Private Hunting Shadows

[Mia Monroe]

Every effort was being made to rebuild Mandalore, outsiders had been brought in, deals brokered by Ijaat Mereel to ensure its success. It was a long, painstaking process, something that would take years with just a handful of them working towards it. Mia’s job was simple, protect the efforts, keep unwelcome noses out. The last thing they wanted was word of their efforts reaching back to those that might sabotage it.

Like the Sith Order.

Like Kaine fething Zambrano.

It’d been sheer luck (or will of the force, if you like) that the scout ship had reverted into realspace near Zanbar straight across her patrol path. She’d only been here because this was where the Death Watch had retreated to, and she wanted to be sure even they wouldn't dare rear their heads for this. Not that there were any of them left, not after the purge, but the shadow of the past made her want to be sure.

The dogfight had been brief, and Mia had been slow on the comms jammer, so she knew a message had gotten out before it had crashed on the planet's surface. It had taken her another two days of trudging through the swamp planet to hunt the intruder down.

She rested a boot on his chest, wrenching her beskad free once the light has left his eyes. Her breathing heavy, she flicked the worst of the gore away, pulling a cloth free from her pocket to wipe the blade clean before sheathing it at her back. She’d known he was sith before the fight has started, she’d felt it. He might have escaped her had he not already been wounded from the crash, but you could cloak all you wanted, you couldn’t hide the scent of blood.

Now she had a problem. A dead sith, near her homeworld, one who’d gotten a message out. The glint of an emblem caught her eye. A diamond with two slits, and a snake eating its own tail. Tsis’Kaar. She’d been back long enough to get up to date with the powers that be. A faction within the sith, smaller, working in the shadows. One that had been weakened in their own civil war.

She built a pyre, burned the body out of respect for his fight, then set up camp after sending a message to Ijaat to let him know she was going dark for a few days. Mia didn’t tell him why, just that she had something to take care of. Then she set up camp and waited. She’d wait as long as it took to be sure that no one was coming for their spy.

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

The Alvaria warped out of hyperspace, followed immediately after by the Ragathor, they had made impressive time considering how impromptu this sally into wild space this was, only two cycles since he had received the message. Well, it was not entirely wild space, there were some governing entities out here. There always were considering the galactic scales which they regularly operated under, all of them doing their utmost to survive independently while in the middle of three great empires. To the galactic west, there was the encroaching Galactic Alliance, to the south-east a successor of the New Imperial Order, and some other legacies, and to the north-east, where he had come from, the Kainite vassal state of Darth Carnifex, who held his clawed hands over the entirety of the Stygian Caldera. Already there had been skirmishes between the former and the latter, ones he had participated in, over Thule and Odacer-Faustin. The systems between the Galactic Alliance and the Sith Empire's enclave out in the Old Sith Worlds would then be essential in the war they all knew was coming next.

It was no wonder then, that the Tsis'Kaar network had even extended out here.

So near to one of the most important independent polities.

Mandalore.

Though of course in his childhood, he had known of that only as its former name, he had been raised his childhood praising the good name of Emperor Carnifex.

The one who had made Moridinae.

The Mandalorians and their Enclave around Kamino were the Sith's foes as well, so it was little wonder that his Mistress had agents infiltrated into their old homeland in Mandalore, as it had fallen out of the Sith Empire's possession so long ago. Keeping a wary eye, to make certain if the Mandalorians ever attempted to reclaim their beskar home, that the Sith would be the first to know of it.

So far it seemed unlikely, the Mandalorians were too immersed in their new war against the Alliance, all the while what Mandalorians were left on their husk of a world were doing their best to rebuild. He had reported none of it, allowing them to rebuild as best as they could, where they would do no harm.

He could have brought notice to it.

Could have likely sanctioned an expedition either from the Kainites, or hell, what was left of the Tsis'Kaar to put an end to it.

Yet he had not.

Though when he had received the distress call, he had been the closest to considering it.

When he had taken control of the Tsis'Kaar networks, what parts of it had stayed loyal to him, or otherwise submitted to his suzerainty when his Mistress... fell...

"Was betrayed."

He bit down on his teeth. When he had... betrayed his mistress.

"Better."

