Star Wars: Game of Shadows (A self-training short story)

[Other Space Kaiden]

The background is simple, I am doing a self-training for Krag but i'm doing it in a very long and short story like manner. I know people have mixed feelings on self-trainings but I enjoy them because you can write at your own pace and don't have to worry about other people ditching your thread. So, I figure since i'm putting so much work into this that I might as well share with the rest of the board as I post it in the Sith Training forum. Feel free to comment if you like and I will post each chapter as it is finished. Not sure how long i'm going to make this as I am kind of just writing and seeing where it takes me (aside from planned plot events and points). Enjoy!

Chapter 1 ​

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All Our Yesterdays Have Lighted fools…. ​

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The sky split open as lighting cracked down from the heavens, destroying a tropical tree in the distance as the powerful volt of energy struck it. As the lighting storm raged about the sky of Thule like a battle between the divines, a much more mortal figure was disembarking an Imperial shuttle nearby. Krag, the first Graug to ever become Sith, stepped down the ramp and into the downpour of rain. The freezing beads of water sizzled away into vapor as they fell upon the scorching hide of ash that the large reptilian creature sported.

Ash for skin, it was still such an alien thought to the Graug. His species had slimy, moist scales and yet Krag was now walking the galaxy with a coat of skin that defied logic. It wasn’t exactly a doing of Krag’s own, though he did cause it by traveling to Gratos, his home planet, to find a way to strengthen himself in Sith Magic. It was there, in an ancient temple, that he discovered a Sith Phantom who taught him the ways of the fire and revealed his species origins to him. Unfortunately, the phantom cursed him with this skin and the inevitable fate of dying from his own pursuit of power. Krag would not give in so easy though; he would find a way to reverse the effects eventually.

That was a matter for a different time, however, for Krag was not here on Thule for more training. No, Krag had been summoned to the planet to investigate the disappearance of a Sith Master by the name of Darth Fraxis. The Lord had gone missing shortly after the coup against Emperor Tyrin Ardik. More specifically, he went missing after a series of threats from unhappy rebels who were speaking out against the new regime. No one thought much of it at first, but after three weeks with no word from him people began to get worried. The Empire had already sent an investigative team to look into his disappearance and Krag had been sent to assist them due to his ability to sniff out targets.

Not the most luxurious assignment, not by Krag’s standards at least, but it was better than doing nothing. Krag snorted into the air as his good eye caught the figure of an Imperial Officer, dressed in the traditional grey uniform, marching towards him from behind the veil of pouring rain. The officer was a human, a good foot shorter than Krag and sported a short ‘high-and-tight’ haircut and a square officer’s cap with a large visor spanning over his eyes. The visor would have been effective in blocking the rain, if it were not for the fact that the huge droplets were beating down on him from a slanted angle.

“Lord Krag” the soldier shouted over the rain and thunder with a slight bow at the waist “It is an honor to have you with us. Thank you for gracing us with your presence. I am Agent Walstro of Imperial Intelligence.” The man’s words sounded rehearsed and near robotic, probably from hundreds of times having to lick the boots of Sith superiors.

“Of course it is an honor” Krag snorted arrogantly, stepping past the officer and looking off into the distance “I wish to get this done with, I have much more important matters to deal with than looking for some Master too weak to defend himself.”

Agent Walstro nodded, taking a step forward and placing a bladed hand up to his eyes to guard from the rain “Of course my lord, I would expect nothing less from a… man of your position.” the agent had stalled on the word man, no surprise as it was not a common occurrence to see a Graug in the galaxy and that meant that no one really knew anything about Graug biology off-hand.

The hesitation wasn’t what was irritating Krag, it was the fact that he had just explained that he wanted to get this mission completed and yet the agent was still kissing his arse. Krag enjoyed recognition and respect, but not when it came at the cost of his orders not being carried out as soon as he willed them to, “Stop wasting your primitive breath and take me to the man’s house already.” Krag growled, his good eye burning a hole clean through the man.

