Ladylord (closed)

[Kayura]

There was no time for sleep. There was time only for action and to lay claim before chaos and anarchy ensued. The Dark Lord was dead and his blood stained her cloak.

With a steady march, she walked for the Temple and would not be stopped. The Force and fate had chosen her to serve as the leader for the Sith Order and no others would challenge her...if they wished to live.

There had never been a Dark Ladylord of the Sith before and surely many in the Council would have thier doubts about her power. She crossed the threshold into the Temple with that steady march knowing that she was in the most dangerous position. For all the power, she had the respect and fear of the Sith as a whole. They respected her because they feared her now, or so it seemed to go. She had their envy and emnity as well. Her black eyes stared ahead in cold warrior fashion as she marched directly for the dead man's chamber.

Now the dead were audible to the rest of the living as the very Force itself conjured them. The whispers spoke of her ascention in the ranks as a chorus of the dead called out, "Hail the Great Necromancer! Hail the Dark Lady!"

With a steady, confident gait she pushed open a great pair of stone doors with carvings that spoke of the former glory of the Sith Empire. Scimitar at her side and head in her hand, she marched in a direct line for the throne and took a seat. The deadly blade now sat at the left side of the throne, leaning against the side and the head now sat dripping at her right foot. Her eyes swept over those who had followed. Her voice now spoke with that polish and clarity that would have hinted at master orator, "Summon the full Council, and bring forth the Articles of Law."

One among them bowed low and answered, "Yes Mistress."

Her eyes narrowed, but the coolness of tone remained, "And one other thing: I despise the conotations of the word 'mistress.' You shall address me as Master from this moment on. Anyone who addresses me as Mistress runs the risk of his life."

"Yes Master."

She nodded and sat back with exaulted pride. For all the violence of the night before, she was now the image of dark serenity. She waited with her eyes half-closed in silence and patience. The begining of a smile played on her face as she had realized the ambitions of a lifetime, and the ambitions of many on the Council. She, the Foundling, had ursurped them and taken the seat of Sith power.

It would be some moments before the Council assembled and the old scroll was retrieved from the archives. By then she'd have a plan formed completely: the war computer had booted in full and had run faster than any known machine.

She allowed herself one extra thought. With all the ripples in the Force echoing the shift in the Sith Order, surely any other Force sensitive souls would have felt them. Her eyes closed and dark laughter echoed in the chamber as she thought to herself, Sidro Haanc, I don't know whether I should kill you or thank you. Now I can give you some of the credit for being instrumental in the coming stability of the Sith Order. However, for your lack of vision, you would never accept the honor.

[Kayura]

((OOC: sorry this one is so long. I think a couple more shorter posts and then the real action can start.))

The rest of the Sith Council gathered, many rather cross at the recent turn of events. Many looked on with bitterness as they saw her sitting in the place of the rightful Dark Lord. Though many didn't say it, the word "usurper" was on the tip of thier tongues. What bitterness was on thier faces was matched by a frigid miasma that could only come from one so directly connected with the Dark Side of the Force.

In the time it had taken them to gather, she had taken on that darkly serene expression again. It was that look that exuded patience; a rare trait for many Sith. For the permanent coldness that surrounded her, feathers of frost had formed at her feet.

"My Lady, we have assembled and brought the Articles of Law."

There was a ghastly silence as she nodded. Her eyes were now opening to reveal a startling transformation: it was clear that she had indeed been chosen. Where her eyes had been black and abyssal before, they were now liquid yellow and stared back with all the power of a hungry Dark Wolf's eyes. Many on the Council stood back in fear knowing what had borught it about, others who had not appeared at the funeral hours before were just now seeing that the Force had indeed chosen another to lead them.

An infernal chuckle broke the cold silence. A dark, dark smile played across her face, though it possessed no friendliness. Her voice was known to be one of two things over the years: it was known to be either a velvet whisper, or a quaking yell. As she spoke, it was neither. With all the power and polish of a master orator, she answered. "Lords of the Council, you have been summoned here in accordance to the traditions laid out in that very scroll. If you do not believe me, so be it: you are free to read for yourselves as you all read the runes." Her voice echoed with unnatural ease as she took a breath.

"You think me a ursurper. And as some of you have missed the events leading up to this, you well would. However, the laws also state that I keep what I kill. What was the former Dark Lord's is now mine as he threw down the gauntlet at Lord Bashkir's furneral. Some of you even doubt my prowess as a Darth, even in the face of the fact I had presented irrefutable evidence. Speak plainly now, do you doubt me?"

