The Knight, Death, and the Devil

Chapter 34: Third Time's The Charm

Vathamma's shuttle neared the surface of Rakata Prime, setting down on one of the few remaining landing pads near an ancient temple overlooking the ocean—though it wasn't a temple so much as a ruin. Half of the central structure had sheared clean off, leaving the innards of the building visible from the exterior. Much of it had fallen into the canyon below, damming up the ocean inlet and reducing the flow of water downstream to a trickle. All around the cliffside surrounding the temple fires still raged, destroyed droids and wrecked barricades littering the grasslands in a trail of destruction that led to the temple's collapsed archway.

The shuttle set down and Vathamma walked down the ramp towards the stone ruin, flanked by helmeted guards in black armor with heavy carbines at the ready. A figure emerged from the wreckage up ahead, and the guards pointed their weapons at him before Vathamma raised a steadying hand. Cipher Nine walked towards her, the Chiss' blue skin covered in soot and his formerly-pristine black hair a mess.

"Darth Crucia," he called out, standing tall as they walked towards each other. "I tried to send word—"

She reached out and lifted him into the air, then tossed him against a barricade. Before he could rise, the guards beside Vathamma rushed over and struck him with their rifles, then pulled him to his knees.

"Why is it that I have to plant a tracker on your ship to find out where you're going?" Vathamma stopped in front of him and looked over at the ruined temple. "And why do I suspect that my Apprentice didnt escape without help—and that he never removedhis tracker at all?"

"I couldn't come to you. I didn't yet know who I could trust."

"I don't care if you trust me—you work for me. Now, where is my Apprentice?"

The agent swallowed. "There was never a tracker on your Apprentice—only on the Codex."

Her mouth turned down into a scowl. "Then why get him involved in this?"

"There is a vast conspiracy at work, and your Apprentice has become part of it. I needed him to lead me to their hideout."

"Whose hideout?"

"The Revanites."

She laughed. "That cult of navel-gazing fools? You'll have to do better than that."

"He's real!" Cipher Nine shouted. "Revan is alive, and leading them!"

Vathamma snapped her fingers and one of the guards struck the Chiss in the head with the butt of his rifle. The agent grunted and wobbled back and forth, nearly laid low by the blow.

"If you truly believe that, then you're more stupid than I thought."

He took a moment to recover his senses, then looked up at her. "They have agents everywhere—in the highest echelons of both Empire and Republic. That was why I couldn't come to you."

"Traitors at the highest level of Imperial government?" She stroked her chin and nodded thoughtfully. "Now that, I can believe." She held her hand out to one of her soldiers, who passed her a datapad from his belt. She knelt down and held it in front of Cipher Nine, showing him the video playing on screen.

Cipher Nine, along with a bald, pale-skinned Rattataki woman, ducked behind cover on the stone roof of the temple as they received fire from an unseen assailant. A red-skinned Sith stalked towards them, lightsaber in hand, but was forced to turn and block blaster fire from another source off-screen. A figure leapt in from the other direction, driving her red saber through the man's back. The video paused, qjd Vathamma zoomed in on the pair. Pictured clear as day was Lana Beniko, her lightsaber stabbed through the heart of her stunned superior—Darth Arkous.