Betrayal

[Kell Sangros]

She still remembered…

He watched as she tried to yet again bring the fight to him. She was resourceful he would give her that and that her time in this prison did not dull her or make her soft. She needed training, She needed a teacher. The War-Bringer inwardly smiled, and watched with slight amusement at her hitting the button and charging him with a chair. Outside the control room the sound of guards being gunned down could be heard, their pain and anguish only fueling him as he fed off their fear (Feed on Dark Side) After a few minutes however, the turrents went off-line, it was not by Warvanus’ doing. One of the other control centers must have locked this room out, which would make any of the panels switches, buttons or other doo-dads inoperable. As a also a result the door slid and stayed open. Resourceful indeed. He wondered if she realized that he was doubly more powerful now then when the last time they had seen each other. Warvanus spent all his time studying, training, taking secrets from the Force and claim them as his own. He focused on Teras Kasi as much as he did with his Darkside powers. He was truly a “War-Machine”

As she came at him with the chair he held his hand out palm towards her and made a pushing motion with it. What should feel next would be a strong force hitting the chair, intending to shatter it in her hands, but more than likely would knock it from her grasp. (Force Charged Strike) He was of course still toying with her, but even as he did so he was beginning to see value in the Crow. He easily moved out of the way of her momentum. He did not need the Force to use her own energy and motion against her, but not yet. It wasn’t until the chair was destroyed or knocked from her grasp that Warvanus spoke again.

“Your time in here has not dulled you that is good but, surely you can do better”

it was a compliment but also a taunt. He did not acknowledge their past association, he was on a mission and he would see it to its conclusion whether it ended with Kressara coming with him or her dying by his hand.

Outside he could sense the presence of two of the guards coming in , ones who came down the hallway after the turrets were disabled. They stood inside blocking the exit, both armed with stun batons. They looked at Warvanus and then charged at the displaced inmate.

[Kressara Thryn]

The force pulsated throughout the improvised weapon, vibrating violently before the cheap materials burst apart in her hands. Warvanus both complemented and taunted the girl as she charged full speed towards him, unable to stop herself as he dodged out of the way. The systems logged off of both their control from afar, making the room nothing but a very small arena to contain their violent back and forth. Kressara skidded to a halt and corrected herself, jumping back to distance herself from him once more. Those sharp eyes scanned the room for anything left to use against him, finding only the baton she left by the corpse of a technician. That’d have to do.

“And you’ve only gotten stronger...I wouldn’t feel too bad if you managed to kill me, however, I have things to tend to Warvanus. So let’s hurry this along and-“

A pair of guards who survived the gunfire came barreling in towards Kressara brandishing batons. One swung on the girl and as she ducked out of range, the other placed a harsh kick to the broad side of her shoulder. Kressara hit the ground and twisted to her back just in time to see a baton flying towards her face. Reflex took over. She swatted at the baton and caught it with a painful smack of metal against skin, yanking the guard down with her. There she spotted a pistol on his hip.

“Thaaank you!” She stole the gun from his holster with one hand and hurled the baton at the other guard’s face as he reached for his own blaster. Kressara leapt to her feet and fired a round which killed the downed guard before setting her sights on the last one alive. He backed away from the crow and reached once more for his gun, but it was too late for him. Kressara lunged forward, closing the gap with quick knee to his gut, aiming the pistol to the back of his head as his body doubled over in pain, and pulling the trigger. Dexterous fingers snatched the second pistol for their own in the chaos. “Terribly sorry.” Her apology was answered with the thump of a corpse on the tile.

“Now then, this is a bit more fair don’t you think, Warvanus?” Her sights trained on him, pistols aimed. Kressara opened fire with a total of thirteen shots in rapid succession.

[Kell Sangros]

Warvanus watched her as she dealt with the guards, He had seen enough , as the second had hit the floor and now that the pistol was trained on him he raised his hand as she unloaded the pistol’s power pack at the War-Bringer. Through the Force he had been able to absorb each bolt with ease. He breathed in the increased energy and then began his approach again.

