Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!
And now, it's finally time for this universe's specific moments between KOTFE Chapter 9 and 10.
Over the next two weeks, Ragdat took some time to get to know allies and enemies and what they've been doing over the last five years, as well as some people he didn't know all that well. His main interest was in Kira, and the first person he went to was Master Vedere, the acting Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. Apparently, both Kira and Lord Scourge had disappeared at some point in the last five years, but Vedere didn't know when or how. Her focus, ever since the disappearance of Master Satele and the death of the rest of the Council, had been on keeping together what remained of the Jedi Order. The Order was in shambles, Vedere explained, with only herself remaining of the Jedi Council, her bodyguard Vizhdam as the only Battlemaster and suitable lightsaber instructor, one Jedi Master in Daashla Myr, half a dozen Jedi Knights including the twi'lek Chas'Raan, and about twenty Padawans in various stages of training. Vedere had been overwhelmed with how many losses that the Order had endured under her leadership, with the only person who was able to keep her spirits up was her bodyguard and childhood friend, Vizhdam. Ragdat asked about Lemda Avesta, because the two of them had been close after the Makeb conflict, but Vedere simply stated that they had broken up years ago due to Vedere ignoring her. Out of necessity due to her trying to keep the Order together, but Lemda had never truly understood the Vedere's growing responsibility to the dwindling Order. Their relationship had ended four years ago, and Vedere had been alone ever since.
Amusingly, Vizhdam was in better spirits, actually wanting to test the strength of his Battlemaster peer. They underwent a training duel, and Ragdat noted Vizhdam's technical perfection, but he also had a fluidity of motion that Ragdat hadn't seen outside his own Jedi training. He could truly tell that Vizhdam's fighting style was based on a combat focused Niman; he truly had an answer to everything.
However, Ragdat's battlefield focus, while making him slightly sloppy compared to Vizhdam's form, far more adaptable. To Ragdat, Vizhdam fell into the common trap that his own former students fell into he called "enslavement to form"; Vizhdam's fighting style was predicated on him recognizing what another swordsman was doing and cycling through the appropriate response. Ragdat, however, built his lightsaber technique upon his previous combat experience, which, while making him a more sloppy fighter, did allow him to introduce things into a duel that a trained fighter didn't have an answer for. And it was this reason that, even though Vizhdam utilized the trakata technique, which utilized the unique property of lightsaber in a sword fight by the ability to deactivate the blade mid swing, it was Ragdat that ended up with the victory.
Ragdat spoke briefly to Chas'Raan, and he had learned about what the rank and file among the Order dealt with. She had been a scout for the Order and Republic during the worst of the conflicts, and had her own personal reason for wanting to fight the Eternal Empire. At the moment though, she refused to say why, but assured Ragdat that she wasn't going to give in to her anger, and would talk to others if she was.
It was in the same day that Daashla Myr, leader of the displaced Padawans, chose to speak to Ragdat. She explained that many, MANY Padawans had lost their masters during the Eternal Empire's attacks, and most of them were dealing with a LOT of anger over what was happening, both to themselves and to the galaxy. When Daashla Myr found out about Ragdat's Alliance through both Vedere and Theron Shan, she happily joined. And while she regretted that she couldn't get her Padawans the Masters they needed, she knew that only the Sith didn't realize that anger clouds judgement when it came to cultures that use the Force, so the teachings of Sana-Rae wouldn't push these Padawans down the dark path.
Ragdat spoke to Colonel Amelisan Strannos as she was inspecting a new suit of armor. This armor, Amelisan explained, was what Amelisan called the AZKA, or Anti-Zakuulan Knight Armor, to be used by the Alliance's special forces in missions against Zakuul. She explained that the phrik, combined with the standard durasteel alloy, would not only make the armor resistant to lightsabers, but most forms of weaponry that Zakuul would be bringing against them. Furthermore, thanks to phrik's ability to disperse electricity, it allowed them to install shield generators in the armor that they could constantly charge thanks to capacitors taking in a charge from being attacked. Amelisan was proud of this armor, and that she'd personally do the field testing, not only for the shields, but also for the other things she had added to the armor to combat the Zakuulan Knights.
