Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Halomek
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Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Halomek »

Ord Mercek – A Month After the Battle of Arcanix

Sigarr Halomek tried to restrain his frustration as he spoke into his comlink while he walked down one of the halls of the giant Republic Engineering Corporation manufacturing facility in orbit above the planet. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you people on the board are all Sith! You make it sound like helping the Jedi is a bad thing!”

He rolled his eyes at the typical response about budget and profit margins that was replied back to him. He covered the receiving end of the comlink and looked over at his small entourage pleadingly. He was currently flanked by two guards from RecSec – the corporation’s in-house security firm – and his personal M7-series droid, M7-K7, or “Duo” as Sigarr had nicknamed him.

“Does anybody else want to talk to them?” he asked, only half-joking. Sigarr looked over at one of the guards. “Jorston, I know there are a few things you’ve been dying to say to these people.”

Sigarr couldn’t see the man’s face as it was hidden behind a standard RecSec full facemask, but he could swear Jorston was smiling back. “Love to, sir, but I’m afraid I’m not tenured enough to stay in your employ by the time I’m done.”

He looked over at the other guard. “Salis…” he inquired invitingly. “Would you like to enlighten these… wonderful examples of Republic citizens… that doing the right thing is not about getting rich off people? I’ll buy you dinner.”

Salis’ face was also hidden behind the facemask, though Sigarr felt it should be some minor crime to hide beauty like hers. “Careful, sir, I’m a happily married woman and my husband is the jealous type.”

Sigarr knew for a fact that Salis’ husband was a pudgy accountant in REC’s finance department and probably hadn’t lifted anything heavier than a datapad in twenty years, but he sighed and gave up anyway. Though most people didn’t think it, Sigarr Halomek did in fact have a code of ethics when it came to his womanizing. “Far be it for me to risk his wrath.”

He looked to his last resort, the gleaming silver droid, Duo. “How about you, my friend? Would you like to bore them to death with the proper dining habits of Kuati nobility?”

“That would be improper, sir,” Duo replied. “I believe they’re still waiting on you to respond.”

Sigarr looked down at the comlink and lifted his hand with a grimace. He didn’t know when they had stopped talking, but he could guess that he had kept them waiting longer than was polite. The board members were going to chew him out about that later.

“Gentlebeings,” he said in his most diplomatic tone to the device, “I apologize for the delay – my damn comlink is acting up. I suggest we continue this meeting at a later date while I get a new one. I’ll be in touch.”

Before they could respond, Sigarr shut it off and tossed the device into a nearby incinerator so that they couldn’t try to reestablish contact. He then took a deep breath and smiled. “There. I feel better already. Duo, make a note: I really must stop buying such shoddy products.”

“Considering that you just destroyed a brand new Hush-99, one of the most expensive models on the market today, I’m going to forget you said anything, sir,” Duo replied with just a hint of sarcasm in his delivery.

“You know me so well,” Sigarr replied with a smile.

“You can only use that faulty comlink excuse for so long,” Jorston offered. “I don’t think anyone believes it these days.”

Sigarr put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. “I suppose you’re right. Okay, you’ve got a new assignment: help me think of some better excuses.”

“That’ll require a pay raise, sir.”

They stopped in front of a door that led to one of the engineering bays. Sigarr chuckled as he entered his code. “We’ll talk.”

However his jovial mode was quickly cut short when the door opened and he turned back to see a scene of carnage before him. Everyone inside the room was dead, cut to pieces, except for a robed man standing in the center of the room. In one hand he held a metal sword still slick with their blood. It was all Sigarr could do to keep his lunch down.

Jorston immediately grabbed Sigarr and handed him to Salis, who began to half-drag, half-pull, Sigarr away from the room towards somewhere safer. She was already speaking into her comlink for back-up as Jorston opened fire. Sigarr’s view was obscured by Duo’s gleaming body as the droid took up a rear-flanking position to protect him, but he could suddenly hear Jorston scream in pain before it was abruptly cut off.

Salis pushed him towards the nearest turbolift with a single word: “Run!”

Sigarr hesitated only briefly before nodding as he resisted the urge to look back and sprinted towards the nearest lift. Behind him Salis was engaged in combat with the mysterious assassin before Sigarr was able to make out the sound of a wet gurgle that signaled her end.

He had almost made it to the turbolift before he felt something slam into him from the side, smashing him into a durasteel wall with enough force that he felt something snap in his arm. Sigarr slumped to the ground and tried to concentrate before the shock off his injury wore off, but his usually sharp mind was drawing a blank. He saw the robed assassin stalk towards him before Duo stepped in the way.

The assassin’s sword slashed forward and would have undoubtedly cut the faithful droid in half if not for the M7-series built-in shield generator. The sword bounced off the protective energy, momentarily taking the assassin by surprise as Duo’s hidden wrist blasters snapped into place and opened fire. At such close range and with the assassin’s guard temporary open, he took the full brunt of the attack in the chest and was knocked back by the force of it and collapsed to the floor.

Sigarr struggled to his feet and tried to ignore the pounding of his heart. He looked from the assassin to Duo. “Is he dead?”

“Vitals are failing,” Duo reported. “He will be dead shortly.”

Sigarr clutched his broken arm protectively, as if to just reassure himself that it was all that was wrong with him. “Who are you?” he asked the assassin without really expecting a response. “Why did you kill all those people in there?”

Much to Sigarr’s surprise, the assassin coughed out a laugh. “No reason. I got bored waiting for you.”

“I don’t know you,” Sigarr said to him. “Who sent you to kill me and why?”

With unexpected strength, the assassin’s hand suddenly reached out and made a gesture with his thumb and forefinger. Sigarr felt his windpipe close on him as the assassin slowly got up with a fierce look of determination on his face. “You will be the first of many! Long live the-”

His words were cut off as Duo opened fire again, this time dropping the assassin for good. Sigarr felt his windpipe open up again and gasped for air as Duo moved to support him. It took him a few moments to recover before he rubbed his neck tenderly. “Thanks, Duo. Another second or two and he probably would have snapped my neck.”

By now other RecSec officers were flooding into the corridor to secure the area. A few were already examining the bodies, though it was clear from the lacerated corpses of Jorston and Salis that there would be no hope of saving them.

One of the guards examining the assassin’s body abruptly called for him. “Sir! I think you should see this!”

Sigarr made his way over to get a better look at what had the guard’s interest and felt his stomach coil in knots when he did. On the assassin’s arm was the unmistakable tattoo of the Cult of Shadow…
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Halomek
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Halomek »

Ambria - BioTech Industries Campus

“This is amazing, Doctor Kelliv,” Director Hiram Makun said after studying the datapad. “I can hardly believe that you’ve developed a lasting cure for the Ardroxian Flu in just under a month’s time.” He looked over to the blue-skinned Arcona standing in front of him. “And these lab results are reproducible?”

Kelliv nodded. “Easily so, but it’s hardly important. The cure was just a byproduct of my real research.”

Hiram frowned. “I don’t understand. If not this, then what have you been working on? You were supposed to be developing cures to infectious diseases. Are you telling me you developed a cure for something even worse than Ardroxian Flu?”

The Arcona smiled. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”

Hiram grinned back. “I knew it; I just knew there was something about you. You’re going to make BioTech a fortune.”

Kelliv turned and gestured for Hiram to follow him. He led the other man to a terrarium filled with rocks and sand. The sands seemed to shift as some kind of creatures moved underneath the surface. “Exporting these from Geonosis would not have been possible without BioTech’s resources. They’re the real focus of my research.”

“I never authorized anything from Geonosis,” Hiram said with another frown. “What’s going on here? What are they?”

Kelliv lifted the top of terrarium and reached into the sand to grab a worm-like creature roughly half a meter in length. The creature wrapped around his wrist, but didn’t do anything beyond that. “They’re parasites, Director. Moving them off planet is a crime punishable under the New Republic with a life sentence. Under the Empire, it means death. They’re so dangerous that you won’t find any information on them outside of highly classified sources.”

Hiram felt himself take a step back as he eyed the creature warily. “What do they do?”

“Very simply put: they enter a victim through the nose and take control of their brain. Once they’re in control, the host body is nearly impossible to kill while the worm is still inside,” Kelliv explained as he gently stroked the worm around his wrist. “If not for the Jedi, there would have been a widespread infection of these creatures back during the Clone Wars. It was thought that only Geonosian queens could control those infected by these so-called brain worms, but I’ve successfully modified the batch I received so that they respond to me alone.”

Hiram tried to will his legs to move and get away from Kelliv to summon security, but something was keeping him in place. “You… you’re insane!”

The Arcona tilted his head a bit as if considering the words before shrugging it off. “I’ve been called worse.” He moved up close to Hiram and let the worm leave his wrist and start to wriggle up the man’s chest towards his nose. Kelliv then moved surprisingly fast and pinned Hiram’s arms behind his back with a strong grip. “Don’t worry, I understand the process is actually quite quick.”

Hiram tried to shake the worm off of him, but none of his struggles could successfully disturb the creature before it slithered up his nose. Hiram felt his eyes roll back in his head and everything went black.

When he woke a short time later, he felt only a compulsion to obey the Arcona standing in front of him and to spread the infection. “It’s done,” he reported. “How can I serve, Doctor Kelliv?”

“Summon the rest of the project heads for a meeting, I’ll handle the rest,” he ordered. “And the name is Okdoro, Lord Uvon Okdoro.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Halomek »

Planet Foundry – Abandoned Factory

Arksis Nan reviewed his new sword with a critical eye. It was a fine piece of work and showed incredible craftsmanship, but it was just a sword. It had no real power to it beyond being able to resist lightsabers. It was not Necroban.

And he didn’t know if that was a bad thing or not.

With Necroban he had been at his most powerful. No one should have been able to defeat him, but they had. It didn’t matter to Arksis that it had required the combined strength and skill of Asemir Lor’kora and Teshran Lor to do it, all that was important was the result. His strength had failed him.

Perhaps he had allowed himself to rely too much on Necroban’s strength and not enough in his own. Perhaps it was time to get back to basics and retrain, focusing inward instead of outward. Perhaps Necroban had really been nothing more than a crutch.

As with all his swords, Arksis put the weapon through its paces as he practiced with it, moving through his regular training regimen before moving on to harder maneuvers – seeing how far he could take it without using the Force. He lost track of time while doing so and only the rising of the sun peeking through the factory windows alerted him to the fact that it was a new day.

Even so he still wasn’t satisfied that he was ready to challenge either Teshran or Asemir again. He needed an opponent who would be a good test of his abilities, but he wanted someone who would not hold back, would not run away, and would not try to spare his life. That left few options in his opinion, but then an idea occurred to him: his own little project that he had nearly forgotten about as the War of Darkness had escalated.

Renato Farani.

He knew the boy had become obsessed with defeating him since the Battle of Onderon, but would it be enough to give him the kind of duel he craved? Arksis wanted no quarter given and that was generally hard to get out of a Jedi, even one with a grudge. Perhaps a little extra to make sure…

Arksis fished out a datapad and scanned down to the information the cult had gathered on Renato. As Arksis reviewed it, he smiled. Yes, this would be perfect. By the time he was done, the boy wouldn’t let his precious Jedi code of ethics get in the way when they fought. It would be a true duel, honest and pure.

Arksis sheathed his new sword as he made his way to his personal starfighter. He had his next destination: Froswythe.
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Several Lightyears Outside of Enarc

They were flying through a graveyard.

The ruined remains of starships, both transports and warships, were strewn about the starfield with the distinctive telltale signs of battle upon the wreckage. Unfortunately it was not a unique occurrence as of late. This had been one of several attacks in the last month to wipe out a supply convoy without leaving a trace as to who was behind it. And it wasn’t just the New Republic getting hit either. There were reports that the Empire was experiencing the same kind of trouble. Both governments had started to provide more protection for their convoys, but so far it seemed to be doing little good.

No one who had been on the receiving end of these attacks had survived to tell the tale. No one could even get a distress message out. So far the only way anyone knew a convoy had been hit was when it failed to show up at its destination. Tensions were rising between the two superpowers even as talks were in the works for a joint task force to try and hunt down whatever was causing this.

But, predictably, those talks were taking their sweet time getting finalized and the convoys were still getting destroyed in the meantime.

