Star Wars: Rogue Knight II Return Of The Sith

Bridge

Imperial cruiser Ravager

High orbit over Hoth

"Why you ask?" I smiled.

"Yes. Why do you serve the Empire? The Sith?" Ashara repeated her question. "Why do you condone this?!" The Jedi Knight waved at all the sh.i.p.s gathered outside.

"As we speak, the Empire your kind loves to loathe, feeds, clothes and protects trillions. There are countless people living upon thousands of worlds who haven't seen one of our soldiers outside a parade or a holo-vid. Day after day, year after year, our people live their lives in stability and security provided by the Empire." I explained.

"You're a Sith." Ashara snorted. "Do you honestly think I would believe such a lie?"

I turned around to face her.

"A lie?" Ah, Jedi. So easy to rile up. The emotions I could sense coming from the Togruta were quite amusing. All that sweet indignation spiced up with a hint of anger… "On a thousand worlds random people run afoul of Sith. They get humiliated, injured, tortured or killed. Perhaps all of the above if it suits someones fancy." I shrugged.

A spark of triumph appeared in Ashara's eyes.

"Then why do you support such evil?!" She glared at me.

"Support it?" I chuckled. "Of course I support it. I've spent decades cleaning up the messes Sith cause."

The Jedi stared at me in confusion.

"You're mad." She shook her pretty head in exasperation.

"I merely view the world from different perspective. For the record, the term's 'differently rational'." I quipped. "The Sith gave me strength. When I was merely a wretched slave, they gave me the opportunity to better my position. To claw my way up into relevance as I earned strength. They gave me the tools to overcome any challenge. I broke my chains, Jedi. I'm free to forge my own path."

"And you chose to waste that freedom!" Ashara glared at me.

"Am I?" I glared back. "I've done more for the people of this galaxy as a part of the Empire than any ten Jedi combined!" I snapped. "How many deranged Sith have you put down, Ashara?" I asked lightly.

The sudden change of topic took her aback.

"Ten, twenty?" I continued.

"Twelve. You'll be lucky number thirteen." The Jedi snarked.

"I lost count while I was a mere acolyte. Let me tell you a dirty little secret, Ashara. The two Empires I described – they both exist. I know that we Sith are flawed creatures. We built this Empire. We're its greatest strength yet the one thing which could tear it apart."

"You're monsters." Ashara's glare didn't abate. "I've seen your handiwork: broken people, families torn apart, whole worlds put to the torch… and why? For vengeance? To satisfy your insane l.u.s.t for conquest?"

"True enough." I admitted lightly. "What of it?"

"You prove my point." Ashara declared as if she just scored a victory.

"Jedi!" I exclaimed. "Every time I think you've grown up, that you might finally understand, one of your kind proves me wrong." I sighed. "With a gusto."

Ashara huffed. Whatever she expected me to do, this wasn't it.

"Grow up?" She chuckled. "From where I'm standing its you Sith who refuse to grow up and set the galaxy on fire with your temper-tantrums!"

"To tell the truth, I know some Sith who're exactly like that! I've killed my share of the bastards too." I agreed, making her frown. "It doesn't make my point any less valid, Jedi."

"You have a point?" A look of mock confusion appeared on Ashara's face.

"To answer your question, power." I shot back.

"Which question?" This time the confusion on her face was genuine.

"Yes." I smirked. "All of them. Power is what we seek, Ashara! Power so we would never again be weak. Power so we won't be hunted down like rabid animals by you and your wretched Republic! Power enough not to be brought to the edge of extinction again!" I looked her in the eyes. "Power over this whole galaxy. Power over our rivals – you Jedi. Power to be victorious against everyone and everything the universe could throw at us. Power enough to set us free."

"That's it? You started the Great War because you were afraid?!" Ashara scoffed. "That's insane..." She trailed off when I glared balefully at her.

"Is it? What would have your kind done if we didn't strike first? What would your precious Republic have done if the Empire simply revealed itself as a rival? What would have you done when you discovered that the people you tried to exterminate on Korriban all those centuries ago were back?"

Ashara opened her mouth to retort, but paused. Her nose scrunched cutely when she began thinking.

"We're different than you, Jedi. There's power in vengeance. In conflict."

