Chapter 17: Darkness in the Desert Part 3

Dromund Kaas, the Citadel…

Darth Baras, Sith spymaster and future Voice of the Emperor, had his elbows resting on his desk with his hands clasped together as he stared at the holographic image before him.

Baras didn't consider himself someone who was easily surprised, but he seemed to be getting quite a few surprises these days. The most recent one being the unexpected transmission he'd received from his servant Sharack Breev no more than an hour ago. She had always been eccentric, but Baras hadn't expected to hear from her so soon after her recent failure.

When he'd sent his apprentice to deal with that worthless fool Yonloch, Baras had ordered his servant to assist his apprentice in locating the old Jedi Master and also keep an eye on his apprentice at the same time. To be sure, Sharack had helped his apprentice locate and kill the old Jedi, but she'd also abandoned her order to spy on his apprentice after being frightened by some superstitious nonsense about some area in the desert that she'd refused to cross. Despite his anger at such cowardice, Baras had spared her life. He had few servants on Tatooine and he knew that Sharack was still useful to him.

Now, far sooner than he'd expected, that decision had proven to be the correct one when she'd contacted him with a report and a recording that had surprised him once more. A recording that he'd watched several times already and was watching once more at this very moment.

The recording started by showing what appeared to be a small hut in the middle of the desert with a speeder bike near the entrance. According to the report, it was where Jedi Master Yonloch had secluded himself since going into hiding.

Then, a figure emerged from the hut. The figure had his hood up, making it almost impossible to get a good look at their face as they walked towards the speeder bike and settled himself on it. Only once the figure was settled did they throw the hood back and their face was revealed.

It was a face Darth Baras had recognized immediately and one he was not expecting nor pleased to see. Primarily because the one to whom the face belonged was supposed to still be in his compound here on Dromund Kaas, not on a planet on the other side of the galaxy. His own agents had reported as such but there was no mistaking what he was seeing with his own eyes.

So Baras watched as Darth Rhal, son of Darth Jadus and Lord of the Dark Council, put on a pair of protective goggles and quickly sped off into the distance and out of the image before the recording started playing again.

Shutting down the terminal in front of him, Baras' mind was racing as he tried to put together the pieces of this new puzzle he found himself presented with. 'Or rather, the one I've had forced on me.' Baras thought with no small amount of frustration.

The recording was real, Baras had no doubt about that. Aside from her loyalty being beyond question, Sharack couldn't have known who Rhal was nor what he looked like. She'd even mentioned in her report that Rhal might have been a Jedi seeking to discover Master Yonloch's fate. 'Jadus' son! A Jedi!' The thought would have drawn a laugh from the Sith if the whole situation wasn't so worrying.

Darth Rhal, despite being the youngest and newest member of the Dark Council, was proving to be every bit his father's son. The Dark Side was very strong with him and he'd already proven it with his actions several times over. His actions were also winning him quite a bit of support within the Empire as the young Sith now possessed loyal forces, a fortified stronghold, and most recently, a strong Imperial fleet.

However, two important things that Rhal was still currently lacking was Sith support and an apprentice.

Darth Jadus had been strong enough that he hadn't needed other Sith in his inner circle, but Rhal wasn't his father. The boy was strong to be sure, but he was also smart enough to realize that many still doubted his abilities. Securing the support of other powerful Sith and members of the Dark Council was a necessity and Rhal surely knew it.

From what his agents had managed to gather, while Vowrawn and Rhal were on friendly terms at the moment, there was no indication that the two of them had any sort of alliance. This was a weight off Baras' mind since the two of them working together in any form would be a serious threat to his future plans. He just needed to make sure that he kept the two separated as much as possible until he made his play to become the Emperor's Voice.

As for the rest of the Dark Council, while a few of them did view Rhal somewhat more positively than others, most still seemed to be simply observing their newest member to try and get a read on him and see where he would fit into their own plans. 'It's disappointing that most of the Council seem to have accepted him already, but at least they're not seeking him out yet.'

