AN: MEGA UBER SPOLIERS. Do not read the conversation with Jaesa if you no likey.

Chapter 6

SATELE AND VATRUS

'There is no emotion, there is peace,' Satele thought, remembering and reciting the Jedi Code in her head for what seemed like the thousandth time in a row now. 'There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony.' Satele frowned a little at this one, wondering how anyone could believe those words during times of war, when death and destruction seemed to reign. 'There is no death, there is the Force.' Satele opened her eyes, and sighed. There was nowhere to go and nothing to do within the confines of the ray prison. She had hoped that Vatrus would at least give her something to move around with the Force to keep her occupied, as that required much concentration.

The door where Vatrus had entered earlier opened, and the Sith Lord strode through, with that smile of his that was both charming and infuriating. "Ah, Satele," he said, stepping up to the edge of the prison. "I apologize for taking so long, and I apologize again for having to leave. Yes, I know, you can't go on without me, your heart feels like it's being ripped out of your chest... Feel free to insert something cliché and sappy here. But don't worry, Satele. I've brought you a friend to keep you company."

Satele looked up, face inquisitive. "Oh, this should be good. I assume that by 'friend', you mean 'guard'? Maybe even 'torturer'?"

Suddenly Vatrus turned serious."I am not needlessly cruel, Satele. I promised that I would not cause you unnecessary harm while you were in my custody, and I keep my promises. While she is instructed to make sure you stay in there, I have a feeling that, considering her history, you two will actually get along quite well. Now, I must depart. You two ladies have fun, yes?" The Emperor's Wrath walked through another door, and disappeared. A moment later, a girl came through, carrying some basic foodstuffs: a sandwich, a glass of water, and what appeared to be an overbaked cookie. She was perhaps 23. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and was a bit smaller than most women. Satele had seen her before. She was-

"Jaesa Wilsaam?" Satele asked, pure shock in her eyes. "I never thought that I'd see you again."

"Nor I you, Grand Master," the ex-Jedi said, kneeling. "I was asked to bring you some food, and well… that's what you get when you try to teach someone with no culinary skill to cook. I'll send it through to you." She walked over to a counter with a panel on it, put the tray on the panel, pressed a button, and sent the food down some sort of pipe. A panel that Satele had never noticed before, somehow, slid back, and the food slid out.

Satele looked at the food, then back up at Jaesa. At last, she gave a small exasperated sigh. "Leave it to a Sith Lord to install a food tunnel."

Jaesa offered a tiny smile in return. "I… I realize that it must be a bit disheartening to see me as a Sith's apprentice, but I assure you, I have not been corrupted by the dark side, Master Satele."

"Yes, I can see," Satele said, looking at Jaesa closely, inspecting her any sign of dark side corruption. She found nothing - no pale skin, no yellow eyes, no bulging veins. "Would you mind telling me why that is? And as you do, could you also explain how the Emperor's Wrath is merciful, honorable, sometimes even kind, and anything but corrupted?"

Jaesa looked away for a moment, blushing slightly. "I'm… not supposed to talk about that. I realize that you're the Grand Master and all, but... technically, I am no longer a Jedi."

The Jedi Master was a little bit disappointed, but she would not push. It was not her place. "Well, can you at least tell me what it's like? You know, working with Vatrus, being his apprentice? If I had any credits, I'd bet them that it's not the same as when you were under Master Karr's tutelage."

The young woman smiled. "It's actually not as bad as you might think. Yes, he is a Sith, but I'm sure you've heard the rumors. I'm not allowed to tell you everything, but I'll tell you that they're true - most of them, at least. He's not an evil man. Yes, he kills people, but he wouldn't even consider killing an enemy who couldn't fight back, and would never go near a child with anything but candy on him."

"But surely there are some things that you wish were different. He can't be perfect. Nobody is, let alone a Sith."

"Well, of course, but they aren't major problems. He could afford to be a bit cleaner, for one thing. Our 2V unit always lets out what I can only assume is some sort of robotic sigh whenever it goes to clean his quarters. He could also get this ship a new paint job. He got the dents and scratches from various missions given to him by the Ministry of War. He likes to think of them as battle scars. I personally don't have a problem, but another crew member, Vette, considers it a disgrace to the ship, and everyone on it."

