Private A Twisted Task

[Yol Kan]

Aboard the 'Thin Edge' a Lone Scout model C-3
Enroute to the Deep Core
___________________________________________________________________
​

Yol Kan once more found himself sitting in the cockpit of a Sienar-designed scout ship, hurtling towards dangerous reaches, relying on his reflexes, experience, and the strength of his ships' sensors to guide him.

Years ago, when he'd navigated through dangerous and energetic phenomena, he'd never dreamed how far the skills he'd picked up would take him. First, to DDSI, a corporation entirely concerned with scientific research. They'd needed experienced pilots to penetrate terrible ion storms and wrest forth the secrets of the storms' high-energy interactions. Then the Empire had needed the same skillset. After he'd proved himself capable, they'd made him a Major.

A provisional Major in a provisional Army.

Straight out of the bacta tank after the Empire's last disastrous engagement- one which they'd somehow won- he'd been dragged to this new assignment: Chauffeur for Moff Maldor Mecetti. That was how his career with the Empire had started. Perhaps that's how it would end, too.

The Scout ship was a plausible enough conveyance, at least. Unlikely to draw the attention or ire of GA authorities. A multitude of similar vessels were in private or corporate hands, performing hyperlane scouting, scientific research, and galactic surveying for a thousand masters in a thousand corners of the galaxy. No one would peer too closely at the Thin Edge.

Hopefully.

If they did, the ship was not without its defenses. Still, Yol would have preferred a starfighter, or his personal Blastboat. The clandestine nature of the mission be damned.

Moff Mecetti was sleeping in his bunk in the midsection of the scout ship. Meanwhile, Yol was flying into increasingly dangerous gravitational anomalies. He hadn't been told the point of the mission. He'd been paid enough not to ask. But there was no amount of money that would prevent him from wondering.

What did an Imperial Moff want with a gravitationally suicidal expanse in the deep core?

Perhaps Yol should wish that the answer to that question remained a mystery...




Her Maldor Mecetti

 

[Tales of the Rule of Two]

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---

The Deep Core, Galactic Center, Kalist system, Kalist VI.
Tags: Maldor Mecetti

---

"The Deep Core is a maze full of anomalies that skew the senses! The task of finding one world within it is impossible!"
-- Trill.

---

In the centre of the Galaxy churns a gargantua known to some as the Galactic Center. To most this term is a direct reference to the planet Coruscant: a place where those who rest in their seats of power often direct and affect the course of galactic events. For the Sith this ecumenopolis-- which stretches across the entire planetary surface-- has often been the target for their dominance over the stars for those who rule there often dominate the entire Galaxy; and while many civilizations have sought dominion over that certain city world the same cannot be said for the supermassive black hole which binds the Galaxy together in it's indomitable grasp for all those who know about it do their best to stay away less they become trapped for All Time.

No man, woman or other Humanoid has said to have placed their gaze upon the gargantuan phenomenon that many fear too much to traverse the space colloquially known as the Deep Core. Darth Bane once pondered on his pilgrimage to Anobis about the meagre existence he would have to endure should he fail to safely traverse this region for those who are caught in the gravitational well of the beast are fated to orbit it for the rest of eternity.

If the existence of Galactic Center was not enough to deter someone from travelling in this expanse then there is the presence of other stellar phenomena such as antimatter, gas and approximately thirty million condensed stars which closely surround the black hole. It is also said that after the conclusion of the Second Great Hyperspace War that the remnants of the Brotherhood of Maw were scattered around the several star systems which still exist to this present day despite how ancient this place. That is if the memories of one Ronval Rubat are to be trusted.

Of course, in the modern day, the Deep Core is a hotbed for military patrols and skirmishes for the Dark Empire-- a civilization founded at the turn of the century by the late great Ignacious Korvan, and Darth Solipsis-- initiated Operation: Shadow Hand and conquered the planet Tython which sparked the C o r e W a r s. While the planet Kalist VI remains in Alliance territory it is now not too uncommon to find both allied and Imperial patrols passing through the Kalist system in search for incursions or opportunities to strike at the enemy.

It is believed that Humans once originated from this place where they would later become the first settlers of the planet Coruscant while myth and superstition passed on by the Jedi indicate that The Force was first discovered and studied upon the same world where Solipsis launched his bid for supremacy across the Stars as his begun his quest for revenge against those who defeated Him in the last great Star War.

But before the self-proclaimed Sith'ari attacked the Galactic Alliance, in the shadow of a long lost civilization, it is here in this place that His predecessor-- a woman who conquered the Core Worlds nearly fifty years ago as a member of the late great One Sith-- landed in A City Lost to Time, and in doing so, re-established Bane's Rule of Two through a most serendipitous set of circumstances birthed with the help of a former Knight of the Old Republic, and a Nomad known only to Her as Darth Mendacium.

---

 

[Alicia Drey]

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---

The Deep Core, Galactic Center, Kalist system, Kalist VI.
Tags: Maldor Mecetti

---

"I have freed you. Better than that I am too sick to stop you from leaving. Yet you are still here. Why haven't you left me?"
"Both of us have been killed in our own way, Ayra. The least I can do is make it hurt a little less before you pass on."
"Will you avenge Us?"
"Of course, master."
-- Darth Ayra and Ella Nova's conversation on Childhood.

[POST THEME]

Forty-Nine Years Before Operation: Absolution.

​

A fire roars in the confines of a ruined city. It's flames glance, and flicker in reflection upon the stained ramparts of which had been a fine tower. Monuments raised millennia ago peer down almost in judgement of the proceeding that was about to take place; their Humanoid faces both alien, and eerie in the night. At the base of the mammoth funeral pyre stood a former Jedi Knight standing in reverence of a woman who had once been her enemy.

For ten, long years they had stood on opposing sides waging war upon one another in service to their late masters. The fate of the Core Worlds had hung in the balance for a time until the Imperial war machine had wiped out every trace which proved that there had once been a Galactic Republic which once stood for peace, order and justice throughout the Galaxy. That was until the One Sith had risen out of the destruction of the Sith Empire to snuff out the last pillars of hope in their insatiable thirst for glory, and certainly, their revenge.

Ella had been there on that day when their Star Destroyers had seemingly appeared out of no-where and begun their attack on Coruscant. She had been a witness too it all. Watched as the Knights of the Republic rose in defiance of the Sith Lords who had been banded together by the indomitable, mysterious Dark Lord of the Sith whose will was seemingly only rivalled by the great stellar phenomenon known as the Galactic Center. Yet all their sacrifice had been in vain. Star system after system fell in the wake of the Sith's incredible march towards victory, and now, as she stood here in this ruin, watching the pyre cremate the corpse of the late great Darth Ayra-- burying the Afflicted, the Conqueror of Kashyyyk-- Ella knew that the One Sith had accomplished their revenge against the Jedi Order.

The Stars were now theirs to burn, and destroy, as they so pleased.

It was the Jedi who had lost the war, and yet here Ella stood-- a former Jedi Knight-- paying respect to the one who had destroyed civilization and replaced it with the barbarians who now ruled the Core. Oh, how they had all paid the price for that certain day on Dac. In their ignorance the Jedi truly thought that they had defeated the last of the Dark Lords of the Sith. But Carnifex had survived, and they had all been deceived until it was too late to stop them.

"I could not save you," Ella whispered to Ayra. "But you have given me the tools to finish what I started. I will avenge us."

SNAP-HISS!

A violent blue burst into life in Ella's right hand. She lifted the hilt of the Lightsaber up before her and admired the weapon. It had been a fine instrument created to protect, and serve in a more civilized time. Yet it had only been used to wage war against the Sith. The woman who had once wielded it had been murdered after the war had been concluded, and the One Sith won their right to rule the Galaxy.

In the wake of Ella Nova's destruction something new had been made.

"Through destruction I breed creation," Ella muttered the lesson to herself as she deactivated the Lightsaber and lowered her arm. Lifting her gaze up to the pyre she found the skull of the late Sith Lord starring back at her through the flames. Ella smiled knowingly as she turned back up what had once been a street. Clutching at the hems of her robes she turned and entered the entrance to the tower where she stood to look upon the Nomad as he went about his craft.

