| abstract
| - The Sith meditation chamber was dark as ever. The room was left cold, maybe Hoth cold. The room is suspended in total silence, and two Sith droids stand guard at the entrance. The room is cast in total darkness, the viewport to the back was covered by a black blast door and the vaulted ceiling leaves every footstep echoing through the chamber of those who dare enter. The Sith had called those loyal to him here though, and his guards would escort them into the darkness, the droids having no need for visual light to see what was happening here. Gillian steps in last... his nervousness had been wearing off, and what a change physically he was. Choosing to remain eyeless, instead having optics held in a special device to decieve, his skin had gone from sickly pale to a rich metallic silver. His regrown hair was white-gold and he had filled out, the young near-human much better than before, the black uniform sinking into the shadows, making him seem like a disembodied head and pair of hands in contrast in the pale light of the door before it was shut off. He stops then, eyes widening in the dark as his heart skips a beat, worry sinking deep, fearing the drop of the proverbial other shoe, his special boots silent now on the floor. While the room was cold, Dareus had beem in his office that is attached to his quarters, quickly slipping a cloak over his form while he moved through the mostly quiet ship; something far differen than his previous commands, barely any words could be heard echoing throughout the decks. As the door opens into the chamber, a shiver slides through his spine, sending a tingling across the back of his neck. Something was different here; a big contrast to the last time that he entered. He takes a few steps into the room, silently, his boots, with effort, being a pale comparison to when he normall strolls along one of the decks, taking a deep breath when he stops, eyes just looking ahead while he waits for them to adjust. Axel was to the point where he no longer feared for his life around Tyler. He knew now that his goals were similar to those of Darth Malign, so he was useful to the Sith. As long as he was useful and loyal, there was nothing to fear. In fact, he and the others in this alliance were the ones that should be feared by the rest of the galaxy. Axel allows the droid guard to escort him and as he approaches he drops to a knee and bows his head. "Lord Malign, I have come as you requested. What is it that you wish of me?" They were in Cochran space now. The entire system had the feeling of a graveyard. Axel had spent some time here during and after the battle that destroyed life on the planet, but he could sense the decay of the system. It was a much darker place now than it had been even after the planetary subjugation and utter destruction. Hearing someone else enter, the skin on Gillians' body prickles somewhat, heart racing. He hears the heavier steps, turning slightly with a rustle of cloth in the mans' direction. Eyes huge he turns, eyes moving over Axels' form as it passes him. He didnt even see anyone there and shifts now with new nervousness at the 'breach' he apparently took part in. Once everyone was in the room, the droid escorts move each individual to specific locations in the room. Axel's question was left unanswered for several moments, once everyone was in position a single beam of light, red, shines down over an empty location now filled by the Sith, hiding behind a heavy hood and his black cloak, "No need to speak out Axel Vichten, everyone was called here." He says darkly as red lights illuminate the locations of his three guest who are standing on carved circles in the floor, which was designed as a meeting room for he and his closet advisors. There were other circles, but the circle would never be complete, but others would join their dark brotherhood, "Here we are above Cochran, our new home." He smiles, "A dead world is the only logical place to begin the rebirth of the Sith." Gillian squints at the light, moving as the droids directed and guided him. Face reflecting the dim light, making him seem red-silver, he squints out the window, cloth having no shadows, the red light drunk by the cloth. His fear fades as he looks at the image, repeating the name to himself. The red light was not easy to see out of the corner of his eyes, he adjusts the hood of his cloak for a moment to make it easier to see all present with a simple glance. Dareus lets his hands fall quietly to his side, standing patiently until it sounds like the Dark Lord has finished his sentence. Taking a half breath, he doesn't want to say it, but then again, this was his job, "My Lord, the system, is far more barren than most; for us to have a defence against our enemies, it would require more than we have at our disposal right now, even our fighters would have limited range without a full star fleet." He leave it at that; chances are every eventuality had been thought of; but the safety of this ship was his only concern, and his only function. Axel stands back up. "Yes, Lord Malign," he states. His eerie blue eyes seem to be the only thing visible under the dark hood of the cloak he is wearring. He turns his head from side to side, taking in the others present. Dareus he knew, the other man was a stranger to him, though if