WILHUFF TARKIN

Magnificent. Simply magnificent.

Tarkin was watching the other members of the party, barely able to contain the excitement he felt. Though he didn't know if calling it a party would be entirely accurate, as it was more of the political gathering, where Adas Kallig's various allies and subordinates had an opportunity to meet each other and learn more about the people they would inevitably fight alongside with in the future.

He did exactly that, observing other participants and learning all he could about their capabilities. What he was able to observe only reinforced his conviction that he made the right choice by changing his allegiances.

The people already recruited by Adas Kallig clearly indicated that he was a leader who valued results over any unnecessary concerns of ethical nature. He wanted his troops to be effective and achieve their objectives regardless of the methods used to do that. The fact that mandalorians were among the people loyal to Kallig was a definite proof of it. There were few soldiers that could claim to be as deadly as these armored warriors. They were trained from birth to fight, with their entire culture revolving around combat. They were also extremely ruthless and vicious, completely different from the soldiers and officers of the Republic. The fact that Adas Kallig planned to use them suggested that he planned to win by any means necessary. Tarkin respected that.

He was also very impressed by these so-called "flesh raiders". While these red beasts couldn't be called bright or sophisticated, they made up for it with their strength and savagery. Equipped with proper armor and suitable heavy weapons and led by the right officer, they would be able to change the tide of battle single handedly, wreaking havoc across the battlefield.

Adas Kallig also recruited a female order of zabraks, called nightsisters, which were clearly meant to be sith lord's answer to Republic's jedi order when it came to military use. They however couldn't be more different than the Jedi, as instead of being pacifistic hermits unable to make a hard choice, they were trained assassins and sorceresses, with access to powers far more destructive than their republic counterparts. He could already evision multiple situations where abilities like necromancy would be extremely useful. After all there was nothing more demoralizing for the enemy than the sight of their comrades rising from their graves, ready to rip them apart. Yes, he had a feeling he would get along with nightsisters very well…

However the thing that impressed Tarkin the most was the information network already in process of being created by his new leader and his right hand, Lana Beniko. The cult centered around the sith lord was spreading through the hutt space at an astonishing rate, giving the paur access to valuable intel and increasing their influence. He had no doubts that most of the significant members of the hutt cartel already had at least one cult's member placed in their vicinity, ready to act if necessary. Cult's influence was of course weaker in republic and separatist space, but the fact that several high ranking republic officers, him included, were working for them meant that Adas Kallig had already infiltrated two out of three most important factions of the galaxy. He was astonished by the foresight needed to plan something like that.

Seeing all these people under Adas Kallig made Tarkin certain that serving him was the right choice.

Speaking of his new leader, the sith lord was currently standing alone on the other side of the room, silently watching the party. He would sometimes glance at Tarkin, as well as Bo-Katan Kryze and Mother Talzin , probably deliberating on which of them to approach first. His choice would show whom his new leader considered to be the most important, so it wasn't a decision to take lightly.

Deciding to take the opportunity presented to him, Tarkin started walking in Sith lord's direction. He was the newest addition to this alliance, so strengthening ties with his superior was the priority at the moment. Being seen as the first one to talk with him at the party would be beneficial as well.

Unsurprisingly the sith lord instantly noticed Tarkin move, looking in his direction, but he didn't react otherwise, which Tarkin took as giving him permission to approach him. When he reached Kallig, he spoke.

"Do you enjoy the party, my lord?" Asked Tarkin politely. He wasn't sure what title he should use to address his new leader, so he decided to go with lord. It was a respectful title, so he wouldn't offend his superior and if he had any other preferred title, he would inform him.

"It's quite pleasant so far" Darth Imperius responded easily. His voice was normal and his posture was relaxed, so Tarkin assumed he made the right choice by calling him lord. "But what about you, Admiral? People gathered here are probably much different from your regular company"

Tone of his voice was normal, but Tarkin was sure this question had another meaning. Was his lord checking if he had something against working with other members of the alliance? It was a reasonable assumption, as most of the republic officers would never consider allying themselves with people like that. Tarkin however wasn't as narrow-minded.