"Is that drivel meant to seduce me to the Dark Side?" Ashara scoffed.

"Not really. We're chatting to pass the time." I looked over Ashara. "I won't mind seducing you thought."

"In your dreams." The Jedi snorted softly.

"You might be… If you wore something more flattering than those fur-covered robes."

"Sir, we've lost contact with the port hangar. No alarms."

"So our guests have finally arrived. Splendid!" I clapped cheerfully.

Ashara narrowed her eyes at me.

"My friends will save me." She declared.

That look of utter conviction suited her.

"Save you?" I inquired. "From what?" I asked curiously.

The Jedi went back to glaring pointedly in my direction.

"You aren't in the brig, Ashara. I see no shackles on you hands or feet. No slave collar around your pretty neck. You're my guest." I cheerfully pointed out.

A look of dawning comprehension and horror appeared on her face.

"Jedi attacking my flagship after I went to all that trouble to retrieve you from those maniacs back on Hoth… Why, that's an act of war, my dear. A war nor Republic neither the Empire want at this time..."

"This was all a trap..." Ashara hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." I didn't even try to hide my amus.e.m.e.nt.

=RK=

Mother Machine chamber

Belsavis

My eyes snapped open and my dream vanished like a mirage on the wind.

I felt… relaxed. At peace.

I could feel the turmolous currents of the Force, which were passing through me like a bubbling spring tainted by the Dark Side.

"Procedure complete." Ashaa declared in passionless voice. "Original template restored. Power reserves critical. Shunting all available power to self-repair protocols…"

I used my power to open the chamber where I my body was rebuilt and jumped out, landing lightly on my feet. I was weird. The Force felt sharper, clearer now that I was back in my original body – or the closest I could ever get to that state.

"General, all you all right?" One of the doctors waiting for me asked.

"I feel great." I smiled. "Once I get myself in some clothes you can scan away to your heart's content." I added. Damn, the place felt cool.

I glanced back at Ashaa. The Mother Machine had shut down and was busy siphoning energy to repair itself. While it lacked the capability to give me back the enhanced body it made for me all those millennia ago, after a quick repair cycle she was able to restore my original body from a template it kept for all those years. It was a very close thing. I'm pretty sure the Force had her grubby fingers in this outcome, because if it took Ashaa even a few more minutes to restore itself to basic functionality I would have went for plan B.

This was an unsett...

=RK=

My eyes snapped open and I wheezed, gasping for breath. A wave of dizziness hit me, preventing me from making sense of my surroundings, until someone pressed an injector to my neck and I felt the soothing warmth of stimulants flooding my system.

Ah. Was that a dream? An unusually clear Force Vision? I sighed as my mind began clearing. The first part - I remember that conversation with Ashara. We met for the first time earlier that day. As far as the other part of the dream, well my weakness was good enough proof that my body wasn't fixed.

"Thank you, doctor." I intoned quietly.

"Don't." Freedom's CMO glared at me. "Everything I know about medicine and human biology tells me you should be dead." The elderly woman snapped. Her green eyes glared at me as if I was an affont to science itself.

"I'm a Sith, doctor. We're made of sterner stuff." I chuckled and it hurt.

"Really?" A thin eyebrow went up, then she pocked me in the c.h.e.s.t hard enough to make me fall back on the cot where I've been dozing off. "Sterner stuff. Right."

"Your bedside manners suck."

"My patients suck." She countered.

"What's the status of the machine?" I asked after finally sitting up… it took three tries until the stimulants finally kicked in and returned a bit of strength to my ravaged body.

"It's still s.u.c.k.i.n.g in all the energy it could. No change otherwise. You're out of time, general."

"I know. Have the prisoner brought down here. It looks like plan B after all..." I sighed. This would complicate things. Still, it beats dying in his hole.

[AN1: To preempt a few questions: The interlude above is Delkatar dreaming of the past, followed by dreaming of what he hopes to happen as the title suggest. The last part is Veil being awake and afraid that his body is going to fail before the Mother Machine could be repaired. What happens on Belsavis will be revealed after few updates covering events on Coruscant.]

=RK=

Interlude Pef's Corporate Misadventures I

=RK=

Planet Farana

Corporate Sector world

Very newly settled. Don't mind the natives.

