[u][b][i]Interlude [/i][/b][/u] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJx40OOrNFg]"[i]I shall be the first man![/i]"[/url] - [color=ec008c]Jedi Master Awdrysta Pina 24,500 BBY as recounted in "The Thirteenth knight"[/color] -I can do this- The woman's green eyes flickered with a mix of nervousness and an emotional high that came from being told by the woman who'd been your savior (if a rather harsh teacher). Her mind wandered back to the moments of haze and hurt mixed with a profound sense of destiny and relief (That their army was indeed growing, for they'd taken in numerous force potentials but the Master had refused to teach any of them just yet). And then a feeling of shame at the realization that she'd felt as if her master, the Pontifex had betrayed her by taking another student and refusing to attend the war council to focus on the first lessons of her training. [i]jealousy is beneath you apprentice and misplaced[/i]. It always struck her, how maternal Invictus Janus could sound, how disappointed yet lacked any of the vicious contempt she reserved for others. [i]I do not need to explain myself to the Admiralty, nor to Hissa, when I have you to do that[/i], from anyone else it would have sounded dismissive, as if she was fit merely to relay messages but Aladar caught the look in her eyes and the words spoken prior...misplaced jealousy, beneath me? A hand gripped her chin, Miryia was tall, she was nearing six feet but Aladar like Phasma was taller still and she felt her head pulled down to meet the eyes of a woman who'd terrified her mere months ago. -You are more than a member of my legions. This armless acrobat shall be the first of my legion..But you, shall stand by my side, you shall have a part in all that I plan, all that I do and all that I implement. Your destiny, is bound inexorably to mine. Together, we will bring the light of civilization back to these diseased stars. The Empire shall be our vehicle and Shoma our sister in arms, she shall fight beside you, she shall bleed beside you, but she is not your equal, nor...your replacement- It was odd, how a woman in her thirties could feel like a child in that moment, one whose emotions were cut through to the center of the problem. -You have only ever abandoned yourself- that bit crushed her as much as it liberated her and then the ceremony began. She was made to kneel in the water garden, Phasma and Shoma and the Highsinger stood witness. She was made to kneel naked, something that would have shamed her due to the scars from suicide attempts, from beatings, from battles that were both victories and defeats, faded stretchmarks, memories of a body to small to bear life. But those had begun to fade, as had the few streaks of gray in her hair. Aladar felt ten years younger, she was growing stronger every day, her connection to the force..her..inner forge as the Pontifex said it. Blazed. She was made to recite an oath before her peers. To be a sword in the dark, to stand between barbarism and the light of civilization, to wield the force in service to that light. To be a slave of none, but shelter the weak who would be strong, to lay low heretics, traitors, thieves and usurpers. To punish the guilty and vindicate the innocent, to serve the Imperial throne and not the one seated upon it (That last bit had been inspired by one of the Bothan spymasters many manic rants about the proper truth of power being perception). In her heart she added one more verse, to serve Janus forever. A starburst pattern in the shame of their order was burned into her left bright, the pain was intense but it lacked any of the ravaging sensations of Sith lightning. "Let that be the brand you ever receive, let that be the last wound you take unanswered" The end of the ceremony was a child of twelve being brought in on a litter, she was in the end stages of an organ ravages STD that was all too common in the Coruscanti underworld. One that could be easily cured in its early stages but was almost always fatal by this point, at least above ground. Down there, it was a death sentence, unless you knew someone or were willing to slowly replace every organ that failed with something artificial. Death houses were filled with discarded whores like this child, waiting for an end that was painful and sad. A fat woman was brought in, she stunk of drugs, there was a familial resemblance, her grandmother perhaps? The final moment of her initiation into Knighthood was a ritual even Jerec struggled to master, the rite of transference. To pull the life from one and imbue it into another, to restore, revitalize. She'd been learning this but was still nervous, Aladar couldn't be that strong, she'd experienced it. Her master had used the ability