NationStates Jolt Archive

The heat of conflict subsided and the tomb was once again filled with only those that lay at the beating heart of the Empire. Red robes were seeing to their fallen, storm troopers were left neglected, only their power parks and ID numbers retrieved, while everyone insured that they maintained their distance from Darth Vader and the snide Whilhuff Tarkin.

“The emperor is dead.” Tarkin reaffirmed to himself, but the force storm, was most unfortunate. Currently he was unsure if the rage of Palpatines sorcery would let him leave the planet alive? But as usual, he had his plans. “I think Vader, that it would be best if we leave this cave. Our ships are preparing to take off as we speak. The storm that is raging above us, is doing intolerable damage to our systems." Tarkin went ignored for now. Occupied with destiny, Vader looked to the far wall, at a creature that the force had now predestined as his next apprentice.

“Commander Corin, lock that up in a stasis pod and take it to my ship. Lady Nightshade, come, we have much to do in little time.” Vaders ominous presence stalked away from the chamber. Vorman following behind closely, like a shadow stalked in deceit.

Crippled, shaken, trapped in flesh, Ba'el would wake up changed forever. As Lady Nightshade struggled to get a response, the stricken creature was placed in a stasis pod, only to be brought to Coruscant, the centre of the empire. Gasses seeped inwards, a hiss emanated and the clear duraplex shroud filled the satasis unit with Carbonite.

Coruscant

Just as Vader had become a Sith here, years before, the force was once again confirming the cycle of destruction. Droids laced Ba'el with medical provision as the Carbonite boiled off, and the room, clothed in the darkness of the force, stood as a testament to the power of prophecy.

One Master, One Apprentice.

The creature hissed and skewed, its limbs struck out severing a protocol droid in two, while standing back, arms folded. Darth Vader, spoke.

"Your people are here, Ba'el, welcome home."

Ba’El looked around confused. He was not sure what was going on. The last thing he remembered was the face of a woman talking to him but he could not understand her words. Then a man shrouded in black appeared and after than the whoosh of air.

Then darkness.

Healing darkness.

While he was unknowingly in the status pod, his mind began to heal. His energies replenished. His mind centered and he rested.

The next thing he knew he was in a dark room on a table. The overhead lights were bothering his eyes. There were medical personal seeing to his form and the tall darkly clad man standing nearby. He instinctually lashed out at the droids as they were trying to shove some sort of probe into his thorax. He struck the droids and with his strength and the cutting edge of his forearm, he broke the mechanical assistants.

"Your people are here, Ba'el, welcome home."

Vader’s voice stopped Ba’El and caused him to become aware of his reaction. He became aware of his location, the dark room with the medical equipment. He became aware of the strangeness and familiarity of his new body. He became aware of more subtle things.

“I know you. I saw you in the tunnel and we followed you to that room.” Ba’El knew his words would not betray any of his old comrades but he didn’t care if they did. They left him there to die. They treated him like an object to be used and tossed aside when not needed anymore. He hated them


“What do you mean by that?”





In Orbit:




The Battlestation and the sixteen warfleets moved to attack position, their weapons definitely hot as sensors showed the power levels soaring to an unbelievable level. They held position as a single message was sent to the capital planet.


“We have come for our lost one. Where is Ba’El?”

Vader paused, his dark mask providing a brief respite as the cool respirator sheathed his bladed heart. “You are home Ba'el, you are no longer what you used to be, I can feel it, you can feel it, the anger that flows within you, you are aware of it? The force, the new energy that you will now call master.” The dark knight approached now, his eyes invisible behind the blackened optical lenses. “I sense so much from you, so much fear, it is good. Your race pulses with it now, it has thickened their blood, and they're here for you Ba'el, they're asking for you.” Vader lifted a hand, and with a seemingly invisible touch a leaver on the far wall lowered. The field, which obscured Ba'els senses disappeared opening his mind to the force, to his potential, to his destiny.

Ba’El felt confused. He didn’t understand what was going on. The new body felt funny to him. He hadn’t occupied any material form other than the Kythons since that incident so many centuries ago with the Warp Eye that caused a feedback to occur that forced the Ta’Nar out of their clones they created. Since insects cannot evolve in a gravity well larger than a domestic lapdog, they were never considered. He held his arms out, looking at his new form. He could feel the animal consciousness inside, that was ok, and it would help sustain the form so he could concentrate on the higher functions. It would act like a slave brain; he would have to keep a tight reign on instinctual reactions like the one that destroyed those four droids.

