"My Lord," the Sith Saber operating the communications of the Uvak's Prey said, "there is a transmission coming from Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala. Would you like to take it here or in the ready room?"

Vol was about to answer with, "Ready room," only to mentally back up; if Daala was going to try to flex what little muscle that she had in her "partnership" with the Lost Tribe, he would remind her of her place by applying pressure to her neck with the Force, thereby demonstrating the true power that he himself wielded.

No doubt, he thought, that it would also serve as a reminder of the power that she could potentially receive from him (but never actually get) if she continued to cooperate. As well, it could possibly boost morale among everyone on the bridge who were aching to seek vengeance on the Jedi who humiliated them back on Kesh.

"My Lord?" the communications officer asked.

"No," Vol finally answered. "I will take it here."

"As you wish, My Lord."

The viewport that offered a sight of the stars outside was replaced by that of Daala in her office on Coruscant.

"Chief Daala, what is it that you-"

Vol was cut off from saying anymore as he felt his throat close shut. Immediately, he began to choke much to the chagrin of everyone on the bridge who were too dumbstruck to help.

Thankfully, this only lasted for less than fifteen seconds before Vol could breathe clearly again, and he looked at Daala's image in confusion.

The Chief of State returned that stare with one that demonstrated her characteristic pride and arrogance.

"I did it, Vol," she said. "I got the Force; and I got it without you."

"That's impossible!" Vol exclaimed in disbelief. "You seriously aren't suggesting that those experiments that you ran had-"

"I'm not just suggesting it, Grand Lord Vol. I'm outright telling you that those experiments were successful. Now I have the ability to reach out across the galaxy to strangle you to death the same way you could to me."

The ensuing silence was one that permeated the bridge with terror as everyone present absorbed the information that Daala relayed to them.

"I-it's a trick!" Vol countered vainly. "You have a Force-sensitive working directly for you, don't you? Is this some attempt to mislead me so that you can take direct control of the Lost Tribe of the-"

"Grand Lord Vol, when was the last time you contacted the Sith agent you sent to spy on the progress of the experiments that I had my scientists running?"

Vol paused before he responded. As a matter of fact, in the midst of the fallout that came from Jacen Solo's stunt on Kesh, the Grand Lord had completely forgotten about receiving a progress report from the agent Daala just mentioned.

But instead of answering her question, Vol asked Daala, "What about him?"

"I used the Force to kill him; I find that using this power that you can tap into is quite exquisite at ending lives, especially those that attempt to sabotage my plans. But if you still don't believe me, let me prove it to you in a way that's much more... definitive."

Daala closed her eyes. And then, before Vol had a chance to ask her what she was trying to do, he seized up as he felt her essence, significantly magnified with the Force since he last spoke to her, inside his mind.

I'm in your mind now, Vol. You can feel me, can't you? Go on ahead; you can say it out loud. Let everyone on the bridge know that I share this power with you and the rest of them.

No, Vol replied defiantly.

Do it!

No.

Do it!

No!

DO IT!

A sharp pain pierced through Vol's mind, and he fell to both knees as he futilely grappled at his temples.

"I can feel you!" he cried out.

It was then that Daala opened her eyes and asked, "What did you say?"

Vol stood up and composed himself before he reluctantly repeated, "I can... feel you, Chief of State Daala."

She grinned. "Of course you can. Now... I am no longer your puppet. We are... partners in this venture to destroy the Jedi, as you once suggested to me."

Vol could see right through Daala's wording; she might as well have said, "You are now my puppet." The Grand Lord, who now secretly thought himself less than that, thought that Daala was only being nice to him so that he would have less of a reason to turn on her now that she could wield the Force; and if he was to be her puppet, then she couldn't blatantly subsume his authority anymore than she already had in front of the bridge crew of the Uvak's Prey.

Thus, considering the circumstances, Vol saw only one option: to play along... for now.

"Very well, Chief Daala. Now our partnership... is true." He felt like he had swallowed poison in saying those words.

"Excellent. Now we have some business to discuss. Shall we speak more privately, Grand Lord Vol?"

"Yes, we may." A little part of Vol felt glad that if he was going to be humiliated any further, it might as well be in the privacy of this ship's ready room.

Once he was situated in that room, he asked Daala's holographic representation, "What do you want?"

"As I understand it," Daala began, "the Jedi have fled from their capital of Shedu Maad and other territories of the Hapes Consortium. They've taken to the Unknown Regions, have they not?"

"We're attempting to find them," Vol confirmed reluctantly. "But once it became clear that they were heading into the Unknown Regions, we lost track of them. We're doing everything we can to-"

"I've heard enough. Report back to me as soon as you've made any progress. I'll make sure the Hapes Consortium is too busy to help the Jedi Order."

"Keeping them busy?" Vol asked. "As in a war?"

"Indeed. And if I have to embroil the Galactic Alliance in a years-long war to destroy the Consortium so that the Jedi will be wiped out once and for all, then so be it."

"Wait," Vol said when he saw that Daala was going to sign off.

"What?"

"How?"

"How what?"

"How were you able to master the Force so well? Even with raw potential, it takes years to master what you have done."

"Perhaps it would. But then again, if your agent didn't sabotage the midi-chlorian machine in an attempt to kill me, maybe I would be at a much more... trainee level.

"It feels wonderful, you know," Daala went on. "To have all of this power in an instant and to know how to use it. With what I have, I wouldn't be surprised if I could master lightsaber combat so well, I could defeat you and Luke Skywalker combined."

"If I didn't experience what I experienced on the bridge," Vol said, "I would have dismissed that as nothing more than a power fantasy conjured up by a deluded madwoman."

"Yet here I am." It was then that Daala signed off.