Well, Baras knew that wasn't entirely accurate. There was one member of the Dark Council that did very badly want Rhal's support and, while she hadn't reached out to him yet, Baras knew it was only a matter of time before Darth Hadra made her move.

Hadra had held her seat on the Dark Council for barely a year and her position was arguably even more unstable now then when she'd begun. It certainly hadn't helped that her hated rival, Darth Arctis, had already held his own seat for considerably longer and had strong allies with the Dark Council members while Hadra had none of her own with almost all of her attempts to gain allies having failed or been sabotaged by Arctis, not to mention the recent humiliation of her failure to hold the shine outside of Kaas City. A failure that had even cost her the life of Lord Arosh, her only apprentice. Yet another humiliation.

But now, a new player had entered the game and Baras had no doubt that as soon as Hadra had something she could offer him, she'd reach out to Rhal in hopes of forming an alliance or at least start laying the groundwork for one. He could attempt to stop it but Baras felt that unless he could keep Rhal and Hadra permanently separated, an impossibility due to their positions, eventually the two would join hands. Each had too much to gain from the other so it was likely inevitable. 'Still, such an alliance would present certain opportunities.' Baras thought before focusing back on the one other important thing Rhal didn't have:

An apprentice.

All Sith took apprentices at some point. Whether they were recruited as students, possible successors, useful agents, skilled warriors, infiltrators, assassins, enforcers, or simply assistants, just about every Sith in the Empire eventually took at least one student of their own. If a Sith didn't come across a gifted individual in their travels, they could simply travel to Korriban and take a talented enough acolyte from there.

Rhal did go to Korriban after claiming his father's seat, but he didn't leave with an apprentice and still didn't have one as far as Baras knew. He did know that Intelligence agents had, on Rhal's orders, taken a wounded Sith Pureblood that had been serving Darth Angral back to Rhal's compound but, for what purpose, Baras still didn't know. The Pureblood hadn't been seen since so while Rhal could have taken her as an apprentice, Baras' instincts told him that Rhal was just making use of the Pureblood's beast taming abilities rather than training her as a formal apprentice.

Now, while he was still unsure of the boy's purpose on that dustball, after seeing the footage of Rhal there, Baras had a dark feeling that the young Dark Council member was hunting for an apprentice of his own and had somehow set his sights on the same target he had.

Nomen Karr's padawan, Jaesa Willsaam.

The possibility alone was enough to send chills down the Sith spymaster's spine. When he'd first learned of her and the incredible gift the force had granted her to see the true nature of any being, there was no doubt in Baras' mind that the girl was the source of the disturbance in the force that left him feeling nothing but doom for him and everything he'd built. Now, he couldn't help but wonder if he'd jumped to conclusions. 'But how would Rhal have learned of her? How would he know where to look for clues? And did he find something in Yonloch's hideaway? How did he even know where the Jedi was hiding?' Questions continued to race through his mind, but Darth Baras had no answers for any of them.

Pushing his chair back and rising to his feet, Baras stood and quickly entered a familiar frequency into his desk holo. After only a few moments, the image of an Imperial officer appeared before him. "My Lord." The Imperial greeted with a bow and a quick salute. "How may I serve?"

"Prepare my ship. I will be leaving Dromund Kaas shortly." Baras commanded, getting a nod from the officer.

"At once, my Lord." The officer said before his image vanished.

That done, Baras started to make his way out of the Citadel and towards the spaceport where his ship would be ready for departure by the time he arrived. He rarely left Dromund Kaas these days, usually sending one or more of his many agents to accomplish whatever tasks needed to be done, but this matter was far too important to trust to any agent and what he intended to do, he knew he had to do himself.