When the network had fallen under his control, he had done little to reorganise them, Bogan knew his Mistress knew what she had been doing when assigning them across the cosmos. He had instead focused on rebuilding when the network had fallen or defected, rebuilding where he could, eliminating and restoring where he could not.

He personally cared little for Mandalore and its efforts, Mandalore was a relic of a bygone age, a planet he desired to visit one day, out of a sense of history, but not for anything truly worthwhile. He instead had kept his agents there to keep an eye on the Daragon Trail, a very key hyperspace line that connected Coruscant to Korriban.

Considering the latest battles to take place around Korriban, it was key to the defence of the Vassal worlds.

Of course, he held no love for Darth Carnifex, the Twice Failed Emperor, and his ilk, but it was out of loyalty to the Sith, an abrogation of the factionalism which though he knew the necessity of, was a disease upon their creed, that he had kept watch, and would dutifully inform that once Dark Lord of the Sith, if another strike was to emerge.

Which made it all the more concerning when one of his agents had been killed at Zanbar, so close to Mandalore.

Now losing an agent by itself was usually not too concerning, some had to go dark as their positions required, or otherwise, it may have just been another defector, Chaos, all agents had to contend with the risk of death when on mission... even off of it.

Yet to have it happen so close to critical Mandalore, to not only send a distress beacon but also soon after the last message his ship transmitted being that it had been destroyed.

Well, it seemed someone had targeted his agent, and furthermore, that they had the skill and training to take down one of his agents. Normally it would have been up to the other agents in the area to counterattack, yet, fortune would find it that Malum and his squadron were currently in the Kainite Domain, preparing for another run of privateering ventures in the galactic north of the Alliance, of course, being far more cautious than his last almost brush with destruction.

Such it was enough to take the Daragon Trail to Zanbar, to investigate what happened here, remove any evidence of the Tsis'Kaar presence, and if he was lucky, avenge his agent.

Unfortunately, this would be the most comfy part of his mission, he knew little of Zanbar apart from that some Mandalorian group had used it as their hideout, Death... Death something. It made sense, was some swamp moon of some kind, yet, Malum hated anything wet and slimey with a passion.

Still, they all played their parts.

"Venerandus, deploy the Guard at the last coordinates of the ship, let us avenge our fallen comrade," Malum stated, gazing upon the bridge to the moon below.

"It shall be done, my Imperator." Venerandus of House Marr stated, walking away from his side to do as he commanded.

While Malum had an idle thought.

Who had been the culprit of this act?

He would hopefully find out soon.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

It was impossible to miss them, looming over the planet immediately putting the odds against Mia. She'd expected at most another agent she could squeeze information out of, not a cruiser and a corvette. Still she couldn't help but smile, at least it would be fun. The distant boom of a ship breaking atmosphere had her moving, slowly. They'd find the ship first and that was at least two clicks away. Her own, she'd moved several clicks north of the camp away from any trail leading to this camp. It would take them time to find her and their comrades body.

Packing away any evidence of her being here, she took herself into one of the high boughs of the trees, overlooking the deserted camp and waited. The swamp slowed them but didn't prevent them from finding the camp and the funeral pyre. The pyre she'd stuffed two thermal detonators in.

"Sir, we've found him...Someone burned him on a funeral pyre..."

BOOOOM

Fire splintered, wood and gore sprayed out two of the furthest from the epicenter were thrown backwards, the rest lost limbs and even life. The tree trembled, the damp wood beginning to smoke from the heat. Mia dropped down into the camp, a small burst from her jetpack making her landing soft. She made quick work dispatching all bar one, before they had time to recover. The last she set a heavy upon, kicking away his weapon. "Your comms open?"

He nodded, reluctantly. "Good. Listen closely dar'jetti, for I am not a patient woman and I don't like to repeat myself. You can keep sending down your men, and I can keep killing them. You and I both know the Tsis'Kaar cannot afford to take losses, and you cannot afford to make an enemy of me. So, get your hut'uun backside off your ship and come down here yourself, maybe we can have a conversation that will benefit both of us."

She levelled the bolter in her hand at the agents face. "You have an hour, or I'm coming to you."

Mia pulled the trigger.