"I am leaving now. There is nothing left for me here," Ella said to them. Her eyes travelled away from the stranger to look about the room. He had been busy: a table had been erected in the center of the entrance to the tower with it being crafted out of the remnants of the ruined city. Whatever the material was it had to be rare. Not even Arrfor knew what it was. Yet the Nomad appeared to be an expert with it.

"I fear that you will not find what you are looking for out there," replied the Nomad as he chiselled away at the rock. "You have already failed to destroy your enemy. Peace cost you your strength. His victory has defeated you."

"Carnifex is just a man. He is not God."

"Yet the dark side has anointed him. Look upon the ideals that He destroyed, and weep upon His works." The Nomad lifted his hand away from the rock, and blew upon it to scatter the dust. Ella leaned her head to the side in contemplation of it. It appeared to be a chair. "Carnifex was defeated on Dac. The Jedi stopped him," Ella retorted in defiance.

"Then they sparred him, and look where they took him: into the hands of their grateful enemy." The Nomad returned to his work and the chisel hammered away to cast another grove into the seat as it begun to take shape. "Their failure cost them everything, and so too will yours."

"I am not the same Jedi as I was before. I am stronger. More powerful."

"You may talk like the Sith that you just buried, but you are still a Jedi. A Knight of the Republic you may not be. Yet you are still You."

Ella lowered her gaze to the Lightsaber in her palm. She contemplated cutting down the last Builder. But mercy cast aside the momentary desire.

"You could be right," Ella muttered in acknowledgement. Her thoughts turn to the Sith Holocron that was stored away on board the Initium nearby and the knowledge that had been left behind by Darth Ayra. Through her teachings Ella could yet discover the means of bringing Darth Carnifex in-- not for justice this time-- but to end the greatest threat in the known Galaxy now that she knew that His mysterious master had been slain by their apprentice.

Wordlessly Ella turned away from the Nomad and left him to his craft. From what little she knew about the Builder he had revealed himself to be a man who did not act on sentiment. Saying goodbye seemed pointless. Hours later, as Kalist's star was beginning to rise at dusk, Ella boarded the Initium and took off to begin her work. As the modified star courier begun it's ascent the Nomad watched from the side of the smouldering pyre and it's dead Sith Lord while clutching the Sith Holocron within his left palm.

"You are not the only one who seeks revenge," he declared.

---

 

[Maldor Mecetti]

Aboard the 'Thin Edge' a Lone Scout model C-3
Enroute to the Deep Core
___________________________________________________________________​

Alert klaxons roused the scion of House Mecetti.

As a noble, Maldor was not used to rude awakenings. Life had brought him a taste of strife and toil and challenge, but only a taste. He had fought for his life, he had trained painfully, he had killed men. But these things had been brief interruptions upon an otherwise luxurious and trouble-free existence. Difficulty was a pit stop in paradise for such men as he.

And so he rose with anger flashing in his blue eyes. How dare the universe intrude upon his sleep?

It took a moment for him to gather himself. To remember where he was.

He was on a ship. Not his well-appointed command ship, but a small scout. The cramped cot he slept upon was one of the substandard arrangements for the crew- built for efficiency rather than comfort.

He supposed he was now the crew. Him, and his hired gun Yol Kan.

They were headed to the Deep Core, seeking a world suggested at in half-forgotten charts and whispered rumors. A legend, rather than something actually known. To get there, they had to navigate through a hundred flavors of danger.

These klaxons suggested the danger had become grave.

He made his way to the cockpit of the ship. It had all the hallmarks of a Sienar design, of which Maldor was well familiar. Sienar and Kuat had provided the foundational architecture for much of House Mecetti's fleet. The House had switched from native Tapani Sector designs during the reign of Palpatine's Empire, and only occasionally built to those old influences nowadays.

The galaxy had moved on, and even the traditionalist Mecettis had begrudgingly moved with it.

Taking the co-pilot's station, Maldor alternated between looking through the viewport of the cockpit and consulting the sensor screens. He wasn't half the pilot Yol was, though. He had trouble appreciating the fullness of the danger.

"What is it," he asked at last, impatient and grumpy from his interrupted sleep.


Yol Kan
Her

 

[Yol Kan]

Aboard the 'Thin Edge' a Lone Scout model C-3
Enroute to the Deep Core
___________________________________________________________________
​

Yol Kan suppressed the urge to sigh as he turned to look as his co-pilot.

More like a back-seat driver.

"We've been forced out of Hyperspace," Yol explained to the young Lord and Moff.

"The multitude of gravitational masses set off the hyperspace safeties. Much as with an interdictor, but these gravitational masses are no mere specters. They are quite real, representing very real and deadly obstacles. Hundreds of stars lie in our path. Stars, dark stars, and other terrible things.

If we are to continue onward, I must disable the safeties."

He waited a moment, and saw the word 'So?' in his employer's eyes.

"The slightest misstep in navigation will spell doom for us. I am a very good navigator, but I believe this to be a task beyond even my skill. It's not just the detectable obstacles we have to contend with. It's the many unknown objects these gravitational masses have pulled in over the millennia. Countless astronomical debris which now circle and wind their way amongst a multitude of singularities.

We are not merely flirting with death, here. We are thrusting ourselves between her legs."

Yol watched his employer's face, seeing him process the information.

He feared that this word of caution would not have the desired effect.

He sensed that Maldor hadn't come all this way just to turn back, now.


Maldor Mecetti
Her

 

[Alicia Drey]

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---

Outer Rim Territories, Tion Cluster, Lianna system, Lianna;
Capital of the Empire of the Lost;
Northwest, on the continent of Landra;
Outpost Northwest of the Direct Surveillance of Domestic Threats.

---

[POST THEME]

Velran Kilran-- a Grand Admiral whom served the Voland Administration at the beginning of the Empire of the Lost-- led a coup d'etat against Aculia Voland at the turn of the new century following her disappearance.
None were spared. He was merciless.

Before His coronation as the Emperor of All Imperial Kind the Eggman elevated an unknown figure to the height of Staff Director of the
New Imperial Security Bureau.
Her name was Alicia Drey.

Together, with the Tsis'Kaar, the Director founded two initiatives within the Empire.
They were the Director Surveillance of Domestic Threats,
and the Fifth Wing,
beginning a conspiracy with a Dark Councillor known as Darth Malum of House Marr,
to weaken the Imperial Remnants which Voland banded together,
and replace them with the Sith,
in the image of His Tenth Sith Empire,
to undo the mistakes that He made,
so that they could once more rule the stars,
and fulfil the promise.

Ninety-two days ago, before Darth Trigonus begun his pilgrimage to Kalist 6, the Director was discovered in Lianna City,
deceased!

They were not Darth Ayra,
they were not Alicia Drey,
as they had all been led to believe.

They were Ella Nova,
a former Knight of the Old Republic,
who got lost in the dark,
and could not find her way out.

imbres venient
~
​

---

"When all the options are wrong," he muttered to himself in the darkness, "What does it matter which one I choose?"
-- Darth Bane in discussion with his apprentice Darth Zannah.

---

​

---

It had rained on that day: the type of weather which penetrates and makes your skin feel itchy and oily. But Ella did not mind it. As far as she was concerned it had been raining for a long time-- in the depths where there might have been a soul-- and the exertion of trying to deal with it all had cost her her life. No more so than the mistake on the Mors Mon which threatened to undo everything she had been working for since the Dark Imperials had freed her from the clutches of the Alliance to give her another chance at salvation.

Cigarette in hand Ella flicked the end of it to remove the ash and took a drag while her stare cast a violent view out over the cityscape. Lianna was an ugly city as far as she was concerned. Dark and dreary with overcast neon signs directing it's populace to always consume, and never to build themselves up. It was an Imperial city through and through. She should not hate, but if she were being honest with herself, hatred had consumed her for a long time, and after all, wouldn't you hate the place that He had built after all that He had done to her?

