There was a roar of approval from the crowd. When Kopecz spoke again, even he seemed to have lost some of his hostility.
“But victory here is not assured. We may have Hoth’s army surrounded and pinned down, but there’s a Jedi fleet with hundreds of reinforcements lurking on the edges of this system.”
“Their reinforcements are on the edge of the system,” Kaan admitted with a nod, not bothering to deny what every single one of them knew to be fact. “Just as they have been for the past week. And that’s exactly where they will stay: far away from the surface where they are needed.
“The bulk of our fleet is in orbit around Ruusan itself, and the Jedi lack the numbers or the firepower to break through our blockade. If they can’t unite their numbers with those here on the surface, Hoth and his followers will fall. And once we have finished them off we can mop up the tattered remnants of the Order at our leisure.”
Kopecz, mollified, sat down with one final comment. “Then let’s finish Hoth off quickly and get off this blasted rock.”
“That’s exactly the point of this strategy conference,” Kaan said with a smile, knowing he had once again averted a potential schism in the Brotherhood. “We may have lost a few skirmishes here and there, but we are about to win the war!”
Githany stepped up and handed him a holomap with the latest data from their reconnaissance drones. He gave her a nod of thanks and unfurled it on the table, then bent down for a closer look.
“Our spies indicate Hoth’s main camp is located here,” he said, jabbing a finger at a heavily wooded section of the map. “If we can flush them out of the forest we might be able to—”
He stopped short as a dark shadow fell across the map. “What now?” he demanded, pounding his fist on the table and snapping his head up to find the cause of this latest interruption.
An enormous mountain of a man stood in the doorway, blocking the light streaming in from outside. He was tall and completely bald, with a heavy brow and hard, unforgiving features. He wore the black armor and robes of the Sith, and a hook-handled lightsaber hung at his side. Though he had never met the man before, Lord Kaan had heard enough about him to know exactly who he was.
“Darth Bane!” he exclaimed. He cast a quick glance in Githany’s direction, wondering if she had betrayed him. From the expression on her face, it was obvious she was just as surprised as he was to see their visitor alive and well.
“We … we thought you were dead,” he began uncertainly. “How did—”
“I’m tired,” Bane interrupted. “Do you mind if I sit?”
“Of course,” Kaan quickly agreed. “Anything for a Brother.”
The big man sneered as he settled into one of the nearby chairs. “Thank you, Brother.”
There was something in his tone that put Kaan’s guard up. What was he doing here? Did he know that Githany had tried to poison him? Did he know Kaan had sent her?
“Please continue with your strategy,” Bane urged with a casual wave of his hand.
Kaan’s hackles rose. It was as if he was being given permission to continue; as if Bane was the one in charge. Gritting his teeth, he looked down at the map again and resumed where he had left off. “As I was saying, the Jedi are hiding in the forests. We can flush them out if we split our numbers. If we deploy our fliers, we can flank their southern lines—”
“Bah!” Bane spat out, slapping his open palm down hard on the table. “Deploying fliers and flanking armies,” he mocked, rising to his feet and thrusting an accusing finger at Kaan. “You’re thinking like a dirt general, not a Sith Lord!”
A heavy silence had fallen across the room; even Kaan was left speechless. He could feel all eyes on him, watching intently to see what would happen next. Bane stepped in close, his face just centimeters from Kaan’s own.
“How did you ever find the guts to poison me?” he asked in a low, menacing whisper.
“I … that wasn’t me!” Kaan stammered as Bane turned his back on him.
“Don’t apologize for using cunning and trickery,” the big man admonished, moving over to the strategy table. “I admire you for it. We are Sith: the servants of the dark side,” he continued, bending down to study the troop positions and tactical layouts spread out before him. “Now look at this map and think like a Sith. Don’t just fight in the forest … destroy the forest!”
It was Githany who finally broke the ensuing silence, asking the question on everyone’s mind. “And just how do you propose we do that?”
