It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Vendetta I: The Tuk'ata's Den is the twenty-eighth installment the Untitled New Sith Wars series by Sakaros and the first installment of The Vendetta Trilogy. Darth Alecto and her disciples return to her alma mater, the Sith academy on Korriban, where friends and enemies alike await.
Opening Crawl[]
Excerpt[]
| Source: Vendetta I: The Tuk'ata's Den | Attribution: Sakaros |
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Shakelli charged without warning, sweeping a ferocious sai tok at waist level, but Alecto backstepped into a crouch, then sprang and rolled under it. Shakelli managed to jerk his ankle away from her rolling cut, and even deflected her stab at the small of his back when she was still rising, but Alecto disengaged and stabbed for his abdomen just past the emitter of his lightsaber. He fell back into an ungainly defense as Alecto unleashed a chaotic Juyo onslaught; she almost tagged one of his handsome cheeks, but when he swatted the blow away, she reversed and dragged the terzo of her blade down his arm from wrist to elbow. "Argh!" He thrust out a hand, and Alecto flew back, but the Force righted her in midair and she turned it into a backflip. Holding his lightsaber in the shaking hand of his burned arm, Shakelli thrust his other hand at her, but though Alecto sensed the depth of his rage, nothing happened. She laughed at him again. "Only half-engorged with the dark side still? Here, let me demonstrate." She leveled the fingers of her own left hand at him, and the Force obeyed her where it failed him. Blue-white bolts of lightning sprang from her fingertips; he caught most of them on his blade, but though she was just toying with him and not putting enough fire into the attack to knock him down, a couple bolts snuck past his one-handed guard and sent spasms down his arm. He clamped his teeth shut, but Alecto heard him hiss. Still chuckling, she disengaged her lightsaber, shifted it back up to maximum intensity, and clipped it to her belt, but Shakelli pointed his at her. "Again." "Nah, I'm bored." She wondered if that would be a bridge too far for his ego, and kept one door into her heart open in case she needed to really level him. She could conjure Force lightning on command, but in the secret heart she showed to no one else—a place where the indignities and suffering of her upbringing and training had made space months before for the ghost of Nevya Khiyali—Alecto had enough fury to bring a rancor to its knees. She had zapped Shakelli mostly to needle him, but that kind of endless hate could put him in a hoverchair for the rest of his life. She had just enough time to realize she hoped he would try it before he mastered his temper and deactivated his lightsaber. Alecto turned her back on him as she went to retrieve her tunic, but her heart's flames had already burned her good humor to ash. Shakelli was an anointed Sith Lord too, and Alecto had already tempted fate by killing one fellow Sith; she would never be forgiven for striking down another, especially her master's former apprentice. She knew better than that, and yet that need to hurt someone—to vent her endless grief and wrath on somebody—was getting stronger, not fading. I'm a Sith Lord; I'm better than this. She had to be—mastery of the dark side walked within arm's reach of being mastered by it, and those the dark side mastered, it also devoured. And if Alecto got herself executed for the passing, petty satisfaction of maiming a fellow Sith, she would never have the real satisfaction of vengeance. | |
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Appearances[]
| Characters | Creatures | Droid models | Events | Locations |
| Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
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Creatures
Droid models
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Locations
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Weapons and technology
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Miscellanea
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Plot Summary[]
On Korriban, Sith students Roanna Gascon and Noth Kinn enjoy a brief moment together in the Valley of the Dark Lords, away from the constant need to be on guard against betrayal or manipulation within the walls of the Korriban Academy.
After defeating Darth Shakelli in a sparring match, Darth Alecto asks his advice on tactically handling an enemy as she seeks any possible advantage in her vendetta against Nawsa Arodion. While Darth Hokhtan warns her about letting her quest become too personal and cloud her judgment, the Sith Lord Targere feels out Shakelli for involvement in a conspiracy he, his chief subordinate Karibadi, and fellow lord Ta'azin are forming against Alecto. Targere concludes that Shakelli can not be recruited, but can be used.
The Brotherhood of Shadows, having completed its assessment and information-gathering regarding Arodion, moves on to the planning phase; Alecto leaves Zeff Rogu and Shrizzzqadl on Anzat to assist. She decides to return to the Korriban Academy, her own alma mater, to research ways to defeat a more powerful foe; she takes Zurgharjhen, Dolre Thyle, fellow alum Crile Craetor, and the Anzat Dekkia Laytrok with her, leaving Lukurt Kreen in command on Lisal. Even as she is making her own plans, Darth Hokhtan departs the Unquenchable Fire to visit the Council of Five.