he was in this room it meant that he was either an ally or a prisoner, and the odd looking near human didn't appear to be restrained. "A dead world that still has a sustainable atmosphere, though the air tastes stale and there is little in the way of food or water." Axel had already done some sensor readings on the planet and sent down a small team of non-essential personel to test the planet's ability to sustain life outside of a vac-suit and respirator. The Sith listens, unlike Vader or Palpatine, the words of those who support you should be regarded carefully and considered. These men were before him because they were good at what they do, survive, and thrive in a galaxy surrounded by enemies. It would be difficult to sustain but the Sith had ways, "I am unconcerned about how hospitable the world is, there is only around thirty live beings on the Predator, most of the work done here is by droids." He states simply, hoping that would alleviate some fears, "As for the atmosphere, breathable, but not healthy I would venture, breath masks should still be considered for 'essential' personnel." He presses a button on a small stand beside him as a map of the world activates in between them. The hologram also in red to keep it from contrasting or illuminating anymore of the room. "Indeed, Captain, that would be our fear. I suggest working here." He points to where Cochran's largest sea once was, "There was a Griffon bunker there, survivors all dead now, if not they soon will be. Our establishment of a base must be hidden, under the surface. The fleet can be hidden as well, the cloak of the Darkside can veil this system or we can find adequate technology or bring in asteroids." He shrugs, "Understand that we are not basing a large scale military offensive from the world, but we need a place for this." He presses another button which shows plans for a massive droid factory. Gillian turns back to the others, his eyes reflecting the red light, making him seem a blood red in color with the added glows. He turns to stare at the map, furrowing his brow as he looks at the plans, confused "A... plant?" he asks, breaking his silence finally. "The Predator is equipped with enough supplies that we could build anything sub-surface you require; the legion itself doesn't fall to normal limits that a weak human body would. As for my own opinion, Lord Malign; I would forgo the asteroids, while it would help defend, in any eventuality, it can hinder our defences, not all of our pilots have the force to guide them." Dareus glances around the room, instantly, his mind remembers a jungle trek and a nearly disasterous expedition, "Technology can be overcome by any enemy we have by simple slicers." His gaze returns to the Sith, "I've seen first hand how well the Dark Side can hide that which shouldn't be seen; and the Jedi are too few. By the time this would be discovered, it would be too late." Axel pulls the hood back from his face, letting it fall to his back. "What about repair facilities, my lord? The Embrace sustained quite a bit of damage to it's hull and power systems. I can't honestly say that I trust any Imperial shipyard and after Nar, I don't think that taking it to Caspian space would be such a good idea?" He pauses to pull a cigarette from a vest pocket and ignites it. "It will also need some extensive repairs to it's gravity well generators to be of any use to us. I can salvage three of them I believe, but one is completely destroyed. I'll either have to ask you to pull some strings in the Empire or I will have to 'aquire' one through other means from the Seinar Fleet Systems shipyard at Selene or Kuat. I apologize if it seems that I am venturing away from the project at hand, but our assets are limited, and the interdictor is a quite valuable asset to us at the moment." Gillian falls silent once more, allowing them to continue speaking around him. These were things beyond him. He knew little at this time of tactics and machines and planets. But he listened intently, learning and storing it away. "Indeed a plant, my friend." Malign smiles from behind his hood toward Gillian, "The Sith will need an army." He says darkly. He turns toward Dareus and gives him a firm nod, "Very well Captain, your mission will be the preparation of a vast underground facility to produce my droids. You have two standard weeks." If the legion worked everyday, every hour he had faith it would be complete. Axel brought up another important piece of logistics, a means to repair and maintain vessels, "A prefabricated space station, sounds like a fine suggestion, Vichten, but I would suggest we drill it into a local asteroid, and then allow it to handle repairs. A station over Cochran would offer too much suspicion." He states plainly the Sith points toward Gillian, "Mr. Vichtan this is Gillian, he serves as an aid to Captain Dareus, and as a Sith infiltrator. The Sith need spies, and this one's talents are rather excellent." He deactivates the holographic units, "Very well, I request reports of damage and any comments following our operations of Nar Shaddaa." Gillian turns his socketed face in Vichtans' direction, dipping his head in greeting as he watches the man with trepidation, looking like a timid person who was not quite sure what to do with those silvery hands. He finally folds