Dromund Kaas - The Death of the Force

The Force was strong here.

He could feel it, feel the ebb and flow of dark energies, the power from deep within this temple. The temple he had claimed so long ago, which he both protected and aimed to destroy.

But its destruction would not be today.

No, he had something special planned for the death of this sanctuary. The sacrifice that would take place here and send jolts of pain through the Force itself would indeed be a powerful one. Even though he needed powerful sacrifices for his ideal, this particular temple would be host to one Jedi in particular.

A Jedi in Exile. The Master who was comparable to this Trayus.

That's what he was - a Trayus. The first of the Trayus order - the group which would follow the teachings of Darth Traya and bring about the death of the Force itself. This order would earn the enemy of nearly everyone in the galaxy however - neither the Sith nor the Jedi would tolerate the Trayus to perform his deeds. For this reason, this order needed to act in secrecy. Brute force was no use here - legions of troops and a fleet with which to decimate all others would do nothing but expose this great enemy, and doing so would mean his plans would fail. To ensure that this order succeed, the greatest law for ensuring both its secrecy and its ability to go on living needed to be initiated: The Rule of Two.

He needed an apprentice.

One who would oppose both the Sith and the Jedi. Both would become his enemy - but finding the right apprentice, and the criteria were specific, would be something to deal with later. He had things to do first.

High Inquisitor Lhaag entered the chamber in which the former Dark Lord of the Sith sat in. He could feel the Inquisitor's trepidation, but even though he radiated fear, the Trayus had no intention to destroy the newcomer for his failure.

"Lord Iblis, there has been no further progress in the mission to find your son... My deepest apologies once more... there is however, excellent news from Outrider Base."

The Trayus took a deep breath in, then let it out, easily probing the lesser Force-user's mind.

"The Imperium-Class Star Destroyer is complete..."

"Yes my lord. The Ultra Star Destroyer is ready for deployment when you see fit. Is there a particular designation you would like for it?"

"The Nihilist. Fitting, I think."

"Yes, my lord."

The two spoke a few more, irrelevant words, before the Inquisitor left. Trayus Iblis stood up, raising his violet blindfold to his burnt out eye-sockets, and tying it around his head.

Lord Apocalyptica had returned to this foul galaxy.

"And in the darkness comes the sword... From the sword he creates himself a Sarlacc." Redack's voice said, followed by what could be described as giggling. He was in the shadows somewhere, though the mighty force user known as Apocalyptica wouldn't be able to sense him. Not now that he wasn't part of the Force. Just like the Vong, not immune but not part of it. And with the force, so was his sanity gone. And the darkness, concealing him from sight. The stone walls echoing his voice around and almost masking his location... Almost... The shadows were all he had now, they were his friends, his allies... His enemies? Oh how such thoughts would confuse the sane, those who hadn't been liberated from their mental barriers. "One, two, I see you... Three, four, the darkness comes... Five, six, we lose to the fish!"

The echoes distorted the voice, but Apocalyptica couldn't help but recognize it. What intrigued him the most was his absence in the Force. Was the former Sith Lord actually here, or was this some kind of technological trick? Apocalyptica had long been outside of the galaxy, so he hadn't kept tabs on the man who had been both an ally and an enemy - but it wouldn't surprise Apocalyptica in the slightest for Redack to come up with new ways to empower himself.

As Apocalyptica had no physical sight, he relied upon sight through the Force - but with no Force presence, seeing Redack would be impossible. Fortunately, this was Apocalyptica's lair. The numerous statues and creatures in this temple were empowered with the dark side - the dark side that Apocalyptica didn't even believe in. Their eyes lit up, and through their physical sight, Apocalyptica watched the shadows carefully for any movement - his deep connection with this dark place meant he was one with them. Such precautions were unnecessary however - the former Dark Lord didn't believe that Redack would come here for battle, it was most unlike him.

"Redack... It has been a long time."

"Time... Time is eternity... Liberation, and clowns!" Redack replied, oh he was here for a specific reason. His mind might have been broken and his sanity shattered into pieces but his brain still functioned... It still thought... Even if it didn't quite make much sense most of the time it was still capable of the amazing brilliance that it had always used to created complex schemes and strategies. Redack stepped out from shadows to reveal himself, he was wearing only civilian clothes that had several blood stains over them. "Destroy the Force... Bring the darkness... And the Sarlacc... And destroy the clowns?"

Apocalyptica grunted. He had little time for nonsensical talk. What had happened to this man? Last time Apocalyptica had seen him, he was a Warlord of the Sith Empire - and now what? Now he was talking nonsense. The problem was though, that the insane were unpredictable - and if there was anything left of Redack deep within that broken mind, he'd prove to be a fearsome adversary. What made him more interesting was his note of 'destroy the Force'. Did he know of Apocalyptica's plans? And if so, how? Then again... this void in the Force could prove to be most... useful. Seeing Redack step from the shadows, Apocalyptica turned towards him.

"What has happened to you, Redack? Who has done what to your mind? And your... You cannot be felt..."

"I did... He did... The other him... The other me?" Redack said. His mind trying ever so hard to get it right, so frustrating it might have been had he even known the problem. All he needed was clarity, something to focus on. In time his mind would heal itself partially to a state in which he could at least make sense, but right now the trauma of losing all his power so quickly had caused that organic defence mechanism built into every living being to kick in and in its attempt to protect the mind it instead shattered it into a thousand tiny pieces- but at least the mind was still there... So comforting to know wasn't it... Redack extended his right arm, in his hand he was holding a small glass orb and in it was a black blob. In the force it existed as a living being, and in reality it was a living being, but it wasn't exactly sentient. He also wasn't offering this to Apoc, he was simply showing that he had it. "The darkness!"