The agent didn’t seemed moved, however, he just gave a polite nod and answered with a respectful tone, “certainly my lord, this way.” he called out over the pounding rain, holding his hand out to a nearby speeder with a covered roof. Krag marched out in front of Walstro, his heavy footsteps masked by the sounds of the storm. Even in the few minutes that Krag had been on planet, the storm had worsened ten fold. The lighting in the sky cracked without break and the rain was collecting on the streets faster than it could be drained into the storm sewers. If the storms didn’t let up soon, it wouldn’t be farfetched to say that it would reach biblical proportions.

Walstro rushed ahead as they approached the speeder, opening the back passenger side door and bowing to Krag as the beast stepped inside. It was a tight fit and Krag found himself nearly crushed between the ceiling of the speeder and the floor. He snorted, moving his body to a position that was at least semi-comfortable. The agent closed the door with haste before rushing around to the driver’s seat of the speeder and jumping in. Walstro shook a little, sending water from his drenched overcoat flying over the dash and passenger seat.


“This bloody place and its storms.” Walstro grumbled as he powered up the speeder’s engine and the machine slowly lifted into the air. The rain was heavy against the windows of the speeder, knocking against the glass with the same weighty sound of hail. What was worse was the thunder from the never ending lightning storm that sent a metal bending shutter down the speeder with every crack. Krag had seen vicious lightning storms in his life, but this one was certainly on the top of his list. The lighting struck with such pace that the sky appeared to be illuminated a permanent blue and purple, it was truly astonishing.

The power of this storm was derived from the fierce darkside energies here, which raised questions. With such a strong darkside presence it was hard to believe that a Sith, no matter what their rank, could be overcome by some rowdy rebels. If this Darth Fraxis was as good as they said he was, it would have been even harder to believe. It was no secret that many people were unhappy with how things turned out for the Empire and many opposition groups had started as a result of so much turmoil. Still, most rebels were Non-force users with the occasional high ranking Sith or Dark Jedi. Assuming that the tales of Darth Fraxis were true, it would have taken immense planning and numbers to bring him down and not leave a trace. There was also the possibility that he deserted the Empire, like a true weakling, and ran off to join the rebels. This, however, seemed unlikely to even Krag. According to what he had been briefed on about the man, he was an extremely loyal Sith who served each Emperor just as willing as the last. He had survived inquisition and when the Empire told him to jump he asked how high. Lesser or not, the man was loyal to the Empire.


The more he thought about it, the more questions turned up. Krag may have been a brute and a barbaric warrior, but he could think like an investigator when he needed to. Right now he needed to get to Darth Fraxis’s residence and see what he could turn up on the planet. If the Master had been attacked, it either meant he was weak and the stories were nothing but falsehood. Alternatively, it could mean that Krag was dealing with a very powerful and rouge force user or a very cunning group of non-force users.

Either way, Krag was going to need to act fast and use all of his skills to catch and kill who was responsible. The Empire had told Krag to do whatever was necessary when he found the suspects and to Krag that was just a good excuse to kill something. He would be analytical and thoughtful all the way up to the point when he found his suspects. There would be no mercy or arresting, just good ole’ fashion summary executions right on the spot. If he turned out to have killed the wrong people, well then that just simply wasn’t his problem. He would be damned if he was just going to sit through all of this investigatory work without at least killing something at the end. Hell, he’d kill this Imperial Intelligence fellow if it came down to the wire and he had no suspects.

“Lord Krag, may I ask as to how you got assigned to this investigation?” Walstro asked, breaking the repetitive sounds of the heavy rain hitting the windows and the non-stop lighting


Krag turned his good eye towards the fellow and snorted “I was told to head the investigation and so I am. I do not know why they chose me, aside from my natural instinct to hunt pitiful prey. Regardless, I care not for their reasoning and only for the completion of this mission and the deaths of those responsible so that I may return to my usual business.” Krag shuffled in his seat, trying to get comfortable in the tight space

“Your species are hunters, my lord?” the man asked with genuine intrigue. It most likely wasn’t out of some wanting to get to know Krag, but rather out of curiosity of the Graug.


