding it," Berethon explained as the younger Jedi pulled from her robes a shining sphere of light.
Severus' eye widened as he saw the orb in her hand. "How did you come by this?" he asked, gingerly taking the sphere in both hands from her.
Even as the Jedi Knight recounted her sad tale, which even Severus was not cold hearted enough to feel the sorrow at the loss of Jedi Master Luna Lovegood, and the discovery of the orb in the vaults of the High Inquisitor.
Each piece of the puzzle seemed to fall into place the more that Severus heard. It would make sense that only a denizen of their home world would understand the true significance of this item, as well as the dangers to the Emperor that it represented.
What was odd after everything was why the monster, Gor-lak, would go through so much trouble to hide away such an object, and not use it immediately to gain whatever information his heart desired. That was assuming of course, Severus admitted to himself, that the being did not actually use it for his own purposes. The parts of the story mentioning the monstrous new body that Gor-lak had created were testament enough that some level of magical understanding had been passed to the Inquisitor, and he had merely been waiting for the last components that he needed to awaken the new shell permanently.
"It is good that Gor-lak failed in his design," Severus commented after Ist was finished, "the amount of destruction that that being could have wrought, if he succeeded in merging completely with that new body could have been enough to threaten everything in the Galaxy. Luna was right to see to his end." He said, noting the looks of sadness on the two Jedi.
"So you know what this orb is, then?" Berethon asked.
"I do, and it is a very good thing that this wound up in our hands and not the Emperor's," Severus replied. "This is a Seer's Stone, or more commonly called an Oracle Stone, and it allows a wielder with sufficient will to gaze through time and space and see or understand how to obtain an object that they desire."
"So it is a powerful form of future sight?" Ist asked, not completely comprehending.
"After a fashion," Severus explained, "but not quite. The stone does not show the guaranteed future, but the steps needed to achieve a certain desired outcome. Whether those steps are attainable or not is up to the wielder and their ability, but it will show a possible future if the will of the one holding the stone is great enough to achieve it."
"So, we can look and see how to defeat the Emperor?" Berethon asked.
"We can, but what we might see could range from perfectly reasonable and capable, to nigh impossible and damning to even attempt…" Severus cautioned. He too was thinking exactly how they might use the stone to defeat the Empire, but the terror they might find if they looked for something too broad might be more than any of them could bear. That was the true risk of the stone. If a will was not strong enough, they might be consumed with despair at not being capable of living out their desire, or else give up on something perfectly attainable by means they were not willing to use.
For the Jedi specifically, Severus knew there was a great risk that the stone would show the need for they themselves to give into the Dark Side in order to defeat their enemies, which would be absolutely unacceptable for their Order. The worry would come by those who might deem it a worthy sacrifice to save the Galaxy, and thereby create an even worse future.
"Before anyone may even consider using this stone, we must consult with all the remaining Mage-Born leaders, I think." Severus continued, conjuring a reinforced stone box and placing the Seer's Stone within. "Something this dangerous must only be used if there is no other course of action that we can take…" he said, even as he sealed the lid and enchanted it to resist all means of opening without removing the spells first.
"We ought to contact Director Granger immediately then, and check in on how the new base is progressing," Lord Berethon suggested, and Ist nodded her agreement.
"I have more work to attend to, but bring me word when you make contact, I will want to know when to expect an influx of people to my labs," Severus said, watching them leave until they were out of sight.
Carefully, he moved to a concealed vault in the wall of his lab, removing the charms that kept it from view and opening it. Inside were other things that he deemed too powerful for anyone to know about or see, including the vials of poison that he was carefully perfecting with the blood of the Blaise Zabini clone. Adding the box with the Seer's Stone within, Severus sealed the thing up again and returned to his work.
However, even as he concentrated and brewed, his mind returned quite often to the limitless possibilities that now lay inside his laboratory. The very secrets that the Emperor sought to keep from them could be theirs now, if they had strong enough a will to take them. The Seer's Stone was not even a dark object, in fact it was a very light oriented object, but as with all things that carried great power, there was always a risk and often a great price that could need to be paid for such knowledge.
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Diábolis smirked at the simplicity of his task: how to get to the far flung world that the Star Map had shown him. Now that the Trio was involved in "searching" for rebels in that section of the Galaxy would be more than capable of summoning him to investigate a supposed insurrection, and in the meantime discovered the hidden artifact that would allow him to defeat the Emperor.
In the meantime however, while he waited for that blessed summon to come to him, Diábolis had other avenues to explore in order to find a means of defeating his master. Through his own network of spies, Diábolis knew that Veneficus was not in his palace at this time, and therefore there was next to nothing that could stop him from snooping around in the areas that his Master frequented when he was alone.
To accomplish this required another side trip away from his fleet's current trajectory, but Diábolis had made plans that allowed him to know where his ships would be over the course of his trip.
The shuttle zoomed through the Coruscanti skyline toward the Imperial palace, and Diábolis thought hard on what he needed to do. Normally he would offer his security codes as the apprentice of the Emperor and enter normally, but that would make a record of his visit, and he couldn't have that happen.
That really left only one possible entrance to the palace, the underbelly of the facility. That route was not without its own horrors and dangers, but as he knew exactly what the monster within was, and how to bypass it if it came to that.
Veering off his current path and landing nearer to the base of the mountain that the Palace was built upon. The entrance to the underbelly was always left open and unguarded, as a tantalizing goal for the brave and the foolish alike.
