Kainan Wolfe
Shadow of War
Attn: [member="Srina Talon"]
- Temporary Safehouse
Bastion, Sith Imperial capital
These were trying times for the Eternal Empire. In the span of a month, the small, but proud nation had gone through unprecedented upheaval. As far as its citizens knew, their leader was dead. He had given his life to save the Confederate forces from a crashing Star Destroyer who's reactor was about to detonate above the capital of Eshan. Ultimately, the Confederacy had managed to secure victory, though at a terrible cost, especially for the Nelvaanian nation.
The contingent deployed by the Eternal Empire as part of the Confederate expeditionary forces, unable to use its full arsenal and military doctrine due to the particular circumstances of the campaign, had found itself surrounded by a numerically superior opponent who had displayed none of their concern for collateral damage. As a result, the Nelvaanian troops had suffered catastrophic casualties, their attrition rate easily exceeding ninety percent. Despite that, they ultimately emerged victorious over the Mandalorian horde throwing itself upon their bayonets. Still, for the citizens of the small, frigid world, this victory had the sour taste of ash.
Within the span of a few short weeks, the Eternal Empire had gone from shock, to grief and ultimately, to explosive rage. Cries for vengeance spread like wildfire amongst the population. More and more voices shouted for blood to be spilled, for the Empire's enemies to be swept away by cleansing, righteous fire, for the nation to unleash an apocalyptic war against all who had ever wronged those who called Nelvaan their home. Yet, even as events were unfolding to steer both the Empire and the entirety of the Confederacy towards a war against the New Republic, news had arrived that promise of hope.
The Emperor, missing for a month and presumed dead even by the upper echelons of the Wardens of the Shroud, who knew the secrets of his dark powers, had come back from the dead somewhere in Sith space, risen from the ashes like a dark phoenix, to lead them. Resources were scrambled immediately and dispatched to insure his safe and speedy arrival, though it would normally take some time for any regular ships to cross the galaxy. For most ships, that was. There were a few vessels in the Confederacy, that could make the trek in days.
Over on Bastion, Tacitus had no way of knowing when a ship would arrive to pick him up. He currently did not have access to military communication channels, so that information could not be transmitted via civilian frequencies, especially not with twin specters of war rearing their heads on the horizon. Instead, he used his resources to rent a property in the Sith capital and to purchase some security droids to secure the perimeter. Other than the droids and the slave which had been given to him and who's freedom he had arranged as soon as his own was secured, there were no other occupants in the small building.
It was a small, rather unassuming-looking building, but it was surrounded by tall walls which would hinder any opportunistic snipers. Overall, it lacked any of the usual luxuries and opulence one would expect from someone of the Nelvaanian warlord's station, but it was just like he preferred it. Simple, practical and utterly devoid of any unnecessary features.
All that was left for him to do, now, was to wait. And to do his best to acquire all the information he could, of the events that had transpired in his absence, although even that was limited to civilian sources, which had put him in a particularly foul mood. The Emperor was not a man who liked to be kept in the dark.
Luckily for him, he would have to wait far less than anyone would have expected...