“Yes, we are the greatest hunters the galaxy has ever seen. Nothing is our predator and everything is our prey, do well to remember that lesser.” Krag snorted, his good eye tracing back to his window. He wasn’t sure how far they had traveled but he could finally see signs of other Imperial personnel. Down below was a decently sized temple, built into the side of a jagged mountain. The temple would have been impossible to see through the pouring rain if it were not for the large industrial lights lining its spire. While Krag could not give a clear description of the height, it was easy enough to say that the temple and its spire stretch a good 50 stories into the air. The black, metallic surface of the temple was glistening with hour’s worth of rain. The outside was nearly impossible to make out except for the presence of an Imperial Walker that towered above the surface of the mountain slope.


“I will do just that, Lord Krag.” the officer replied back before turning the speeder sharply towards the tower “We are here, my lord.”


The shuttle zipped across the sky and came in hot to the ground outside of the temple. Krag could have swore they were about to impact with the rocks, but he was pleasantly surprised that the shuttle just grazed across the rocky surface before coming to a stop just 10 meters from the walker. Krag sparred no time throwing his door open and stepping out into the harsh flurry of rain and wind. The first gust that hit him was nearly enough to thrown him off his balance and send him toppling to the ground like a few crates of potatoes.


“This way Lord Krag, I will show you inside!” Walstro exclaimed over the raging wind and lighting.


“Good!” Krag barked back as he stomped around the speeder and over to his guide. The Graug’s good eye scanned the exterior of the tower just in time to see a wealth of Imperial Intelligence Officers get illuminated in a bright purple flash from a nearby lighting strike. The men didn’t move an inch; they just stood their ground with their long trench coats keeping their bodies dry from the raging waters. Nothing said Imperial Power like seeing a dozen Imperial Intelligence Agents standing around in long, black trench coats. The combat boots and black trousers, coupled with their slick appearance from the rain and the flashes of lighting made the scene before the temple quite extraordinary.


With haste, Krag and Walstro jogged through the rain and lighting to the front entrance of the temple, which was flanked on either side by massive statues of a man in traditional Sith robes. The flickers of lighting helped reveal the statues scarred and sunken face through the darkness, if Krag had to guess he would make that statue out to be a representation of Darth Fraxis. If the statue was true to life, the man had a cluster of small scars running down from his left temple to his right jawline. His cheeks were sunken deep into his face, giving him an almost skeletal appearance. The nose was sharp and the eyes were but hollow shells that, no doubt, contained nothing but soulless gems in person.


Once inside, Walstro shook some of the excess water from his jacket and did his best to hide his shivering. Krag, on the other hand, was completely dry aside from splots of water on his armor. If one thought that the outside of the temple was spectacular, then the inside would have made them cry with envy. The ceiling was high and decorated with an elaborate artwork of ancient Sith and Dark Lords. Krag could not recognize them all, but he could see the big names such as Sidious, Vader and Bane all painted out in vibrant colors and with excellent brush work. Even to a creature like Krag, it was an impressive display of art. Further down the hall was less colorful, but no less extravagant. Busts and statues, of Sith Lords past, lined the hall on either side; stretching down for meters upon meters.


“Quite amazing isn’t it, my lord?” Walstro asked, but received no answer in return aside from a glare. Taking the hint, the Intelligence Officer bowed and stretched his arm towards a staircase in the center of the grand hall “Darth Fraxis’s room is on the second floor, I will show you there.”


With that, Walstro began leading the Graug Knight through the temple and up the stairs to the second floor of the complex. Even as they traveled deeper into the stone and metal building, the sounds of lighting and rain pierced into the silence of the corridors. Even to Krag, whose species was used to the loud noises of the predators of their homeworld, could not imagine how someone could live here with such racket. The knight couldn’t imagine living somewhere with this kind of noise so often, it would be unbearable.