Indeed, her belief in the Jedi, and their code had been long lost. She was alone, and not even the great Valery Noble could save her. Smoke and sincere hatred burned away the delusion that had begun to itch it's way into her mind. If she had gone back to the Alliance with the Grandmaster, then yes, none of the evil that had transpired within the Empire since that fateful day she had made contact with Vyllia Santhe would have ever happened, but then she would have been thrown back into a cell-- into another cryochamber, perhaps-- unable to stop the Dark Lord of the Sith who had destroyed the Old Republic.

That was more important than her place among the Jedi,
far more important than her reputation, or legacy,
even if it had cost her her soul to get this far--
if it meant she had become lost in the darkness--
wanting to go back to a simpler time, among friends, and comrades killed by the machinations of the One Sith, and the last few surviving Sith Lords who had destroyed everything that she had stood up for all those years ago,
when there had been once been peace in the Galaxy,
where the Galactic Republic had been a beacon of hope and civilization,
in a time where the People had been fractured by the Four-Hundred Year Darkness.

Lifting her arm up in front of her Ella lowered her gaze upon the transceiver held in her palm. In a day from now she was set to meet with Darth Malum of House Marr : one of the three members of the Dark Council on Jutrand, and her co-conspirator within the Fifth Wing. He had summoned her, and even without the Force to guide her senses, Ella knew that he was furious, and he had every right to be. She had betrayed him, and he was angry enough to kill her, perhaps. That was what she would do if she was in his position. After all she had brought to him great risk, and potential ruin, following her play on board the Mors Mon. Weakness had eroded the strength that she had built up since Solipsis' and his minions had freed her to give way for an astonishing, and now, perhaps, perilous move to try and divert the Sith Order away from their plans to attack the Empire of the Lost which now looked set to cost her everything.

Her failure had cost the planet Tion, which had been destroyed by the same nemesis that had done the same to her Old Republic, and now the Kainites were in a stronger position than what they had been in before. The Stygian Caldera was not only safeguarded, and protected from Imperial threat through the acquisition of new star systems to join their fledging state surrounding the Sith Holy Worlds, but now her cause-- which had been founded on the very principle to destroy Darth Carnifex for once, and for all-- was on the precipice of ruin, and catastrophe. Malum had summoned her to the planet Florrum to answer his demands for why she would ever invite the wrath of the Corpse Emperor and his legions-- not only upon the Tionese-- but potentially upon himself, and her, for Ella had stared into the eyes of Darth Empyrean and he had found her wanting.

It looked to Ella that she was set for a lethal encounter with the Lord of the Tsis'Kaar. She knew what he would try to do. The only play that she had left was to try and do the right thing. If she could not defeat Malum when he inevitably made his play to get rid of her then she had to save Maldor from meeting the same fate and the only way to do that was to let him know the truth.

There were more than spies, and Sith, and Tsis'Kaar, and the Fifth Wing lurking in the shadows.

He had to be warned.

"I've seen my entire world fall apart from one second to another... You and I share something in common. We've both been through stasis, though mine was more than a few life times long. From one day to another, I saw my Enclave go from healthy and thriving, even in a time of war, to being left in ruins and long-forgotten... About 10 years ago, my old Enclave was rebuilt. It's never too late to rebuild or repair anything, Ella... You can still come home and leave all of this behind. The darkness, the paranoia and this self-destructive path you're on. It's never too late to turn away from it... I can not join your side, nor can I allow you to roam free the way you are now. But I can help you, if you let me."

"Maybe you were right, Master."

"I should have listened."​

---

New Imperial Security Bureau; Encrypted transmission 91131915181825; Source: Direct Surveillance of Domestic Threats Initiative, Lianna system, Lianna, Landra, Northwest, from Outpost Northwest; Posted Ninety-Two Days ago by Staff Director Alicia Drey; Coded for transmission to Moff Maldor Mecetti of Voss in vicinity to the planet Kalist 6; Encrypted within the Mecetti subspace transceiver. ​ To Maldor Mecetti of House Mecetti, the true heir to Obulette, If you are reading this then things did not go well on Florrum. No doubt Malum will spare your life for he would find your position in the Empire most useful to him. I, at least, am counting on that. I hope you are alive to read this in any case for if Malum did kill me-- as I suspect he will try now-- then you are my last hope to save the Galaxy. I have coded this message to transmit to your subspace transceiver that you have been using to contact your family back home on Obulette. You are a clever man Maldor, so there is no doubt in my mind that, perhaps, you have found this code somewhere in the sub-routines of your device in order to read it before you ever made your way into the Deep Core. However, if all went to plan, then this message should only appear if you are very close to the Kalist system. I urge you to turn back, and make your way to the Alliance to find Valery Noble with post haste before you too are murdered-- if not by Malum, and his Tsis'Kaar-- but then by the Nomad, and his apprentice. Save yourself before it is too late. You have been deceived. My name is not Alicia Drey nor am I known otherwise as Darth Ayra. The woman that I have been impersonating since I infiltrated the Empire of the Lost has been dead for a long time now. I buried her on Kalist 6 before the Summit of Governments. Before she passed way I spent my time with her on Childhood and learned much about the dark side. It seemed fitting, at least to me, that I should wear her name like a mask after the Dark Imperials freed me during Operation: Absolution. Names can be quite powerful, and the right one can open any number of doors, as they certainly have with me. For the past two years I have been colluding with a Dark Councillor known to me as Darth Malum of House Marr in order to revolutionize the Empire of the Lost and turn it into a Sith Empire using dissidents from within who still believe in Darth Carnifex and his Tenth Sith Empire. Decades before Aculia Voland formed the Empire the Tion Cluster was ruled by Carnifex and his Sith Order. The Sith have existed in this region of the Galaxy for many years, and their influence still remains to this day. It was through them that the Fifth Wing was founded at the turn of the century-- after Voland's disappearance, after Kilran's coup d'etat-- to begin a political movement within the Empire of the Lost to change it from within. With my help as Staff Director of the New Imperial Security Bureau I colluded with Malum to assist in the infiltration of Tsis'Kaar operatives through the use of the Domestic Surveillance of Direct Threats while recruiting old officers, soldiers and operatives who once served the Sith during Carnifex's reign over the Tion Cluster. Together we have been actively working to grow and spread this political movement throughout Lianna. With the DSDT program we have gathered the intelligence, information and knowledge to coerce, manipulate or blackmail key elements within the hierarchy of the Empire of the Lost to achieve our objectives. You have been a victim of these seditious acts in the past which brought you into our web of deceit. The names of the Tsis'Kaar operatives and Imperial-Sith loyalists are stored within the subroutines of the system found within Outpost Northwest, which I shut down after they discovered Valery Noble had infiltrated Lianna City in search for me. She wanted to bring me back to the Alliance and save me. As I sit here writing this to you I have come to the realisation that she could have been right about what she said to me on that day. As a former Senator of the Alliance you surely must have come to your own doubts as I have in these dark hours. Our pursuit of power has left us alone, and isolated from everything we hold and loved dearly. You do not belong on Voss. Your House has ruled Obulette for over nine centuries, and you are the true heir to Casteban Mecetti. The allegiance of your family, and your people, has always been to rule and order. For five centuries the Old Republic held together civilization, peace and order during the Four-Hundred Year Darkness until it was destroyed by the One Sith. The Galactic Alliance won the Second Great Hyperspace War and brought peace, and justice to the Galaxy for over thirty years until the Dark Empire initiated the C o r e W a r s at Tython. Imperials, Sith-- these people, and their ideals-- do not bring the rule and order that your House has stood up for. We have besmirched the legacy of the Jedi and the Mecetti through our actions but it is not too late for us to stop. If you turn back now and find Valery Noble then the Jedi Order can work to stop the Fifth Wing and end the conspiracy that has engulfed the Tion Cluster. You can stop Malum and save what is left of the people from the return of the Sith Empire! I am not sorry for what I have done. Since the One Sith's victory I have dedicated my life and work towards the destruction of Carnifex. He may have beaten me... He may have killed me... He may have tarnished me... But he could not stop me. I have made my mind a sunless space. My soul has been sacrificed in the name of the greater good. I will not be remembered and neither will I see myself adulated for my work to destroy the Dark Lord of the Sith. Everything I have done has been necessary in the pursuit of Him. Your position in the Empire, and the files I have left in Northwest, grant you the extraordinary position to destroy Carnifex and his Kainites. The Fifth Wing is a manufactured crisis built up so that you can now destroy it and elevate your position among the Lost and the Alliance. You are uniquely situated with links to both the Alliance and the Empire with your former position as a Senator and now as a Moff. Use it to finish what I could not through the destruction of the Fifth Wing. Redeem yourself as a hero in the eyes of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance. End your exile in the Empire of the Lost and unite the Imperials with the Alliance to end the greatest threat to the Galaxy! Your pilgrimage to Kalist 6 is not what you think it is. The Nomad and his apprentice believe that they are the heir's to Darth Bane and his Rule of Two. Through Her I was able to infiltrate the Empire to initiate our plan to destroy the Sith but they were deceived. All that I have done was meant to be for them, but as it was with the Dark Side Elite, the Eggman, the Tsis'Kaar and the Fifth Wing I have only used the Banities to put ourselves in the position to restore peace and order to the Galaxy! Each and every individual I made contact with within the Dark Empire, Empire of the Lost and the Sith Order were calculated manipulations to further my agenda to destroy Carnifex and his Kainites for He and His legions are the greatest danger in the known Galaxy. You need only to look upon His works at Tion and despair at his works. . . If I was somehow killed by Malum then it is left to you to finish what I started. Peace is not a lie. Only the dark side is. From the genocidal mania of Solipsis' and his followers who now ravage the Core Worlds to the madness of Carnifex and his Kainities to the machinations of Malum and his Tsis'Kaar to the expansionist policies of Velran Kilran and his desire to restore the Galactic Empire to Director Drey and her conspiracies which devolved the Empire of the Lost into crisis you must ask yourself this question now: What more do you need to see to realise that the dark side and those who follow it are in the wrong? Destroy Darth Malum and the Fifth Wing to save the Empire of the Lost and restore your rightful position on Obulette within the Galactic Alliance. Save them from the Kainities and bring peace to the Galaxy. End the Sith Order and with them the Rule of Two who now plot together to bring an end to the Jedi Order. Save yourself, and if you cannot do it for me, then do it for Casteban. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. The last will and testament of E. Nova, Knight of the Old Republic. imbres venient​