Which was why the Final Shot was now conducting an unofficial investigation on behalf of one Isis Sinclair, newly appointed senator to Corellia. Clara Molariou, owner of said vessel, wasn’t exactly thrilled with the mission. She had left the New Republic Special Forces to get away from this kind of grunt work, but Isis was a good friend – a sister in all but blood – so she had conceded to do it.

Clara glanced over at Tav Garvin currently piloting the Vanguard-class Gunship. Clara knew from personal experience that flying the Shot wasn’t the easiest thing to do in the galaxy, but Tav made it look as natural as breathing. She had seen him put the vessel through maneuvers she was sure the original designers had never dreamed were possible for it.

As if sensing that she was looking at him, Tav spoke up. “I’ll say this much about these attacks… whoever is behind them knows their stuff. Look at the blast marks on that Majestic-class; precisely on the weak points.”

“What’s left of them,” Clara agreed. “Any life signs yet?”

“None yet,” Tav’s droid, a modified R2-unit named Quex answered. “So far it’s just like the other sites.”

Clara sighed. “Then I guess it’s fun with salvage again. Maybe there will actually be some useful scanner logs on one of these wrecks this time.”

“Wait,” Quex suddenly interjected. “I’m getting a signal. It’s weak, but it’s definitely not background noise. It’s on a spiral trajectory moving away from the battle site. I think it might be a damaged starfighter.”

Clara sat up straighter. “Ace!”

“Already on it!” Tav answered as he moved the Shot into full throttle. It didn’t take them long to catch up to the source of Quex’s signal. It was a New Republic Defender-class starfighter. The cockpit was blown wide open, but apparently the starfighter had kept operating without its pilot.

Tav was able to snatch the wayward ship with the Shot’s docking clamp while Quex went to retrieve the starfighter’s logs. It turned out that they had taken damage, but were so far much more salvageable than anything else that had been found previously. Quex tried to repair them as best he could, but all he could get out of the logs were fragments.

Watching on the bridge, the three saw scenes of battle from the point of view of the starfighter. Frustratingly there was no clear shot of the enemy in the fragments except for flashes of turbolaser fire.

Clara was about ready to declare the whole thing a wash as Quex played the last fragment, this one of the starfighter taking the glancing blow from enemy fire that sent it into the now familiar death spiral. And there, for the briefest of moments, as the Defender tumbled into oblivion, the scanners caught a glimpse of the mysterious attacker. “Quex, go back and freeze the image!”

As the droid did so, Clara felt her blood run cold. “No… that’s impossible…”

“Apparently not,” Tav said grimly.

“But, we saw it get destroyed at Arcanix,” Clara reminded him. “There was nothing left except a… few… debris…” She shook her head ruefully as the answer came to her. “Too few debris... Everyone was forced to assume that the explosion vaporized the rest of the ship since there should have been no way to for it to escape the gravity well.”

“No known way,” Tav said with a nod. “My guess is that the otherdrive Sivter put on his flagship didn’t have the same limitations as the ones he gave the Charon.”

“Then the Edict of Darkness is back,” Clara declared with mixed feelings as she kept the second part of her statement silent, “…and maybe that means Mogon is too.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Halomek »

Ord Mercek

Due to the number of deaths caused by the Cult of Shadow agent, practicality had dictated that one large funeral service be held for the departed. Sigarr knew that many of the families would have their own private funerals later, and vowed to donate some additional funds on top of REC’s already robust bereavement policy. It was the least he could do since apparently the killer had come specifically for him. His speech for those killed in the attack was as heartfelt as he could make it, but underneath it all, he couldn’t help but feel a growing unease that things were only going to get worse.

After the funeral, an investigation into the matter turned up the identity of the assassin. His name had been Kan Roan, and he had actually been a former employee of REC. Sigarr had never met the man before the attack, but that wasn’t surprising. The Republic Engineering Corporation was a galaxy-spanning organization. In addition to Ord Mercek, it had other major facilities on Abhean, Aridus, Druckenwell, and Vandelhelm to say nothing of the multitude of smaller satellite offices spread throughout Republic space. Apparently Roan had been an unexceptional employee – not bad, just not notable – there were no notations on the man’s conduct one way or another.

Sigarr could only theorize that Roan had been attracted to promises of power offered by the cult and eventually had been molded into the remorseless killer who had attacked him a few days ago. It was amazing what power could do to some people…

Even though there was plenty of reason to think that Roan had simply been a disgruntled employee, Sigarr couldn’t convince himself to believe it. The words Roan had spoken before dying haunted him: You will be the first of many… What did it mean? Sigarr had sent out a warning to his fellow CEO’s, even those in rival companies like Kuat Drive Yards, to be on guard for cult assassins, but if there had been any other attacks, people were keeping quiet.

All Sigarr could do right now was work under the assumption that he was the only one who had been targeted so far.

Duo walked into his office carrying a tray with a steaming mug of caf and set it down on his desk. “How is the arm, sir?”

Sigarr flexed it a bit and smiled back at the droid. “A little stiff, but otherwise the bacta did its job.” He picked up the caf and took a sip thoughtfully. “Tell me, Duo, with the Cult of Shadow apparently scattered after Sivter’s death, why would they come after me? You’d think whoever is behind this would have a bigger grudge with the Jedi or the leaders of any of the governments that brought about the cult’s downfall. All I did was supply some of the ships.”

“You still don’t believe it was a lone operator, sir?”

Sigarr took another sip before leaning back in his chair. “I wish I could, but it just doesn’t sit right. Let’s just assume for a moment that I’m right, why would some leftover elements of the cult want me dead?”

The droid ended up providing the same answer Sigarr kept coming to himself. “You were instrumental in the corporation’s decision to supply a great deal of aid to the Jedi throughout the conflict. In fact, if we were to quantify all of the donations given, including the Skywalker, I believe only the Muir Corporation would come close to the charitable sum the Republic Engineering Corporation has spent on the Jedi Order.”

“With all that, it’s ironic that the Jedi who ended up killing Sivter spent most of her time in the Empire,” Sigarr said with a sigh. “Still, no good deed goes unpunished, right?”

“It would seem so, sir.”

“It still doesn’t tell me why they’re coming after me and not people like the bigwigs in the Republic or the Empire,” Sigarr pondered.

“Maybe they’re going after the easy targets first,” Duo offered.

Sigarr gave the droid a look, but before he could say anything the communicator built into his desk started beeping. He looked down at the caller and grimaced; Filam A’mur, one of the senior board members. “Speaking of people who want me dead…” Sigarr grumbled under his breath as he hit the receive button. A moment later Filam’s aged face filled the screen. “What can I do for you, Mr. A’mur?”

Filam looked like he had a lot he wanted to say, none of it nice. “I just thought you’d like to know that I was in the middle of enjoying a late lunch when a man burst into my office with a lightsaber and started making demands. He says you have thirty minutes to surrender yourself to him before he kills me. I have no reason to doubt his sincerity.”

Sigarr felt a cold fear begin to grow in the pit of his stomach that the caf did nothing to thaw. Filam A’mur was many things, but he certainly wasn’t prone to making up ridiculous stories. He and Filam had their differences, that was for sure, but Sigarr didn’t want him dead – not seriously anyway.

“Hold tight, Filam, I’m on my way,” he said before the connection was cut off. Sigarr looked back at Duo. “I think we can safely rule out the lone operator theory now.”

“Indeed,” the droid agreed. “I’ve already notified RecSec. Filam A’mur’s office will be surrounded by the time we arrive. If I may ask, sir, what do you intend to do once you get there? It seems clear to me that you’ll be killed if you surrender yourself.”

“What’s the alternative? Let RecSec storm the place? Everything I know about the cult says that their members are fanatics. He’ll go down fighting and take out Filam and who knows how many others with him,” Sigarr said grimly as he stood up. “I’m not a big fan of funerals, Duo. I’m not going to stand back and let more people die on my behalf.”

“You have a plan?”

Sigarr nodded. “It’s so insane that I doubt even a Corellian would risk it, but on the other hand I don’t think even a Sith will be prescient enough to see it coming.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Halomek »

The Republic Engineering Corporation headquarters was a giant station and shipyard floating above the planet, which not only helped to keep preserve Ord Mercek’s natural beauty on the surface, but also gave a wonderful view of the planet’s iridescent rings from most viewports. Sigarr, ever one for appearances, had carefully selected the site so that its placement gave stunning views nearly everywhere one looked, from the rings, to the sprawling shipyards, to the planet itself.

Filam, of course, had chosen an office with one of the largest viewports and a breathtaking view of Ord Mercek. Siagrr didn’t begrudge the old man the accommodation. Even if they didn’t agree on a lot of the issues, Sigarr recognized and respected Filam’s business acumen. He just didn’t expect the man to give one thin credit to charity unless it was pried out of his hands with a military-grade tractor beam.

As Sigarr expected, RecSec had the office surrounded as much as possible by the time he arrived. There was only one door to Filam’s office, but the guards had taken up positions in the other rooms on all sides of the office as well as above and below in case the Darksider tried to flee by cutting an escape path with his lightsaber.

Not that Sigarr expected the cultist to run, but it was reassuring to know that RecSec had thought ahead to such a possibility.

“Duo informed us of your plan,” Randa Sil, the officer in charge, said to him. She didn’t try to hide the dubious expression on her face. “You realize that if your positions were reversed, Filam A’mur probably wouldn’t lift a finger to help you. If you die in there, he’s next in line to take charge of REC.”

“I’m not going to argue that I’m doing the smart thing here, but if I started running this company without any heart, I’d be just like Filam, wouldn’t I?” Sigarr countered. “Now, have you had any luck identifying this new assailant?”

Randa nodded as she motioned him over to a portable monitor. Sigarr could see a man wearing a REC engineer’s uniform standing next to Filam, who was still seated at his desk and looking distinctly annoyed. “His name is Marthur Vandine, though he’s calling himself Darth Vector now, and you’ll never guess what his background was before joining the Cult of Shadow.”

“Another disgruntled employee?”

Randa shook her head ruefully. “From our Druckenwell branch. Left about a year ago. I guess we know where he ended up.”

Sigarr sighed, not liking the implications of what another former REC employee involved in the Cult of Shadow meant. Either the cult had been purposefully recruiting new members from the company or he had to seriously reevaluate REC’s hiring policies.

Hooking his thumbs in his belt, Sigarr summoned up all the courage he was capable of and nodded. “Okay, I’m ready to go in.”

Randa didn’t look happy about that prospect at all. “I feel like I’m doing a terrible job by letting you walk into the same room with someone who wants to kill you. If I had any authority over you at all, I’d restrain you somewhere until the crisis was over, but the only way I can do that is if the board members decide it on a majority vote… and they haven’t gotten back to me yet.”

“You won’t get it either. The board loves it when I do dangerous stuff like this since it means those moneygrubbers have a chance of running the company if I get seriously injured or… die.” He gave her the best version of a confident smile he could muster at the moment. “So you see, I interact with people who want me dead all the time. At least our friend Marthur is more honest about it.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Halomek »

Doing his best to ignore his survival instinct and flee in the other direction, Siagrr entered Filam’s office and came face-to-face with Marthur Vandine. He spread his hands apart in a gesture of supplication. “Okay, Marthur, you got your wish; I’m here. You can let you Filam go now.”

“About time,” Filam grumbled as he started to stand up, but he was roughly shoved back down by the cult member.

“The name is Darth Vector,” he growled back. “Marthur Vandine was a spineless pushover. He died on Arcanix. And neither of you are going anywhere!”

“I’m the one you wanted, Vector,” Sigarr said to him, trying to sound authoritative in the presence of someone who could probably kill him with a thought. “Let him go. Trust me, he’s nothing but a pain in the butt.”

Vector laughed. “He’s also the one who takes control of the Republic Engineering Corporation if you die. I needed him as bait to lure you out from all your guards after the last failed attack, but there’s nothing stopping me now from taking out the head of the company and his successor at the same time!”

Vector reached for his lightsaber to follow through with his threat, but Sigarr reached out desperately to stop him as he took a few steps forward. “Wait! Don’t you want to know why I agreed to come here knowing you would kill me?”

Vector paused at Sigarr’s words, his lightsaber held high, before grudgingly lowering it. “Now that you mention it, I suppose I was surprised that a playboy like yourself would willingly face his killer so easily. What are you playing at?”

Sigarr forced himself to breathe again after his desperate attempt to keep Filam alive succeeded. This wasn’t going exactly according to plan, but at least it had allowed him to move closer to the old man. He had the killer’s attention, now he had to exploit it. “I came because I need to know, Vector… why come after me and REC? Is it because of all the help we gave the Jedi? Because if that’s the case, you’d be better off keeping Filam alive, he’s fought me tooth and nail on every donation I authorized for the Jedi Order.”