As Krag and Walstro approached the room of Darth Fraxis, the Graug took notice of two stormtroopers posted on either side of the doorway. The armored troopers stood tall with their blaster rifles slung over their shoulders and pointed towards the ground. They didn’t move, not until Krag passed by them and they both turned to get a glimpse behind his back. The room of Darth Fraxis was what one would expect from a living space of someone who owned a temple such as this one. The bed was large and round, bigger than a king sized mattress even and the frame was an elaborate and menacing decoration of spirals carved from black wood. The carpets were made from dense wool and the walls and ceiling contained paintings of scripture from ancient Sith texts. Krag didn’t get in close for a thorough inspection, but from what he could tell was that they were from the Book of the Sith and other such literary works.

The presence of the Darkside in the room was like the musk of strong cologne, heavy and hanging in the air. Krag shivered a little at the overpowering scent of it, this man was powerful and that much was now clear. Well, he was powerful at least since he may be a dead man now. Either way, whether he was dead or alive was not his concern, for he was only here to find out where he or his body was and then kill those responsible. At initial sight, nothing seemed out of place and that was troubling. Even on Gratos, where the Graug were naturally fit to survive the terrain alone, a deserter never left without taking his wares.

“Is anything missing?” Krag growled in question to Walstro

“No, my lord. From what we can tell, all but one robe is gone and even his lightsaber is still in its place.”

Krag’s eye grew wide and he turned his head to the man, “his weapon was left behind?”

Walstro nodded and Krag snorted, “this man is dead.”

“That is what we fear, but we do not like to jump to such solid conclusions.” Walstro countered politely

Krag laughed, walking deeper into the room “he is dead; it is just a matter of finding his body now.” Krag assured as he ran his claws across a bookshelf near the entrance of the quarters. Each book was neatly in its place and there was not a spec of dirt on the bindings. Darth Fraxis was obviously an avid reader, for each book appeared to have been opened and closed many times before.

Turning away from the book shelf, Krag took a sniff of the air. The scents of the multiple Imperial Agents filled his nose, as well as something very peculiar. Turning to Walstro, Krag inquired “Have your men tested for chemicals?”

“N-no my lord.” Walstro answered, fear striking his voice as he noticed Krag’s reaction. Uselessness, complete and utter uselessness. How was it that Krag, a warrior at heart and little more, could think of such a basic thing when the Imperial agents had not. “We are bringing in a droid to test for DNA though, my lord!” Walstro blurted out in attempt to justify himself.

Krag snarled, walking off to follow the chemical scent. The beast ducked and weaved, Walstro following close behind with his head bowed in shame. The scent finally brought Krag to a room full of holotapes and holocrons, all alphabetically categorized kept behind a thin layer of glass. This Darth Fraxis was very orderly, that much was clear judging by the state of his affairs. Krag entered the room, his nose still sniffing for the source of the scent. Soon enough he reached a pedestal in the back of the room, atop it was a shattered mound of glass that used to be a protective box. Obviously, from the fact that glass was the only thing to be found on the pedestal, whatever the box used to protect had been stolen. It was also the spot where that most peculiar scent was coming from; still it did not answer the question of what it was.

As Krag continued to sniff about the pedestal, he suddenly heard the sound of a holocron opening. The beast turned swiftly, his eyes coming upon Walstro who was looking in wonder as a holocron on a shelf opened before him. “What have you done?” Krag sneered, steam and cinder flowing forth from his nostrils like a demon from the nine depths.

“Nothing my lord!” Walstro blurted in a panic “The display case was open and the holocron activated when I walked by!”

Krag pushed the man out of the way, sending him fumbling backwards and picked up the Holocron. The device, instead of displaying its usual content, only displayed a message read “This device requires a secondary power source for proper function.”

This was strange; he had never encountered a holocron of this type. Looking over the holocron in his hands, Krag noticed the ancient Sith symbols that spoke of a force power Krag was very familiar with…Force Wraith. Such a power was not common and very difficult to learn, which would explain why someone would require a power source to operate the device. “My lord, perhaps this is the device it is talking about.”

