Loyalty/Part 6

As the blur of light separated into individual running lights, Alecto felt Zeff reach out with the Force. "I sense the dark side, Master, but nothing more than that."

A Forceful jammer to match the technological one, Alecto thought.

Anzati did not panic, but it had been clear Rhyna had been caught off guard. ''A ship is inbound, Master. Coming here.''

What ship?

I don't know, Master, but it transmitted an authorization code.

Not a Brotherhood code?

No, Master, but the computer recognized it.

Rhyna had rattled off the first few digits before Alecto had stopped her. It was a Sith code, and one that made it clear the incoming craft wasn't just dropping off some more adepts. Though she had programmed all the codes into her code cylinder and the Scourge ' s computer, Alecto had memorized most of them anyway—her experiences in the wake of the Anaxes mission had shown her the need to have backups for backups. It was no wonder the computer had told Rhyna to stand down defenses—this code would've gotten the mystery ship aboard the Unquenchable Fire.

What did the sensors read? Alecto had asked.

Rhyna had looked unsettled. ''Only that it exists, Master. It's jamming everything else.''

Alecto made a mental note to get better sensors for her fortress once it was complete, but first things had to come first. She typed a code into her wrist comlink, and across the plateau the construction droids powered down and deactivated their lights, plunging the landscape into darkness. Of course, a ship with sufficient technology to jam sensors probably had decent sensors of its own; she wondered whether the Anzati would show up on a standard biological scan…

As the ship descended, Alecto saw with some surprise that it was a courier shuttle—long-winged, narrow-bodied, built for speed and defense rather than pitched battle. The ship could not support more than a few beings comfortably; Alecto, her disciples, and her Anzati would easily outnumber them. Had Darth Hokhtan come? That made no sense; even assuming he would do her the courtesy of not exposing Lisal to common knowledge with a heavy escort, why come to her when he could summon her to him at will? No other Overlord would come unescorted, and Alecto relaxed very slightly; at worst, she would stand on equal footing with whoever was aboard.

Unless…

It had been several months since Erinyes had given Darth Alecto a message from Ko Davad, the man they called the eighth Overlord—the Master of the Furies. From time to time, Alecto still considered Lord Ko's invitation to join the elite assassin sect—the secret police of the New Sith Empire, stalking the ranks of the Sith Lords rather than the common rabble—but every time she did, she remembered that her adepts and Zeff belonged to Darth Hokhtan, not her. She doubted Darth Hokhtan would let her take eleven Sith potentials with her into Ko Davad's service, even if Ko would have allowed it. As challenging as her pupils could be, Alecto was coming to like mastery over her team—a group she could mold into Sith her own way. And so she put off making a firm decision on Ko's offer.

Had he decided the time was up, and sent Erinyes or another Fury for her answer? Or, harder to believe but unsettling in even remote possibility, come himself?

The shuttle touched down a little way from the Scourge, and Alecto advanced to meet it, Zeff and Zurgharjhen automatically moving out to give her and themselves space. She had a second for pride; they were learning to move around others—to work as a team. Then the shuttle's boarding ramp dropped, and every consideration but the confrontation at hand slipped away. A single figure descended from the shuttle, hooded and cloaked.

"Only the one heat signature," Zeff said.

Alecto hadn't known his helmet had that kind of scanner—I assumed without giving it thought, she criticized herself—but she nodded as if he had said nothing remarkable and gave Zurgharjhen a chin nod. The Irrukiine growled in challenge, took all four lightsabers from the belts he wore across his chest, and rumbled, "Who goes there?"

"I bear you neither threat nor ill will, Zurgharjhen," said a smooth monotone, and Alecto tensed in recognition. At her side, Zeff stiffened, then gave an abbreviated bow, never taking his visor off the hooded man.

"Lord Rhutizh."

"Acolyte Rogu," Rhutizh said. Alecto's eyes had adapted enough to the dark to make out the sharp nose, the angular chin, and the way his curved horns tented the hood that shadowed his face, but she felt more than saw his eyes turn to her. "Darth Alecto."

