Villains of a War

[Grace]

Reibe's fighter touched down next, followed closely by Jahara and the other Hunters' fighters.

 

"They're not going to make this easy for us," Reibe said softly as the Hunters came together. "This lull on landing is meant to make us think they don't care." She frowned. "But they know all too well what we have come for. They just don't realize how hard we'll fight for it."

 

"Or how impossible it will be to stop us," Jahara commented. Reibe chuckled.

 

"That too," she agreed.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

After almost an hour of meditation in the garden, Charna went to find Tepe.

 

"At first, I struggled with your decision to split from the Sith," she told him. "I felt as if I had pledged myself to the Sith through you and that, though you were leaving them, I ought not to do so. But that is not what happened." She smiled, the relief plainly evident on her face.

 

"I pledged myself to you," she said, bowing. "And with you I shall stand, without fear, without regret. My pledge is still to you, Lord Tepe. For me, nothing has changed... though," she admitted with a smile, "everything has changed."

[Black Knight of Keno]

Tepe had turned the chair around to see Charna when she came onboard the bridge. As he listened to her, the stars formed lines behind him and his seat, creating a somewhat odd addition of royalty within him as the woman bowed infront of him. The officers watched the smile on Tepe's lips and turned away swiftly as they saw their Lord stand up. Stepping right infront of Charna, the man looked down and raised two fingers on her forehead. A spark ran throught his hand and from his fingers onto the skin right around them on Charnas forehead. With a bright blue flash, the spark made an infinity sign on her forehead, probably with enormous pain coming with it.

 

"So you have pledged yourself to me and so I shall mark you for it. You shall serve me and the Dominion for as long as you live and for eternity if it comes to it. Lady Charna, it is of grave importance that we have someone able enought to resist the skills of the True Sith to greet them. You may just be the one we need" Tepe said and drew his hand away, letting the woman rise up.

"Rise, Lady Charna, and see the galaxy in a new light. Freedom of prejudices put upon us by the Sith and the Jedi. Go and meet our destiny"

[Flamehart]

"Take one," Strider said shortly as the Hunters made their way into the ruins, back to the old experimentation rooms. "Take the one that works that we used," he ordered. "I know it's not something that should be in either hands, but should we ever recruit again, Riebe, it would be handy to have it," he explained. With that, he withdrew his blade and began to render the others useless. Katherine joined in, working on another.

 

During the removal of the machines, Strider could sense the impending arrival of the True Sith, and began now to wonder Cylia's lack of presence after his arrival. Where had she gone?

[Joetheeskimo]

((Random OOC interjection: Sorry, I haven't been following the story for so long and now it's pretty much too late to return. Just say that Kin died in some battle. Perhaps I'll lurk around and read the RP as it progresses.))

[Black Knight of Keno]

((Taking that Kin hasn't been around for quite a while and there has some time gone by, I could of course kill Kin off, but you could also just start over. Kin could've just dismissed himself from the whole conflict during one of the time jumps))

[Grace]

Charna almost did not react as Tepe marked her forehead, despite the pain. As he gave her new orders, she bowed still a little lower and said, "As you wish, my Lord." Then, she rose and left the bridge. A shuttle returned her to her flagship and a few moments later, they entered hyperspace, going to meet the True Sith.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

"It would be handy," Reibe agreed. She watched for a moment as Jahara, with a single dismissive gesture, turned one of the machines into a fine metallic dust. Laughing softly, she shook her head. "Jahara, take the undamaged machine to the Ragnarok." To Strider, she added with a teasing smile, "Certainly you wouldn't mind it there... as it's the only ship we have here that could hold it."

 

Jahara smiled faintly and then eyed the working machine. "Piece of cake," she said softly. The machine disconnected from its power source, a Sith-made energy crystal of some sort and rose into the air. The crystal imploded on itself and Jahara frowned.

 

"I'd have taken that too," she said, "but it was highly unstable. Won't take me long to come up with a Hunter equivalent anyway..."

 

With the machine hovering behind her, Jahara left the room... and found herself face to face with three Dark Jedi opponents.