Walstro said as he held up a small pocket sized crystal to Krag. The beast snorted, taking the crystal and closing the holocron “Have your men sweep the area with the droid, find me on Kalee when it is done.” Krag growled, deciding that he would find nothing else of use here. Taking a few steps out the door, Krag turned once more “Do not fail me.”

With that, Krag was off….

 

[Other Space Kaiden]

[U[ Chapter 2 [/U]​

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Into the Heart of Darkness ​

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“Damn it!” Krag roared as he threw the useless Holocron to the other side of his chambers. The sturdy device made a painful metallic cling as it bounced from the dark durasteel of the wall to the slick obsidian tile that made up the floor of the quarters. Krag, full of rage and anger, threw himself down onto luxurious bed in the room, which was made to accommodate the most welcome guests of Korriban. The soft, cushy style of the mattress was so uncomfortable to the Graug that he would have much rather slept on the floor.

Sleep was the last thing on the Sith’s mind, however. Not only had he flown out of his way to visit Korriban and study the holocron he had found, but now he had discovered that this holocron was only a piece of a larger puzzle. As it turned out, the holocron Krag had brought back to Korriban had a twin. This second holocron held the secrets to the other half of the training and without its proper guidance, there was no way Krag could fully learn to conjure this so called Force Wraiths. It was also infuriating beyond any possible belief.

Still fuming, Krag heard a faint knock on the door of the quarters. The beast looked up to the door with a malevolent glare in his eyes, “What is it?!” Krag roared, the irritation in his voice unmistakable.

From beyond the door, a feminine voice answered “Lord Krag, some men from Imperial Intelligence have come to speak to you.” . The Sith stood from his bed and stormed over to the door, picking up the holocron and shoving it into a compartment in his armor. Once the holocron was concealed, the beast hit a control panel near the door and sent the large slab of durasteel disappearing into the wall, revealing the dark halls of the Sith academy beyond and the face of a young, blue-skinned female. Krag recognized the young female, whose head tentacles hung casually over her shoulder. She was a Twi’lek who had been tasked with overseeing all of Krag’s needs during his stay.

“Where are they?” Krag hissed to the girl, whose name was Jia’mi.

Shooting her eyes to the ground, Jia’mi answered in a voice racked with nerves but still very calm in nature “They are waiting for you in the lobby of the academy, my lord.”

Krag snarled a sigh and then pushed his way past the girl with a shunt of his shoulder “follow me.” was all that Krag gave in reply before making his way down the dark halls of the temple. The apprentice followed close behind the gigantic beast, her eyes secretly studying ever inch of the intriguing beast. It was not everyday that one saw something such as Krag, not only was he a member of the ill known Graug species but he was also a logic defying mass of ash-like skin.

Krag either didn’t notice or didn’t care; he was much too focused on his disappointment with that holocron he had found in Darth Fraxis’s home. The Graug Knight now just wanted to find Fraxis to question him about the rest of the holocron, not to appease the mind of the Emperor. For that reason, and that reason only, Krag stormed down the hall towards the lobby. His thunderous footsteps gave the trainees in the academy pause and the only sounds louder than the monstrous clanks were the sounds of training sabers clashing.

It took only but a few minutes of traversing through thick shadows for the duo to finally reach an elevator at the end of the dark hall. With no words spoken, both of the Sith entered the elevator which closed tight behind them. Krag looked Blankley at the door, his mind still racing about the holocron. He was going to find this “Darth Fraxis” and beat the answers out of him if that is what it took.

“Lord Krag? the squeaky voice of Jia’mi’s asked from behind

Without even taking the time to turn, Krag snarled his reply “What do you want, weakling?”

Acting like a true Sith, the girl pushed aside her fears and answered “Where do you come from, Lord Krag?” so the curiosity had finally gotten the better of her.

Krag, with eyes of cold yellow stone, looked down at the girl with the utter look of disgust and superiority covering his face “I am from a world that burns with the fires of war, where creatures live or die because they are either strong or weak. Where true strength is born and will one day cover the galaxy in a veil of blood…and that is all you deserve to know, weakling.”