That single recording had raised far too many questions that needed answers. Baras knew that the coming days could greatly impact his long term plans and this unexpected new development had the potential to ruin everything and he couldn't afford to take that chance. Baras needed answers and he needed them now. And there was only one way to get the answers he wanted fast enough to be able to prepare and possibly counter whatever was coming.

After a quick flight to the spaceport and confirming his ship was prepared for the upcoming journey, Darth Baras took the controls of his personal vessel and piloted up and out of Dromund Kaas' atmosphere. As soon as he was clear, he immediately plotted in the now familiar hyperspace coordinates.

A few moments later, Darth Baras and his ship disappeared into hyperspace.

…

Tatooine, the Dune Sea…

At last, after traveling across seemingly endless sand dunes for several days, Rhal finally caught sight of mountains and an outpost that appeared to be flying Imperial banners in the distance. He pushed the speeder bike to its limit, ready to finally leave the endless desert behind. 'Not that I'm leaving empty-handed.' Rhal thought as he glanced at the small pouch on his side and the priceless treasure it contained.

The day he'd retrieved the holocron Rhal had wanted to start unlocking its secrets immediately, but unfortunately he'd needed to wait as he still had other things to accomplish and wanted to start making his way towards whatever the force wanted him to find. So, with great reluctance, he'd resisted the urge to delve into the holocron until the sun had set and he needed to rest for the night. Only then did he finally access the device and was greeted by a hologram of its creator.

The figure's holographic projection might have been small, but it was clear the Sith Lord had been rather tall in life. He wore black robes and armor covering him from head to toe that were rather unremarkable. The one piece that stood out however had completely stunned Rhal as soon as he'd seen it, as he'd only ever read descriptions of the piece never having laid eyes on the real thing.

A bone white mask with two red stripes over the eyes and a black featureless mask under it.

The mask of Darth Nihilus.

Having existed outside of the Sith Empire when he lived, Darth Nihilus was a powerful Sith Lord who appeared sometime after the end of the Jedi Civil War three centuries ago. His past remained a great mystery since there was very little information of exactly what had occurred during his lifetime, but it was well known that Nihilus was extremely powerful and had supposedly almost wiped out the Jedi completely before one eventually managed to strike him down. There were even rumors that his power was so great, he could use the Dark Side to destroy entire planets. But this had never been proven.

The legend of Darth Nihilus was one many Sith, including Rhal himself, couldn't help but be extremely impressed by. Nihilus had supposedly only reigned for a short time but, during that time, the Lord of Hunger and his followers had inflicted more damage on the Republic and the Jedi Order than almost any other in galactic history. Even more impressive was the fact that Nihilus had accomplished so much with very little to work with, as other Sith before him like Darth Revan and Darth Malak had been secretly assisted by the Emperor during their own conquest. Darth Nihilus had no such assistance during his own conquest. Many Sith had spent their entire lives looking for even the tiniest scrap of information about Nihilus in the hopes of discovering just what had made the Dark Lord so powerful.

And now, Rhal has his holocron. Something that he had previously believed was nothing more than a rumor did in fact exist and was now in his possession. He knew there were many Sith in the galaxy that would kill him if it meant they could get their hands on it. But now the repository of all his knowledge and his greatest secrets belonged to him. To say he'd been excited would have been a massive understatement.

However, as soon as the legendary Sith Lord's figure began speaking, Rhal's excitement vanished like a puddle in the desert. The language spoken was not basic nor any of the alien languages that the young Sith had learned over the years.

No, it was the ancient language of the Sith that Darth Nihilus spoke. A dead tongue.

It was a language that had been used by the ancient Sith Purebloods before the first Dark Jedi arrived on Korriban thousands of years ago. Even then the language had supposedly already been on the verge of dying out and the conquest of the ones who would become known as the first Sith Lords brought an end to the language's use entirely. Worse was the fact that none had ever bothered trying to study the language, much less translate it, until centuries after it had died out.