“We’re continuing Sivter’s great work,” Vector said to him. “He wanted chaos. Taking down a respected symbol like the Republic Engineering Corporation well help bring that about. The amount of aid you gave to the Jedi just made you the highest priority target. Not only will your deaths throw the company into disarray and affect the Republic’s efforts to rebuild, but it has the bonus of being an example of what will happen to others who side with the Jedi.”

The pieces began to fit together for Sigarr and as they did he couldn’t help but smirk as he fingered his belt. “I get it now. None of this was your idea at all, was it? Sivter laid the groundwork for all this before his death and you’re just blindly following his last commands. What happens if you and the rest of the others he lured away from the company actually succeed? You’re not going to have any idea what to do next.”

Vector scowled back at him. “The time for talking is over, Mr. Halomek. It’s time to wipe out the stain of your existence!”

Sigarr turned to face the security camera and shouted: “Do it now!”

Vector halted midstep at Sigarr’s unexpected reaction. “What are you-”

The last words of Vector’s sentence were swallowed up as something hit the large transparisteel viewport from outside and promptly shattered it. Knowing what was coming, Sigarr leapt for Filam just as the abrupt change in pressure sucked out all three occupants and anything else not bolted down.

With just seconds to act before the atmosphere that had followed them out was dispersed, Sigarr grabbed Filam’s tumbling body and held him close. He then reached down to the belt he had been fingering and activated it. A shield formed around the pair, keeping some of the air and pressure trapped that had come out with them. Unfortunately the shield could do nothing to trap the heat and Sigarr could immediately feel the biting near absolute zero of space. He and Filam would be dead of exposure in mere minutes if the second part of his plan didn’t happen correctly.

Just as he was starting to worry that he had merely delayed the inevitable, Sigarr felt their freeform tumble stop and pick a direction. He smiled in relief as he looked up and saw the rather imposing form of REC’s flagship, the Defender-class Star Destroyer Corus, floating overhead as it reeled them in with its tractor beams.

As he and Filam were pulled into the hangar, Sigarr was able to catch a glimpse of Duo walking on the surface of the station away from the shattered viewport. That was twice now that the droid had saved his life. Only a droid would have had a chance of catching a Force-user by surprise since Vector probably would have sensed a living being taking up position for Sigarr’s signal to blow the viewport.

As grateful as he was for his metal friend, Sigarr knew he had been lucky. He didn’t know how many more former cultists were involved in this plot to kill him and destroy his company, but after two failures whoever they sent next was less likely to be taken by surprise again. Either they would be more cautious or more powerful and Sigarr didn’t know which prospect was worse, but he resolved that he would be ready for them in either case…
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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After Sigarr and Filam were treated for their brief time in space, Sigarr met the board member in the docking-bay as a shuttle was prepped to bring him back to the station. Filam had been knocked unconscious by the force of the explosion that had destroyed the viewport and so the two hadn’t had a chance to talk about the incident until now.

“Leaving so soon?” Sigarr asked him. “Not even a thank you?”

Filam scowled at him. “Thank you for what? You put me in more danger than that cultist did! You should count yourself lucky that I don’t bring you up on charges for reckless endangerment!”

“I saved your life!” Sigarr pointed out, doing his best to keep his anger in check. He hadn’t been expecting a radical change in attitude from the old man, but not even a nod of thanks? “That Darksider would have killed you if I hadn’t done something!”

“And why was it that you couldn’t send security in?” Filam asked him. “It’s their job to deal with matters like this. Yours is to run the company, not play at being some kind of holomovie action star.”

“I…” Sigarr started before he gave up and shook his head in disgust. He knew Filam would never understand his reasons. Worse, he could even understand where the board member was coming from. Sigarr had known all along that his plan had been reckless. It could have gone horribly wrong in so many ways. “You’re welcome anyway.”

Filam harrumphed before turning and boarding the shuttle. Sigarr stayed to watch it depart as Duo walked up to him. “That’s gratitude for you,” he said to the droid with a sigh. “What have you got for me?”

“Marthur Vandine’s body has been recovered,” Duo reported. “His life functions have ceased.”

“You’re sure? Force-users have all kinds of ways to cheat death.”

“His body suffered explosive decompression,” Duo said to him. “I scanned him myself to be sure. I can show you holos if you’d like further proof.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Sigarr replied hastily, having no desire to see the gruesome visuals.

As Filam’s shuttle cleared the docking-bay, it brought Sigarr’s mind back to the brief conversation that he’d had with the man. “You know, as much as I hate to admit this, Filam did have a good point in his own way. That whole scenario could have been avoided if we’d had someone who knew how to deal with Force-users.”

“Equipping RecSec for such an undertaking will be expensive and time consuming,” Duo pointed out. “Even a small team would likely require weeks to months of specialized training.”

Sigarr shook his head. “It’s a good idea to consider for the future, but you’re right, it’ll take too long and I doubt the cultists will just wait patiently until we’re ready for them. No, my friend, a situation like this dictates that we get a specialist.”

“You mean a Jedi?”

Sigarr grinned. “Precisely. Tell Admiral Gorvam that the Corus is taking a trip to Ossus. I need to speak with the Jedi Council.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Ambria

Uvon Okdoro watched with a sort of morbid and clinical fascination as his plans continued to take shape. Over the last few days he had successfully infected the head staff of the BioTech Industries campus with the modified Geonosian brain worms. They were now totally under his control and that might have been enough for some people, but it was merely phase one of Uvon’s master experiment.

Per his orders, the entire campus had been gathered into the main auditorium for what was supposed to be a presentation on BioTech’s plans for the future. The irony of such a statement wasn’t lost on Uvon, but the double-meaning behind it had simply been a matter of coincidence. He found no humor in what was to come. This was science.

Uvon was one of the few who were not inside the auditorium. Instead he was in the main security office. The guards around him were dead, killed by pinpoint strikes from his lightsaber shotos. He would not tolerate any interference with his experiment at such a critical juncture.

The Arcona Dark Lord watched from the security monitors as the presentation happened like any other. No one knew that he had secured the doors. Everyone was effective trapped inside. Those who might have had access to override his controls were either already under the influence of the brain worms or would find that their security passes no longer functioned.

The time had come for phase two…

Through the Force, Uvon triggered a genetic code that he had embedded inside the modified brain worms. The infected staff began to suddenly writhe around in agony as the worms started to mutate, releasing an alchemical stew into their hosts’ bloodstream that would change them further.

The crowd didn’t know what to make of it at first, most of them assuming that this was some strange part of the presentation until the reality of it broke through. People began to stand in alarm, some even tried to contact paramedics only to find that their comlinks had been jammed. It wasn’t long before someone tried the doors and found them locked. That’s when the panic and disbelief set in and people started to ignore what was happening on stage in favor of how they were going to get out.

Uvon supposed that it would have been all very fascinating from a sociological perspective, but such things didn’t interest him. What he cared about was that his infected had finished their transformations. As they rose from the floor of the stage, they were mostly ignored by the increasingly panicked crowd. At least until the creature that had once been Director Hiram Makun leapt into the crowd and bit out some woman’s jugular.

The other infected staff followed in his wake, attacking whoever was closest, but never spending more time on them than what was necessary to draw blood and infect their victims with the same alchemical agents now flowing through their own veins. Once it was noticed what was happening, the crowd became even more panicked as some were even trampled underfoot by those looking desperately for a way out.

This was further amplified a few minutes later when the woman Hiram had seemingly killed got back to her feet with a groan and them immediately attacked another uninfected person by ripping into him. Following her were the other initial victims of the attack, each going after another person, and so on, and so on…

After half an hour of careful observation, Uvon nodded in satisfaction and left the security office. He headed directly towards the auditorium and unlocked one of the doors; heading inside without reserve. Everyone had been converted by now. The creatures eyed him with purpose, but none of them moved to attack. Instead the crowd parted to allow him to make his way to the stage without interference.

They were all mostly mindless now. The process had destroyed a great deal of their higher brain functions, but there was just enough left by design for them to recognize that he was their master. It was something passed on by those originally infected with the brain worms and why Uvon had chosen the creatures to start his plague.

He spoke as he got on the stage. “I’m pleased with your progress so far, but I need more data.” With a wave his hands, the other doors unlocked and were pushed open. “Phase three begins now! Go out and infect them all!”

The crowd didn’t acknowledge him verbally, but instead turned towards the nearest exit and filed out to do his bidding. Even though it was highly unprofessional, Uvon felt himself smile at the sight of it...
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Ord Mercek

“And we should be exiting hyperspace in three, two, one… now.”

As if on Sigarr’s command, the Corus dropped out of lightspeed on the outskirts of the planet Ord Mercek. The CEO of the Republic Engineering Corporation smiled to himself in satisfaction as he gestured towards the large viewport on the observation deck which was currently showing a stunning view of the planet’s iridescent rings, which caught the light from the system’s sun and reflected it back in a rainbow of colors. It was one of the planet’s most famous features and drew millions of tourists alone every galactic standard year.

His companion and new bodyguard, Jedi Master Faye Ward, seemed less than impressed.

Sigarr did his best to ignore a feeling of disappointment at the non-reaction Faye had to the sight. His trip to Onderon to acquire Jedi aid for his recent troubles with remnants of the Cult of Shadow had been a success beyond his wildest expectations. He had asked the Jedi Council to send him Faye, fully expecting them to turn down the request because she was a fellow member. That was how it typically was in negotiation. You asked for more than you needed so that you could bargain down to what you were really after all along. To his surprise though, the Jedi Council had been just about unanimous in agreeing to his request for Faye.

Tellingly, Faye herself had been about the sole dissenter.

Sigarr suspected that there reasons unsaid for the council’s surprising decision as well as Faye’s resistance to it. He had a pretty good idea what was behind Faye’s stance on it, but trying to guess the motives of the other council members was something he was still attempting to work out.

In the meantime, he was trying his best to win Faye over; to show that this assignment could actually be pleasant for her in spite of the inherent danger. So far it was going about as well as a Hutt taking skydiving lessons…

“Nothing?” Sigarr asked with a little disbelief. “Surely you must admit that this view is nothing short of spectacular.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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"I will admit that this view is spectacular," Faye answered flatly, the utter disinterest in her expression and tone of voice betraying her words. "But I didn't come here to marvel at the view, Mr. Halomek," she reminded him.

She turned then and started to leave the room, intent on heading towards the shuttle bay. "I will need to speak with your Chief of Security immediately," she threw back over her shoulder, then she stopped at the door and turned to look back at him. "Are you coming?"
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Sigarr shook his head in resignation. That settled it. Assassins and the very real danger his life was in aside, Sigarr resolved that he was going to find a way past the neutronium wall Faye Ward surrounded herself with before this was all over. It was going to be his personal mission to get a genuine smile out of her, and if he was feeling really ambitious he might even try to get her to laugh. He did so love a challenge…

“Of course, Master Ward,” he answered her. “I’ll arrange a meeting immediately.”

Before they could leave, Duo entered the room. “We’ve just received a summons from the board. They wish to speak to you immediately.”

Sigarr wasn’t quite successful in suppressing a groan. “When don’t they?” Then he smiled. “Well, they’re in luck today, because I actually want to talk to them too.” He met Faye’s eyes. “Letting them know I’ve secured the services of a galaxy-renowned Jedi Master ought to shut a few mouths.”

He walked up to Faye and gestured politely for her to follow him. “If you wouldn’t mind coming with, Master Ward? I promise you’ll have a chance to speak with my chief of security after I assure the boardmembers that everything is under control.”

Faye nodded but rejected Sigarr’s outstretched arm and instead moved ahead of him to the docking-bay…

***

When they arrived in the boardroom located in the main REC complex, Sigarr was a little surprised to see that all of the board members had gathered in person. With a company the size of the Republic Engineering Corporation, that had branch offices spread across all corners of Republic space, it was often unfeasible for the board members to always remain on Ord Mercek. Oftentimes at least half or more had to attend by way of holo communications while they oversaw business elsewhere. To have them all seated in the same room tended to mean what was being discussed was of the utmost importance.

The room was quiet as Sigarr took his seat at the head of the table. Faye stood behind him despite Sigarr offering to get her a chair. He looked out at the assembled boardmembers; the men, women, human, humanoid, and other that comprised the upper echelon of REC’s administration. Their silence, without any of the usual pre-meeting murmurs, put Sigarr more on edge than he wanted to admit.