Jia’mi glared at the beast, her eyes filled with a fiery passion that ignited alongside the anger she now felt. Krag just starred at her, unimpressed and unmoved, before finally stating in a voice of thunder “I can feel your anger…you want to kill me, then do it and prove you are not as weak as you look.”

The words sank in like venom, stinging and burning the soul of the Apprentice. It was true, Jia’mi wanted to take her saber and gut the belly of Krag, but she knew that the beast was much stronger than her and that she could not defeat him. With reluctance, the Twi’lek looked to the ground in submission.

“Just as I thought…weak.” Krag growled, just as the doors of the elevator slid aside t reveal the metallic workings of the academy’s lobby. It was midday here on Korriban and most of the apprentices were off training with their Knight and Master mentors, so the lobby was occupied only by the squadron of security troopers and three men in Imperial Intelligence uniforms. Krag recognized Walstro immediately, the man stood with his hands neatly folded in front of him with his hat tucked into his grip. The man’s jet black hair was slicked back and his neatly tucked grey uniform did little to compliment his pale skin.

“Lord Krag, it is a pleasure to see you again.” Walstro said as Krag and Jia’mi marched forth from the elevator.

Krag gave a beastly snarl in reply, before growling “You better have pleasing news for me, Walstro.”

The Imperial Agent didn’t show any fear, he just allowed a cocky smile to grow across his face “I do, my lord, and I think you’ll be very pleased indeed.” . Walstro then motioned for another Agent, who quickly retrieved a datapad from his uniform pocket and handed it over to Krag.

The beast of a Sith took the small bad in his massive claws, making the small piece of metal look like a child’s toy in his hand. As the beast scrolled through the information on screen, Walstro verbalized it “Our droids discovered large amounts of Sodium Hydroxide at the scene, it’s a chemical commonly used to destroy DNA evidence.”

Krag sneered “What use is that to me? To hunt prey, I need a scent and not what they used to get rid of it.”

“Of course, mi’lord…that is why I know you will be very pleased with what else we have discovered. After the discovery of the chemicals, I had my men begin to search deeper into any leads we could possibly find. That’s when we stumbled upon something peculiar. Lord Fraxis had been keeping a record of multiple deliveries to his temple by a freighter ship. There was no record of what they were bringing to his temple, but there was record of a ship ID number.”

“And?” Krag growled impatiently,

“Well, mi’lord, the ship ID was three-six-six-two-eight-four. That same number was recorded as fleeing from Imperial patrols on the same day we project that Fraxis first went missing.”

Krag’s anger turned into a cynical pleasure and the feeling was evident by the grin that overtook his ugly features “good, good…where did our prey run off to?” Krag asked, carelessly throwing the datapad into Jia’mi’s hands before taking a step toward Walstro.

With a cocky smile and a proud demeanor, Walstro answered “We have confirmed that the ID is registered to a known freighter that operates out of the Star’s End Prison on Mytus VII. so, those who had yet to be conquered were harboring rebels…or possibly a traitor.

Krag nodded in delight, his deep yellow eyes piercing those of Walstro, “excellent, you have pleased your lord…prepare a shuttle for our departure and call upon a squadron of Stormtroopers to accompany us.”

Walstro gave a crooked look “Are you sure we shouldn’t bring an army, a battalion at least?”

“No, I plan on dealing with these weaklings myself, but a squadron of lessers may serve my purposes well.” Krag growled back before thrusting his clawed index finger towards the door “Now go, before I lose my patients.”

Walstro bowed in compliance, “As you wish, Lord Krag.” And with that the Imperial agent spun on his heel and motioned for the other two to follow him as he walked out of the lobby. Krag watched as the agent marched out of the pristine white doors of the lobby. When the Agent had disappeared out of sight, Krag turned to the young apprentice beside him “You…you will come with me on this task, so that I may test your true strength.”