Turning to the screen, he saw the entire assembly of the fleets in position over the planet. In the center was the Battlestation, a sight he had not seen in person before but it was magnificent. The massive Warp and Dimensional cannons were in a neutral position, meaning they were not pointing at the planet, yet.

Ba’El opened his mind to the Link and found a multitude of voiced awaiting his presence. They all greeted him at once, his mind easily acknowledging them in return. A particular voice was prevalent among the other Ta’Nar and he recognized it immediately as Nhur-Galladu’s.

Greetings Ba’El. Are you well?

“Yes Emperor, I am seeming quite well. I seem to be better than well.

It is no longer Emperor, we have left that behind us all. I am now Warlord. We have changed. There are but ten Childer to each Ta’Nar now.

I understand. What is the situation? The fleet looks magnificent from down here.

That is the intention. It seems you are safe and actually a guest here instead of a prisoner. Tell him we are ready to talk.

The link closed and only a few seconds had passed.

“They wish to talk.”

Sensors would show the weapons would go offline and the power levels of the fleet returned to something that was respectable. The Serendipity began to approach the planet.

“They wish to talk.”

Vaders remained idle. “I know.” He said confidently. “I've been waiting on them, on you, for a very long time, my new apprentice.” The Sith Lord turned in stride and walked from the chamber in confidence. Leaving it up to Ba'el to follow or not.

Upon the artificial links in his helmet, Vader was bombarded by images, scans, profiling of the enemy fleet and descending vessel. The appropriate docking bay was signalled out to him, as well as the numbers of storm troopers who would be there to guard him, though it was unlikely he would require their protection.

Pushing through the vastness of the Imperial Palace, the darknight found himself faced by a foreboding ship, screaming out in agony, a twist in the force, a very please to his sight. Its ramp opened, and the emperor awaited his guest.

Ba’El followed after Vader, his four legs easily keeping up with the biped, as he was lead through the twisted maze of corridors to the docking bay. Arriving there right behind Vader, Ba’El could feel the immense bulk of The Serendipity as it settled down and hovered level with the docking bay. The automatics cycled and the arm extended until it made contact with the ebon vessel that was a wall of midnight which seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon, this was taking into account that on Coruscant, the horizon was actually quite close due to the large number of structures covering the planet.

Nonetheless, the ten-kilometer vessel was the largest ship in the Lost Empire’s navy, the flagship of Nhur-Galladu himself. Although the Destroyers of the Galactic Empire were actually larger, their counterpart in the Black Fleet was a mere 120 meters. If both types of destroyers could be considered equal classes, then there was no telling what this one ship could do.

Ba’El was shaken out of his thoughts of ship comparisons by the sense he was getting from The Serendipity. He could feel the unrest of not only the crew, but also of the Shipmind itself. The thousands of Kythons composing the flagship were echoing the state of mind the crew was experiencing. The result was a mind-numbing buzz that was best described as discordant. It put those too close on edge and uncomfortable. The discomfort was not painful, but it was unsettling. Ba’El found he could adapt to it quite easily, as if the Anger and Hate in him was attuning his Self to the disturbance. Afterwards it felt as if he was part of the thrum as much as the disturbance was part of him.

After a few moments, a hole melted in the side of the vessel and a door formed. It slid silently open, as silent as the movement of the ship was. Two beings stepped out of the doorway and approached Vader and Ba’El. Ba’El immediately recognized them both and stepped to Vader’s side to make the introductions.

“Lord Vader, I wish to introduce you Warlord Nhur-Galladu and beside him is Overmind, the Kython Avatar.”

Ba’El quickly stepped back as the feeling he got from Vader was the proper move. He stood watching as Vader met the two.

Overmind was a bipedial humonoid of no specific gender but made out of the same black material of the ship behind him. The liquid metal seemed to flow as if it were blackened quicksilver yet it was solid when he wished his body to be.

