I nod, then turn back to the holo. "Her supreme eminence, Darth Imperious, generously offers you one final warning: surrender now and vacate the system with your forces in toe, and she will spare what remains of your fleet. Her apprentice, the indomitable Lord Fraxus, is on his way with a battalion of Sith warriors and Imperial soldiers. You can not stand against his wrath. Surrender, and she will order him to stand down. Refuse, and you will be responsible for every life they take." I smile to myself. I have always been good with words.



I look up at Jaxon through swollen eyelids. "Best do what he says, Colonel. He did ask nicely."



He paces back and forth, panic rising in him. Finally, as more bombers streak overhead, and it is clear that the tide has turned, he rushes back to Theron and speaks to the hologram. "Fine! I surrender! I'll give the order to stand down!" He presses his headset to activate comms to all his troopers. "This is Colonel Jaxon. Commander Fargus is dead. As highest ranking officer in the system, I order everyone to lay down their arms. The occupation is over. Repeat, lay down your arms. We're leaving."





The Compound's auto turrets are engaged, and any fighter, Republic or New Imperial, that gets close is immediately blasted out of the sky. We aren't taking chances here. Until we get confirmation from a friendly face, the Compound is on high alert.

Grinning as I hear the order echo over the communications, I open a direct link to Lord Fraxus. "Cease your assault, apprentice. The Republic forces should be surrendering as we speak."



Sure enough, as Imperious told me to stand down, the Republic troops began to put up their hands, and I ordered my forces to stop their attacks. Without any Jedi to reinforce their position, the battle had been decidedly one sided from the get go. "Drop your weapons and head quietly to your shuttles. Anyone tries anything, Republic animals, and I'll kill you myself."



As soon Fraxus confirmed that he was getting the Republic's forces to their shuttles and Cipher Nine had cut the line to Theron, I face him. "You might want to let the Twilights know that we're here to help them. I understand we're receiving reports that an island compound is shooting down Republic and New Imperial fighters."

"Yes, my lord." I wave my hand towards another 'officer' nearby. "Fixer 13, patch me through to the Twilight Compound, would you? I believe you have the necessary codes frequency." Fixer 13, a Rutain Twi'lek in an ill fitting uniform, begins tying in the codes to contact the compound. A moment later, I am patched in. "Hello? This is Agent Millu'ka'salga, formerly of Republic SIS contacting the Sith Hunters. Do you read me?"



An image of myself and Becca appears. "We read you, Lukas. I take it you're responsible for breaking the blockade?"



"That is not entirely accurate. There is, admittedly, a lot to explain, but suffice to say we are not your enemies today."



"Who is 'we' exactly? Those are Imperial warships. Who commands them?"



"Her excellency, Darth Imperious, supreme ruler of the New Empire, offers an alliance. This would not be the first time you have allied yourselves with Sith. She too wishes to see Jorg Sucal defeated, and as you can see, her excellency has the means to make that a reality."



Becca and I exchange a wary look. We've been together so long, we don't even need to speak in order to know what the other is thinking. "Very well, Lukas. We accept the alliance. We'll turn our defenses to standby mode for the time being." I key in the buttons, and the turrets stop firing.

"Let them know that I appreciate their tentative trust and that I'll be arriving briefly by shuttle." I turn and head towards the bridge exit but stop just before. "Oh, and Cipher Nine," I say loud enough that I know the Twilights can hear me, "I trust you will inform New Imperial Intelligence what their mission parameters will be?"

"Of course, my lord." I turn again to Fixer 13. "Prepare Darth Imperious' shuttle for immediate departure. Everyone else, await further instruction."



"Hold on. We agreed to stay our weapons, but we never agreed to open our doors to Imperials. We've made alliances with Sith before, but we've never invited a Darth into our home." I give Lukas a look. "Don't answer as Cipher Nine. Answer as the man whose been an ally to us. As Luci's brother. Can we trust Imperious?"



I pause on a fraction of a moment, then say, "I never fully trust anyone, but Darth Imperious has no reason to deceive you. That is more than can be said about Xanthippe Naberrie. I'm told she deceived you all multiple times, yet up until a few days ago, she was a regular guest of yours."



Sighs. "That's a good point. Fine, she is welcome to land. But, please, ask her to at least obey our house rules. Zar'kun wouldn't be happy if he found our we let a famous Sith Lord wonder around unsupervised... again."



"I'm sure she will be more than respectful. Have no fear."

Several minutes later, an Imperial shuttle can be seen approaching the compound before landing on one of the landing pads. I descend down it's ramp shortly after it lowers, no guards with me except for Khem Val as a show of trust. Upon seeing the Twilights, I grin and offer a slight bow. "So these are the illustrious Twilights. Cipher Nine has told me much of your exploits."

The sight of an imperial shuttle landing at the compound was strange, and seeing a former Dark Council Member exit was even stranger. But seeing a Deshade accompanying her was the strangest. I do my best not to show my surprise and Becca and I walk up to greet her. “Darth Imperious. We are very grateful for your assistance.”



“Yes, we feared the Republic would stop at nothing to find us here. Your intervention was timely and efficient. I must admit though that you appearing with a small navy at your back raises more questions than answers.”