Satele was the slightly surprised at how few bad things Jaesa could come up with. She'd expected to hear a torrent of complaints and suggestions come spilling out, but she could only name seven in total. The only things that really made Jaesa uncomfortable, it seemed, were the mannequins shaped like Darth Baras that Vatrus used for practice, and from the way Jaesa said it, it didn't seem like she was too surprised. This made Satele wonder exactly what Baras had done to the Wrath before Vatrus had cut him down. According to Jaesa, most of the rumors were true, so why did Darth Vatrus, the most honorable-seeming Sith in history, hate this man so much? Satele didn't know the answer to that question, and she wanted to change that, so she asked. After all, the Jedi Code taught that there was no ignorance, only knowledge.

"Jaesa, I've followed Vatrus' career as a Sith ever since he defeated Nomen Karr. And while I know that he eventually turned against his old master, what no one really knows is why."

Jaesa seemed a bit surprised that Satele actually wanted to know. "Well, we don't talk about that much, but I might as well tell you. You're suffering enough just being in that ray prison." The former Jedi sighed. "Baras was probably the first person Vatrus ever trusted. He taught my master almost everything he knows about being a Sith, and gave him the key to his first lightsaber, which was, in fact, Vette, who apparently was a slave at the time. Baras sent him on many missions, displaying the utmost trust in him, and so Vatrus thought to return the favor, if to a smaller extent.

"Eventually, Baras entrusted Vatrus with a galaxy-spanning chase to find Master Nomen Karr, who nowadays can be seen muttering to himself in his cell, and myself, as my special power posed an enourmous threat to Baras' spy network.

"He crippled the Balmorran resistance, several gangs on Nar Shadaa, hundreds upon hundreds of Sand People on Tatooine, and several noble houses on Alderaan, all in his chase to find me. He eventually came face to face with my former Master, and in the battle, Nomen Karr became desperate, and in his determination to win at any cost, he tapped the dark side, becoming hideously disfigured and corrupted in the process. When Vatrus left Master Karr beaten and broken, but alive, I used my power on my old Master, and realized that I had been deceived. I felt betrayed, confused, angry, but Vatrus took me in as his apprentice. He gave me a home, when I had nowhere to go, and a purpose when all seemed lost to me.

"As if Vatrus didn't trust Baras enough by then, the Darth promoted him to the rank of Sith Lord. After a short break, Vatrus eliminated General Gonn, and after that he was sent to eliminate the War Trust, which displayed a ridiculous amount of trust on Baras' part. After that, Vatrus killed Admiral Monk, and finally neutralized Jedi Knight Xerender. After that, at the behest of his master, he killed Darth Vengean, a member of the Dark Council, with the help of Lord Draahg, Baras' other apprentice, which meant that Baras himself inherited his seat on the Dark Council.

"Now, here's where Vatrus started to hate Baras. The Darth sent him back to Quesh, where he discovered that a team of Republic commandos had been sent to blow up a cavern directly underneath the Imperial command center there. Vatrus stopped the commandos - although it helped that the detonator that they had for the explosives they'd set up didn't work - but after that, he was contacted by Lord Draahg. It turned out that the commandos had been sent there by one of Baras' agents within the Republic, and the entire thing was actually a trap for my master, and Draahg had the real detonator. In spite of everything that Vatrus had done for Baras, the Darth only saw Vatrus as a threat to his power base. Draahg collapsed the entire cavern on my master, but miraculously, Vatrus survived, and when he rose, his desire for revenge all but consumed him."

Satele sat back. "I never realized that Vatrus went through all that." Jaesa smiled sadly. "Not many do. Then again, not many know much about him or his history. I realize that he's a Sith and all, and you'll probably want to get under his skin in one way or another, but please, don't mention Baras' betrayal. The last time I mentioned it, he Force pushed me onto my bed, and locked me in my quarters for a whole day. The only time I've ever seen him that mad was when he actually fought Baras."

"I won't mention it," Satele promised. "After all, he already has me in a ray prison. I dread to think of what might happen to me when he locked away his own apprentice for speaking of it."

Jaesa smiled. "Yes, I do too. But, enough about Vatrus' inner dilemmas. I'm interested to hear what's been happening at the Jedi Temple."