Jai’Mi looked up to Krag with puzzlement in her eyes “bu-but Lord Krag, my training?”

“Your training here is under weaklings, I am in need of another apprentice…one who will serve me well and I only the strong are worthy serve me. You will come and you will prove that you are worthy to be called Sith…or you will die like all weaklings should.”

The words were harsh and bitter; one could expect no less from Krag. The young Twi’lek had come to know this over her short time with the Graug Knight, but his words still angered her beyond belief and this time that anger got the better of her “I will show you, beast, that I am going to become the most powerful Sith anyone has ever seen!” she hissed, her eyes full of fire. Krag had already begun to grow fond of this one; she may serve him well after all.

“Your words are strong, but you are still weak. Come, weakling, my patients for this planet and this mission have long since expired.”

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It had been a half an hour later when Walstro was finally able to get a shuttle down to the surface and a trooper detachment with it. It was now two hours after that and Krag still sat in the bay of the shuttle, his yellow eyes studying the holocron he had retrieved from Fraxis’s room. The piece of black metal fit much better into his hand than the datapad had, but no one in the shuttle dared eye it long enough to realize that fact. The Imperial Agents, including Walstro, knew better than to let their eyes linger on a Sith for too long and Jai’mi had found a good balance of time between taking peeks and looking away. The stormtroopers simply didn’t care, they just sat and spoke to one another in hushed whispers about how much they hated their superior officer or discussed how they would spend their R & R.

As Krag sat, eyeing the holocron, something inside him pulled at his strings. His force sense had long diminished greatly, but something in the force was telling him that trouble was afoot. Krag didn’t have enough insight to say what it was, but it was this mission…this Darth Fraxis that troubled him. He hadn’t sense it before, but as they inched closer and closer to this Mytus VII the stronger this troubling feeling became. There was a plot to destroy the Empire in the works here, but not just the Empire…everyone and everything in it. Krag may have had his own motives for serving the Sith Empire, but letting it be destroyed was highly counterproductive to his cause.

Still, that was not the only thing troubling Krag’s mind. The whole trip he had been contemplating on what holocron had taught him. Force Wraiths required great concentration and will to from. According to the holocron, one must concentrate massive amounts of hatred, anger, fear and dark energies in general to create the Force-Wraith. It also said that, once one mastered the way of the Force-Wraith, that a multitude of other powers would become apparent to the user.

Krag had tried multiple times to conjure one of these demons. He could visualize the cloud of his own dark energies in the room and he was fueling it for hours on end with every ounce of pure hate, disgust, greed and anger that he could possibly pull out of his rotting soul and yet…nothing. Krag knew that he needed the other half of the holocron to be able to understand how to use this power and he was not going to give up until he found out what happened to it.

“Lord Krag!” the pilot shouted from the cockpit “we are coming out of hyperspace now.”

“Excellent.” Krag mused, placing the holocron back into the pouch on his armor. The beast just sat and waited as the small Imperial shuttle came out of hyperspace and right into the darkness of the void that surrounded the home of Star’s End Prison. Once the shuttle was completely out of hyperspace, Krag stood from his seat and marched up to where the pilot sat. Krag’s yellow eyes graced every speck of light around the planet, searching for any signs of opposition or alike. All he found, however, was emptiness and that was troubling. There was not a single ship anywhere near the planet and they hadn’t even received a signal from the surface, which was expected when entering any system with a civilized government of any sort.

“Lord Krag, I’m not picking up any signals at all.” the pilot notified “There aren’t even any automated signals from the prison, now radio signals; it’s like a ghost planet.”
“Then we must be in the right place, land us at Star’s End Prison and I will end whoever thinks they can cross me and the Empire.” Krag ordered in a voice of thunder, to which the pilot began to object and was consequently silenced by a glare as sharp as a razor.

With obvious reluctance, the pilot began bringing the shuttle down towards the planet’s surface. The durasteel hull glided effortlessly down through the atmosphere and the faster it dropped the louder the screams of the air got outside the cabin of the ship. Krag was eager to get on the ground; he wanted to get to the bottom of this disturbance he felt and figure out what happened to his Darth Fraxis and his holocron.