There was an awkward silence. Moments before, she had been an unlikely Darth, but this was something different. She had proven to be a fierce killer twice over, and had killed her way to the top. One did grow the courage to speak. "Mis--."
She cleared her throat.

"Master Kaa'li, you must understand that this has come about suddenly, and with your past failure to kill Sidro Haanc, your status as Darth could only be attained for the fact you had followed the letter of the laws and presented irrefutable proof of your master's death. Now, there is irrefutable proof of the Dark Lord's death at your hands as the sword is still bloody and the head is a fresh one. As further proof, the Force has obviously chosen you, your eyes have turned."

They expected surprise, and even fear. Instead, that dark chuckle returned and sent a chill through them. Her voice now a powerfully echoing whisper, answered back simply. "I know." and with that, thier horrors, suspicions and fears had been confirmed. She was indeed chosen as the Dark Ladylord of the Sith, the very first of the sort. What worried them further was that she was now a known Necromancer.

She laughed aloud in a certain cavalier tone that exuded aristocratic pride. Gracefully, her voice echoed in the chamber, "And why not a Necromancer? Read that scroll again and see for yourselves what roll it is I must fill. Who better to preserve the traditions than one who can speak to those who founded them? Gentlemen, I didn't summon you here to debate the finer points of our cannons. I summoned you here to discuss the future of this Order and the objectives we are to follow."

They sank to a knee knowing that fate had revealed itself strangely once more. There was a chorus of "What is thy bidding, our Master?"

Her eyes swept over them all as her voice returned to the velvet whisper which echoed still, "Gentlemen, we have lost a great deal of territory in these last few centuries. Have we forgotten what it was to be Sith? Look to those carvings on those doors and tell me what they speak of. They speak of our former glory, do they not?"

There was a voice made of many that answered, "Yes my Lady."

She nodded, "Very well. We shall take on the task of reclaiming that which belongs to us. I warn you now, this will not be so easy as foiling the Jedi. We will have the Gray Jedi to deal with this time and we can expect both factions to fight us every step of the way."

She took a breath. "We Sith are a powerful sort, but that is a foregone conclusion. We Sith are also a clever sort as well. All this time we have sat dormant...more or less. The galaxy is the proverbial Hutt in a hot tub gentlemen, and we will slowly turn up the heat from that shadowy realm where we have our superiority."

Another asked, "What did you have in mind exactly, My Lady?"

A warm smile played on her face and a dark glint came to her eye as her voice softly wafted, "A creeping takeover gentlemen: we stick to those fundamentals that have kept this order going for millennia. There are weak systems out there, ripe for the taking. Where the Republic is weak gentlmen, we strike, but subtly. Where politics is the easiest method, we employ it as a weapon. Where warfare is the most expedient: we take those planets and systems that can be taken in a simple skirmish. We assasinate those who pose the greatest danger to our claim on the galaxy. I dare say in summary gentlemen, that I am giving this Order free license to use every trick short of grand theater war to rebuild our empire. "

She could sense thier surprise as they looked up. Some with dark smiles and others with looks of genuine surprise. She continued to smile, her voice still soft and eloquent, "This plan will be slow and methodical. We will be systematic in our approach to the galaxy as it is a very big thing to take over. When we fight with the entire fleet, we are in violation of the laws of Stealth and Silence. Like that proverbial Hutt, the water is too hot and it will recoil. Lords of the Council, I submit to you the method by which we shall slowly raise the heat and eventually have that Hutt boiled. Our wepaons now are our wits, thier complacency, and the Force."

They rose stunned. Never before had they known the true darkness of the one the Order had raised. Many had figured her to be the perpetual apprentice. Still others were aware that she was a warrior to the core, but this was different. All the while thier eyes glanced back at her and were met with a chilly scanning look. She was analyzing them and they knew it. They feared her lifetime among them was coming into play, almost as if she had studied the politics within the order. The smile dark and warm at once played on her face as it seemed to go slightly pale. "What say the Council?"

[Kayura]

The Council was silent a moment as they all searched for a critical weakness. They had failed to do so and that was disturbing. She was running on a cold logic that seemed to keep whatever emotions she had hidden. Darth Bashkir had lost his life assuming that mask of logic to be the work of the traitor before he left his post. No more would they look only to explosive, overt hate, fear or anger as the means of channeling the Force.

"My Lady, we have come to the conclusion that the strategy is sound. If you should see fit, we will look into the tactical situation of the galaxy at present."