“I too have things to attend to, one of them is getting you off world and to one of the moons we have much to discuss” he paused before continuing “I have seen enough you have proven your worth to me and I believe you will be a perfect fit for the job I was auditioning you for” Of course Jacobi had the rest of the details.

He then added “Kressara” he was using her name so he was deadly serious in what he would say next “I never discard something that is useful to my cause” and with that he turned and walked out of the room, not bothering to see if she would follow him or not. Her audition was over and she had passed. She had much to learn but when she came into that power she would be great, a being of legend. Providing she devoted herself to her training so that she could better serve the Dark Lord.
He hit the button on his helm comm.. “KL-PK1 prepare for take-off” and he continued to walk

[Kressara Thryn]

Weeks passed after Warvanus escorted Kressara to meet with a mandalorian by the name of Jacobi Wylcott, and at long last the spire prison could fall away into the past. While the girl had wished to hunt down these assassins as soon as possible, there was no denying that her condition might only slow her down. That and Lord Blood’s own state of being was found unacceptable to the young sith woman. For the first few weeks during her recovery she saw to it that the dark lord was taken care of, even if all she could do was dust away a few cobwebs, spruce up some dead plants around the base, and try to provide the illusion that he wasn’t living in some crypt dedicated to the failures of his lineage. In that time she also managed to clean herself up. Knots were combed straight, hair was trimmed, vitamins and fresh air helped return some vibrancy to her paled skin, and a decent diet did wonders for the skeletal appearance she’d boasted before. While she still looked something like a dead woman brought to life, it was a drastic improvement.

Today was the day Kressara would spread her wings and resume the mission at hand. Hunt down assassins in the name of Lord Blood. She would meet with Warvanus on the landing pad leading into the sith base on Sojourn and choose a viable lead. Hopefully whomever they chose to trail behind would result in a fast victory. With the War Bringer by her side on this hunt, what chance did the enemy stand? With Kressara’s unique approach to things and his sheer power, they would bring their mark back to Sojourn kicking and screaming.

Autumn winds blew over the landing pad in disrepair as Kressara made a note in her data pad.

’Hire a crew to repair the landing pad, order new light fixtures, and revive the roses.’

Among that list were several other notes of similar nature, one of which was a grand calculation of costs, time, and effort that it would take to run the base to it’s maximum capability again. Whether her lord agreed to it or not was undetermined. Kressara was merely taking the mantle of a custodian out of revelation that Sojourn desperately needed one. Blood lost his love for the moon he made, Warvanus seemed preoccupied with his own duties, and few others remained to do a thing about it. That left Crow.

Her newly attained Skipray waited for their impending journey, even if it’s pilot was less than willing to leave the ground.

[Kell Sangros]

Weeks had passed, Warvanus spent them mostly on Karza, the days passed as he had spent most of them either studying, meditating or training. He also had been vetting service records for more possible pilots for the Elite squadrons he was assembling. Right now they had three potential ones the pilots training relentlessly.

He had left instructions for his command ship the Magnetar to follow at a distance in case they ran into trouble and needed reinforcements that they would not be far. Having settled that contingency, KL-PK1 had informed him that his shuttle was ready. He instructed his droid to come with him, he would leave the running of things to one of his senior officers. With that He made his way to the shuttle bay without incident or problem.

The Shuttle was soon making its way to the stars, it was a short trek to Sojourn. He had mixed feelings
for a long time Sojourn was regarded by some as the unofficial capital of the Empire but what was once a vibrant thriving world, seemed neglected. It had been many months since Warvanus had visited the resort he had maintained. As well it had been many months since the Dark Lord had visited his sanctuary on Karza. So much had changed, at times Warvanus did not recognize the Empire he served. At other times it was all too familiar to him.

The shuttle landed on the pad to the Dark Lord’s stronghold, the ramp lowered and Warvanus and his droid KL-PK1 disembarked, the War-Bringer stood at the bottom of the ramp, his arms behind his back his hands folded. When Kressara was within ear shot, he spoke.
“My Command ship will be following at a distance in case we require support” he said without preamble, KL-PK1 held a satchel, it contained nothing sinister but it did contain information that was relevant to their task.

