Private Pillar of Lies

[Darth Vindictus]

The ocean breeze was refreshing to Darth Vindictus, cooling his face as he listened to the waves crash against the mountain sized pillars that dominated the world of Makeb. He felt lighter than on other worlds, a natural by product of the worlds lower gravity, but all coupled together he felt refreshed. Instead of his usual black and red robes, he wore a simple black shirt and pants, leaving his rather pale skin easily visible. His black hair, cut short around his head, drifted only slightly with the breeze as he leaned against the railings of the hotel he had booked for himself. Despite his purpose for coming here and risking the perils of Silver Jedi Concord space, it almost felt like a vacation.

Sighing, he pushed himself away from the balcony, which had a rather beautiful view over the city Vindictus was in, and walked back into his room. Plush white sheets dominated a bed nearly ten feet in width, and more pillows than he cared to count lined it on all sides. Several floor to ceiling mirrors lined the walk in closet, and a desk with a holoprojector occupied the wall across from the bed. A large and spacious bathroom attached to the main room through a winding hallway, which itself had a one way glass walling, allowing for the occupant to enjoy the view of the world while they showered. All together, it was a lavish, extravagant and comfortable place, the kind of place that made you soft. No wonder the Jedi were weaker than the Sith, they lived with such luxury every day.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Vindictus briefly gestured with his hand, turning on the holoprojector without touching the control remote that sat next to him on the bed. A news broadcast came on, displaying current galactic news through the careful filtering of Jedi propaganda, Vindictus was certain. The only thing he knew for certain to be truth, or at least close to the truth, was the proclamation signaling the defeat of the Sith Empire. The New Imperial Order and Galactic Alliance had claimed victory, or at least that is what they told the rest of the galaxy. With the Sith Empires fall, and the actions of the Brotherhood of the Maw in eliminating the smaller Sith powers, the time of the Sith was seemingly coming to an end.

At least, that is what the galaxy was meant to think.

A knock on the door to the hotel room drew his attention away from the holoprojector. Glancing towards the door, Vindictus leaned forward on the bed, folding his hands together and resting his elbows on his knees. The agent who was now entering was the first, but not the last, of those who the One Sith would seek to bring about a new age for the Sith. Their mission to this world, to observe Jedi recruitment practices for their Padawan learners, would serve as the springboard for plans Vindictus had in the coming weeks and months.

"Enter."

Regel

 

[Regel]

Service of the unorthodox to a simple goal. Acquisition. This was the Chiss's duty all his life. The methods varied from one target to the next, sometimes it would take but a day to reach the goal, yet another week before he retrieved it. Sometimes a month to find it, but then taking it before the day was over. People, objects, information, the target varied but it must be taken back. Deceit, force, persuasion, the methods varied just as much. The only constant had been the people who gave the orders. But eventually even that changed.

Now he was walking through 'enemy' territory. His skin had been shifted from blue to black, his eyes from complete red to a humans brown, and his hair was slicked down. His clothes were that of a commoner, or a spacer. Inconspicuous. Typical. That was required. That was his job. While he had utilized contacts for his eyes, allowing a more secure protection, his physical changes were due to his disguise implant curtesy of those he once worked for. Meanwhile his clothing was in fact a Polyweave design, and just in case, he still wore a Stealth field generator that was covered by the Polyweave to appear as just another belt.

And then, the door in front of him, he didn't pause stride. A knock on the door. He had a general idea of what was going on, he had some guesses as to his new objective. But this was all information gathering at the moment. He heard the word, and entered the room, closing the door behind him where he was alone with Darth Vindictus.

He did not let the disguise vanish, they were still in enemy territory and he was not given any kind of go-ahead. He gave a quick scan of the room with his eyes, looking for bugs, cameras, exits, entrances, hidden spots, weapons, tools, before returning them to the Sith before him. He waited, if the Darth wanted to be open here about his position, then he'd also lose the casual demeanor he wore and take on the formal respect of the Sith position. Until then, should the Sith be hiding anything, Regel had no intention of subverting it.

 

[Darth Vindictus]

Vindictus gave a brief look at Regel as they entered the room, though his eyes returned to the holonet broadcast almost right away. To hear about galactic events through a public news source rather than his growing network of agents and contacts was a bit of a novelty, and he took some pleasure in seeing the various viewpoints and angles the reporters tried to find. With a flick of a finger, Vindictus turned to projectors volume up louder, becoming a near deafening boom in the room.

At the same time, he rose to his feet and faced the Chiss operative, creating a small wind tunnel between the two of them with the Force/ When he spoke, barely above a whisper, it was easily heard by the Chiss. Vindictus did not think they were being spied on, but it never hurt to be careful. "What have you to report, operative."

Finding the Chiss operative had been a lucky break for the One Sith, and Vindictus had been careful not to squander their abilities. Ever since the events of Csilla, it had become increasingly difficult to secure the support and aid of Chiss, an endangered species by galactic standards. Their talents, their abilities, and their history all but wiped out by the Brotherhood of the Maw, and their New Sith Order.

Simply thinking of them brought a frown to Vindictus's face. There would have to be a reckoning between them at some point, but not for now. For now, the One Sith would grow and operate in the shadows.

 

[Regel]

Mur'egel'kormu gritted his teeth for a second at the booming sound of the projectors volume before Darth Vindictus used those force powers of his to speak to him. Well, that was one way to keep things secret. He assumed a position of attention before speaking, "The Jedi Orders have long since ceased reliance on only searching out force sensitive children of a young age, while it occurs still, many Jedi may come from any age group. Though there are very few untrained force sensitives who join in their elderly years. Former Sith and members of other force trained orders or cultures also may more easily join while older, due to their previous experience in the force and the Jedi's intent to turn and keep them on the light side."

He would have pulled out a holo-projector, but that could be kept for later. "There appear to be no limits on the location from which padawan learners are recruited. Discovering the specific recruiters would require more time, but would likely have very little payoff. As from what I can tell, nearly any Jedi could suggest a family bring their child to them, or suggest to an adult to go to the Jedi order. This suggests infiltration of the Jedi could be relatively easy on paper, as all one has to do is create the conditions in which a Jedi may recognize either a dark side user as regretful or disinterested in their actions, or an untrained but middle aged or younger force user as wanting to learn and protect. I would however suggest against using local cultures and orders as covers, due to that it increases the number, and type, of people paying attention. This does not take into account the risks involved with Jedi's mental powers or observational skills, nor an infiltrators powers and skill of deception. This concludes the primary information I have thus obtained."

The Chiss then stood still, and waited. This part was not abnormal, however the objective was a bit harder than normal. Much of this information could be obtained easily, all he had really done was verify it. Still, the problem was there had been more than one Jedi Order recently. And they did not always refer to themselves as 'Jedi this' or 'Jedi that,' as a result, their specifics could get muddled in with others. While infiltration of the Jedi was not a specified order, it was rather instinctive to at least mention it. Regel lacked the ability to do such a thing naturally, he was not force sensitive, but there were times that applied to his previous work as well, though far rarer.

Darth Vindictus