Not wanting to go with Zell in what was shaping up to be a trip down memory lane, Hyfe held up his hand, "Xa Fel has fallen."
Zell was chuckling, "Remember that time when...."
His voice trailed off as the Emperor's words finally registered and the old man's face clouded, "What the fuck?! Was there a distress signal? What is the High Command doing about it?"
Hyfe shook his head, "Not quite. I feel a presence and one that is not Vicirus..."
Inquisitor del Forza leaves for Xa Fel to take measure of Sith conqueror
Xa Fel
Lord Silk, self proclaimed Dark Lord of the Sith, stalked the halls of the rebuilt temple.
The sound of driving rain and blowing wind preceeded him its source evident as he passed a crew of masons working on a section of the temple still exposed to the harsh elements. In the past year much had changed.
As he passed the workers paused in their work. Bowing, they averted their eyes.
Rounding a winding stair well, narrow and perilously steep, the new master of Xa Fel descended in to the dimly lit darkness.
"Sire."
A voice, jagged like the ice cliffs of Hoth, sounded from above. Moments later the sound of rapid footfalls joined. Coming quickly down the stairs behind Silk appeared a swiftly moving figure. Vaguely humanoid, commonly described as 'near human' by the galactic community, it was male, about five and a half feet tall and his face a road map of sores, scabs and scars. Deep purple robes swirled behind him threatening at every step to send him tumbling down the treacherous stone stairs.
"My lord," greeted the figure hastily. "They have arrived."
Only a year ago Xa Fel was a very different planet...
Once home to the powerful Sith Order the arrival and subsequent invasion by the Palestar Crusade had set in motion a series of events which would see the stewardship of Xa Fel change hands. History would tell its own story, would explain the motivations of the initial attack through terms of logistics, power and assets. Incorrectly documented few, save those students and masters of the Force directly involved, would properly understand the reason for the blitzkrieg attack. Truthfully it had been conceived by the master of that crusade, Dacian Palestar, as the first in a series of lightning attacks spread across the galaxy not, as some assumed, to usurp the throne of Sith power nor to unseat the Sith hierarchy but simply to throw in to chaos all the preconceived notions that Palestar operated according to any traditional paradigm. They came, they attacked brutally and they withdrew.
The result of that attack was devastating and saw the destruction of the Sith temple. Many members of the Sith Order perished - notably Darth Necros and Darth Vicirus among a swath of students, acolytes and menials. It unleashed powers not seen in millenia and introduced a medieval form of warfare long forgotten. During that clash two force-wielding titans met in battle; Dioan Silk and Lupercus Darksword. Though the details of that conflict would remain mysterious, eluding notation due to the isolated nature of their confrontation, it was then that Silk was wounded... almost mortally so. And though Silk would survive his injuries he would come away from it a changed man.
Soon after the withdrawal of the crusader forces the Sith Order began to crumble. Its key members, those left alive, abandoning the planet and ruined temple leaving only a skeleton number of loyalists behind and it would be to this nearly deserted place that Silk returned some time later.
In his travels, en route to Xa Fel, Silk endured a number of experiences which continued to shift his understanding of the force, of his purpose and of life in general. He would also discover and recruit in to his fold new powers in the form of materiel, bodies and knowledge.
(Crimson Tides: I Am Become)
With his newfound assets and strengths Xa Fel could not hope to resist his return. His motivation, similarly thorough, for returning to Xa Fel instilled in him an unwavering desire to complete what the crusade had started - to capture and possess the once homestead of the Sith Order.
There had been resistance but not on any level comparable to that met by the crusaders during their first attack. In fact the largest resistance force was not mounted by the Sith, nor by the Empire but by the local population. Outnumbered and out-gunned the native Xa Fel had mounted a counter strike against Silks forces and in one of lifes ironic twists it was not out of any misplaced faith in the vanquished Sith but in the hope of reclaiming the planet for themselves as independence had eluded them since Kuat Drive Yards took possession of the planet under the Old Republic and established it as a manufacturing centre for their starship production facilities. They were a downtrodden people. Through decades of environmental genocide at the hands of KDY their planet, once a lush bloom of life, was turned to an irradiated, toxic wasteland and the people suffered.
With the Sith gone, or near to it, the people of Xa Fel seized the opportunity and they would not be easily swayed.
At first content to let Silk establish a beachhead at the crumbling temple, they watched from the shadows as his forces set out to secure the Sith holdings in a series of bloody but brief battles. They knew their chances of opposing the splinter crusaders were slim at best and instead turned their hopes and prayers towards the dream that Silk would be content with raiding the ruins of the temple, perhaps establish a small garrison, and move on. Within the first months, Silk continuing to land more and more of his forces and expand his territory outward from the temple accordingly, they saw the hopeless dawn looming ahead.
