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Like spiders crawling over naked flesh, Darth Nyrys felt the will of her sable king spread across her. Never my lord, I simply had chains that needed breaking. I am at your disposal as always. The Dark Lord's message contained an implicit command, a summons for his bloodsoaked warrior. She was no longer the overwhelmed young girl or the sensual monster that she had been in the past when she had met him. There was still a fire in her eyes, but it was guided by cold wisdom and experience, by a need to exist beyond the moment. Despite having cut more of herself away, she somehow felt closer to being complete, more of who she was meant to be. Delta's troops had been deployed again, such was the nature of love in times of war, a cycle of not long enough and too long. She would attend to the Dark Lord alone. Darth Nyrys finally understood that she alone was enough. She took a shuttle back to Iziz, but did not have it land at the tower, instead she chose to walk among the city's populace. In the middle and upper class areas, the people were consumed by their own internal struggles and ambitions. Surely any normal person would be revealed to be rather lunatic if there thoughts were laid bare and the things they dwelt upon made known. Their minds were full of inane distractions and strange meanderings. In the abandoned and neglected places she found something more pure. There were still people that in a city of every convenience and necessity made available still struggled and fought for survival. Against the system, against each other, against their own flaws. Success could be its own poison, a bitter numbing agent, and failure a catalyst for growth. If not for her own loss at Corellia she would have continued to struggle against old misconceptions. Many had internalized the strife and suffering of their lot in life, but there were some that believed something more was within their grasp. She sought out those individuals and with the darkness that she held in her breast, she lit a flame in their hearts. In the bones of an abandoned factory she gathered them and consecrated her first church in pledge and song. They would be her Forlorn Saints, broken people that somehow still held potential like she had when the Sith had found her. Purpose would make them whole in time. With the ebon sacrament completed, she headed towards the dark tower of her master to learn of his bidding. ((Art by Adrian Półtorak))

As the insectile legs of Apothos' chair guided him out of the command center, his face held on Darth Akheron again, before finally turning away. Let us see, my former master, if you are still the burning beacon of power I first saw on Onderon, he thought to himself. And let us see if that power is enough to grasp a world. His attention lingered briefly on the clone commander. ...Wait...yes, I know that one...from Mon Cal. The tunnels. Yes... Dangerous... Then his throne passed out of the room, and he drew his attention back to the task at hand. Aaris III... With a thought, he commanded the communicator embedded into his throne to access his ship's records and draw up information on the remote little planet. Reading code directly was still incredibly difficult for him, but simple information like this was possible, if not easy. Given his lack of normal sight though, he predicted he'd come to rely more and more on this skill in the future. A ruined planet of pirates and primitives. Destroyed itself through war... He smiled underneath the cloth that covered his face. ______________________________________________________________ The Ironhowlrunner and The Eternus detached from the fleet. Within minutes, they'd jumped back into hyperspace.

Delta looked sideways at the Sith Lord known simply as Akheron, then snapped his attention to the Sith in overall command of the campaign. “Will all due respect to Lord Akheron, Imperial troops and commandos are issued helmets with built in filtration of up to a hundredth of a micron. Add to that a Decree that anyone caught attempting to use biological weapons to influence soldiers results in the death of not only them but their entire communities and those that shelter them, and we won’t have much of a problem. In my opinion sir.” He let his gaze return to the holomap. “Other than that it should not be too hard to maintain control of a species with a strict hierarchy. Take their leadership, and they fall.”

Darth Akheron, considered the words spoken by Mordecai. Falleen. He had heard of it, it was a planet well known for it's xenophobic attitude towards the galaxy and yet they had potential, if they would only move beyond this. Their martial prowess, resistance to mind trick's and strong pheromones would be a major boon if the Sith could convince them to join. Indeed, Akheron saw the potential in this and more. Falleen was a location ripe for the picking, one he might be able to mold and influence. For he knew well.how such a people's minds worked to a degree. He could see his own people very much mirrored in the Falleen species. Both in terms of culture and thinking themselves superior to others. Only to be brought low. But first he would need to aid the endeavour to capture the planet and then begin the process of convincing it's people of the benefits of joining the Sith Empire. Answering, he replied, his voice slow and steady. Deadly serious, as always he was when it came to doing a job. "Sorry, it's a force of habit, I appreciate that you view me as such. Falleen, you say. Most excellent, this falls in line with some of my plans. In many ways the Falleen remind me of back home, xenophobic, thinking themselves better than everyone...superior kind of attitude. Silly really when one thinks about it. And yet there also lies incredible potential in the species. And old habits can be broken. I am most interested in their martial ability, resistance to mind trick's of the force and highly potent pheremones. All of which I believe we can potentially use to the Sith Empire's advancement, should we be successful. And yet these will also prove most troublesome when we get there. Do we have something that can potentially protect our troops from falling to these pheremones? Besides standard equipment. Last thing we need is for troops to start getting all hot and bothered when they should be fighting or keeping order."