Chapter Fourteen
On Nogatan's surface, Crassus decided he would find out what the artifact room was like in its arrangement of holocrons, amulets, and other trinkets then make upgrades as needed. Far better, he told his servants to make minor adjustments to an arrangement that existed before one's arrival than build from scratch up with the time that they had on their hands being so precious. "If this ceremony works, time will cease to be of consequence to all who follow the Dark Side," he had added to his butlers. Sure enough, there had been a need to create a circular space at the epicenter of the artifact room then go from there to have amulets and items of small power first so that the feeding could pick up speed at a controllable pace.
Now he understood why the will of the Force had waited so long to summon him back from the land of the dead to begin his climb to immortality. The death of Vitiate plunged an already timid war machine into such terror that each lord who dictated their will from the Dark Council stood and fell alone before a leader of strong centrality. In allegiance to the desires of the Dark Side, Crassus had risen back from being near completely obliterated to reach for the heights of near absolute godhood. But he wasn't a fool for his destiny could very well translate into failure and had made sure a colonial force had been sent to the world called Utapau, birthworld of Imperius, to begin the rebuilding. Doubly fortunate, should he have accepted the offer by now, would be the presence of Lord Scourge to greet this
Once again, Crassus would take his rightful place as King over all that was weaker and stupider than him and this time, it would last near indefinitely. The power of the ritual would cleanse him of any trace of death and would wipe away in one glorious stroke and he knew just how he would do it too. He would wait until the Jedi were planetside to begin the ceremony then he would keep them busy with enemy troops in order to ensure the ceremony was a rousing success. And if Hyperion had successfully defeated Morgana as part of him suspected he did from sensing Morgana's final oblivion then Hyperion would follow as well. Since he already held the Nogatan Dark Lords hostage as well, he would start by feeding on them once he had gone through the amulets and holocrons that currently surrounded him.
Then he would extend his will out to any life forms that were in the palace at the time, finding plant matter and similar energies on which to sustain its path along the way. "At last, mother," Crassus began, "I see why you told me to always wait for the perfect opportunity to strike without fear of retaliation. The Jedi are moving into intercept what they think will be the last traces of the Sith that need eradication before the galaxy will know peace in its people's collective lifetime. Each enemy I have ever had stands and falls alone like strains of wheat in the harvest season."
He paused for a moment to order the placement of holocrons at several critical intervals for the purpose of feeding on them once the amulets were no more. "I know, mother, the beast of the endtimes stirs within all who follow the Dark Side and so stirs within me as well. I know it wishes to rise up to destroy all that would threaten its existence by standing for compassion and right thinking but it will feed. And my ostracism from all the pleasures I have ever known shall come to an end. I will take my rightful place among the gods of the Force itself!" Crassus declared. Everything in place, he ordered his forces to begin readying themselves for the inevitable assault of the Republic.
"Prepare to fight for your lives against the Republic, stall them for time until I have completed the ritual. Once we have done so, I will use the full might of the Dark Side to cleanse this galaxy of all that the Jedi and their vaunted Republic stand for. For the glory of the Mortis Son! For the Dark Side," Crassus told them all. The soldiers gathered outside with the weakest ones mounting the artillery batteries to shoot down any significant armaments the Republic might have in counter to their defenses.
Once the Republic arrived with their own forces, the space battle began and Crassus knew he could sense Hyperion and Dantius even from beyond the fringes of the atmosphere. Doubtless, they wouldn't have come alone, likely with more than one other Jedi to aid them in destroying the other Sith Lords. The only problem that Crassus faced was the possibility of the Nogatan Dark Lords would revolt against their captors and weaken the number of lives he could take once he had consumed the vaulted artifacts. In fact, he most likely expected Hyperion to persuade those Dark Lords to betray their captors and revolt in order to help the Jedi eliminate resistance within the Palace.
Then again, the Dark Lords on Crassus' side were roughly equal or superior to the Nogatan ones and would therefore be victorious even if weakened by resistance. It wouldn't exactly be the most strategically wise move on his part if they did but it was the risk he needed to take if he wanted powerful Dark Lords to consume when the holocrons were done. As if thinking about it were a catalyst, he soon received reports that the Nogatan Dark Lords had understood what the ceremony was and decided they would fight for their lives with every ounce of being they had. "Put it down then resume normal positions, the Republic has arrived and will be taking down our forces unless we are unified as one powerful front. The Nogatan Dark Lords have proven that they care only for their own short-term ambitions and therefore shall observe the consequences of such small aspirations," Crassus ordered.
Within the hour, the other Dark Lords had been crippled of further resistance with the most powerful of them being destroyed to break the weaker ones into line. But Crassus knew they would fight with every last shred of power they possessed and did just that, weakening Crassus' palace defenses. Artillery batteries were still standing, thankfully, as were the armies that protected the palace from the Republic beyond palace grounds. He just hoped that the remaining Dark Lords on his side would be powerful enough to fight the Jedi that would approach if the rest of the army failed to stop the Republic soldiers.
In all, his forces were already in trouble and he found himself somewhat hoping that Scourge had taken his offer. Even if this backfired, there would still be an immortal to lead the Sith to the bright and brilliant future that the Emperor of the Dark Side had projected for his subordinates. But he was hoping, even more than that, that the ceremony would succeed as well.