Dark Crusade
Dromund Kaas
Fiction
The shuttle carrying what was left of my battalion slipped through the atmospheric containment field and onto the hangar deck of the Warspite. The pilot, as bone-tired as any of us, put down hard enough to crack a landing strut and educe pained grunts from us. The shock seats took nearly all of the jolt, but the sudden stop still bounced our vital organs up and down in our gut sacks. All I wanted to do was strip out of my muddy, sweaty, torn robes and grab a thorough sanistream before I went to the mess for a rare nerf steak, Corellian ale, and perhaps a dish of candied jewel fruit for dessert. Most of our meals in the field consisted of protein paste on crackers, and I was anxious for something to eat that was actually appetizing.
I led the precession of beings wearing bloodied and scorched armor, many of them limping or clutching injured limbs. My group was one of the last off Dromund Kaas, and consequently one of the last to report in on the Star Destroyer. “Sergeant Dryer, get the men fed and cleaned up. Your official report can wait a bit,” I said. All the commissioned officers were dead on the field, and the sarge was the senior NCO in the battalion. Which wasn’t saying much. He was a Devaronian, twenty-six standard years old, and had been in the Scholae military for five years. He was a good fighter, and might be a lieutenant next time I saw him.
“Yes sir,” he said, snapped off a quick salute, and chivvied the men out of the hangar bay.
I felt my superior’s presence in the Force, turned, and strode toward Evant Taelyan. The human, a member of the Sith order, stood with his fists on his hips and a scowl on his boyish face. Taelyan was the leader of battle team Caliburnus, and a member of Scholae’s special forces team.
“Maligo!” he barked.
I sauntered up and gazed at him with my eyebrows raised. “You bellowed, my lord?”
A wave of anger swelled up in him and I suppressed a smirk.
“What was the delay? Your shuttle should have been back twenty minutes ago. I want an answer.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t make up the flight schedule, and I saw no need to order the pilot to jump ahead in line. If the others were dawdling and caused a delay you should talk to them about it. I’m sure flight control logged in each ship and can pinpoint who’s to blame for the cascading time delays. Besides, it’s not like we were carrying any of the artifacts that were recovered.”
“Are you sure you didn’t stop to take care of a few things?” the menace clear in his voice.
“Don’t make me out to be the scapegoat. My shuttle followed the preceding one in as close as military doctrine allows.” He was trying to make me angry, but I wouldn’t rise to his bait. Anger was a very useful tool for a dark sider, but it was my tool, not my master.
“The flight schedule was calculated precisely, and it got thrown off. I won’t stand for that. We need to act like a well-oiled machine. This situation is intolerable,” he growled.
I laughed. “Good luck with that. Maybe you can go to Xen and have him give you a division of battle droids to command.” I turned and walked away.
“Krath!” he shouted.
“You’ll have my report when it’s done,” I said and kept walking.
* * *
After I cleaned up and ate I sat in my small compartment, datapad in front of me. I put my face in my hands and inhaled deeply. I supposed that the crusade was finally over, at least I took it for granted that the powers that be were telling the truth. Which was perhaps foolish of me. Truth meant nothing to them, only the acquisition of more power did. But did I gain anything?
Sure, the Brotherhood gained a slew of new planets with millions of beings as slaves, and untold billions or trillions of credits. But with the increased power and affluence came new dangers. Whereas we were flying under the sensors of most of the rest of the galaxy, we were now on the screens of new dark side enemies. Enemies, who like us, would not forget and give up. Foes who would take any opportunity to slide a vibroshiv in our backs whilst our attentions were somewhere else.
Most of the dark siders only cared to understand the Force deeply enough to accumulate power, and sometimes wealth. I was different. I wanted to understand the Force at its deepest levels, and until I found what I wanted to know I could do without control over others and material comforts. I didn’t mind fighting in a war, but it was, frankly, a useless exercise since it brought me no new knowledge. Sure, I got to practice my saber techniques against live targets and use the Force to destroy, but compared to what I believe the Force can do I was merely scraping the surface.
Scholae got a new planet to play with, its inhabitants now slaves to the empire. But compared to the other clans and houses, we got little. The Dark Council got what it wanted, a victory and vast new riches. And of course it kept the underlings focused on external threats and kept us from the in-fighting which was usually our downfall. From their perspective I suppose the Crusade was a rousing success. Heroes to cheer, riches to share, and continued iron-fisted control of the Brotherhood.
I didn’t even get to see any of the artifacts my house had retrieved. I’d never been to Dromund Kaas before, and the unit I led acted in a support capacity. Oh, the fighting was fierce, the battalion decimated, but the glory of the day went to others. I wouldn’t even get to study the finds for the foreseeable future. I suppose you could say the only thing I got out of the Crusade was exercise.
KP Draco Maligo Scholae Palatinae 8521