Ryloth: A New Peril

The biting stench of burnt flesh hung in the air. The woman lying on the floor of the Dark Council chamber was screaming at the top of her lungs as Darth Nox shot lightning at her. They stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by twelve thrones. The Council had assembled to punish one of their own: Nox stopped his lightning and returned to his throne. Badesh knew that now was his turn, he was excited – it had been quite a while since he last had the opportunity to kill somebody.

"Darth Tenebra, you have the honour to hand out the final punishment," said Darth Marr.

"Gladly," replied Badesh. He shortly considered to remove his mask in order to see the destruction of Darth Zhorrid with his own eyes. To feel warm blood on his face… and yet he resisted the urge. He had joined the Dark Council only weeks ago and did not wish to appear as a reckless and impulsive man; Badesh knew that he had already proven that he was a powerful Sith, but he also wanted to be known as a reasonable leader.

Badesh strode to the woman who was silently sobbing in the middle of the chamber. But as he stood next to her she defiantly lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye.

"This is all my father's fault… he never…" She broke off, hatred and a hint of madness glittering in her eyes. Her dark hair was hanging down in streaks. Zhorrid had a broad scar running across her lower jaw. Badesh shortly wondered if she had earned it in a battle.

"Stand up and face me, Zhorrid. Fight me like a Sith – and die like a Sith!" Badesh sincerely hoped that there was still fight left in her, he longed for a battle.

"You grant her too much honour, Darth Tenebra," jeered Darth Malgus from his throne. He was breathing heavily through his respirator when he spoke. "She failed her duties and almost destroyed Imperial Intelligence!"

"It's not about honour," replied Badesh calmly. "I want to test my strength against her; she is the daughter of Darth Jadus after all."

"Very well, but I suspect that you will be disappointed," sneered Darth Marr and threw his lightsaber towards Zhorrid. It slid right in front of her and with and angry scream she grabbed it and tried to behead Badesh. He blocked her lightsaber with his own and used the force to throw her against the wall next to the entrance. Zhorrid coughed up blood and gritted her teeth. But before she could raise to her feet Badesh jumped at her and split her skull in half with his blade. As he registered that his opponent was already dead he let out a frustrated growl and mutilated the body until it was but a pile of flesh. Scrowling he returned to his seat, adrenalin cursing through his veins. This fight hadn't been only disappointing, it was downright insulting that someone who was so weak had been allowed on the Dark Council!

"We should consider to abolish the regulation that enables children of Dark Council members to inherit their seat," Badesh hissed while signalling the maintenance droids to remove the remains of Darth Zhorrid.

"I second that," added a Sith in plain robes. He wasn't wearing a mask or a respirator like the rest of the Dark Council.

Badesh found it interesting that Darth Vowrawn was actually supporting his motion. He had always thought that the elder Sith pure-blood was a traditionalist. Had he misread Vowrawn?

The other members agreed to the change and Badesh felt something akin to surprise that his proposal had gone unchallenged. But it did little to dispel his exitement after the disappointing fight.

"Does anyone want to claim Zhorrids former area of responsibility?" asked Marr.

"I do," said Badesh with a firm voice. "Since I'm also responsible for Sith Intelligence I would be able to annihilate any redundancies between the two agencies."

"I object!" Darth Nuresh stood up and clenched her hand into a fist. "Darth Tenebra hasn't proven himself to us! I claim Imperial Intelligence for myself – it would be unwise to let so much power in the hand of a…"

"I hope for your sake that you don't finish that sentence!" Badesh's voice was very quiet, but Nuresh fell silent.

A light-hearted laughter rang through the chamber; Vowrawn was clapping as if he were a spectator at the theatre. He was clearly amused. Badesh frowned but remained silent.

Vowrawn still smiled when he spoke: "Good show! I didn't know that you had a sense of humour, Nuresh! Otherwise one had to assume that you – the overseer of the imperial armament – think that Imperial Intelligence falls into your business responsibility."

Darth Nox leaned back in his throne. "I support Darth Tenebra's claim. He has proven on Corellia and on Belsavis that he has gasped the importance of solid intelligence."

Badesh felt satisfaction when he heard what Nox said. They trusted each other since their mission to destroy the republic War Trust, such a bond was truly a rare thing among Sith.

"I concur," Darth Malgus stared at Badesh with his cold, deep red eyes. "You won't disappoint us, will you?"

Badesh didn't deign to answer.

oOOo

Red sand crunched under Badesh's boots as he made his way from the Sith academy to the shuttle. A sharp wind blew through the valley of the Dark Lords, a lone tumbleweed crossed his way. Usually members of the Dark Council were accompanied by soldiers or the imperial guard; Badesh had relinquished this service. Perhaps Nuresh had arranged for an assassination? The very thought of an ambush excited him and his breath quickened. But to his frustration he arrived to the shuttle without an incident.

On the orbital station his bottled up anger disappeared as soon as he stepped out of the shuttle. The very sight of Captain Malavai Quinn and Ensign Ce'na – Vette – caused him to smile. They had been waiting for him. Quinn snapped to attention while Vette simply smiled at him. Badesh felt a very strong affection towards Quinn and Vette.

"My Lord, I have been informed about your new area of responsibility. I already compiled a dossier on Imperial Intelligence – you will find it on your data pad," Quinn stated smoothly.

Badesh simply nodded and strode towards the airlock on which the Fury was docked.

ooOOoo

Upon their return to Kaas City Badesh decided that he needed to confer with the Minister of Intelligence as well as with the current Keeper of the Cipher Agents to coordinate all intelligence efforts. He strode through the Citadel on his way to Darth Zhorrids former office and reached out with the force to absorb the tense atmosphere in the heart of Imperial Intelligence.