Rhal couldn't imagine why Nihilus would speak such a tongue. Even during his time the language had been long dead and, as far as Rhal knew, there was still no one in the entire galaxy that knew how to speak or translate it. The only reason he had any idea what he was hearing at all was the strange sharp pain he felt in his mind as the Dark Lord spoke, something that was rumored to occur when hearing the ancient language spoken.

Ignoring the pain, Rhal had continued listening to Nihilus speak, hoping he could detect some sort of pattern to help understand the Sith's words. But try as he might, Rhal was unable to hear anything that might help him understand the dead Sith's tongue. He tried speaking with the avatar and, while it did seem like at least some of his own words were understood, Nihilus' remained completely unknown to him.

Eventually, with no small amount of disappointment, Rhal had shut down the holocron. Its secrets were beyond him at the moment, but they were still there and the young Dark Council member would have them in time. 'Fortunately, I was able to make another interesting discovery out there. One that I can definitely see paying off in the future.'

That discovery was hidden in a small hut the force had led him to a few days back. In truth, he had made several discoveries when entering the lone hut with the first being the two dead bodies on the floor inside. Both dressed in the traditional robes of the Jedi but that was where the similarities ended. One was young and looked to have been quite strong physically while the other was significantly smaller and older. The wounds clearly marked them both as being struck down by a lightsaber.

The next discovery was their identities. The younger Jedi, Rhal didn't recognize. But the older one was a different story. It was Jedi Master Yonloch, who Rhal knew thanks to his planted listening device had been killed by Baras' apprentice a short while back. It was also how he knew that the now dead master had shared a special bond with Nomen Karr's padawan.

That piece of information had been enough for Rhal to start ripping the dead Jedi's home apart looking for anything he could use to find the padawan or her master. He was confident that there was something to find, otherwise the force wouldn't have led him there. 'Not to mention the fact that Baras' apprentice clearly didn't search it after killing the Jedi.' He thought as he remembered the battle damage around the hut. The destruction hadn't been much but the young Dark Council member couldn't see any evidence that the apprentice actually searched the place. Too many things were still in place and the destruction was far more limited than it would have been if Baras' apprentice had done a thorough check.

Sure enough, after a little over an hour of searching, Rhal found a loose panel in a section of the ceiling. After literally ripping it down, he found a small hiding spot with only a small datapad inside. It was an older model but there was no dust on it and some of the buttons on it were quite worn so the Jedi Master had likely used it quite a bit.

Checking, Rhal found it was mostly used as Master Yonloch's holodiary. The Sith was annoyed to discover it was very similar to the one he'd found back on the Jedi's ship. Most of it was filled with nothing but more Jedi nonsense.

But then, just as he was about to set it aside and continue searching, Rhal reached a section where the Jedi described his surprise when Master Nomen Karr reached out to him, requesting his assistance in providing his new padawan, Jaesa Willsaam, with guidance. After reading that Rhal paid much closer attention to the next few entries as Yonloch described how he trained the girl to wield her abilities in the force as well as her special gift and this helped provide Rhal with a much clearer picture of just what the young padawan was capable of as well as increased his desire to meet her and gain her power for himself.

Finally, after the Jedi Master mentioned that Jaesa had left to continue her training elsewhere and having to read more of the Jedi's stupidity, Rhal was rewarded for his patience as he reached the final entry.

Yonloch wrote that Jaesa had reached out to him with concerns about a Sith her master had warned her was searching for her. The Jedi described how he had attempted to calm the padawan's mind and that he was pleased that his efforts had seemingly been successful and that she'd expressed her wishes to speak to him more in the future.

So she'd sent him her new holo frequency which Yonloch had put in the holodiary.

Rhal had taken some time to decide what he wanted to do with the information. Reading the Jedi Master's words about her painted a picture in the young Sith's mind about what the girl was like so, with a plan formed, he'd contacted the young Jedi. His talk with her had revealed several important facts. The first was that Jaesa Willsaam truly didn't understand the position she was in. She didn't realize just how important her power made her in the eyes of her allies and her enemies. Perhaps she had a slight idea, but it was only that. She was completely unaware of just what kind of lengths both her allies and enemies would go to to either make her power theirs or to end her life so that she couldn't turn her power against them.

