SATINE KRYZE
Satine was not a happy woman at the moment. She would even go as far as to say she was an unhappy one.
When she was taken from her planet by that devious sith, she expected that her new job would be to negotiate with various politicians and diplomats, convincing them to change their allegiances by joining her captor.
It would be awful and she hated that she would be forced to do that, but she could not think of anything else that she would be used for . She wasn't a warrior like her sister, nor did she have any other suitable talents that would be valuable for a sith.
Apparently Darth Imperius had a different opinion though. She was given armor (she didn't wear one since her childhood), various weapons (she either wasn't proficient with them or she didn't use one for years) and was told to follow Darth Imperius into the field. Why would he think it was a good idea?
And Darth Imperius didn't even choose a normal planet for her first mission. No, he chose a planet full of dark magicks, monsters and sinister cults! It was definitely not a mission for beginners like her! She wasn't even sure veterans would be able to survive there!
Not that the sith lord cared, making her travel through this cursed land, expecting she would be able to survive the endeavour.
She even had to fight against the army of undead! Undead! She was a leader of the entire sector not even a week ago and now she had to fight some reanimated corpses that were trying to rip her apart with their bare hands!
She had never been so afraid in her entire life! She didn't even know how she was able to survive.
She wasn't even exaggerating. All she remembered was seeing raising undead and blacking out because of the fear. One moment she was screaming hysterically, trying to somehow get away from undead, the next she was sitting on one of them, hammering it with her fists, with every other revenant already destroyed.
Her only clues about what happened between these two scenes were 1. her fists covered in rotten flesh, dried blood and bone fragments, 2. The fact she was missing most of her grenades and her flamethrower was out of fuel and 3. the fact that she was surrounded by numerous corpses, many of which were suspiciously burned or were lacking parts.
She really, really didn't like the picture that was beginning to form in her mind.
No, no, no. She was a pacifist, there was no way she was the one to do that. It must have been the sith lord. That's right! He probably tried to trick her into thinking she was the one responsible for all that carnage! It was the only logical explanation!
How horrible someone had to be to do something like that? To play with her mind like that? She couldn't be more angry at that man!
She was quickly proven wrong, when she was pushed by him in front of the tribe of wild zabraks.
"What do you mean to recruit?!" She asked Darth Imperius, indignant. Diplomacy wasn't a quick solution! It took a lot of time and effort. You also had to know people you would negotiate with! Did he expect her to convince a secluded community of zabrak necromancers to join him just like that? Was he mad? They would kill her! Or eat her! Or kill her, raise her as an undead and kill her again!
"What do you mean? It's simple. You will talk to them, find out what they want and convince them to join forces with me. Making them work for me would be great of course, but they can just be allies, like Mandalore. Do you really not understand how diplomacy works?" He asked, titling his head. He almost sounded serious, but she knew it was just a mockery, meant to humiliate her. Madalore being an ally? Bo served him out of fear! They were practically his slaves! Seeing that she was still agitated, he sighed.
"Look, I don't expect miracles. I just want you to try. Your sister told me you are a great diplomat, so I decided to give you a chance to prove it. If you were to be unable to convince them, it wouldn't be much problem" he then looked at zabraks before them, who were growing increasingly confused by the entire situation. She couldn't really blame them though. She was pretty confused herself. " I will just have to convince them myself if it comes to that," he said calmly, still watching zabraks. Wait, did that mean..
Was he going to force them into servitude in case of her failure? She didn't want him to slaughter these people, enslaving survivors! They were certainly not nice, being necromancers and all, but she didn't want to be responsible for their deaths!
He was practically saying that either she would succeed or these people would die! It was horrifying!
She dropped her shoulders, understanding her situation. She really didn't have a choice, did she?
"...I will do my best," she responded, defeated. What did she do to deserve this?
"Great. I believe in you. One thing though..." He said and grew silent. He was obviously doing something, though she didn't know what. She didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, but she saw that many zabraks, mostly women, started to grow tense and shake, visibly afraid. They would look at Darth imperius in panic, which probably meant he was the source of their distress. Their leader, an old zabrak woman in a long black-red robe, was still standing confidently and unafraid, but she was looking at the sith lord with caution. What did he do? As if sensing her thoughts, Imperius replied.