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

The female voice ended on the threat, as the blaster bolt sounded, cutting off the transmission, and the Guardsmen's life. That brought up the killer's count to eight. All on the bridge sat within a tense silence, anger simmering below the surface, but otherwise shock and surprise making themselves felt, it was a rare day that the Guard was dispatched, much less that they were dispatched by a single person.

Only Venerandus dared to look towards their Imperator and the sight of him had Venerandus almost shivering in dread.

Malum was smiling, a monstrous smile filled with teeth, as his fingers strummed the armrests upon his command seat with increasing, chaotic, pace.

"Mandalorians..." Malum darkly chuckled, "So welcoming in their hospitality."

The names of the eight quickly filtered through his mind, men who had sworn their fealty to him, men who had owned him their loyalty, men who had died for him.

He was going to make the Mandalorian pay for each and every one of them.

"Ready my dropship, let us take up this... invitation, of theirs."

"Imper-" Venerandus began.

"Cease, follow my commands." Malum hissed back darkly, standing from his seat, with his black cloak billowing in his wake as he marched off towards the hanger, dark thoughts in his mind, dark clouds obscuring his vision.

If the Mandalorian wished to play games, Malum was more than willing to oblige.

And not soon after, the dropship was fired by the Alvaria with the speed of a missile, speeding on its way to the location of the recent attack.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Another sonic boom in the high atmosphere. Mia grinned at the speed of it, pausing in her work. Either her message had gotten across and the sith at the head of this was coming to greet her, or they were foolish enough to send more.

She finished gathering the fallen, or what was left of some of them, laying them side by side and setting their weapons on their chests. The first had fought hard, these poor fools hadn't stood a chance.

Mia didn't lay anymore traps. Eight dead should suffice as enough of a warning. And if it hadn't, well, she'd add to the line of fallen. What was one more dead Sith?

She settled herself on a fallen bow, leaning her back against a sorched tree trunk, her helmet removed and resting at her side. Mia pulled a whetstone from her belt and the beskad from her back and honed the blades edge while she waited.

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

His eyes remained closed as an immense crash sent shockwaves around the surrounding area, he remained still, though for any other the chaotic nature of the dropship's descent, along with the immediate sensation of it hitting the unmovable, and unshakeable ground would have caused immense disorientation.

Malum though, was entirely stable in his position, one of the perks of being able to bend the Force around him, being his stabiliser, as he was strapped in place of the shell which was a metal hulk.

He breathed in through his nostrils, before allowing the warm breath to exhale. Though he had been ruled by his emotions to make his descent here, he would not let his emotions rule the upcoming fight. A figure who was able to dispatch his men would be afforded the respect they deserved, even if Malum imagined that what he was to do to her, in recompense for what she had done, would be far from respectful.

His comms were open as the dropship opened, lightsabre in hand, though not yet ignited, it seemed his initial approximation had been true, at least for a few seconds he had driven the Mandalorian off. No one exactly desiring to be in the impact zone of a dropship.

After all such force could kill you just as easily as any lightsabre or force power.

As was second nature to him, he faded from view, from both the naked and unnaked eye, as he trudged into the swamp in front of him.

It would not be long before crimson eyes found its query, sitting upon a fallen bow, without a care in the world, as if so utterly confident that she would be able to defeat whatever came for her in the sky. It was confirmation that she was a Mandalorian at least, the helmet beside her was enough proof of that, as she polished her beskar blades.

They would prove worthy enough prizes towards the families of those who had been slain, he supposed.

The woman herself was attractive enough he supposed, with a chunk of her face ripped out of her, with short raven hair that framed her features, and blue eyes none the wiser of the threat that was drawing closer.

He raised his invisible hand, and commanding the Force coil around his fingers, he focused dearly, as the entity at the back of his mind provided him a rare show of support.

Bursting forth like the weapon of the gods from the sky, white lightning thundered out of his skin with a sonic boom to match. A chaotic element at the worst of times, normally blue, it had been made clear by the immense heat that was exuding from its path.

It would be torture.

Torture to make her beg for death.

Only then would he consider that mercy.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia had a split second, nothing more. As the stone reached halfway down the blade she felt it, the shift in energy, the flash of warning in the force. Tutaminis had been one of the first things she had learned when Velok had dumped his memories in her.

