Late 35 ABY

Raider II-class Corvette Excidium

The Caperion System

Alara stood at the table in front of the large crowd of Excidiac members, with Jester, Storm Raven, and Shadow Wolf by her side. In front of each of the leaders was the proposed plan to take over Ulress. No matter how she worded it, the plan was not enough. The crowd was quickly divided in bickering and hollering between the members. Sweat dripped down the Quaestor’s brow as she frowned in a pensive, desperate stare. She read the plans just as she was directed to by the others and by her Summit. Still the House was divided.

“We should just leave Imperium and Scholae Palatinae in the dust! We have a stronger force, we have since the beginning!” Koryn Thraagus, a newly titled Palpatine and Excidium’s founding father, yelled from one side of the room. Other members surrounding him including Lucyeth, Antonai, and Rosh resounded in positive applaud to his statement.

“Are you an idiot? The clan has practically lost the ISN Tarkin to Marka Ragnos. Do you really think we’d survive on our own?” Levi Zetta logically voiced his opinion from the other side of the room. His fellow assassins Zehsaa, Derek, Katyusha, and Brandon voiced their approval.

The Leaders of Excidium on each side of the table stared solemnly at their leader for her next move. What could she possibly say to unite her beloved House? Just then, as if in answer to her inner pleas, Xantros stepped out from the crowd and stood between the divided groups.

“If I may, brothers of Excidium, I have something to share with you all that I’ve prepared with our Lady Deathbane.” He looked to her for a nod of approval. Alara tried to piece together what he was planning, and nodded as if she already knew what his lies were about. Xantros gave a smile of thanks and walked towards the front of the audience to give his prepared speech:

“Fellow Excidiacs, we are in a dire need of resources and money. Alone, we have no chance of survival. Any internal conflicts might tear our House apart. However, if we remain united, we may not only survive, but also become a significant force in the Galaxy. As a part of Clan Scholae Palatinae and its loyal servants we may become stronger and establish our base of power. We have an important mission right now. We cannot leave the Empire in such a crucial moment of its history. Without us, it will not be able to conquer the Caperion system and establish a new dominion. Our own success depends on the success of the Imperial Clan. We must remain united in order to make sure that we will be able to achieve our own goals!”

For a moment, the room was silent and weighty with grave consideration. Levi stepped forward, shook Xantros’ hand, and gave a slow clap. Koryn turned to the pair and nodded as he followed Levi’s example and clapped along with him. Immediately the crowd metaphorically and literally drew back together to applaud the Duros in his efforts of unity. With a sigh of relief, Alara allowed the corners of her lips to form a smile as she clapped as well. Leaders alongside her stepped up from their seats to applaud as well.

Alara gained control of the room by lifting her hands to the sky. “Well said, Xantros. Thank you for delivering that message for us.” Alara turned to him and played along with his story. He nodded and bowed in agreement before he stepped back into the crowd.

“The plan is simple. We utilize what resources we need, and sell the rest in the main market sector, Ulr Uvi, within the planet Ulress. We take advantage of the smugglers and merchants that will want to sell our goods for better pricing. Assassins, mercenaries, pirates, thieves: Do what you need to do to get work. And get work fast. Shadow, Rasilvenaira, Jorm, and I will focus on joining forces to kill the Crime Lord of the city: Gervasio Sinagra. He runs Ulr Uvi with a strong hand,” she stopped to bend her right hand in a quickly-conceived grip, “but we will show this fool how we will rule with an Iron Fist!”

Roars of excitement quickly started and were quickly extinguished as corridor doors snapped open wide to reveal a familiar face; Malodin’Tater emerged from the hall and stepped towards his fellow Excidiacs. At the sight of this, Alara immediately left from behind the leaders’ table and walked towards the member. Before anyone else could react, another lost member recognized to be Ric Hunter entered the room. Gasps of shock and relief echoed within the room.

“Malodin, Ric! What happened to you both? It is encouraging to see you both in such well stature,” Alara bowed.

“It is we that should be bowing to you, Quaestor.” Malodin smiled and bowed with his comrade as he spoke. “We are happy to be back home. Allow me to explain myself: Blade Ta’var --”

His explanation was cut off by multiple members immediately spitting at the ground at the mention of the betrayer’s name.