Eschewing procedure, Sigarr got straight to the heart of the matter. “I’m sure everyone in this room is familiar with the exploits of Jedi Master Faye Ward. She has generously agreed to help us root out this Cult of Shadow terrorist cell that’s been targeting the company. I’m confident that with her help, we can soon put an end to this crisis. I assume there are no objections?”

Somehow it didn’t surprise Sigarr when Filam cleared his throat. “The help of the Jedi is always appreciated, but I’m afraid you’ve got the situation wrong, Mr. Halomek.”

Sigarr raised a disbelieving eyebrow at the older man. “Excuse me? I’ve been in the middle of both of these attacks. I think I know what’s going on better than anyone here.”

“Then perhaps you’re too close to it,” Filam retorted. “These terrorists aren’t targeting the company, they’re targeting you specifically.”

“Right, they’re targeting me to get at the company,” Sigarr answered with a hint of irritation in his voice. “Must we really argue semantics here?” He gestured back to Faye. “I’ve already taken steps to take care of it.”

Filam smiled and Sigarr couldn’t help but feel like a bug caught in a spider’s web. “That’s fine for you, Mr. Halomek, but what about everyone else? These terrorists have already shown that they’re not shy about inflicting collateral damage to get at you. What happens to everyone else while the Jedi is keeping you safe?”

It wasn’t often that Sigarr found himself at a loss for words, but everything he had been planning on saying died in the face of Filam’s point. After a few seconds he just narrowed his eyes. “Okay, gentlebeings, enough dancing around the subject. This obviously isn’t a meeting. This is a summons. So what have you been talking about without me?”

Filam stood. “Mr. Halomek, I regret to inform you that by a unanimous vote, you are being suspended from your position until the crisis is over so as to protect the health and safety of those working for the Republic Engineering Corporation. Officially you will be taking a vacation, but unofficially… well… you’re in my chair.”

Sigarr slowly curled his fingers into fists as he processed this turn of events. He felt an odd mixture of anger and acceptance. On one had he was furious with what was happening, but on the other he couldn’t bring himself to argue with the reasoning behind it. He really didn’t want any of his employees to suffer because of him.

Finally he stood, his face a mask of cool indifference. “Very well. I’ll have Duo pull up some appropriate vacation destinations for the Corus to-”

“Perhaps you don’t fully understand, Mr. Halomek,” Filam interrupted him. “The Corus and your personal assistant are both company property. You are no longer in a position to use them. Until the crisis is over, you have been suspended from using any company resources.” He grinned smugly. “We must do everything possible to minimize the risk you present to us.”

There were a million nasty things Sigarr wanted to say to the other man, but he instead he took a moment to collect himself and nodded. “In that case, I’ll put together a travel bag and take my yacht. You realize though that news of my ‘vacation’ will bait these assassins right to me?”

“You have your Jedi bodyguard to protect you,” Filam said to him dismissively, “but I think we can assist you in leaving Ord Mercek undetected. There’s a convoy scheduled to leave for Telti in two standard hours. Instead of your yacht, I can put you and the Jedi on an empty light freighter so you can leave with the convoy without being detected.”

“Uncommonly generous of you, Filam,” Sigarr bit out.

“If these assassins don’t know when you’re leaving, they can’t plan an attack,” Filam pointed out. “As I said, we must do everything possible to minimize the threat of your presence. Once you’re safely gone, we’ll send out a press notice that you’ve left Ord Mercek on vacation.”

“Of course,” Sigarr said under his breath before nodding to the rest of the board. “In that case, I’ll be on my way. Good day.”

Then he left without a backward glance…
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Faye lingered a moment in the boardroom, fixing Filam with a hard stare before she finally turned and followed Sigarr out of the room. "That man is a moron," she spoke up when she finally caught up to him.

"Brilliant is the word I'd use," Sigarr replied irritably, "He's been pining for that seat for years. No doubt he's expecting the Cult to succeed in my assassination."

Faye shook her head. "That's not what I mean," she said, "With me around getting to you is going to be that much harder, with or without your company's resources. What do you think they'll do when they realize they can't get through me."

She gave him a pointed look, allowing him a moment to work it out in his head. "They want to kill you, Mr. Halomek," she continued, "but if they can't do that then they'll settle for hurting you and they'll hurt you by hurting them." She pointed back towards the doors to the Boardroom. "Your fellow Board members just sent away their best defense."
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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“You may be right, Master Ward,” Sigarr admitted as they walked to his quarters, “but right now I know with 100 percent certainty that my staying here will only bring more assassins. Leaving may not make a difference in the long run, but if it will draw them away for even a little bit, then it’s an action I need to take. I have to know I tried to minimize the casualties to my people.”

***

Corellia

Clara hated waiting rooms. She was half-tempted to knock out the guards and barge into the office beyond. She was reasonably confident that she could take them, but while it might be satisfying, it would get her into trouble with the New Republic that she didn’t need right now – especially considering that she was waiting to see one of their senators.

Not that the senator in question was likely to care. Isis Sinclair was not only her friend, but someone Clara considered to be a sister in all but blood. In addition, Isis had done far more foolish things in her life before taking up politics, but Clara needed the Republic’s cooperation and this issue was far too important to both of them for Clara to create unnecessary complications.

So she waited with her arms crossed impatiently as she did her best to wait out whatever business Isis was taking care of inside. The one saving grace Clara had was that she knew her business would soon trump whatever else Isis was dealing with, for while it was a big deal for Clara that Mogon Kor was still alive, for Isis it would mean so much more…
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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There were times when Isis hated politics, times when she felt an overwhelming urge just to hit someone. This was one of those times. She glared at the man sitting across from her, a bald, pudgy little spat of a man with a penchant for getting under everyone's skin. Today the man was here to talk about alternative power sources, which pretty much amounted to him trying to convince her to sign a bill that would give him sole authority over what would become Corellia's main source of power. A method of extracting energy from food sources that hadn't even been tested yet and was not even guaranteed to work.

"It's a cleaner source of fuel," the man was saying," Completely biodegradable and it won't even pollute the air."

Isis sighed and rested her head in her palm. "As I said before, Mr. Gretchen, I will not endorse any alternative fuel sources that have not yet been tried and tested. Now if you'll excuse me I have other matters to attend to."

She gave the man a pointed look and that smug smile of his faded almost instantly. "Forgive me, Senator, but if I may--,"

"You may not," Isis interrupted him then she waved a hand towards the door.

Lucius Gretchen hesitated a moment then stood and walked out of the room. This would not be the last time Isis saw him and she practically dreaded the thought of their next meeting. Stifling a yawn she reached over and pressed a switch on the com unit built into her desk. "Allison, send in the next one," she said and then she leaned back in her chair.

A moment or two later the door to her chamber slid open again and Clara entered. Isis was practically stunned to see her but that shock was soon replaced with rage. With an indignant look on her face she reached over and thumbed the com unit again. "Allison, please come in here."

"Yes, Ma'am," the other woman replied and shortly after the young, blonde receptionist Isis had hired as her secretary entered the room.

"Allison, would you care to explain why you left Ms. Molariou waiting for this long?"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, I--," she tried to say but Isis interrupted her.

"What did I tell you when I first hired you, Allison?" She waited a moment for the other woman to speak but when she did not Isis continued, "I told you that regardless of whatever I happen to be doing my family will always have first priority."

"But--," the woman began, but again Isis cut her off.

"Pack your things, Allison, I want your desk cleared out by five."

The young girl stared at her in shock. She couldn't even believe this was happening, why the two women didn't even share the same name! Finally, she left the room without a word and quietly began to gather her things. Clara watched her for a moment then turned to Isis.

"Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

Isis shrugged, "That girl was an imbecile, anyway. She was disorganized and clumsy, I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've shown up to a meeting without my notes because somebody forgot them. Anyway, take a seat," she said, gesturing her friend over to an empty chair, "Would you like something to drink? Some caff? Or maybe something stronger?"

**********

Faye watched him for a moment but said nothing. She didn't believe this was the right move to make but she wouldn't argue the point. Sigarr had made up his mind and she didn't believe she would be able to talk him out of it. "Alright," she said finally, "so what is the name of this ship we're being smuggled out on?"
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Sigarr pulled up the information on his datapad and grimaced when he saw it. “It doesn’t have a name per say, just a destination: REC-1473. Worse; it’s an old Gymsnor-3. They were built by CorelliSpace, which tried to compete with CEC’s vastly superior YT-series and failed spectacularly at it if you ask me. If I know Filam, it’ll be about as bare bones as you can get too.”

He sighed as he put away the datapad. “If I wasn’t trying to evade assassins, I wouldn’t even consider riding in it. This isn’t going to be a fun trip…”

***

Clara waved away the offer. “I’m fine, but you might want to get something strong before watching this,” she said as she reached into a vest pocket and pulled out a datachit before placing it on Isis’ desk.

“That’s what Ace and I recovered from the wreckage of the convoy that was bound for Enarc,” she explained. “We finally have an ID on the ship that’s been taking the Republic’s convoys out. I’d bet it’s also what’s been destroying the Imperial shipments too. I figured you’d want to see it first before I handed it over to the spooks in NRI.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Faye took the datapad from Sigarr's hands and stared at it, reading over the ship's blueprints and frowning. Security would be terrible, about the only advantage they had was the secrecy of their departure and if they lost that... "How well do you know the man who took your place," she asked, handing the device back to Sigarr.

"Who, Filam? You don't think he..."

"What I think is that he's doing an excellent job of serving you up to the Cult," she interrupted him, "Is there any other way off this planet?"

**********

Isis' smile faded at the seriousness of Clara's tone. Nodding to her friend she took the datachit and slipped it into a slot in the console in front of her. What she saw caused a cold shiver to run down her spine. Mogon was back and using the Edict of Darkness to destroy Republic and Imperial convoys, no doubt trying to start a war. Wordlessly, she ejected the chit and Clara held her hand out expecting Isis to give it back to her. What the senator did next, though, caught her completely off guard. She set the chit down on her desk and then smashed it with the holoclock sitting next to her console.

"We'll handle this ourselves," she said to Clara, getting up from her chair and grabbing her coat, "How soon can you depart?"
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Clara grinned. “This is why we’re sisters,” she said to Isis. “The Shot is getting refueled and restocked as we speak, so we’re good to leave when you’re ready. From the information we’ve been able to gather, Quex has been able to correlate that the Edict has only been hitting convoys transporting military hardware.”

Isis nodded. “In that case, we should head to Ord Mercek. The Republic Engineering Corporation has a shipment scheduled to depart from there within the next 48 standard hours. I’ll have the Shot added to the small Republic task force that the navy is sending to provide protection.”

“Incognito, I assume,” Clara replied with a nod. “You realize, of course, that all we have right now is footage of the Edict. There’s no evidence that it’s Mog doing all this. It could just be one of Shiver’s leftover crazies that lucked into the ship-killer. Maybe he really died at Arcanix.”

Isis looked at Clara solemnly. “Do you really believe for one second that it isn’t him?”

Clara exhaled heavily. “No, not really, but it would make me feel better if it wasn’t. I had a chance to shoot him back at Mon Cal and I just… couldn’t.” She looked down and made a fist in frustration. “Even now… if we can’t bring him back to his senses… I don’t know what I’ll do.”

***

Sigarr smirked at Faye. “I may not approve of Filam A’mur’s ethics, attitude, or fashion sense, and he inarguably loves money and power more than his own grandchildren, but I don’t believe for a second that he’s behind all this.”

Faye didn’t bother to hide her disbelief. “How can you be so sure? This man clearly has a vendetta against you.”

“This is true,” Sigarr agreed, “but he’s no killer. Filam has a tremendous sense of pride; he’d never lower himself to working with scum like the Cult of Shadow. Oh, I have no doubts that he’s doing everything he can to to take advantage of their actions, but I’ll stake my reputation on the opinion that he has nothing to do with them.”

“Even if you’re right, my point stands. This plan of his to send you away leaves us very vulnerable.”

“Not as much as you might think,” Sigarr assured her. “When the convoy leaves, it’ll be with a New Republic escort. The Republic is already going to be on edge because of the recent losses of some of their other convoys. Even if the Cult of Shadow knew what we were doing, it would be suicide for them to attempt anything else here.”