Nhur-Galladu appeared to be a young humanoid male dressed in the Imperial Gold and White. His appearance was just an illusion, but one that was generated by Nhur-Galladu so for all intensive purposes the power behind the illusion would make it almost real. He was not armed with anything and seemed to be harmless. That was until you cot close enough to feel his restrained aura. The very air was thick with energy and power. It was nothing you could see or even analyze it was a feeling. A feeling of Power from a being that was composed of Power. It made you wonder which was more dangerous, the ship or the person standing before it.

Nhur-Galladu stepped forward at his introduction.

“It is good to finally meet, I have heard much about you.”

This was the first time Darth Vader, now emperor of the Galactic Empire, had ever made first contact with a ruler of a foreign realm without the backing of the Imperial armada. He stood tall and rigid, his mechanical being squirmed against the tyranny of the force. Robbed of his love, his physical body and youth, Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, stood, aware and in being before his guest.

With limited experience of these matters the emperor stretched out to the force, his will became destinies and he was guided. The hand of fate clasped that of the empires and quickly the future was revealed, as to what he was, going to do.

“It is good to finally meet, I have heard much about you.”

Vaders ocular implants detected much more than simple visible spectrum of light, the force buzzed around him, signalling a change in direction.

Destiny swirled around not Vader, but Ba'el he sensed. Destiny had changed its focus for today to Ba'el...

“You are most welcome to the empire Balroggan.” Vaders heavy respirator boomed through the cavern. “Tell us, reveal to me your name so we may stand here as equals. I am Darth Vader, Emperor of the Galactic Empire.”

"I am Nhur-Galladu, Warlord of the Fallen Empire of Balrogga. I am honored to be in your presence."

Nhur-Galladu gave Vader an honored bow, as one Emperor to another. The gesture was one of modesty and etiquette.

As Nhur-Galladu looked at Vader, he could tell from the magnetic fields that a large portion of him was robotic although it was very lifelike. The engineers did a good job. He also could see the curious energy patterns of what he will later discover being the Force flowing through Vader. Curiously, similar energy patters was flowing through his admiral. This was most interesting indeed.

"I see you have my Admiral here quite safe. I thank you for extracting him from that place he was left by those that were supposedly his allies. That shall not be forgotten.”

It was not clear if that last like was in reference to saving Ba’El or his being left behind. Perhaps it was talking about both.

“We did not take him as a gesture of friendship, we imprisoned him for study and use.” Vaders bass voice turned as he began the walk along the vast hanger, with the delegation in turn. “We would be enemies here and now, if the force had not conspired to bring us together, it is forever powerful and directing.” Stormtroopers smacked to attention as the group passed. “And so, Ba'el remains alive, the force has chosen him for some purpose, it has chosen you for another.” Vader waited for the response, his breathing the only sound in the tense void of communication.

“Hmm, I see your point. I suppose if our positions were reversed, we would do the same.”

Nhur-Galladu seemed to be interested by this Force stuff although he tried to not show it. It was easy for Lord Vader to feel his intrest if he tried.

“So, what do you have in store for Ba’El now? It seems you favor him for what his potential could be.”

If Vader could scoff he would have. "I have no favour in Ba'el, I seek to use him, to direct his energy and his potential. He has been changed, the force has marked him with destiny, and I would be a fool to let him leave here. He is a tool, one that will be used in the future to direct and change the events of a Galaxy, I am unsure, I do not have the gift to foresee into the future as my master had." Vader continued walking, the hanger was vast and great. "Ba'el will become my new apprentice, his life will become mine, his soul an extension of my own. He is now a servant to the force, the choice has been determined for us all, even for yourself." Vadersstopped for a moment.

"I sense emperor, that even you have not escaped the tainting of the darkside of the force."

Nhur-Galladu easily kept pace with Vader and walked aside him trusting Overmind to follow. Ba’El fell into position behind Vader as the two Leaders spoke.

“I suppose you are correct in your assumption. It seemed we were ready to leave our territories behind. The largest effect was upon Childer, for they were mostly incomplete. An exposure to something similar to your cloud some time ago forced their eugenics program to become accelerated. They were not ready but they evolved anyways. When the Rage hit them, they attacked each other. We managed to shield ten Childer each from the full effects but in turn we took the brunt of the change. Those Childer were the most advanced of their kind, the lesser ones fell upon each other.”

Nhur-Galladu paused speaking for a couple moments and walked in silence.

