PERSENUS
Qoritottoi..... Ashaottoi....
"Haz qyât hâskût."
To Dathomir, 856 ABY
Emotions are such a finite source of power, Persenus realized. As strong as it was, emotions fade. They become null over time, and the brighter they burn, the faster they lose their luminance. It wasn't like a Jedi's focus, trained to keep such power at all times. To derive power from experiences of pain, love, anguish, and passion, he could only imagine that the starving artist would become a suitable Sith Lord. He would've chuckled at that thought if he didn't know the truth. Life is suffering. As a Sith, it was more so. As pain fades, there is always something new.
Persenus rode back with the remnants of his men to Dathomir, facing defeat on Cathar against the SJC. He was a Commander now, having graduated from the rank of Acolyte before the battle but was still tied to his master, his General. He had.... been instrumental in the defeat of their forces. The commandos he had presided over had gotten captured and interrogated. Plans were spoilt and soon the battle lopsided atop them. His master.... was not pleased. Many of his men were injured, both the soldierly and the initiates that he looked over. He had failed his first battle as a Sith Knight, as a commander in the Sith Army, and would be the first of many.
Ultimately, they were forced to retreat and disengage his side of the forces toppled. His master had given him a centerpiece position, expecting much of his apprentice. His former apprentice, that is. Perhaps he could've blamed it on the commandos, perhaps he could've reasoned that it was not his failure - but he knew his master better than that. He failed in his eyes and it irked him to know that his opinion had much sway in the upper echelons of Sith society. His name will be tarnished, dashed, if he does not redeem himself in coming battles.
It would take many battles for Persenus to realize that he wasn't a leader. He wasn't a schemer, nor a scholar. It would be in his exile that he would realize that ultimately, at the basest of his character, he was just a struggler that seeks conflict. However, as of now, as the ship docks on a Dathomir base to allow his men some well needed recuperation, Persenus was still ignorant to such flaws. He didn't have the aptitude for war or plots. He was trained but talent is devoid. He didn't belong in the war rooms and he wasn't one for politics. As good as he was, the sciences bored him and even the more esoteric applications of the Force were lost on him. Ultimately, he was a man good for one thing and one thing alone.
His men were carried off for more developed medical treatment within proper bacta-tanks. They had a limited amount inside the ship, not all the soldiers could be treated. The ones that made it out unscathed took to drink or sleep, weary from the battles. Persenus, however, couldn't bear the weight of the crowds. Slinking away, he moved out of the facilities, into the wide wastes of Dathomir to find... something. He needed to meditate on this.
Katherine Grey