The Rebel Faction

For the few moments when the power and will of the Sith Lord had flowed through his body, Ithron had experienced the sensation of having far more power than he could control flowing through his body. It was, quite literally, the case that without Lupercus controlling the moment, Ithron's mind would have been torn into pieces.

He looked around the room with his eyes, and then with the Force. He felt, as Lupercus had, the component atoms and molecules in every item in the hanger bay. He could see the walls and his ship. Beyond the walls he could sense the life force of a hundred workers in the Diktat. Suddenly, he felt an urge to break through the walls and take, by force, the life of the workers - to enrich his own. As he attempted to stagger forwards, the power left him, and everything went dim.

Ithron stumbled and fell to the floor; the Sith Lord not seeming to notice as he regained his breath and staggered to his feet. All he was left with now was his own Force abilities - such as they were - and a residual longing for the power he had felt.

Your 'friend' approaches...

He's right, Ithron thought. There is a fools' errand. Far more power could be mine, here. Hell, Vance probably knew we would end up here - he might have even planned this whole thing.

"These are not things that can be passed onto those who follow a united order? What about those who are the single Apprentice to a legendary Master?" He said out loud. As he spoke he felt around the room with the Force. Everything seemed so dim, so lifeless and so sterile now.

"If Mira's on her way, I should leave." He sounded uncertain.

Why should I help her on Korriban? She fled our duel - I won. I should have destroyed her.

As the Master's voice trailed away, the thought struck Ithron that his entire future depended on what he did next. On the one hand was Vance, and the ordered but limited Sith Order of Xa Fel. On the other was Lupercus, offering raw, unlimited, power.

Ithron paused, and he sensed a flicker in the Force signature of the Master that indicated his time for decision was running out. Thinking back to how he had seen the world in that moment Lupercus shared his power, he realised he had made his decision. Seduced by the appeal of raw power, Ithron dropped to a knee and bowed his head before the Diktator of the Correlian Diktat, Sith Master Lupercus Darksword.

"Yes, Master..."

* * *

Minutes later, the Sith Vessel was airborne and flying over the streets of Coruscant.

Now to find Mira, and then....to Korriban

Ishara's appearance was not surprising following Lupercus's meeting with the young Sith. He smiled at her approach, sensing the unease she had with what had just taken place.

"Yes, your sisters have a vital role to play in the next steps of this grand game."

He smiled to himself.

"But Ithron? Trust is not essential. He has the hunger. That is what counts and i can feel it burning strong. Trust is what Vance wants, Power is what i need, and offer to those who follow me."

His smile turned to Ishara now as they walked.

"As you and your sisters will soon see!"

Lupercus couldn't help but smile at the honorific the Nightsisters had bestowed upon him. Despite all the pomp and circumstance he had come to enjoy as the Corellian Diktator, he only ever enjoy those that had some sort of grounding in reality. Still, since assuming the role of patriarch of their order, the titles they had given him had begun to take on a certain gravity and momentum.

He ignored the touch to his cheek, such an act was indicative of an attempt to wrest some power and control from the situation, something Lupercus was unwilling to give into on anothers terms. At least in this instance.

However the reports on her sisters were vital also.

"Excellent. Soon everything shall be in place."

As they stopped Lupercus couldn't help but smirk his predatory grin at her question. The woman oozed sex, and obviously knew it. He was sure that she had used herself to her own advantage many a time, preying on the weaknesses of lesser men. And despite not being a lesser man, the Sith Lord could not deny his desire, and the fact that he did indeed hold that weakness.

"Any instructions you say?"

He couldn't help taking the opportunity to look Ishara up and down.

"Meditate on the importance of desire, of the hunger. Learn to channel that energy into seizing that which you want for yourself."

With a cryptic smile the Hapan Prince made his way back to his chambers.

Events of the past few days flowed slowly through his mind, like a river. First emerging as visions and memories, before turning into thoughts and feelings. There was nothing else he could do at the moment, but sit there in the small Cafe. Why he was there, he could not be sure, though over the past days, Ben had learned once more to not question the hints he received through the force.

He had meditated about Mira and where to find her, while resting and getting treated on the Galactic Coalition planet of Varn. It was there that he had taken a family of refugees after Telos. After getting out of the sewer, Ben had made the choice to help those children that he had met earlier. He offered to take them and their family off the planet and to some place safe. For the sake of their children, both parents had agreed and even quickly helped Ben to apply some Bacta patches on his burned and punctured torso.

The closest safe planet had been Varn and Ben set a course for it. Upon arrival, each one of them were taken to the small hospital facility and looked after. Out of the four, Ben had been the worse off. The doctor had let him know that his spleen had ruptured, but thankfully had been cauterized by the lightsaber, preventing internal bleeding. Not only that, part of his liver had been severed as well and he received a whole host of infections from the sewer incident.

A quick treatment had fixed Ben for the most part, but he had still been fairly weak and the doctors had ordered him to rest. A day of meditation had been strengthened Ben to the point that he could leave on his own, after thanking of medical staff of course. It was also during this meditation that Ben was pointed to the planet of Coruscant. He had never been there before, but when he asked his mind where Mira could be found, he got that planet as an answer. With nothing else to go on, Ben set course for Coruscant.

Here he now sat on this busy lively planet that never slept and was forever in motion. Ben had never seen so many people before in his life. Everywhere he went there were crowds of people hurrying to and from work. It all amazed him, there was so much life here, yet when he opened up completely to the force, there was also pain and suffering and anger. Most of these feelings swelled up from down below, perhaps in the undercity, but it was not just there.

On the planet he had walked with his eyes half closed, seeing only through the force. Ben let it guide him completely and finally on certain streets and walkways, he felt her. He would never forget the presence of that woman. Darkness followed her wherever she went and it had giver her away. Mira was on the planet, he knew it. The only problem was finding her among the billions upon billions of other that inhabited it.

Once more he had led the force lead him and it had shown him a path to this cafe. Here he had taken a seat and wondered about his past and the events that had transpired before. The force had stopped guiding him, so Ben decided to sit here and wait, how long he was not sure, but he had to be patient.

This patience was rewarded when a woman walked into the room. Ben could instantly tell it was her, but tried to not react. This woman was the only one in the room with almost no force signature, she was almost completely closed off. Her trick, while hiding her, had also backfired, exposing her as a force user.

She recognized Ben as well, instantly. With a small smile of satisfaction, Ben watched as she bolted from the cafe. This was a little surprising to him. Why would she run away? She had almost killed him not long before, so why be afraid now? Could there be most to this? Nothing was definitely hidden from him.

Ben made his way through the crowd and out into the open, just in time to see Mira jump over the walkway railing. He rushed towards it and saw her land confidently on top of a speeder. What happened next shocked him to the bone. Mira grabbed the driver and without a second thought toss him off into the darkness below.

He gripped the railing as hard as he could, knowing he could not follow her that way. There must be another way to find out where she was headed, however. Ben turned to walk away, thinking that he needed to find a quiet room to meditate, when he saw it. The answer to his questions. It was a holocam hanging from a surveillance post.

With another smile, Ben plucked the commlink from his belt and dialed up law enforcement.