“Suicide hasn’t stopped them before,” Faye pointed out.

“Also true,” Sigarr admitted, “but at least we’ll have a fleet between us and them. And, actually, it probably is the best way for us to get away from the planet unnoticed. My face is pretty well known on Ord Mercek. It’s quiet now because we’re inside REC headquarters, but the moment I set foot on the planet…” he snapped his fingers for emphasis, “…the tabloids are on me like that.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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"I do," Isis said quietly and the cold determination of her voice sent a chill down Clara's spine.

"Sis," the other woman began but Isis cut her off.

"It should be me, Clara," she said, "I will bear the responsibility for both of us."

Then she turned, grabbed her coat and headed for the door...

**********

Faye frowned at that, if what Sigarr said was true then their cover would be blown the instant they arrived at the starport. "If we're supposed to leave discreetly should we outfit you with some kind of disguise?"
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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“That’s not needed,” Sigarr assured the Jedi Master with a raised hand. “We’re leaving directly from the REC headquarters up here. Filam has made a note in this datafile that the corridors will be cleared on our way to the ship.”

“Seems like the perfect setup for an ambush,” Faye said with disapproval.

“Look,” Sigarr tried to reason with her, “I know I’m trusting you with my life and I highly appreciate that you want to do everything you can to keep it safe, but on the flipside you need to trust me too. This is my world, Faye. I know the ins and outs here as well as you know your own lightsaber. We’ll be okay.”

The Jedi Master still didn’t seem convinced, but didn’t offer any further argument.

Sigarr smiled as he started walking towards his quarters. “Now come on, I need to pack before we go.” He turned and sized her up for a moment. “Maybe a few things for you too… No offense, but when it comes time for us to look inconspicuous, that little number there will hide you about as well as a Zeltron at a Bimm conference.”

***

When they approached the Final Shot, Clara saw that Tav was still hard at work tuning up the ship. It felt so familiar to see him there now. She could barely remember what it had been like traveling alone before destiny had brought them together, to say nothing of all of the other passengers the gunboat had taken on.

When Tav spotted the two, he waved to them before wiping his hands with a greasy rag. “That was quick,” he said with a smile. “I trust Isis is coming with us?”

Clara looked away for a moment. “Yeah… Say, Ace, where is Muddy?”

“Micaiah?” Tav repeated after a moment. “I think she said something about keeping an eye on her sister while we were here.”

There was a point when Clara would have been concerned about not knowing exactly where the half-Nagai assassin was at all times, but not anymore. Even though Micaiah still didn’t seem ready to divulge the location of the Acta Sanctorum, Clara no longer distrusted her.

“That’s good,” Clara said with a nod. “I think, maybe, you should go with her while Sis and I handle this alone.”

Tav raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“Look, it’s nothing personal, Ace - well, actually it is for us… but that’s not what this is about. I can’t guarantee your safety if we do find Mog. He’s unhinged. There’s no telling what he’ll do if he sees you.”

Tav crossed his arms. “When have I ever asked you to guarantee my safety?”

“You hired me to protect you from Sanctie assassins,” Clara pointed out.

“That was Quex,” Tav corrected her. “And I really don’t think you want me to get into your track record as a bodyguard. Marching into Arcanix and everything leading up to it was hardly the best way to keep me safe.”

“Yeah, but…” Clara tried to argue, only she found herself without any ammo to fire back with.

“I never once complained about any of it,” Tav continued. “I wanted to help you then. I want to help you now. So, no, you’re not getting rid of me that easily. I’ve got a plan in mind in case we do come face-to-face with your twisted friend, so don’t worry.”

Clara gave up with an irritated throwing up of her hands. “Fine! It’s your funeral, buddy-boy! Don’t say I didn’t try when you get a gut full of lightsaber!”

With that said, she stomped past him into the ship.
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Halomek »

Ord Mercek

In spite of Faye’s fears, they were not troubled by cult assassins during the trip to the transport or while they waited for the New Republic task force to rendezvous with the convoy. Sigarr even felt a bit of cheer when he saw that the flagship for the Republic task force was one of the Republic Engineering Corporation’s own Defender-class Star Destroyer models.

“See that?” he remarked to Faye as he piloted the Gymsnor-3 in perfect synchronization with the rest of the convoy. “I consider that a good sign!”

Faye, in the copilot’s seat, said nothing though her expression made it clear that she didn’t share Sigarr’s optimism.

They left Ord Mercek without any problems or delays and were soon in hyperspace. As Sigarr watched the swirling dimension fly past the cockpit, he wasn’t sure how to feel about the recent turn his life had taken.

He glanced over briefly at Faye and smiled inwardly. All things considered, though, he could certainly be in worst company…

***

Onboard the Final Shot, a few hours into the trip, Clara was in her bunk staring up at the ceiling as she tried to decide whether she wanted to run into Mogon or not. On the one hand, he needed to be stopped, but on the on the other it was certainly not something she wanted to do. Despite what Isis had said to her, Clara doubted that her sister in all but blood wanted to put Mogon down any more than she did.

And if Clara was being completely honest with herself, she was deathly afraid of what could happen to Tav if they did run into Mogon. Tav had no idea what Mogon was like. In Mogon’s current mindset, if he even suspected how she felt about the Corellian pilot, her old friend might just kill him.

Thoughts of her past loves went through Clara’s head… They were all dead while she had survived. Any idea of trying to start a relationship with Tav was accompanied by a cold gnawing fear that it would be akin to signing his death warrant. What was she doing bringing Tav along on something like this? She should have grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and kicked him off of her ship. It would have been better for him. She should have ended her contract with Quex to protect Tav and flown far away where her life couldn’t put him in danger anymore.

Part of Clara knew that such thoughts were silly and even selfish, but such attempts at rationalization didn't help to put her at ease. She knew Tav had survived an encounter with Crix and even killed him, but this – now – was so much more personal. It meant much more to Clara than anything having to do with the War of Darkness ever had. There was so much more to lose now…

She put a hand to her forehead in exasperation. “What the hell is wrong with me?” she asked herself silently. “I’m loonier than Sis.”

Clara never had a chance for an answer to come as the ship suddenly shook violently, nearly dropping Clara out of her bed. She scrambled up to the intercom, but Tav’s voice beat her to it. “You’d better get up here, Clara! Guess who just kicked us out of hyperspace!”

Clara rushed to the bridge of her ship and saw that everyone else was already at their stations. Tav was at the pilot’s station, Quex was at the communications console, and Isis was sitting at the gunnery station. As Clara dumped herself into the captain’s chair, she scarcely needed to look at the readouts to see that the Edict of Darkness had made an appearance. The giant ship was looming in front of the cockpit viewport, trading blows with the New Republic task force assigned to protect the convoy.

It also seemed to be going badly for the Republic. The Edict was unleashing precision shots, perfectly coordinated to pierce weak points in the shields and inflict damage on the defending ships. It was the same kind of expert attack she had seen Mogon use during the battles of Mon Calamari and Arcanix.

Clara held on to the her chair as the Final Shot shook from the blasts of fighter drones that buzzed by them. Isis was doing an admirable job of taking them down, but there were simply too many.

“Sis!” Clara shouted out above the din. “Get on the horn and try and make contact with the Edict! If Mog doesn’t know we’re here yet, it probably won’t take him much longer.” She took a deep breath. She hated what she had to say next; it went against her nature as a fighter. “See if he’ll let the rest of the convoy go if we surrender ourselves.”

***

“Blasted Gymsnor!” Sigarr cursed as the transport suffered more enemy shots. “What I wouldn’t give to be in the cockpit of the Quicksilver right about now!”

Sigarr was a good pilot, but he abhorred combat. That was really more of a thing his older brother, Rowen, excelled at. Sigarr was willing to bet that Rowen could have coaxed far more performance out of the old rig than Sigarr was doing right now.

He glanced over at Faye. “I guess I owe you an apology, Faye. I never figured on running into the Edict of Darkness. I’m not sure how we’re going to get out of this…”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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"Just focus on flying," Faye told him calmly, "There will be time for regrets later."

From the look on Sigarr's face Faye could tell he didn't share her optimism. Granted, in their current situation there wasn't much either of them could do. This rig was ill-equipped to defend itself against a squadron of enemy fighters let alone and enemy capital ship. The fact they lasted even this long was a testament to Sigarr's skill as a pilot but doubt was ever gnawing at him and Faye needed him to focus.

Battle meditation wasn't exactly her forte, that had always been Kalja's thing but she did pick up a few things after helping Kalja at Alsakan. At least enough to help Sigarr get through this. As long as she focused on Sigarr and the fighters directly threatening them she could manage. Unfortunately, she would be unable to help the rest of the fleet...

**********

Isis didn't much like the idea of surrendering any more than Clara did but in this situation it was really their only shot. Spinning in her chair she crossed over to the other side of the cockpit and fired up the Shot's communications suite and began broadcasting on an open frequency, one that the whole fleet and the enemy could hear. "Edict of Darkness, this is Senator Isis Sinclair. I am prepared to surrender myself to you on the condition that you power down your weapons and allow the rest of the fleet to escape. Please respond, Mogon, I know you're there."
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Halomek »

Sigarr knew he suddenly felt calmer and more focused and it didn’t take him long to figure out that Faye was doing something to help in that regard, but he wasn’t about to turn down any kind of help at the moment. He very much enjoyed living and wanted to continue doing that for as long as possible. However, no measure of Jedi powers could have dulled the surprise he felt when he heard the broadband communication from Isis Sinclair.

“Isis?” Sigarr said aloud in surprise. “What’s she doing here!?”

“You know the senator?” Faye asked in a far calmer voice than the circumstances should have warranted.

A little to his amazement, Sigarr found he had no difficulty in answering Faye’s question and flying for their lives. Whatever Faye was doing, it was effective. “Yeah, we had a brief fling awhile back.” He chuckled a bit. “Let me tell you, she’s as wild in-”

The ship suddenly shook violently from a direct hit, cutting Sigarr off from whatever it was he had been about to say. “I thought I told you to focus on your flying, Mr. Halomek,” Faye urged him quietly.

And if Sigarr hadn’t known better, he would have suspected that his Jedi companion had somehow allowed that hit to happen.

***

Faye was not the only Force-user on the battlefield who knew how to use Battle Meditation, and unfortunately for all concerned, Mogon Kor was a master at it. He stood on the bridge of the Edict and listened to Isis’ plea for him to spare the convoy in exchange for her. The Dark Lord had to admit that some part of him was entertaining the idea, and the fact that he could also sense Clara with her now that he focused on locating Isis made it even more tempting, but to agree to such a thing would mean compromising on what he had started. He would not allow himself to do that.

He could also sense someone else trying to use Battle Meditation. Despite the fact that her sphere of influence was pathetic, Mogon saw this Jedi as the biggest threat on the battlefield, so it surprised him a bit when he narrowed down where the Jedi was and the data came back that she was in some second-rate freighter.

Without any kind of verbal command, Mogon’s tactics shifted to accomplish his new goals...

***

Clara’s whole body was tense as she waited for Mogon’s response. What she got instead was her ship suddenly coming to an abrupt halt so quickly that the inertial dampeners weren’t quite able to compensate and she was thrown out of her chair. “Ace!” she shouted as she climbed back up. “What happened?!”

“A tractor beam!” Tav shouted back, and Clara felt a bit of chagrin in seeing that everyone else had managed to remain seated at their stations. “The blasted thing just came out of nowhere! There was no sign of one a moment ago and then bam! He got us. It’s like he knew exactly where we would be.”

Clara flopped back in her seat with disgust. “Probably because he did know where we would be. Remember, this is the same man who held off the allied fleet above Arcanix practically by himself.”

Before Tav could say anything else, Mogon’s voice spoke over the ship’s comlink. “Isis... Clara... I will not spare the others, but I will spare you. In time I think you’ll come to understand why it is necessary.”

***

“Is it just me?” Sigarr asked through gritted teeth as the freighter took another hit and alarms started going off, “or did the number of things shooting at us increase tenfold?”

“It’s not your imagination,” Faye replied as the calmness in her voice began to crack. “He knows where we are and he’s... fighting me...”

Sigarr was momentarily distracted by one of the convoy ships exploding before he had a chance to glance back at Faye. The struggle was clearly showing on her face as she waged some kind of unseen battle with whoever was commanding the Edict. He recalled that Isis had made a plea with someone named Mogon over the broadband, which heavily implied that Mogon Kor had somehow survived the Battle of Arcanix and was now attempting to destroy them.

