Marasiah Fel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
notconflicted) wrote2018-01-07 09:49 pm
notconflicted) wrote2018-01-07 09:49 pm
The Jagged Fel- Monday
Sia was fully prepared to go to Coruscant with the rest of the Imperial forces, but as they were preparing to head offplanet, she was summoned to the war room by Roan for a briefing, along with Antares, Treis, and Sia's uncle Hogram, one of her father's closest advisors. She supposed it made sense, though she hated the timing and would have rathered they talked about this maybe an hour ago. Master K'krukh, Admiral Stazi and Moff Yage called in, discussing the plan via hologram.
"Skywalker and Corde's team will have less than five minutes to disable Coruscant's central-defense computer array, but whatever the status of the orbital defenses, the ground defenses will still be active and heavily supported by Sith annihilator starfighters," Stazi explained.
"Agreed, Admiral Stazi," Yage confirmed. "The mission to take those out will fall to our combined fighter squadrons. Teamwork against the Sith troopers and their annihilators will be vital."
"Understood," Roan said. "Master K'kruhk and the senior Jedi will form a battle meditation and have overall command. Roan Fel, out." He ended the transmission and the blue figures of their allies disappeared, and then he turned to those in the rom. "Sia, Treis, Draco, you will remain here with me on the flagship. I need those nearby whose loyalty to me is a certainty."
Sia frowned, watching her uncle wordlessly leave the room. She didn't like being kept out of the fight when others were down there doing the dirty work without an explanation, but as leader of the Imperial Knights, Antares should at least be down there where Imperial Knights were fighting. Still, if Roan was asking this, it had to be important. "As you command, Father," she said, trying not to sound as unsure as she felt.
"Forgive me, my Emperor," Antares said, "but I am not worthy of your trust. The Sith broke me." To his credit, it did seem that his time in Sith custody had seem to have ended his irrational streak over the last few months (or it could have been the fact that Sia wasn't putting up with it), but it also may have sent him a little too far in the other direction.
"It was your unwavering loyalty to the royal family that allowed you to be broken," Roan said, almost casually. "I trust you, Antares, and I know I can count on you to serve my will, no matter what."
Antares knelt before him, bowing his head. "I would forfeit my life for you and the honor of the Empire, Majesty. No matter what."
When the battle began, the monitors were turned on so they could watch what was happening. This didn't make Sia feel any less bothered. She should be down there. It did no good to have her up here to literally stand by and watch, especially if things weren't going well. This had to be leading to something, though, or Roan wouldn't have asked them to stay.
And finally, when they got word that the Fist of the Empire was gone, Roan simply said, "Draco, with me," and led him out.
Sia exchanged confused glances with Treis, but neither of them said anything, and they continued to watch the battle as it happened.
At least for a while. They were taking some heavy losses, which made it worse when Roan and Draco didn't come back for a very long time. Finally Sia said, "I have a bad feeling about this."
"The battle?" Treis asked.
"No. My father wanted us with him. We should be there, then," she reasoned.
Treis was clearly thinking the same thing, because he was already heading for the door before she'd even finished speaking. "As you wish, Princess."
There were far fewer people on the ship at the moment, and those who were focused on getting to something related to the battle, so Sia and Treis could follow Roan and Draco's Force senses to the lower decks of the ship without being stopped. When they walked in, Roan was preparing something to be sent down to the planet, arguing with Antares.
"The Sith are too strong!" Roan was saying, loudly. "The battle is lost. We must use a Sith to kill the Sith. Darth Maladi's Omega Red toxin will wipe out Darth Krayt and his Sith Empire!"
Oh, no.
"My liege, no! This is dark side! The toxin will wipe out all life on Coruscant! Your troops and allies are down there fighting!" Antares reminded him. "Billions of innocents will die!"
"There are no innocents on Coruscant! They are all collaborators!" Roan yelled back. "Our allies will be collateral damage. There is no weapon I would not use to defeat Krayt!"
"Father!" Sia felt like her heart was being clenched in a vice. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't walked in on this, hadn't heard him say it with her own ears. Most everyone she'd known her whole life was down on the planet, fighting the Sith. Jessica and Atton were down there, and they weren't even from here, they were here to help.
"Master Draco is right," Treis said, as serious as Sia had ever seen him. "This is dark side. Please, step away, old friend."
When Roan turned to them, the last thing Sia expected was the sudden Force push, throwing her and Treis into the wall behind them so hard that the metal caved inward. "No! Better to sacrifice a planet than turn over the galaxy to that monster!"