She'd made a point of perfecting it, honing it to the point where she could stand in an inferno and not be harmed. This was childs play. The force of it slammed her into the trunk with a grunt, a few bolts escaping her grasp, dancing up her arms. With a grunt of effort, she pushed up to her feet, stepping into the barrage, absorbing it through her plams

Her eyes tracked its source. Force stealth. Interesting. "This tantrum will get you nowhere, dar'jetti." She said in an almost bored tone.

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

She was fast, and she was force-sensitive. There was no doubt in his mind, that those two facts were certainly linked. That certainly made things more interesting.

Without fanfare, wherein an open piece of ground once lay, empty and bare, now stood a relatively tall figure, raven locks framing his features, as crimson eyes burned hotly, righteous rage strumming through his fingers, realising that with the element of surprise gone, there was no point not dedicated every part of his being towards the offence.

"Neither will your resistance, Mandalorian" A grunt answered the taunt, as one hand hissed the sound of a red lightsabre coming alive, the plasma kissing the air around it, while the other hand, with a ring that was growing hotter, glowing an unholy red, flames coiled around his finger as the lightning had done mere moments before.

With the boom of a gun, a huge wall of orange flames erupted out of his hands, rapidly growing even hotter until it reached a pale blue.

For her crimes.

She would burn.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Raven hair, red eyes and features twisted with rage. Mia cocked her head smiling in amusement. She'd never known sith to be so attached to their soldiers, granted the one she had fought on fair terms had put up a good fight. The Tsis'Kaar were worth there weight, all the more reason for her to not fight the rest on even terms. She might have given it more though and consideration had she not noticed the glowing ring.

Mia sighed, "This really isn't-"

She was cut off by the explosion, hands splaying outwards in front of her to catch the flames, heat choking the air around air. Steam rose rapidly from the foliage around them, some of it curling and crumpling from the heat, too wet to burn but simply withering away. Mia had had enough, extending her reach she pulled the fire into her, drawing it in till it was nothing but a small sphere in front of her.

"You're starting to irritate me." A flick of the wrist and the fire crashed sideways into the remains of a hut and Mia shifted her stance as the other hand pushed down. A great weight would lay on Malum's shoulders forcing him down. Mia had flattened buildings with the force, she would bring him to his knees, even if it meant breaking his legs, or chattering his collarbones in order to do so.

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

It was a rare few that could survive his white lightning at point-blank rage.

A rarer few that could survive the firestorm unleashed by the Eliadian Ring.

The rarest few seemed to knock both aside with ease, seeming to not even have the slightest injury to their person after the attacks had struck.

The fact that a Mandalorian of all people held this kind of power, a power that most reserved to the highest echelons of the Sith and Jedi Orders, was utterly...

Wrong.

Of course, he did not have much time to bemoan the strange circumstances of the one who opposed him, for after all, on one hand, his mind and heart were still simmering in the emotions that rational thinking a pipedream at the best of times. On the other hand, and the likely far more concerning point of contention was...

...Well...

In the backdrop of his flames having been reconstituted and shot as a fireball towards the remains of the hut nearby, her other hand simply... pushed down.

And immediately he felt the effects.

Where one moment he stood tall and proud, even if demuring at the defence his opponent had put up. He now felt the pressure acting upon his skull, the pressure that acted upon his entire torso. It was as if a gigantic invisible entity was pressing down upon him, forcing him, down, down upon his knees, and then further down still.

His body shook with the pressure.

His body shook as it resisted.

Malum would not bow.

He did not bow as his knees wavered.

He did not fall as the whites in his eyes burst into red as the opposing forces burst open the blood vessels.

As his torso bent, blood trailed down his nose.

He resisted still, pure rage acting where biology failed. Breathing deep heaving breaths, as every part of his body begged for relief, to end this futile resistance.

Yet Malum was not one to ever surrender, or give up. He had bowed only to three people in his life, one was dead by his hand, and the other two would be too if he had any say in it. He had bowed for advantage, for the tools necessary to turn their pride against them and watch it swallow them whole.

"Unleash me."

Not yet, not now.

He would not bow now, would not submit to the whims of this Mandalorian that would die by the time night fell.

