ADAS KALLIG
I was sitting at the table with a drink, enjoying the view of spaceships flying through the night sky. Everyone around me was screaming and panicking, but I just tried to enjoy the view.
Incoming ships looked quite majestic, enormous dreadnoughts and frigates slowly but steadily approaching the planet with a reddish sky full of stars behind them. It was a shame most of the people in the Village weren't able to appreciate the view.
Wait, was my point of view a little warped if I was the only one finding beauty there? Hmm, no, I didn't think so. It certainly looked quite pretty and I was pretty sure it was considered normal to find enormous starships aesthetically pleasing.
Though I guess it wasn't the matter of aesthetics but danger posed by them? Most people would probably find a fleet of enemy ships quite threatening.
I was pretty sure Mother Talzin would be able to get rid of them with a sufficiently powerful ritual though, so I didn't think it was something worth worrying about.
Distracted by my thoughts I didn't notice my followers until I felt Satine shaking my shoulders in panic.
"Separatists forces are here! What do we do?!" She shouted, still shaking me, even as I already focused on her. It was quite rude, but I was just glad she finally got more confidence. She wouldn't dare doing something like that even a week ago, so I saw some progress.
"We are just guests here. We shouldn't do anything until our hosts ask us to help. Just try to relax" I said, taking a sip from my drink. I wasn't lying. Dathomir belonged to Mother Talzin (or at least I thought so. Why would I know the political situation of a death world?), so it was her show. I was of course ready to aid her, but intervening in the village's matters without her permission would be quite rude.
"Won't we be caught up in a crossfire regardless, my lord? Maybe we should do something?" Said Leila, looking worriedly at incoming starships. Her words sounded reasonable, which meant she was fulfilling her role as a pragmatic rogue in my party. Well, she wasn't a full rogue, as she was half rouge/half religious fanatic, but it was close enough for me.
Well, I supposed I could at least offer my aid to nightsisters, so that my followers wouldn't be so worried. Not that there was anything to worry about.
Deciding on my next course of action, I ate two more fruits that were still on my plate, finished my drink, donned my mask and went looking for Mother Talzin. I shouldn't keep her waiting after all.
I found her in the village's main building, where all the clan mothers and strongest nightsisters had already gathered. I didn't see any nightbrothers, but they were probably fortifying the village already, not wanting to waste time in a meeting.
All people present were standing around a big, round table with a communicator in the center. It was blinking slowly, indicating that someone was trying to contact the village.
Everyone turned in my direction after seeing me enter the building. Not wanting to waste their time, I spoke to Mother Talzin.
"Hi, sorry for disturbing you. I just came to ask if you need any help? You probably shouldn't have any problems defeating them on your own, but working together should speed the process a little"
Everyone was silent until Mother Talzin replied with a bitter smile on her face.
"...Yes, we would be able to defeat the entire fleet on our own, but I guess you can help us," she said. Her tone suggested sarcasm, though I didn't know why she would use it. Judging by the amount of power she possessed, she shouldn't have a problem with some ships. Maybe she didn't want to waste her powers, afraid that there would be a force user among enemies, waiting for the opportunity? "We were about to receive a transmission from the separatist fleet. Would you like to be present during this conversation?"
"Sure, why not?" It was not like I had anything better to do. I could return to my table, but my followers would just stare at me the entire time, making me lose my appetite. Listening to the enemy leader sounded more interesting than awkward lunch.
The communicator blinked, before a hologram of the enemy leader appeared.
The closest description of the enemy leader would be "a really weird, hunched droid with a cape". Not the most poetic description, but an accurate leader possesed a metalic, humanoid body, with long arms and weirdly bent legs. In addition to already weird legs It was hunched, which was like the weirdest design choice for a droid I could think of. Its mask was vaguely resembling a skull and it was wearing a cape of all things, as if it was trying to look menacing.
All in all, it looked quite ridiculous though in a surprisingly cool way.
"Ah, Mother Talzin of the nightsisters, 'cough' 'cough' how wonderful to see you" did that droid just cough? Seriously, who the fuck designed it? I had to meet the guy, he must have been a genius.
Okay, I decided! I wanted a droid like that on my own. It would make my ship much more lively. Second Fury was quite silent at the moment, with only Leila being the only one to start conversations onboard. Well, Raksh sometimes tried, but...
"General Grievous" responded Talzin with a sneer. Was it its name? Or maybe it was just the name of the model? Like Grievous-44 or something like that? "I can't say that the feeling is mutual. What are you doing here?"
"One of your wards, Asajj Ventress, dared to attack Count Dooku. It's highly probable that she was working under your 'cough' orders. Don't worry though, if you hand her over and allow my forces to enter your village to 'cough' look for evidence of your involvement, I won't destroy your precious village. It's a great offer, don't you agree?"
"You robotic piece of shit!" shouted Asajj 'teenage rebellion' Ventress, "you think anyone would believe you?!"
"Ah, Ventress, there you are. I hope you are ready to pay for your actions" said Grievous. I had to stop myself from laughing. I knew that situation was serious and all that, but this droid was just so hammy. If it were to call us meatbags, I would feel at home.
Damn, I missed HK-55.
"Shut up, you..." started Asajj, before being silenced by Talzin.