"I just sent some of my energy outside. Nothing to fancy, but now they will know that killing you would be unwise. You are welcome!" He said, giving her a thumbs up,acting like what he did wasn't an obvious intimidation!
He was making it even harder than it already was!
Deciding to act before he could make things even worse, she turned to gathered zabraks.
"My name is Satine Kryze '' She exclaimed, trying to sound confident. Negotiations would be much harder if they knew how scared she was, though at least now they were as scared as she was "I wish to speak to your leader" it would be probably best to just talk with the one in charge instead of trying to convince all of them. She doubted that their society, clearly tribal and primitive, would be democratic.
All zabraks turned to the old woman in front of them, confirming she was their leader. The woman watched Satine for a while, her gaze making Satine quite nervous, before responding.
"I am Mother Talzin, clan mother of the nightsisters. Follow me, we will talk in my home" she said, before turning around and walking into the village.
Satine looked at Darth Imperius, unsure what to do in this situation, but he just nodded and leaned on a nearby rock, clearly indicating she should go with Mother Talzin alone. Great.
Having no choice but to listen to her insane and cruel leader, she followed Talzin into the village.
MOTHER TALZIN
When she heard that there was a sith lord approaching her village, she thought it would be that pathetic worm Sidious or his even more pathetic puppet Dooku. It made sense, as she recently tried to assassinate Dooku using her son Savage Opress and Asajj Ventress. She was sure they would try to retaliate somehow.
She was quite surprised to see that it was someone completely different. A man she didn't recognize, followed by an unusual group, consisting of mutated rakata, twi'lek and a mandalorian. Newcomer was clearly powerful, comparable to her or even stronger from what she was able to sense, emitting extreme amounts of dark energy, clearly trying to intimidate them.
He was wearing dark armor and an intricate mask, which covered his face completely. He was watching them confidently, not afraid of them in the slightest. She didn't know who he was. That mask was familiar though. Where did she...
Didn't one of her daughters report to her about a new sith showing up in the republic? One with an unusual mask, who was responsible for revealing Palpatine as Darth Sidious? At that time she focused more on the part where Sidious, that old fool, was humiliated and forced to show himself publicly as a sith, but to think that the one responsible for it would come to her...
Interesting. Very interesting. Also very dangerous.
She knew it wouldn't be wise to fight him for now. She could feel that it would be hard for her to defeat him, especially now, when she knew next to nothing about him. For now it would be better to just hear what he wanted from them, using it to learn more about him.
He surprised her though, sending his follower to talk with her instead of doing it himself. She wasn't sure if it was a power move, meant to show that she wasn't even worthy of talking with him himself or he had other reasons to do that. Maybe she would be able to find out more from his subordinate.
She took a mandalorian woman to her hut. Inside, they sat at the table and began to talk.
"So, what does Darth Imperius want with this humble village?" she started, without wasting time with pleasantries. She used the name she was able to remember from the report, potentially making the other side think she knew more than she actually did.
"He...wants to propose an alliance with you" replied Satine Kryze. Her tone was odd though. Telzin wondered why. "Darth Imperius is looking for talented force users to join his constantly growing faction. He was quite impressed by you and decided to convince you to join him" How interesting. She didn't sense any respect for the sith in her voice. She was saying all these things, but there was no conviction there. She didn't want to do it, Telzin realized.
How interesting.
"You really hate your master, don't you?" Telzin said bluntly, trying to see how the woman would react to the accusation. Satine, not prepared for this question, fell silent, obviously trying to think how to reply, more stressed than before. Deciding to press her advantage, she continued. "You don't have to look so worried. I am just curious. Tell me, what did he do to you? I want to know if a man I am supposed to ally with is worthy of trust, after all" She also wanted to gather more information about a possible enemy, but Satine didn't need to know that.
Satine was silent for a while, before replying quietly.