His free hand, swirled in the energy of the Force, pushed upwards. A minor feeling of relief, as the energy pressing down upon him was countered by more than just his biological stand.

Still, minor.

It provided him with enough opportunity still. Pressing the Force through his other hand, using his lightsaber as a conduit to reach further still.

Just above his head, the Dark side was made manifest, from all sides the Force coming together to construct a weapon that would save him from this battle that he was destined to lose.

The Spear of Midnight Black, the Darkshear, span in chaotic arcs, summoned and built by his own power. It had but one purpose.

To annihilate the Mandalorian before him.

Thus it was launched, and if Bogan was good, as his legs prepared to follow soon after, it would provide him the opportunity to close the distance. To allow her head to be ripped clean off her body.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Kark.

Eyes widened as the darkshear took shape. Somewhere in the back of her mind a whiphid snarled. He knew that skill, he'd taught it, but she'd never bothered with it. Her eyes changed as the lines blurred, Velok did not possess her, Velok was long dead, but something of him remained within, locked away in his many memories and his anger meleded with hers as her eyes took on an orange sith glow.

The spear loosed, Mia released the pressure on Malums spine and shifted her weight. Scoring a line along the beskar chest peice, it found soft flesh on the outsode of her thigh, tearing a deep red line. Mia felt nothing, pain was nothing. She blinked at the wound, she hadn't even realised she'd applied crucitorn to herself. Old habits truly did die hard. She would need to watch that.

Mia didn't have more than a mere moment to contemplate this as the sith stepped in to attack, blood streamed from his eyes.

"Enough."

The energy she'd gathered from the lightning he'd thrown at her, from the fire he'd try to engulf her in manifested itself with a sonic boom as she moved to slam her palm into his chest with the force of a starfighter and throw him backwards.

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

It was the moment of his victory, his body was freed from the Mandalorian's attempts to pulverise him into the ground, his vision saw only red as his body, finally free rushed forward with a speed restricted to him, ignoring the trail of blood down his nose, as the only thing that mattered was cutting the Mandalorian's head off from the rest of her body.

He had even struck first blood, even from this distance he could see the Darkshear's work, having seared a line across the beskar chest piece, and sliced open her thigh. So close, he was inches away from his target, centimetres from the revenge that was all too necessary after everything she had done.

"Enough."

The word boomed, as her hands clapped.

His gaze opened in utter shock, as the frustration flowed freely through his form. It was unfair, this was his battle to win, how could she pull this out at the last second?

It mattered little as howled in anger, as he was thrown back from the Mandalorian, and landed with a loud thud in the canopy of brush nearby. Groaning for a moment, groaning as he stood back up, lightsabre still hand, and staring hatefully with blood-stained eyes at the Mandalorian that had the gall to still be alive.

Well, if she wished to simply keep him back, he would oblige with stronger, and stronger attacks. No matter how many failed to connect, eventually, one would.

And that would be all it took.

He readied his foot, his lightsaber hissing as the plasma cut across oxygen, growling as he prepared for another charge to end this once again.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

A little distance would hopefully be enough. Mia's eyes still glowed as she wrestled with demons within to maintain control of herself despite the yearning to kill this little thing that called itself a sith.

"You are letting your anger get the better of you. We can keep going if you want. You can keep wasting energy trying to kill me and I can actually start hitting back. You'll die. There's no question in that. The Tsis'Kaar will likely fall without their leader and it all will have been for nothing." Her tone was unimpressed, almost bored.

She cocked her head and gestured gestured at the lined up bodies, the ones he'd ignored. "Because you are their leader, aren't you? Who else would be so blinded by rage at their death. Live another day, dar"jetii. Be smart, or be another sith to die at my hands."

As she spoke she summoned her helmet and her beskad to her hands that had been scattered by his first attack. The blade rolled in her hands, itching for blood as she settled the helmet back on her head obscuring her face from view.

"Choose wisely."

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

"You know little of what you speak, yet even that is too much," Malum spoke with a voice that was doing its utmost to contain the emotions that seemed to brim out of him, a hum as if the rage, anger, and frenzy was leaking out of him, the dark side manifest, with crimson eyes that burned alight with only a single course and desire.

