Danse Macabre/Part 2

Targere sat back, allowing the Human to absorb his pitch without interruption. Seldec stared across the table, one fist clasped in the other hand, mouth resting against them. He did not look at Targere, who watched for any tic, or Alecto, who leaned her chair onto its back legs with affected nonchalance. Two of Seldec's Dark Vanguard stood behind him, identical from their sallow skin to their crossed-arm stances. Darth Saleej had allowed Alecto to control security for the meeting, and so it was one of her Anzati who completed the trio on their side of the table, dressed in red, lurking at Alecto's shoulder, and drawing deep breaths through her broad nose as she studied the Humans with a hungry expression.

Seldec drew his mouth away from his hands and rested his chin atop them. "It could work."

Targere tried not to be too disgusted by the Human's beard; many Humans affected the style, but it always struck Targere as perversely bestial. Alecto and her Anzati contented themselves with the hair on their heads, though their noses were nauseatingly smooth and their faces untouched by more pleasing ridges. Targere contained his mild disgust; he did not need to consort with them, only employ them in a profitable way. To that effect, he nodded and said, "It will work."

There was just a hint of tightening in Seldec's lower eyelids, but like any Koorivar would, Targere noticed it and reasoned out the Human's lingering skepticism. Alecto apparently had some inkling of it herself, because she set all four legs of her chair down and added, "Assuming your pets are up to the challenge, General. Subtlety doesn't seem to be their strong suit."

Targere perceived the miniscule ripples of fabric as the two masked Vanguardians flexed their biceps. General Seldec did not bother to hide his distaste as he looked at Alecto; Targere sympathized. "And yet you lack the courage to undertake this mission yourself, so what else should be done?"

Targere feared Alecto or her pet Anzat might give away the game, but mercifully the two women kept their emotions under control. "A wise Sith Lord doesn't expose herself to every little danger just because she's skillful," Alecto replied. "Isn't that why you'll be hiding out back on the Purity?"

Before Seldec could do more than flare his nostrils, Alecto gestured negligently over one shoulder—with her off hand, Targere did not fail to notice; her sword hand remained on the arm of her chair. "And my brothers and sisters are more than capable. Besides, the Jedi know my face." She brought her hand back to circle the arrowheads around her left eye. "I wouldn't make it out of the spaceport."

"What a loss that would be." Seldec turned back to Targere. "And how am I to get the Vanguard out of the spaceport?"

Targere shrugged. "A world of proud tradition and military character, overwhelmingly populated by Humans…surely you have resources there you might exploit who share your…sentiments."

He ensured that every word was delicate as a caress, stripped of the scorn he would gladly have imparted under other circumstances. The idea of a single species's superiority was not alien to him, of course, although the notion that Humans were that species struck him as comical at best—when it wasn't offensive, as Seldec and his puppetmaster frequently made it. Alecto seemed not to care, though whether by true nonchalance or because her own species was closer to Human Targere could not be sure.

"Even if we do have such resources, we could hardly expect them to remain viable after this."

"What better time to spend them?" Alecto countered. "A non-Human rules the largest government in the galaxy. And not a non-Human like me, a real one."

She taunted the Human with a wink and a grin. Seldec's bushy upper lip curled back from his teeth as he replied, "A charge I might level against the second largest government in the galaxy. So many inferior beings, so very little time."

"Are they?" Alecto asked innocently.

Targere watched the combat between Alecto's smirk and Seldec's sneer until the Human changed tacks. "And what of the Jedi? Your brain-eating pets might be a match for Padawans, but they can hardly be expected to stand against real Jedi."

"You think not?" Alecto's pet cracked her neck, ghosting forward to Alecto's side; one of the Dark Vanguard took a step closer to Seldec in response. "Do you think the lightsabers of Knights and Masters do not hang in our halls? Or do you simply not wish to believe your former comrades are so fallible?"

Targere contained his fury at her speaking out of turn while Alecto just raised an eyebrow. "And do you have so little faith in your own Vanguardians, General? I know, I know, I killed one of them empty-handed, but I'm exceptional; surely they're not all that incompetent?"

Was this a strategy—piquing Seldec's temper enough that he would commit to the plan out of nothing more than pride? Did Alecto truly believe the Human was that foolish? Was the Human that foolish?

He was angry, Targere could sense that, although his guards were angrier still, their hands stayed only by their handler's restraint. Seldec's voice was cold but controlled as he replied, "The first drawn blade will draw with it a thousand guards. The Dark Vanguard is the best, but they are not invincible.  And you forget Phnyong himself.  He was a Jedi Knight when you were still a cowering little girl in some Sith crucible."

Targere noted the tic around Alecto's eyes with interest as Seldec continued obliviously, "I knew Phnyong, woman; I know exactly what he's capable of. If he's alerted to this plan, we'd need the entire Vanguard and a legion of your…siblings to overcome him and his Jedi protectors."

"Is the Vanguard nothing but a blunt instrument?" Alecto retorted. She looked up at the two Humans. "Do you boys have a setting besides 'charge in with lightsabers blazing'? Can you be spies, saboteurs…knives in the night?"

She raised her sword hand beside her Anzat to gesture and twisted her wrist indicatively. Targere was not quite sure how she did it, but suddenly one of the Anzat's belt knives was in Alecto's hand. The Vanguardians tensed as Alecto gave them her serpent's smile, but she just spun the blade in her fingers and returned it to her bodyguard hilt first.

Seldec, to his credit, had not flinched. "The Dark Vanguard is equal to any challenge, but there must be contingencies."

"And there will be," Targere assured him. "Alecto's Anzati are quite capable, and our Sith assassins will be ready to make up for any…mishaps on your side."

Suspicion touched Seldec's pale eyes. "You seem very confident, Koorivar. If your pet monsters and your dark side killers are so adept, then why do you need our help?"