"Not much, in all honesty," Satele shrugged. "Fortunately, Tython has been spared from the war so far, but the place is a bit more deserted since we have to send almost every Jedi to assist the Republic in their war efforts. Now, you have told me about Vatrus' experiences, but I know almost nothing about the man himself." She didn't really want to know him, but rather his weaknesses. Though, it would be nice to know the details about all the training that went into that body of his…

'Stop it, Satele.' She reminded herself. 'You're a Jedi.' She quickly recited the Jedi Code in her head. 'There is no emotion, there is peace…'

SWTORSWTORSWTOR

Vatrus bellowed a war cry, jumping up and kicking the mannequin in the face. He dropped down, elbowed it in the stomach, then drew his lightsaber and sheared the mannequin's head off. He Force pushed the head to the wall, threw his lightsaber, and let out a satisfied sigh as the blade impaled the head and left it hanging on the wall. His need to destroy his former master, even though he was dead, had come back, as it always did. The Sith Lord Force summoned his blade back to him, and spun it in his hand. He turned to the next mannequin.

After several more gruesome "deaths", Vatrus decided that his level of skill was just as high as it had been two hours before, where he had mangled a mannequin so badly that it looked like something one might feed to an akk dog. He honestly didn't understand this undying hatred for Baras, this need to hurt him, to kill him, even though he had been dead for three years now. Maybe it was because Vatrus had looked up to him for so long. He'd always heard of Sith overthrowing their masters, but he'd never expected Baras to be so paranoid, so desperate to keep his position, that he'd actually be willing to destroy an Imperial command center just to eliminate a potential threat. In any event, Vatrus still hadn't gotten over it, and he doubted he would any time soon.

He perked up a bit at the sound of the ship coming out of hyperspace. They had finally arrived at Dromund Kaas. The Wrath walked over to the bridge, where he found Captain Malavai Quinn sitting in the pilot's chair. "Quinn." He said.

The Imperial man looked up as he heard Vatrus' voice. "My lord, I am pleased to announce that we have arrived at Dromund Kaas. Shall I bring the ship into port?"

"Why don't you let me do it, Captain? It's been a while since I took this beauty for a spin."

"Yes, well, all due respect, my lord, the last time you 'took this beauty for a spin', you ended up giving it several dents as well as a few holes, which left us stranded on Hoth for days until a rescue team showed up, and even after that it was weeks before the ship was flight-worthy again."

"Hey, we both know that happened because a Republic stealth fighter squadron ambushed us. Do you honestly think I don't have enough skill to fly my own ship into the Dromund Kaas Spaceport? I've done it before and I can do it again. Now move over, Captain." He nudged Quinn out of the captain's chair, and took the controls in his hands. He smiled as he felt the familiar hum of the ship, and loved that it was his to command. He took the ship down slowly at first, then sped up as he got used to the feel of piloting again. The Wrath brought it down into orbit and into the spaceport without a scratch. He looked over at Quinn and shot him one of his notorious "I-told-you-I-could-do-it" looks. "Well, Quinn, I'll let you handle whatever needs to be handled. Oh, and would you please be so kind as to make sure nobody - and I mean nobody - is in or around the spaceport to witness the arrival of my… special cargo?"

Quinn smiled. "I'll do that immediately, my lord. Might I suggest that you go and prepare the 'cargo'? You incapacitated her once; I'm sure you can do it again if she gives you trouble."

Vatrus smiled. "Yes, I think I shall. While she has absolutely no mind for unfair fighting, our duel was quite enjoyable." He stood up and walked to Satele's holding area.

When he got there, he saw Jaesa and his Jedi captive talking like nothing was wrong. He did not catch what they had been talking about, and frankly, he didn't want to. It was most likely either 'girl talk' - as the female species called it, though he preferred to call it 'mindless chattering occasionally interrupted by giggles' - or some Jedi nonsense that he had no patience for. Though honestly, who talked about that during their free time? He cleared his throat, and the two women looked up. "Yes, well, I hate to interrupt your discussion, but we have arrived on Dromund Kaas. Jaesa, you may go and gather whatever you need from your quarters. I assume we're going to be here for a while. You may also deactivate the particle shield."