Most imperial citizens were afraid of their secret service – and for good reason, Imperial Intelligence was quick to root out anyone who dared to criticise the Dark Council or the Emperor. A feeling of sour fear surrounded most of the minds he touched. Finally he reached out for his companions: Quinn's focused, hot and intense energy comforted and exited him while Vette's amorphic signature mystified and calmed him.

Badesh heard how Vette whispered: "Wow, and here I thought that I've already seen Kaas City's most depressing sights, but this…" He saw how she pointed at the large stylised eye above their heads which symbolised Imperial Intelligence.

"It's a sign of internal security, nothing more," retorted Quinn in an even voice.

As expected Vette drew breath to contradict Quinn's statement, but in the end she remained silent. Badesh was almost a little disappointed.

They reached Zhorrid's former office and the guard let Badesh and his companions in without any questions – news travel fast. As soon as the door slid close behind them Badesh turned on his heel to face his subor… his friends.

"I'm about to meet with the Minister of Intelligence as well as with Keeper. Vette, arrange everything as fast as possible. Quinn – I need an overview over the latest operations as well as all the critical theatres of war."

Vette nodded and went to the commstation to set up the meeting, while Quinn stood unmoved and cleared his throat: "My Lord, my security clearance is too low to gather all the necessary information – could you grant me temporary Level 10 clearance?"

"Of course, I will…" Badesh was interrupted by the ring of the intercom. He frowned and strode over to the desk and activated the intercom. "Yes?"

"My Lord, Cipher Nine has arrived for her appointment," reported a male voice – probably one of the guards outside. Badesh suspected that the appointment was a leftover from Zhorrid's schedule and decided that he would meet with the Agent. It was unusual that a Cipher Agent would deal directly with the Sith overseer of Imperial Intelligence; his curiosity was piqued.

"Very well, send the Agent in."

The door slid open and a tall dark-skinned human woman stepped into the room. She didn't let on that she was surprised to see somebody else as Zhorrid in the office of the Sith overseer, but Badesh registered the way she was looking at each of them that she was assessing the situation. Her right hand lay casually on her blaster.

Quinn must have registered her behaviour as well and said with a firm voice: "Stand at attention while in the presence of a member of the Dark Council, Agent!" Badesh smirked, he liked the way Quinn dealt with these situations – effective and yet discreet.

"Apologies, my Lord," she replied and snapped to attention. "I was under the impression that Darth Zhorrid had summoned me."

"Darth Zhorrid has been deemed unworthy by the Dark Council – I'm taking over as of now." Badesh had never fought a trained imperial agent, he wondered briefly how long Nine would last against him. He pushed that thought aside and focused on the task at hand. "Tell me about your current mission and Zhorrid's special interest in it."

"Forgive me, my Lord, but I believe what I'm about to say is for your ears only," Cipher Nine replied.

Vette and Quinn moved towards the door, but Badesh lifted his hand to signal them to stay. Quinn and Vette were his closest advisors, it seemed pointless to keep them out of the loop.

"Speak," commanded Badesh in a low voice.

"As you wish, my Lord. I'm in charge of the investigation of the terrorist attacks on the Dominator. As you probably know, Darth Zhorrid's father, Darth Jadus, was killed in that incident. She wanted regular reports on the development of the case. We had a break-through yesterday – all traces lead to an abandoned republic space-station at the fringe of the Kaas-System. There is a very high probability that we will find the masterminds of the attack there."

"Fascinating. Does that mean that the Republic was behind the attack?" Badesh was genuinely interested.

Nine produced a small holo pad and displayed the space-station, she enlarged a small part until a small space-ship became visible.

"We don't know, but this ship is an imperial military vessel. Perhaps a third force is orchestrating an attack and tries to mask it as a republic operation."

"A third force? Do you have any proof?" asked Quinn sceptically.

Nine looked from Badesh to Quinn, she was obviously waiting for the Sith to crush Quinn's windpipe for speaking out of turn. After a few seconds however it became clear that Badesh didn't mind the question and she answered it.

"No proof, but Imperial Intelligence had several encounters with the Star Cabal, an inter-galactic organisation with the goal to 'balance' the galaxy by sabotaging the Empire as well as the Republic. We destroyed them a few years ago – but it is not to be excluded that they have returned."

Vette stepped next to Badesh. "I guess you think that way because the Republic wouldn't gain anything by blowing up an imperial ship – even if a member of the Dark Council was on board."

Again Nine waited shortly before replying: "Correct… Ensign. The whole attack seemed so random, there has to be a larger scheme. Somebody gained something by this attack – the question is who?"

"A very good question, Agent. I'm looking forward to your report – when do you leave?"

"As soon as I reach the spaceport, my Lord," retorted Nine. Suddenly Badesh noted that she had an air of urgency over her. By the Emperor, instead of carrying out this important mission right away she had reported to… Zhorrid. Badesh felt anger boiling up inside him.

"This delay is unacceptable! Did Darth Zhorrid insist on this meeting?" He felt the urge to crush something and the picture of Zhorrid's mutilated body came to his mind. It calmed him a little.

"Yes my Lord, it is not my place to… well, actually I told Darth Zhorrid that time was of utmost importance – she ignored it."

"I can assure you that this waste of time and resources will stop – you're dismissed!"

An expression of surprise was written on Nine's face, but then she bowed and left. As soon as the door had slid shut behind Nine Badesh let out a growl of frustration. He longed for … anything to make this tense feeling go away… But then he felt a hand on his arm and as he looked down he saw Vette standing in front of him. His anger started to tickle away.

"I set up a meeting with the Minister and Keeper – they will be here in an hour. Are… are you alright, or shall I postpone?"

Badesh exhaled and replied: "No, the meeting is too important."