Ironically, the point of this hole in the base of the temple mound was to be an emergency exit, to escape in the case of overwhelming assault. Much good it did for the Jedi during their fall, but it would aid the Devaronian Sith Lord in entering the Palace without being recorded.
Venturing inside, he cautiously followed the route that he had memorized from records inside of the Palace, navigating the many traps and their victim's bodies that littered the ground, waiting for the giant serpent to come about and devour their decayed flesh. The snake had grown large over the time it had spent in this place, and it was a great threat to any that would try to enter the Imperial Palace by this route, but Dibolis knew the only way to stop the beast.
A direct overload of the Force would activate the preprogrammed flaw in the creature, stunning it long enough to slip past and into the single working lift that would travel up to the bottom levels of the temple.
As if summoned by the mere thought of it, Diábolis turned to see the crimson head of the monster rounding the nearby corner, tongue flicking the air and its burning eyes landing heavily upon the Sith Lord. Without even a thought, Diábolis prodded the weak spot, making the beast collapse to the ground, dazed, and moved onward, leaping another trapped pit and landing in the very center of the small maze. If you weren't looking for the specific markers, you wouldn't find the true way out to the center, and the single lift.
Without waiting, Diábolis took it up, vacating the horrid stench of death and the excrement of serpents, and arrived on the bottom levels of the Palace. Diábolis refused to lower his guard, as it was not unlikely for the Emperor to have considered that some might eventually make it farther than his pet.
Stepping forward cautiously, the Sith Lord took careful note of the holes on the side of the corridor, and the irregular pattern of the floor. Apparently, there indeed was a mechanical trap here, and most assuredly one that would spell either death or discovery if triggered.
Studying the pattern carefully, Diábolis noted that the irregularities were carefully spaced out so that one could step between them easily, and he took his first leapt of faith. Placing a foot carefully down on the first irregular stone, Diábolis sighed as his theory proved correct. Quickly he moved across the room, agilely leaping from irregular stone to the next, until he exited the corridor to the main floor for the archive.
He knew he was in the clear here, as the Arcanamach could patrol this area, and the Emperor would not trap an areas where those fools might be caught in it themselves, and relaxed somewhat. There was still a level of danger, but the intensity had passed.
Moving swiftly, he tore through the documents and items that had been left out, whatever project that the Emperor had recently been looking at, but there was nothing interesting to Diábolis among them. Turning, he briefly considered the Holocron Vault, but it was far too dangerous. The spirits there would assuredly tell his master of intrusion in that place, and he had seen the inside before. There was no room to have anything lying about, and despite the youthful appearance of his master, Diábolis couldn't see in his mind the Emperor of the Galaxy sitting on the floor like a schoolboy.
No, there had to be something here, or perhaps in the various study chambers all along the walls. Aside from the one that Veneficus had changed into a tunnel down to the beast's pit, there was close to four dozen different rooms, anyone one of which could hold the secret he sought.
Time was of the essence, and therefore Diábolis moved with confidence to the nearest one, peering inside and testing the chamber with the Force. He had a feeling that the one he sought would not be able to be opened by just anyone, and therefore moved on, testing each door until he found one that offered resistance to opening.
The first, on the ground floor, that did so he stepped back from, gathering the Force to him and reaching forward, feeling for the manner in which it was sealed. The Emperor wouldn't hide his secrets behind just anything, and the fact that only a mechanical lock barred his way told him this was not what he sought.
Passing on quickly, Diábolis waited, his patience in this task far greater than normal, and knowing that one mistake would have the entire temple's worth of guards raining down upon him, until he found a door that resisted his ability to detect past it with the Force. This likely was what he sought, something so heavily guarded that it had to be sealed with Mage-born magic to prevent even Force users from opening it.
Pacing in front of the door for several moments, the Sith Apprentice determined how best to proceed. He could force his way inside, setting off whatever traps and alarms awaited, but that likely spelled certain death, or else he would need to gather allies that could countered these spells themselves, which in and of itself was a quest equally difficult as killing the Emperor. The only living Mage-born that did not answer to Veneficus were among the rebels, and they would help him as soon as they would lay down and die for the Emperor.
Marking the door in his mind's eye, Diábolis departed back the way he had come. There was nothing that he could do here on his own and survive, but he would find a way past that door somehow, even if he had to augment himself to access that magic on his own. He highly doubted that that would be possible, as even the Force had difficulty operative on such a grand scale without a massive power backing it. Surely the Emperor had such strength, but Diábolis was not so arrogant that he could not accept that the man was a powerhouse of Force capability well beyond the Devaronian.
Still, he refused to give up. The lift landed, and the serpent rose up, ready to strike. Diábolis was surprised that the beast had waited in ambush for him, but stunned it again just as before and quickly made his way out of the pit and into the open air. Once he disappeared into the midst of Coruscant the creature would lost his scent, and Diábolis could then return to his ship.
This side trip was not without its success, if not presenting an even greater challenge for him. Smuggling a Mage-born into the palace was his next objective in order to discover the great secrets of his master, but how he was to accomplish that was another matter altogether.
Almost an hour later, he was speeding away from the planet, plotting his course to the rest of the fleet. For the time being, he would proceed with the plans he had already made, and go off to the north once he was summoned. Perhaps the unknown artifact he was being sent to retrieve would aid him in subduing and transporting a mage-born, although he wasn't sure how anything that the Force could do like that.
But he would not limit himself to only what he knew to be possible. With this new Wild Force in the works of the Galaxy, there seemed to be no limit to what was possible, and it was that wild freedom that he had to rely upon in order to achieve what he desired most: the end of Veneficus, and his own ascension to rule the Galaxy.