"Master, are you sure that's-"

"Jaesa, I beat her once, and I'll do it again if I have to." Truthfully, he didn't relish the idea of hitting women, but sometimes the situation demanded it. It was stupid, but the rules from his childhood still stuck, because, well, some of them were good. He picked up a pair of cuffs off of the nearest table, and stood in front of the ray prison as it powered down. He watched the Jedi very closely, and saw her right hand twitch. He sidestepped just before her hand shot out to unleash a barrage of Force energy. Instead of hitting him, it made a large dent in the wall. Satele faltered for a second, not suspecting to have missed, and as she did so she let her guard down. Vatrus took this opportunity to punch her in the gut. She doubled over, and in an instant, Vatrus was behind her. He forced her arms behind her back, and he snapped the cuffs on. "Now, Satele, I told you that I'd beat you again if you forced my hand literally ten seconds ago. Now come, the capitol of the Sith Empire awaits us." And with that, he led her out of the room, through the doors of the ship, and onto Dromund Kaas.

SWTORSWTORSWTOR

Satele had known the Dromund Kaas had been a gloomy place, but she hadn't expected… this.

It was always stormy, for one thing. The moment she had stepped out of the ship, the air temperature had dropped ten degrees. She looked up at the sky, and saw nothing but dark clouds and an endless stream of rain.

"Welcome to Dromund Kaas, Shan!" Vatrus said, stepping up beside her. "This wonderful planet is going to be your home for quite a while, I imagine, so you'd better get used to the weather. The sun never shines on this world, and the storms are endless."

Satele looked around, and noticed that there was absolutely no life besides her, the Wrath, and his crew. "Vatrus, why are there no people besides us in this spaceport?"

Vatrus smiled. "Ah, yes, that. You see, Shan, you are not exactly something that is commonplace on Dromund Kaas; therefore, many people, including my fellow Sith, would probably sell their own mothers into slavery to get their hands on you if they knew that you were here. That would mean assassinations, ambushes, and several other things that would result in me having to kill many, many people, which I honestly am not in the mood to do right now. So, I had Quinn here clear the spaceport and his surroundings," he said, gesturing to the smiling Imperial. "As you can imagine, they objected when someone wanted them to clear the entire spaceport, but when Quinn informed them that the Emperor's Wrath had requested it, they suddenly became very cooperative."

"So I'm all alone with just you and your crew for the foreseeable future?"

"Yes."

"Perfect."

Vatrus laughed. "I know, it is, isn't it? I'm sure we're going to have a wonderful time together. We're going to learn everything there is to know about one another! What do you think about that?"

"I think I'd rather stay silent if that's what you're going to do for the duration of the trip to… wherever we're going. Where are we going, anyway?"

The Sith Lord smirked. "We, Master Shan, are going to my compound, which is, I assure you, far from the rest of Imperial civilization. Oh, there are a few outposts, but nothing major. We're going to be all alone, just us and my crew, for a very long time. What do you think of that?"

"Peachy." And so they left the spaceport, out into the rain, got a few speeders, and set off for the compound.

Satele was paired with a Talz, but it wasn't anything like any of the Talz she had ever met. It had blue fur, beady black eyes, and a very large vibrosword strapped to its back. Its aura reeked of hatred and bloodlust. It was surprisingly skilled at operating a speeder, even with those large, bulky hands. Not wanting to spend the entire ride in silence, she tapped it on the back. The creature swiftly turned, regarding her with those eyes. It made several growling noises, and Satele was thankful that she had that translation chip in her brain. "[Little Jedi wants to talk?]"

"Erm, yes," she said, slightly intimidated by this massive beast that could easily knock her off the speeder with a swipe of its massive, muscular arm. "Where, exactly, are we going?"

"[We go to stronghold of Sith clan. Did Sith did not tell little Jedi?]"

Satele wasn't sure why the creature spoke so strangely, but she supposed it was to be expected. It obviously didn't know Basic, and the translation chip could only do so much. "Well, he did. I was hoping you could be a little more specific about the location."

"[We go into a mountain. Sith clan's stronghold is in there. Very few know of location]."

"Well, alright. Can you tell me your name, as well as how you came to serve Darth Vatrus?"

"[Our name is Broonmark. Sith found us on Hoth when Sith was hunting Jedi Xerender, who was working alongside the traitors that were once our clan. Our clan was weak, so we cleansed it. When our clan was cleansed, we asked to join Sith clan. Sith clan is strong, and feared throughout the galaxy. Sith knows what it is to be a warrior. We treasure the honor that Sith bestowed upon us when Sith gave us our place in Sith clan.]" The Talz growled.

"What do you think of the Jedi, Broonmark?"