"Lord Rhutizh," she answered, matching his calm, cool tone. "I'm afraid we weren't able to welcome you in style, what with your dropping in unannounced."

Rhutizh's clawed hands were folded before his belly, but he gestured with two fingers. "It's of no consequence. I've come for your benefit, not mine."

Alecto frowned. "My benefit?"

The hood turned left, then right. "Might we speak privately?"

"You've come alone?"

"I have. Well, unless you count the droid pilot; I've never cared for flying myself.  But…"  Rhutizh raised a single claw this time, and the shuttle's ramp rose again. "Shall we?"

Alecto considered a moment, then looked at Zeff. "You heard Lord Rhutizh; he's come alone. You two make a team and join the perimeter guard.  And tell Nevya that if anyone's approaching, they aren't with Lord Rhutizh, so kill them all."

Zeff bowed. "Yes, Master."

Zurgharjhen snorted, but followed Zeff away into the darkness. As Alecto led Rhutizh into the encampment, he asked, "Was that for their benefit, or mine?"

"Does it have to be one or the other?"

Rhutizh made a musing sound, but no other reply. In truth, much as she had needed to send Zeff and Zurgharjhen away, she did not at all care for the way Rhutizh had flaunted his knowledge. Zeff had lived aboard the Unquenchable Fire for some months, but Rhutizh and Zurgharjhen had never met; that the Devaronian could call him by name was unsettling. Alecto had no doubt he could do the same for all of her adepts, and perhaps some of her brethren as well. And the fact that he had come to Lisal at all—her secret base, which only Darth Hokhtan was supposed to know—spoke volumes. Was there anything the damned man didn't know?

Or did one of her adepts serve more than one master?

Stepping into the empty communications module, Alecto rounded on Rhutizh as the glowpanels came on. His eyes narrowed against the light, but he pulled his hood back over his shoulders and exposed the same expression she saw so often by holo—stoic patience, tinged at best with a hint of vague interest.

He studied the table. "A commendable replica."

"By all means, take your seat."

Rhutizh shook his head. "Thank you, but I won't trouble you for long."

Alecto crossed her arms. Despite years of serving with him on the council, she knew almost nothing more about him now than she did the day Darth Saleej anointed her. "Why have you come here?"

"I have information that you'll find quite valuable."

"About the Commenor mission?"

"No. My spies have uncovered as much as they can without exposing themselves to discovery, which would compromise both my network and your mission."

"Nothing more about the Jedi?"

"No." He studied Alecto as she grimaced. "What concerns you?"

"I don't like vagueness. Darakhan's still fighting Aresh?"

"He is."

"What about Kal-Di and Rican?"

Rhutizh was silent a moment. "Uncertain. When last we heard, they were with the Seventy-Second; they may have been killed at Eriadu."

Alecto found herself disquieted by that, but before she could make sense of her emotions, Rhutizh asked, "That troubles you?"

Had she shown her emotions so clearly? Plastering frustration on her face—which, given the way this conversation was headed, was not hard—she said, "We've fought twice already. He killed Zygro.  I had hoped…"

"You would be the one to kill him?" Rhutizh shook his head. "A warrior's desire, I'm sure, but a liability. If he's dead, it's finished.  If he still lives, you may yet get your chance, but not at Commenor.  I'm confident I would have heard that."

"But no other new intelligence?"

"No. I trust you have enough for a plan?"

Alecto hesitated, but it was nothing she would not say in front of Darth Hokhtan and the rest by holo if asked, so… "I'm taking Zeff, Shrizzzqadl, and Dolre."

"The Acolyte, the cannibal, and the shapeshifter…" Rhutizh considered it, then shrugged. "But you intend to go personally?"

This time there was no mistaking the critique in his tone, and Alecto narrowed her eyes. "The last time the Five handed me a mission, it was Senator Iltek on Taanab. I missed that kill, and I saw what happened to Zedum."

Rhutizh snorted. "That was neither Zedum's first nor his most egregious failure, but I take your point. But I think you'll want to reconsider."