to return to her the eye she'd lost and she felt it kickstart an inner awareness that gradually allowed her cells to begin to rejuvenate and repair themselves. Had she learned it on an instinctive level to restore herself? To hold back age? If so, could she do it externally? Her only real fear was that she would kill the child accidentally. Perhaps it was that selflessness that allowed it to go as well as it had. The woman withered to a husk, the child lived and was taken below, she would serve the Invictus, cook, clean and receive an education. In time she would join the imperial military, or should she show potential in the force, their own order. Hers would be a life of service, but never servitude. Rheanessya Aladar was clothed in the same dark blue armor as her master and robes with the colors of the order. She was presented with a new lightsaber, to replace her old Inquisitors blade, one that she could sense had a crystal within that had been grown, cultivated off her own emotions and actions these last few weeks. The blade was smooth and curved, the blade of a duelist one studied in Makashi and Juyo -she knows where my talents lie- Aladar thought, but it had been so long since she practiced the second form that it would require her to study it again. The prospect wasn't daunting though and maybe she'd take Phasma up on her offer to spar one day soon. For now, duty called. ................................. [color=a36209][u][i][b]Coruscant [/b][/i][/u][/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/fWDYFWl.jpg[/img] [u][i][b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQhyaBviiLw]War Master's Council[/url] [/b][/i][/u] [@Honesty Crow][@Guy of Z][@countlessinsect] The Imperial palace remained the immense mountain that it always was, rising into the "Night" sky as their hemisphere of the world city shifted into its evening phase. The palace itself was lit, shining in the night which was a stark contrast to the Emperor and Sate Pestage who kept the immense structure dark. The difference between them and Grand Vizier Hissa, who favored opulence and vitality to conceal his inner dark. Though, from what she understood, the Grand Vizier refused to be part of the meeting when he realized that the Pontifex was not coming, instead sending Supreme Commander (Who was going to attend any way) Gilad Pellaeon and Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, his attendants and his biggest supporters (Who were also, oddly allied to her master). A political display, one not borne of malice but a not so subtle reminder to the Pontifex that they were equals and while she may have "crowned" Hissa, it was by his leave that the 501st wasn't ordered to blow her palace up and killer her knights...Or so Hissa believed. The once legendary legion seemed far more loyal to the woman who handed them their first victory in years than to a moff who barely addressed them. Not that either side was willing to test that theory, the remnant had been reorganized to weed out the disloyal, not foster them. Captain Phasma, Highsinger and newly minted Knight Aladar made their way up steps that were so vast and wide they almost looked like the base of a mountain. At the entrance, she could see the aids of General Derricote and one of the other Moff's who managed to parlay themselves onto the council in the chaos following Pestage's murder. "We're meeting in the night garden" "Of course we are" Aladar remarked, she'd anticipated this and brought some seed packets from the water garden in the Invictus palace, the new bastion of the Knights. She knew both Gilad and Derricote were avid enthusiasts for gardening and she also knew they were probably going to spend more time surveying the Emperor's night gardens after the meeting. This way, at least, she could make a gesture of mutual respect. The cultivation of plants was a hobby her former Jedi teacher shared as well, though Aladar lacked the knack for it until recently. "Has Director Raveem arrived yet?" She added, stepping through the grand doorways, taking the lead in the group and reminding herself she spoke now with the voice of her master and was going into a den of starved Hutts. "He arrived five minutes before you did Inqui.." the aid corrected himself "Knight Aladar" "And who else is in attendance, Carvin, Grand and I believe one of the surviving Grand Admirals the Bothan and your master didn't kill" the fact that he couldn't name him was rather annoying. "Admiral Karius, General Veers and Cardinal, a young Star Destroyer Captain named Canaday" "The solicitudes Captain?" Aladar asked surprised, the Solicitude was part of the Queilli oversector fleet, she was sent out there to track down a rogue Inquisitor once and spent a week