It was most unfortunate that the battle would end so soon. The Resistance had won, if it could be called a victory. An intercepted broadcast told Set of the planet's fate, and he marveled at the destructive technology these beings possessed. There were legends and tales of Sith who were able to destroy entire world with the Force, and the Emperor's new toy was supposed to be capable of the same. But despite this he had never witnessed the destruction of a planet in person. The large screens in front of him displayed the planet's image in incredible detail as the ship's automated pilotting system kept them safely out of the way of the retreating ships. Nothing but worthless fodder would be caught in the collapse itself, of course. Every important asset on both sides had been equipped with teleportation technology, which seemed remarkably common in the Multiverse.

Looking down, Set planned his next course of action. His interference here had done nothing more than speed up the inevitable, and his signal had been ignored by the RoC. Whether the signal had been distorted by the massive amount of weapons and magic being flung around, or whether it had simply been ignored, he would never know. But he would need to consider his next actions carefully. This battle had shown a mere fraction of the RoC's power, as it's military forces were spread across a hundred different universes. The Resistance was also not to be trifled with, his observation equipment had allowed him to witness some fairly spectacularly dangerous individuals down there. He needed to find the middle ground, invisible to both while profitting from their conflict.

It was while he was pondering, overlooking the slow collapse of Eldritch IV's surface, that Dagon returned from his mission. Nothing needed to be said, he knew it had been a success. He would have the devices in his hands within the hour. Set smiled, as he nodded approvingly in Dagon's direction, knowing the gesture would be next to meaningless to the ambitious youth. Dagon, like all Sith Apprentices, sought to surpass and defeat his master, taking Set's place as leader of the Harth Collective. And then some day he would take an apprentice himself, and train his own killer. Such was the cycle of the Sith, and the reason for their strength. Not that Set had any intention of keeling over, but he would spend his time playing the lethal game with Dagon.

"Dagon, I'll need you to perform another task for me." The apprentice stopped in his tracks, turning curiously towards him master. "Take a ship, and approach the Resistance mothership under the flag of truce. I wish for you to establish a connection to them. To show them our support, give them the gifts I've prepared in the hangar." There was no need to further dictate this task. Dagon was a professional, skilled in the acts of both diplomacy and assassination. Set was confident that the Resistance would accept their gifts, and he would be able to establish a connection with them. Using this, he could vastly increase his current story of information. And it was always important to befriend the main players on the field, or at the very least put up a friendly facade.

As Dagon left once more, Set considered how to deal with the Licht Gruppe. In this case, killing them was merely optional. His main goal would be to remove them from any battlefield containing the Mon Alliance. Of course, the easiest way to do this was to keep them locked away permanently somehow, but such a thing was not easy to achieve. And should his dealings be discovered, he would make an enemy of the RoC, a concept that didn't appeal to him in the least. He would need to be subtle about this, even more so than he usually was. Or, perhaps, exactly the opposite. Smiling, Set took a sip of his wine as a plan formed in his mind. It was a beautiful thing, elegant in it's simplicity and yet devastating in it's effectivity. And best of all, it would be completely impossible to trace it back to him, or even to an intelligent assault of any kind. Indeed, the Licht Gruppe were about to have a very large accident....

Continental plates slowly collapsed into the newly formed hole in the core of the planet, vast oceans of magma erupting from beneath them as the entire world broke to pieces. It was a beautiful sight, like the blooming of a flower. It was strange that such beauty was a result of such an immoral conflict.

[hr]

[@Lmpkio]
Dagon's shuttle flew out from one of the observation vessel's many hangers, uncloaking itself after having achieved sufficient distance that it couldn't be traced back to the main ship. He navigated towards the retreating Resistance capital ship, as he hailed them over comms. "Greetings, Resistance. I'm low on fuel, and near stranded in space. Requesting permission to dock." Dagon would pull up alongside the far larger vessel, his shuttle seeming like an ant by comparison.

A quick scan would reveal that the shuttle was completely unarmed. A diplomatic vessel. It contained some cargo space, but there were no signs of life besides Dagon on board. Dagon's personal shuttle was equipped for stealth and diplomacy, as was his style, and the only high-powered equipment on board was a fairly advanced stealth drive, designed to cloak the ship from most detection systems.