Bane turned back to them with an evil grin. “I can show you.”
Night had fallen, but in the lights of the blazing campfires Bane could see the others scurrying to and fro, making the preparations as he had instructed. When he sensed Githany approaching from behind him, he turned. She was holding a bowl of steaming soup and wore a cautious, uncertain expression.
“It will be another hour before they are ready to begin this ritual of yours,” she said by way of greeting. When he didn’t reply she added, “You look tired. I brought you something to restore your strength.”
He took the bowl from her but didn’t raise it to his lips. He had discovered the ritual she spoke of while studying Revan’s Holocron: a way to unite the minds and spirits of the Sith through a single vessel so their strength could be unleashed upon the physical world. In many ways the process was similar to the one used to fashion a thought bomb from the Force, though this was less powerful than the ritual he had sent as a peace offering to Kaan—and far less dangerous.
He realized Githany was still studying him closely, so he tilted his head toward the soup. “Come to poison me again?” he asked. There was just a hint of playful teasing in his voice.
“You knew all along, didn’t you?” she said.
He shook his head. “Not until I tasted the poison on your lips.”
She raised a single eyebrow and gave him a coy smile. “But you came back for a second helping. And a third.”
“Poison should not harm a Dark Lord,” he told her. Then he admitted, “Yet it almost killed me.” He paused, but she didn’t say anything. “There are too many Sith Lords in the Brotherhood,” he went on. “Too many who are weak in the dark side. Kaan doesn’t understand this.”
“Kaan’s afraid you’ve come back to take over the Brotherhood.” After a moment she added, “I think he’s right.”
Not take over, he thought, but obliterate. He didn’t bother to correct her, though; it wasn’t the time yet. He still needed further proof that she was the right one to become his apprentice. Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody the power, the other to crave it. It was a choice he wasn’t about to rush into.
“I can show you the true power of the dark side, Githany. Power beyond what any of these others can even imagine,” he said.
“Teach me,” she breathed. “I want to learn. You can show me everything … after you’ve taken Kaan’s place as leader of the Brotherhood!”
He couldn’t help but wonder if she was still trying to manipulate him. Did she want to play him and Kaan against each other? Or was she looking for him to usurp Kaan as proof of his newfound strength?
No, he admitted. She still doesn’t understand that the entire Sith order must be torn apart and rebuilt from scratch. Maybe she won’t ever understand.
“Tell me something,” he said. “Was it your idea to poison me? Or Kaan’s?”
With a slight laugh, she ducked beneath his arm holding the bowl of soup and came up close against his chest, looking right up into his eyes. “It was my idea,” she confessed, “but I was careful to make sure Kaan thought it was his.”
There might be hope for her yet, Bane thought.
“I know I made a mistake before,” she continued, moving away from him. “I should have gone with you when you left Korriban. I didn’t realize what you were after; I didn’t understand the secrets you were seeking. But I understand them now. You are the true leader of the Sith, Bane. I’ll follow you from now on. And so will the res
t of the Brotherhood, after we use your ritual to destroy the Jedi.”
“Yes,” he agreed, keeping his voice carefully neutral and taking a sip of the steaming soup. “After we’ve destroyed the Jedi.”
Bane knew they couldn’t really destroy the Jedi. Not here on Ruusan. Not like this. Somehow the Jedi would survive. No ordinary war could completely eliminate the servants of the light. Only the tools of the dark side—cunning, secrecy, treachery, betrayal—could do that.
The same tools he would use to wipe out the entire Brotherhood of Darkness … beginning with the ritual tonight.
28
Kaan, Githany, and the rest of the Dark Lords had gathered atop a barren plateau overlooking the vast forests where Hoth and his army were hiding. They had come on their fliers: short-range, single-person, airborne vehicles front-mounted with heavy blaster guns. The fliers were parked at the edge of the plateau, fifty meters away from where the Sith sat in a loose circle. The ritual had begun.