 

"We won't let you get away with that, Sith Hunter," one of them sneered. Jahara smirked.

 

"Try and stop me," she retorted. One drew his lightsaber and a second hurled Force lightning at Jahara. She caught the energy in a ball in her hand and tossed it back at the Dark Jedi with his lightsaber out. Caught by surprise, he slashed wildly at it, causing it to expand from the center, zapping all three Dark Jedi.

 

"Well, you did try," Jahara commented, passing by the three, rolling in their pain.

[Joetheeskimo]

((Eh, just kill 'im ))

[Sigundr]

((Stab, lol.

[Black Knight of Keno]

((I'm not gonna kill Kin off. Besides, I'm heading off to Italy for the next five days, so this RP is probably going into a hiatus period while I'm gone. Just try to get the war detailed a bit more. When I come back, I want to see a full war between Kaoin's and Tepe's soldiers))

[Grace]

((Ha! Like that's gonna happen with you gone... er... I mean... we'll try. ))

[Black Knight of Keno]

((Yeah... I see you've tried the best you could indeed))

 

By the time Charna had reached the True Sith fleet, Tepe had landed safely on the capitol and sat within his throne room. There was a soft tune in the air as a small orchestra played old symphonies. The walls had been covered with window-like screens that showed pictures of the outside while the Lord sat hunchbacked on his throne, spinning wine within his glass. The Colonel watched him from the middle of the large room, studying reports and calculating Kaoin's next moves.

"You seem distracted, my Lord"

"I am"

"If I may inquire, my Lord, why?"

"All I wanted was a stable, peaceful Galaxy. Until now I have created only war and destruction"

"If I may say so, my Lord, but for peace, there must be first chaos"

"So the end justifies the means?"

"In theory, yes"

So the Lord fell silent again, listening to the orchestra continuing to play. He would have to make drastic decisions.

 

------

 

The True Sith met with Charna in deep space, scanning her shuttle many times over before agreeing to contact her. But just as Charna was proceeding with the docking sequence a message from Tepe came throught.

"Lady Charna. Once you speak with the leaders of the True Sith, offer them Korriban and Ziost for temporary homes. If I have foreseen correctly, they shall pledge their support to me and accept the planets. Lead them to the planets and then meet me on Coruscant. Make sure they are comfortable before leaving. They will provide us with much of the ancient culture that I seek insipartion of when building the Dominion"

[Flamehart]

It did not take long for the Sith Hunters to gather what they needed and head out. The Hunters fought several Dark Jedi on the way out, however, Strider led the way, slicing them down swiftly and mercilessly, almost in a manner in which the others had never seen him fight before. He simply wanted to get in and get out, as if the mere memory of certain things drove him to wish to leave. As they made it back to their ships, he declared to the others, "Load up! Let's go. I don't want to attract more attention than we need to!" He boarded his own ship, waiting for the others to get on board theirs, before his ship lifted up off the ground and soared into the air, the Sith Hunter machine on board.

[Grace]

Charna had a very large store of patience and she soon discovered this was important for dealing with the True Sith, an overly cautious group. When she was finally allowed before them, she bowed ever so slightly.

 

"The Sith Dominion welcomes you back to the known galaxy," she said. "I am Charna, Ambassador of Lord Tepe."

 

- - - - - - - - - - -

 

 

The other Hunters' ships followed the Ragnarok out of the atmosphere. Reibe glanced back.

 

"Really wish I could wreck the planet," she muttered.

 

"We could," Jahara suggested. Reibe shook her head.

 

"No," she said. "That goes beyond hunting. It degrades us to the level of the Sith Lords of old."

 

"They're trying to scramble fighters to chase us," Jahara noticed. Reibe smiled faintly.

 

"We'll be gone before they can reach us," she said. "Hyperspace coordinates set?"

 

"Set," Jahara confirmed.

[Black Knight of Keno]

"Lord Tepe? That is the name of your leader?" one of the sith asked, looking at his companions swiftly and then bowing at the woman.

