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swtorpadawan · 10 months

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Author’s Notes: The following story is Part III of my Shadow Games series and takes place at Vaiken Spacedock in my Halcyon Legacy a few weeks before the Forged Alliances story arc.

“What do you mean you’ve lost an experimental dreadnaught?”

Darth Arkous glared across his desk towards his chief advisor, Lana Beniko. The younger Sith was standing before him, having just delivered a report that had made his blood boil.

Beniko cooly maintained eye contact, impassively holding her ground. Despite her lack of a formal title – apparently by her own choice – she was unflappable as usual.

“With all due respect, my lord, I played no role in maintaining the security of the Undying.” The human female’s voice was clearly unphased by Arkous’ rising anger. He found himself simultaneously impressed and infuriated by her poise. Most of his underlings would have been cowering by this point, some of them on their knees.

Arkous finally turned away in dark contemplation. The implications of this news would impact his plans on multiple fronts.

Taking his motion as assent, Lana continued her report.

“The Sphere of Military Offense only just received this report - as a courtesy from our counterparts in Military Defense - that the ship had gone missing from where it had been posted stationed.”

She paused.

“As it was nominally considered a defensive asset, that placed it under Darth Marr’s purview.”

Despite his dark mood, Arkous had to bite back a smirk at the mention of his fellow Councilor. Nominally, Arkous was a fully-fledged member of the Sith Empire’s feared Dark Council as the Councilor of the Sphere of Military Offense, a position that should have made him the better or equal to any other Sith Lord in the galaxy save for the Emperor himself. Further, he was now well entrenched in his position, having held this role since shortly after the death of his predecessor, Darth Arho, on Ilum nearly two years ago.

In practice, Darth Marr, his counterpart as Councilor of the Sphere of Military Defense and one of the longest serving Sith on the Council, had taken advantage of the Emperor’s absence and the Empire’s many internal conflicts over the last few years, consolidating a significant power base for himself. Arkous, along with many of the other Councilors, were finding it increasingly difficult to act on their own authority without consulting him.

Indeed, some had even dared to whisper that Marr would eventually attempt to lay claim to the dark throne of the Sith Emperor for himself.

He is a symbol of everything wrong with the Dark Council. Arkous privately reflected.

He could only hope that the loss of such an infamous weapon under Darth Marr’s watch would take his esteemed colleague down a peg or two. When a new Empire eventually emerged from the fires to come, Sith like Marr would be tossed aside.

Beniko might well have been sensing – or perhaps anticipating – his thoughts.

“I am told that Lord Marr is… less than pleased.” The Sith advisor, the face of professionalism, confirmed dryly. Arkous fully understood the implied understatement.

Heads would no doubt be rolling at the Sphere of Military Defense over such a catastrophic failure. Quite literally.

Reluctantly putting aside his personal satisfaction at Marr’s plight, Arkous decided to press on.

“Fine. Fine.” The Pureblooded Sith Lord waved his hand dismissively. “What else do we know?”

Beniko turned back to her datapad.

“The Undying was stationed at the far end of the Dromund system outside of standard sensor range.” Beniko continued. “It was hoped that it would serve as the Empire’s ultimate fallback weapon if the Republic ever attempted another strike against the capital. With its advanced capabilities and the advantage of surprise, it could have devastated an opposing fleet…”

“I am well aware of its tactical potential.” Arkous interrupted, irritably. The Republic’s raid on Dromund Kaas two years prior, an attack that had led to the destruction of the ancient Dark Temple, had been a blight on the reputation of the entire Empire. It had made the Sith appear weak to the galaxy, encouraging dissent and rebellion throughout the Empire’s own ‘sphere of influence’. Revolts had arisen on several planets in light of the setbacks they had suffered during the Second Galactic War, and even the supply of Isotope-5 that Marr had claimed from Makeb prior to that planet’s destruction had not been enough to completely reverse that momentum. Indeed, Arkous recalled that it had been that these events had set him on the path of reconsidering his own loyalties…

He stopped himself. Beniko was perceptive. It would not do for him to dwell too long on those considerations in her presence.

“And I understand why it was there.” He stated firmly. “Pray, continue, Lana.”

Arkous had researched the specifications of the prototype vessel extensively after coming into power. Knowledge of the superweapon – much less details of its full capabilities – had been severely restricted. It had been an impressive ship, indeed.

“As you say, my lord.” The advisor moved on, apparently unrattled by his interruption as she looked down again.

“Every effort was taken to conceal the ship’s presence, including maintaining only a carefully selected skeleton crew and employing a communications embargo. Space traffic in that zone was restricted, and supply runs were carried out by droid-controlled transport ships.”

Beniko looked up.

“This is why it took them nearly a week to realize it had gone missing.” Lana was clearly allowing some of her dry contempt at the oversight by her counterparts at Military Defense to bleed into her report, even while maintaining her professional detachment.

“And thus we’ve managed to lose the last of Mekhis’ toys.” Arkous sighed in aggravation, sitting back in his chair.

Darth Mekhis, the late Councilor of the Empire’s Sphere of Technology, had been an engineering genius without peer. But she had also been a decrepit and insane crone; far too obsessed with the artistry of her own creations to effectively deploy them properly. Some rumors even claimed that she’d come to regard her weapons as her ‘children’. Arkous had no doubt those distractions had helped lead to her demise, along with the destruction of the Sun Razer some years ago.

Since then, both the Gauntlet and the Ascendant Spear, arguably the two most promising of Mekhis’ creations, had both been destroyed during ill-considered operations against the Republic.