They were communing with the Force, all of them slipping into a meditative trance as one. Their minds drifted deeper and deeper into the well of power contained within each individual, drawing on their strength and combining it through a single conduit. Bane stood in the center of the circle, urging them on.
“Touch the dark side. The dark side is one. Indivisible.”
The night sky filled with dark clouds and a fierce wind swirled across the plateau, tearing at the cloaks and capes of the Sith. The air shook with the thunder and crackle of a mounting electrical storm. Bolts of blue-white lightning arced through the air, and the temperature suddenly dropped.
“Give yourself over to the dark side. Let it surround you. Engulf you. Devour you.”
The Brotherhood slipped deeper into the collective trance, barely even aware of the storm now raging about their physical selves. Bane stood at the eye of the storm, drawing the bolts of lightning into himself, feeding on them. He felt his strength surge as he channeled and focused the dark side from the others.
This is how it should be! All the power of the Brotherhood in one body! The only way to unleash the full potential of the dark side!
“Do you feel invincible? Invulnerable? Immortal?”
He had to shout to be heard above the howling wind and thunder. A web of lightning spiraled out from his body, connecting him to each of the other Sith. He shivered then suddenly went stiff, arms spread out at his sides. Slowly, his rigid body began to rise into the air.
“Can you feel it?” he screamed, feeling as if the raw power of the Force roaring through him might rip his very flesh asunder. “Are you ready to kill a world?”
There was very little in the galaxy that could scare a man like General Hoth. Yet as he sat looking over the latest situational reports from his scouts he felt the first glimmers of real fear gnawing away at the base of his skull.
The rift between himself and Farfalla had been mended, but now there was no way to get the reinforcements down to Ruusan’s surface. Small messenger ships with a crew of one or two had been able to slip past the Sith blockade undetected, though on occasion even these vessels had been spotted and destroyed. Anything larger would never make it.
But his fear was more than the result of his frustration at having help so near yet so impossibly far away. There was something sinister in the air. Something evil.
Suddenly an image leapt unbidden to his mind: a premonition of death and destruction. He sprang to his feet and ran from his tent. Even though it was the middle of the night, he was only mildly surprised to see that most of the rest of the camp was up and about. They had felt it, too. Something coming for them. Coming fast.
They were looking to him for leadership, waiting for him to take command. He did so with a single, shouted order.
“Run!”
The storm rolled down from the plateau and rumbled across the forest. Hundreds of forks of searing lightning shot down from the sky—and the forest erupted. Trees burst into flames, the blaze racing through the branches and spreading out in all directions. The underbrush smoldered, smoked, and ignited; and a wall of fire swept across the planet’s surface.
The inferno consumed everything in its path.
Heat and fire. There was nothing else in Bane’s world. It was as if he had become the storm itself: he could see the world before him, swallowed up in red and orange and reduced in seconds to ash and embers by the unchained fury of the dark side.
It was glorious. And then suddenly it was gone.
There was a jarring thump as his body dropped from where it had been hovering five meters above the ground. For several seconds he was completely disoriented, unable to figure out what happened. Then he understood: the connection had been broken.
He rose to his feet slowly, uncertain of his balance. All around him were the forms of the Sith, no longer kneeling in meditation but collapsed or rolling on the ground, their minds reeling from the sudden end to the joining ritual. One by one they also regained their composure and stood, most looking as confused as Bane had been only seconds before.
Then he noticed Lord Kaan standing off to the side, over by the fliers.
“What happened?” Bane demanded angrily. “Why did you stop?”
“Your plan worked,” Kaan replied curtly. “The forest is destroyed, the Jedi have fled to open ground. They are exposed, vulnerable. Now we go to finish them off.”
Kaan had broken the connection, and somehow he had managed to drag the others out along with him, as if he had some hold over their minds. Perhaps he does, Bane thought. Further proof that they all had to be destroyed if the Sith were to be cleansed.