shipboard the solicitude. Canaday was a competent commander, but he didn't stand out to her at the time. "He arrived with a dozen ISD battlegroups after Endor, something about refusing to take orders from Mando scum and mommas boys" "ah" "We shouldn't be fighting the Republic yet, we should be invading Zsinj's space and clearing that trash out" "It wouldn't be that easy, those two are always dismissed as dandies, the starlanes between Sereno and Dathomir are littered with the bones of the ones who do that" She warned, to her surprise the aid actually listened nodding his head in concession. -Things are different now- she thought. A table had been set out, in one of the courtyards in the immense night garden, Serving droids were laying out tea and various cakes on a secondary table off to the side. The gathering looked at once informal and yet, comprised of the most serious of men and women in the Empire and Grand Admiral Sloane. As she suspected, Gilad Pellaeon and Evir Derricote were returning from a stroll in the gardens as her group arrived, Moden Canaday was sipping tea and snacking on something in the corner with Grand Admiral Grant, whose attendance hardly needed to be noted. As commander of the Home Fleet, it was mandatory. -Canaday is ambitious, but not stupid- she thought, he was only drinking or taking a bite, after Grand did the same from his own plate. Not out of a sense of sycophancy but due to understanding how serious Grand took his nobility and lineage, General Veers and Admiral Karius were both seated beside Raveem who looked like he was napping both of them looked like they were debating who to strangle first, Raveem for napping, Admiral Sloane for her..views on proper tactics or Aladar for not arriving before everyone else did. Which was as she intended, she wanted to arrive late to see how the attendees arranged themselves, which groups stuck with which and who was at odds with the others. "Knight Aladar, congratulations on your promotion!" It sounded genuine and probably was, it was really hard to hate Gilad Pellaeon, he was a sailors, sailor. A true Naval commander and a loyal subordinate who fought for the same values she now found herself fighting and he was well liked by all. Treachery against him was rare, he wasn't as stupid as people thought he was and he inspired a kind of loyalty that meant those who did betray his trust were often butchered by his own men long before they got anywhere near him. "And you as well!" she added enthusiastically, before producing a small box, handing one to him and the other to the aid of General Derricote who presented it to the master of biological warfare. "The seal of the Jedi Agricorps?" "from eight thousand years ago, I found them in stasis pods in our groundskeeping level" Gilad almost gasped when he opened them and saw the crimson seeds. "Alsakan orchids" he mouthed, they were among the greatest oxygen producers in the known universe, instrumental in terraforming before the pias dei crusaders wiped them out. "We've begun planting some in the gardens at our palace, I hope you find a good home for them" "My gardens are not properly equipped for this sadly, but we're looking for a new place one that I could make a home for these in. My regards both to you and your master" "Byth Cacti for you" Aladar motioned to Derricote, another rare plant but one that was legendary for turning rad burnt hellholes into water rich paradises if given enough time. "Yes, yes, fascinating..now tell us why your master decided to call us here" Carvin broke in, he had absolutely no patience for the obsession with gardening his colleagues held. To him, it was the work of slaves and servants, unseemly for men of power and he could barely stand the former inquisitor who attached herself like a barnacle to a lunatic. "As you wish" she offered a slight inclination of her head, sarcastically before offering a diplomatic smile. "Gentlemen, ladies, our respective leaders believe the Empire has been idol, too long" That was something everyone could agree with. "So we're finally going to pick off some warlords?" "No, we're going to do something more brazen than provincial territory grabs" She answered, her eyes narrowing with resolve. "The Pontifex Invictus: Janus and Imperial Grand Vizier Bertoff Hissa believe it is time hit the Republic in its heart" Everyone seemed to grow quiet focusing now on what the woman had to say. Gilad's eyes flickered to a droid that entered, a small astromech that was flanked by four floating holoprojectors, each one igniting to show intendem with the astromechs projector a small moon, orbiting a gas giant. "Endor" She added stating the obvious and in doing so silencing everyone. The place where it all went wrong.