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The crew was silent, and there was an air of greiving for their dead lord. Girthious was Sith, and they all new that the Sith were supposed to be evil, but there was something different about him. At times he was often more benevolent, than malevolent. Only Roccus knew this all too well. For him, Girthious was more than his master, more than a Sith Lord. For Roccus, Girthious had been like a father. He had taken Roccus in and trained him since early childhood, and Roccus had never even thought of rising against him to assume Girthious' place as Sith Lord, though it was the Sith way. It made Roccus wonder, were they truly Sith? He had learned the Sith arts from Girthious, but never did he learn doctrine. He knew from studying history that the almost every time the Sith were mentioned, it was because they either ruled the galaxy or came close to it. Yet Girthious had never talked of a plot to take over the galaxy or even to destroy the Jedi. He had learned to hate the Jedi, though. Many times in his past he and Girthious had warded off Jedi attackers, who assumed merely because they had the title of Sith that they were hatching an elaborate plot of galactic domination. And now, Girthious was dead. According to Sith doctrine, Roccus should be happy, for his ascension to master was made all the easier from Girthious' timely demise. He had sustained a slashing blow that cut from his left shoulder all the across his chest diagonally when he tried to save Girthious, but his grief ran deeper than any superficial scar or wound could possibly go. Now he was seated in his command chair on the bridge of the (forgot name, will add later), a Valivarre-class Megan Space Corps cruiser. He turned to the comm station.

"Ensign, activate the internal comm channel."

"Done, my lord."

"Thank you." Roccus turned back and spoke into a reciever on the arm of his chair. "All hands, the is Lord Roccus, please cease all activities and listen to me." His voice trailed away as he paused to allow the crew time. "Thank you. As you know, Lord Girthious, my master and your commander, did not return to the ship with me. During our battle on the surface of Karbarra, he was struck down and killed by the Sith Lord Thinius. Lord Fatious, who is still on board, proceeded to nearly defeat Thinius, who promptly escaped, the cowardly Hobbeebian dog that he is. His apprentice, however, fell...by my hands. So now I ask you, the greatest crew that any captain could ever ask for, will you serve me as you served my master before me?"

Roccus closed his eyes and waited for a response. He was fairly certain that the crew would rebel against him. Being that they were Megan Space Corps, and the war was still being fought in the Valivarre system, he figured that they were tired of traveling the galaxy on special assignment from TASC. After all, none had seen their families or even their homes in over 10 years. The ship wasn't assigned to any fleet division, and her missions never found their way into the record books. Many times they had been sent to put down rebellions or settle trade disputes before they even truly started, he and Girthious along with the ships s Cyclone trooper complement had never left any survivors. All of ths sudden he heard what he thought was some kind of thunder.

"What is that? Are we under attack?"

"No my lord, listen closer."

Roccus did so. Soon he realized the intercom had been reactivated, and the thunder that he heard was the bridge crew, along with the entire ship's personal applauding him. He could do nothing except smile.

"I suppose there is my answer. Helm, set a course for Tirol, TASC is going to want me to report this situation directly to them."

"Yes, my lord."

With the pressing of a few buttons and the typing of a few commands, the ship initiated a hyperspace fold in a blinding white flash. Roccus decided he would check on Fatious progress, leaving the bridge and arriving at Fatious' quarters several minutes later.

Fatious sat at the edge of the cot in his quarters in grief over the death of Girthious. His old friend's dying request had been to watch over his apprentice, Roccus, and when he had expired, Thinius had tried to absorb his life-energy. Fatious had used his own Protoculture abilities to absorb Girthious' power himself and unleashed an ever expanding dome of energy that destroyed the temple...but Thinius had escaped. That fact alone was enough to strip him of any power he had felt at any time, ever. He listened as Roccus gave his speach, and was slightly surprised when the crew broke into thunderous applause. He felt several emotions struggling for control: anger, sadness, hatred, and fear. He felt the ship make the jump into hyperspace, and decided to make his way to Girthious' armoury. He needed a new lightsaber, for his had been destroyed when he'd absorbed the Protoculture within it to heal himself. He stood and made his way to the door, and felt a surge in the Force.

Roccus...good...I needed to talk to him anyway...about his new role...

He stepped out into the hallway, and awaited Roccus' inevitable arrival...

Roccus was surprised to Fatious emerge from his quarters before he even got there. He approached him anyway, silently wondering was going through Fatious' mind at the moment, if he was even Fatious or a mix of Fatious and Girthious. Roccus did not discuss it with anyone but Fatious, but he had seen Fatious absorb Girthious' life energy as soon as Girthious was killed by Thinius. Roccus stood now before Fatious, obviously the smaller man in height, but had a more broad-shouldered, more muscular frame than his older counterpart. Roccus could not tell if this was because of Fatious' age or if he had always been like this.

"Lord Fatious, how are you? Have you fully recovered?"