The wind was definitely knocked out of her, and Sia tried to sit up, not entirely sure at first that nothing was broken. If anything saved her from serious injury, it was her armor, and she didn't think this was going to be a concussion? Not that she could worry about that right now. "Do this and you become Krayt," she insisted. "You are supposed to embody the Force, Father! You must see that! Antares, you can't let him."
The thing was, she had this terrible feeling that this had passed reason long before today. She managed to push herself up onto her hands and knees next to Treis, who was still sprawled but conscious, and then she heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber being ignited.
Sia looked up, and saw Roan standing over her with his weapon at the ready, and she realized that there was a very real chance that her own father was about to kill her for defying him.
"Master Draco's loyalty is wholly mine, as yours should be, daughter. I do embody the Force, and my will cannot be questioned," Roan told her. "We must stop Krayt here! Master Draco, launch the pod."
"I will not, my liege," Antares said. "Princess Sia is correct."
If Roan was disappointed in Sia, this one really hurt. "I am your Emperor, Master Draco! Your liege lord! You swore an oath of obedience to me!" And, Antares had been too willing to get on Roan's good side for Sia that he was supposed to blindly follow even when it came to killing an entire planet.
"I am a Knight of the Empire. I swore an oath," Antares told him, igniting his own silver blade, "to serve the Force as embodied by the Emperor. And if the Emperor himself strays, to bring him back to the light- or kill him, if he will not. You stand on the edge, my liege. Do not make me fulfill my oath."
A moment later Roan was swinging at him, though Antares was ready for it. "I was a fool to trust in your loyalty!" Roan yelled. "You are a fool to cross my will!"
This was a nightmare. Sia managed to pull herself into a position where she was pretty sure she could get up to help if she had to help, but there weren't words to express how much she didn't want any of this to be happening.
If it came to it, she knew she could do what needed to be done. But she felt like she'd never be okay again afterwards if she had to.
Antares, thankfully, seemed to have it, fending off Roan's blows expertly. "It is not up to us! If the Force wills, then the usurper will fall!"
"By whose hand?" Roan challenged. "That degenerate pirate Skywalker? The useless Jedi who hid in a hole rather than face Krayt? Stazi and his pathetic band? My will shall shape the Force. I will determine the fate of the galaxy! Who else can I trust?"
Sia felt the sort of shudder in the Force, something they must all have felt, though she knew better to expect that this was going to go any differently than it already was.
"Wait, my liege! Did you feel that?" Antares asked, catching the latest blow. "Krayt is dead!"
"Sith lies!" Roan cried, turning his wrist so that he could knock Antares in the temple with the pommel of his lightsaber, dropping him to the deck. "Krayt has supposedly died before. I will not believe it." He reached over to the button that would send the toxin down to the planet. "This time he dies by my hand! All Sith will die!"
Just before his hand could reach it, he screamed, and Sia watched as the blade of a lightsaber came through her father's chest from behind.
Then he fell, and then he was gone.
After what felt like years, Sia pulled herself back to her feet, feeling as shaky as if she'd killed him herself, and finally looked away from her father's body to demand, "What happened?"
Neither Treis nor Antares said anything, though they were both looking a bit shell-shocked themselves.
"Did either of you know about this?" Sia pressed. Her voice sounded shaky, too, but that was the only sign she was giving off that she wasn't okay. She had to be okay right now.
"No," Treis said. "He said nothing."
"Not until he pulled me aside before," Antares admitted. He got up, too, and offered his hand to Treis to help. "He's been holding Darth Maladi prisoner. She isn't sane. She created the toxin in exchange for him letting her kill Skywalker."
Sia felt sick. He'd put an entire planet at risk, including everyone who was on their side, and sold out Cade to do it. "What happened here doesn't leave this room," she said quietly. "Come up with a story. Make sure we can all corroborate it. As far as the entire rest of the galaxy is concerned, my father died a hero."
"Yes, Pr-" And Treis stopped, realizing that he shouldn't be calling her 'Princess' anymore.
Sia closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. That was a whole other internal crisis to deal with at another time, and she had to handle this first. "Antares, you know where Darth Maladi is being held?"
"Yes," he said.
"Kill her. Make sure it takes."
Antares paused. "Sia…"
She knew what he was going to say, because she sort of sensed it off Treis, too, and in light of what had just happened, she couldn't blame them. "There's no benefit to having a mad Sith who is holding information we're covering up on board. She won't tell us anything, we can't trust anything she says anyway, and she'll be useless as a bargaining chip. It's the practical thing to do. If this were vengeance, I would do it myself."
He nodded. "Of course."
