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Phase 3: Building the future

=RK=

Part 2

Guest quarters

Tarkin family estate

Eriadu

Much later that night I laid down in the bed and bargained with Shaak Ti. While she was infuriated by the deals I made earlier in the evening, her attention finally settled on what would be happening tomorrow. I would be going to visit the Jedi prisoners and vet them about their complicity with the coup.

Ti was concerned that I would see them dead if I deemed them a complication, no matter their culpability in the plot.

She was right too.

"Why would I ever consider sparing a potential threat?" I asked bewildered. "I no longer need to play by the nice boys rules, Ti. You Jedi ensured, when you killed my wife and got yourselves branded public enemy number one."

"What do you want?" Ti asked.

Ah. She was finally coming to terms with who and what I really was. It wasn't like pleading to my better nature would help the Jedi. The tiny bit that was left of it was utterly blind for the bastards plights.

"What I want?" I asked. "I want my wives alive. I want to be back in my time so I could stop the Empire from disintegrating. What could you possibly offer me, Jedi?" I sneered.

"Power, freely given. A vow not to distract you in combat. One I will keep." Ti declared.

"You can't be sure about the latter, my dear. Not when I might be fighting your friends." I pointed out.

"I could certainly keep that promise when you're facing the Separatists or their Jedi." Ti countered.

"I'll consider it if you keep the ruckus in my head up to a minimum. Otherwise I might be forced to do something you'll most definitely regret."

I could sense her presence flinch. Ti knew that the two reasons why I kept her were because I could draw a bit of power from her and the fact that for some arcane reason I still liked the infernal woman. However, none of the above would stop me from exorcising her pretty red ass and trapping her into something if she became more trouble than she was worth.

"Done." Ti vowed.

"Then convince me how the Jedi imprisoned on this world could be used for the war effort without stabbing me in the back." I told her.

And she did.

"It's a deal then. If they play ball." I thought at her.

Ti grit her teeth and retreated into the back of my mind.

=RK=

Wilhuff's bedroom

Tarkin family estate

Eriadu

Wilhuff and Thalassa Tarkin sat in a pair of sinfully comfortable armchairs facing each other. They were sipping Nubian wine and discussing the meeting from earlier that evening.

"I was becoming afraid you saw your favorite general as Palpatine's second coming." Thalassa hummed happily. "I'm glad I was wrong on that account."

Only Tarkin's in-granted Upper Core up-bribing kept him from snorting derisively, though it was very, very tempting. Veil… wasn't Palpatine. No matter how much Wilhuff trusted and believed in the former Chancellor, he could have gone against Sheev if he had a good enough reason to, which of course was a preposterous thought. Veil however…

Tarkin bowed his head as if conceding the point. He knew what Veil intended. He agreed. However, he couldn't go against the man no matter how much a part of him craved to. Wilhuff was bound to the Sith and would follow him to whatever awaited them at the end of the road.

There was no choice left for him. Veil saw to that, the magnificent bastard. Tarkin both respected and loathed the man for what he did at Kamino. Now all he had left was to follow, advise and if possible ensure that his family would get the best from the deal forced upon them all.

"Veil wont' seek direct political power for himself, anymore he now has as Mandalore anyway. At Kamino, when he saved us all, I got a glimpse of his mind. I know what he wants. He will avoid becoming either Chancellor or Emperor like the plague, because getting such a post will be a disaster." Tarkin explained.

"Then perhaps we should maneuver him into it." Thalassa suggested.

"Trust me about this, wife, if in nothing else – doing so would end poorly… if he accepts anyway. He might just wait in the wings until a useful puppet present themselves while the galaxy falls apart. Then he'll retaliate and it won't be business as usual." Wilhuff explained.

"This isn't reassuring." His wife frowned.

"It wasn't meant to be. Veil doesn't play by the same rules most of us do. That could either be a problem or opportunity. Thalassa, he doesn't want to rule. As far as his goals are met, he won't care about the details or who actually runs the galaxy." Tarkin said.

"That's… the man's a Sith!"

"Yes? What's your point? He sees a formal political office as a burden that will limit his freedom and chain him to Coruscant. He's a Sith as you pointed out. He has more than enough personal power already. What he seeks is enough military power and clout not to deal with the usual concerns that plague us mortals." Wilhuff smiled in amusement. "Give him a decent military to play with, the inevitable trouble his Mandalorians will stir for him to deal with and you wouldn't be able to force him into a position of more power and responsibility if you tried."