Alecto knew Rhutizh too well to voice her instinctive retort. Instead, she took a moment to still her emotions, then asked, "And why would I do that?"

"I believe you are acquainted with a Sith named Naathree Basrasht."

It took a moment to place the name, but when she did, Alecto tensed. "I haven't had the pleasure in person."

"Yet."

Squeezing her hands into fists, Alecto said, "What do you know, Rhutizh?"

The Devaronian strolled around the table, and Alecto started walking to match him. "I know a certain property of hers absconded from Dromund Kaas, and found its way here. I know her agents attempted to retrieve that property and failed—through your intervention."

Just as Alecto became sure one of her adepts was informing on her, Rhutizh added, "And I know that Lady Basrasht took that as a great insult, and is prepared to set it right."

Alecto stopped pacing behind what would have been Darth Hokhtan's throne. "In what way?"

"In the only way possible—by retrieving what belongs to her."

"Megaera is mine."

Rhutizh stopped as well at the far end of the long table. Laying his hands on the tabletop, he met Alecto's eyes and said, "That is what this will determine."

Alecto shook her head. "She'd come here and fight me? Me?"

"Ah, but there is the subtle genius—she won't fight you. She won't have to." Folding his hands again, he said, "She has correctly predicted that you'll insist on going to Commenor yourself rather than entrusting the task to your servants, and so she'll strike Lisal in your absence."

The prospect was so disconcerting—Basrasht descending on Lisal with who knew how many Sith of her own, potentially wiping out Alecto's fortress and slaughtering her disciples, none of whom could strike back at a Sith Lord—that it took a moment before Alecto realized the real import of Rhutizh's news. "How does she know about the Commenor mission?"

One side of Rhutizh's mouth turned down. "That I do not know, and not for lack of trying. You may not be aware, but my duties to Darth Hokhtan also include counterintelligence; I endeavor to eliminate leaks and double agents quietly enough that no one ever realizes what has happened, but in this case, the source of Basrasht's information eludes me.  Circumstances reject the notion that this Megaera would inform on you to her own enemy, but perhaps your other disciples…?"

Alecto dug her fingers into the back of Darth Hokhtan's chair. She thought of Zurgharjhen and Shrizzzqadl, reduced from Acolyte rank…Nillan, excluded from the mission from the first day…the others about whom she knew so little, including Lukurt Kreen, who was old enough to have risen to lordship with more skill… "Even if they'd do that, how would they know how to reach her?  I don't know how to reach her."

"A question that frustrates me as well," Rhutizh admitted.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Is it not enough that we serve the Empire together?" Rhutizh asked, raising one thick brow. When Alecto gave him a look, he shrugged. "If you reject my charity, then accept instead that if I can not find Basrasht's source, it may be easier to deal with the problem at the other end."

Alecto's eyes tightened. "You know the Council's law."

"I do. I also know that it flows both ways.  If you are on Commenor, Basrasht could exterminate your disciples one by one, and even self-defense will condemn them.  But if you are here, and she chooses to abandon the protection of her anointing by attacking you…"

Understanding at last what he envisioned, Alecto nodded. "Some things are better left unsaid."

"Just so."

Discomfited to be in Rhutizh's debt—she did not believe for a moment that he had tipped her off just to deal with a leak—Alecto said, "Thank you for the information, my lord."

Rhutizh nodded, and they began their circular dance again. Contemplating his clawed hands, he said, "This may be the last of these little chats we have—"

Alecto, who was less than enthused at the idea of Rhutizh dropping in on a whim again, still felt compelled to point out, "This is the first of these little chats we've had."

Was that a smile on the Devaronian's face? Like all of his expressions, it was fainter and more ephemeral than a normal being's, so she couldn't be sure. "Nonetheless, I wonder if I might offer you a piece of parting advice?"

Don't make enemies, Alecto told herself. Her plans for Commenor had already been thrown into ruin by some meaningless Sith Lord on an Imperial backwater; Rhutizh could be a vastly greater threat if she gave him reason. She forced herself to say, "I'm in your debt, my lord, and open to your advice."