Krag had spaced out, his mind focused on the whispered warnings of the force, when a red light began to flash in the cabin and a ear busting alarm began to cry out throughout the ship.

“Incoming missiles!” the pilot screamed out as he cranked hard on the controls and sent the shuttle into a hard turn. Krag gripped the sides of the cabin with his claws and watched a black trail of smoke shoot past the pilot’s window. The ship shook hard as the pilot yanked the controls in the opposite direction, sending Krag falling to the floor and barely dodging another black-tailed missile.

“Pilot, get us the feth out of here!” Walstro barked from his seat. The man was holding onto his restraints for dear life, trying his best to hold himself up and not fall to the floor as his Sith Lord had.

“What the krink do you think I’m trying to do!” The pilot shot back with a nerve shattered voice as he yet again yanked on the controls “I can’t even see where this shots are coming from!”

“What is this?! Jia’mi cried out in anger as she tumbled to the ground in the wake of the next violent turn.

“The prelude to a true battle.” Krag purred as he stood from his spot on the ground, gripping the wall tight as to keep balanced as best he could

“Fierfek, these missiles are everywhere, the sensors can’t keep up! I need to ascend!” the pilot cried out as he pulled the ship this way and that

“No! You will land this shuttle at the prison or I shall tear your heart out and feed it to your kin!” Krag growled, his fangs barred and his claws making holes in the steel.

“It’s too late, I can’t dodge these anymore! Brace for impact!” the pilot screamed as he pulled the ship into the hardest turn yet, in one final attempt to escape

The ship quaked and the heat of an explosion flashed over the interior of the ship and was followed up by a fearsome vacuum of air that immediately sucked two stormtroopers out of a gapping hole in the back corner of the vessel. Krag gripped the wall harder as the pilot struggled to keep the shuttle balanced as it descended against his will. The rush of air from the hole was so powerful that even Krag’s powerful grip was struggling to keep a hold, and then things got worse.

“I’ m losing her! I’m losing her!” the pilot shouted as the controls forced themselves from his iron grip and sent the shuttle into a wild corkscrew through the air. Krag couldn’t hang on tight enough and the next thing he knew, his grip was gone and his head was tumbling with the ship. The screams of the stormtroopers faded one by one as the shuttle cycloned closer and closer to the surface and Krag just tumbled against every wall and corner.

Krag couldn’t tell which way was up or down anymore, everything was just a blur of spinning metal now. He couldn’t even tell who was still in the ship and who had been thrown out; he could have been the last one in this washing machine for all he knew. Then, without even the slightest warning, Krag was tossed hard against the ceiling and then violently the floor. From there, Krag bounced around the deck as the ship dug into the hard surface of the planet and bounced off of ridges and rocks.

Krag still wasn’t fully aware of what was going on inside the shuttle, but as the ship began to grind to a halt he began to notice the deep red splashes of blood that covered the cabin and slid down the durasteel like goo. The beast growled as the ship finally came to a stop on the surface. Everything around Krag was spinning and all that he could clearly make out were the motionless forms of unidentified bodies in their seats. With a grunt of pain, Krag turned back to the pilot’s seat and found a canvas of blood and gore. The deep, red blood soaked the console like a thick coat of wet pain and pieces of tendon and muscle hung from the ceiling like decorations of confetti. Krag could see well enough to tell that some sort of fence poles had shot through the pilot’s window and minced him like a nerf steak.

Krag just starred at the dismembered form for a few moments, his mind still clouded and his head pounding. He only looked away when a metallic clank startled him from behind and he turned his good eye to look at the source. Standing above him, with the symbol of an ancient rebel alliance painted across his chest plate, was a tall soldier. Krag could tell that he had never seen this man before and acted quickly to draw his weapon.

The Graug Knight would never get the chance as the unknown man held up a long blaster and fired a deep blue ring into Krag’s head and the universe went dark….