The Fog of War/Part 3

Throwing one of Lakalt's soldiers against a wall and pinning him there with the Force, one hand clasped in a fist, Darth Alecto reflected a blaster bolt into the face of a second shooter with the lightsaber in her other hand. The soldier struggling on the wall managed to squirm a little as Alecto split her focus, but she wrenched the last member of the platoon into range with a Force pull and chopped off his head. Pulling her pinned prey toward her, she clotheslined him with her lightsaber, and the halves of his body fell five meters from each other.

Stepping over his disembodied legs as he screamed and flailed at the organs exposed below his incinerated bottom ribs, Alecto saw Darth Hokhtan and two of the Sith Acolytes Lady Gasald had lent them hacking their way through what remained of Lakalt's men.

"I'm just a technician!" a Human pleaded. "I don't even have a blaster! Plea—"

One of the Acolytes speared the technician through the mouth, red blade burning out the back of his head. Alecto sauntered forward as Hokhtan slapped the young man. "Idiot. What are the codes to access the system?"

The Acolyte lurched back, one hand on his bleeding mouth. "I…"

Sneering in disgust, Hokhtan turned to the other Acolyte. "You. Contact the Kiss of Death and have them send us a tech team here.  And you," he added to the offending Acolyte, "sweep the rest of the building for survivors."

"What, on my own?" the Acolyte demanded. Hokhtan reached for the lightsaber he had returned to his belt, and the Acolyte added quickly, "Yes, sir."

Alecto didn't miss the grudging note in his voice, and she followed him with her violet eyes as he jumped off the tech station and landed on a support catwalk some ten meters below. Meeting Hokhtan's eyes, she tapped her own lightsaber and twitched her head after the Acolyte with an inquisitive look.

Darth Hokhtan shook his head. "Later, perhaps."

The other Acolyte had returned to their own soldiers to call up to Lord Karzded, and so Alecto crossed her arms, pacing back and forth around the terminal. She noticed Darth Hokhtan cracking his knuckles.

"They're undisciplined," she remarked. "You think Lady Gasald gave us the worst of the lot?"

"Possible," the Human Sith Lord answered. "Or perhaps they're perfectly disciplined in following Halicon's orders to make our lives difficult."

Alecto hadn't missed the enmity between Darth Hokhtan and Lord Karzded. "I don't suppose we'll be getting our technicians any time soon, then?"

Hokhtan growled in the back of his throat, but said, "If he delays us we look ineffective, but it also impacts the entire landing operation. If he sends the tech team we can access the power grid and affect the other shield generators, but we move on and make additional strikes."

"Unless he spins it that we botched it here and needed backup, which of course he was generous in providing?" Alecto asked.

Hokhtan gritted his teeth. "Then we'll need to make the additional strikes meaningful."

Alecto shook her head, retightened the bun of her red hair, then asked, "Is it always like this?"

The Human gave her a look. "Like what, exactly? Like a Sith anointed less than two years arguing she was better suited to assassinate Master Yem Faltko than Lord Targere?  Something like that?"

Alecto remembered dueling the Jedi Master, and the tràkata that had gotten her lightsaber under Faltko's jaw so Alecto could reactivate the blade and burn out the other woman's brain. "I succeeded, didn't I?"

"You succeeded in a mission and in making an enemy," Hokhtan replied. "Only you can judge whether the one was worth the other. And that is the calculus every Sith Lord must consider."

Taking it under advisement, Alecto asked, "What was worth Lord Karzded being your enemy?"

Hokhtan studied her in silence, and Alecto worked to keep her expression neutral. Though both were anointed Sith and Hokhtan alone could not order her death, she did not harbor the delusion that made them equals. She was still Darth Saleej's juniormost Darth, but that made Hokhtan all the more instrumental to her own advancement. Halicon Karzded, secure in Lady Gasald's fold, might be able to afford Darth Hokhtan as an enemy, but Alecto could not.

"The Council has commanded us to live and serve as brethren—and wisely so, else the Jedi might dominate us as they do Lakalt and the other pretenders," he noted. "This thing of ours, this reawakening of the Old Sith Empire, is necessary. But the Sith can not be led by the weak or the unfit, and even prodigious strength in the Force does not qualify a Sith for leadership.  Lady Gasald, as every Sith Overlord, must be served only by the best.  No doubt the same thought animated your conflict with Lord Targere."

Alecto nodded, and Hokhtan gave her a rare, discomfiting smile.

"For all your subtlety and stealth, Darth Alecto, you're still learning to play a very dangerous game. Anointed Sith are forbidden to kill one another, lest they risk the Council's wrath.  But that does not mean some of our…brethren…are not foolish, or desperate, or very, very good.  You're capable, Alecto, even skillful, but capability and skill will not save you alone.  Remember that, won't you?"

She swallowed. "Yes, my lord."

"Good. Good Darths are hard to come by, and I would hate to waste my efforts on you only to have you murdered before you've repaid my investment."

He turned away, tapping at the datascreen to see what he could access without help. Alecto looked out over the power station, feeling the frustration of the dark side without a target. Being anointed had insulated her from the worst of the abuses and caprice of other Sith, but she remained only an instrument of those better positioned. She envied Hokhtan his ability to spar with rival Sith Lords almost with impunity. She wondered if her alliance with Darth Vandak would hold up when tested by Targere's machinations.

The Acolyte Hokhtan had sent for technicians returned with a squad of soldiers, their bootsteps a cacophony on the metal decking. "My lord, Lord Karzded says he'll divert us technicians as soon as possible. He reminds you that the assault has many moving parts and…instructed me to convey his disappointment that such a carefully planned assault has faltered already."

The young man braced himself, but Hokhtan was clearly not inclined to punish the messenger for the message. "A good commander plans for setbacks," he replied, "but we must forgive Lord Karzded his inexperience with battlefield command."

More fencing, Alecto thought. She wondered how Hokhtan—who had made his career in true battle—could stand to connive and manipulate so long without a real strike. Perhaps there was something to be learned there.

"Still, I will not have Lady Gasald's victory delayed on my account," Hokhtan added. Gesturing vaguely around himself, he said, "Set charges. Bring the building down."

Alecto moved to the troops, instructing the grenadiers, as the Acolyte moved past her. From behind her she heard Hokhtan say, "I did mean now, Acolyte."

"Yes, lord," he answered, "but Erechi…"

"Plan for the unexpected, Acolyte," Hokhtan advised. "If he completes his sweep of the building before we detonate, so much the better. And if not…well, Lord Karzded's men can't delay Lady Gasald's victory either."

Well, perhaps not completely without a real strike. Alecto smiled as she directed the next charge.