---

 

[Maldor Mecetti]

​

"We are not merely flirting with death, here. We are thrusting ourselves between her legs."

Maldor frowned, considering what he'd been told. But before he could get very far along in thought, his personal datapad beeped.

There was no reason it should have beeped. He was not running any background operation he knew of. Nor was he in communication with anyone outside of this scout ship.

Fishing the datapad out of his pocket, he saw there was a message waiting.

He opened it.

He read...

His lips parted as he took in the message. Then his jaw hung open. His mind reeled, and the cockpit seemed to spin around him. He braced himself with his free hand as though he was at risk of falling somewhere, even though the ship was rock-steady. The space around him might swarm with danger, but the ship hadn't moved yet into the thick of the maelstrom.

No... the danger Maldor was in had nothing to do with singularities, space debris, or the difficulty of navigating here.

He was navigating a much more treacherous route.

And no matter what the message said, the Galactic Alliance was no longer a viable option.

He closed his eyes, remembering the meditation exercises taught to him by Sith holocrons. Meditation exercises meant to focus the mind upon its purpose. To concentrate the emotions and passions of the individual into a singular direction. Turning the individual into a razor that could cut to the heart of an enemy.

Or to cut through any obstacle.

Seconds went by. Minutes. To Yol Kan's credit, he did not speak. Did not interrupt. It must have been clear to the mercenary that something had happened. That Maldor was balancing his fate and his path. Choosing a way forward or a way back.

But there was no way back.

He opened his eyes.

"Long ago, hyperspace travel was not managed by computers. Or droids. It was managed by force-sensitives. They could reach out with the force, and feel the dangers and possibilities along the course to a destination.

So here is what we're going to do: I am going to feel our way forward. You will go where I tell you.

No hesitation.

No delay."

He pointed at the sensor screen, choosing a vector.

"Starting... here. Starting... NOW."

---

Her Alicia Drey Yol Kan

 

[Her]

---

---

The Deep Core, Galactic Center, Kalist system, Kalist VI.
Tags: Maldor Mecetti

---

"Make your way to Onderon. I will meet you there in ten standard days. After I find Nadd's tomb on Dxun."
"How am I supposed to get there?"
"You are the chosen one, the anointed heir to the legacy of our order. You will find a way."
"And if I don't?"
"Then you will have proven yourself unworthy of being my successor, and I will seek out another apprentice."
-- Darth Bane and Zannah.

---

[POST THEME]
​

In 1000 BBY, following the conclusion of the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, the Dark Lord of the Sith, the Sith'ari, the Creator of the Rule of Two-- Darth Bane-- tasked a girl to meet him on the planet Onderon in ten days to prove that she was worthy of becoming his Sith apprentice. After completing her task, and joining the Dark Lord on the Demon's Moon of Dxun, Zannah proved herself worthy and was indoctrinated into the pathology of the Dark Side, where later, she would challenge her master and take his place in the dichotomy the pair came to share in life.

Two millennium later, at the advent of the Core and Rim Wars-- in the wake of Tion's destruction, and the Rebellion of the Tingel Arm Coalition-- another had been tasked to find the Sith Master on a far-flung world to prove themselves worthy.

Truly, they had woven themselves into the tapestry of Darth Bane.

Kalist VI is a dry, and barren world. At 70.7°C in the day, and 33.2°C at night, makes this world one of the most dangerous in the known Galaxy for Humanoids. In the southern continent of the planet a great mountain over looks an expansive desert which stretches across the entire planetary surface, and in it's shadow, A City Lost to Time lays in ruin: the last of the race of aliens whose origins remain a mystery to this day.

There Her rests in the company of a fire built upon the edifice of rock. It is dark, and night time has taken the South. Rapid gales assault the rocks, and with their fury, they threaten to extinguish life for it's freezing embrace is not one to be courted with. Yet the flames persist, and it's warmth casts a glow across the figure who sits there. In the skies above a booming sound echoes across the valley, and the engine's roar is clear. A pair of eyes averted themselves from flame to look upward as the Thin Edge appears through the dark clouds.

"Through destruction I breed creation," Her muttered the mantra of Darth Mendacium to herself as a pilgrim came close to arrival. Taken from Voss and away from his duties to the Empire of the Lost the Imperial Moff colloquially known as Maldor Mecetti had been caught into the webs of lies and deceit. There he had been led to Kalist IV to find the answers to his questions and discover the origins of the late Staff Director of the New Imperial Security Bureau who, in the last moments in life, had attempted to dissuade him from making contact with the Sith, and instead turned him towards Valery Noble so that the Sword of the Jedi could finish what Ella Nova had started.

But the Fifth Wing is not what it seems, and it's purpose had been obfuscated by Her powers in the dark side. Nova had been cunning in leaving the truth of her collusion with Darth Malum of House Marr and the plot that the pair had been building together against the likes of Velran Kilran . But the late Jedi had been predictable. In the wake of her death Malum tasked his Tsis'Kaar (of which the Fifth Wing is mere branch of it's tree) to purge the organisation of all Drey's supporters so that no-one else may dare put at risk the influential hand which cast a mighty shadow across the Tion Cluster.

As the Sith murdered, and consolidated the position of their master, the Direct Suveillance of Domestic Threats-- an intelligence apparatus designed by Nova (under the disguise of Alicia Drey) to spy on the local populaces of the Empire-- had also been the subject of a purge. But even the Tsis'Kaar could not know about Drey's final gambit to retaliate against the Sith Order for the message had been deeply embedded into the sub-routines of the program where only Maldor was supposed to know where to look and find the proof he would need to expose the conspiracy that had taken root within the Empire of the Lost.