"We know the ways of killing, the depths of the dark side of the Force. Essential, and yet so very short of the mark without knowledge of Anaxes Citadel itself, and the necessary appearance to pass through its gates without suspicion."

Targere ran a hand down the length of his prominent cranial horn; Seldec seemed as discomfited by the gesture as Alecto once had. "Perhaps all you need from us is intelligence."

"And if our people are unequal to the task?" Targere suggested. "A single opportunity, General; one chance to snuff out the Chancellor's flame."

"You heard him, Targere." Alecto rolled her eyes. "Old comrades, remember? Bosom buddies when I was still on one, and all that?  He walks away, we run a greater risk of failure, and if we do, he can tell Aresh he made the right call…all while his old friend Phnyong gets to live another day."

"Lord Aresh," one of the Vanguardians corrected, but no one even looked at him. If Alecto expected a vehement denial from the Human, she was doomed to disappointment; Seldec's gray eyes grew distant, and Targere could tell he was in deep reflection. He prayed Alecto had the sense the Force gave a Gran and kept her mouth shut for just a few seconds…

Seldec came back to himself, cool and unreadable again. "I do not trust you; you may adorn yourselves with the mantle of 'Sith', but you're living a delusion. But the Chancellor must die, and I don't trust you to manage it unaided.  I will take your plan to Lord Aresh."

Alecto nodded, and the three rose as one. Targere extended a hand and Seldec raised an eyebrow. "I think not. We agree to your plan; there's no need for such profanities."

He swept from the room without another word, his identical bodyguards at his side. Targere withdrew his hand, sneering at the Human's back, and followed Alecto and her Anzat.

On the dusty street outside, another Vanguardian stood to one side of the door, arms crossed and facing Lord Karibadi, Targere's own first enforcer. More of Aresh's soldiers—all Human—lurked in the square, as well as a full platoon of the Empire's troopers. Seldec did not give them so much as a parting glance as he led the way toward his shuttle on one end of town, his guards hurrying to box him in; Alecto watched him go, then sauntered off the other way. Their soldiers went ahead of her, and locals ducked into their homes, sealing doors and turning off lights.

"Was there any trouble?" Targere asked Karibadi.

"No, my lord. Glowering and posturing."

Alecto turned her head as if she had heard, waiting until Targere reached her side before resuming her pace and calling at conversational volume, "Azniak, shagzabn."

Two more Anzati melted out of the shadows and came to her side. Alecto asked in Basic, "What did you see?"

"Two snipers, my lady," said a little wisp of an Anzat; barely more than skin stretched over a skeleton, he did not even come up to Alecto's height, but he walked with lightfooted grace, and his hungry eyes burned bright. "They covered the building from complementary directions."

"You left them alive?"

"As you commanded, master."

"Did they see you?"

The other Anzat snorted; his broad nose made it a bassoon of derision. "Of course not."

What was the point of this exercise, here in the open—to shame Karibadi? Or Targere for trusting security to him? Was Alecto thinking that far ahead, or simply asserting her own control over the security arrangements—clinging to the scraps of authority Darth Saleej threw her? "To kill us if we killed General Seldec, no doubt. He trusts us as much as I expected."

When Alecto only shrugged, Targere stepped up to the commander of their escort. "We should sanitize this village just to be safe."

Alecto frowned. "Why?"

"They'll tell tales of the Empire's Sith meeting Aresh's." Targere tried to inject the obviousness of it into his tone; for one so famed for her stealth and subtlety, she could be remarkably obtuse. "The Republic may even have people here."

"Let them," Alecto answered. "So much the better; with all the intelligence they'll be getting about this mission, they won't believe something so outlandish."

She smiled, and her female Anzat lieutenant added, "Confuse the enemy by telling him the truth. Surely you know of such a simple concept, Lord Targere."

"Your pet goes too far, Darth Alecto," Karibadi warned.

The three Anzati hissed and Karibadi tucked a thumb through his belt beside his lightsaber, but Alecto just smiled. "It's nothing, brethren. It's a long flight, you might want a brain to eat before we go.  Meet me back at the Scourge when you're done."

"Yes, master." The two males bowed and vanished into the night without another word; the female lingered, measuring Karibadi and Targere with her eyes until Alecto touched her shoulder gently and nodded.

When she too had set off, Alecto gestured. "I suppose we part ways here, my lord."

"I shall struggle not to sink beneath my grief," Targere answered. "Try to cobble together something resembling charm for your part in this, Alecto. This is no minor functionary to be bewitched; you can only accomplish so much on your back."

The Mirialan narrowed her eyes. "See if you can't get your assets in place so my efforts aren't wasted. I'll give your regards to Lord Latra, Targere."

She sauntered off to where she had left her ship, and Karibadi leaned in to whisper, "Shall we sanitize the population, Lord?"

"Leave them." Targere did not put it past Alecto to have her Anzati monitoring his use of the Sith soldiers, or even to intervene—they were mere instruments and did not enjoy the protections Targere and Karibadi did. Besides, it would take most of them, and sending out so many would leave Targere and Karibadi exposed to attack from Alecto and her brethren—as many a Sith Lord had learned to his sorrow, it was only breaking the rules if one got caught, and here it would be far too easy to blame their deaths on Seldec. Likely he and Karibadi could take Alecto and the Anzati…but it was not quite likely enough for Targere to consider it a good investment.

And there might be something to her strategy of truthful disinformation. Admitting that, even internally, did little to ease his temper, and he swept his veda cloth robes around him as he headed toward their ship.

"When we're aloft, arrange contact with Kai Latra for me," he commanded Karibadi in soft Koorivar. "We don't want our little colleague forgetting where his loyalties lie."