That was another thing, her ignorance. Unlike most Jedi who were willfully ignorant, her ignorance was the result of her master's efforts to use her to root out Baras' agents. There was no question after speaking to her that Nomen Karr cared nothing for the girl herself and had only taken her as an apprentice to use her power for his own benefit. This worked greatly in Rhal's favor as it had taken no effort at all to plant seeds of doubt in the girl's mind about her master. 'All I had to do was tell her a little of her master's past with Baras and after that she was practically eating out of my hand.'

After ending the transmission, Rhal knew that she would go to her master looking for answers and, if what he knew of Nomen Karr was any indication and his padawan was as curious about the situation as he suspected, the two would surely clash. The padawan seeking answers that the master was very unlikely to give. He wouldn't be surprised if their exchange became heated and Jaesa left without her answers and feeling even more frustrated.

Jaesa Willsaam had incredible potential and, if Rhal had his way, he'd see to it that her potential was unlocked. 'But not by the Jedi.' He thought with a small smirk.

However, all thoughts of the Jedi padawan vanished from Rhal's mind as he suddenly felt a powerful Dark Side presence coming from the Imperial outpost ahead of him. Normally, such a thing wouldn't have been surprising. Even on a planet like Tatooine, Sith were often present to defend Imperial interests so a few Sith at the outpost wouldn't have been a surprise to Rhal.

But what was indeed surprising to the young Dark Council member was the amount of power he was feeling. Whoever Rhal was sensing at the outpost was stronger than him. Not as strong as his father, but stronger than any of the other members of the Dark Council. 'Who could be so powerful? And why would they be all the way out here?' Rhal had a feeling his questions would be answered soon enough.

When one of the outpost sentries finally caught sight of him, the sentry called out to the other guards and by the time Rhal brought his speeder to a stop, about a dozen Imperial soldiers had lined up to greet him. The one who first spotted him gave a salute before speaking. "My Lord, welcome to Outpost Zaroshe."

Rhal tilted his head to the side slightly. "You were expecting me?"

The sentry shook his head. "No, my Lord. The Commander only informed us that you would be arriving a few minutes ago."

'So their Commander is the one I sensed.' Rhal thought before saying, "I would speak to your Commander."

The sentry nodded. "Of course, my Lord. He and the others are waiting for you in the Command Center." The guard informed him before he turned and pointed at a small building that was nearly identical to Yonloch's home with the only difference being the large communications array that was on the roof.

Rhal couldn't care less about the building. Now that he was closer, he was confident that the strong Dark Side user he was sensing was within it. But he now knew that he wasn't alone. Even if the guard hadn't mentioned "the others", Rhal could still sense two more individuals inside that, while they weren't force sensitive, their minds were honed as sharp as vibroblades. The mind of who Rhal could only assume was the Commander was honed just as sharp if not even sharper.

Starting to put the pieces together, Rhal made his way to the only real building at the outpost. Well, perhaps calling it an outpost was a bit too generous. It looked far more like a small army camp with all the tents set up around the area and all the Imperial troops who seemed to be doing very little besides cleaning their weapons or just standing around and talking until they noticed him and snapped to attention as he passed. A few Sith were also present as he'd expected, but none were anywhere close to being as powerful as the one he sensed in the Command Center.

Approaching the building, Rhal felt he had a pretty good idea of what to expect when he entered. Even so, the young Sith couldn't help but be surprised by the sight that greeted him.

There were three figures inside, all of whom were standing at attention when he entered but dropped to their knees and bowed their heads when they saw him. Each was wearing identical armor and robes, but there were some key differences. The lead figure, who Rhal was certain beyond doubt now was the Commander, was much bigger than his two companions and, while the other two carried electrostaffs, the Commander had two lightsabers on his belt.