“Our worlds are now nothing but empty places, haunted by over six billion angry souls. We left them in peace and I hope for their own sake nobody tries to claim them, instead allowing them to lie fallow. I fear those spirits will turn upon the ones that would try to settle them and in the end only increasing the population of angst ridden souls.”

“We now prefer to have no home worlds, instead traveling from place to place with nothing but our ships tying us to a particular location, although I admit feeling compelled to visit that darkened place again, the Asfaltum system seems to draw me there.”

“The storm in question is the source of your, new found darkness.” Vader stated. “The Asfaltum system is, Imperial property, conquered despite your best attempts to stop us, yet for some reason, you have survived my masters tainting, I am curious, does he see destiny in you as well?” Vader stopped in the hanger bay. “You are here for more than just Ba'el, tell me, why have you really come to my planet?”

"Truth be told, I am not really sure. Something guided us here and since Ba'El was also brought here, it seemed his presence was the guiding force."

Nhur-Galladu paused and considered his words.

"What do you think? I also seem to be drawn to Asfaltum. This is most curious..."

"You are not just drawn to Asfaltum emperor. You are drawn to the Empire, the darkside flows through our realm like a river of fire. The heat warms you, the anger, the fear, the magnificence of it all. I sense, I sense that you are bound to the Empire, just like my master."

Nhur-Galladu considered his words for a few seconds before answering him.

"So, what is next? I cannot be in two places at once. How can I help while I am sorting this out?"

“What is next?” Vader offered a wry grunt. “We both know that you are bound to the dark side of the force emperor, we both know you are bound to the empire. My master enslaves, he never sets free. It is.... the way of the dark side. For now you are useful to him, in whatever damnation he has entered, and you are also useful to me. I am not blind emperor, even though my eyes have long been burned by fire, I can already sense the anticipation in you, the feeling, and... the hate. You are not here just for your lone admiral emperor, I'm sure you've lost many recently. No, you're here to be welcomed into the empire. Your lust for power and authority is already weeping from your..... pores.” Vader stood tall and still pushing his cloak behind his shoulders.

“You tread on dangerous ground Vader.”

“Only ground that I know emperor. You too will one day come to know the power of the darkside, it is a snare, a trap, but one that you rejoice in.”

“Then we are?”

“Given permission to enter the Asfaltum system, I'm sure my master will enjoy the company, Ba'el will stay here, I will apprentice him.” Vader looked at the scrawny creature, it had much growing to do. The games begin. Vader thought, as he allowed his guests to take some time for thought.

“This force, is still new and unknown, most us cannot even feel it, it tempts us like a siren Vader.”

Palpatine, even in death traps his servants. Vader said nothing.

“We will hear its call, and join the empire.”

“What is next?” Vader offered a wry grunt. “We both know that you are bound to the dark side of the force emperor, we both know you are bound to the empire. My master enslaves, he never sets free. It is.... the way of the dark side. For now you are useful to him, in whatever damnation he has entered, and you are also useful to me. I am not blind emperor, even though my eyes have long been burned by fire, I can already sense the anticipation in you, the feeling, and... the hate. You are not here just for your lone admiral emperor, I'm sure you've lost many recently. No, you're here to be welcomed into the empire. Your lust for power and authority is already weeping from your..... pores.” Vader stood tall and still pushing his cloak behind his shoulders.


Then you surely have no idea who you are talking to, thought Nhur-Galladu. He bit back his desire to reach out and throttle this fool before him, reminding himself it would not be good if an emperor were to end up dead at a First Contact meeting. Ta’Nar never leave one behind. They never allow others to become lost. A Ta’Nar will lay down their existence for another Ta’Nar, they are that closely linked. Also, only the Childer, who were imperfect in the first place, was lost in the Night of Rage. They even managed to save a number of them by sheltering them with their own minds from the self-destructive hate and anger that flashed from one to another like a flood.

“You tread on dangerous ground Vader.”

“Only ground that I know emperor. You too will one day come to know the power of the darkside, it is a snare, a trap, but one that you rejoice in.”

“Then we are?”

“Given permission to enter the Asfaltum system, I'm sure my master will enjoy the company, Ba'el will stay here, I will apprentice him.” Vader looked at the scrawny creature, it had much growing to do. The games begin. Vader thought, as he allowed his guests to take some time for thought.

“This force, is still new and unknown, most us cannot even feel it, it tempts us like a siren Vader.”