On Korriban, Alecto is welcomed back by her old flame Laruc Sable, while Headmaster Nattero Chonin permits her to examine the Academy library in exchange for teaching some of her skills to his students. The librarian, a powerful Sith Lord named Zaad Roes, is less accommodating, and clearly views Alecto as a trespasser in her territory, even though her Acolyte, Freyr Sai'Rusan, is attracted to Alecto. Meanwhile, Crile introduces Dolre and Zurgharjhen to the Academy, particularly the Tuk'ata's Den—an unofficial fighting ring where students challenge one another to duels for prestige. Noth and his unofficial master, Lord Sheerlin Isoka, try to contain Roanna's fury at Crile's return—after he left her for another student, she challenged him to the Tuk'ata's Den, where he cut off her hand.
After a few fruitless days of research, trying to break through Zaad's web of telepathic intrusion in the library, Alecto hides herself in the Force and discovers a clue pointing to the shyrack cave in the Valley of the Dark Lords. She, Zurgharjhen, and Dekkia find the evidence of an ancient duel there, but as Alecto realizes she needs a datacron missing from the library, Dorle tries to disrupt a growing argument between Noth and Crile, and winds up accepting a challenge from Noth himself. Alecto is furious, but decides to manipulate circumstances to her advantage; Laruc agrees to arrange a staff meeting, pulling Isoka away from the duel and giving Dolre a fair fight.
The night of the duel, with all the staff—including Zaad—in the meeting, Alecto seduces Freyr, who reveals that Rhutizh'chal'safan, now Sith Overlord of Intelligence, has the datacron. Noth cuts off Dolre's sword arm, but Dolre turns the tables by shapeshifting into Roanna and, in Noth's second of hesitation, Dolre kills him. Isoka attempts to avenge his student, but Alecto challenges him to a duel in the Den and kills him, then feeds Roanna to Dekkia.
Alecto and Laruc talk as she prepares to leave Korriban; each has been manipulating the other, and though both got what they wanted and wonder what they might accomplish if they truly trusted one another, Alecto does not trust him completely. Following up on Freyr's tip, she sends her servants back to Lisal in the Scourge, but stows away aboard a freighter bound out of the Academy. When Dekkia, Crile, Dolre, and Zurgharjhen get back to Lisal, they are appalled to discover the planet under blockade, and a coded warning from Rosyit and Rhyna that a warrant has been issued to detain Alecto for complicity in the assassination of Darth Hokhtan.
Behind the Scenes[]
Shout-outs include:
- Alecto needles Darth Shakelli, "I thought you preferred a straight fight to all the sneaking around," a nod to Han Solo's similar line in A New Hope.
- Alecto describes the Korriban Academy to Rhyna as "soup, soup everywhere, nor any luck to drink", referencing the famous line, "Water, water everywhere / nor any drop to drink" from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
- A line close to Nattero Chonin's comment to Alecto and Laruc ("We mustn't linger in doorways. It's rude.") was originally delivered by Ursula to Ariel in The Little Mermaid. His speech pattern (replacing hard Cs with Ks), though obviously informed by Admiral Trench, was inspired by Ultimecia in Final Fantasy VIII.
- Dekkia thinks of Zurgharjhen as a "walking carpet", a term Leia Organa used for Chewbacca.
- Laruc's description of attacks by "lesser" enemies—"Most of our enemies are beneath us. The problem is, that positions them well to sink their fangs into our heels even as we step on them."—comes from the arms of the Monstresors and their motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit", in "The Cask of Amontillado".
- The way the Massassi statues seem to follow Alecto's disciples with their eyes in the alchemy corridor was inspired by the demon statues in the River of Flame in Diablo II.
With the mention of Hiri Vey, The Tuk'ata's Den is the first UNSWS installment in which all seven Sith Overlords are mentioned by name.
Laruc Sable's comment about Freyr Sai'Rusan that he "never did catch his homeworld" is an in-joke; the Hamadryas have not been given a canonical or Legendary homeworld.
| The Vendetta Trilogy The Tuk'ata's Den | Felinx and Rodus | The Void |