"Wake up Pef, school starts soon" I heard my mom yell while passing beside my door. Bantha poo.

Gah. Living in star wars was not the adventure I was hoping for.

See new worlds, meet new people they said. Right.

A crappy apartment in a crappy town on a crappy planet. In the armpit of the galaxy called corporate sector.

Visit Bonadan, the sector capital. Experience the velvet p.l.e.a.s.u.r.es of a thousands worlds, in a single place.

Ha. Damn commercials. If I found a job, if I worked hard to pay the school debt, if I saved all my credits in my potential future job for 10 years, then I could buy a ticket to Bonadan and stay in a hotel for a week. Or visit a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e resort for one day.

It's not exactly slavery, but not much above it.

I willed the door to close and started my mantra again. 'The force is with me, and I am with the force. My strength is my own. I will not break. The force will set me free, one day.' I wish I knew the right words.

Yea, right. I sighed and opened my eyes.

Today was sector administration and the bureaucracy lessons.

'You can do it Pef. One more year and school is over. Then you can climb the corporate ladder, and be a model citizen.' I mused to myself, then rose and went on my morning routine, washing and all.

I checked myself, uniform tight and proper, corporate ID, a cred chip for lunch.

I will survive.

Then I walked out of my room and stepped in the wonderful Disney world of star wars. Only with less lasers and much more hard work.

"Take the pills Pef. And please try not to beat up more kids" my mom said, pointing a finger at the glass with blue bantha milk.

Right. Dopamine and adrenaline suppressions. With half a liter of bantha milk.

The news were on, going about militarization costs and the Kamino event.

The galactic events played out much like in my memory, the fall of the Republic,

Order 66, Jedi massacred. And a few more things, which the nice ROB didn't care to elaborate on when it brought me here.

Glad I was able to avoid all that. My parents were educated people not bantha farmers letting some Jedi steal their kid.

"Love you too" I told mom, and walked out.

Weather outside was still the constant 20 degrees, with mild winds and programmed rainfall at night, curtoazie of some corporate weather satellites and tax breaks for planetary settlement. Same old.

Lets see. The train comes in 12 minutes, it takes me 6 minutes to reach the station if I walk, 3 minutes if I ran.

Walk it is. No need to bother corporate security with me running without reason.

I reached the station just as my nemesis did, of course. The rich girl with important parents. 'Smile Pef. Don't break her nose. Again' We are not five year olds. You don't want her doll. She hasn't broke your toys in the last few years. Not intentionally.

"If it isn't Pef, the school prodigy" she said, smiling angelically at me. I smiled back, carefully not checking her out.

"Good morning Miss Kuat. Taking the train with the peasants again?" I asked curious. Why did she do this, I was certain her family had entire spacesh.i.p.s ready to take her anywhere. Except Kuat itself. The system was under siege by now.

"But of course. How can I rule the masses if I don't know how they live and think?" she replied elegantly and checked the time on her last model of datapad. I looked around. Two security bots and a few Kuat mercs on the train platform, idling around for no reason. Mere coincidence.

"Yes, how stupid of me. Glad to know our future masters have their citizens in mind" I replied politely, and not clenched my fists at all. Not even once.

A few Ocsinins stepped closer, their black pupiless eyes giving me the creeps as always. Right, the train was coming.

The girl stepped closer to me, and hooked her arm in my elbow crook.

"I am in your care, my knight. See me safely to school?" she asked, smiling again. Sure. Why not.

The magtrain came and we bunched up inside, along with a million other people.

The girl smelled nice, and her skin felt very soft. Especially the softer parts. She must be doing this on purpose. There no rational way to go about it.

"So, sector administration eh? Today is gonna be fun" I told her amused, and pushed a native away. The train was packed, but not that packed.

"The test will be easy. For prodigies" she answered, somehow managing to step even closer to me. Way too close. Wait, the test?

Not again. I swear she bribed the teachers somehow. I grumbled nervously, trying to figure out which lessons will be tested.

"You didn't know? Eh, the articles of incorporation should be easy enough" she joked, fanning herself with her free hand. Very posh.

Damn it. I'll have to drain some brains again. Can't have my grades drop even one point.