After Valery Noble infiltrated the Empire on the Capital world Lianna (to find the fugitive Dark Jedi Ella Nova and bring her back to the Jedi Order) the late Director had ordered that Outpost Northwest (one of many outposts located across Lianna as part of the DSDT Program) to be locked down for it's staff had discovered the Jedi Grandmaster's infiltration. In order to cover it up and end the risk of exposure (less the Imperials discover who she truly was) Director Drey had the outpost decommissioned, and it's staff assassinated by the Fifth Wing.

Later, Outpost Northwest was used by the Director to establish contact with the Sith Order during Darth Empyrean 's war council meeting on the Mors Mon: an event which sparked the Siege of Tion and the subsequent destruction of the planet. Crucially-- despite it's status as decommissioned, and the events surrounding it obfuscated-- the Northwest station remained linked to the Direct Surveillance of Domestic Threats where it would later be breached by Her who subsequently destroyed Drey's evidence against Malum and the Fifth Wing.

The reason why is a tale for another time. But mysteriously-- despite knowing what the late Director had done-- Her had allowed the message to be played anyway, and yet, Maldor had not turned around to find Grandmaster Noble to bring about an end of Darth Malum's interference within the Empire of the Lost.

All those who follow the Dark side of the Force take the solemn vow to end their former lives in favour of a new one. Just as it was when Rain was discovered by the Dark Lord on Ruusan two millennium ago, and as it was when Maldor confronted the late Director on the Hunter's Moon of Sojourn, the Heir to Obulette was taking his steps towards becoming Trigonus as his predecessor had become Zannah while the Rule of Two begun to take shape half-a-century following the demise of Darth Ayra the Afflicted.

"Imbres venient," Her whispered as she activated the translocator beacon to guide the Twin Edge towards the mountain where she was in hiding.

---

 

[Yol Kan]

​

Flying by Force was not something Yol Kan had ever aspired to do.

He was not, himself, force sensitive. And he did not believe that being Force Sensitive was a particularly good thing. It seemed to him that those who were attuned to the force merely became slaves to it. They linked their minds, their will, to something outside of themselves.

Some of them believed that they used the Force to do things.

Grasp an object.

Swing a sword.

End a life.

But Yol had always wondered whether it was their will becoming manifest, or whether the Force had a will of its own, and was directing them like the instruments of an orchestra.

Yet as he took hyperspace jump after hyperspace jump, dodged debris on ordered vectors, and twisted ever inwards towards their destination planet, he realized something: By taking money and orders from Maldor, he was no less a puppet of the Force.

He was merely blind to the strings.

Something to consider.

For now, his bank account and his reputation were forward in his mind. So he moved as directed, until he brought the ship down into a patch of desert, not far from where Maldor and the beacon told him to go.

He looked towards the man who had directed him through a maelstrom.

"Shall I go with you?"

But he already knew the answer.

Yol said nothing as Maldor boarded a jumpspeeder and made his way into the arid mysteries that surrounded them.

Then, as the ramp closed, Yol wondered if the loud clang and seal of the mechanism was heralding the shutting of something more than the interior of a spaceship.



Her
Maldor Mecetti

 

[Her]

---

---

The Deep Core, Galactic Center, Kalist system, Kalist VI.
Tags: Maldor Mecetti

---

"You are the chosen one, the anointed heir to the legacy of our order. You will find a way."
-- Darth Bane to Darth Zannah.

---

"Fiery the angels fell. Deep thunder rolled around their shores. Burning with the fires of Orc."

Her fixated her gaze upon Maldor as he finished climbing the summit to meet the Ghost of Kalist IV.

Ever since the Jedi Order had forced him into exile inside the Empire of the Lost the Heir to Obulette-- risen to the high rank of Imperial Moff over Voss-- had dealt with the insidious machinations of the late Staff Director of the New Imperial Security Bureau: Alicia Drey . From being manipulated into helping a prisoner escape custody inside the prison colonies of Stygeon Prime to the Convocation of Sojourn (which had seen Maldor part with a vast fortune to secure a rare piece of technology) the man that would later be known as Trigonus had been caught inside a web of lies, and deceit, which had taken him all the way from the Tion Cluster to this barren rock in the centre of the Galaxy.

The question had to be prying on the man's lips: why here? What did this place have to do with anything that had happened several million lightyears away on the other side of the Galaxy?

"Leave us," Her said to the pilot Yol Kan . As he took his leave the hooded Sith reached forward and poured the contents of the pot into a bowl before handing it to Maldor. "You have come a long way. Eat."

Electing not to pour herself a bowl (for the contents of the pot had been poisoned in anticipation of Maldor's arrival) Her averted her gaze from Maldor to point at the ruins beneath them. "You have no doubt wondered why you became a target of the late Director. The reason why begun in a tower located in the centre of the city ruin which lays beneath us. Ask me why?"

---

 

[Maldor Mecetti]

​

Maldor took the offered bowl, eyeing Her suspiciously as he took a seat on a boulder.

"I have no doubt wondered," he repeated in a somewhat mocking tone.

He looked down at the bowl in his hands, wondering what meat might be floating within its volume. Then he lifted his gaze to Her again.

"I do nothing but wonder about you people," he said, throwing Her in with the late Alicia Drey, and perhaps every other Sith he'd ever met. Who knew? The sentiment might extend to the Jedi, as well. There was a definite hint of scorn in the statement, regardless.

"Curiosity is the tether you have used to string me along, and like a well-trained dog, I've followed that leash. All along, hoping to answer a question for myself. A question that has never been satisfactorily addressed."

His gaze dipped to the bowl again. His hand on the spoon, which he used to stir the liquid and contemplate the bits within.

"Promises of power. Of reputation. Threats to the same. Threats to my life. My freedom. All of these tools you people employ... but it is curiosity that has kept me here. Like a child, lured into a dark alley by some stranger.

I often think back on the chances I've taken, and doubt that I deserve to live, so many stupid risks I have endured to answer the question.

A question which, perhaps, also belongs to me, given what I've done in pursuit of the answer."

He lifted the spoon from the bowl slightly, but it only made it half-way to his mouth.

"How can such powerful people also be such powerful fools?"

The spoon lowered again into the bowl.

"And more to the point... can the power be extracted and the idiocy left behind?"



Her

 

[Her]

---

---

The Deep Core, Galactic Center, Kalist system, Kalist VI.
Tags: Maldor Mecetti

---

Torrential winds continued to assault the mountain as the Sith hid in the cover of rock, and dirt. Flames rising in the air created a glowing hue which illuminated the facial features of the woman sitting before it. Her lips pouted in thought as she listened to Trigonus ask his questions. They curved into a knowing smirk, and the Sith Master averted her gaze as eon sparks filtered around her from the nearby flame.

"That is an odd thing to ask," Her replied as she locked her eyes with her apprentice. "Coming from a man who had everything, and was forced into exile by the Jedi. Do you think your tiny pit of self-awareness is enough to criticise others?"

It was a rhetorical question used to draw the mind to question himself further where the inner dialogue speaks the whispers of doubt.

"Who are you to question or criticise the actions of others given what you have done?" Her continued as she begun to dissect the life of Maldor Mecetti.

"Your life on Obulette was set to inherit the power and riches of a noble house. A place within the federal assembly of the largest, and most powerful civilization in the known Galaxy, was secured. All of House Mecetti was set to be yours with a career and trajectory forward made clear. Maldor Mecetti could have become the most influential man within the Galactic Alliance. With the right plan you could have become the Supreme Chancellor, and all the while, learning the secrets about the Force that the Jedi have tried to keep from men like you for several millennia."

