CHAPTER TWO
Jacen had absolutely no idea how fast he was falling. The moment he had jumped off the gunship, he immediately felt all sense of motion leave him, as if he was falling through nothing but endless space. After a few minutes, he was at least able to regather his self-awareness.
On both sides, Jacen could see Krotan and his men unloading their package of grenades on what appeared to be a Sith temple down below. At first, Jacen doubted the grenades would hit their target from this height. But he was soon proven wrong the moment explosions began to erupt.
Through his suit's comlink, Jacen could hear Jaron let out an excited yell, though it was soon cut short when an invisible hand seized the stormtrooper and began tossing him around in the air. Jacen reached out with his mind in order to save Jaron, but was caught off guard by a grenade flying back towards him. He dodged it in time, only for it to hit another stormtrooper, engulfing the soldier in flames.
Jacen cursed at himself. The Sith must have had prepared for this. He and the others had all prepared for such, but were still hoping to still have the element of surprise.
So much for that, he thought bitterly. Seeing that Korriban's sandy surface was becoming closer in sight, he unhooked his lightsaber hilt from his belt and readied himself in a landing stance.
"Bring them Kessel," Krotan had said. Although Jacen of course couldn't exactly give what the commander hand in mind, due to being a Jedi and having his morals, he could still at least give the Sith a rough day.
* * *
Darth Scythe was rather surprised at how well the other Sith Lords were holding up against their 'visitors'. True, the tomb of Marka Ragnos was beginning to crumble all around him anyway, but he had clearly prepared himself for that.
Only Xiana stood with him in the falling temple, but even she was beginning to become filled with the same terror and dread Scythe had sensed in the other Sith Lords.
"Father," Xiana said quietly, "are you sure about this? To die by being crushed and buried under rubble?"
Scythe glanced at her coldly. "If it means avoiding a foolish death at the hands of arrogant Jedi and soldiers? Then yes."
The young Lethan Twi'lek frowned at him. "But why? I simply don't understand..."
"If you wish to join Maleval and the others, be my guest," Scythe said bitterly. "But I do not expect that you will survive long out there."
Without turning to face her, the Twi'lek Sith Lord felt his daughter's stare upon him linger on, before she slowly walked out of the chamber.
Once she was gone, Scythe allowed himself a small smile. "They have no idea..."
He reached into his black cloak and pulled out a pyramidical shaped device. "If only they had stayed here and waited, we would have won by now."
He pressed a button on the object. "I suppose they will simply have to learn patience. It is what helped Emperor Palpatine succeed in his plans..."
The ground shook, although it was not because of the Jedi's attack.
"Until he too was blinded by arrogance."
* * *
Jacen came to a rough landing onto Korriban's sandy ground, but he quickly got back to his feet, an emerald blade emitting from his lightsaber hilt. Immediately, Sith warriors of all types of species charged towards him, twirling their blood-red colored lightsabers and hurling blasts of lightning.
As green clashed against red, Jacen noticed that Master Plun Kil and the others had also landed. While the Jedi Knights ignited their lightsabers, Commander Krotan and his men began unloading their heavy weapons onto the Sith.
Chaos filled the battlefield. Eleven stormtroopers and seven Jedi Knights pitted against nearly two dozen Sith warriors, with another twelve Sith Lords lingering behind their minions. One might have expected the Sith to have the upper-hand in the battle. However, to Jacen's realization, it seemed like the Sith were not expecting their enemies to survive their descent, thinking that throwing back their grenades would take out most of them.
Jacen smiled to himself. Once again, the Sith had been blinded by arrogance.
* * *
Just what went wrong?
Darth Scythe continued to ask himself this; even now, with the tomb of Marka Ragnos falling apart all around him. Just how did the empire founded by Ajunta Pall and his Dark Jedi fall into infighting? How did Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh's rivalry leave the Sith Empire in a worse state than Ragnos' rivalry with Simus did?
It was always stated that treachery was the way of the Sith. But since when? Besides the two coups that happened in the Old Sith Empire- against Molar-Am and Darth Andeddu respectively, both which were in reason- no Dark Lord of that empire had been overthrown. And even if there had been more, it clearly did not cause the same amount of infighting that Lord Ragnos' death caused, or what Darth Malak's death did to Revan's Sith Empire.
There had to be way to unify the Sith once and for all, and Scythe had what he needed to find that way. Perhaps it was best that he was going by himself; the others would likely just get in his way.
The rumbling beneath his feet ceased as an entrance in the stone floor opened, leading into an underground chamber. Darth Scythe swiftly moved down into the entrance just as the ceiling of the temple began to collapse.
Scythe briefly looked over his shoulder towards the blocked off exit that Xiana, Lord Maleval, and the other Sith had went though. He wondered about the various fates they could suffer out there. They could all die at the hands of the Galactic Alliance, or, even worse, they could act like cowards and either flee or surrender.
In the end, it didn't matter. Whichever fate awaited them, it would make it difficult to create a unified Sith Order. But he would still find a way around that situation.
Down in the underground chamber, Scythe found what he needed; a large device that he had discovered shortly after arriving on Korriban nine years ago. Manipulating the controls, he soon managed to activate a vast, blue portal in between the devices two, claw-like ends.
Taking a deep breath, Scythe leaped up into the portal and vanished into thin air.
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