He looked over at the Firespray and then back to Kressara “We should take your ship” and on that he awaited her to board or protest. Once they were aboard and in hyperspace then Warvanus would brief her on the leads they had amassed.

[Kressara Thryn]

The arrival of a shuttle drew Kressara out of her thoughts while she awaited the emergence of her fellow sith from it’s hull. Her light steps tapped against the concrete in his direction, clearing her throat to greet him properly when Warvanus dove right into business. He clearly wasn’t as much of a talker as Crow was, or had come to be over the years. Somehow the sith brought out a confidence in her which made for a much more eloquent young lady. As such, she started with a nod to his suggestion and followed up with a courteous smile. “Good morning to you was well.” Her hand unlatched from behind her back to motion towards her ship, a brand new Skipray which had been a gift from Jacobi out of the sith coffers, or so Kressara hoped it wasn’t his own credits spent. Not that she didn’t like expensive gifts, but the idea of owing someone that much in favors for accepting was uncomfortable.

“My ship it is. It’s just as well...I could use more practice flying, as much as I hate to admit it.” And she did hate to. Even now space left her feeling queasy and claustrophobic. Not so much now with her own spacious fighter, but enough.

A blanket of platinum was hefted over her shoulder with the sweep of a hand which then reached down to check for her vibro blade and a few over items. Everything seemed to be in order. Once certain Crow would lead the way to her ship, start up the engine, and allow her partner time to settle before taking off from the landing pad. It climbed into the skies easily with Warvanus’ second ship shadowing their course. Her voice, less cheery now than before as she tried to discreetly manage her flight sickness, ended a lengthy silence between them. “So, what’s the plan?”

[Kell Sangros]

Both Warvanus and KL-PK1 boarded the ship and settled in, and when they were in the sky, he had made his way to the main lounge along with his droid who had carried the satchel. He took a seat as KL-PK1 put the satchel in front of the War-Bringer. When the Crow came he addressed her. He was never one for small talk or much for pleasantries.

“You have a very nice ship here” he began, admiringly examining the room, he meant it she really did have a nice ship. Then once she sat he went straight to business.

“As you know someone had made an attempt on our Master, the reigning Dark Lord” he began “What you may or may not know is that these same assassins also made attempts on the lives of the Dark Council as well as any senior level Sith Lord, myself included” He paused to let it sink in

“the assassins did not survive but I had managed to take mine into custody and got very little out of him before he committed suicide.” He then opened the satchel , inside was an ornate dagger, as well as some data cards.

First he withdrew the dagger and placed it on the table for her to examine for herself “As I am sure you may or may not remember Sith History is one of my passions, see the crest on the hilt? The markings are in the ancient Sith tongue, but that crest was once used by a group known as the Krath, are you familiar with them?”

He did not wait for her to reply “The Krath were originated on a planet in the Empress Teta system, were founded by students of Freedon Nadd, they took over the Teta worlds. A jedi once infiltrated the cult and ended up falling to the Dark Side and rose up as the First High Priest, his name was Ulic Qel Droma, who was a student of the Former Dark Lord Exar Kun. Ulic won the aligence of the Mandalorians and the Krath became a militaristic sith cult” he paused “In the end Ulic betrayed his Master after his connection to the Force was permanatly severed and shortly thereafter the Krath collapsed, through the eons they have been out of the galatic spotlight, there had been rumors of a political terrorist group on Teta that went by the Krath, this dagger is proof that the Krath are still alive and well”

He pulled out a datacard for her “If you’d like to read the accounts of their history I took the liberty of copying it for you convenience”
He looked at her, “I did get one nugget of info from the would be assassin that I caught, under much duress he told me that he was recruited on Arda, which is near the edge of Sith Space I think that is a good first place to start” He let her take in all the information in. He then rose from his seat, his satchel now empty KL-PK1 took it.

“Shall I take care of this for you” he paused “Master” with a slight proper snobby tone but before Warvanus could answer he turned and left to bring the satchel to his quarters.


“One day I am going to have to have his personality refitted” turning his attention back to the Crow. “I want to bring the one responsible in alive, the Dark Lord should decide his fate and the severity of the method” Killing the culprit would be too good for him or her.