Her smiled widely now as she dug into Trigonus. Each word true as they were chastising, and hurtful. "You have been weak. That is the real word, isn't it, Darth Trigonus? Not idiocy. Weakness. Nothing more epitomizes this than your place within the Empire of the Lost. You had everything on Obulette, and yet you have settled for a desk job on Voss. Forced to deal with the superstitions of a race of beings xenophobic to any culture other than their own, while forced to work under your boot while their homeworld spins under an Imperial fist, all the while dealing with the lunacy of the late Emperor Kilran."

"Did you not stand by idly, and watch, as the Eggman destroyed good men, and women, to supplant them and become Emperor?"

A finger points up, and the arm which wields it turns from pointing at Trigonus to the summit below. From this vantage point on the mountain the two Sith could see the ruins of the city left behind by the mysterious Builders. Skyscrapers, other smaller builders and roads all in a state of disrepair, and decay. A ruin of a civilization long lost to time whose story would never be told as they were swallowed live by the terrorist Zero and his biological weapon that he unleashed five centuries ago on Csilla.

"The dark side of the Force is a path used to burn away the weakness of the individual," Her taught Trigonus as she pointed at the ruined city. "It infects us with it's passion and like venom erodes the weaknesses that had taken root within. Fifty years ago a Dark Lord of the Sith arrived on this planet and was buried within the ruin below us. There she left a Sith Holocron that was used by her apprentice to begin the Rule of Two and consummated the resurrection of the Order of the Sith Lords; bringing about the tapestry of Darth Bane of which we have now woven ourselves into through our apprenticeship."

Her lowered her arm and turned to look back into the flames. Yet Trigonus knew that she was still talking to him as she rounded off their first lesson together. "You were made to fulfil and continue the legacy of Casteban Mecetti. To serve the failed state that is the Galactic Alliance to also serve the interests of your father and his noble house. Yet your pursuit of power allowed you to break free of your select path as you choose to take your own one."

"Just as it was for our predecessors we must enter our pilgrimage to ascertain the truth, and eroded away the weaknesses that have afflicted us. From Voss and the Empire into the Deep Core and heart of the Alliance on Kalist you have come far. You want power, Darth Trigonus? Then join me and together we shall discover Darth Ayra's legacy to uncover the secrets of the Rule of Two. The Nomad is dead now, and so his treasure is ours to take."

Her climbed up to her feet and kicked dirt onto the fire to put it out. Wordlessly she passed Trigonus and begun her descent down the mountain into A City Lost in Time to take the Sith Holocron of Darth Ayra the Afflicted.

---

 

[Maldor Mecetti]

​

Nothing could inspire more anger than having your own inequities and missteps thrown back at you.

Maldor set the bowl down upon a boulder beside him.

"Better to reside in a tiny pit of self-awareness, than to stand on a mountaintop of self-deception."

It felt like a good comeback, but Maldor suspected it sounded more like wounded petulance.

Well... he was wounded. And angry. And frustrated with himself for falling for these same tricks and traps time and again.

Then Her fencing touched upon a point of real sensitivity.

Weakness. Yes... he'd been weak.

He'd been... afraid. That was the realization he'd come to over the past year, and it was a shameful one. His connection to the Dark Side was not born from anger, or some hunger for power. It was not a hot passion for seizing what he wanted which fed his connection within the Force. He did not stand in the footsteps of the great Sith Lords of ages past.

No...

What moved Maldor was ultimately... Fear. He sought power not for its own sake, but for the sake of the security it could offer him. He craved a return to the Mecetti province of the Tapani sector not simply to restore what was rightfully his... but rather to make a home somewhere that could be fully trusted, where the entire infrastructure of a nation was devoted to stability and his safety. Even his lightsaber training had focused on an unbreakable defense, wearing down an opponent until he could pick them apart. Not dramatic and effective attacks.

Everything was fear. That was his connection to the Dark Side and its gifts.

And that was why the entire philosophy of the Sith troubled him. Their entire structure was based on fragility. Chaos. Confusion. And ultimately... self destruction. Taking in a protégé under their system was akin to adopting your own assassin.

Ludicrous. Madness.

And yet...

The power. The incredible power which resided within the Sith way could not be denied. He needed that power. He needed the protection he could find within that power.

And so... he needed Her.

"Just as it was for our predecessors we must enter our pilgrimage to ascertain the truth, and eroded away the weaknesses that have afflicted us. From Voss and the Empire into the Deep Core and heart of the Alliance on Kalist you have come far. You want power, Darth Trigonus? Then join me and together we shall discover Darth Ayra's legacy to uncover the secrets of the Rule of Two. The Nomad is dead now, and so his treasure is ours to take."

She was completing a speech, like a villain in a melodrama. Then she walked past him. Close enough to touch.

He wanted to hate her. To despise everything she said. To strike her down and be done with all of this.

He could end it here. He could end it now.

But... he needed Her.

And... there was something that happened when she talked. Something almost hypnotic. Even when she misjudged how to reach him, he felt moved, regardless. She awakened glowing embers he hadn't known existed. Perhaps she planted the embers themselves before stoking them.

Damn Her.

He stood, gritted his teeth, and followed her down the mountainside.


Her

 

[Tales of the Rule of Two]

---

---

The Deep Core, Galactic Center, Kalist system, Kalist VI;
A City Lost to Time.
Tags: Maldor Mecetti

---

"...The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated! Any collaborators will suffer the same fate. These have been trying times, but we have passed the test. The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed, but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger. The war is over. The Separatists have been defeated, and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning. In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society, which I assure you will last for ten thousand years. An Empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body and a sovereign ruler chosen for life. An Empire ruled by the majority, ruled by a new constitution!"
-- Palpatine's speech to the Galactic Senate upon the Declaration of a New Order.

---

Twenty-seven years before the Battle of Yavin the Jedi Order commissioned the Outbound Flight Project: an expeditionary mission led by the Jedi Master, Jorus C'baoth, to explore the Unknown Regions with the hope to pierce the edge of the Galaxy to seek out extragalactic life. Later, through the machinations of the Dark Lord of the Sith-- Darth Sidious-- the mission was destroyed by the Force Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo which resulted in the Central Storage Core crash landing in The Redoubt where it's crew established their own society amid the wreckage which remained lost until it was later discovered by the Luke Skywalker and his wife: Mara Jade Skywalker.

Five years later the Star War historically known as the Clone Wars erupted in 22-19 BBY between the Old Republic and the first Confederacy of Independent Systems: a conflict organised by Lord Sidious in order to destroy the Jedi Order, and the creation of the first Galactic Empire, which was later accomplished through the Declaration of a New Order. As the Separatists threatened to topple the Old Republic a growing concern within the ranks of the Jedi begun to stir, and so in their wisdom, a contingency plan was arranged to ensure that democracy would survive in the event of a CIS victory over them.

On the planet Chandrila a second Outbound Flight Project was commissioned in order to launch an expeditionary mission into the Unknown Regions on the other side of the Galaxy. As the Clone Wars came to an end, with the culmination of the Grand Plan initiated by the Sith'ari-- Darth Bane-- the crew of the second O.F.P watched in horror as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (secretly a Dark Lord of the Sith in the Order of the Sith Lords) reformed the Old Republic into his new Galactic Empire. With the Grand Army of the Republic turned against the Jedi, resulting in the Order 66, the Jedi Masters assigned to the second O.F.P were destroyed, but with their sacrifice, they secured the safe launch of the second Central Storage Core on a heading towards the Tion Cluster.

Four centuries later the satellite known as Childhood was first discovered in the Auril system in orbit of Nespis VIII. As the Galaxy was plunged into an era described as the Four-Hundred Year Darkness structures unique in comparison to the standard Tionese design are discovered all across the Tion Cluster on planets such as Lianna. With much lost due to the adverse effects of the Gulag Plague the history of this era is left in a state of disarray, and chaos, as written records are lost, or in some rare cases, loosely recorded by galactic historians. Therefore, discoveries such as Childhood are left to urban myth while it and the other buildings discovered on planets located within the Tion Cluster are described as the remnants of the mysterious race of Humanoids colloquially known to some as the Builders.