them behind his back, his collar catching the red lights across the metal surface as he murmers a greeting in his soft tones. Dareus simply nods, "I will be done, my Lord." He knew he'd have the Predator busy as hell now, not just issuing supplies and equipment but repairing the droids non-stop until this was finished; but still, he would get it done, somehow. His hands clasp behind his back for a moment, "The Predator and her escort are in fine shape, the only damage the Nebulon's suffered were minor, and have already been repaired, all Starfighters abord us have been repaired and are now fully combat capable." His eyes take a glance around the room before he smiles slightly, although likely no one would see it behind the hood, "Since my welcome departure from Maffi; I've pulled my most underestimated asset from Ord Mantell for the time being; she'll soon be under the employ of Malif Tal-Tahn on Etti IV; I'm expecting at least some useful information to come from her in that position. As for how Skywalker came about knowing the plan about the Mantell compound, it wasn't told to her; that answer can only lay on Nar Shaddaa or Republic space." The captain of the Embrace and Haze turns and acknowledges Gillian's presence but turns back to Malign. Axel retrieves a datapad and slides a datacard into the slot. He calls his R2 unit over and plugs the datapad into a wire provided by the droid. A hologram of the Interdictor Cruiser, Noquella's Embrace flashes forward. "Alright R2, just follow my lead," he says to the droid. "Damage to my other vessels is negligible and my technicians have already fixed all but the cosmetic stuff. The real damage was done to the Embrace." He pauses and walks around the hologram. Gravity well generators one, three, and four all took damage, but are repairable. Number four is still functioning though only at half power." The hologram displays three of the four bulbs on the hull of the ship by accenting them in yellow. "Sadly, number two," the remaining bulb vanishes and is replaced by what appears to be a vacant hole in the ship's exterior. "Was completely destroyed. A lucky shot by one of the Republic vessels caused it to explode and a hull breach ensued. I lost nearly one hundred of the crewmembers onboard before the breach could be sealed with internal shielding. Also, the primary and secondary power cores are severely depleted though such replacements should be relatively easy to come by. The real problem is the gravity well generators. Without them, the Embrace is little more than a carrier. I can't buy parts for them, and without access to a shipyard I can't make them in any suitable timeframe. That leaves either stealing them from the Empire or pulling the right strings." The Sith listens as the reports flow in, Dareus was an excellent field commander and was showing his worth every moment he spoke, as well as Axel, the two men were stalwarts and a product of a galactic conflict that had been happening since before many of them had been born, but not Tyler he was an older man and had seen some peace but only a little in his childhood, "Do not worry about parts for your Interdictor, Mr. Vichten, rather Captain. I will see to a replacement gravity well generator, I will requisition it from the Galactic Empire, I am not the Director of Bureau of Operations for nothing." He nods his head, "Well it seems we need a space station, I suggest we steal one." He says darkly, "Any objections?" Gillian shakes his head at that, though his brow furrows, puzzled "How do you /steal/ a space station though, sir?" he asks bravely. "They are generally well guarded." Axel smiles. "I have the plans for the construction of two different types. I wouldn't know where to aquire one small enough to steal and imbed inside of an asteroid or whatever though." He pauses for a moment, taking a drag from his cigarette. "I can have my slicer see what he can come up with though. Maybe he can get into the NR's database and find the location of their mothball fleet or something." "We wouldn't even need a fully operational one, just parts, they can be assembled by the droid Legion. Not like they need to breath; working double shifts I can have it all operational...." Dareus' gaze falls to the floor while millions of combinations of numbers fly through his head, from hours, to measurements, to simple requirements of durasteel strength, "Within a month. We wouldn't even need to find a specific asteroid, the TIE Interceptors can drill by modifying the laser cannons; or for heavy blasting, concussion missiles." He smiles a little at that thought, tapping his fingers on his chin, "Anything even from the Griffons would suit just fine, provided we can get her here, even in parts. We're on board an I2SD; the Empire didn't build these as multi-purpose for nothing." Gillian watches Dareus' gaze as the man works He then pipes up helpfully "You could perhaps pull smaller asteroids together too... hold them there with cables or something... that way you can also change the outwards appearance of it on occasion if ou want to.' "Indeed. I am not concerned about how, but where our station is." The Sith smiles, "A slicer, is this slicer a trustworthy source, Vichten? We cannot afford a security breach of our brotherhood, understand that if we are revealed I and the Emperor