SEVERAL HOURS PRIOR TO THE NIO INVASION OF DANTOOINE
DISSIDENT AGGRESSOR
DANTOOINE ORBIT
Rurik faced Ryv with arms crossed as he explained the plan of the joint New Jedi and Imperial Knight task force at the tip of the spear to the New Imperial Order’s incursion into the Dantooine Sector. His narrowed eyes peered over these faces, some in the drab jumpsuits and armor of the Galactic Alliance’s Order while others donned the argent heavy metal of the Imperial Knights.
What caught his attention from the crowd was Sunstrider, the very Jedi responsible for concealing one of the few Sith who managed to escape the wrath of Kyber Dark.
“You hid one of them from us…” Rurik spoke forebodingly to the Jedi from beneath his metal face.
“In the very least, you showed true to the virtue of the Jedi...but it is in the Sith’s nature to betray, to lie in deceit. You are fortunate your mercy did not get the best of you then...regardless, stand in unison toward a common enemy once more…”
Head rising to meet the cold eyes hidden behind the mask, Ocerios met the gaze with one as cold as the surface as hoth, but with the calm of the seas of Dac. What he felt when eyeing the iron man wasn’t fear, it wasn’t hatred, all Oceiros could feel was a sense of pity.
“I'm not looking for your forgiveness, and I'm far passed asking for the Alliance's approval. I did what I must in the name of the Force, and what I felt was right. The consequences of those actions I will live with.”
Sighing, Oceiros broke his gaze away from Rurik’s and back to the map. “I fight alongside you for the Sith are a greater threat to the galaxy, their reign of tyranny and genocide have gone on for too long. Yet do not believe your Empire is not without sins of their own.”
“No great experiment is without its flaws, Sunstrider. Nor is any mortal without its sin. But in this malaise of putrid darkness, the Sith. There can be no quarter for them. To do otherwise would be treading the same path as their supposed ‘allies’ do. And in their false guise that they are somehow morally superior than the Bryn’adul...they have made themselves a more insidious foe.” Rurik states.
“But I’ve a feeling...a great darkness awaits us at Dantooine. A trial for the both of us to overcome…” The Lord Executor says, unwrapping his arms from over his chest as he shifts his attention to Oceiros to add a greater sentiment to his words.
“In my eyes there is always a chance at redemption, from a simple Legionnaire up to the echelons of the Sith Council. Yet, if they chose to go against it, I will do what must be done. I can assure you of that.”
Muscles relaxing, the tension in the air lessening, Oceiros once more turned to the Lord Executor full on. For days the Jedi had been plagued by dreams… No by visions of what was to come, of the malevolence he was to face. The name escaped from between the Jedi’s lips with a hiss.
“Carnifex.” He knew the face that haunted his mind, that had stolen perhaps one of the brightest stars from the galaxy. He who would bring, pain, destruction, and death to everything he loved.
“It is my… No. It is our destiny to face him.”
“So it must be done.”