With an agreeing nod, he continued his story. “--sent me to work for a Hutt named Tula. Only later did I learn why: to keep me away from you. Once I returned home due to some sort of spyware in my ship’s autopilot protocol, I came across what is left of the Cocytus System.” He stopped and looked to each of the Excidiacs in the room. “Brethren, I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you from Pravus and from Blade’s sins against you. But I’m here now, and I’ll help you fix this. I ended up in Judecca’s ruins, and was led to Ric’s camp where I descended in its depths to discover a newly cloned friend waiting for me.”

Malodin swallowed hard and looked to his companion before he continued explaining his realization. “Ric must have had the clone’s birth programmed to active should anything happen to Judecca. He is trained and fully aware of all that has happened, and I believe he will be the one to help you on your journey to taking over Ulress in arms with our Augur Xantros.”

“I agree. Glad to have you back,” Alara placed a hand slowly on Malodin’s shoulder, and then on Ric’s, “Both of you. Thank you for joining our cause.” the Savant stood next to her newly-found brothers-in-arms and turned to speak once more for Excidium. “I would be honored to request Xantros’ aid in this endeavor. Your skills, intellect, and capability to gain intel will be a necessity if we wish to see this a success.”

“I would be honored to, my Lady.” Xantros bowed and placed a fist over his heart.

With a smirk of approval, Alara continued and rose her voice to the room. “Arise Excidium with merciless hearts ---”

“And Cold Steel!” The room finished the motto and also placed fists over their hearts.

---

Later that Evening

Ulr Uvi, Market Sector of Ulress

Excidiacs split up and circled the perimeter of the bustling underground city, some taking resources to sell, while others headed to local pubs and cantinas to offer their trades and services as planned. Alara made her way to the heart of the city in the large marketplace and headed to The Sinagra Villa, home to the major crime lord and king of the city. She lifted her hand to her earpiece strategically positioned in her Sephi ears underneath her cloak’s hood.”

“Xantros, who’s in there?” Alara whispered to the comm.

“Multiple guards, the crime lord, about 6 other leaders with him. There’s two side doors, one exiting into the alley way and another exiting into the main market hall. The back door looks like it needs a bit of excavation before you can use it.”

“Don’t worry about the side doors, Shadow and I are inside and patrolling the area. We’ll kill anyone who gets in our way.” Rasilvenaira’s voice transmitted through the comm.

“What about you, Jorm?” Alara questioned.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll find a way in. I always do.” his smile could practically be heard through the line.

“I’ll assist Jorm in this,” Ric responded.

“Then let’s do this. Keep us updated, Augur. I’m going in.”

With a flick of her wrists, Alara lifted the hood of her cloak and entered the computer-operated security doors Xantros managed to override and open for her. She was prepared to take care of any guards ready to stop her, but found them already dead and eye-less, with arrows engraved in each of their Trandoshan heads pointing forward. This sign from Shadow Wolf and Storm Raven made the Quaestor smile as she headed further into the villa. A shining yellow staircase centered the large maroon, dimly-lit room where more dead guards pointed towards a ladder far into the right corner that led downwards.

“I’ve got control of the cameras now, Alara. Head downstairs. The boss has his set up even further underground.” Xantros directed her in the comm.

“Understood, Xantros. Thank you.”

She did as she was told, climbed down the ladder, and was met by hooded assassins Rasilvenaira and Shadow who awaited her behind stacks of cargo. They stepped alongside her and the trio walked through the stone, darkened passageway to the left of them. Down the hall, a set of roughly-carpented doors with rough etchings that read “Meeting Room” stood awaiting the group’s next move. The leader gave a wave back to her assassins, and opened the door.

Inside the meeting room were the exact amount of people Xantros warned them about: six leaders, each at their own seat at the table, with a pair of Trandoshan guards, one on each side of Gervasio Sinagra. The male Umbaran wore a smile on his almost sickly chiseled face. His dark pale eyes flickered with some sort of haunting light as he caught sight of the half-Sephi at the end of the room. His fingers immediately began to fidget thoughtfully with his sharply cut ebony-colored moustache as he began to speak:

“Interesting. We have a stranger in our midst. There are not many people that I do not recognize in Ulr Uvi.”