I have to be first. School first, then a job interview. Any corporation but Kuat.

The train shook, and came to a stop. Power failure.

That was strange. Public transportation was hooked in the planetary grid. Fusion reactors, protected by theater shields. They wouldn't just fail.

A flash of light, beyond the atmosphere. Then more and more.

Damn it. The clone wars have arrived.

=RK=

Interlude Pef

Planet Farana

Corporate Sector world/Zinsj (disputed).

The girl's eyes narrowed as she listen to some short bursts of panicked voices in her ear com. I was just glad my emotions were subdued, fancy drugs or not. Wouldn't do to lose control just now.

I just closed my eyes and opened to the force. Zinsj Empire trying to retake the planet, counting on sector fleets being massed elsewhere.

40 assault vessels, 22 frigates, one battleship. Lucrehulk class, the doughnut shape easily recognizable in the force, even at this distance.

The planetary forces were f.u.c.k.e.d. Fighters were dying out there, pings of pain echoing in the force. A larger wave of pain came from somewhere north, most likely another theat

er shield failing. Along with its engineers and garrison.

"We need to get of this rock" we spoke in concert, like a weird echo.

I blinked once, and my fingers twitched, imagining myself piloting a fighter into the command sphere and blowing up a reactor p

ylon in the command core.

Right, as if.

I was not the chosen one.

"Let's go" I said, dragging the girl after me, and punching the plasglass window with my credit chip. The window exploded outwards, and I jumped, the force enveloping us both in a protective shield.

The chip was broke too, but at least it did the job. Best 10 credits ever spent.

We ran, as the first sh.i.p.s started breaking through the atmosphere, and deaths echos climbed in an ever increasing crescendo, somewhere in the back of my brain.

"The starport is the other way!" Clarisse yelled, pointing at the obvious trap.

"I know! And they know too" I yelled back, heading towards the first parking lot I saw. Let's see, truck-chan, van-chan, bike-chan!

I climbed onto one, and let the force guide my fingers, opening the secpad and typing a random string of numbers.

Being calm helped too. It even worked. Random accidents were the last thing with the force.

'Operator, I need hoverbike piloting skills.' I recited in my mind as the G forces took over and we took off at high speed.

"You can drive?" The girl yelled in my ear.

"Of course!" I yelled back. Now, if only I could remember how to stop.

A feeling of peace took over, my motions certain, my destination in range. Smuggler port, 32 kays east. About 10 minutes then.

"Have your people secure my family, then go dark. We'll come back with a fleet" I told Clarisse, my voice steady.

Her grip became tighter for a second, then she started barking orders in her com.

She felt scared yet confident. Not a coincidence at all then.

The smugglers were preparing to flee as well, crates being loaded up on their freighter. A droideka began unpacking as we came into its sensor range.

Damn things were everywhere, I swear.

Oh well, at least I found a way to break.

"Hold tight!" I yelled, and jumped, guiding our fall behind the droid, then bringing the force up to shield us from the impact with the ground and the explosion behind us.

One, two, three. I waited for the plasma gases to dissipate, then jumped again, landing on the sh.i.p.s plank.

A Zebrak, a human, a couple of Ocsinins. I dived under the blaster fire, grabbed the knife handle from the Zebrak's belt, and let the force do the rest.

6 seconds, 6 kills. Damn. I was wiped.

My knees bent and I fell, the metal reverberating strangely. Oh. My knees.

"Pef! Are you injured?" The girl cried, running towards the ship's plank.

"Just tired, take us out of the atmosphere then turn off everything." I muttered as she reached me.

"We'll be sitting ducks. Why would we do that?" she asked curious, as she carried me towards the c.o.c.kpit, and threw me into a seat.

I wanted to explain but...sleep. That sounded as a good idea.

Orbital mechanics will take care of the rest.

I woke up much later, the girl wrapped around me, along with a few thermal blankets. And tied herself to my chair.

Well, I did say everything, so she turned of life support and gravity as well. She was trembling too.

I flicked the nav and life support back on, and checked the screens. Farana kept falling around the sun, the blockade fleet locked in geosynchronous orbit.

8 hours at 34 kays per second. Over 250 thousand kays already. We'll need to be a million kays farther, before we could engage the engines undetected.

