Igniting the Stars/Part 8

Alecto pulled her coat up onto her shoulders, relished that her hair was long enough that she needed to brush it back over the collar again, then turned to Zeff. "How do I look?"

It was not the sort of question she often asked her sole Sith Acolyte, but it was best to keep him on his toes, lest his uniqueness—for the moment—lead him to think himself irreplaceable. She could sense he was appropriately bemused by the question, but Zeff just studied her for a moment through his helmet's visor before he said, "…triumphant."

Alecto favored him with a twisted grin. "Good answer. Wait here, I'll be back when Darth Saleej is done with me."

She left him in the little enclave that had been set aside for her use aboard the Unquenchable Fire and made her way toward the meeting. She had selected a knee-length black coat for the occasion, cut in Anzati style and trimmed with red brocade; the complex pattern would appear geometric and floral to all but the best-informed and most attentive observers, who might pick out both the Sith glyphs and the sigils of the Brotherhood. The slim fit outlined the lightsaber on her belt, which helpfully drew attention away from the slender knife hidden up her sleeve.

Darth Hokhtan met her in the hall; his stride flowed more of late, his limp much less pronounced.

"You saw the news?"

"I did. It appears you understand our enemies well, Alecto.  Congratulations."

She took the compliment with a nod, concealing her satisfaction. It was a much more satisfactory conversation than their last, only days before, when she had pulled him aside to ask who the Seeing One was.

Do not say that name so loudly, nor ever again so publicly.

His glare had taken her aback, but she had rallied. If something can be mentioned in front of me, it's something I can know.

That decision was Lady Erinyes's, not mine, and certainly not Darth Saleej's.

''If she knows something I don't, and she realizes it, it gives her power over me. And power over me—''

Is power over our master? Darth Hokhtan's tone had not been generous. ''Lady Erinyes knows many things you don't know. Things I, even our master doesn't know. The work they do is not meant to be known.''

But you know who— She had caught herself. —that person ''is? And Lord Rhutizh, and Sar-hent?''

I don't know what Sar-hent knows, he had replied, but Alecto had seen the tic amidst the lines around his eyes at the mention of Rhutizh. What does that mean?, she had wondered, but she had never gotten the chance to ask. Lowering his voice to a growl, he had said, I don't know the Seeing One's true name, nor does anyone I know.

And, when she had stared without comprehension and Darth Hokhtan had realized that was not enough information, he had added, Names are abandoned when a being is raised to the Council of Five.

Even Alecto had been wiser than she was curious, and the conversation had ended there.

Now, however, she asked, "Do you think Lady Erinyes will be pleased?"

"We'll know soon enough."

Darth Saleej's tall, mutant bodyguards stood mute sentinel outside the door, but when Alecto followed Darth Hokhtan onto the private bridge, the single throne was empty. The room was, as ever, bathed in red light, the world of Taanab visible through the wide viewport. Alecto remembered kneeling here to be anointed three years before. Alecto and Darth Hokhtan took places on either side of the throne; Rhutizh stood, hooded and silent, off to one side, and Sar-hent had gotten his legs under his weight for the occasion to colonize the other.

After a moment Lady Erinyes joined them; this time her hood was down—to allow the third eye on the back of her head to see, Alecto presumed—but those compound eyes were still had to read in the gloom. Did she take the reversal—waiting for Darth Saleej this time around—as a slight? A demonstration of their reversed positions? With Vandak dead, Erinyes could no longer weaponize the Council's disapproval, and she had turned from looming threat to glorified messenger. Or did was she satisfied—convinced that her very presence had been sufficient to goad a lethargic Overlord into attending to a matter he had too long neglected?

The door opened, and everyone but Lady Erinyes knelt as Darth Saleej entered, not rising until he had taken his throne. "I'm sure the Council will be satisfied with the totality of Vandak's elimination, Lady Erinyes."

"He's dead," she agreed. "Though the occasion will have manufactured new heroes for the Jedi and the Republic."

Darth Saleej waved a clawed hand. "Let them glorify the heroes of the hour; they'll suffer all the more when those Jedi fall in their turn. Meanwhile, there is no chance of Vandak's knowledge falling into Republic hands, his depredations in our territory are ended, and no Sith blood was required to eliminate him—nothing more than a whisper in the right ears."

He looked left, then right. "Darth Alecto, a stroke of brilliance. Lord Rhutizh, well done."

"Thank you, Master," Alecto said; Rhutizh merely bowed. It irked her to share credit with the Devaronian, who in the end had done nothing but twiddle one thread in his web, but because they all served their master, their victories were, in a sense, his to claim; shared credit was better than none at all.

"I suppose I have no further purpose here," Erinyes said. "If you'll excuse me, Darth Saleej."

"Give my regards to Lord Ko. The Five guide you, Lady Erinyes."

"And you."

And then she was gone. Darth Saleej traced a crescent with his claws, and the four of them faced him in a half-circle. "With that settled, it's time to begin the next phase of our agenda. Darth Alecto's Anzati have destabilized governments throughout the Inner Rim—Darth Hokhtan, select the next targets that make the most efficient use of our resources, taking into account our new acquisitions.  Lord Rhutizh, provide him with the intelligence necessary for those calculations."