Tarkin's one big fear was that the Core politics might actually force Veil to take the throne when the time came. If that disaster came to pass, he was certain Delkatar would sooner rather than later lose his patience and go old fashioned Sith on everyone. That would be a disaster. He had to do his best to keep his wife and extended family from getting any traction on ideas in that vein. He was afraid to contemplate what Veil would do when he got wind of such a scheme.

"Curious." A contemplative expression appeared on Thalassa's face. "I see why you brought him. Let him play with his toy soldiers while we help rule the galaxy for him, is that it?"

"More or less." Tarkin agreed. In his name. As long as we don't inconvenience his plans would be a better way to put it.

Veil intended to be a tyrant in all but name, while outsourcing most of the whole ruling business while he concentrated on things he deemed more interesting.

Thalassa and the rest weren't exactly right – if they played their cards right they would get to rule at a big part of the galaxy as they saw fit. It's just that none of them comprehended what would mean to try managing or deceiving Veil. He would see them dead even if it meant a civil war to achieve it.

Tarkin wanted to explain that point, to make it crystal clear. However he held his tongue. Doing so might jeopardize the plan, even if it might just keep his family from committing a grave mistake. Their support was vital. Speaking up would mean acting in cross-purposes with Veil so Wilhuff held his tongue and changed the topic.

Part 3

=RK=

Stockade

GAR Base Glory

Eriadu

I should put a nice evaluation in the base commandant's file. He was a properly paranoid bastard who had the stockade wrapped in almost enough protection to make Imperial Intelligence approve. Two companies of dug in troopers in heavy armor and weapons, minefields, automated turrets, a walker platoon and there was a CAP in the air ready to incinerate the whole area – all to contain four Jedi… I made a note to get the fellow in charge on my to watch and promote list, then went to meet Jedi Master Hyris-Well Madorin. We managed to avoid each other the last time I was on Eriadu, however this time he wasn't going to be so lucky.

The Jedi's cell was nicely sealed shut and covered with remotely-detonated explosives. My mood rose up a notch. Once I'm done here I was going to meet the base commander and offer them a job.

Madorin was cooling his heels in the middle of his cell where he was suspended by a force field keeping him honest. Nothing a Jedi couldn't get out of, however if set up properly you would need the raw power to survive the explosives set up around the cell and all the firepower which could be brought to bear on you. I doubted there were many people who could pull it off and remain in one piece.

"What the kriff are you?" I didn't recognize his species. Madorin looked like a somewhat humanoid shaped clump of vines. There were stalks with eyes too, which turned to look at me.

"What's up?" The plant-man asked in clear basic.

Huh. That was certainly new.

All I could get from the Jedi was boredom and curiosity, which earned him a few points.

"Hyris-Well Madorin?" I asked to be sure.

"Yes? Ah. You're the Sith. Did you come to finish the job?" Eight eyes blinked at me.

Weird. You would think that by now I would be accustomed to seeing all kinds of aliens.

"That depends. Did you know about the coup and were you a part of it?" I inquired.

"The only coup I know about is that with the Separatists. If I had anything to do with it Dooku would be safely dead." The vines shifted in something resembling a huff.

How was he talking? Air vibrations? Because could see no mouth, not that he might necessary need any with being a plant.

"Jedi coup on Coruscant. Apparently your friends managed to off Palpatine and piss off everyone. They really should have sent more Jedi to take me out." I explained the important points.

More blinking came my way. The vines shifted and now a ninth eye was examining me.

"I have nothing to do with that foolishness. If it matters." Madorin did a pretty neat approximation of shrug given his situation.

He felt like he was telling the truth too.

"Really? And what would you do if you get out of this bind?" I asked.

"There's going to be options instead an ultimatum?" The plant sounded surprised.

"There are always options. People might not like them, they might not deem them acceptable, however there are options." I gave him my opinion on the topic.

Madorin's eyes narrowed.

"You need us for something." He divined.

"That much is obvious. On Kamino the Separatists deployed a lot of Jedi. The Republic needs proper countermeasures and the Jedi Order is no longer viable. Attempting and failing a coup… that's bad boys and girls." I let my amusement surface.

"You want us to fight Jedi." Now he sounded incredulous.

"I want you to fight traitors to the Republic. You certainly have no problem with fighting Dooku. What's different now?" I asked reasonably.

"Dooku is a Sith." The Jedi countered.

"I've met the man. Dooku is just a Dark Jedi with delusions of grandeur. Simply falling to the Dark Side or using it don't make someone a Sith. Trust me, I know."

"Yes. Yes, you do. I sense the stench of corruption upon you, Sith. I could feel the echo of a murdered world clinging like a cloak over your shoulders. You will find no disciples here." Madorin growled at me.