"I am Boweluf, the leader of the Sith. When can we meet your leader?" he asked while straightening himself infront of the woman. It was obvious their culture did not often see female leaders, so many of those accompanying Boweluf were quite intrigued of the sight of giving a woman the high position of an ambassador.

[Black Knight of Keno]

((Bump, I might say))

 

The HoloNet equivalent of the Sith Dominion launched into life all around the Dominion, Kaoin occupied or not. For the first ten seconds, pictures of planets and cities burning was shown. The next fifty seconds were a brief explanation of the whole war thus far, then the screens showed the Sith Dominion symbol and the coat of arms of Tepe. Only a short period of silence and darkness followed after this before Tepe appeared on every screen linked to the Dominion HoloNet.

 

"Citizens of the Sith Dominion" Tepe started, behind him shown the glory of Coruscant.

"I am here to fulfill a promise. A promise of peace that I too once believed in. First of all, I am giving all the worlds, under Kaoins rule or not, the chance to decide. For the Sith Dominion is no more. All those worlds who wish to stay under me and my government may join the new Oligarchic Imperial Monarchy of the Outer and Mid Rim Dominions. If you do not wish to follow my path, you are free to join Kaoin or the Galactic Alliance. I am also proclaiming peace between Kaoin and myself at least for my part. All I want is to give you, the citizens of the Dominion, the freedom to choose your path for the future. Thank you for your time" he said, bowed and then closed the link, causing the normal programming to continue. Now he would only need to wait.

[Sigundr]

Kaoin put his head on his hand and stared at the viewscreen. He sighed and got up, and strode into his command office on-board his flagship, the Bloodied Spirit. He pressed a few buttons, and waited. The screen flared to life.

 

"I wish to extend your offer of peace, Lord Tepe." Kaoin said, eyeing the Lord. "This war has brought heavy losses on both of our sides, and I believe that a cease-fire would help quell the fighting."

[Grace]

"Yes, Lord Tepe is my leader," Charna answered. "He regrets being unable to contact you in person." She smiled apologetically. "But he has asked me to be sure you are comfortable on your return to the known galaxy. Part of comfort is a place to rest and breathe open air. For this purpose, Lord Tepe has directed my attention to two planets he would like to offer you. The first is Korriban; the second, Ziost."

 

She paused for a moment, watching them whisper amongst themselves and then cleared her throat. "I shall also be at your service until you feel settled."

[Black Knight of Keno]

Tepe looked at Kaoin for a moment, sitting on his large chair located within one of the top levels of the LiMerge Power Building. His soldiers had already done a sweep throught the building and his personal guard was in charge of the top levels while across the Dominion they were gathering specialists to start the long healing and reconstruction process of the Works. The only safe place in the entire Works was currently the top levels of the LiMerge Power building which would later that day be christined as the Dominion Building

 

"Finally Kaoin. You are for once wise beyond your years. I will send an ambassador to you so you can sign the armistice. After the worlds have voted on who to join, we can form a proper Peace Treaty. And do not think that I am ready to step in if you try to force your occupied worlds into joining you. Let the people decide" Tepe said before watching the hologram of Kaoin fade away. He raised his eyes to Emukiel standing by the door of the Lord's office.

 

"This might cause more anarchy within the systems. There will be rioting" Emukiel said, stepping forth from the door and looking at Tepe's smile.

"No there won't. We have enought soldiers around to make sure there won't be any trouble at the voting booths. You just make sure we have an ambassador that can make sure that we have a foothold on Coruscant and that the Works are being cleaned up. All drifters refusing to move off the way will get proper housing near this very building once they are refurnished into appartment buildings. Colonel!" Tepe answered, calling for the Colonel at the end. The Colonel came in and bowed.

"Yes, my Lord?" the Colonel asked, straightening his posture.

"Make sure you make the new army grouping. I want locals defending their planet. Both in space and on ground. And get the new batches of Sunguards to guard this place" Tepe commanded and the Colonel bowed.

"Yes, my lord. Will you be leaving soon?" the Colonel asked as Tepe had secretly ordered for his ship to be readied.