More sleep sounded good.

=RK=

Interlude Pef

Planet Farana

Corporate Sector world/Zinsj (disputed).

The smell of synthcaf woke me, alerting my pavlovian instincts. And I didn't even drink the bantha poo.

I mean, not in this life. This life, I drank milk and anger management pills. Did Kuat got wind of my psychotherapist? Did they read my files?

Privacy laws were mere suggestions in the corporate sector. And if they got wind of that, what else did they know?

Miralukan self defense course? My search logs on the holonet?

Contrary to what someone might expect, the galaxy was quite silent about force teachings. Almost like someone was erasing every single trace of them.

I checked the nav screen, grav well estimations folding the system map like bowling balls on a trampoline. Farana was still too close, not for a standard jump, but for a silent one.

Fuel range at hyper drive 2.0, on board consumables. 1 month for 6 a.d.u.l.ts, 3 months for 2 people, maybe 4 months, if we were careful.

Steam coming from the shower. Make that 3 months then. Clarisse wouldn't know how to ration.

The Hydian Way super route was marked in black in sh.i.p.s nav. Right, smugglers wouldn't use that. Too many taxing polities.

18 red routes, and 14 yellow routes. One route was preloaded, though I was not gonna use it. Not with a female companion. Hutt space was nasty.

Would going to Bonandan help anyway?

Probably not. Even a Kuat affiliate would have trouble extracting help from the mega barons. And Clarisse was not of age anyway. She didn't have corporate votes, or a private fleet.

And as the Kuat Mandators retreated to defend Kuat, so did their influence. She's be at best a hostage, and at worst a negotiating chip.

What was that Veil doing?

Damn Sith lords. Blowing up planets, no matter which continuity.

"Pef, are you awake?" Clarisse asked, entering the c.o.c.kpit, skin still wet and wearing a towel like a toga. I was awake now. Too awake.

"The force is with me" I replied, closing my eyes.

"Darn, now he's a

Jedi..." she muttered, then turned around and left. More games. You wouldn't like to show you my other side.

And going by the migraines forming in the back of my eyes, she will find out soon enough. No more drugs.

"How long are we gonna drift here?" she yelled, partly muffled by some texture.

"At least 12 hours. What's for lunch?" I yelled back. Silence.

Right, high class girl, no menial droids around. She would starve next to a box full with food.

Or she'd eat me first, then starve. Don't underestimate corporate hunger.

I sighed and went to prepare some lunch. Galley was full, lucky for me. Two mixes, cereals and eggs wrapped in synth sugar and two glasses of bantha milk. Lunch of the champions.

She sat next to me and ate without complaining. At least she was polite.

"This food is kinda crappy" she commented, wiping the corner of her mouth delicately.

Food in refugee camps would be much worse. I didn't say anything, of course. This was exactly the crappy food I ate at home. Couldn't praise it now, could I?

At least it wasn't sea cow milk, fresh from the source.

"Your family left you to die. Or at least fend for yourself. They knew Farana will fall" I said, eyeing her with calm eyes.

She looked down, and stayed silent.

"Kuat will survive, don't worry. Worst case, someone else will pay for the sh.i.p.s" I continued, raising and heading towards the cargo hold.

Corellian freighters, see one, you seen them all.

I started taking inventory, ignoring the dead bodies at the entrance.

Droid parts, electronics, missile parts, more electronics, blaster parts, more electronics. A supply run for some private militia maybe?

I turned back, ignoring the girl staring at me, and started checking the bodies for a manifest or a contact.

Some credits, some hot credits, flashing with banking warnings. Weapons placed separately, blood sticky on everything.

Datapad! Let's see. Deliver parts to Hutt Gormagot Zul. Take over ysalmir sapling. Deliver to ...

Wait. Ysalmir? Hutt space it is then.

10 days of nightmares, then never again. I had a plan now.

"What did you find?" the girl asked, trying to grab the pad. I let her. She wouldn't know what the manifest meant.

"A weapon" I replied, piling the bloody weapons into a coat, and dragging them towards the bath.

Blood washes easily, madness stays forever.

I started cleaning the weapons, going over each of them with the force, looking for structural defects. A blaster pistol seemed fine.