"I actually find the present company quite refreshing, my lord" He said with a small smile, making the sith lord look at him questioningly. He decided to explain. "They are a welcome change from the people I normally have to work with as a republic officer. Since the start of this war I have been constantly dealing with jedi and civilian officials, who don't seem to understand how the war works. I have a feeling I won't have this problem with people gathered here"

"You have the heart of the true imperial officer!" Said his lord with a laugh, sounding approving. "yeah, the republic can be really annoying with all these moral values and standards. In the empire, the biggest moral issue was which objects discarded on the battlefield are better to be mounted with explosives that would set off upon contact, communicators or grenades."

Hmm, that was actually quite an idea. Maybe he will be able to use it in the future. He smiled at the thought.

BO-KATAN

She was sitting with Satine at one of the tables, sipping her drink in silence. When she was asked (ordered) to come to Korriban, her original plan was twofold: to have an honest conversation with her sister and talk with Darth Imperius about the ownership of the darksaber with everything that it entailed. So far she wasn't able to achieve either of her goals. The fact that she didn't have the opportunity to talk with the Sith lord yet didn't bother her. She herself wasn't exactly eager to approach him, fearing he would consider her concerns as a sign of weakness and dispose of her. On the other hand she didn't like how hard it was to start the conversation with her own sister.

It appeared that overthrowing her and forcing her to follow a sadistic sith didn't help their already bad relations. Who knew?

That was why they were sitting in silence, waiting for the other one to break the silence. It took almost an hour before Satine, being apparently much braver than Bo-Katan, said anything.

"…so, how are things on Mandalore?" Satine asked quietly, staring at her drink. Bo-Katan wouldn't exactly call it the best subject to start the conversation with, especially after what happened, but even that topic was better than the awkward silence form before, so she decided to answer nonetheless.

"The situation has been stable so far. There were some problems along the way, which should be expected, but the situation is improving" Bo-Katan replied with a smile, though what she said couldn't be farther from the truth. While the population was overall happy with the new management so far, the Death Watch was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of work and manpower necessary to keep the sector going after the coup. It instantly became clear that the rebellion was only the first and the easiest step and the real work was only about to start. It would probably be easier with Pre Vizsla alive, as he was the one with connections and plans necessary to make it work in the long term. Instead it was Bo-Katan who had to deal with it and she wasn't prepared to become a leader responsible for the entire sector. Ironically someone like Satine would be better suited than her to do the job. She wouldn't tell that to her sister though. She wasn't stupid.

However her main problem at the moment was her own position within the Death Watch. She was its official leader at the moment, but a lot of members were already doubting if she actually earned that position. After all, it was Darth Imperius who killed darksabers' wielder, Pre Vizsla. He was the one who earned the right to be their next leader, not Bo-Katan. The sith lord however decided to make her a ruler of mandalorians, not even bothering to take the darksaber from Pre's corpse. Because of that most of the Death Watch members were only following her because she was working under "the real leader", not because of any loyalty to her.

It was actually the main reason why she was on Korriban in the first place, with the darksaber on her hip. It was by all right his, so she came to speak with Darth Imperius about the matter. She was however worried that the ruthless and cruel lord of the sith would see it as an act of weakness and punish her severely, maybe even kill her. He would probably think it was the problem she was supposed to solve on her own. That was why speaking about the subject carried a risk. It was however necessary, as she didn't know how long it would take for other members of the Death Watch to turn on her. Which would be darkly ironic, as the same thing happened to her sister. So the situation was actually quite dire at the moment.

It however wasn't something she wanted to inform her sister about, so she just assured Satine that everything was fine, giving her a fake smile.