Sigarr inhaled sharply as the implications caught up to him. “Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad!”

“I can’t...” Faye struggled to say. “I can’t keep this up much longer. Not my strength...”

Sigarr’s mind raced as he tried to think of some kind of solution. As much as he wanted to find some way to help Isis, he was hardly in any kind of position to do much of anything but fly for his life. “We’re almost at the edge of the interdiction zone,” he said to Faye as he tried to give her some comfort. What Sigarr didn’t mention was that the scanners were showing that the Edict was somehow predicting the move and positioning itself so that the interdiction zone would quickly envelope them again. About the only thing the Gymsnor had going for it was that it was faster than a behemoth like the Edict. Still, even assuming that he could dodge all of the enemy fighters long enough to make it free of the zone, they would only have seconds before the zone reached them again.

“Faye,” he said to her. “Listen to me. The way I see it, we’ve got just one chance of getting out of this alive.” He grimaced as another shot made it through the shields and caused something to explode and shoot sparks behind them. “We’re almost at the edge of the interdiction zone. The moment we reach it, I need you to send us on a blind hyperspace jump out of here!”

“That will kill us,” she protested.

“That’s not certain - just very, very likely,” he said as he maneuvered the freighter around the burning wreckage of what used to be another convoy ship. “There’s a chance we’ll survive. I have faith that you’ll give us that chance.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Pryde »

"Well, shavvit," Isis cursed, "that clearly did not work."

She leaned back in her chair and watched in silent horror as the Edict continued to rip the Republic fleet apart. She had tried her best to save them but Mogon wasn't buying it. He felt much further away then Isis had imagined and deep in her stomach she was beginning to feel that unnerving sensation that usually accompanied the dreadful realization that she would have to kill a friend. Though Mogon had been more than a friend to her so this was something worse than that.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," she quietly muttered to herself.

**********

The aged freighter shook and shuttered as blasterfire raked the hull. Sigarr did his best to avoid the worst of it but the ship was a rusty bucket of bolts and he was already pushing it to its limits. The distance to the edge of the interdiction field felt painfully long as Faye did her best to ward them from attack. She had given up on trying to fight Mogon, his will was too strong and his control of Battle Meditation more refined. Instead she was focused on creating a force barrier around their vessel to defend it against attack.

The sheer size of the vessel, however, prevented her from encompassing the whole thing all at once and she could only shield a portion of it at a time. Blasterfire continued to strike the hull but thanks to her efforts the ship was still holding together.

"We're almost there," Sigarr said, his eyes trailing from the viewport in front of him to the range meter on his console and back.

Faye stopped what she was doing and quickly entered a random formula into the hyperdrive computer. When the range meter had counted down to zero Sigarr shouted, "Now!"

Faye hit the switch and the rickety old freighter jumped to lightspeed. With a sigh of relief she leaned back in her chair and lurned to look at Sigarr. They both had smiles on their faces and she had opened her mouth to praise him when all of a sudden an alarm started blaring the freighter shook violent as it was torn from hyperspace.

A planet moved into view directly in front of them, much too close for them to avoid it now. "We're caught in the gravity well," Sigarr informed her, "and we're moving too fast to slow down."

The ship shook again as it struck the atmosphere and the two of them could hear a loud groan as the ship's hull was strained and twisted upon impact. "We're going down," was the last thing Faye remembered Sigarr saying before something struck her and she blacked out.

When her eyes fluttered opened again she was lying on her back, a searing pain in her side and a massive headache pulsing at her temples. She tried to pull herself up but cried out in pain when the ache in her side suddenly became worse. She tilted her head up to look. She was lying in the mangled wreck of the ship after it had struck the planet's surface. The cockpit was a mess and debris was strewn about everywhere. A sharp metal pipe had pierced through her side, pinning her to the deck. She tried to move it but the effort caused the pain to flare up threatening to draw her back into unconsciousness.

"Sigarr," she shouted, though her shout sounded more like a wail from all the pain. "Sigarr!"
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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No one seemed willing to respond to Isis’s statement as the Final Shot was slowly brought towards the Edict of Darkness. A quick glance at the scanners told Clara that the Republic fleet was all but destroyed. The few remaining ships were being methodically picked off with ruthless efficiency by the Edict and her fighters. Clara couldn’t help but flashback to when they had boarded the Edict before, during the Battle of Mon Calamari. She had confronted Mogon then and had almost been overpowered if not for a stroke of luck. She hadn’t been able to kill her old friend in cold blood and so had let fate decide by leaving a timed explosive next to his unconscious body, figuring if he woke up in time he would be able to stop the explosive and therefore was meant to live.

Fate, or perhaps the Force, had seemingly decided to let Mogon live - unfortunately at the cost of the countless others he had killed by targeting these convoys now. She desperately wanted to believe there was some greater purpose to it all, but Clara was too much of a realist to put much stock in it.

She glanced down at the blaster strapped to her side. She couldn’t make the same mistake again. She still had a vain hope that Mogon would be able to see reason, but if not... well, she would do what needed to be done and spare Isis the trauma of having to do it. As much as Clara had liked Mogon, she knew he had meant far more to Isis.

Harsh mechanical sounds reverberated throughout the ship as the Shot was brought into the Edict’s cavernous docking-bay and secured. Clara sighed as she stood up and looked at everyone. “Well, for better or worse, we’re committed now. Ace, power down the ship and let’s all head to the boarding ramp to meet our host.”

In a short time the small group was gathered by the door before Clara keyed in the code to open it. She wasn’t sure what was supposed to be waiting there on the other side, but what she did see chilled her blood. Standing outside were half a dozen Schrai warrior drones. Clara’s first instinct was to shoot first and ask questions later even though her blaster wouldn’t be much good against their exoskeletons. She was even halfway through the motion of reaching for her weapon before she stopped herself. Mogon wouldn’t go through all the trouble of bringing them onboard just to have the Schrai kill them.

Indeed, the insectoids didn’t rush to attack, but merely moved to disarm Clara and the rest before surrounding and herding them to a new destination.

To little surprise, the destination turned out to be the bridge. As they exited the turbolift, Clara could see through the viewport that the battle was over. Mogon turned to face them as the last ship in the convoy exploded violently. Even though Clara had seen the changes to his appearance before, it still came as a shock to her at how radically different he looked from the old Mogon she had known. He wore a dark red and black tunic with flared shoulderpads that was vaguely reminiscent of a viper’s hood. His face was adorned with red tattoos that clashed greatly with his pale skin. His eyes, however, had the greatest change. They fairly burned with power that Clara had learned through experience facing other Darksiders came with immersing oneself in the Dark Side.

Mogon smiled as he saw them, though undoubtedly he had had been aware of their arrival long before they had stepped out of the turbolift. “I expected Isis and Clara,” he said as he approached, “but not this man and the droid. The man I have no need of, but I will spare the droid if it belongs to either of you.”

Before Clara could object, Tav surprised her by speaking first, “Lord Mogon, wait! I came with these women so that I could meet you.” He nodded towards a Schrai that was holding a lightsaber. “That weapon is mine. I seek to apprentice myself to you.”

Clara’s eyes widened as she realized what Tav’s plan had been. She had never seen him grab his lightsaber before joining them, but knowing how much Tav despised learning about the Force, the full impact of the sacrifice he was making to help them became apparent. “Ace, no! You can’t!” she blurted out before she could think better of it.

Mogon raised an eyebrow at her outburst. “Oh? What is this man to you, Clara?”

Clara felt herself shrinking under Mogon’s intense gaze. “He’s a... a friend... a good friend.”

“A friend?”

Clara didn’t trust herself to speak and simply nodded as she tried to avoid his eyes.

Mogon turned his head to look at Tav again. “Your name?”

“Tav Garvin,” he replied without flinching.

Mogon seemed to be thoughtful for a moment. “Your name is... known to me. You killed Crix, am I right? Impressive for one with little to no training. Tell me something, Tav, what do you think of the state of the galaxy right now?”

“I think I’m getting tired of every two-bit warlord with a fleet making trouble for the little guys,” Tav said with a firm set to his jaw, “and I’m tired of always being the one getting shot at.”

“There is some truth to your words,” Mogon said with a nod, “some potential... but I remain unconvinced for the time being.” He looked to the Schrai. “Take him to the brig and keep him there until I decide his fate. As for the droid, fit it with a restraining bolt and put it to work in maintenance. If it makes trouble, dismantle it.”

Two Schrai screeched obediently as they guided Tav and Quex away. Clara reached out to Tav reflexively, but felt her arm stopped by the vice-like grip of the Schrai watching over her and twisted behind her back. “Nooo!” she cried in frustration and even a little fear. “Mog, I swear if you hurt him...”

“That remains to be determined, Clara,” Mogon said to her, “but I can see that right now he is more valuable to me alive. You’ve already tried to kill me once. I can forgive the attempt, but I haven’t forgotten.”

Mogon then turned his attention to Isis. With a smile, he reached out and pulled her into a kiss before breaking away. “And you, Isis, will you try to kill me too? Will you not even allow me to explain the purpose of what I’m doing?”

***

Sigarr gradually made his way back to consciousness as he heard his voice called out over and over. “I’m up, I’m up...” he mumbled before the events of what had transpired flashed through his mind. His eyes snapped open in alarm before the pain in his joints flared up. Sigarr winced in pain as he slowly got up and felt something wet on his forehead. He pulled his fingers back to see blood - his blood. He tried to stifle his own fear an anxiety as he kicked away the copilot’s chair which had somehow been shaken loose during the crash and shielded him from the worst of the impact. Aside from some cuts and lacerations, and a ton of bruises, he seemed to be okay.

“Faye?” he called out as he attempted to stand and ended up wobbling unsteadily for bit before his body remembered how to walk. “Faye?! Where are you?”

“Follow the sound of my voice!” was her response as Sigarr made his way out of the ruined cockpit and was greeted with a grim sight. Somehow Faye had become impaled by a metal bar and was now pinned to the deck of what was left of their ship.

“No, no, no...” Sigarr found himself saying over and over as he rushed to her as best he could and knelt down next to her. “Faye! I... uh... I don’t....” He stopped himself. “Just stay with me, okay? I’ll figure something out, I promise!”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Pryde »

Sigarr was saying something to her but his words were too distant to hear. He looked down at her, his concern clearly visible in his eyes and though he was physically close to her he seemed so very far away. Darkness overtook her and she strayed out of thought and time. How long she'd been out she couldn't say for sure. To her it had seemed like seconds but in actuality it was days. When her eyes snapped open again she found herself lying in a bed in some kind of makeshift hovel. Sigarr was nowhere to be found.

"Si--," she started to say but the effort caused her to cough, "Sigarr!"

She tried to sit up but hands forced her back down onto the bed. "Shh, shh," a gentle voice replied, "You mustn't move too quickly."

Faye looked up into the eyes of a stange woman in tattered clothing. "Who are you? Where is Sigarr?"

"I will go and find him, but you must rest," the girl replied and then she got up and left the room.

Faye's eyes wandered to the ceiling overhead. The pain in her side had numbed slightly but the wound was still tender to the touch and as she brushed against it with her fingertips she had to bite down to avoid yelping in pain. Where the frell am I, she thought, and what is going on?

**********

Isis looked away from him. She couldn't bear to see him this way, twisted and corrupted by the dark side. The shell of the man standing before her today was nothing like the man she once knew. The man whose bed she once shared. "I came here to save you, Mogon," she said, finally turning back to look at him, "How that ends is up to you."
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

Post by Halomek »

“I can understand your hesitance to trust me, Isis,” Mogon said to her as he gave a silent command to the bridge crew, also Schrai, to make preparations to leave. Like any trained crew, the Schrai operated the controls with an efficiency more commonly associated with the Imperial Navy, not a race of ravenous insectoid killers. “We'll talk more about it later.”

Seeing the Schrai do anything but be menacing was a bit of a shock to Clara. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had known that the Schrai were intelligent beings, but until now they had never shown any kind of predilection for technology of any kind. It reminded her that Mogon didn't need the Force to be an able commander, it merely enhanced his abilities in that regard.

It also probably meant that Mogon had a lot more Schrai throughout the ship at his command. Any attempt to stop him through force was probably going to be doomed from the start. They had to either try and convince him that what he was doing was wrong or outsmart him – neither of which was going to be easy.