"...He dethroned me. He allied with a terrorist organisation called the Death Watch and helped them take over Mandalore system. After doing that, he decided to take me with him, as a hostage" then she composed herself, looking more confident than before and looked Talzin in the eyes " But my personal distaste for him doesn't mean that I will not try to convince you to join us. I really hope to achieve a peaceful solution, beneficial for everyone involved. If I were to fail, Darth Imperius would try to convince you himself. I doubt neither of us would want that"
How unexpected. Satine Kryze used her own bad experiences as a tool, showing Talizn how bad fighting against Imperius ended for Satine while suggesting that the same could happen to her. She also tried to show herself as a friend, hoping to negotiate some beneficial agreement, saving them for the big, bad sith looming over them.
Satine Kryze was apparently quite proficient when it came to diplomacy. She now understood why the sith lord sent her. How devious of him.
"And what would we gain by working with you, if I may ask? We have everything we need right here, content with our place in the universe" she asked. In her mind she was already beginning to create a plan, but for now she would act as if she was interested in the offer.
"You seem like an ambitious woman, Mother Talzin. Darth Imperius doesn't have any notable force users under his command yet, concentrating on mundane forces so far. You would be the first one to join him, giving you a great opportunity. You must already know that Darth Imperius, as a powerful sith lord, will gather many people around himself, often ones with some force affinity. As you would be there from the start, with enough effort you would be able to become a leader of all force users under his command, giving you much more power and authority than you already have" seeing that Telzin didn't stop her, she continued.
"you would also be able to learn more about the force, being close to the mighty sith lord and having access to many artifacts and writings he would undoubtedly acquire. It would allow you to develop your abilities further without having to spend time and effort looking for the right ways to do that " She ended her argument, waiting for her reply.
It was quite an attractive proposition. She could gain more power and authority while having the backing of a powerful patron, who would potentially protect her from her enemies, like Sidious. Yes, it would be quite beneficial for her. Too bad Satine was right. She really was an ambitious woman.
"It sounds intriguing, but you must know that our community is heavily matriarchal. Most of my daughters and other clan mothers wouldn't accept men ruling over them. They would see it as degrading. How would you deal with that?" She asked, pretending to be curious about the potential solution. She decided to play a part of the leader who wants to agree to the proposition, but knows that her people wouldn't agree to it.
"Well, I don't know about how exactly Imperius plans to use your daughters, but I am sure it wouldn't be a problem. You will be allies, not subordinates, so nightsisters will still answer directly to you. Situations where they would have to follow orders of a man wouldn't happen without a good reason" Satine then thought about something for a second "Also I am sure they wouldn't have any problems with working with Darth Imperius. And if someone were to be unhappy about the arrangement, they just have to ask Darth Imperius to prove that he is worthy of their loyalty. I am sure he will be able to prove that without any problem, don't you agree?" She asked Telzin.
Brutal, but effective. Strength was the universal language. Even nightsisters, who detested males, thinking of them as servants and breeders, wouldn't dare to question someone who would eclipse them in power. As long as she were to agree to the alliance, they would follow her, knowing that she had a good reason to join the sith lord.
She shouldn't expect anything else from a mandalorian. Satine acted friendly and told her about many benefits of joining her master, but she also didn't hesitate to resort to threats to make them agree. It was a good strategy.
Too bad she had a different plan.
"Well, how can this old woman decline after hearing such a convincing argument" she exclaimed, standing. "I accept your offer. Of course we still have to discuss various details, but I believe cooperation between Darth Imperius and Nightsisters would be beneficial for both parties" Satine looked surprised for a second, not expecting such a quick response, before breathing a sigh of relief, happy that everything ended peacefully. She probably thought that such a primitive society wouldn't have much experience in politics, instead quickly choosing a beneficial option as an obvious choice. But Talzin wasn't a novice when it came to scheming. She played this game for a long time. And she intended to win it.
She had no intention of sharing power with no one but her beloved son, Maul. She already sent Savage to retrieve him and they would hopefully arrive soon, allowing her to deal with these unwanted visitors.
For now she would act as an ally. She would talk about details of their cooperation, she would treat them as guests and she would act perfectly cordial, friendly even. But the moment her sons would return and Darth Imperius would show any sign of weakness, she would strike. Sidious promised her the same things as Imperius and Satine did, and instead of fulfilling these obligations, he stole her lovely son to turn him into a sith. She wouldn't be fooled again. Soon they will regret coming to her village.
Talzin and Satine both smiled, though for different reasons.