will be most displeased. The New Republic is our best target, or the Corporate Sector Authority." Malign shrugs turning the Gillian, "Not a bad idea, but instead of cables tractor beams might be an option or some sort of gravitational control system." Many things to ponder and to meditate on, "Dareus, Gillian, help Vichten find our station, after you program a droid foreman to handle the construction of our facility, Captain. You are all dismissed." With that Malign's light illuminating him is deactivated. Those here could not hear him leave but no doubt he is gone as the other lights deactivate and the droids come to escort the three from the chambers. Dareus turns quickly, pulling the hood from his face, heading towards the door, as he looks at Gillian, "Have the droid technicians report to me at once, they've got one hell of a job to get done." Turning quickly to Axel, he raises an eyebrow, but still remains rather serious, "Stealing a space station...their mothballed fleet might be a good start, jury rigging even remnants of Capital ships could work. I hope we're still linked with the Imperial Database, I need a few layouts and schematics. Time to turn a TIE squadron into an off ship-drilling rig." Now that Lord Malign has gone, his boots echo heavier on the durasteel deckplates while they step back into the light, Dareus squinting slightly with the adjustment, but after a few blinks, it's gone. Axel nods to Tyler's words. "I believe him to be trustworthy, but then again he is a slicer. The sort is usually only trustworthy to credits." With that said he looks to the other two. "I truly believe though, that our best bet for finding a station would be in Republic space. There is surely something remnant of the Rebel Alliance in their inventory, possibly orbiting some backwater planet. The problem is breaking it down for transport without destroying it. I could easily deal with a small Republic taskforce on a fringe planet." He then gives a bow and turns away from where Malign was standing and follows the droids and his compatriots out. "Dareus, old friend, should your pilots need training in drilling, I have experience in that. I did a lot of 'special' projects when I was in the CSA. Predominantly I did salvage and system cleanup work. We used a modified Gamma class assault shuttle for drilling. It was perfect. The tractor beam could be used to hold it's position while it's lasers and missiles made short work of any asteroid or chunk of metal debris." ".. What, Me?" Gillian states, startled by Maligns' request. But he nods an instant later, realizing that ... yes, him. His eyeless face looks lost a moment, before he nods again slowly "Yes sir. I will get right on it." he promises, turning with a bow to walk out and look for a copy of a droid manual. The Captain of the ship they were walking on smiles at Axel, while he nods to Gillian, a little pride at how fast he moves off, "I'm not quite worried about the drilling; but definitely a briefing could help. We don't have the whole sector StarOps of Corellia here, this is a small group. I'll refit the lasers on just one squadron for now, let them rotate; however we'll need to use your blastboats as extra patrols, just until we can bring that squadron back to combat capability." His mood shifts to something a little darker, that sickens his stomach, "For around 96 hours, we'll have a weak point in defenses. Damn Republic picked a fine time to jump into someone elses' business; those grav wells would be perfect for hiding us without worry." The half smile returns though; Dareus queitly amused at how well he works with Axel; as a mutual commander of something the Galaxy may wish, never happened. Dareus nods quietly while he listens to Axel, the droids disappearing once they get away from the chambers, and more into the normal sections of the ships, "The Predator mayb be a behemoth, but Delede sure has one hell of a repair bill for what used to be his hull. Although tell your men not to worry; each TIE on this ship is flown by a real breathing person, I'll put Lightning Squadron at your disposal while construction is underway, probably leave the frigates several thousand kilometers, by the normal jump in points, nice surprise for any wanderers." He nods politely to one of the few humans to pass them on this ship, "I'd still like to have a chat with him; the Republic...shouldn't have jumped in at that precise moment. Of all the times, it's impossible. We had reports of Republic ships that very afternoon." He smirks, "They were waiting for something, or someone." "I don't exactly know why they were there to begin with. You would think, providing their current standings in the galaxy, that they would be spread too thin to dedicate such a force. I trained half the pilots they had present, that was the Falcon and Ghost Squadron of their second fleet." "We're not the only Alliance, it would seem, don't you think?" He scratches his chin for a moment, "I think it's high time Mr. Delede payed us a visit, and let us know just what the Republics' interest in us and the Hutt Sector is." Dareus walks along the command level still, looking pensive and lost in thought, "But I also have to be careful when I ...extend that invitation to him and that other Captain."
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