[Originally written by Jento and Pyrria]
Chapter 1 - Scene 1
Vaiken Spacedock The war with the Republic has been occupying the minds and resources of the citizens of the Empire for months now. At first, it was only skirmishes in the border worlds, on the edges of established space. Now, it’s full-scale attacks on Imperial allies and industry. The Sith and the Imperial Military are focused on bringing the rest of the galaxy under Imperial rule. Blatent power plays have been forced under wraps – for now. Darth Caly'n, Sith Pureblood and warrior, has been absent from the center of Imperial space for some months. She has led a defense of some of the Empire’s more remote resources. The latest battle wiped out the remnants of the Republic’s forces in the area but left the Imperial Military with less than half their original numbers. She has returned to Vaiken to request reinforcements and to ask for some additional help in exploring a mysterious planet in the sector. As soon as Darth Caly'n’s ship reentered Imperial space, it broadcast several coded messages on various channels. One went to an estate on Korriban. Two went to Darth Marr’s people. One went to the Relentless. One more went to Imperial Intelligence. The Fury has docked and Caly'n has exited the ship. The ship and its Lord are battered, clearly exhibiting the signs of battle. But Caly'n’s stride is strong and her eyes set. She has a very definite purpose in mind and an idea of who can help. The Relentless remains still in low orbit above Korriban having moved away from the main fleet a month ago to take on new Sith adepts and perform fighter training. Most of the crew, including their leader, Darth Obsidius, were a bit stir crazy not used to waiting this long before making a move, any kind of move. “My Lord, you have a message coming in from Darth Caly'n,” one of the Chiss officers announced slightly spinning in her chair. Sweeping his cape behind him as he turned to leave the dark lord’s voice mechanically muffered behind his mask replied, “In my chambers,” and the doors swiftly closed and sealed behind him. The message is prerecorded. It is clear that Caly'n was unsure when she would be able to send the message and when it might reach him. Her holo-image shimmers into view. “Obsidius, my dear. I have missed you. I need your assistance. We have found…something. A planet that is…” She shakes her head. “It simply exudes the Dark Side. I have sent several probes and two explorations teams. This is what the last team transmitted before the signal died.” The image jumps to a soldier. “My Lord, we have made our way from the landing site. There are clear signs of Exploration Group One, but they have not made contact. Our satellite reception is poor. Lord Welyt has been complaining of an itch inside his head. I am concerned that he is becoming unstable-” The image turns sideways as the unmistakeable sound of a lightsaber is heard. The audio continues, “-scratching, clawing, just inside there, I can make it stop, if you would just be still-” The image returns to Caly'n. “The Force readings are off the chart. I’ve attached what I can to this message. I could use your expertise. I have to return to Fleet for repairs and to pick up reinforcements. I will speak to Darth Marr – or whomever is handling things for him – about this. If you are interested, perhaps you will do the same.” The image smiles, relaxing a bit. “If not, well, let us at least meet for a short while. It has been too long.” The recorded message blips away and Obsidius presses a button on the control panel. Back on the intelligence deck of the Relentless, Obsidius' masked face appears in the center of the room. “Assemble a full analysis team for these readings,” he pauses as he transfers the data to the rows of seated chiss intellegence officers, “I want everything there is to know within the hour.” The hologram vansihes with no further word. Rising from his seat he walked over to the more formal scene of his office and typed in his security code requesting a secure holo to the dark council control center. After a few moments the control panel acknowledged his request and he stood to face the image. “Obsidius, I expected to hear from you soon, with you lurking above. How interesting that we should learn of a mysterious dark side planet while you are conviently nearby,” Darth Marr’s voice carried its normal low and even keel demeanor. Obsidius crossed his hands behind his back, “Darth Marr, a pleasure as always.” He gestured with his left hand, “I assure you I became aware of all of this no sooner than you did. I am, however, greatly interested in finding exactly what is going on down there, with your authorization of course, my Lord.” Unmoving and unwavering Marr continued on, “How formal of you. Very well, I know you will go anyway, I would prefer be allied in this matter. Take whatever extra resources you require and send me updates,” Marr points at the screen, “Discreet, as always.” Obsidius offers a half bow, “Naturally. It shall be done. Relentless out.” The Relentless silently breaks orbit of Korriban and slowly makes its way back towards Vaiken spackdock to enter parking orbit with the rest of the Imperial Fleet. The two Sith sentinels outside of Obsidius' inner chamber snapped to as he walked out. “We are going to the station, alert my shuttle for departure.” The left sentinel nodded and presses a finger to his ear making preperations as they walked along the cooridors to the launchbay. Seated in the command chair Obsidius' modified Fury headed toward the station. He pressed the com on the armrest of his chair. “Caly'n, I’m inbound for Vaiken if you would like to meet me in the upper lounge. I think we’ve got some catching up to do.” “Indeed. I shall be there.” Caly'n turned to the military aide at her elbow. “We are approved. Continue with the reinforcements and provisioning. See if you can pick up a few Apprentices as well. Expendable ones.” The man nodded and went about his business. The Imperial war machine was in full swing and finding soldiers was not going to be a problem. Caly'n hoped they would at least have some training. The