In 902 ABY the Sith Master Her and her Sith Apprentice Maldor Mecetti embark on a pilgrimage into the Deep Core world of Kalist VI to discover the Sith Holocron of Darth Ayra the Afflicted. Here the new Rule of Two begin to uncover the secrets of the resurrected Order of the Sith Lords, and the identity of the late Staff Director of the New Imperial Security Bureau, Alicia Drey , while the successor state to the first Galactic Empire in the form of the Empire of the Lost finds itself caught within the conspiracy known only to a few as the Fifth Wing.

---

 

[Her]

---

---

The Deep Core, Galactic Center, Kalist system, Kalist VI;
A City Lost to Time.
Tags: Maldor Mecetti

---

"Several months ago the late Director was arrested by agents of the Bureau following her return to Lianna after the Sith attack in the Tion system. There we carried out our own internal review of the Director, while she was being detained, to investigate the data packets released by Sith forces during their attack on the Empire. Our findings, at the time, found that Alicia Drey was Force sensitive, and that she had been acting beyond the scope and permit of her position as Staff Director in the New Imperial Security Bureau..."
-- Sieliel Dimegor outside the headquarters of the New Imperial Security Bureau during her statement regarding the death of Staff Director Alicia Drey .

---

[POST THEME]

Nine-hundred, and twenty-one years following Palpatine's Declaration of a New Order, and formation of the first Galactic Empire.

Hallowing winds bellowed through the ramparts of what was once a great city now left in ruin. With their bellowing came the scattering of dust as the surrounding desert looked to claim A City Lost to Time for itself. The hum of a Lightsaber blade pierced through the darkness and cast a crimson glow upon the two Sith in order to illuminate their way through the ruined ecumenopolis while it's owner-- wreathed in the clad black trappings of her ancient order-- edged closer to claiming the legacy of Darth Ayra . As Her traversed the ruined streets on approach to the center of the city she shared secrets of the late Staff Director of the New Imperial Security Bureau, Alicia Drey , with her apprentice.

"You have been the victim of a revenge plot against a secular cult of Sith known as the Kainites," Her explained to Trigonus as they continued to walk the city. As she spoke fog formed at the base of her lips, and rose through the freezing air with ever syllable ushered. It would not be day time on Kalist VI for several more hours, and at this time of night on the planet, it was arguably more dangerous now than it was during the day when the Sun was at it's highest peak.

Only God knows why the Builders ever came to this barren rock to construct such a city of grand size, and design.

"Each and every individual I made contact with in the Dark Empire, Empire of the Lost and the Sith Order were calculated manipulations to further my agenda to destroy Carnifex and his Kainites for He and His legions are the greatest danger in the known Galaxy. You need only to look upon His works at Tion and despair. . ."

"Alicia Drey is not who she said she was. Her real identity was Ella Nova. She was a Jedi Knight who served the Old Republic at the beginning-- and ever faithful to the lost cause-- at the end of the One Sith Wars: a Star War that occurred half-a-century ago which saw the destruction of the Galactic Republic and return of the Sith."

"At the end of the war Nova was captured by the Dark Lord of the Kainite, and taken prisoner by the One Sith, whom he served before founding His Tenth Sith Empire. There she was tortured until she was freed by her enemy, and after Darth Ayra died, she begun her first plot to destroy Carnifex. It failed, and after she was captured by the Jedi Order, they incarcerated her in stasis for fifty years."

"When she was freed by the Dark Imperials I brought her back into the fold of our Order, and initiated a chain of events which culminated in the series of disasters that have engulfed the Empire of the Lost. Felucia, Lothal, Tion, Mon Calamari, Maldra 6, Garn..."

"Her work to influence the events of the Empire were done in the name of her mission to destroy the Kainite, and their Dark Lord, by starting a war between them, and the Imperial Remnants previously banded together by Aculia Voland, and later taken over by Velran Kilran's coup d'etat. In the upper echelons of Liann society the first seeds of her plot to destroy Carrnifex took shape through an arrangement with the late Eggman which saw him become Emperor, and her rising to the seat of Director of the N.I.S.B."

"...I am not sorry for what I have done. Since the One Sith's victory I have dedicated my life and work towards the destruction of Carnifex. He may have beaten me... He may have killed me... He may have tarnished me... But he could not stop me. I have made my mind a sunless space. My soul has been sacrificed in the name of the greater good. I will not be remembered and neither will I see myself adulated for my work to destroy the Dark Lord of the Sith. Everything I have done has been necessary in the pursuit of Him..."

"Kilran-- a jealous, and power hungry man-- sought to reform the remnants that he joined as Grand Admiral into the image of the Galactic Empire. To facilitate his plot, following his coup-- of which we made sure was a success-- the Empire of the Lost required new resources, territory, and above all else, intelligence on external, and internal threats, while he adopted the expansionist policies which took him to Felucia."

"On Lianna the new Director created the D.S.D.T: a surveillance program that would assist the new Emperor in his plot to expand the territories of his Empire which would later take him into conflict with the Sith Empire. On the surface this new revolutionary program facilitated what Kilran desired: the populaces of his domain put under a web of surveillance which, in turn, created a wide Police state where internal threats that would otherwise damage his plot could be diverted, subverted, or destroyed by the N.I.S.B. For example, the nasty business which transpired within a prison colony on Stygeon Prime..."

"This new technology, however, possessed the ulterior motive of giving the Director-- giving us-- the means of controlling the flow of information within the Empire of the Lost. As Kilran invaded the Felucia system, and as his forces were pushed into conflict with Carnifex, and his Kainite, our late friend met with the Lord of the Tsis'Kaar-- under the cover of the battle-- to begin a conspiracy known only to a few as the Fifth Wing. In collusion with a Dark Councillor from Avalonia the Sith infiltrated the Empire, and embedded their own operatives into the ranks of all the Imperial military branches, such as the N.I.S.B, and it's special task force in the Imperial Immortals to join expats of the Tenth Sith Empire-- the last successor state of the One Sith, before it was dissolved some decades ago-- and, of course, the disillusioned Imperials who, for varying reasons, want the return of Sith hegemony to the Tion Cluster..."

"Your position in the Empire, and the files I have left in Northwest, grant you the extraordinary position to destroy Carnifex and his Kainites. The Fifth Wing is a manufactured crisis built up so that you can now destroy it and elevate your position among the Lost and the Alliance. You are uniquely situated with links to both the Alliance and the Empire with your former position as a Senator and now as a Moff. Use it to finish what I could not through the destruction of the Fifth Wing. Redeem yourself as a hero in the eyes of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance. End your exile in the Empire of the Lost and unite the Imperials with the Alliance to end the greatest threat to the Galaxy!"

"The Fifth Wing and it's members believe that they are working towards reforming the Empire of the Lost back into the Tenth Sith Empire which once ruled the Tion Cluster when Carnifex was named Sith Emperor. To this end the conflict on Felucia, which was pushed for by Kilran, and facilitated by the Director, was all in design to bring the Kainite and the Empire of the Lost into conflict. Through the combination of weakening the internal structures of the Empire through corruption, while simultaneously driving it into conflict with the Sith Empire, and it's vassal within the Stygian Caldera, the conspiracy resulted in the deaths of thousands of Sith and Imperials on Felucia, and as you know, that was just the beginning..."

"When Kilran annexed the planet Lothal it was serendipitous when members of the Lothal Protectorate conspired to form their rebellion on Hurikane which saw the formation of the Tingel Arm Coalition. With the Sith Holy Worlds drawn into conflict, and the rebels forming to free star systems taken by the Empire, the conspiracy had taken shape. A besieged Empire positioned into place to destroy the Sith and adopt policies that would see the destruction of the Kainites through a new Star War along the Outer Rim Territories."

"Then the Director was turned by Valery Noble after she infiltrated Lianna, and found her. From then onwards Nova begun working to dismantle the Fifth Wing conspiracy. Her first act was infiltrating the war council summit held by Empyrean in order to divert the Sith away from attacking the Empire who considered retaliation after Felucia. Instead of saving Kilran from their retribution the Director provoked them into an attack which led to the destruction of Tion, and the subsequent crisis' which threatened to destroy the Empire of the Lost!"