Ragdat questioned the Colonel about why she joined the Alliance in the first place, and her answer was pretty simple; not only was she taken off Havoc Squad and kicked behind a desk, but all the ideas she had for SpecForce were being ignored. This AZKA armor was merely one of a dozen ideas Amelisan brought to her superiors that could have began to turn the tide in the Zakuulan war only to have it rejected, and Amelisan was really starting to understand what Tavus, the previous commander of Havoc Squad, began to feel before choosing to defect. Ragdat assured Amelisan that she'd be allowed to fight on the front lines as often or as frequently as she'd like, so long as she kept bringing her A game to the table, and she agreed.
A few days later, Ragdat finally got the chance to talk to the two Sith members of the Alliance that he had personal experience with, Adaso, now a Darth, and Darth Nox. Darth Nox had no problem telling Ragdat how well she had been doing in the past despite losing the most powerful asset of her military arsenal, the Silence Fleet. She had taken the remnants of her Sphere and relocated to a planet in the Unknown Regions, outside Arcann's control, and had continued to do her experiments and ruled her planet like a Sith Warlord of old. The only reason she chose to leave was when Lana contacted her and informed Darth Nox about how Ragdat now had Vitiate trapped inside his mind, Darth Nox left and brought her most brilliant scientists, her most powerful sorcerers, and her most capable archaeologists to get what was needed to assist in removing the former Emperor from Ragdat's mind. She also had no compunction about telling Ragdat that she still wished to take his power for herself via the Force Walk, a fact that Ragdat wasn't comfortable with, but he knew he couldn't turn a Force expert away.
His meeting with Adaso was far more pleasant. Adaso still called him "Jedi" at this point, finally explaining why he did so; Ragdat wasn't just "a" Jedi to Adaso, he was "the" Jedi. The definitive Jedi, the standard by which all must live up to. To call him any less would be insulting a man he had come to respect.
Adaso explained to Ragdat that all of his anger and hatred toward Ragdat was gone; he had five years to think he was dead after Darth Marr's ship was destroyed, and he realized that his grudge toward the Jedi was a relic of his time as the Emperor's Wrath. He still wished to test his strength against Ragdat's, but only once Vitiate was gone one and for all.
Adaso also brought up some resources Adaso had access to that he was bringing into the Alliance; he still had access to his family's accounts, so credits that the Alliance needed, as well as a clan of Mandalorians loyal to him through his brother. Ragdat thanked Adaso for his...kind words...and moved on to other business.
Ragdat spoke to Maircus not long after, learning what he'd been doing over the last five years. After Mandalore the Vindicated fell, Maircus continued to hunt bounties for both Republic and Imperial employers until those targets started hiding out in Zakuulan space, and the one time he tried to penetrate Zakuulan space, his starship, a D5-Mantis Patrol Craft, was shot down and destroyed, forcing Maircus and his crew to steal a Zakuulan shuttle and limp back to safe space. Maircus had been injured the worst, forcing his entire crew go their separate ways, and even his wife Mako had to go out and hunt bounties of her own to pay his medical bills. He was only recently fully recovered, and, through Mako, had learned of Ragdat's Alliance.
And within the very same day, Curoda Riggs, the Pirate Queen of Port Nowhere, talked to Ragdat. She explained that her Pirate Fleet, while having taken heavy losses over the years, had some major success in gaining access to Zakuulan technology and weaponry that they'd been upgrading their fleet with the entire time. In fact, Curoda said, most of the weapons that the Alliance had now were stolen by her fleet.
She also updated Ragdat of her crew, which was mostly intact, save for Akaavi, who was working with some slicer as a bounty hunter again, mostly to keep her skills sharp while she waited for either Curoda or Mandalore's call to war. However, Curoda stated that Risha, the now former Queen of Dubrillion, was now back with her, thanks to her inability to keep her populous under control when the Eternal Empire invaded. Risha had fled and returned to the only life she was successful at.
On a brighter note, Ragdat's talk with Allisani was far more pleasant. She gave him a LOT of intel about Zakuul, as well as informing him of where her people were at; all in places that would benefit Ragdat's Alliance in the near and far future. For now, they had to remain in place, however, she would call them when they were ready.