Apocalyptica squinted as Redack held out the orb - although the squinting was a natural reaction, as Apocalyptica's eye sockets had been burned out long ago and were now veiled by a blindfold. This object held some form of presence within the Force, but it was difficult to tell what it was. Apocalyptica took a step towards Redack - hopefully such a simple action shouldn't antagonize the other's broken mind.

"What... What are you, Redack?"

"The absence... The anomaly... The bringer of the darkness..." Redack replied as he dropped the orb and it shattered, releasing the black blob. Redack took a few steps backwards from it, he was insane but he wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what he had just unleashed and he didn't want it touching him, because such would result in a very slow death... Possibly even painful, but it had never been tested on living beings before... And yet, he was right to have come here... The Force Energy of this planet would provide a nice food source for the creature... That and a familiar presence was helping his mind. "Energy feeds the darkness... The darkness consumes all!"

Apocalyptica instinctively leaped backwards. The thing that was unleashed felt... wrong, somehow - he could sense trepidation through the Force, and knew that this... thing would be both his enemy and his friend. Apocalyptica stood back, watching the black mass and began to consider what purpose Redack could have for the Trayus. His void in the Force reminded him very much of Darth Nihilus and the infamous Jedi Exile - his insanity could yet do something. But first, he needed to know what this thing was.

"What is it Redack? What have you released?"

"The darkness!" Redack said in joy. He seemed very pleased with himself as he watched it grow slightly. It was currently feed from both the Force and any for of energy it could find in the structure- such as heat or the life force of any plant life that might be growing on the floor. With the Force being so strong on this planet it had a large supply of energy to draw from and feed off, so the planet life was merely helping to speed it up at the moment.

Apocalyptica had enough of this. He needed answers, and Redack's distorted mind would do nothing. If there was a chance to help heal his fractured thoughts, he would take them. Apocalyptica ran and leaped over the dark entity that could threaten him, and landed close to Redack. Before Redack could react, he placed his hand on the man's forehead and channelled the Force into a healing energy. It was rare that Apocalyptica ever used the ability to heal outwardly, but if he could repair this man's mind, he'd do what he could.

"Clarity... Absolute clarity. Well now, shall we get back to exterminating all living beings?." Redack said as his mind was restored, at least to a point where he could make sense. He was still insane, no doubt about it but he would make much more sense and have more clarity about him. He looked around as if he thought someone might be there. "Although, beware of the clowns. They like to eat people like us... Now, what was it you wanted to know?"

Satisfied, Apocalyptica smiled at Redack, wondering what would become of him - and what had happened to him. He had burning questions for him, but they could wait - first of all, he had a greater intrigue. He turned and pointed his finger at the black entity Redack had released.

"What is that? How did you fabricate it?"

"It feeds on energy, the force and even the life of living beings... Like the clowns. That'll teach them. It won't stop expanding, oh no, not unless you know its weaknesses." Redack answered as the creature continued to slowly expand. "Fabricate it??? No, no, no, no, no! Stole it I did. From the Wayland Empire it comes..."

Trayus Iblis thought for a few moments, before coming to a quick decision. He pulled his comlink from his belt, and opened a channel to the Nemesis II, the Super Star Destroyer in orbit of the planet.

"Admiral Voyevoda; bring a containment of the Life Eater virus down to the temple, please."

"Sir?" Her reluctance could be understandable, the Life Eater virus was the most powerful original weapon that Apocalyptica's Black Legion had developed. The disease had the ability to eat its way through any flesh that it came into contact with, able to kill anything and everything until it finally had nothing more to devour, and so consumed itself. It was a perfect invasion weapon - it'd destroy all living resistance, leaving all buildings and items perfectly intact for the invading force to come down and claim. Iblis was certain that the Life Eater would destroy this threat.

"Just do it, admiral."

Once this specimen had been destroyed, he needed more - as far as he was aware, Redack was the leader of the Wayland Empire... apparently things had changed.

"Can you make more? Or is there more in the Empire? Or can the empire make more?"

"There is a solar system full with it!" Redack said with joy. "Redack could, show you it?"

Clearly, Redack's insanity hadn't been completely healed. In fact, it looked as if it were slowly deteriorating again already. Still, he was temporarily better, and Apocalyptica could simply repeat the procedure if he needed to. Nodding his head to the former Warlord, he answered "Yes, Redack. Show me, I wish to find more of this... Darkness."

"Here." Redack said as he pulled out a holo-projector and activated it... It shows the galaxy and zoomed in onto a solar system currently occupied by the Wayland Empire, it was field with asteroids. The projector kept replaying this image over and over.

Apocalyptica took the holoprojector in his hand and watched it with satisfaction. This unexpected event had worked his his favour immeasurably so. With this, he knew he had found yet another weapon with which to destroy the Force. He could always count on Redack, it seemed, to help bring a little chaos into the Galaxy once more. Apocalyptica turned the projector off and placed it within a pouch on his belt, before turning to leave. Before he did though, he figured it'd be useful to ensure Redack's survival - the former Warlord could have use for him later: Redack never failed to surprise the Trayus.

"I'd leave if I were you, old friend. This entire temple is about to be consumed with a virus. I wouldn't want to see you dead."

He strode off down a dark chamber, heading for his personal ship. It was time for revolution.

((Post Closed))