"Let me out, let me annihilate her."

He hissed, biting back at the voice inside his head, who though within him, at times was just as much an enemy as the figure before him.

Even if he so readily wished to give into the voice's wants.

It after all only was echoing what he desired.

Still, as his face scrunched up in opposition to the head-splitting headache that was taking hold, his preparations to charge reached their end. His lightsaber still brimming with red plasma, ready to do as he commanded.

All the while, the Force flowed freely around him, answering his command, as he prepared, for the final dance.

It was the last of her words, as she gestured towards the lined up bodies that finally broke him. Yet, Malum did not break into the desperate madness that was his expectation.

No.

It was a supreme clarity, as a calm set over him. The agony in his mind ceased, as the amulet at his chest grew hot to the touch. He breathed in a deep breath, calm, serenity.

But for a singular purpose.

He brought his wrist to his lips, as his eyes closed, "I choose..." He breathed out, as bloodshot eyes opened themselves to the world, the fire flickering across his irises rather than burning bloody abandon, "To bombard my position."

And the turbolasers of the ships above began to sing.

As the figure of Malum... disappeared.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Behind her helmet, Mia closed her eyes and sighed. It was like talking to herself when she was younger and all fire and fury. A boulder rolling down a hill, Velok had called it. Unstoppable, immune to reason and ultimately rolling the wrong way. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She might like this kid, if he stopped trying to kill her.

The first blast struck the nearby trees, splintering wood in all directions, boiling swamp water. Mia opened herself fully to the force as the shockwave hit, a shimmering barrier surrounding her, debris and the shockwave rolled around it, like a torrent of water crashing against a rock. It wouldn't hold for long and it certainly wouldn't withstand a direct strike from a turbolaser.

Mia took a knee, breathing even focusing on the lasers, on their path. Another struck to her left, then behind her, one exploded so impossibly close to her had it not been for the barrier, she was certain her baskar'gam would have melted.

The shimmering barrier wavered, and looked up as the bolt came for her direct position. She was ready for it, pushing to her feet she reached her hand up to absorb it. The armour on her left arm melted away, sticking to her skin, blistering burns erupting along her arm, but there was no pain, not yet. She would feel it all later but first she had to survive.

The energy redirected into her barrier strengthening it and she began to move forward, unhurried focus split between the barrier and the path of the turbolasers. Mia would need to split her attention again if this was going to be more than just a field exercise.

She reached out for the sith, seeking his mind in the force.

We have a common enemy, dar'jetti.

Her barrier collapsed under the weight of another laser blast. This one struck her left shoulder, searing metal to skin down her torso as she absorbed the energy again.

Imagine what we could do to Darth Carnifex if you stopped trying to kill me.

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

It was a wonderful sight, watching, overlooking his old position atop a hill, far from where the bombardment would take place. It had been a surprisingly difficult walk here, after having travelled through space and time to where his dropship had landed, he had dealt with an odd tightness in his chest, that only seemed to worsen with every step he took.

One of the side effects of using Force Travel, apparently even at a relatively short distance, the body was unable to properly react and adapt to the... very tame, but still technical crime against nature that had taken place.

Still, that tightness in his chest receded as he made it up the hill outside of the blast radius, as the first shots of the turbolasers made their descent down into the world. The rumbling waves as they impacted the earth could be felt even from his faraway position, even the heat as it spread outward. In an instant the meadow in which they battled was annihilated, what burning chunks of lumber was left in the initial strike, would soon be pulverised into ash.

There was little chance that she survived even that.

Still, as his invisible inky black tendrils surveyed across the strike site, his Consume Essence searching for the emotions, the Force sensitivity that would confirm that initial theory, he realised.

He would not be entirely surprised if she had somehow survived.

And thus, the firing continued.

It was only as an inkling wormed itself into his mind, something foreign, but entirely unfamiliar, that he realised his theory was correct.

We have a common enemy, dar'jetti.

Teeth grinded, fists formed, as he shook with rage, so tempted, so sorely tempted to order that they intensify firepower. To put out this speck of resistance that dare reach out to him, when it should have been dead.

He would have done it too.

If not for the second message.

Imagine what we could do to Darth Carnifex if you stopped trying to kill me.