The Silencer, a mega-laser that could be attached to a capital ship with the capability of destroying entire fleets, had shown great potential initially under the direction of Darth Nox. But the Republic had proven to be incredibly resourceful in refitting their capital ships to defend against the weapon. What’s more, it was terribly power-restrictive. Already there had been at least one incident where an Imperial dreadnaught had crippled itself in a failed attack on the Republic, leading to its capture. Without Mekhis to make corrective alterations, her mega-laser was now obsolete.

Finally, the Emperor’s Shadow, with its advanced cloaking capabilities, had been lost during Darth Malgus’ coupe attempt, its incredible technologies squandered on another Sith’s delusions of grandeur.

The Undying was now the only remaining superweapon from Sun Razer project, and now it had apparently been lost as well.

Arkous drummed his fingertips along the surface of his desk.

“Could the Republic be responsible?” he finally offered.

Beniko paused at length.

“Our intelligence apparatus has been somewhat… disorganized since the dissolution of Imperial Intelligence, my lord.” Her disapproval of the present state of affairs was obvious. Academically, Arkous was forced to agree. Whatever its faults might have been, the absence of the Empire’s Intelligence service had left a major gap in their capabilities, forcing them to rely more and more on the private networks of individual Sith.

Then again, that same ‘gap’ had allowed an opportunistic Sith Lord like Arkous to engage in his own machinations unimpeded.

“But our current analysis is that direct Republic involvement seems unlikely.” Beniko continued. “Such an operation would require the involvement of too many assets to have gone completely unnoticed. I believe our remaining operatives would have reported on such a bold plan.”

Suspicions of treachery creeped into the Sith Lords mind.

“Could the crew have mutinied?”

Beniko paused at that, gathering her thoughts.

“Not impossible, but both the officers and the crew were carefully selected for their loyalty to the Empire. Collective treason without warning signs seems implausible in the extreme.”

Arkous turned away in consideration.

“So we have nothing.” He concluded.

“I’m told that Lord Marr has already asked the former Cipher Nine to investigate.” Beniko quickly responded. “Despite their… semi-independence, they have the most impressive track record of our surviving field agents.”

Arkous imagined that Marr hadn’t quite phrased it in the form of a ‘request’, independent agent or not. He also knew he could not allow anything to interfere in the Order’s goals. Not when they were so close to finally putting their plans in motion.

I’ll have to make certain that this Cipher agent finds no compromising breadcrumb trails leading back to me. He mused.

Not for the first time, he considered revealing his true allegiances to Beniko; her talents and acumen could be a great asset to the Master.

No. Not yet. Too many variables at this point. Beniko was a pragmatist. She might certainly come to recognize the danger that Vitiate represented, both to the Empire and to the galaxy as a whole. But it would be unwise to overplay that hand just yet. Perhaps later, she would be ready to see the situation clearly as he did and be ready to understand the desperate measures necessary to stop him.

With that decision made it became vital that he continue to keep her in the dark to his dealings, at least for the present.

“Very well.” He finally assented. “Keep me informed and order a full audit of our own Sphere’s assets in case other vessels or equipment are targeted. It would not do for us to repeat Marr’s mistake.”

He steepled his fingers together.

“You alone are capable of overseeing such efficiency, Lana.” The Dark Councilor then regarded his fellow Sith, their yellow eyes meeting. “I do hope my confidence in you has not been… misplaced.”

He allowed the unspoken threat to linger in the hope that it would convey enough urgency that she’d be distracted from his true intentions.

If she were at all intimidated by the warning, Beniko didn’t give it away.

“No, my lord.” She answered with a deference he strongly suspected his advisor didn’t feel. “I assure you I remain fully capable of carrying out your instructions.”

Crisp. Professional. Dedicated. Confident.

Were the situation otherwise, Arkous would have been enormously pleased with such a servant.

“Good.” He nodded, feigning satisfaction.

As he started to reconsider the webs of his plans, a stray strand caught his attention.

“One last thing. Inform Lord Goh to get that report to me as soon as possible. He’ll know the one.”

Beniko nodded in assent.

“Of course, my lord.”

“Then that will be all, Lana.” He said in dismissal, his chair rotating until he had turned away from his advisor.

“My lord.” She bowed and turned away, heading for the exit. He heard the door seal itself shut behind her a moment later.

Finally alone, Arkous fumed at the lost opportunity of the Undying. He had planned to steal the ship himself with the assistance of the Order, and now he had to consider the possibility of yet another player on the board, putting the Master’s plans at risk.

There was still time to revise his plans around this setback. Perhaps he would even have the opportunity to see Darok again.

For now, he would have to watch his back – and his chief advisor – carefully.

Author’s Notes: The Undying makes its sole appearance in the Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Lost Suns limited series and graphic novel. Its one of several superweapon prototypes Theron Shan discovers before the destruction of the Sun Razer. The Gauntlet and the Silencer both later appear in the SWTOR class stories, while the Ascendant Spear is featured in the Annihilation novel. The Emperor’s Shadow and the Undying are not mentioned outside of the comic, and those absences are loose ends in my mind. I try to tie those off here.

The connection to the previous two chapters may not be obvious at this point, but I hope it becomes clear in time.

Makeb was destroyed in my storyline’s canon; more on that another time.

Lord Goh appears in the Forged Alliances story and is the end-boss in the Republic-sided Assault on Tython flashpoint. He’s most notable for almost never talking in the cutscenes.

The Darth Arkous / Colonel Darok ‘ship is one that’s been going through the fandom for a while, now. I touch on it here.

Thanks for reading, and may the Force be with you.

Tagging interested parties - @a-master-procrastinator @anchanted-one @grandninjamasterren @kartaylirsden @kemendin @kgoblin @magicallulu7 @mysterious-cuchulainn-x @space-unicorn-dot @the-raven-of-highever @thefrostflower @tishinada

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