Pureblood turned her feet towards the upper lounge. There had been time for a meal and to change but that had been all. Details of repairs and reinforcements had occupied the hours. Her replacement armor had not yet arrived from Korriban, so she was making due with a slim flightsuit. All the same, there was something in her manner both weary and dangerous. The crowds in the lounge areas melted out of her path. As she stepped off the lift into the VIP section, Caly'n reached out with the Force for familiar presence. Seated at one of the side tables Obsidius spotted her as she stepped off the lift. He smiled, concealed by his helmet, but echoes of his emotion rippled with the chaotic waves of the Force which were flowing off him. He’d been stiffled in hiding for weeks previous, paradaing around as Jento aboard the Relentless as military visitors had come and gone. It had been exhausting and he was a bit out of practice. This was a welcome reunion. He’d not realized just how much he’d missed seeing Caly'n till he felt her pressence as she was looking for him. Caly'n turned on her heel and made her unerring way towards Obsidius. She did not bother to hide her smile – let any watching think what they would. She paused at the table, inclining her head almost formally. “Darth Obsidius.” And then she slipped into a seat next to him, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. She sat there, not saying a word, for some time. A serving droid delivered a cloudy pink drink and placed it in front of the Pureblood. She waited for the droid to go before taking a small sip. “How have you been, dear?” Caly'n turned her eyes towards him. “What have you been occupied with these past few months?” He gave her hand a tender squeeze back before answering. “Before today, I’ve been a bit bored to be rather honest.” He gestured with his hand, “There’s been conflicts and strife but nothing that really interests me going on.” He dropped his hand looking at her. “You know how easily I bore with just standard military operations…. so predictable.” Toying with an empty glass to his left he cotinued, “But that doesn’t seem to be the case with you, my dear. I sense that you’ve been finding many things of interest.” “For a remote assignment, we were rather in the thick of things.” Caly'n shrugged a bit. “If it wasn’t for this planet, I would have said it was a relatively routine defense. But we kept running into natives who refused to even fly past the damned thing.” She shook her head. “According to the local legends, the ‘Dark Planet’ is just that. Absorbs all light, home to great and terrible creatures, all the usual stuff. Except, there seems to be some truth to the rumors.” The Pureblood leaned back in her chair, eyes on her drink. “The locals on the near-by planets say that hunters from all over have come to explore the planet. None have ever come back. Even if one did, they seem to think he’d be so far gone as to be unrecognizable.” She looks back over at Obsidius. “You saw those readings. Two teams and countless probes gone. What do you think?” Obsidius crossed his hands on the table, “It sounds a lot like the early stories of Voss or perhaps some of the reports we received from Oricon. Dark legends, no one returning, you know the standard terror routine.” He paused for a second thinking and then continued, “There is always bits of truth laced in the legends though. Usually someone or something gone mad or crazed with dark side energy and affecting anyone who comes around…. but, I’ve not ever heard of it absorbing light before. That’s a new one and not a normal phenomenon that a planet can have.” He then sat back in his own chair glancing around the room, “I’m not even sure how we’d approach something like that. Sounds like some sort of gravitational event.” “It could account for the issues we had maintaining communications. Transmissions were spotty at best, as you saw. If it’s localized, it would be a matter of finding an entry point.” Caly'n paused. “If there is something that powerful on the planet, I want it to be found by us. The Republic will do something stupid, like destroy it.” She smiled at him, noting the use of the plural. “So you’ll join me in this? I can’t think of anyone better qualified.” Obsidius chuckled under his mask, “Of course I’ll join you, in fact you’d have a hard time keeping me away from such a thing. If history holds true when things are dark and forboding the dark side of the Force is twisted and bound to their nature. This may be a very important discovery… or a deadly one. A discovery none the less.” He pushed back a sleeve and started pecking on his wrist com, “A gravitational force of this magnitude shouldn’t be approached with a smaller ship till we can determine the exact nature of the area. I’ll have the Relentless take us out there and hold orbit in case we start running in to trouble.” “Excellent. Do you have room for another Fury? Mine could use a break. Her repairs should be finished shortly, and it can’t hurt to have two available, just in case.” Caly'n polished off her drink. “My reinforcements should mobilize in a few days. Colonel Trumbull can handle them, but I should be getting a few Apprentices in the set as well. Canaries, if you will. We can transfer them to the surface whenever we’re ready.” He nodded his head, “My personal hangar can squeeze in three so there is plenty of room.” Obsidius reached down and pulled free his datapad and punched up the Relentless' crew manifest. “We look to have our normal full compliment on board and there is extra room on decks 2 and 3 for any extra personnel you are bringing, so we look good there.” He tapped a few extra things, “I’ve got most of my Sith on a training excersize so your apprentices should make a nice bolster to the regular troops.” “I’ll have the Apprentices assigned to the Relentless then. The regular troops can come along behind; they’ll need to go to their assigned defense areas anyway. We can pull from them if we need to.” Caly'n withdrew a datapad of her own and updated the orders she’d laid out earlier. A notice told her that her replacement armor and equipment had a