"Ah Roccus, I'm physically in perfect condition thanks to my Protoculture augmention. Emotionally, on the other hand...I feel like I've been ripped through a Force vortex...I know that you saw me absorb Girthious' life energy, and I want you to know that I was not about to allow that fiend Thinius do the same. Now come. We shall discuss the matter of our relationship within Girthious' private quarters..."

With that, Fatious turned and headed off down the hallway, walking as though Roccus had agreed in the first place.

With Fatious' comment, all too recent memories came rushing back to Roccus. He remembered just after he dispatched Vortox, he saw his master fall before Thinius' blade, almost as if it was what Girthious had intended. He was filled with anger and vengence and with his master's own sabers, leapt out at Thinius. The enemy's power was too great, however, and Roccus sustained a wound across his chest that had put him out of the fight. Somehow, Fatious had absorbed the great powers that Girthious contained, however, and used them to defeat Thinius.

Roccus snapped back to reality as they arrived at Girthious' quarters. He had been here many times, to train, to meditate, to plan. It was as if it was his own quarter's to him.

"You mentioned needing to replace the Protoculture fuel cel in your lightsaber. I will lend you mine. From now on, I will use my master's lightsabers, to honor him."

Fatious took Roccus' lightsaber with great appreciation.

"Thank you, Roccus. I shall use this lightsaber until I have crafted a new one. Girthious' armoury doesn't have the neccessary components for what I have in mind..."

He walked through the door and motioned for Roccus to do the same. He walked to the center of the room and crossed his arms, assuming a posture that betrayed his conflicting emotions. He gazed around the around the room with a faraway look on his face, and looked at Roccus.

"Now, as I'm sure you know, Girthious and I were apprentices under the same Sith Lord. What you may not know is that when I was 13, I challenged our Lord in mortal combat, and was defeated. Gravitious would have killed me had Girthious not stepped in and saved me. Because of this, we were both cast out and exiled. We went our seperate ways, and several years later I returned to Gravitious and killed him. That's when I decided to track down Girthious and reunite with him. I had hoped to reform the Sith Order...I didn't know that he had already taken an apprentice himself...and now with Girthious' death, I am all that remains of our old Sith Order, making me the Dark Lord of the Sith. However, without an apprentice, that really doesn't really mean that much. Under normal circumstances, I would ask you to become my apprentice. But, your performance down on Karbarra merits something more. As the Dark Lord of the Sith, I wish to anoint you Sith Lord Darth Roccus..."

Roccus was taken back by the words Fatious now spoke. To be Dark Lord of the Sith meant to rule an empire, did Fatious possess an empire? He was now curious as to what Fatious' next intentions were, what his next move was.

"Thank you, Fatious. But are you truly the Dark Lord of the Sith? There are Sith everywhere throughout the galaxy, perhaps with my master's death you are the most powerful here, in the Megan Empire. Nevertheless, I accept my title as Sith Lord."

Roccus said this leading Fatious to believe that he pledged his loyalty to him. Fatious was a powerful man and it was always good to know what powerful men were up to.

"I sense your distrust, Roccus. That is very wise of you. But I hope that my friendship with Girthious will help me earn just a little trust from you. Like I stated before, my goal was to reform the Sith Order. I plan to do that by calling in an old favor that the leader of the Dictatorship of Naxder Drol owes me. I trained him in lightsaber combat years ago, and helped eradicate the Jedi in his newly founded nationstate. What I didn't tell him was that there was also a fairly ancient Sith Order on the planet of Drollaria, that was plotting to overthrow him. If I were to return to Naxderia, his capital planet, and help him put down the rebellion, I will demand of him to incorporate that Sith Order into his government, with me as the ruling entity. He will retain his status as dictator, of course. Many people are going to die, but every great movement requires a few martyrs..."

"What you're planning to do could cause instability throughout the entire Megan Empire. Do you seriously think the military will allow a Sith controlled government to have influence in the Empire? The will cast you down as soon as you come to power, unless of course, you can gain support in the military before then." Roccus held a slight grin on his face as he said this.

Fatious laughed quietly to himself, and decided to elaborate on his plan a bit further.

"Now now, calm down my new apprentice. My loyalties are now to the Megan Empire and I would never do anything to put it into a situation like that. My power would be restricted to the Sith and the people of the Naxderian Empire. I will have no influence within the Megan Empire, though Lord Drol is an old friend of your...Chancellor Hawkins, I believe his name is. Though, if Lord Drol refuses to abide by demands, things might get messy..."

"Yes, I believe the Chancellor has mentioned your Lord Drol before. As you have probably already guessed, I possess a great deal of influence in the Megan military command, especially now that I have inherited Girthious' position as the most powerful Force-user in the special forces. Perhaps I could even sway certain high-ranking commandants to listen to you? I'm sure that even a few TASC officials might be interested."

Roccus could only hope that Fatious could not sense his intention of deceit. If Fatious were to answer Roccus last question(or offer), Roccus would have more than enough evidence to have Fatious hunted down and killed. But he would not expose his plan here. With his new powers, Fatious was more than strong enough to destroy Roccus. With that in mind, Roccus continued his ruse, trying to convince Fatious that he would help in his rise to power.