The Commander lifted his head and spoke. "Lord Rhal, I am Commander Xarovit Tovar, Imperial Guard. It is an honor to make your acquaintance." Rhal thought the introduction was a little unnecessary. Anyone in the Empire could recognize the distinctive red robes and honor worn by members of the Imperial Guard.

The most elite fighting force in the entire galaxy, the Imperial Guard were easily the most fearsome and loyal troops the Empire had. Rhal didn't know the exact details of the Guardsman's training and he doubted any Sith besides the Emperor himself did, but he did know that it was considered merciless by many and could turn ordinary men and women into the finest instruments of war. Even most fully trained Jedi Knights and Sith Lords weren't a match for members of the Imperial Guard. But it wasn't just their bodies that were trained. Their minds were also strengthened and bound to the will of the Emperor himself. Meaning that every member of the Imperial Guard was, in a way, an extension of the Emperor himself. This also meant that the Guardsmen were completely incapable of betraying their ultimate master.

Officially, members of the Imperial Guard were entirely non-Force sensitives trained to physical perfection to take on Jedi and any other enemies of the Emperor. Unofficially, a select few Force-sensitives would be selected from various planets around the Empire every few years at a very young age to be trained as Imperial Guard Commanders. Granted, there were Commanders that weren't attuned to the Force, but a Force-sensitive who survived such training would be stronger than just about any Jedi Master or Dark Council member. This was perhaps the main reason why the Dark Council feared the Imperial Guard as they did. 'Well, that and it's well known how at one point the Emperor purged a previous Dark Council centuries ago with several of them falling to members of the Guard.'

"The Honor is mine, Commander Tovar." Rhal said, the words sincere as he'd never actually met a Force-sensitive Imperial guardsmen before. "Rise." He gestured with a hand and the guardsmen all obeyed, the Dark Council member had to tilt his head up as the Commander rose to his full height. The young Sith thought the Commander must have been at least seven and a half feet tall with powerful muscles that could clearly be seen even with the robes and armor he wore.

Both Imperial Guard Commander and Dark Council member were silent for a moment before the latter spoke. "If I may ask, what brings you and your men all the way out here, Commander?"

The question is a dangerous one to ask, even for a member of the Dark Council. If the Emperor had sent them, then questioning their presence could be seen as interfering in his affairs and interfering with the Emperor would only end one way. Rhal was perfectly aware of this, but he felt confident that it wasn't the Emperor who had sent the Guardsmen to this wasteland.

""Me and my fellow guardsmen were ordered to defend this position until we were relieved." Commander Tovar answered. The very fact that he answered was enough for Rhal to confirm that the Emperor was not the reason the Imperial Guard was here.

"Who gave you your orders, Commander?"

"Darth ravage, my Lord."

Rhal scowled when he heard that name. He'd already had a low opinion of Ravage when he first joined the Dark Council and the reports about his activities that he'd been receiving after only served to lower his opinion even more. The purpose of his seat was to expand the Empire's borders and find more powerful allies they could use and Ravage was failing spectacularly.

The territories he managed to take? Destroyed beyond all usefulness and too lightly defended after to protect against even the smallest force, which meant it usually fell back into enemy hands soon after ravage had left. Finding useful and powerful allies? Any groups Ravage discovered that didn't immediately bow their heads in submission were either completely wiped out or those who managed to escape survive were ordered to be hunted down and killed. If that failed, bounties were placed on their heads.

Ravage was, to put it simply, a blunt instrument. Incapable of seeing that there were smarter, better ways to solve problems. Not to mention his temper was completely out of control and it was next to impossible to reason with him or dissuade him from a course of action after his mind was set. Those few who were brave enough to try usually lost their heads shortly after.

'Still, why would Ravage send the Imperial Guard here?' Rhal wondered. He considered Ravage little more than a stupid berserker but the Darth wasn't a complete fool. He knew how strong and useful members of the Guard were, so why send them somewhere they served no purpose?