Tibanna gas at 80%. Energy pack full. Good for 80 shots then.

Blaster rifle, about to self destruct. Will arrange that to be certain then.

Thermal detonator, smelling of Zebrak blood. Good enough.

Stunner prod, mainly used for slave entertainment. I let a trickle of energy pass through my hand and into the handle. Electric blue. Not my prefe

rred color, but will do for substitute light saber.

Blaster rifle, mostly functional. Fired recently and missed. I know. It was fired at me.

Tibanna gas at 65%. Energy pack at 80%. Good for 300 shots.

'Operator, download blaster technician 1st class' I called in my mind, starting to overcharge the rifle. The force helped, expanding the nozzle of the gas chamber. 20 shots now. Should blow a hole through a plasteel wall, or even a hut.

The

Ocsinins didn't carry firearms, only blades, and strange ones at that. I held a pronged lance trying to figure it out. It should expand and deploy radially...another blade sprang out and almost took my head off. Great, at least I know. Alien weapons be alien.

To be packed and sold along with other self detonating weapons. I bet the hutts will love them.

"I'm bored" a young female voice called from behind me.

The Sith had so many ways to keep young ladies entertained. The force knew them all. Maggots under the skin, electrified needles drilled into teeth, acid dripping on the eyelids...

Damn it. I was getting worse.

"Want to eat Zabrak or Ocsinin for dinner?" I asked her instead.

A long silence fell, then she answered meekly. "You knew I was hungry. Damn your

Jedi mind tricks!"

Huh. She thought I was joking.

=RK=

Interlude Pef

Planet Farana

Corporate Sector world/Zinsj (disputed).

Ocsinin meat tastes like pork. Especially when fried at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

The girl ate without complaining now. It was possibly when I started wrapping cuts and storing them in the freezer than she realized I wasn't joking.

"We don't waste food on this ship, young lady" I told her with a fake Kuat accent. She recoiled, almost like someone else made her eat people before.

"You're not a

Jedi" she murmured, wiping her mouth delicately.

"Of course not. How many others were in the program, some kind of corporate force adepts?" I asked, the force screaming for revenge, back behind the vault door in my mind.

"I only know of one. Alessia. But she went mad and drank her therapist's blood." Clarisse replied, not looking at me.

"The girl with platinum hair, from kindergarten. She stabbed me with a fork, here in the neck" I replied, pointing at the scar.

"I know. Wasn't my decision" she said meekly. Of course it wasn't. You were 5 year old too.

I closed my eyes and repeated my mantra. It was holding for now. But for how long?

The drugs had to come from somewhere. Refined ysalmir perhaps? Being a lab rat for some military corporation s.u.c.k.e.d now.

A web of events, nothing left to chance. My parents being posted here, my drugs, my friendly corporate handler, the ever harder tests.

I should send the Zinsj a fruit basket someday.

Anyway, I had a ship now and some cargo to sell. A route to my ysalmir sapling. The force did set me free.

I only had to keep moving.

"You know, if Veil is any proof, even Sith can be great people. Do you know if you can use that battle meditation thing?" Clarisse asked, eyeing me with a different interest now. Hungry almost, but not for my flesh.

Power. Everyone wants power. What did the ROB say?

Avoid large numbers, objects in motion, stay in motion. Probably not then.

"My strength is my own." I told her instead.

10 days. I will not break. Half a trillion suns in this galaxy. I wanted to see them all. Experience new worlds, meet new people. Sometimes eat them.

Stay in motion. As plans go, it sounded just right.

"I don't want to eat people. It's unseemly" the girl replied, chewing on her last bits of Ocsinin.

Poor girl, must have been really hungry.

"Excellent. You will learn to cook then" I told her with a smile. She stared blankly at me like I was a monster.

Whatever. I found her a role on my ship. Teach her to clean my clothes and repair the ship systems.

Behind every great man, there's a great woman. She even looks nice.

Guess I'll keep her then.

The force trembled slightly, almost like approving on my decision.

Glad you're with me then, dear force. So many things to do.

"Come Clarisse. We need to clean the blood from the cargo bay" I exclaimed, in a happy voice.

The girl paled, but followed me to the hold. Hmmm, meat does give you plenty of energy.

I wonder how Hutts taste.