Broonmark snarled. "[Jedi clan is weak. They value mercy and forgiveness, everything that we hate. Jedi clan and Republic clan corrupted Talz. For millennia, Talz clans have been hunters, warriors, but Republic clan changed all that. Republic and Jedi clans demand that Talz clans be "civilized". Sith clan will be the victor in this war because Sith clan embraces their true nature. One day, Talz clans will remember who they truly are, and will join Sith clan.]"

"You say that you despise mercy, yet Vatrus spared me." Satele reminded the Talz.

The beast growled. "[Little Jedi is not true warrior. Little Jedi does not realize that Sith only spared you so that Sith will have great prize to lord over lesser clans. By letting little Jedi live, little Jedi will spread word to other clans that not even the leader of Jedi clan could defeat Sith, and all will know the strength of Sith clan.]"

He then fell silent, and Satele got the feeling that the conversation was over. She hadn't been threatened or shunned, so she took that as a good sign. If she was going to be spending a large amount of time with these people, she might as well try to befriend them. She had Jaesa, but that was mostly because they'd known each other before. Broonmark was going be a different challenge completely. Satele could only hope the rest of Vatrus' people weren't like this ferocious Talz.

After several more hours of riding, they finally came upon a mountain. She looked around, and saw nothing but treetops and one outpost tower in the distance. This seemed to be the place. They came to a stop near the top of the mountain, where Vatrus walked around for a bit, as if looking for something. He finally stopped, and then smashed his foot into the ground. There was a grinding sound, and a chunk of rock slid up. "Welcome to my compound, Shan," he said, smiling as he led her through the doorway. "Get comfortable. You won't be leaving any time soon."

They walked for what seemed like forever, and Satele got bored of the silence. "Vatrus, how can you afford all of this? I realize you're the Emperor's Wrath, but this… this is massive!"

"The answer is actually simpler than you'd think. See, I am feared not only by the Republic, but by Sith and Imperials throughout the Empire, and so I get an awful lot of donations intended to guarantee my continued good will. They don't understand that as long as they stay loyal to the Empire they have nothing to fear from me. But, if they do betray me, no amount of credits will stop me from destroying them. Ah, here we are. These are your quarters." They stopped at a small room. Vatrus opened the door, and Satele hesitantly looked inside. Vatrus stepped up behind her, watching as she inspected the room. It was nothing much, just a decent-sized square of space with a comfy-looking bed and a meditation mat. "Compared to before, this isn't actually that bad, Vatrus. I thought you were supposed to give me something horribly inadequate, like that ray prison on your ship."

Vatrus laughed. "Trust me, Shan, this is horribly inadequate. If you want nice, you should she the crew quarters. If you want really nice, you should see my quarters. Now I'm going to take off these cuffs."

"Why? You do realize that I'll just try to escape."

"I'm not stupid, Satele. I'll make sure you stay put." He swiftly undid her cuffs, then shoved her into the room. Before Satele could regain her footing, Vatrus pressed a button on the console next to the doorway, and a particle shield sprang to life. Satele was trapped.

"Damn, Vatrus. That wasn't what I expected, I'll give you that." Satele gave him an insincere smile.

He smirked. "Yes, I thought you might like that touch. Well, I have things to do, and dinner won't be served for another hour or so. I suggest you meditate, sleep, or read that book that I put on your bed." She looked over, and noticed that a book was indeed on the bed.

"That boring old thing," Vatrus said, "is a copy of the precepts and history of the Jedi Order that I found in the Green Jedi enclave on Corellia. I hope you enjoy it."

"Very well," Satele said, sitting down to meditate. "But, I have to ask one last thing."

"Yes?"

"Why do I still not have a shirt?"

This brought a grin from Vatrus that could only be described as devious. "Satele, you have to remember, I'm a man, and, well, certain things about you are rather... hard to ignore." She sent him a glare, but as she sat closed her eyes to meditate, Vatrus could almost swear that he saw her blush.

He smiled, and walked down the hall to his personal training room. He hadn't been lying when he'd mentioned her body, she really was beautiful. Now wasn't the time for those sort of thoughts, though. It was time to train.

AN: Teeheehee. You like? I did.

Anyway, I think it's time, yet again, to thank Paragon of Awesomeness, my one beta reader and the only one I need, for his betaing of this chapter. You're great, bud! Keep it up.

EDIT: For the record, there WILL be a glossary when I finally this story, so if you were totally overwhelmed/didn't understand stuff, it should help. Until then, ta-ta!