"Kaine..."

"Cease bombardment," Malum spoke into his wristcomms, as he began walking down back towards where their fight had taken place.

He told himself it was simply to finish off the Mandalorian who certainly deserved some credit after surviving all that.

In reality, it was not even necessary to lie to himself.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia sagged, dropping to one knee in the centre of the smoking crater the bombardment her breathing heavy. Shaking hands removed her helmet once more and tossed it aside, her beskad was nowhere to be seen, obliterated, no doubt. Her armour on her right upper torso, arm and back was gone, melted away by the intense heat. Mia may have been able to withstand the heat of a laser but her armour, alas was not. Her skin hissed as she released her hold on tutaminis, less is drain her energy entirely.

With effort, keeping the pain at bay she pushed to her feet and made her way to the edge of the crater, picking peices of beskar from her skin as she did. Ijaat Mereel was going to lose his shavvit when he saw her, so many question she'd have to answer. A heavy sigh left her lips. She had killed eight of his men, had the table been turned, she would have reacted the same. She straightened up as Malum approached, she didn't have a weapon, not that she needed one if he did decide to continue this tantrum.

"Oh good, you did hear me. Are you done?" she gestured at the carnage "Ready to have a conversation? Or would you like to keep trying to kill me?"

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

"That," Malum began, revealing his lightsaber, the plasma hissing as it traversed across the air, before with an equally loud hiss it deactivated, and fell back towards his robed side, "Will be entirely up to you, I expect." Flames still danced in those crimson eyes, all the feelings that he had when this battle had started clearly had not faded away, only been controlled, suppressed, by the weight of two souls, all too eager to listen to the Mandalorian's words.

She was in a sorry state, he thought with grim satisfaction, not dead as he had wanted, but in deep pain, even if she did her utmost to suppress it, to hide it, how much of that was feigned, and how much of it was her ability to take further, and further punishment, he wondered? It was a true power that could take point black turbolaser fire and survive to tell the tale. Even if her armour seemed to have not survived, most of it was cracked and broken below their feet, but some had seemed to melt into her skin itself. He could not imagine a worse pain, having molten ore melted atop you would make you wish for death, standing still as it melted into you... was, something else entirely.

Yet, how could he be truly surprised, the Mandalorian had taken every attack he had made, and either blocked it, countered it, or nullified it.

Was such the power of the Mandalorians?

Would Elise Ahana-Gwyneira , grow to be that powerful? He could not help but smile at that thought, one of the few people who still could bring a genuine smile out of his features these days.

He broke eye contact with the Mandalorian in front of him, as pink dusted his features, what was he doing daydreaming when a potential foe was still in front of him?

He coughed into a fist, as he turned back, "Speak of Kaine, or... Darth Carnifex, the Twice-Failed Emperor, be quick." It had been a realisation that had been as sudden as it had been natural, for some reason though he had called the man Darth Carnifex, or the Twice Failed Emperor for most of his life, it was now his given name, Kaine, which he strangely felt most comfortable saying.

It was not out of insult, not out of malice or disrespect... it simply was.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia watched him with intrigue, he was easily carried away in his thoughts, she caught the smile followed by the small blush head tilting as he covered it up. Content he was not going to try and kill her again anytime soon she moved her back to the nearest tree and slid down it to sit at its base.

Mia looked up ay him for a long moment. "You'll be hard pressed to find a mandalorian who does not want to kill Kaine Zambrano, he razed our planet, renamed it, after the Sith Lord who started our endless war against one another, had us hunt one another almost to extintion."

Her words were calm, her eyes sad, her daughter had been among the hunted. "All of this happened, because I..." she shook her head "Ra Vizsla was his puppet, and I played straight into that trap, paid with my life for it too. Our civil war laid the foundations for his purge."

She fell quiet for a moment, watching for his reation to her words wondering if he was smart enough to connect the dots and work out who she was. "Now I could continue down old paths, let anger and vengeance be my controllers. I could carve my way through a thousand sith, to get to him, lure him out by killing the many spawn of his that plague this galaxy. But its not enough. I don't want to just kill him, I want to take everything from him."