"I see…" Satine replied softly, disbelief clear in her voice. Bo-Katan wasn't exactly surprised that her sister didn't believe her lie. For all her faults, Satine was actually skilled and experienced in governing. She had to know that the political consequences of the coup wouldn't be as easy to deal with as Bo-Katan was claiming. It was an obvious lie, but she couldn't just tell the truth to Satine. If she were to admit that the situation was bad, her sister would try to help, either for Bo-Katan's or Mandalore's sake. It was admirable, but Satine should focus on her own problems before trying to help others. Like the fact that she was travelling with a bloodthirsty psychopath.

"And what about you, Satine? Is everything alright?" Bo-Katan asked quietly, worried that something horrible might have happened during her journey with the Sith lord. She knew she probably had no right to ask about Satine's state as she was the person responsible for giving her sister to Darth Imperius in the first place, but it was something she had to know. Bo-Katan wouldn't forgive herself if her sister were to suffer because of her stupid decisions, like helping Pre Vizsla enter the alliance with Adas Kallig. Satine looked at her and there was something heavy in her gaze that made Bo-Katan almost afraid to hear the answer.

"I…" Started Satine quietly before stopping. She was shaking slightly and there was a heavy grimace on her face, as if she remembered something horrifying. Bo-Katan was terrified. Just what kind of torment her sister had experienced for her to behave like that?! And it was all her fault! Because of her poor choices she was now barely holding onto power over Death Watch and her sister was going through hell.

She wanted to say something, to console Satine, though no right words came to her mind. She was desperately trying to find something to say, but before she was able to do that she felt someone's arm landing on her shoulder. Startled, as she was trained to react before someone would be able to do that, she looked up. She felt dread as it was her official ally and actual leader, Darth Imperius. He apparently approached their table without either of them noticing and hugged them, placing his arms on their shoulders.

"Hello, ladies. Are you having fun?" He said, ignoring the tense atmosphere at the table and their shock at his sudden appearance. For some reason he seemed happy, as both his tone of voice and posture were relaxed. But why was he there? Did he overheard them talking about Satine's situation? Was he trying to force them to drop the subject? She didn't know what to do, so she looked at Satine. Her sister was however only looking at the sith lord with a mixture of fear and defeated acceptance. It wasn't a look she wanted to ever see on her sister's face. Bo-Katan had to say something, so that she wouldn't offend the Sith.

"A-ah, Darth Imperius, what a pleasant surprise" She replied, trying to stop her voice from shaking. It was hard, as she was honestly terrified of him. After all, this was the person who could effortlessly kill Pre Vizsla, the strongest person Bo-Katan had ever known. She still had nightmares about the execution that happened in Satine's throne room. The fact that he approached them just as they started to talk about a dangerous subject didn't help either. "To what do we owe a pleasure?"

"Well, I saw my two favourite mandalorians sitting in awkward silence, so I decided to help with that, as I know how hard the situation like that can be" He responded with a calm voice, giving an obviously false reason for approaching them. He was making sure they weren't planning anything suspicious! Darth Imperius however wasn't done. "Well, I also noticed that all these glances that you were sending me, so I assume you have something to talk about?" He asked, releasing them from the hug and standing next to their table. So he noticed. It wasn't the subject she wanted to talk about next to her sister, but she doubted the Sith lord would agree to change the location for that. She had no choice, but to tell him about the issue.

"Yes, there is an important matter we need to discuss!" She exclaimed, trying to sound as confident as she could. She couldn't show any weakness, not now. "We need to talk about the matter of the darksaber!" She said, knowing it was something that could change everything. Worst case scenario, her words could be considered a sign of betrayal. After all, the darksaber was an important symbol, representing the power over the Death Watch. Wanting to discuss the matter of its ownership could be seen as having doubts about the person in charge.

Darth Imperius didn't say anything for a while, just staring at Bo-Katan in silence. Her whole body was tense, as she was waiting for his response, afraid of his reaction. After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke.

"What the fuck is a darksaber?" He said, tone flat.

Merry Christmas everyone!