“I don’t think you’re very welcome here.” A human in the room stepped up from his chair to send Alara on her way. The guards against the wall stepped forward, but Gervasio lifted a hand to stop them.

“Not quite yet, my friends. Let’s see what reasons she has to interrupt our conference. Speak, half-breed.”

Alara bit her lip as her Sephi ears swung fervently with angry thoughts towards him for that one. She took a breath, relaxed her posture, and remembered what she came for. “Well, you see Mr. Gervasio, I have come to take this sector out of your hands.”

“Ahhh. How intriguing,” The Umbaran smirked playfully, “And how do you suppose you’ll do that?”

“You see,” Alara stepped forward and allowed a grin to crawl over her face, “I’ve already managed to do it. Every single trade offer, purchase, sale, or exchange you have ever made is already uploaded into my database. Any upcoming transactions, intel on clients, or paperwork of your ownership have already been transferred to my people. And so far every guard that has stood in my way to stop me--”

“Met the end of our blades.” Rasilvenaira and Shadow stepped into the room and each threw a bunch of eyeballs, each tied together by their optic nerves onto the crime lord’s table. With a grin, each assassin took their place next to their Quaestor and stood their guard. Gasps and screams began to fill the room as the pensive Umbaran looked upon each bloody pile on his desk.

“Hmmm…” Sinagra mumbled pensively. “So two half breeds and whatever that pale face coal-haired harlot is, decided to muck up my planning and killed most of my men.” He lifted his grave, sunken eyes and cocked an eyebrow at the trio. “And you think I’ll let you get away with all this?”

“You won’t have any choice, I’m afraid.” Shadow smiled maliciously at the crime lord.

“And what makes you say that?” the man asked impatiently.

A rumbling on the wall behind the Umbaran began to resonate and shake the room. With a large and colorful blast, Jorm Na’trej and Ric Tater burst into the room through the explosion and aimed their explosive weapons right at the crime lord’s face. Screams and panic filled the room until they were muffled by shriek-stealing fear when guns were pointed in all directions. Ric stepped even closer to Sinagra and pressed his blaster pistol against the crime lord’s temple.

“I think this should suffice in telling you your answer.” Ric “Tater” Hunter spoke with sharp sarcasm on his tongue.

*In the aftermath of Operation Sleeping Dragon, Excidium has now acquired vital supplies and infused sorely needed credits for continued operations. Due to his lack of cooperation, Gervasio Sinagra - along with several of his Liuetenants - were beheaded and staked along the entrance to Ulr Uvi; a statement of Excidium's arrival and a challenge to the other ruling Houses of the moon. House Excidium has now established a foothold in the Sinagra Villa and will utilize it as their initial base of operations. With their foot in the door, the Executor has tasked the members of Excidium to infiltrate various levels of the moon's heirarchy to better grasp the scope of the ruling criminal underworld. It turns out, however, that Intelligence provided on Gervasio was incorrect in the assumption he was the only ruling Lord of Ulress. He was a small player in a much larger game and Excidium will be forced to commit resoures to the conquest of Ulress for the foreseeable future.

---

A Clan shattered by the Forces of the Iron Throne and forced from their throneworld of Judecca. A new campaign launched against the governments of the planet of Seraph. A light turned onto the shadowy underworld of the thieves-moon of Ulress. And a war looming on the horizon that threatens to pull all elements of the Brotherhood against one another. It is only a matter of time until Grand Master Pravus strikes again...

Congratulations to Xantros for receiving first place in Operation: Sleeping Dragon! We utilized his storyline along with other implementations from other entries to create this fiction piece. A big thank you goes out to every single member that participated in Operation Sleeping Dragon. Because of your entries, Excidium has a wonderful history to lead us into the future!

In Summary:

• Excidium’s pieces were brought back together by our very own Augur Xantros
• Malodin’Tater is back from being sent away by previous Quaestor Blade Ta’var.
• Ric Hunter, a member who passed long ago in a GJW, had a clone created and it was discovered by Malodin.
• Ric and Xantros are chosen to help the Excidiac Summit in the takeover of Sinagra Villa, Mission: Successful.