Once all these people had been properly greeted, they started to inform Ragdat of some specialists that could help the Alliance's war efforts. First, Ragdat had to return to Zakuul on the urging of both Doctor Oggurob and Amelisan to retrieve Amelisan's former squadmate, Yuun. For Yuun, Ragdat had to find some components that Ragdat felt a resonance in the Force for Yuun, who then explained that only someone with a unique connection to them could feel that, which bothered Ragdat; would he have felt that resonance if Vitiate wasn't in his head? Was gathering those part of his plan?
However, Ragdat didn't have time to think about things, since both Adaso and Amelisan had companions to recruit; Amelisan's former squadmate M1-4X and Adaso's former subordinate, Major Pierce. Amelisan came with Ragdat to Coruscant and convinced the droid to join the Alliance, as did Adaso with Pierce on Dromund Kaas. And while there was some minor animosity between Amelisan and Pierce left over from the Bastion from all those years ago, they both agreed to work together to stop the Eternal Empire.
Ragdat's next stop was to Ilum to investigate some murders, only to find them being performed by a familar Kaleesh; Darth Nox's former apprentice, Lord Xalek. Xalek was killing the miners on Ilum for desecrating his father's grave unintentionally, and his culture demanded a blood sacrifice to sate his father's anger, but Ragdat came up with a peaceful compromise; the miners not only restored Xalek's father to his former state, but also create a shrine to venerate him. They did so, and Ragdat offered Xalek a place in the Alliance, but only after Xalek demanded that Ragdat beat him in combat. Ragdat did so with little trouble, and returned to Odessen with Xalek in tow.
His next trip was to Yavin 4, with Darth Nox in tow. Apparently, Nox's archaeologist Talos Drellik was looking for something here, but Darth Nox convinced him that Ragdat's Alliance was more important now. Ragdat, curious about what the human was searching for, asked, and was told that he was collecting artifacts that Revan had used to resurrect Vitiate on Yavin 4, and Ragdat thought that the study of them would be beneficial to getting Vitiate out of his head, so he and Darth Nox helped him retrieve the items before Drellik and his team headed for Odessen.
Ragdat's next mission was a simple one; getting Nico Okarr, a smuggler who got Master Satele and Jace Malcom back to the Republic from Korriban during the Sith Empire's initial invasion. Okarr simply asked Ragdat to give him a mixed drink to "prove his worth". Ragdat did so, and Okarr headed for Odessen.
From there, Vedere mentioned how her old companion Qyzen Fess was now leading the Warstalkers, a group of trandoshans formerly led by the Dread Master slave Kephess. She said that he could recruit them, but to avoid mentioning that he was captured at all costs, as that, in trandoshan culture, meant he was stripped of all renown he would have as a warrior otherwise. Ragdat understood, and explained to Qyzen, when asked what happened to the Jedi who killed the Sith Emperor, simply stated he was injured during the battle where Darth Marr's ship was destroyed, and was only recently recovered by Lana, which, in Ragdat's eyes, wasn't a complete lie; the carbonite poisoning was killing him before Lana used the antidote to him. However, Qyzen took these statements at face value, and brought himself and his Warstalkers to the Alliance.
From there, Allisani mentioned she could get a friend of hers, Doctor Eckard Lokin, into the Alliance, but only if they could save him from death. She explained that, thanks his experiments, the human could shape shift into a rakghoul while maintaining his humanity, but unfortunately, the viral strain he had injected himself with was deteriorating, and it was killing the human. He was forced to go to Alderaan, which was somehow infected with the rakghoul plague, and Ragdat had to assist the organization known as THORN to help push back the rakghouls all while looking for the item that Doctor Lokin needed to stabilize his genetic code.
Upon returning to Odessen this time, Ragdat was told that HK-55 was finally rebuilt, although he did not retain the memories, or even programming he had before. During a series of simulations, HK gave Ragdat some scenerios to help him designate what was and wasn't a viable target. Ragdat made sure HK understood that unarmed and injured individuals were not acceptable to terminate, unless then were attacking him, in which case they were fair game, but even then, they were to be disabled as a first priority. Once all this programming was set, Ragdat welcomed the new HK-55 into the Alliance.
From here, Ragdat had a few days to breathe before the next leg of the war began.
I know it's been a while since I last posted this, but I've been focusing on getting the book moving forward and getting some supporters on my Patreon, though the latter has not been all that successful, but I'm hopeful.
But for now, look forward to KOTFE Chapters 10-13. and stay beautiful freaks!
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