CHAPTER XXXI: DARK SHADOWS

Six months ago, Dark Lord Kalore had fled the secret Evaleon Automated Shipyard beyond the Outer Rim and fled to another unknown world filled with dark peoples- the violent Cimbrae of Kytana. These primitive warrior people worshipped the fabled Sith and eagerly embraced the Dark Lord’s appearance.

For they were practitioners of Black Magic.

Kytana was far beyond the Outer Rim and only Dark Seer Tirahn had the Seer sight to locate it without sensors.

Tirahn herself had secretly fled Hael that same day cloaked by the invisibility of a custom made Kyrie battle suit embedded with mini ball cluster DM Shadow blacklight generators for night stealth. The suit also was made with lectrochromatic material to blend into surroundings during daylight. Tirahn had the DM “Shadow” suit made in secret months in advance and then murdered the private makers once it was finished. She successfully used it that fateful day to infiltrate the D.A.S. facility at Horath and steal their latest combat star fighter the Engager, escaping Tirahnna. Rendezvousing with Lord Kalore’s Black-Void Class heavy cruiser Defiance beyond the Outer Rim, the two departed for Kytana to await their shared destiny.

At Evaleon, Lord Kalore had Defiance upgraded with systems similar to the Slayer‘s. He had the bridge redesigned and supervised by his personal droid DP-3 while the ship’s MD-13 had its memory erased. The Kyries and Sith Officers onboard were sent back to Tirahnna while work was diverted off the Slayer to quickly upgrade Defiance with new custom communication systems and increased armor protection. Dark Master Lord Rexor knew none of this as Lord Kalore was in charge of the entire Slayer project. That is why his escape went so smoothly. The Sith could not track him after leaving the Evaleon shipyard.

On Kytana the warrior Cimbrae eagerly welcomed the Sith as their new leaders once they settled into the Feral Forest, where the dark people lived. They had no city, no capital, just primitive Sira wood villages and crude metal weapons. But their lack of technology was an asset to the Sith. No one could track them here, not even those vile Varmins. The only reason the Varmins had located Lady Kaliah on Kaladar in the first place was because they relied on shared intelligence.

Varmins were literally everywhere in both Rims; hence, their nickname “The Wandering Eyes”. Varmins intently watched everything that went on all the time and whenever they could profit for what they saw, they reported everything. As trackers, their reputation was not deserved. They constantly networked their accumulated Varmin knowledge from world to world and along every trade route between both Rims. Outside of the Rims, however, the Varmins had no presence and therefore there were no “Wandering Eyes” on Kytana.

But just in case, Tirahn had secretly paid a huge sum of Rim credits to the rival Bothans to watch the Varmins. If any tried to leave the Outer Rim they were to be hunted down and killed immediately.

For this, Tirahn also promised to give the Bothans a precious secret that would help the Whills once again in six months time. The Bothans did not trust the Sith, even traitors, so they sent their two best spies Bruxus and Boorma to keep track of Tirahn.

Just before she had fled Hael, Bruxus had used a Zula Needle Gun to snipe her from the Sith Black Pyramid opposite the Black Mountain Temple. The Zula fired a disintegrating micro-needle with a pain inhibitor tip that hit Tirahn on her exposed neck. She felt no pain, no sting as the needle penetrated her body and lodged in her neck, disintegrating and leaving an invisible chemical trace mark inside her that could be tracked. By both the Bothans AND the Varmins, which had acquired the knowledge of the Zula Gun along with its tracking methods. The Varmins, however, did not know Tirahn was marked.

Bruxus and Boorma knew that the wanted Sith traitors were on Kytana, but they held great joy that their bitter enemies the Varmins had no idea where they were. So the Bothans kept a great distance away from the uncharted planet and stayed close to the Outer Rim Markers. Attempts to leave the Outer Rim resulted in an unusually high death toll of Varmins lately, leading Lord Rexor to believe that Dark Lord Kalore must be very close to the Outer Rim. The Bothans knew otherwise.

But for now, the Bothans would keep Tirahn’s secret and await her promised information. If she told them the truth, the Bothans would not betray them to Lord Rexor.

The enemy of my enemy is my ally.