"Yes. I'll meet the Sith leaders on Korriban. Send word to the Sith Hunters that there is an armistice. They are free to go as they wish. We do not need them for our war efforts any longer. Maintain their status as friends, however" Tepe commanded, rising from the seat and leaving for his shuttle to rest for a moment before they would leave. The Colonel left with him and left Emukiel within the now Ambassador's office. The Weequay man walked to the Permaglass window and looked at the view, sighing quietly as he remembered what Coruscant had once looked like.

 

------

 

Boweluf had a brief discussion with the other leaders of the Sith race and then turned to see Charna.

"We agree to follow you. Much has happened since we were multiple within the Galaxy. If we may finally set our feet on solid ground where our ancestors once walked, we will be satisfied" the Sith bowed in gratitude and left for the bridge. By now Charna must have noticed the fact that the Sith had become a spacefaring species after they were forced to flee their doom that came in the form of the Rakata. None of them must have ever touched real ground and those few who had had the memory of it twisted by the need to feel it again. They had only small gardens within the ships, but they were all created by technology, not picked from planets they had visited, if they had even visited a planet in their near past.

[Flamehart]

Strider Flamehart sent a transmission to Tepe.

 

"The machine is captive. I received the message regarding the armistice. I am however, still interested in upholding the position you have appointed me, if you still wish my services. I may be a Sith Hunter but you can ask any of them, I get bored easily without something to do," said the Sith Hunter with a chuckle.

[Black Knight of Keno]

The Colonel stepped into his Lord's room within the shuttle as it lifted off smoothly and left for space. The man saluted and waited for Tepe to look at him. Eventually, that happened and Tepe saluted in his own way of saluting, which comprised of lifting his hand vertically instead of taking it to his forehead.

"Yes, Colonel?"

"Sir, we have just lifted off. The Generals and Admirals as well as the Governors are waiting for you to speak with them and word has been recieved from the Sith Hunters that they have the machine and will still aid you if you so require"

"Fine. Patch everyone throught and bring me my datapad. We'll go throught the adminstrative jobs right here and now. Oh, and tell the pilot to head for Korriban"

"Yes, my Lord"

 

The room filled with holograms of everyone trying to meet up with him.

"Gentlemen. How nice that you have been trying to bother me when I'm asleep. I'll take the Generals and Admirals first. Yes?"

"Lord Tepe, we are concerned. What will happen to the Armed Forces now that we have peace with everyone?"

"We need to defend our worlds. And we need both the public and the soldiers pleased, so I am ripping the current Armed Forces apart and forming the Home Guard Divisions and those planets that do not have enought population to support proper defences will be garrisoned by the Volunteer Guard"

"Sir?"

"Ranks will be essentially the same within the new military, but the Divisions will be formed by taking soldiers who are from and live on the planet to defend it. The Volunteer Divisions are made of mixed troops to defend for example Ossus. Did that clear it for you?"

"Yes, my lord"

"Good. You will be informed of details later. Until then, get some rest"

The Generals' and Admirals' holograms then disappeared

 

"Then, Governors. What have you decided?"

"My Lord, the votes were cast and we, the Governors of the entire Dominion, have signed a border map with the Planet leaders. We have recieved several planets to our side while Kaoin has gotten support from the areas around the Unknown Regions. The Hutts did not join, but we got enought support from a few of their planets that we severely reduced their Hutt Space. We are sending a map right now"

"Good, Governors. After getting everything ready and assessed, I'll hold a speech on a Galactic scale. Those of you who lost their Governors' positions to Kaoin, please go to him. I don't want his new nation to succumb into anarchy when it has no Bureucracy to hold it up"

"Yes, my Lord"

And thus the Governors' holograms also disappeared.

 

The Colonel came in with the datapad that had already recieved the new Galactic Map.

"Very well, Colonel. You can go off to rest with the guards. Just make sure they'll be ready when we land on Korriban"

"Yes, my Lord" The Colonel said and left the room, leaving Tepe to look at the map. The Lord gave out a chuckle as he saw it. He had gotten more than he deserved. But at least he had the lower classes of the Galactic population behind him. And they were a plentyful people.