If there had been a smile, it was gone now; Alecto had seldom seen such gravity on Rhutizh's face. "You are in more danger than you know, Alecto. You are not yet twenty-nine, yet you sit at the right hand of an Overlord and command even the attention of the Council of Five.  You have risen too far, too fast, and it is beginning to show."

Alecto crossed her arms again. "Jealous?"

"I? No.  Others?  Yes.  And you are ill-equipped to deal with the results of their jealousy."

"My brethren—"

"Your Anzati are capable assassins, but they are no match for Sith Lords if it comes to the contest, and they are so used to being hunters that I suspect they would rarely suspect being hunted themselves. Everything you have is fragile, Alecto; all you have built here is glass that will shatter with a hard enough blow."

The dark side gnashed its teeth within her at the prospect, and she snapped, "Come to the point."

"You think your isolation protects you, when in fact it makes you more vulnerable. Your skills have become legend, Alecto, but legend serves only a being like Lord Ko, who can afford never to be seen.  You must be known.  You were unaware of the victory at Eriadu until Darth Hokhtan told you—why?" When Alecto did not respond, he said, "You rely on me for intelligence, but what if the next lord in my seat is not so indulgent of you as I?"

"The next lord?" asked Alecto. "Are you going somewhere?"

She saw just a hint of tightness around Rhutizh's eyes before he smoothed it away and waved a hand. "I was making a point. For all your accomplishments and fame, you have precious few contacts in the military, intelligence, or other Sith Lords' service, and without beings to respect and support you, you isolate yourself and make yourself disposable.  Hokhtan and I served the better parts of our lives to sit at Darth Saleej's side; you occupy that same seat less than four years after your anointing, and resentment of that accomplishment is growing.  I suspect you know some of what I speak."

Alecto's mind went to Targere, who had bribed Kai Latra to betray her. She walled off her thoughts lest Rhutizh catch them; she had her arrangement with Kai Latra, but she had to play that very carefully, and if Rhutizh didn't know, she certainly wasn't going to hand it to him. She nodded.

"You do not know them all, nor is it in my interest to catalogue them for you. You have the wit to counter these threats, but only if you have the wisdom to see them."

Taking a deep breath, separating herself from her emotions, she asked, "What do you advise, Lord Rhutizh?"

"Make contacts in other fields, and quickly. Do not isolate yourself on Lisal or Anzat; no fortress you can build will protect you forever.  Make your presence felt aboard the Unquenchable Fire and throughout the fleet—command the respect of Imperial officers and agents.  And do not trust the Council's law to shield you forever and against all enemies; the Furies' wrath may be terrible, but it can only be unleashed if an offense becomes known.  Do you take my meaning, my lady?"

"…I take your meaning, my lord."

Rhutizh gave her a bow. "Then I will leave you. Your minions will have found no enemies approaching; as I said, I came here alone."

Musing on his advice, Alecto asked, "Does Darth Hokhtan know what Basrasht is planning?"

Rhutizh slowed by the door; Alecto caught up to walk at his side before he continued. "He does not; I have informed his servant most able to address the issue, which is all he would do. I leave the matter in your hands; deal with it as you see fit."

Rhutizh raised his hood, and they walked back toward the shuttle in silence; Alecto wasn't going to call off her perimeter guard until she saw the glow of Hokhtan's engines vanish into the night sky. When the boarding ramp lowered and he turned to face her, he said, "The Five guide you, Alecto."

"And the Force serve you well, Rhutizh…"

"Some last thing you would ask of me?" he suggested.

She narrowed her eyes. "You've suggested I shouldn't trust anyone's motives. Why should I trust you?"

Even in the darkness, she saw the flicker of a smile this time. "It is for you to determine whether you trust me—or anyone else. But I'm pleased you're asking the right question.  Good evening to you, my lady."

And with that he turned away into his shuttle, but when at last its glow disappeared among the stars above, Alecto still stood in thought, alone in the dark.