"Yes, my lord."

"It will be done, Master."

"Lord Sar-hent, you will continue the operation we discussed."

"Of course, Master," Sar-hent replied. Alecto had no idea what that was about, but wisdom prevailed over curiosity again.

"Darth Alecto, distribute word to your Anzati to be ready for further strikes as needed."

"The Republic will be on its guard, Master," she warned; Darth Saleej was not overly fond of being told 'no', but even less did he like making strategic blunders that might have been avoided had a subordinate been honest rather than sycophantic. "We won't be able to engineer that sort of widespread kill pattern twice."

She forced herself to meet those glowing yellow eyes as they shone through his mask. The Kaleesh weighed it for a moment, then nodded. "Sit in with Darth Hokhtan and Lord Rhutizh; the ability of your Anzati to eliminate key leaders or take over facilities may affect the determination of targets."

"As you wish, Master."

He studied them all, then raised a hand in dismissal. "I will give further orders to the others, but your missions are the most time-critical. Go."

Alecto turned to follow Darth Hokhtan out, but Darth Saleej said, "A moment, Darth Alecto."

Working to keep her breathing even, she walked slowly back across dull deckplates which barely reflected the red light and knelt as the door sealed behind her. For a moment Darth Saleej was silent, and Alecto's heart went faster every second.

"Rise."

She stood to find his clawed hands laced together, his narrowed yellow eyes studying her through his death's head mask. "An elegant solution to a thorny problem. What inspired you?"

Alecto focused on cold Sith control, removing herself from her fear. She could hardly tell him Tirien Kal-Di, nor did she wish him to extract the thought from her mind. "The Jedi wanted Vandak dead as much as we did, but if their Seers had Seen where Vandak was going, they'd have killed him already. They just didn't have the…"

She trailed off, realizing this was an area that could prove perilous in a different way, but it was too late. "…the sources of information we do? Yes, the Seeing One; you're curious, aren't you?"

Had Darth Hokhtan told him, or had he intuited it on his own? Alecto felt the ice thawing under her feet and starting to crack. "I didn't like Lady Erinyes knowing something I didn't."

"You didn't like not knowing something the rest of us knew," Darth Saleej corrected. Alecto did not answer, and after a moment he continued, "It frustrates you, doesn't it? To have so much power, and so many brilliant ideas on how it might be put to use, and yet to be leashed by the approval, even the whims of others."

"I serve, Master, however I can serve best."

"The Seeing One has seen you, you know," Darth Saleej continued in a tone so blithe it was almost conversational. Alecto stared, and Darth Saleej nodded. "After your victory on Anzat, and your conquest of Chancellor Phnyong…yes, the Council of Five has taken quite an interest in you indeed. And yet, you were not seen altogether clearly, as if you were…hidden, somehow.  An experience the Seeing One evidently finds novel, and which shows that frustration is not limited to the young and the tragically underused."

There was a note of cruel amusement in his voice, but Alecto had the oddest sense he wasn't mocking her. "Because I'm so deep in the dark, Master?"

He snorted once. "Veiled in shadows were the Seeing One's exact words. The shadows are the darkness, of course…but the darkest shadow is cast only by the brightest light."

Alecto understood the threat, but she struggled mightily to master fear and rage both; fear was beneath a Sith Lord, and rage at a superior was fatal. "Chancellor Phnyong was a bright light, Master…until my shadow fell on him."

"True," Darth Saleej mused. "True. You are, as you say, my servant."

"Always, Master."

"And yet they serve best who lead. You are an assassin of rare talent, Alecto, but I have assassins in plenty.  You're a skillful warrior, as well, but I don't lack for beings capable of killing." Click…click…click, he tapped one claw against his mask. "You have only the one Acolyte, yes?"

"Yes, my lord. Zeff Rogu."

"The Ubese you…acquired from Lady Gasald."

"Yes, Master."

"And you say none of your Anzati are Forceful beyond the Anzat norm?"

"No, Master."

Darth Saleej nodded. "Tragic underuse if ever I have seen it. As Lady Erinyes was thoughtful enough to share, the Council of Five has been favorably disposed toward me since Anaxes, for which some thanks are due to you."

Wary of a trap, Alecto said, "You commanded and I obeyed, my lord."

"Obedience is a servant's obligation," he allowed, "but a wise leader gives reward when it is earned—it motivates the servant to excel further, inspires others by example, and tests the servant's worthiness for greater responsibility. Remember that with your own subordinates."

"Yes, my lord," Alecto answered, but she added, "My second-in-command, Nevya Khiyali, is proving—"

"I do not doubt she is a worthy leader for your killers, but it is time you were trusted as a Sith Lord of my council, not merely my personal master of assassins. The Council is inclined to bestow on me new dark side adepts and Acolytes, and I will see to it that you are given a number befitting your services to me."

"I…thank you, Master. I won't disappoint you."

"I trust you won't. You may go."