"Won't I? Watch your emotions, Jedi. Your anger is plain to see." Even if he was one of the weirdest aliens I've ever seen.

The Force pulsed under my direction and we were shrouded in darkness. No one would listen or see what would transpire from now on.

"You know my handiwork, Master Jedi. Your fear is delicious. Why are you afraid? What makes your mind recoil from me?" I asked while the Dark Side drew us both in her cold caress.

"I will not fall, Sith. Do what you will." Madorin's voice shook.

He tried to shield himself with the Force yet only the Dark Side existed around us. There was no light to warm him, to chase off the encroaching shadows.

"You call me a Sith, Master Madorin, yet you know not what the title means. Let me show you."

It's been a very long time since I needed to break and turn a Jedi. Usually they were more useful safely dead because that way you didn't need to clean after them like they were little children. Still, I did promise Shaak Ti, though if her screams in the back of my mind were anything to go by, she wasn't pleased. Tough.

"What are you afraid of, Hyris-Well?" I asked lightly.

"There's no emotion, only peace..." He went to search for security in the Jedi Code.

It was so typical. Boring.

"It's all right, my friend. You no longer have to hide. It's just the two of us. There's no reason to lie."

"I don't lie to myself, monster. There's no ignorance, only knowledge. I know the truth. You will not turn me!" His declaration rang hollow.

"Do you fear freedom? Perhaps yourself once the light isn't there to bind you any longer? How did you felt when you heard the echoes of Kamino? A whole world torn apart and thrown into the maw of the Dark Side herself?"

"There is no passion!" Madorin actually hissed at me. "There is serenity!" His tentacles shook as if hurricane tried to tear them off.

"Serenity?" I looked around. "You're right for once." I admitted, giving him pause. "Its just you, me and the Dark Side here. She is my friend and my ally. Right now is the first time that I'm at peace since your kind murdered my wife, Hyris-Well. This darkness that surrounds us allows us to be honest with ourselves. I should thank you and the rest of the Jedi." I leaned forward. "You set me free. Its thanks to you that I could finally be myself, my friend. I no longer need to pretend that I care for this rotten Republic of yours. I no longer need to play nice with the same blind fools who murdered a second wife of mine. I am the monument of your sins, Jedi and I've come to collect."

"Do what you will. I will not be part of your madness. There is no chaos. There is harmony. I will die in peace, Sith, for there is the Force! Come on, strike me down as you crave to!" Madorin rallied.

"The Force? Why, it is right here!" I waved a hand through the darkness around us. The cool touch of the Dark Side was pleasant, reassuring. This was my power.

The Jedi glared defiantly at me.

"Tsk, tsk. So fast to throw away your life. To run away." I laughed merrily.

"Run? I stand defiant to the very end!"

"Look at me, Madorin. I told you, the Darkness is my ally. My tool. My mistress. It reveals the truth, for in her embrace we could be ourselves. Yet, she also hides us from everyone. Her greatest gifts are truth and the masks she lets us wear. I am the Dark Lord of the Sith, Madorin. Look at me and despair."

My smile became vicious and I let him see me for who I really was. I knew that there were no physical changes, no mask to alter my personality so I wouldn't get myself killed before I could get my vengeance like the one I wore until Mandalore. There was just one last deception to tear through – I no longer held back in any sense of the word. The Darkness around us solidified into a wall that contained my aura of power. My very presence was corruption poisoning everything around me. My mind was oppressive force demanding awe.

Madorin looked at me through the Force, the Dark Side herself stared back and he screamed. Conjuring his nightmares to life needed a mere thought.

Hyris-Well was a Force Adept. The Force was a part of his very nature and by merely being around me he was slowly being corrupted. His emotions became harder to control and almost impossible to suppress.

"Do you see now, Jedi? This is the true power of the Dark Side. I don't need to break your bones or shred your muscles. With my mind alone I make your nightmares manifest. I can drive you mad with fear and shred your sanity until you beg to fall. I can leave you a babbling lunatic until you perish."

"I… will… not… FALL!" Madorin spat. "I will not be your tool!

"You're already falling, my friend. Can you imagine it? The lush forests of your homeworld writhing as consume them and choke the very heavens with black smoke? The little saplings your kind venerates being left as empty husks? Your home becoming death – a wound in the Force like Malachor V and Kamino..." I trailed off.

I could see his nightmares. What he wanted to protect and was terrified to fail.

"I will not let you!" Madorin rasped. He reached for the Light Side yet there was only Darkness here in this place. He lacked the power and knowledge to break through the field surrounding us.