"And destroy every bit of her work," Sia added as he made his way to the door. "This isn't a weapon anyone should ever have."
Once he was gone, Treis asked, "Are you all right?"
"No," she said honestly. "But that will have to wait."
[Almost done! NFB, NFI, yadda yadda. Taken from Legacy: War #5-6, with a warning for character death.]
"Skywalker and Corde's team will have less than five minutes to disable Coruscant's central-defense computer array, but whatever the status of the orbital defenses, the ground defenses will still be active and heavily supported by Sith annihilator starfighters," Stazi explained.
"Agreed, Admiral Stazi," Yage confirmed. "The mission to take those out will fall to our combined fighter squadrons. Teamwork against the Sith troopers and their annihilators will be vital."
"Understood," Roan said. "Master K'kruhk and the senior Jedi will form a battle meditation and have overall command. Roan Fel, out." He ended the transmission and the blue figures of their allies disappeared, and then he turned to those in the rom. "Sia, Treis, Draco, you will remain here with me on the flagship. I need those nearby whose loyalty to me is a certainty."
Sia frowned, watching her uncle wordlessly leave the room. She didn't like being kept out of the fight when others were down there doing the dirty work without an explanation, but as leader of the Imperial Knights, Antares should at least be down there where Imperial Knights were fighting. Still, if Roan was asking this, it had to be important. "As you command, Father," she said, trying not to sound as unsure as she felt.
"Forgive me, my Emperor," Antares said, "but I am not worthy of your trust. The Sith broke me." To his credit, it did seem that his time in Sith custody had seem to have ended his irrational streak over the last few months (or it could have been the fact that Sia wasn't putting up with it), but it also may have sent him a little too far in the other direction.
"It was your unwavering loyalty to the royal family that allowed you to be broken," Roan said, almost casually. "I trust you, Antares, and I know I can count on you to serve my will, no matter what."
Antares knelt before him, bowing his head. "I would forfeit my life for you and the honor of the Empire, Majesty. No matter what."
When the battle began, the monitors were turned on so they could watch what was happening. This didn't make Sia feel any less bothered. She should be down there. It did no good to have her up here to literally stand by and watch, especially if things weren't going well. This had to be leading to something, though, or Roan wouldn't have asked them to stay.
And finally, when they got word that the Fist of the Empire was gone, Roan simply said, "Draco, with me," and led him out.
Sia exchanged confused glances with Treis, but neither of them said anything, and they continued to watch the battle as it happened.
At least for a while. They were taking some heavy losses, which made it worse when Roan and Draco didn't come back for a very long time. Finally Sia said, "I have a bad feeling about this."
"The battle?" Treis asked.
"No. My father wanted us with him. We should be there, then," she reasoned.
Treis was clearly thinking the same thing, because he was already heading for the door before she'd even finished speaking. "As you wish, Princess."
There were far fewer people on the ship at the moment, and those who were focused on getting to something related to the battle, so Sia and Treis could follow Roan and Draco's Force senses to the lower decks of the ship without being stopped. When they walked in, Roan was preparing something to be sent down to the planet, arguing with Antares.
"The Sith are too strong!" Roan was saying, loudly. "The battle is lost. We must use a Sith to kill the Sith. Darth Maladi's Omega Red toxin will wipe out Darth Krayt and his Sith Empire!"
Oh, no.
"My liege, no! This is dark side! The toxin will wipe out all life on Coruscant! Your troops and allies are down there fighting!" Antares reminded him. "Billions of innocents will die!"
"There are no innocents on Coruscant! They are all collaborators!" Roan yelled back. "Our allies will be collateral damage. There is no weapon I would not use to defeat Krayt!"
"Father!" Sia felt like her heart was being clenched in a vice. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't walked in on this, hadn't heard him say it with her own ears. Most everyone she'd known her whole life was down on the planet, fighting the Sith. Jessica and Atton were down there, and they weren't even from here, they were here to help.
"Master Draco is right," Treis said, as serious as Sia had ever seen him. "This is dark side. Please, step away, old friend."
When Roan turned to them, the last thing Sia expected was the sudden Force push, throwing her and Treis into the wall behind them so hard that the metal caved inward. "No! Better to sacrifice a planet than turn over the galaxy to that monster!"
The wind was definitely knocked out of her, and Sia tried to sit up, not entirely sure at first that nothing was broken. If anything saved her from serious injury, it was her armor, and she didn't think this was going to be a concussion? Not that she could worry about that right now. "Do this and you become Krayt," she insisted. "You are supposed to embody the Force, Father! You must see that! Antares, you can't let him."