The Edict suddenly shuddered as it entered hyperspace. However almost as soon as the familiar swirls of the extragalactic dimension became known, the ship shuddered gain and the blue of hyperspace was replaced by a gray and black vortex.

“Otherspace!” Clara blurted out. “I knew it! No wonder no one can find you!”

“Sivter guarded his secrets jealously,” Mogon replied, “and the secret to the otherdrive was one he valued highly. The otherdrive on the Edict is likely one of the last remaining ones in either dimension, but it's also far more advanced than the ones he gave to the Charon. Even in the highly unlikely event that the New Republic or Empire managed to scrounge up enough functioning otherdrives for an armada to pursue me, there's no way that they'd be able to catch the Edict using those models.”

The vortex eventually resolved itself into what Clara could only describe as an inverse of the natural world. Instead of the back void of space that she was so familiar with, the darkness was replaced with gray, and instead of the bright light of stars, there were instead dark points that seemed to suck in all light – wherever it was coming from. Was the gray matter giving off light? Were there actual stars out there that couldn't be seen because it was tough to make them out against the gray background?

Clara didn't know and it was giving her a headache to think about it.

“So you see, even if you escaped, there would be nowhere for you to go,” Mogon continued. At that the Schrai let go of the two of them. “While we've been talking, I've had quarters prepared for the two of you. Go and freshen up. I'll explain the purpose behind everything at dinner tonight.”

* * *

It was a good fifteen minutes before Sigarr showed up at Faye's bedside and he was barely recognizable from the man she had known before. His designer clothes had been replaced by a simple dirtied workman jumpsuit. His face had at least three days worth of stubble on it and his hair was not immaculately styled, instead looking tousled and far more natural.

He smiled in obvious relief when he saw Faye looking at him. “Thank the Force!” he said as he rushed over to her. “You really had me worried. How are you feeling?”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Faye tried to sit up but the effort was too much and she eventually settled back into the bed. "How--bad was it," she asked in a pained voice.

"Bad," Sigarr answered, "It was touch and go for awhile there."

The Jedi Master resisted the urge to sigh. She could feel the fatigue all throughout her body and knew instinctively that it would be some time before she fully recovered from her injuries. Though perhaps the gravest injury she sustained was to her pride. She was in no condition now to ward her charge and should the unthinkable occur Sigarr would be left to fend for himself.

"What happened? Where are we?" She said, changing the subject in an attempt to get her mind off darker thoughts.

**********

The Schrai escorted the two women to what Isis assumed was to be their new home aboard the Edict. Along the way she shared the occasional glance with Clara, they were both worried about Tav and Quex but they knew Mogon would keep his word and not kill him... Or at least, they hoped he would. Isis knew the risk Tav was taking just coming here and she also knew how Clara felt about him. Should anything happen to him or sister in arms would no doubt blame herself.

I should have knocked him out and left him back on Corellia, she grumbled to herself. She had the perfect opportunity to catch him off guard but for some reason she didn't take it. She just hoped she didn't make the wrong decision.

The rooms that were set aside for them were spacious and opulently furnished. Isis had to wonder just who was it that stayed here before the Cult had fallen from grace. She doubted Mogon could have prepared such luxurious accommodations specifically for them in such short notice. Unless of course he could see the future, the young woman knew some Jedi were capable of making fairly accurate predictions of things to come. Though, just the thought that Mogon might have known they would come for him sent a shiver down her spine.

After the Schrai had left and the doors shut behind them Isis turned to Clara. "Well, so far everything's going according to plan," she said with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "Just what the hell do we do now?"
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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“Well brute force isn’t going to work, trust me,” Clara said to Isis as she looked around the quarters. It certainly seemed like Mogon had been expecting them. “Mog was good in the old days, but I could still kick his butt. He was always more of a strategist than a fighter, but when I went up against him during Shiver’s galactic shindig, he overpowered me easier than I’d like to admit.”

She walked around, inspecting the furnishings, not quite sure what she was looking for. The room was actually quite spacious. “We’re going to have to either reason with him or trick him, which isn’t going to be easy if his powers in the Force are truly complimentary to that sharp mind of his.”

Still thinking about it, Clara went to a side room that contained one of the bedrooms. She couldn’t imagine why such a room would be aboard a warship unless this had been part of the Cult of Shadow’s benefits through power thing that Sivter had apparently been pushing. Clara turned on a light and noticed that there were some clothes arranged on the bed. They looked vaguely familiar to her until a memory snapped into place.

“Oh, FREG me!” she exclaimed with a burst of anger. “I don’t believe it!”

Isis rushed over to where Clara was. “What is it?”

Clara pointed to the bed. “Sis, I’m pretty sure this is your room. Does that dress look familiar at all?”

Isis turned to look where Clara was pointing. “What do you-” she started to say before she stopped as she saw what Clara was talking about. “My dress?!”

“Yeah,” Clara agreed. “It took me a minute to place it, but that’s the same dress design you wore to that party you dragged me to during our academy days; the very same party where we first met Mog. I’m willing to bet credits to critters that my room has that ridiculous number I was wearing.”

“That’s amazing that he remembered it,” Isis said with a little wonderment.

Clara gave her a blank stare. “Focus, Sis. Mog obviously wants us to wear these when he summons us to dinner. He’s trying to rekindle whatever he had with us before we all lost contact and probably more. He was spouting the same kind of nonsense to me when we fought before. More importantly, I think this might be the opening we need. You can pretend to get close to him, which will hopefully distract him, which might give me an opportunity to figure out how to stop him and bring this death machine down.”

“As far as plans go, that sounds pretty terrible,” Isis said to her.

Clara shrugged, “Hanging around you must be rubbing off on me. If you’ve got a better plan, I’d like to hear it.”

***

Sigarr chuckled a bit as he rubbed his stubble thoughtfully. “Well, we hit a gravity shadow trying to make that emergency jump, but considering that the alternative was getting blown up by the Edict, I’d say we made the right choice. We ended up crash landing on this rock and you took the worst of it. The ship was never going to fly again, but I was able to jury-rig some power to the scanners and find a settlement.”

He smiled. “So the good news is that I was able to get you here with the gravsled I managed to pull out of the wreckage and get you some form of medical treatment.” The smile faded as he sighed. “The bad news is that this settlement is apparently in the middle of the wastes of Ambria and their most advanced technology is in the form of an internal combustion roamer - a broken down roamer with no fuel I might add. I’ve been doing odd jobs all over the settlement to get us a room in this inn and see to your treatments. What little free time I’ve had has been either checking on you or trying to get that transport working. Even if you were fully healed, trying to walk to the capital would be suicide.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Faye tilted her head to look at him, a slight bit of disbelief lingering on her face. Was this the same Sigarr she left Ord Mercek with? She couldn't believe that man would willingly get his hands dirty for anything but yet here he was covered from head to toe in mud and grime. It still seemed outrageous but she pushed that aside for now. They had more pressing matters to deal with and for perhaps the first time in her life Faye was at a loss for how to proceed. Just what were they supposed to do now? She couldn't really keep him guarded in her condition and assuming the Cult of Shadow really were tracking them every day that passed increased their chances of being discovered.

"We need to contact the Jedi temple," she said finally, "We could use some assistance and a transport off this planet."

Sigarr shook his head. "It's no good," he said, "I barely managed to scrounge enough power for the scanner. Intergalactic communication is out of the question and that personal com of yours isn't going to reach very far."

Faye resisted the urge to groan inwardly. She should have adhered that sinking feeling in her gut before they left the temple. With a sigh she looked away from him and out towards the window by the side of the bed. "Sigarr," she said quietly.

"Yes," he answered.

"The Edict of Darkness, do you think that maybe it was looking for you?"

**********

"Getting close to someone and distracting them isn't exactly my style," Isis said with a shrug, "Usually I just club 'em over the head and drag 'em back to my cave."

She stepped around Clara into the room and ran a hand over the soft silk dress lying on the bed. Same design, same material and it was even the right size. Now this was starting to get a bit freaky. "I think we may be a little bit out of our league here," she said, glancing back at her friend, "No way Mogon had these just lying around and he didn't just make them, either."

Clara nodded, she had arrived at the same conclusion. Mogon actually expected them.

"We need to find out where he's keeping Tav. If anyone can think of a way to outsmart Mogon it's Ace."
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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“I can outsmart Mog!” Clara replied indignantly, almost automatically. “We don’t-”

“Yes we do,” Isis interrupted her. “Tav did something no other warrior in the galaxy ever managed, he killed Crix. Tav’s a good fighter, but more than anything else his real strength is in how clever he is. Maybe he’s not booksmart, but he certainly knows how to make the most out of any situation he finds himself in. Need I remind you he also managed to stay a step ahead of the Acta Sanctorum’s assassins before you two met? You should know how hard that is better than anyone.”

“He still had to hire me to protect him,” Clara retorted as she crossed her arms.

“And how’s that working out?” Isis asked her with a smirk. “Besides, if I recall correctly, it was his droid that hired you.”

“Semantics!” Clara growled with a wave of her hand. “We can do this without getting him involved.”

“You think so?” Isis countered. “Think about how well you know Mogon. Now think about how well he knows us. He’s already got us so figured out that he had a room with clothes prepared for us before we even showed up. The only person Mogon doesn’t really know is Tav. He won’t keep Tav sequestered and out of the way in that cell forever.”

Clara gritted her teeth, but as much as she hated to admit it, Isis was making some good points. All she could counter with in her mind was that she didn’t want Tav to get hurt. She made a fist in frustration. “Fine. We’ll talk to Ace, but I still say my idea has some merit. Unless Mog begins to trust us, we’ll never see the outside of this room without a bunch of Schrai breathing down our necks. And that means you need to get close to him again. He expressed interest in me the last time we fought, but we both know you’re the real prize he’s after.”

***

Down in the bowels of the Edict, all Tav could do was contemplate the very odd direction his life was going. He had been perfectly happy exploring uncharted regions of space and doing the occasional light smuggling jobs to pay the bills. Somehow he had been thrust into fighting assassins and Sith, and now he was on the verge of learning how to use the Force, something he swore he would never do. Worse yet, it was to someone who used the bad side of the Force, the very reason he had promised himself to never take the chance of his power in the Force corrupting him.

The sound of footsteps from down the hallway broke him out of his reverie. Considering that the Schrai didn’t walk so much as skitter, it wasn’t hard to guess who it might be. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw Mogon stop in front of his cell. What did surprise him was that the Dark Lord was holding a tray of food - not just the usual prison slop, but actual well-prepared food.

“This isn’t my last meal is it?” he asked, hoping what he said really had been a joke.

“No,” Mogon replied as he hit a button to deactivate the energy field separating them. “The Cult of Shadow is dead and I never bought that much in to Sivter’s methodology. I had other reasons for joining him.”

Tav took the offered tray and briefly hesitated before trying some of the food. It wouldn’t make sense for Mogon to poison it, Tav knew he was already at his mercy. Much to his delight, the food was actually pretty good. “Yeah?” he asked between a mouthful of food, “like what? What was a good enough reason to be a party to the deaths of countless millions?”

“I was married once and had a daughter. I loved both of them dearly. However during a deployment to one of the Republic’s countless skirmishes with the Empire, they were brutally murdered while I was away. The killer’s identity was never learned, nor why my family was targeted.” Mogon gritted his teeth as he thought about it. “The Republic was completely ineffectual. Eventually they blamed it on an Imperial assassin based on only the most circumstantial of evidence before closing the case. The killer himself was never caught. I quit in disgust and likely would have gotten myself killed through my own self-destructive behavior, but Sivter found me first. He recognized my gift and promised to help me catch the killer and make him pay if I helped him. Obviously I agreed.”

Tav let out an disbelieving chuckle and nearly choked on his own food. “And you believed that madman?! What kind of supposed strategic genius are you?”

“Of course I didn’t believe him at first, but he opened my eyes to powers I never even dreamed of, which was frankly more help than I ever felt I got from the Republic,” Mogon answered. “Besides, I learned very quickly that Sivter not only never lied, but he had a habit of making good on his promises, even ones that seemed impossible.”

“I suppose he did at that,” Tav admitted grudgingly. “Still, that’s a lot of blood on your hands just to avenge two people.”

Mogon reactivated the energy shield. “It’s an imperfect galaxy, Mr. Garvin; some lives mean more than others; and those two meant more to me than all the millions who died in Sivter’s war. Unfortunately, it’s all rather moot now that Sivter is dead, so I must content myself with trying to give some purpose to my existence now that justice has been denied to me again.”