Again, she moved with a silence that could have startled the dead. Her head nodded and those cold, yellow eyes stared out with a restrained feral quality.

"However My Lady, we must ask, what are your intentions regarding Sidro Haanc? We all know that he's privy to too much sensitive information."

That feral, wolf-like stare was set on her wooden face as she smirked coldly. "Our paths will cross again." She chuckled an infernal chuckle and spoke in a velvet whisper, " If I know his sort of hubris correctly, he will assume that I will seek him out. It was his ego that led him to believe that he could master the Dark Side. It is his ego that will prove the key to his undoing. He left this order in disgust. He told me not to let this Order change me," she chuckled darkly, "but the fool's lack of vision is clear." Her voice now took on the power of an empress again, "This Order did not change me, instead, it simply gave room for what was already there. If I am to see him again, I shall tell him the fable of the jackal and the scorpion before I remind him that I was raised by this Order. It could not change me any more than any upbringing could. Instead, I see it fit to tear at him, by giving him credit where it's due. It will make him either fall back to the Dark Side, or it will eat him alive knowing that he not only failed, but did the Order a favor." There was a dangerous smile on her face as she added, "If anything, we should let his conscience do our dirty work."

The Council laughed. A conscience was a liability and the mark of a coward. They realized soon enough, there was no room for them to maneuver around her and try to usurp her...yet. At the first sign of weakness, some would try, but not today. It was amazing how one like her could make some measure of victory out of a defeat. In the world of the Sith, it was usually all or nothing. It hit them: she was the most dangerous sort of leader...the pragmatic sort. Her only loyalty was to the Order, and now she was its leader.

She wore that look of dark serenity again as she said, "Lords of the Council, you are dismissed. Seek out those targets we can take back with minimal effort. I want a full appraisal of our forces, weapons and resources by the end of the week."

"Yes, My Lady." they said in unison.

[Kayura]

Hours later...

She could be found in a private office at a computer. The Holocom unit next to her had the diminutive figure of a man in uniform hovering just above the surface of the desk.

"Yes, yes, but what are our forces in terms of a military power, General?"
"My Lady, the military is ready for anything," he answered confidently.
She sensed deception. "General, we are both warriors, lies do not become us. What are our critical weaknesses?"
He seemed a bit crestfallen for her directness. "In all honesty my Lady, we haven't seen too much action as of late. An inactive force stagnates and I'm afraid that is what has happened here."

He had feared reprisal: much to his surprise, Darth Kaali wasn't grinding teeth or growing visibly angry. As she typed, her voice had an edge of Zen-like calm, "General, I want you to tell me something, based on your intimate knowledge of our forces. Could we take a planet or system in a skirmish?"
"Yes my Lady, we could do that easily, but the trick is keeping it when the Republic tries to take it."
She nodded and a dark smile played on her face.
"My Lady?"
"I just had an idea. Most things are goverened by computer these days. I believe we can increase our effectiveness if for the time being, we devote more resources to hacking and EMP weapons."

It was clear: a planet could either be brought under control or reduced to Stone Age life in the span of a night. This was the new leader, the very first Dark Ladylord of the Sith; already it was clear that she was a warrior at heart. From what this man could tell, she was a woman with the patience of a sarlac and the heart of a wampa. He found the mix of danger and beauty fascinating as she sat with furrowed brows. The general knew there were two kinds of Sith: there was the kind that exploded like baradium warheads, and then there was that other kind you couldn't turn your back on. In speaking to her, it was becoming clear which of the two she was.

When her voice broke the pensive silence, it nearly made him flinch. "General, keep this extension on hand. We will talk at length again. In the meantime I have an experiment to conduct. Before I do go, I will tell you what I'll need in a military force."

He listened as she described a professional army. She detailed new rules of engagement that screamed of the coldly practical. The troops were to target enemy logistics, resources and to never harass the local civilian population. "I've read past accounts of our earlier operations, and to be frank, we were little more than pirates in uniform. This time, I want the miltary to be the professionals they are. Ultimately, I want our military to be..."
"My Lady?"
"...ultimately, we should work toward being a private security firm."
"My Lady, that would be demoralizing."
"Credits are powerful things General. The Republic is trained to look for the Red Hand and has arrayed itself against us. We take on the guise of a corporation, provide a service, as an army for hire and we not only get new recruits, we get income--income that can go to weapons, training, specialized training and personell."

He ran through it in his mind and was floored. She seemed to have thought of it all. By now it was clear: she was the second kind of Sith.