Palpatine, even in death traps his servants. Vader said nothing.

“We will hear its call, and join the empire.”

Nhur-Galladu looked upon Ba’El within that insect shell, wondering if he was the key to their Quest. He thought and made a decision. They would bite their time at Asfaltum waiting for Ba’El to discover the secrets of this Force. They would make sure the world that was devastated was repaired. They would bend their will and abilities to making their presence known to those around them.

“Ba’El, by remaining here you will be unable to perform your duties as a fleet admiral. I do not wish to demote you or dismiss you. You are always a Ta’Nar and now you are promoted to rank of Advisor. That frees you from your responsibilities and allows you to pursue your own projects as long as you promote our cause.”

Nhur-Galladu accessed The Weave and adjusted Ba’El’s Thread in The Conduit. He immediately felt the influx of raw ability flood through him as he attained his new rank. His power multiplied untold amounts as he now found himself one of the Dark Eight, the personal Advisors to Nhur-Galladu. There were only two stations above the Advisors, that being the Grand Admirals and the Seneschals.


Nhur-Galladu spoke briefly to Ba’El.

“If you wish to do this, you have my permission. Go where your hear leads you.”

He also contacted his mind with another message.

Use every one of your abilities to make all of us proud of you. Remember where we are, waiting for you to come back home to us.

Ba’El was shocked and stunned by all that had happened. He followed the two as they spoke barely keeping track of what was being said, his head buzzing with the recent changes.




Later:


The Ta’Nar Hosts left as swiftly as they had came, disappearing into the places in between realities as they returned to Asfaltum. The fleets quickly spread out as the Imperial fleet and the Death Star was recalled for other duties. The Force Storm was the domain of the Ta’Nar now and in the massive fluctuations caused by the storm, their ships were almost undetectable in the turmoil.

Between the planets of Asfaltum and Ganoxa floated the mighty Fortress, renamed to The Hand of Darkness. Nhur-Galladu spent much of his time there, studying the storm around him and the effects it had upon matter and spirit. He found he could hear a voice in the turmoil at times.

The wreck of The Executor was reclaimed tumbling in orbit around Asfaltum and Grand Admiral Ga’Ton began to remodel it, using both Kython and imperial design methods, resulting in a massive research station that was heavily armed. Slightly more than half of the former dreadnaught remained after the ship had cracked in two with the explosion of the engines after The Serpent had struck it in the Battle of Asfaltum. This was too renamed, it was now called The Heart of Darkness. Ga’Ton frequently made trips down to the surface of both planets to collect samples of remaining life and studied the mutagenic effects the Force Storm had upon their forms.

Ga’Ton also had begun a secret series of experiments upon the Kythons themselves. He was seeking to modify the inherit programming of the basic mind of the Kythons. He was trying to change the way they viewed other beings so they would only restrain their actions against the B Strain and their Ta’Nar creators exclusively. Ga’Ton was the creator of the mindset of the Kythons so he had personal insight in their construction and was confident he would be able to adjust the Kythons in the manner he wished.

The work upon Asfaltum began by sending down swarms of Kythons to infect and remove all the radioactive material. Their ability to absorb energy would become invaluable in cleaning up the damage done to the planet. The planet was slowly stripped of the top layer of material that could not be cleaned up in any other way. The survivors of the bombardment were located and moved to Ganoxa while their planet was slowly cleansed. Slowly areas were opened up that were relatively clean months later and they were concentrated upon so the safe zones could be expanded. The atmosphere was one of the first projects.

As the surface became livable, vegetation was gradually introduced along with lower life forms, sentient beings were not allowed to return until it was certified safe. Then gradually the residents were allowed to return once the habitats were safely re-established.

This would take a long time to accomplish but the Ta’Nar were sure they could succeed.




OOC:

I know it will take a long time to do this stuff, I am just posting it all in this one place for easy reference so no screaming, please.

Several Years Later:



Nhur-Galladu sat in the meeting chamber, listening to a report from Grand Admiral Ga’Ton. He had placed him in charge of a particularly tough assignment and was now expecting some sort of results. For some reason, Ga’Ton had insisted the Warlord meet him on the old husk of The Executor, now rebuilt and renamed.