As the others regained their senses, Kaan was shouting out orders and battle plans. “The fire flushed the Jedi out into the open. We can mow them down from the sky. Hurry!”
They jumped at his command, rushing to their waiting vehicles and taking to the sky with battle cries and shouts of triumph.
“Come on, Bane,” Githany said, rushing past him. “Let’s join them!”
He grabbed her arm, pulling her up short. “Kaan is still trying to win this war through blasters and armies,” he said. “That is not the way of the dark side.”
“It’s more fun this way,” she said, the excitement obvious in her voice. She shook free of his grasp.
As he watched her run to join the others he realized that she had been corrupted by the teachings of Qordis and the Academy on Korriban. Despite her promise to follow Bane, she couldn’t see beyond the Brotherhood and its limitations. She was tainted—unfit to be his apprentice. She would have to die with all the others.
There was the faintest hint of regret as he made the decision, but the regret was hollow: the echo of a feeling, the last vestiges of an emotion. He snuffed it out quickly, knowing it could only make him weak.
“You frighten us, Bane,” a voice said from behind. He turned to see Kopecz studying him carefully.
“When we were focusing the Force through you, it felt as if you had your teeth on our throats,” the Twi’lek continued. “As if you were trying to suck us dry.”
“The power of the dark side is strongest if it is concentrated in one vessel,” Bane replied. “Not spread out among many. I did it for the sake of the dark side.”
Kopecz shook his head and climbed onto his flier. “Well, we know you weren’t doing it for us.”
Bane watched him soar off. Then he climbed onto his own flier, but instead of following Kaan to the battle he set a course back to the Sith camp. The first phase of his plan to destroy the Brotherhood was complete.
When he arrived back at the camp twenty minutes later, he wasn’t surprised to find it completely deserted. All the Dark Lords had been on the plateau for the ritual, and they had all flown off in Kaan’s wake to face the suddenly vulnerable Jedi. The soldiers, servants, and followers who made up the bulk of the Sith army had originally been left behind at the camp, but they had since received commed orders from Kaan and the others to join them at the battlefield.
Bane brought his flier in for a landing in the heart of the camp, right beside Lord Kaan’s tent. He killed the engine and was surprised to hear the distant whine of another flier approaching. He looked up, curious. When it swooped in low, he recognized the rider.
The vehicle was bearing down on him in a direct line. Bane let his hand drop to his lightsaber, ready to unclip it at a moment’s notice. The Force welled up within him, prepared to throw up a protective shield if the flier’s front-mounted blasters should open fire.
But the flier didn’t attack. Instead it swooped a few meters over his head, banked sharply, then came in for a landing beside his own.
“You have no need of your weapon,” Qordis said as he dismounted. “I’ve come with an offer.”
Realizing there was no immediate threat, Bane let his hand drop back to his side. “An offer? What could you possibly have to offer me?”
“My allegiance,” Qordis said, dropping to one knee.
Bane stared down at him, his expression a mixture of horror, amusement, and contempt. “Why would you give your allegiance to me?” he asked. “And why should I even want it?”
Qordis rose slowly to his feet, a cunning smile on his lips. “I am not blind, Lord Bane. I see you speaking with Githany. I see how you are undermining Kaan. I know the real reason you have come to Ruusan.”
Perplexed, Bane wondered if it was possible that Qordis—the founder of the Academy on Korriban, the most ardent proponent of all that was wrong with the Sith—had finally seen the truth.
“What exactly are you proposing?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“I know what happened to Kas’im. He sided with Kaan against you. He paid for that decision with his life. I am not so foolish. I know you’re here to take over the Brotherhood,” he declared. “I believe you will succeed. And I want to help you.”
“You want to help me take over the Brotherhood?” Bane laughed; Qordis was as blind and misguided as the rest of them. “Replace one leader with another, and you and the rest of the Brotherhood continue on as before? That’s your brilliant plan?”