"I will bring a fleet to your homeworld, once I've gathered your still living friends. I will turn the very mantle of that wretched planet into ocean of boiling magma and I will use the extinction of your species to break them all! Look me into the eyes, Jedi and tell me I lie!"

"NO!" Madorin's anger and fear spiked. I could see the Dark Side sinking into him like summer rain being drank by parched lips. "No! I will protect them from you! I will stop you, Sith! You will not hurt anyone else ever again! Your kind ends here!"

The Jedi flailed, grasped for his slipping sanity and the Force answered. The Dark Side was eager to serve him and he lashed at me with everything he had. A titanic telekinetic push powerful enough to crumple a tank slammed into me and I drank the power like a bubbling glass of wine. The sheer unreasoning anger framing the attack gave the Force delicious tang as I consumed it.

"Good, my friend. You did good." I smiled benignly at him.

"Why don't you die?!" Madorin shouted his frustration at me. "You're a Sith! The Dark Side is weaker!

"Die? From such a lover's pat?" I frowned, letting him see my disappointment. "I think I will go visit your world only when I've broken you properly. I will watch it burnt by your own hand." Eh. "Tentacle or whatever you call these..." I waved at him.

Madorin stared at me with unrestrained hatred. The more he gave into his emotions, the faster the corruption spread and clouded his mind. He gave out a chocked scream and lashed at me again and again. I simply absorbed or deflected the attacks into the shell of Darkness around us.

"That's it my friend. Give into your anger." I goaded him on. "You need the power to stop me. It is right here, around us. You simply have to grasp it and use it."

"No… I… I… will…" Hyris-Well babbled.

Madorin shook. All his eyes narrowed at me and their irises shone with faint yellow light. His tentacles began shacking wildly when their bright green color began to darken.

"I will end you! Die!" Red tinted shadows formed around

Hyris-Well and he struck at me with Sith lighting that had only one purpose – to punish.

Forks of energy with the color of flaking blood splashed over a barrier of living shadows only to be drained into the field surrounding us.

"Such amusing ignorance you show, my friend. Do you think that the Dark Lord of the Sith is an empty title of aggrandizement? Do you think I earned it just to stroke my ego? It is a description, fool! You'll need decades of learning the secrets of the Dark Side before you could hurt me with it unless I allow it."

"No…" The useless onslaught petered out. Madorin slumped within the energy cage still holding in place. "NO!" He repeated. "What have I done?!" His eyes widened in despair. He needed to be consoled and the Dark Side did it with relish.

"Look at me, my friend. It is all right. The Dark Side is with you now. You would never be alone again. She will hide you from the rest of the galaxy." I spoke soothing words. "You're no longer limited by the light, Hyris-Well. The Dark Side has left her mark upon you. As you use her, she will serve you and you will serve her in return. She will transform you and unlock your full potential. We thrive on conflict. We evolve through it and that change, that very transformation is the price we pay. If you're strong enough, then you will not be destroyed by it."

"This is it? I can feel its power… so much power... Unbound, unrestrained. Power for power's sake? Is this the answer?" Madorin asked.

"It could be. Its up to you to find the answer which suits you, my friend.

"What are you?" Madorin's eyes focused on me.

"Me? I am a Sith of old. Compared to me, Dooku and even his master Sidious for all his power was a mere child playing with the toys we discarded. I told you already, my friend. I am the monument of your sins, Republic and Jedi alike." I waved a hand and the energy field restraining the former Jedi shut down.

He fell to the floor in a mess of writhing tentacles and it took him irritatingly long to get to a kneeling position.

"What did you do to me?"

"I opened your eyes - its what friends do. I will make you a Dark Jedi, Hyris-Well Madorin. You will be an extension of my power and serve my will alone."

"Not Sith?" The Jedi asked in confusion.

I snorted.

"You simply fell, my friend. That does not make you a Sith. Not even close. To be a Sith, it is to walk a long road. You need to crave power for her own sake, until you're strong enough to defeat your own demons. Only through that victory, your chains will be broken and only then you will be free. Only then you might earn the right to call yourself a Sith." I explained.

"What is thy bidding my master?" Madorin glared his hatred at me. I broke him, might gleefully turn him against everything he held dear and I trampled on the fragile shards of his ego when I declared him unworthy of being a Sith. Oh, how he hated me right now.

Well, that's done. A bit of twisted truth, a few convenient lies, and a Jedi knees broken at my feet yet I didn't need to lay a finger on him. One down, three more to go.

"Are you satisfied, Shaak Ti? Your friend will not die by my hand unless he loses what little wits he has."

"Damn you!"

"Your fury is like the best wine I've ever tasted. Good girl."