A Reluctant Sith

Chap 16

The testing stand stood ten meters off the ground. All black. All metal. A large platform built out over many years from ship scraps. It allowed full engine testing without destroying the ship or anything around it.

While the droids ran through the long list of tests, Ahrie stood far off to the side, in a pile of fresh snow which had fallen over night. She looked up at the cloudless sky. Felt the faint heat of the sun on her face. Saw another Star Destroyer in geo-stationary orbit waiting the preparation of Sho's second ravine.

She tried to imagine the fear the first time anyone saw one of those above their world.

"Lady Tempus," whispered a voice Ahrie faintly recognized.

She looked across the half-kilometer of open, snow covered land between her and the outermost ships of Sho's bone yard. Nothing. No one.

"K'Ahrie of the Pu'Shah clan," it whispered again. "I'm here. Find me."

Ahrie took off in a run toward the bone yard. She knew where she was going. And she knew she would not like who she would find.

She reached the line of decaying hulks. Stopped underneath one as it sat up on its tall landing gear. Took off the boots she was wearing, knowing they would only hinder what was going to be required. Pulled off her overalls and walked on further into the crowd of relics and derelicts, wearing only a t-shirt and shorts, leaving foot prints in the fresh snow.

She wandered around, under, and in-between, randomly placed ship corpses until she came to a clearing. A large ship had recently occupied the space. Now melted down. The empty space waiting for its next tenant.

"Osaia!" Ahrie yelled. "I know you are here. Make yourself seen."

"Lady Tempus!" Osaia said as she approached the empty space from atop a relic on the other side of the clearing. She stood on the edge of the ship, ten meters in the air. In the black Sith robes Vader had given all the initial training and conditioning survivors. Except for Ahrie and a few others who had received more ornate, blood red robes, to set them apart. And create resentment and discontent amongst them.

Her hood was pulled back. She had always kept her black hair shoulder length. Her light purplish skin had a heavy pink hue. A common trait of the Tka'Nur clan.

"I'm glad to see you alive, Osaia," Ahrie said as she walked across the clearing. "Did your entire team survive?"

"We did. Our ship got ambushed by pirates before we ever reached our target, and by the time we destroyed our attackers, Sidious and Vader were dead. And we disappeared."

"Urteh? Urteh is alive?"

"K'Urteh Na'Rothar. Darth Dourus. My new lord and master. Has commanded me to find you and tell you that he orders you to appear before him. That you shall swear fealty to him. That you will stand by his side as he gathers the Empire's remnant to annihilate this new forming government before it is able to even have its first session of the Senate. That you will fight for him. Love him with all your heart. And die for him, if required."

Ahrie was stunned. Urteh was alive. Her mind raced. This would have been a great relief, but it appears he had not changed after the loss of Sidious and Vader. And he has dominated the others on his team, and who knows who else.

She poked into Osaia's mind.

"He does not respect you, Osaia. He only means to use you. And then discard you. He is worse than Vader ever was."

"Stop! Lord Dourus said you are not in your right mind. That the Alliance's corruption has made you a deceiver. A twister of words. That you would try to turn me against him." Osaia pulled a lightsaber from under her robe and threw it spinning to bury itself in the snow at Ahrie's feet.