“…due to some particular problems with the way the Kython mind works I have had numerous setbacks, in addition I could not incorporate any actual Kythons into the process without risking any other owners of Kythons being aware of my advances. I had to develop this on my own without any experimentation. That was the reason The Heart of Darkness could not be reconstructed using any Kythons, the information contained within these walls would have been made available to those same people.”

Ga’Ton created a photonic illusion demonstrating fine points of his report.

“Due to possibility of information loss, I had to enact a strict procedure to keep all Thur’Tahg at least a thousand meters from The Heart for the past few years. If I hadn’t done that, there could have been an accidental contamination which could have resulted in information leaks through the Kython Link to other Strains.”

“This has produced a great hardship upon Overmind for he views us two as his Father and Grandfather. The activities of our new ally have thankfully produced a suitable distraction for Overmind but I have had to spend a large proportion of my time with him to allow his dependant feelings some ease.”

Nhur-Galladu leaned forward in his chair to better view the diagram.

“I approve. That dependency was built into the Kythons to assure their loyalty. At times it causes them to over react but it is easily overlooked considering the alternative. Imagine if they were let loose upon the universe without any controls in place. The thought is almost unthinkable.”

Ga'Ton waited for his Warlord to finish speaking before continuing again.

“I agree. The problem is the inability to control the data. Currently it travels both ways with no controls in place. That means any Kython in our strain can know what exactly Baron Skye is doing at any moment. Ever since the merging of the Godular people with their strain, that means there are no secrets we have they cannot get through the Link. The same hold true with us knowing what is going on with them.”

“The first phase was to develop a way to control the flow of information. I wanted to make it only go one way, to us. I also wanted to make it controllable so we can disconnect certain units from the two way flow, such as the Kythons composing a meeting room or the suit of armor Darth Atrox wears. By doing it this way, we can select areas that are unknown while remaining live as usual. If we were to suddenly stop broadcasting data, it would immediately be known what we are up to.”

“The second phase was to remove all restrictions from their attacks other than Ta’Nar, Childer, and our own strain. Again, this would only become apparent when our forces act upon their orders. It would be like trying to taunt a Security Officer that they couldn’t touch you not knowing they were the type that can go full Hands On.”

“Yes, I remember the task I gave to you. How goes the progress?”

Ga’Ton held up a small black cube.

“This is the answer. This little object contains all the reprogramming that needs to be done, and in the process makes it basically irreversible unless I were to attempt. A little security I created to be sure it could not be duplicated by any others. It also sends a subliminal command that locks the very traits in other strains we are getting rid of in our own. In other words I closed the programming and locked it with my own personality traits that I can only access in order to stop others from attempting the same.”

Nhur-Galladu looked at the ebony cube. It didn’t look like much, rather insignificant to be true.

“How do you deploy it?”

“Call in Overmind and let him absorb the cube. The programming becomes part of Overmind, designed to its particular self. Once assimilated, the programming will be transmitted throughout the strain. Any effects upon other strains will only occur if they come in close proximity to one of ours, preferably into contact to assure the transfer of the lock.”

“Excellent, I will call Overmind immediately.”

“Afterwards we can assimilate The Heart and block it so we have the greatest potential of the structure. Overmind can then come and go again as it pleases. It will make it quite happy again.”






Short Time Later:




“Grandfather, you called me?”

“Yes, I have a little present for you and your kind.”

Overmind looked at Ga’Ton standing near Grandfather and the feeling of approval from Father made it cast aside all doubt. The Kython Avatar approached the Warlord and knelt to him.

“It pleases me you are so thoughtful.”

Nhur-Galladu handed Overmind the ebon block. As the Avatar took it into its hand, Overmind felt a tingle and the cube began to absorb into his being. Knowledge the cube contained flooded it’s mind, creating walls that hid the knowledge from outsiders. Overmind knew exactly what the cube had done and how it would make the entire Kython Race more perfect, a self sustaining entity that did not depend upon others of it’s kind, only self reliant upon itself and their creators. Overmind could feel the Link strengthen and become a one way door if it chose that option. The changes were traveling though the Balrogga Strain, making changes wherever it went much the same way a flood or a flash fire swept across the land unhindered.

A new day dawned for the Kythons, one which Overmind was completely changed. The Avatar felt waves of pleasure sweep through itself as it knew how it would be able to better serve Father and Grandfather.