“And what purpose is that?”

“All in due time, Mr. Garvin,” Mogon said. “I’m starting to understand what Clara sees in you. We’ll be speaking again.”

***

Sigarr thought about Faye’s question before shaking his head. “I doubt it. The Edict was already attacking convoys before the Cult of Shadow started sending assassins after me. It was just rotten luck that we got caught up in it.”

“What if Filam A’mur leaked the information to the cult about which convoy we’d be in?” Faye persisted.

Sigarr rolled his eyes. “Again with the prosecution of Filam. He’s a selfish old man, I grant you, but I’m sure he’s not involved with this.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because I am.”

Faye let out an annoyed grunt. “That’s so reassuring.”

“Listen, Fa... err... Master Ward, you’ve got your strengths and I’ve got mine. I’m good with people. If it turns out Filam really is behind this, I’ll buy you any ship you want after this is all over.” He smiled. “I’ve still got confidence in your abilities to protect me.”

Faye looked down at herself still in bed and then back at Sigarr. “I can never tell when you’re joking.”

Sigarr smirked. “That’s because I’m always joking, except when I’m not. Listen, just concentrate on getting better and we’ll figure the rest out later. Now that you’re awake, maybe you can do one of those Jedi healing trances I’ve heard so much about.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Faye made a face. "I.... can't," she finished after a moment of hesitation.

Sigarr gave her a curious look. "Really? I thought all Jedi could do it."

"The Force is fickle, some techniques can only be mastered by a few and some that can be mastered by all are denied to a few. There are Jedi who are very skilled with energy absorption but lack the ability to use telekinesis, for instance. As for me I've always been very good at enhancing my strength and offensive uses of the Force but I've never been able to heal. That is why I worked so hard to master the Protection Bubble technique, to avoid getting seriously injured in battle."

**********

"And speaking of which, we both better get ready. I don't know how glad he is to see us but given the mood he's been in lately I wouldn't want to test his patience by being late for dinner," Isis joked.
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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“I knew that dress would come back to haunt me, he’s probably included the fregging heels with it too,” Clara groused as she started to head for the other bedroom. “I swear if Rhan Kentas shows up somehow, I’m going to scream and bolt to the nearest escape pod!”

As Clara opened the door to the other room, she saw the dress just as she expected. It was a little less formal than the one Isis had, but it was still fancier than anything Clara preferred to wear. The vibrant green nearly matched her eyes, just as she remembered from the original that Isis had given her those many years ago. Clara picked up the garment distastefully. “Mog,” she said to herself, “I don’t know how, but you’re going to pay for this.”

***

They arrived for dinner a short time later in a large briefing room that Mogon had apparently converted into a dining hall. Despite Clara’s dislike of dressing up, she still seemed to possess the uncanny ability to look more natural and at ease in the attire than Isis did. Their Schrai “escorts” left their sides and stood at attention by the doors as Mogon rose from the table to greet them. Clara had half been expecting him to be wearing his old formal Republic Navy uniform, but instead he remained clad in what Clara could only think of as Darksider attire. She had to admit that seeing that new Mogon with his red face tattoos in his old uniform would have been a little too surreal in an already surreal situation.

Mogon smiled at them and for a moment Clara was tempted to forget just how insane their old friend had become, but it was ruined a bit when he spoke. “You decided to wear the dresses, excellent. You both look as lovely as I remembered. Please take a seat and we can begin.”

***

“Interesting...” Sigarr replied thoughtfully. “Don’t worry about it though, healing trance or not, the healer says you’ve been making excellent progress. You’ll probably be well enough to start walking around in a few days time. Once you’re fit enough to travel, we’ll head for Ambria City. I think I’ll probably have that rusted junkpile working by then. The locals brew a mean rotgut that should work as fuel. Once we get there, a dunk in bacta will fix everything the healer can’t do for you here.”

He frowned. “I do have another piece of bad news though.”

Faye looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Sigarr went to a nearby shelf and retrieved a small box before handing it to her. “I’m afraid your lightsaber is in pieces from the crash. I salvaged what I could, but my engineering skills aren’t quite up to the task of repairing it. I’m not even sure if I got all the parts to it.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Before Isis sat down she turned and looked at the two Schrai warriors standing at attention watching them from the doorway. She hated those things, probably even more than she realized. Everytime she was near one she could feel her skin crawl. Mogon probably wasn't familiar with her near death experience on Necroa or her hesitation on Arcanix. How could he? He wasn't even there.

"Before we do," she said quietly and it was clear there was a certain amount of trepidation in her voice. "Could you--ask our friends to wait outside?"

Mogon followed her gaze and frowned. "I'm surprised, Isis, I remember you being fearless."

"I am," Isis answered defensively, "Sort of."

"One of those things nearly killed her on Necroa," Clara explained. "If we hadn't left the battle early...," she left the rest hanging in the air but Mogon caught her meaning.

**********

"It's fine," Faye replied, accepting the box from him and then perusing its contents, "I learned to fight with my hands before I learned to fight with this."

She fished through the pieces until she found the blue crystal hiding amongst them. She held it up to inspect it then breathed an audible sigh of relief. That crystal was a momento of her old master and carried great sentimental value to her. She was glad to see it still intact. "Some of these pieces are too bent out of shape to use but I should be able to construct another one when we reach the city."

She set the box down on the nightstand by the side of the bed. "I think I should like to rest for a bit now," she said and Sigarr nodded.

"Sleep tight," he replied gently. He considered reaching out to touch but wasn't sure how she would take it, so instead he stood and then headed for the door. About halfway there she stopped him.

"Sigarr," she said suddenly and he turned back to look at her. Their eyes locked with each other and in his peripheral vision he saw she still clutched the blue crystal in her hands. "Thank you."
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Mogon nodded, but didn’t dismiss the Schrai. “You have nothing to fear from these creatures, Isis, so long as you don’t try anything foolish. That goes for you as well Clara. You’re both here because the two of you are about all I have left in this life that I care about, but you must think me a fool if you expect me to believe you came seeking me out just to catch up on old times. I know you two came to stop me and I know you’ll both do whatever it takes if you think it’s for the greater good, even if it means my death.”

Clara slammed a fist down on the table. “Yeah? If you know all this, why the farce with the dinner?! Why not just lock us up like you did with Ace?!”

“Because it’s not a farce,” Mogon countered calmly. “I want a chance to show that what I’m doing is for the greater good and I’d rather not fight you again if it can be avoided. I’d like to think we can be civil.”

“Civil? Civil!” Clara shouted. “I’m plenty civil! I didn’t go out and kill millions of people!”

Mogon smiled a bit in amusement. “Funny, you sound a bit like your friend did earlier.”

Clara’s eyes widened at the comment. “What did you do to him!? I swear if-”

“Calm down, Clara,” Mogon implored with a raised hand. “He’s fine. I brought him food and we talked a bit. Nothing more. Like I said, civil.”

Clara felt her angry ebb a bit, which was a good thing because it was then that she noticed that it had been making the Schrai a bit antsy. Isis seemed to be a shade paler at the sight of them starting to get riled up and that put a damper on her temper more effectively than anything else. “Yeah, funny, ha ha. That’s awfully nice of you after you wanted him killed at first.”

Mogon sighed. “He was an unknown. Unknowns are dangerous and life is cheap. Better to remove a potential problem rather than letting it fester. He’s alive because of you Clara and you should take solace in that. The high value you placed on him made him more than just an obstacle in my eyes. You saved his life.”

That did actually make her feel better, though Clara would be damned if she would admit it openly. With some sullen reluctance, Clara finally sat down. “So where’s the grub?” She chanced a look at the Schrai. “And it better not actually be grubs.”

Mogon looked over to Isis who was still standing. “Please, take a seat. They’re under strict orders not to harm you.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Isis sighed then slipped into her chair, smoothing out the front of her skirt after she was settled. For a moment she wondered the same thing as Clara, with all these bugs around and no people just what kind of food should they expect? "Why are you attacking Imperial and Republic caravans," she asked, skipping past the pleasantries and getting right to business. "Tensions between the Empire and the Republic are tense as it is. Your actions right now could start a war, Moggy. One that could potentially end the lives of millions."
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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“The Republic and the Empire will go to war without any help from me,” Mogon said to her calmly. “Factious elements in both governments are even now conspiring to bring about the next great war. There is too much bad blood and prejudice on both sides for there to ever be a true peace.”

“You're ignoring the people trying to fix that,” Clara said to him. “There are good people out there who really do believe that they can change things for the better.”

“They will fail,” Mogon said to her without a doubt of hesitation. “There is no impetuous for these two governments to ever change their ways or ideology to be more compatible with the other side. No pressure can be levied against the other side since these galactic powers have achieved an equilibrium that guarantees that any conventional war fought will mean that it'll be one that no one will win and no one will lose. It will simply continue.”

Clara felt a chill crawl up her back that had nothing to do with the arrival of new Schrai putting down trays of food on the table. In the back part of her mind, Clara was pleased to note that it looked like normal food – appetizing food even.

It was too bad that she wasn't feeling all that hungry at the moment.

“I don't like where you're going with this, Mog.”

“You shouldn't,” he agreed. “The galaxy has been caught up in this war since the day the Rebel Alliance was formed. It is only at this precipice that its perpetual nature has become evident. In another timeline perhaps one side would have eventually prevailed over the other, but events have transpired to bring ours to an eternal war.”

He looked over at Isis. “As a member of the Senate, surely you must have seen hints of this yourself. If the Republic and the Empire go to war, can you tell me with any confidence that the Republic will emerge triumphant? Will it be a quick conflict?”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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Isis pursed her lips but said nothing, she wasn't about to be roped into proving this madman's agenda. She had, at one point, advocated war against the Empire, but now having met Kalja and her betrothed, Delth Ardin, she was on the fence. She didn't actively campaign for peace, but then she didn't exactly campaign for war, either. She was close enough to know that the former was a hopeless endeavor and her own personal feelings on the matter were more closely aligned with the latter. However, like a true politician, she kept a straight face and steered the conversation on point.

"If war is inevitable then it will happen with or without your help," she said finally, "So why speed things along? Just what exactly is your agenda?"
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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“All I've done so far is get their attention,” Mogon said to her. “The war material and supplies that I've destroyed are but a drop in the bucket for either side's resources.”

“You're avoiding the question,” Clara pressed. “Why are you doing this if none of it matters?”

“Because there is a way to stop this war from lasting forever,” Mogon finally replied. “For all his evil, Sivter did do one unintentional good service for the galaxy: he provided a threat big enough that it forced the Republic and the Empire to set aside their differences. I believe that if his plans hadn't progressed as rapidly as they had, eventually both governments would have been forced to merge into one combined force; a Galactic Federation perhaps.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Clara argued, “but you're missing a key factor here, Mog: the Cult of Shadow is gone. One ship, even one like the Edict, isn't going to be enough to be considered a galactic threat to band against.”

Mogon said nothing and simply poured himself some wine as he looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

Realization dawned on Clara as she tried to puzzle out his silence. “Nooo...” she said slowly, letting the word drag. “It can't be...”

“Sivter loved to make back-up plans,” he said to them before taking a drink. “Do you think that with the vast untapped potential of otherspace that he would not take advantage of what it could offer him? There are no prying eyes here and no way for anyone to travel here without an otherdrive. Think of what a man like Sivter could do if he was unfettered with the need for secrecy. How else do you think I was able to repair the Edict so quickly after the kind of damage it took at Arcanix?”

He smiled coldly. “Here, in otherspace, the Cult of Shadow is still very much alive.”
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Re: Legacy of the Cult of Shadow

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"Fething hell," Isis cursed under her breath. Sivter was a slippery son of a Hutt, but worse than that was the situation she now found herself in. Mogon was right in that otherdrives were currently beyond the capabilities of either the Empire or the Republic but it wasn't impossible. She was aware that both governments had programs researching the damaged other drives they managed to recover after the battle and rumor had it even R.E.C. had one. It was only a matter of time before someone unlocked its secrets and then the remnants of the Cult of Shadow would be sought out and destroyed, but that could only happen if Isis and Clara were free to warn them. After telling them the existence of the Cult of Shadow in otherspace Isis was sure that Mogon had no intention of letting them go. Eventually they would have to fight their way out, a battle they would be hard pressed to win.

"So what's the game plan, Moggy? Become the next Sivter? Unite the galaxy? It's not that simple."
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