To fight such overwhelmingly superior forces the leaders of the Xa Fel opposition knew that they could not face Silks forces in open combat and would in fact have to avoid such an eventuality at any cost. The only option open to them was terrorism, to become radical fighters and establish cells of warriors disguised as civilians.
Here Silk was given to credit the Xa Fel saying, "These scabbed and puss ridden creatures, they are a bigger more sore thorn in my side then even the remaining Sith have been."
They were known to strap explosives to their chests and throw themselves at the invaders, to blow themselves to pieces in the hope of taking with them as many hapless crusaders as the opportunity presented. They employed sabotage and conducted rebellious riots. Captured goods, guns and more, were turned against the crusaders. The people spat at patrols when they passed, small children throwing rocks.
It would have worked too, had Silk not been the amoral monster that he was. Exasperated with their resilience Silk passed down an order of genocide - he would wipe the planet clean of their continued nuisance. However, before the order could be put in to action a trio of surviving Sith acolytes, long thought destroyed, emerged from hiding not to attack the crusader forces but seeking parley with their leader, Lord Silk.
These young men, nearly starved and suffering various ailments as a result of their forced exile, pleaded with Silk for their lives. The disinterested Silk would have none of it, protesting that they had nothing to bargain with and giving them the death sentence instead. Hasty in his wrath Silk almost missed his chance to quell the uprising and further supplement his forces.
The reason for his distraction was one of micro management. Since returning to Xa Fel he had become distanced from his meditations and as such his clarity of vision faltered, the force - having become his guiding light - failed him. In his dealings with the terrorist Xa Fel, in his struggles to excavate the ruins of the temple and organise his forces on the planet, not to mention petitions from elements of the Crusade proper that he should return to home space and again add his strength to theirs, Silk had become consumed with the duties of establishing rule on the planet. The dark side had guided him to Xa Fel, it had provided him a host of new facets, and in his gluttony he had turned his back on its guiding hand.
Due to be put to death with the sun rise, before the Sith captives were taken from their cells, news of galactic war came across the holo-net. Across the sectors in various territories war had broken out and it was not the mundane, cold war boarder conflicts that had prevailed for decades. Though details were sketchy at best it was enough to give Silk pause. Ordering a stay of execution and a hold on his genocidal command, Silk returned to his ship (which had been orbiting the planet since his return) the Sith Lord went in to seclusion in his focusing chamber. For two standard days he remained in isolation emerging with a sense of direction once more.
Summoning the captured acolytes to the Crimson Emperor Silk allowed the men to make their offer.
"Your arrival is not coincidental," Silk had spoken. From upon a platform raised on one of the many flight decks, his captives kneeling before him, he looked upon their beaten yet resolute faces. "Had you come forward a day earlier you three would be dead men now."
"Xa Fel is mine," he proclaimed. "I claim it as my own and will do with it as I please. For some time now I have thought my dominance a certainty. The meager opposition I have encountered here has been nothing but an annoyance and in dealing with such miniscule concerns I allowed my sight to become limited."
"The force has corrected that vision. Beyond this star system events are being put in to motion that will forever alter the face of the galaxy. My eyes must always look beyond the simplicity of planetary dominance, of quelling rebellion and countering the likes of yourselves. Count your blessings, you three, as I have decided to allow you a chance, albeit a small one, to save your own lives."
"You came to me of your own free will, which is brave but foolish. You plead for your lives which is cowardly but wise. I offer you this chance; make some use of yourselves to me and I shall let you live... for now."
At that the three had shared glances between themselves, nodding at length to the eldest among them. It was he who then spoke, "Lord Silk, spare us and we will end the rebellious ways of the natives."
Silk had shrugged, not impressed. "What use is that to me? I could just as easily see them obliterated."
"Yes," the eldest had agreed. "You could do that, or you could allow us the chance to... redeem them. You have many soldiers, many ships, many demands upon you. Would it not be easier if the people of Xa Fel were willing subjects? Under your rule they could be put to great use."
Silk smiled, it was neither a warm nor welcoming smile but it spread his lips none the less. "Yes. Fine then, I will allow you this chance. But know this - betray me, try to elude my forces, and I will take it as a personal affront. I will find you myself and you three will share a fate far worse then death."
"As you command, Lord Silk. As a further demonstration of our loyalty I offer you this bit of news. Upon your arrival on Xa Fel we and others like us, now dead or... we were to send word to the last leader of the Order. Whether or not that alert was sent, we do not know but..."