The thing was, she had this terrible feeling that this had passed reason long before today. She managed to push herself up onto her hands and knees next to Treis, who was still sprawled but conscious, and then she heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber being ignited.
Sia looked up, and saw Roan standing over her with his weapon at the ready, and she realized that there was a very real chance that her own father was about to kill her for defying him.
"Master Draco's loyalty is wholly mine, as yours should be, daughter. I do embody the Force, and my will cannot be questioned," Roan told her. "We must stop Krayt here! Master Draco, launch the pod."
"I will not, my liege," Antares said. "Princess Sia is correct."
If Roan was disappointed in Sia, this one really hurt. "I am your Emperor, Master Draco! Your liege lord! You swore an oath of obedience to me!" And, Antares had been too willing to get on Roan's good side for Sia that he was supposed to blindly follow even when it came to killing an entire planet.
"I am a Knight of the Empire. I swore an oath," Antares told him, igniting his own silver blade, "to serve the Force as embodied by the Emperor. And if the Emperor himself strays, to bring him back to the light- or kill him, if he will not. You stand on the edge, my liege. Do not make me fulfill my oath."
A moment later Roan was swinging at him, though Antares was ready for it. "I was a fool to trust in your loyalty!" Roan yelled. "You are a fool to cross my will!"
This was a nightmare. Sia managed to pull herself into a position where she was pretty sure she could get up to help if she had to help, but there weren't words to express how much she didn't want any of this to be happening.
If it came to it, she knew she could do what needed to be done. But she felt like she'd never be okay again afterwards if she had to.
Antares, thankfully, seemed to have it, fending off Roan's blows expertly. "It is not up to us! If the Force wills, then the usurper will fall!"
"By whose hand?" Roan challenged. "That degenerate pirate Skywalker? The useless Jedi who hid in a hole rather than face Krayt? Stazi and his pathetic band? My will shall shape the Force. I will determine the fate of the galaxy! Who else can I trust?"
Sia felt the sort of shudder in the Force, something they must all have felt, though she knew better to expect that this was going to go any differently than it already was.
"Wait, my liege! Did you feel that?" Antares asked, catching the latest blow. "Krayt is dead!"
"Sith lies!" Roan cried, turning his wrist so that he could knock Antares in the temple with the pommel of his lightsaber, dropping him to the deck. "Krayt has supposedly died before. I will not believe it." He reached over to the button that would send the toxin down to the planet. "This time he dies by my hand! All Sith will die!"
Just before his hand could reach it, he screamed, and Sia watched as the blade of a lightsaber came through her father's chest from behind.
Then he fell, and then he was gone.
After what felt like years, Sia pulled herself back to her feet, feeling as shaky as if she'd killed him herself, and finally looked away from her father's body to demand, "What happened?"
Neither Treis nor Antares said anything, though they were both looking a bit shell-shocked themselves.
"Did either of you know about this?" Sia pressed. Her voice sounded shaky, too, but that was the only sign she was giving off that she wasn't okay. She had to be okay right now.
"No," Treis said. "He said nothing."
"Not until he pulled me aside before," Antares admitted. He got up, too, and offered his hand to Treis to help. "He's been holding Darth Maladi prisoner. She isn't sane. She created the toxin in exchange for him letting her kill Skywalker."
Sia felt sick. He'd put an entire planet at risk, including everyone who was on their side, and sold out Cade to do it. "What happened here doesn't leave this room," she said quietly. "Come up with a story. Make sure we can all corroborate it. As far as the entire rest of the galaxy is concerned, my father died a hero."
"Yes, Pr-" And Treis stopped, realizing that he shouldn't be calling her 'Princess' anymore.
Sia closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. That was a whole other internal crisis to deal with at another time, and she had to handle this first. "Antares, you know where Darth Maladi is being held?"
"Yes," he said.
"Kill her. Make sure it takes."
Antares paused. "Sia…"
She knew what he was going to say, because she sort of sensed it off Treis, too, and in light of what had just happened, she couldn't blame them. "There's no benefit to having a mad Sith who is holding information we're covering up on board. She won't tell us anything, we can't trust anything she says anyway, and she'll be useless as a bargaining chip. It's the practical thing to do. If this were vengeance, I would do it myself."
He nodded. "Of course."
"And destroy every bit of her work," Sia added as he made his way to the door. "This isn't a weapon anyone should ever have."
Once he was gone, Treis asked, "Are you all right?"
"No," she said honestly. "But that will have to wait."
[Almost done! NFB, NFI, yadda yadda. Taken from Legacy: War #5-6, with a warning for character death.]