"Calculated risks rely on knowing basic math."
When I heard the words 'usurper king,' my initial mental image was of a scrawny and scheming man with a pointed beard and a very evil laugh. The kind of man who loved the idea of power and would do anything to get it except work towards it honestly.
So imagine my surprise when the Little Jedi and I were ushered into a throne room that was utterly dominated by a mountain of a man. Even though a ring of pillars reached up to the domed ceiling dozens of meters above me, even though statues measuring in the meters stood in the alcoves, even though there were armed soldiers waiting in the galleries, none of them had the sheer presence of the man who was standing in front of the throne.
Built like a strongman, he looked even more impressively built than Bybon. No doubt he would tower above even me, and I stood comfortably taller than most. No, this was a giant amongst men who looked like he had a team of personal trainers on hand to make sure he looked every inch the warrior king he claimed to be. Idly, I wondered if he had looked like this while serving the Republic military and how he had ever managed to pass height/weight testing.
Unfortunately, the Ulgo soldiers who had escorted me here were not the kind to let me wonder if the Republic Military would have considered this man obese. No, they directed me right in front of the throne, by back to the pillars and the galleries where every single soldier could draw a bead on me with ease.
In my mind, the image of a pair of Sith Apprentices – the very unfortunate Hibal and Elcho – collapsing from sudden and catastrophic blood loss drifted to the fore unbidden. I glanced over to the Little Jedi who had stuck by my side, receiving a nod in affirmation.
Yeah.
Of course she would support me.
The immobile form of Lord Praven, now confined to a stasis container after having caught a stun bolt from the entire platoon that had intercepted me, drifted ahead of me towards the throne where the towering usurper waited patiently. With its transparent face, it was easy to see the Sith Pureblood's face in all its slack-jawed glory. For half a second, it looked like the man who had personally plunged the planet into war smirked triumphantly before and studiously neutral expression reasserted itself.
"I must say, you have quite the taste in gifts, Lord Nestor," he declared, his voice rough yet surprisingly high-pitched for a man of his size.
"By all means, Your Majesty, please call me Nestor," I said lightly. "And feeding my fellow Sith Lords to people who want to kill me is a tested and true method of gaining allies. Just look at Jedi Knight Lia, here. I gave her two Sith Lords, and now she has saved my life repeatedly."
Translation: there is a Jedi by my side. She approves of me. I act with the implicit approval of the Jedi and the Republic they represent.
"Oh?" he remarked in a carefully acted show of interest. Or maybe he was truly curious. "She was worth two? And I only one?"
"To be fair, Your Majesty, those two Sith Lords had betrayed me first," I explained, making sure to maintain the use of the proper means of address. Though I had waived the need to be addressed as a Lord of the Sith, Bouris Ulgo had not waived his right to be addressed as a king. "That tends to ruin their valuation in my eyes."
Translation: I value honor.
At my side, the Little Jedi's presence shifted somewhat.
For the sake of my mental well-being, I chose not to dwell on it for long.
"Well then… Nestor… you have five minutes to present your case," the head of House Ulgo declared, finally sitting down on the throne. Now that I thought about it, receiving me while standing was a fairly classy move on his part. Meeting while standing suggested equality between the parties. Now that he had chosen to take a seat disrupted that balance in his favor, suggesting that he wanted to disrupt the status quo that had only just been set into place…
He wanted me off-balance, that much was clear.
"Some of my agents found something you may wish to have," I declared without preamble. By this point, we had already exchanged pleasantries and I had delivered my ingratiating comments. More importantly, I was on a timer. Best to get to the point. "This I do not doubt. However, I know you have been forced to be careful by your circumstances. Point towards a soldier, and I will give them the information to be delivered to you."
From a pocket rose a slim datapad, levitated using the Force. It came to a rest above my open palm, slowly tumbling in the air without ever falling.
Bouris Ulgo's eyes narrowed as they focused on the small device.
"Sergeant," he called out. "Take the datapad and tell me what it says."
Translation: I do not trust you. Do not move unless told to move. I am in control here.
As far as I was concerned, it was bad news. Fortunately, trust could be earned.
Scant seconds later, the man who had been in command of the team that had intercepted me approached me, and I allowed the datapad to slip into his hand without resistance. The soldier stepped towards the throne – an odd creation that looked like little more than a couch with an abnormally tall back – and paused to read through the information on the datapad. Fairly smart, that. If it turned out to be a trap, it was far more likely to take me out than his sovereign.
Never mind that the soldier would die, too, but that was part and parcel of the experience, I suppose.
"Your Majesty, the Sith has acquired the remains of Trask Ulgo and is awaiting permission to dispatch them to Alderaan," the sergeant announced. Bouris Ulgo's eyes went wide at that, wide enough that I could easily recognize the red-rimmed whites and his head whipped in my direction.
"Trask Ulgo?" he asked.
"Yes."
"The one who was killed aboard the Endar Spire by Darth Bandon?"
"The very same," I confirmed.
"You are absolutely certain?"
"The body carried his military identification and access cards," I said. "Considering that the chamber where his body was found had to be unsealed, I strongly suspect the body to be his. The body also still has blonde hair and is clad in Republic armor from the period, but that is less than definitive."
"Trask Ulgo… returned home… after three centuries…" he muttered. "How did you even get your hands on my ancestor's remains?"
Wait, his ancestor? Trask Ulgo had had children? He had been married?
I was using this man's however-many-great grandfather to try and make him hate me a bit less? Even if it was just to get him to listen to a proposal to have House Ulgo support my efforts to keep the galaxy from diving head-first into another galaxy-spanning war, the idea of using that kind of leverage sickened me. Unfortunately, I was already here and could hardly back out now.
"I have contacts on Taris," I revealed. That those contacts were connected to a man who was just me without a mask and with a different name, I chose to keep to myself.
"A Sith Lord with contacts on a Republic world?" he asked, shaking his head. Before I had time to respond, however, he continued. "The very concept disgusts me. Deeply. Viscerally. State your price, Sith. Tell me what you want in exchange for my ancestor's bones."
"I have no demands," I declared. "This is about doing the right thing."
"What?" he asked, clearly unable to believe his ears.
"It's about doing the right thing," I repeated.
"The right thing," he parroted back. "The Sith Lord stands before me and speaks of doing the right thing…"
"Your Highness, doing the right thing is what I do," I said, folding my hands in front of me. "It is why I chose not to pursue an alliance with slavers. It is why I am fighting to stop Darth Angral. Now, it is why I am returning Trask Ulgo's remains to you."
"Fine words from a man who hides his face," he pointed out.
"I am a man who values his privacy," I commented. Despite this, my right hand came up to my neck, where the elastic hem of my mask dug ever so slightly into the skin of my neck, sliding a single finger beneath the smooth black fabric. "But sometimes, sacrifices must be made."
With a single fluid motion, I slipped the mask free. Suppressing the urge to grimace took some effort as the full brightness of the room hit me all at once. Yeah, the crap the bugs were pumping into me was keeping my pupils dilated at all times.
At least Darth Angral was doing me a favor by not hiding on Hoth or some other ice world.
...
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