EDITED 12/30/13 Slightly modified this in according to the changes I made for last chapter
CHAPTER NINE
Dark Lord. Sith Order.
The words seemed to hang in the air once Lysira Naris had spoken them. For a longtime, Jacen stared at her, only his eyes betraying the incredulity he felt.
"You're a Sith," he finally said, his voice no louder than a whisper.
"An aspiring one, yes," she said. "For so long have I been fascinated by the philosophies of the original Darth Revan, and only recently have I been able to...express my interest."
Jacen's eyes began to burn with the sort of anger he had been taught to restrain. "Why won't you go away?"
Lysira tilted her head. "I beg your pardon?"
He rolled his hands into fists, almost drawing blood from his palms. "Five thousand years," he murmured. "For over five thousand years have we been dealing with Sith. We thought they had been all defeated with Palpatine. We were wrong. We thought the same with Vorath. Apparently, we were still wrong."
"Clearly," Lysira said. "It just goes to show how strong they- we- are. No matter how many times we fall, we always rise again, stronger than before."
"Yet you never win," Jacen said, his voice surprisingly cold and calm. "So why bother at all?"
The Dark Lady was silent, as were her fellow Sith. Then, speaking rather quietly, she said, "Who says we seek the same thing as previous Sith?"
"About five thousand years worth of history."
"That was a rhetorical question," Lysira muttered. "I will have you know that we seek the same thing as the Dark Jedi Order: complete balance of the Force."
"Then why form a Sith order? What difference does it make?"
"Like I said, I was fascinated by Darth Revan's philosophies. There is more than you know that differentiates the Sith and Dark Jedi. Just because they both use the dark side of the Force does not mean they are the same."
Jacen relaxed a bit- not much- and then said, "How do I know you're not lying?"
"You will," she said. "If you joined us."
"Why should I?"
"You are the grandson of the Chosen One, who was a Dark Lord of the Sith, as well as a powerful Jedi Knight. We have studied the stars and have seen your destiny. You belong with us."
"You knew I would come to Serenno."
"We know how you think. We knew you would eventually."
Jacen sighed. He knew that there was no way out, other than risking his life to escape. But nonetheless, he said, "What if I don't want to join you?"
"You will have to eventually," she replied. "But you may meditate about it. In fact...."
She waved a hand and the handcuffs around his wrists immediately unlocked and clattered to the ground.
"I'm going to let you go and allow you to continue your journey. You may leave Serenno and go on to Umbara, or Ciutric IV, or wherever, and we won't follow you."
Jacen smirked. "I could just return to Ossus and warn the Jedi Council about your Sith Order."
"Yes, you could." Lysira inclined her head slightly. "But I know you won't."
Rising from the chair he had been restrained to, he stared at her coldly. "You know too much about me than I'm comfortable with."
Behind that mask of her's, Jacen knew that Lysira was smiling. "I know," she said.
Without another word, but an additional glare instead, Jacen turned and strode out of Count Valmar's palace, ignoring the lingering stares of the other Sith.
* * *
Wallen was in too much shock to even gasp.
Where one moment had stood Xemer, the Kel Dor lieutenant whom he had worked with for so long, had known ever since he was still working with Chief Detective Maxir, now stood a silver-armored warrior with emerald eyes glowing through a black visor.
Just like the Glorian they had encountered on Christophsis.
Just like the enemies they were currently waging war against.
When Wallen finally found his voice, it was in the form of a croak. "You're one of them."
"He certainly is," Salvan Tai said, a mirthless grin on his face. "He and I took part in the Battle of Rhand long before initiating our invasion on the galaxy.
"After our victory over the natives, the Emperor was quite impressed with Xemer's tactics that he decided to make him the first of our sleeper agents, to unknowingly work with the primary ones such as Versanus."
The Sakiyan's grin widened, becoming more wicked. "And what better place to put him but within Galactic Alliance Intelligence."
Wallen's eyed widened, his mouth falling agape. "All along, he's been-"
"Gathering intelligence for us to use," Salvan said, nodding. "Too bad he wasn't able to rise to the rank of director, thus delaying some of our plans."
Wallen turned his gaze to Xemer, who was staring back at him, devoid of any emotion.
"After all this time?" he said quietly.
"Since the beginning," was the reply.
Wallen hung his head, struggling to comprehend this revelation. He wasn't given the time, however, when Vejo, who had been standing near Salvan Tai, said, "Of course, we can't have him return to Coruscant with all of this knowledge."
The baron chuckled. "No, of course not. We have to make sure he keeps quiet."
Suddenly, the mansion's front door flew open and in strode a group of five mercenaries, led by a female Ubese. All of them were armed and had their weapons aimed at Wallen.
"Good afternoon, Viper," Salvan said to the Ubese. "I'm sure Azul Obez has told you what needs to be done."
"Certainly," the armored Ubese woman growled.
Wallen glared, looking back and forth between the newcomers and Vejo, who had also brought out his weapon.
"So you're going to kill me?" he said. "Did you really need six bounty hunters?"
Salvan laughed. "Heavens, no. You are far too valuable to die, knowing so much more than Xemer ever did. Just like I was your link to Black Sun, you are mine to the Galactic Alliance."
Wallen's eyes searched for something he could use to escape. He had his blaster, sure, but it would be useless against six, no doubt very skilled bounty hunters. And then there was Xemer....
His eyes locked onto the being that he could barely imagine was his his former lieutenant. He was the link, Salvan had said. If he or the Glorians got whatever intelligence he had- and he knew that they would somehow- it would mean victory for the Glorians.
Wordlessly, he brought out his blaster, prompting the bounty hunters to tense...and aimed it at his head.
"If my death means the galaxy gets to live a little bit longer," he said, "then so be it."
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, however, the door flew out again, this time being torn off its hinges, to let a white-armored being, a sword-wielding droid, and an uncertain number of others to barge in.
"Salvan Tai," the first one said. "You are relinquished of your title of baron."
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