"Every one needs a cause they can truly believe in, Missus Twilight. Suffice it to say, what I've been hearing of Jorg Sucal raises some questions and when my new apprentice, Lord Fraxus, told me of the blockade, I knew something was very wrong." I beckon to the New Imperial cruisers in orbit. "Those simply happen to be some members of the Imperial Navy who escaped the final battle all those years ago with me. They scattered after a time, but getting them together again wasn't hard. Consider them at your service."



After several days, I had decided that we needed to make contact with Becca and Jakito. They were late arriving and I hadn't liked what I'd last seen on the holonet with the blockade. So I attempted to contact them. "Becca, Jakito, are you alright?"

I hear the comm beeping, and I excuse myself to talk to Zar’kun privately. “My, it’s food to hear your voice. It’s been a long few days, but things are finally looking up... well, kinda.” I look back towards the landing pad where Jakito is talking to Imperious. Looming behind them is the Deshade, whom I assume to be the famed Shadow Killer, Khem Val. And also with them is their pilot, who after a moment I recognize as Vette. What was she doing here? Back to Zar’kun, I say, “Long story short, we’ve been rescued. But... not by who we would have expected. It was a fleet of Imperial Warships, led by Darth Imperious herself.”

I raise my eyebrows. "Darth Imperious? So then the rumors of her death were false after all...I suppose at this point though, I shouldn't be surprised it's the Sith who are rescuing us. How are Syn and Theron?"

“They’re fine, thankfully. Syn is on mandatory rest, despite her protests. Oh, that reminds me; she finally had the baby! You should let Jerus know he’s finally got one of his own. Rosalie is healthy and happy, despite everything going on here. Also Theron called us a little while ago to let us k ow he’s alive too. Poor guy’s barely recovered from Ryder nearly killing him, and then the Republic captures and tortured him. Luckily he inherited his parents’ toughness.”

"I will do that, next time I see him. Tell Syn I said congrats on the baby's safe arrival. Unfortunately, not all my news is as good. First, Luci's free, all back to herself again. I don't know how Jerus and Koraline pulled it off, but she's herself and happy to be back. The only good thing that came out of it, well, perhaps you should hear everything..." I spend several minutes explaining what I finally learned from D4 and then the locations of the Rakatan artifacts and Jerus's theory concerning the Foundry and what Ava showed HJ when he made contact with her. Once I'm done, I sigh. "So, how do we go about this?"

I take a moment to let everything I’ve heard soak in. I’d seen news reports about the Mandalorian’s sudden attack on Coruscant, but everything else was a surprise. “Well... obviously your plan about finding the Tempest Eye is a good one. We still don’t know what exactly it is, other than as the Killiks said “celestial modification construct”, but that is arguably a pretty vague description. Like calling the Star Forge a starship factory. But, if Sucal wants it, it can’t be good, so we need to find it and either destroy it or take it for ourselves. But while that is going on, we need to make sure Korre is safe. Have you made any progress in finding a way to hide her in the Force front Sucal? Has Xan been able to help?”

"Ever since mine and Xan's...confrontation back there at the compound, she's been unresponsive. Neither Korre or I can figure out if it's a result of my beating or her choice, but for now, she's neither helping nor hurting anyone." I disappear for a moment and then reappear, holding a holocron. "However, I might have found an answer without her. It's a shielding technique, similar to the one Tiadorra learned, but it's less draining and used to conceal the other person. That said," I hold up a Sith holocron as well, "I do have a fall back plan just in case the shield isn't enough."

“Hmmm... While I’m naturally inclined to support the light holoceon, you shouldn’t rule out the second option. Just in case.” I glance back towards the landing pad. “It seems no matter what we do, we can’t avoid making allies with the Sith. I’m not sure if that means we’re being progressive or if we are losing our edge.”

"There are those who would say we're doing both. I just say our former allies are in the process of trying to kill us, and the enemy of our enemy is our friend, for now."

“We don’t have much choice either way.” I shake my head in disbelief. “Friends with Mandalorians and Sith Lords, and enemies of the Republic. If only Master Jaric Kaeden could see us now. He’s be steaming mad.” I chuckle lightly.

"The question is would it be with us or the Jedi as a whole? Jorg's managed to tear all of us apart at one point or another." I shake my head. "What do we want to do about Cosen and Gavin? We both know that them and Ava have bad blood, and the Mandalorians aren't known to be forgiving."

“That is a tough question. We want to stay on good terms with the Mandalorians, Ava especially. If he but into their affairs and demand they release the twins, it could cause unnecessary tension. On the other hand, I don’t feel right about letting those two languish in a Mandalorian prison cell or worse. I’ve heard grim stories about the fates of Mandalorian POWs. And... also, Vette is here.” I look back to where she stands next to the shuttle ramp. “She’s helping the New Empire, for some reason. As a mother myself, I feel I owe it to her to let her know where her kids are. But if I tell her, she’ll no doubt rush off to save them herself, and that will only get her killed, and possible the twins killed too.”

"I'll talk with HJ on the matter. While he has no love for Cosen or her brother, he won't want them killed just because it would make Ava feel better." I shake my head. "Mandalorians and their inflated honor. Even when I was a Darth, I had no love for them."