An orange glow flashed past her eyes, anger burning fresh and hot inside her.
"To do that, I need an inside man. To do that I need an information network embedded within the sith. I need to know everything there is to know about him and his followers." She gave Malum a long hard look.

"What it your name?"

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

This period occupied a strange time of existence for Malum, a time which he had lived, but had not experienced, a time that was history, but a time that still seemed for many, to still be alive. A time wherein he had worshipped Darth Carnifex, as the Emperor who would lead the Sith Empire ever forward, into a new age, Malum would serve that Emperor, rise through his ranks, be his trusted, able, subordinate, and through his favour, bring the House of Marr to great new heights.

It did not turn out that way.

He still had memories of being a boy and being forced to flee Bastion with the rest of his family, as the Empire collapsed around them.

That had been where the hero worship had ended.

Where the rage and the anger had come.

How could Darth Carnifex have failed them so? How would he have abandoned the Empire when they needed him the most? How could he have let the enemy break through the gates, scale the walls, and destroy the Sith Empire?

He had spent his childhood hating a great many things, the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi who fought the Sith forevermore, the New Imperial Order who had become traitors to the Empire they once served, the Eternal Empire for betraying the Sith when it mattered most, the Ashlan Crusade who despoiled the Holy Worlds, the Mandalorians who had always fought the Sith, always been the enemy at the frontier, who gave them no exception, and of course...

...Darth Carnifex, who allowed it all to happen.

"You'll find no sympathy from me regarding... Moridinae... Manda- Moridinazid," He hissed out, even as he corrected himself, taunting down at the Mandalorian who propped herself against a tree, "Not after what your kind did to Dromund Kaas, not after your... betrayal." He referenced events likely beyond them both, yet Malum knew his history or at least a Sith-flavoured version of history.

He felt nothing as her eyes twisted to reveal the anguish underneath, the Sith had done terrible things across the galaxy, there was no denying that, and little point when some, perhaps most, of the Order would announce their terrible, wasteful deeds as if they were accomplishments. But he would never stand aside, and allow the rest of the galaxy, who did their terror behind honeyed words such as alliance, enclave, crusade, or even empire, to claim the Sith were uniquely evil.

For their crimes would be hidden underneath the rug, as the hypocrisy of the light constantly showed.

He tilted his head at the rest of her words, Ra Vizsla, the Iron Wolf, Mand'alor the Undying, an ally of the Sith... incidentally by the name likely some sort of kin of Elise Ahana-Gwyneira , such only spoke of the inheritance his Elise came from, one which he would help her reclaim, if she wanted that, could be convinced to want it. If this Mandalorian talked of him as if she was a peer... "You're Mand'alor the Liberator..." He breathed out, where anger and rage once held providence, it was now one of awe, he had met few people who truly had become enshrined in history, the Triumvirs of the Sith Order, Darth Empyrean, Darth Carnifex, and Darth Ophidia.

He flinched.

Breathing in slowly again, they who held the balance of the galaxy in their hands, he had now met another who was among their ranks.

And he almost killed them.

It at least explained how she had shrugged off his attacks, she might have counted amongst the greats.

It was enough for him to listen to her words, as he debated internally if killing her might be for the best, there was still vengeance to be had. And yet his many likely would add too little to the tall of how many Mand'alor the Liberator had killed of his kind. It was caution that ruled the day in the end, realising who she was enough for him to stay his hand, for she had held back, that much was clear, could he truly take her on if she unleashed her full strength?

He was not in the mood to test that.

"You wish for me to betray one of my own, as detestable as he is... one of my kind," He was rare among Sith to begin with, who found the constant betrayals and deceptions to be what held them back, time after time, yet when it came to Darth Carnifex... he was sorely tempted, "We both have our reasons for despising the one who returned from death," His eyes narrowed down towards another who had done the same, "You hate him for what he did to your... Mandalore, I hate him for what he failed to do with his Sith Empire, we are not the same, do you believe cooperation to be possible still, Mand'alor?" Crimson eyes bored down.

Before he broke off eye contact and gazed around looking at the damage he had caused the area.

"If you must know, I am Darth Malum, of House Marr." Did the Mandalorians teach of the greatest Sith that ever lived, or only of the ones who had harmed them the most? He was strangely curious to know the answer.

Mia Monroe