 

((Here's the map. I marked the capitals for all the nations with purple. I didn't really talk with Aedan on which planet he wants to rule from, but I just put Serenno because it's just the most versatile and most representable planet. The colours mean:

Blue: Dominion (Tepe)

Red: Dominion (Kaoin)

Green: Galactic Alliance

Yellow: Hutts

If you have any questions about the map, just ask me))

[Grace]

"The initial meeting with the True Sith went very well," Charna said. "I am leading them to Korriban and Ziost as I record this. My Lord, I believe that none of these True Sith have ever set foot aground before. They say they are eager to set foot on the land of their fathers."

 

She turned away from the recording device for a moment. Then, she turned back. "Lord Tepe, I am sure you have much to occupy your attention. I do also. But I look forward to seeing you soon. I sense that you are on your way to Korriban also. The True Sith will be pleased. They wish to meet you."

 

Charna ended the recording there. With a sigh, she pressed the correct buttons to send the recorded message to Tepe. Then, she headed for her quarters to get some rest.

[Black Knight of Keno]

As the shuttle jumped from hyperspace, it made it's approach towards a signal coming from the other side of the planet. Tepe was informed of this as well as of the recording recieved. As the pilot started approach on the large hunk of metal hiding behind the planet with many smaller objects identified as Rebel-class Assault Ships, a variation of the standard Battleship, Tepe watched the recording and smiled to himself. The Colonel entered the small room reserved for the Lord and saluted.

"My Lord, we're starting docking sequence with the Phasma. The Garrison has recieved a fresh group of troops. The Archeological Division has always gotten more people and machinery for it's use" the Colonel reported and looked at Tepe who was still smiling.

"Good. Arrange for the Garrison, new and old, to meet me and the Sith. After we have landed, they can continue with the change of Guards" the Lord said and looked at the Colonel, his smile fading slowly.

"And make sure our welcome will be appropriate for the leaders of a lost race. Dancers, music, art. Empty my private quarters if you must. And no robots. Everything must be done by living, breathing creatures" Tepe added, giving the Colonel a task that was very hard to do on such a short notice. It helped that he got the Lord's private chambers' art and such into his use, which would make it quite fancy, but he would have to dig up a lor of people who could play instruments and serve nourishments. Of course there were a lot of people around the Phasma who had such occupations, but all the hassle would just make it more difficult to handle.

 

------

 

The Sith fleet jumped out of hyperspace roughtly a day later due to their ancient hyperspace drives. The Sith leaders looked upon the planet where a large ship was already orbiting. The leaders, sencing finally where the power was coming from, were eager to land on the planet and their preparations were swift. Fortunately Tepe was way ahead of them. Knowing that they would be very eager to land, so everything was already ready. When the Sith launched from their ship onboard Charna's shuttle, of course with Charna herself onboard also. As they passed the Phasma, Tepe's shuttle joined them and led the way to the readied welcome party.

 

The shuttles landed and the hatches opened. Outside, rows and rows of soldiers in both armors and uniforms. Flags of both the Dominion flag as well as each company's emblem were raised as Tepe stepped out of his shuttle with his Guards and waited for the Sith to come out also before proceeding towards a Bantha-class landing ship prepared for them up at the end of the long alleyway made by the troops. Inside the hastily modified landing ship everything was as close to finished as it ever could be.

[Grace]

The True Sith followed Charna from her shuttle. She bowed to Tepe and said, "My Lord, may I introduce Boweluf, leader of the True Sith." She stepped to the side, allowing Boweluf to move forward to greet Tepe as Charna went on to say, "And these others are his most trusted generals."

[Black Knight of Keno]

Tepe shook hands with Boweluf and smiled widely.

"This might just be the beginning of a beautiful friendship" he said as they moved forwards for the feast awaiting them. The galaxy was again in peace and the civilian populace beginning to come to terms with all the changes made in the Galaxy.

 

((That's it. The saga is finally finished and I can officially announce this as my second fully completed RP ever, at least if the other Dominion-saga threads are counted. I bid this thread adieu))

[Sigundr]

((This has been an enriching experience, as I hope it was for all who participated. I hope that there will be more of these to come.))