"But," Silk interrupted. "You know who has taken up the reigns of power. Tell me."
"She is called Darth Skygge and there is more."
He gestured, "Go on."
"We heard rumours that Lord Jas, Darth Vicirus had returned and taken with him..."
"Enough," Silk cut in. "I will hear the rest of your story, in private."
Not long after that fateful meeting Silk had dispatched the trio along with a contingent of Crow spies to deal with the Xa Fel. The brotherhood of the crimson cloth, knowing Silk as no other, knew that the outcome would be assured. They had felt him drawing on their strength during those days of secluded meditation and had felt the shift in his resolve. It seemed a foregone conclusion that the force had given him visions of the future, or of a future - one of his manifestation. They saw it in his actions as well, the way he had handled the captives with such assurance and in the amount of freedom he had allowed them to carry out their sworn duty.
The Xa Fel changed noticeably over the following weeks. Small groups of the aliens came and went from the crusader camp, meetings between Silk and their leadership took place in secrecy. The content of those meetings remained a secret shared between only the upper ecshlons of both hierarchal structures. Within approximately a months time subsequent the attacks had stopped completely. Soon Silk was providing the Xa Fel aid, medical supplies and food being shipped from his holdings and in exchange they began working for him. And the first project he commissioned was the rebuilding of the Sith temple which he renamed in honour of the faith - Temple of the Unspoken.
Slowly he began to delineate responsibility, allowing his trusted minions, servants and brothers to take on burdens of their own and in this way unburden himself. His trusted brother, known only as Nocturne, took command of the Crimson Emperor and with it the security of the space around the planet and with the military responsibilities shared General Nocturne began instituting changes which would further optimise Silks forces in to something resembling a standing army and space-navy. Xoverus too would become one of his trusted governors and by ruling the faith it became his task to spread the religion to the people of Xa Fel which, alongside much needed medicines, they took with great fervour and as their sores slowly diminished their faith grew exponentially. The Crone too would take on chores of her own further alleviating Silks need to control everything himself.
As the Temple of the Unspoken grew up from the rubble of the Sith temple so too did a make-shift city of sorts. Workers, Xa Fel natives, were called from far and wide to the construction effort. Conditions were poor at best, the workers practically slaves (though increasingly willing in the endeavour as their faith grew ever stronger) and perished in great number but for all their losses the temple, with the assistance of modern technology and force-trained overseers (members of his crew being reassigned to oversee the labourers) the effort moved along swimmingly.
Time wore on, the rest of the year passing without significant event, while the Crusade continued its push in to the Onyxian Sector. Requests for assistance were ignored, pleas for help dismissed and only the command of Dacian Palestar was significant enough to draw Silks attention. Considerable in substance, Palestars words were enough to convince Silk to leave the planet for a time and meet with the young conqueror in person.
They discussed much and with Silks leaving the forces of the crusade proper did not again attempt to contact him. It seemed obvious to Silks people that some sort of an accord or deal had been hatched though the substance of it was never revealed. Only a piece of their conversation was overheard by one of the crimson brotherhood upon being allowed entrance to their private discussions only moments previous to Silks departure.
"You will need food, supplies, forces," Dacian was saying flatly.
"We have enough to last until they come for us, and they will." Silk was rising from his chair as he spoke, sharing a last moment with Palestar - one that smacked of the old student/teacher dynamic (though which was which remained debatable).
"That is it then." Dacian Palestar looked as though he wanted it to be a question but his tone left no doubt; it was a statement and a final one at that.
"It is. May the force be with you, Dacian," Silk spoke as he left.
"And with you," replied Palestar. "And with you."
And so, over the year that elapsed between Silks possession of Xa Fel and the day, in the stairwell, that one of his subjects caught up with him short of breath, much had indeed changed. And as they had changed, they continued to change. Silks forces did not fly the flag of the Crusade any longer nor did they fly any flag.
"They have arrived," Silk echoed the words of the purple robed Xa Fel. They continued down the stairs, Silk commanding, "Order my orbital forces to stand ready but not to engage them until I have made contact."
His curiosity got the best of him, the Xa Fel speaking out of turn. "My Lord, you said they would come and they have but..."
Silk paused sharing a vague look of displeasure over his shoulder, "But?"
"Who are they, sire? Are they the Sith, returned to fight? The Crusade?" His fear was palatable. The Xa Fel did not fancy the idea of another change of power, they had come to cling to the faith which bound them to Silk. "Who are they?"
Laughing softly, Silk turned a corner towards the old library (which had been recovered with some texts at great expense of man and material) saying, "They are the Empire and they want to know if we are their enemies, or their friends."
