Hidden Headquarters
Elizabeth-I
Cor'neria System — Collective Territory
41 ABY

Rath Oligard was everywhere and nowhere at all. He saw a young girl from Coruscant marvel at the flowery blooms of Naboo. An old man on Nar Shaddaa sat slumped in a dirty alleyway overdosing. A woman’s face, he knew this one, but it took a moment to come to him…

Vairya Muktiba. That was it. The Principate woman. She knelt over an injured minor on a medical frigate. Then another familiar face, Nushalla Oribel, one of the Revenant pirates was quickly pulling containers from a captured freighter, more cybernetic parts to be delivered here. The image changed again, but no faces, just the empty halls of the Children’s Nexus of Light. The grand facility had been dormant for months. The faces and names continued, faster and faster.

Then it stopped. Not a live feed but a single image taken from far away. The figure was nothing but a darkened blur through a window, barely even registerable as a person. But Rath Oligard didn’t need a clear image to know who this was. The self-styled Darth Nehalem, leader of the Brotherhood, was once a weapon Rath had pinned his hopes on. Yet there he was. Alive and well, just as the Brotherhood continued to thrive.

Read the complete Chapter 3 fiction here.

Summary

• The Collective returns!
• Rath Oligard has become a recluse, keeping himself wired into many datafeeds throughout the galaxy.
• His eyes, clawed out by his own hands, have been replaced with an advanced optical cybernetic.
• His body is now weak and fragile from refusing to use it, so much so he had a feeding tube installed to prevent him from wasting away entirely.
• The rest of the Collective leadership rebels against his orders, forcing him to return to the real world, and once again lead the Collective from the front lines.
• The Collective’s efforts on next-gen cybernetics are going well, as are their indoctrination recruitment efforts.
• One such indoctrinated recruit is none other than Rasha Hawee, the former leader of the Tenixir Revenants.
• Rath’s cousin Avitus, who is in league with the Children of Mortis, sends Rath a message. Rath swears he will have his revenge against his Force-wielding cousin.