"Behave yourself Asajj '' said Talzin, admonishing her. Then she turned to the hologram "you have anything to say Grievous or we can start killing each other already? I find talking to you quite a boring affair"
"I see. Then let's see how well you will fare..." It was about to hang up on us, but I couldn't let it do that yet. I still had an important question to ask.
"Wait!" I called Grievous, making the droid focus its attention on me. "I have a question"
He watched me for a while, trying to recognize me, before laughing softly.
"You are that new sith lord, who 'cough' showed up recently. Count Dooku will be extremely pleased to find out I was able to get rid of you" It looked quite giddy at the prospect of pleasing its master. It must have come from its programming. "What is your question?"
"What is your model?" I asked instantly, surprising everyone around me. What? I needed to know. That droid was hilarious in both design and programming!
"My model? What sort of asinine question is that?! There is no one 'cough' 'cough' like me!" Oh, so it was a unique model and not part of the series?
That changed things.
"Enough distractions! Prepare yourselves to die!" Grievous replied and disconnected itself.
Mother Talzin, always the leader, didn't waste any time, instantly turning to me.
"Darth Imperius. I will ask frankly. Can I ask you to thin out the enemy force? Magicks of nightsisters are formidable, but our numbers are quite small. I don't want them to be overwhelmed during the battle. One of our clan mothers, honored Daka, will summon fallen nightsisters to aid us, but we don't want to lose more of them than necessary" They will send undead sorceresses into the battle? To hurl spells and bury our enemies in bodies?
...that was like the coolest thing I ever heard in my entire life. I loved these women!
"Of course, you can count on me. Though..." I turned to Asajj Ventress. Seeing I was looking at her, she sent me a heated gaze.
"...what?" She tersely replied. When she noticed I was holding her gaze, she looked to the side, avoiding it. Man, I really had to talk with her after the battle. Her little crash was flattering and all, but it made talking with her quite annoying.
"Can you tell me in which ship can I find Grievous? From what I was able to understand, you used to work with him, so you might know" she seemed surprised at the question, but soon she gave a cruel smile.
"You want to go after that piece of junk? Be my guest. He is in the biggest ship with the biggest guns, which should be obvious" Then she frowned "Don't know if he will enter the battlefield himself though"
"Don't worry about it. I am sure I will be able to force him to do that" I said with a smirk. She looked at me with suspicion in her eyes, but didn't reply.
We were standing in front of the village. Mother Talzin, Ventress, some nameless nightsisters, my followers and I were watching separatist ships hovering in the distance. Soon they would start their artillery strikes, which was why some of the nightsisters started working on a barrier spell to protect the village.
No one was saying anything, just waiting for the enemy movement, so I decided to break the silence.
"Should we get started?" I asked, quite impatient. I had something to achieve and I didn't want to wait any longer.
"And what should we do? They didn't even land yet" responded Ventress with a sneer, looking at me like I was an idiot. How adorable of her to think they had to be on the ground for us to do anything. I wanted to pat her on her head. I probably shouldn't though. Such actions have always ended badly for me. I looked at Mother Talzin for confirmation. She nodded silently.
Well, now that I had her permission, let's get started.
I raised my hand and started gathering energy above me. With every second the wind around us grew stronger. Others were looking at me, trying to see what I was doing, but I decided to ignore them for now. I had to focus. Clouds started to appear, dark and dense, as the wind was becoming unbearable for everyone.
Everyone was startled as they saw the lightning shooting from a nearly created cloud, though interestingly it shot upside instead of downside. There was no second one though as they seemingly weren't able to leave the cloud. Soon the cloud was practically glowing, full of unreleased electricity and concentrated dark side energy.
Asajj was no longer looking condescending, instead she was almost afraid, as she was beginning to suspect what I was about to do.
I grinned, basking in everyone's amazement, before releasing pent up energy. Uncountable lightings shot from the artificial cloud, bombarding every ship in the fleet except the one belonging to Grievous. Dreadnoughts and frigates were showered in electricity, leading to many explosions inside them, ripping them apart. The sky was glowing, lighting and fire making it almost as bright as during the day.
After a minute I stopped fueling the cloud, letting it disperse into nothing. Then, before anyone managed to say a word, I used the force to grab grevious' ship, beginning to slowly pull it into the atmosphere. Apparently the crew of the ship was able to connect the dots, as the dreadnought started shooting at the village, trying to stop me. Fortunately the barrier raised by the nightsisters was able to endure the barrage, letting me concentrate on my work.
It took me a few minutes, but I was able to land the ship about two kilometers from a village. I then let go of it, letting it rest on the ground.
Man, that was quite exhausting. I had to rest for a minute. For now though...
"So.." I said, making everyone focus on me. They were speechless, as if it was the first time they saw a reversed force storm. "I think you can use your undead army now" It brought Talzin back to the present, as she started to issue orders, not wanting to waste the opportunity.
"Daka, start the spell. My daughters, give these invaders what they deserve!"
Nightsister corpses, previously moved to the center of the village, raised, while living members of the village readied themselves for battle.
After everything was ready, nightbrothers and nightsisters, both alive and dead, started to advance. Deciding that they would be able to handle themselves, I turned to my followers, as I had a special task for them.
"I think you are ready for your first mission!" I exclaimed. I was quite tired from casting previous spells, so it would probably be better to let my followers deal with the next step. I was sure they would be able to succeed, as it was nothing too difficult. "Your objective is Simple. My future droid is located on the ship. Bring it to me!" I said with a huge grin on my face.