"After Kilran cleared her of actions of treason, and sedition against the Empire-- despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary-- the Director's second act was to confront Darth Malum on Florrum in the hopes of destroying him. This was why she brought you with her to their meeting: a pawn first used to facilitate the creation of a conspiracy to bring the Empire of the Lost into a conflict to destroy Carnifex, and then later used again to destroy the Fifth Wing after the destruction of Tion, by defeating the Lord of the Tsis'Kaar. But instead she was captured by Malum, and his brother, Strosius, and like she said in her will to you, you were shown mercy because they know that you are a Sith that can be use of to them in their plot to destroy the Empire."

"Which brings us to her last act: her final will, and testament, that she left for you to read in the hopes that you would turn back to the Galactic Alliance."

"Your pilgrimage to Kalist 6 is not what you think it is. The Nomad and his apprentice believe that they are the heir's to Darth Bane and his Rule of Two. Through Her I was able to infiltrate the Empire to initiate our plan to destroy the Sith but they were deceived. All that I have done was meant to be for them, but as it was with the Dark Side Elite, the Eggman, the Tsis'Kaar and the Fifth Wing I have only used the Banities to put ourselves in the position to restore peace and order to the Galaxy!"

Her paused in the ruin, and turned to look upon Trigonus. She lowered her weapon down from her shoulder height to the side which engulfed the upper torso of the pair in darkness. The surrounding skyscrapers-- on the precipice of keeling over into the dirt, and being buried by the desert-- wailed and groaned as the torrential freezing winds continued to assault them and the Sith as they stood there in the center of the ruined city.

"Nova knew the cost of defeat. First by the hand of Carnifex after he destroyed civilization in the Core Worlds. Later by Vulpesen at the Summit of Governments. So, she left it all to you so that you could pick up her mantle in case she was defeated by Darth Malum. A man that she tried to use to destroy the Sith. But she failed, didn't she, Darth Trigonus? There you were in Space with the entire Galaxy at your feat. You could have turned back around to the Empire and shown the message that she left for you to your comrades. The Northwest Outpost, and the conspiracy of the Fifth Wing, was yours to expose as well. Better yet you could have used it all to win back your place on Obulette by appeasing the New Jedi Order and their council with evidence that would have subverted, and supplanted the schemes of Darth Malum, and the Tsis'Kaar, redeeming yourself in the eyes of your former comrades in the Galactic Alliance."

"But you came down here because you know, that in your heart, the man that your father wanted you to be is not the person that you want to be. Alicia Drey... Ella Nova... Casteban Mecetti... tied strings on you, and with them, Maldor danced to their whims in the name of their plots that had nothing to do with you. Together, you and I can accomplish things beyond the scope of their imagination!"

Raising the tip of her Lightsaber to point it in the direction of the tower Her watched as it malevolently cackled in the darkness as she rounded the lesson to it's conclusion. "They promised you power, but they did not share any. They all used you to achieve their own aims, and but they have failed. Through their plot the Empire of the Lost was almost destroyed by the Sith and the rebellion which was sparked through their machinations no more so than the late Alicia Drey!"

"I have led you to the seat of power. Guided you through the web of lies and deceit wrought through the machinations of the Jedi who lied to you, and the late Senator to Obulette. Together, we can still teach them all how to fly. The Fifth Wing is a conspiracy to restore the Sith as rulers of the Tion Cluster, but it needn't be the likes of Carnifex, Empyrean, or even Malum who rise to claim the throne. It should be us, my apprentice. Only through me can you achieve the power necessary to eclipse the dreams of Casteban Mecetti, Director Drey and the other decedent forces which sought to use you for their own aims, and desires."

"Take your seat."

SNAP-HISS!​

The crimson light disappeared almost instantly as Her thumbed the activation button, and concealed the Lightsaber into the folds of her robes. As the Sith were plunged into pitch black darkness she disappeared, and left Trigonus to face the tower ahead alone, by himself. . .

---

 

[Darth Ayra]

---

---

The Deep Core, Galactic Center, Kalist system, Kalist VI;
In the center tower, inside A City Lost to Time.
Tags: Maldor Mecetti

---

"The Sith have not risen again since the fall of the Empire, but history proves that they could return when we least expect it."
-- Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, The Secrets of the Jedi.

---

In the center of A City Lost to Time is a tower. Constructed by the mysterious race of Humanoids known as the Builders this tower once served the city in a capacity currently unknown in the present day. In spite of this fact it does now, however, play home to the abominations of the Sith Lord Freedon Nadd for the mistakes of the past continue to affect the future.

The Orbalisk is a parasitic creature found in large groups that lay inactive in caves, or other dark places, until they find a suitable host creature on whose skin they would attach themselves in order to feed. As a consequence of a similar, yet failed pilgrimage on Dxun-- combined with a series of unfortunate, and strange events-- these creatures now inhabit the tower found within the center of the ruined ecumenopolis. Now that their original host has been long since dead they now inhabit the darkest corners of the tower, where the Dark side of the Force is at it's strongest on the planet, due to the existence of a weapon more abdominal than the ones Nadd created several millennia ago.

When he was living Darth Mendacium the Betrayer constructed a table in the center of the tower. It, alongside the arrangement of seats, were made out of the rare material of Pyronium, with the table and each chair infused with the properties of Bota. Etched onto each seat is the name, or sign, of every Sith Lord that has ever believed in the Rule of Two.

As the Orbalisks hide in the dark, biding their time, as they wait for a next host to take them since they destroyed Darth Ayra the Afflicted, the entrance to the tower glows a malevolent, eerie red upon the ruined walls of the tower.

A presence within stirs as a Disturbance in the Force threatens the entire Galaxy.

"Come to me. . ."
​

---

 

[Maldor Mecetti]

​

Maldor had looked with wariness at Her as she ignited her sword, using its glow to illuminate their passage through this ancient city.

Nothing would have surprised him.

It would be nonsensical to murder him after drawing him all this way. Laying such an intricate mystery before him. It would have made absolutely no sense.

And yet so much of what these Sith did was nonsensical to him. They seemed to be moved by a passion for mystery, an addiction to emotion, and a reverence for their strange methodologies that defied reason.

'They' 'Them'

He still thought of the Sith as a thing separate from himself. He'd studied Sith holocrons in his family vault. Hunted Sith artifacts across the galaxy. Pledged himself to two supposed Sith Masters.

And yet he still had the temerity to think of Sith as something outside of himself. Even Maldor recognized the ludicrousness of his attitude. By now, he had to concede that he'd started to become some kind of Sith. All that was left was to decide what kind of Sith he was becoming.

Let it be a pragmatic kind, he thought to himself.

Amidst all the madness of Sith teachings and Sith conspiracies, the thing he worried most about was becoming lost in the madness himself.

Her explanations of this place and the events of the past carried on as they stepped through this strange, ancient place. Maldor was sure he sensed something... no... several somethings living here. At least he hoped they were living things. As much as mysterious creatures in dark shadows might unsettle him, he knew there were worse things.

Abominations of the Dark Side. Even things that seemed to be Undead. Strange, inexplicable things that defied all known science.

Is that what they would encounter, here? Is that what they'd need to overcome together?

"Take your seat."


SNAP-HISS!​

She was gone.

"Oh you crikking whore," Maldor muttered.

Until this moment, he hadn't produced his own weapon. Even wary of Her, he hadn't drawn it. It flew into his hand, now, and he ignited the blade.

Gone.

What was it with these people? And why did he keep following them?

She'd brought him here to brave the challenges and traps of the tower. Find the way to the vaunted center. She'd brought him here to do Her dirty work, so she could reap the profits after he'd blazed the trail.

She-hound!

And yet, as ever before, he proceeded.

Perhaps his curiosity was so strong because otherwise a man so fearful would be unable to take a single step in this uncertain galaxy. Despite his fear, Maldor had crossed an ocean of stars.

So step he did, towards the tower of the unknown.


Her