And he rotated his throne away to contemplate the view of Taanab. Alecto passed through the door guards in a daze, at once thrilled and somewhat astonished to leave the bridge both enriched and alive. It did not truly begin to sink in until halfway back to her chambers, when she received Darth Hokhtan's comlink note to meet him and Rhutizh in an hour. It had been a long time in coming, but at last her star was rising—at last they had rewarded her according to her merits.

She was grinning when she opened the door. "Zeff, if we have any champagne, grab a bottle and—"

She stopped; the Ubese was tense in posture and mind, and his helmeted head turned just a little to look over her shoulder. A little was enough, and in one smooth motion Alecto had turned, lightsaber hilt in hand, to find Lady Erinyes standing against the wall, studying her with those big bug eyes. "Darth Alecto."

Alecto didn't ignite her weapon, but neither did she lower it. "Did you take a wrong turn on the way to the hangar bay, Lady Erinyes?"

"I would speak with you, Darth Alecto." She looked at Zeff. "Leave us, Acolyte."

Alecto raised a hand with narrowed eyes. "Zeff is my Acolyte, Erinyes. He goes where and when I tell him to go."

Erinyes flexed the skeletal fingers of her hands, and Alecto rested her thumb on the power stud of her lightsaber. The two women stared one another down, Alecto taut as a monofilament wire, knowing she would have only a second to react if Erinyes chose to take offense, remembering the horror stories that preceded the Furies wherever they went…

Erinyes laced her fingers together, the gathering darkness in the Force abated, and the moment passed. "As you will. I would speak with you privately, Darth Alecto, if it please you."

The warning was there, Alecto knew: it had better please you. But it was a concession, and concession was victory. Alecto was Master of the Brotherhood of Shadows and soon to be master of a legion of dark siders as well; she was no longer some newly-anointed fledgling to be pushed around by her betters.

"Zeff, step out for a moment," she commanded. "I'll call for you when we're done."

"Yes, Master," he replied, and left with an air of gratitude for the escape.

"Do you intend to use that?" Erinyes inquired, looking at the lightsaber in Alecto's hand.

"Will I need to?"

"If I wanted you dead, you would have needed it far sooner than now."

Alecto returned the hilt to her belt, though she left her coat pulled back behind it to keep it accessible. "Why are you here?"

"I was commanded to bring you a message, Alecto."

The neglect of her title irked Alecto, though she had offered Erinyes the same slight. "From whom?"

"Lord Ko Davad."

The Master of the Brotherhood and presumptive lord of a host of Sith had to stop herself from shivering at the very name. "Lord Ko? What does he want with me?"

"He's taken a great interest in you."

Alecto curled her fingers into fists so her hands didn't tremble. "I haven't seen Lord Ko since I was a girl."

"Perhaps not, though he has seen you. But your reputation has spread far beyond the territory of one Sith Overlord and the affairs of his council.  Your actions echo across the galaxy, and your skills speak for themselves."

"And what does Lord Ko have to tell me?"

"Not to tell—to offer. He invites you to join us—to join him."

Alecto stared. "To…become a Fury?"

Erinyes nodded.

Reeling inside, Alecto could muster nothing more eloquent than, "A Fury? Me?"

"You possess the rare blend of lethality and subtlety that makes the ideal assassin, and you have proven your ability to defeat even skillful Force users."

The word stirred Alecto back to focus. "Perhaps all Lord Ko wants is the allegiance of the Anzati I command. My brethren have already told Darth Saleej himself they serve me, and no other."

Erinyes shrugged her angular shoulders. "Bring your Anzati into service with you, or release them from your command and come alone—the offer stands either way. It is an offer to you, for your achievements."

She took a slow step forward. "In serving as we do, we rule no fiefs and command no armies. But we serve the Council of Five, and through them the dark side of the Force.  There is no way but the Council's way, Darth Alecto, and those who stray from it make themselves the enemies of the Empire, and so of the dark side's will.  In eliminating them, pruning the diseased branches off the perfect tree of darkness, we are the truest heirs of the Sith Lords of old—we are the avatars of the dark side itself."

Alecto hesitated; part of her feared a trap, but part of her was drawn to the bait regardless. Could she renounce the power Darth Saleej had just given her? Serve as nothing but a hired killer all her days? Would she earn his enmity for leaving his service?

But still…

She had seen firsthand the fear that attended Erinyes's arrival, the way even her fellow Sith had grown hesitant. She remembered meeting Ko Davad as a girl; even though Lord Oruval had been in command and worn the dark side about himself like a cloak of majesty, it had been Lord Ko who had frightened her most. Alecto imagined beings everywhere cowering as her shadow fell on them, as Darth Alecto became a byword for mortal terror. And even Ko Davad was not immortal; he would someday need a successor.

Darth Alecto, Lord of the Furies…

Erinyes perceived her hesitation. "You need not decide now. I was bidden to convey an offer, not to receive an answer.  But consider carefully, Darth Alecto; this offer is seldom made twice.  Good day."

Alecto watched her go, taking all Alecto's earlier elation with her, and when Zeff finally came in unbidden, he found his master still staring at the door.