"Perhaps I should explain, my Lord." The Commander's voice brought Rhal's focus back to him and he realized the Commander likely sensed his confusion and decided to elaborate. "A few months ago a Republic transmission was intercepted by Imperial command. It gave us strong reason to suspect that Republic SIS operatives and a team of Jedi were operating a secret base in Imperial territory. The base was quickly discovered to be real and was located on a desolate moon in the Ashas Ree system."

Rhal's eyebrows shot up when he heard that. The Ashas Ree system was in the heart of Sith Space. How could the Republic and the Jedi have managed to establish such a base in the center of their territory undetected? 'And why did I know nothing about it?!'

Unbothered and seemingly unsurprised by Rhal's surprise, the Commander continued. "Darth Ravage volunteered to lead a fleet to deal with the base and punish the Republic trespassers. My fellows and I accompanied him. When we arrived in the system, the Republic forces quickly realized we were there for them and activated an energy shield on the surface to shield themselves from orbital bombardment. Lord Ravage ordered a ground assault. The battle was swift as there were less than a hundred troops defending the base." 'Most likely because the Republic fools trusted that secrecy would be enough to shield them.' Rhal thought before the Commander went on.

"After the base was destroyed the last of the survivors attempted to flee. Their shuttle was shot down but from the tracks we realized that a few survived the crash and had fled once more on foot. When we finally caught up with them we discovered the last three survivors were all Jedi and Lord Ravage rushed to engage them. Two fell swiftly but the third, a master, held his own rather well. He even managed to disarm Lord Ravage and would have ended his life had I not intervened and cut the Jedi down myself."

As angry as Rhal was that he hadn't known about any of this, the greatest source of his anger was directed at Ravage as he now thought he understood why the Imperial Guard was on Tatooine. "Ravage believed you stole his kill, didn't he?" He asked, even though he was certain he knew the answer. It seems his assumption that Ravage wasn't a complete fool was premature.

For just a moment, a split second, Rhal felt a flash of anger from the Imperial Guard Commander before his mind was shielded once more. "Lord Ravage ordered us to take command of this outpost and defend it until we were relieved."

Rhal closed his eyes as he took a moment to ensure he kept his rage under control. He had already suspected for some time that Ravage was insane as well as foolish. Now, after learning that he'd all but exiled three members of the Imperial Guard to rot in the desert, he was certain. And his reason for it? The Commander did his duty and saved his worthless life. 'Well, perhaps not completely worthless. His madness has just aided me greatly.'

"I see." Rhal said after he was confident he wasn't going to lose control. "One Question. Did Ravage order you to hold this position until he relieved you himself or did he not specify and simply ordered you to wait until relieved?"

Commander Tovar paused, taking a moment to remember his exact orders. "Lord Ravage did not specify who would relieve us." The Commander answered. "We were just told to hold our position until relief arrived."

Rhal made a mental note to thank Ravage for doing him such a great favor. "Commander Tovar, on my authority as a member of the Dark Council, I relieve you and your men of your command of Outpost Zaroshe and request that you and your men accompany me off Tatooine and stand by my side as I carry out my duties in the name of the Emperor and the Empire."

The Commander and his men stood perfectly still for several moments. Then, almost as one, the three Imperial Guardsmen dropped to their knees and bowed their heads. When the Commander looked up, even with his face being completely covered by his red helmet, Rhal had a strong feeling he was smiling. "Until our Emperor summons us once more, we are yours to command, Lord Rhal." He declared with the other guards nodding at his words.

Darth Rhal smiled.

A.N.

Well, Rhal's got new guards now and these guys are much more powerful than his last ones. We're also going to be doing a bit of jumping around in these next chapters so just a heads up. As always please REVIEW and tell me your thoughts and ideas. I hope you all have a great day and I'll see you next time!