Return To Taldryan

Kr'Tal System, Outter Orbit of Altur

A lone TIE Shadow had exited from hyperspace. Its markings showed it had been modified and greatly cared for as it even had a custom pain job to complement the remarkable beauty of the fighter. Inside was the well known Aticus Jade, a veteran Sith of the Dark Brotherhood. While several years ago had he been flying into this system it would have been with nothing less than 500 other starfighters and several capital ships all in which prepared to assault Taldryan, but now he was returning here not as an enemy but as a returning member of the clan. For quite some time now Aticus had been branded a traitor and marked by many with Death Writs due to the amount of damaged and casualties he had caused upoen his decision to depart from Taldryan. The once Obelisk, now Sith Battlemaster was still rather curious as to why his banishment and exile from Taldryan had been lifted, but even during his exile the Sith had kept friends such as Sharad and even Shadow. Apparantly the clan had decided Aticus had suffered his punishment and the fact that his several successes over the last 10 years was proof enough that he was a capable Dark Jedi that could prove of use to the clan once more. This still was not a garuntee in Aticus's mind, but he gave his trust to Sharad and Shadow as both were known to keep their word when they said it, as they had both gave their word to give every effort to kill him and they had done just that for nearly eight years. The amount of Taldryan assassins he had killed over the years was more than he cared to remember, but even with the assassins he had to kill, Aticus refused to engage his former clan in combat even while serving with Clan Arcona and Clan Naga Sadow.

Much had changed here since Aticus was a member, including the home planets of the clan. He was now manuvering around the moon Utamu which was already releasing starfighters to engage him. Within minuets of his arrival his computer displayed a message requesting a transmission from Utamu Security Forces. He sighed and accepted the message. An elderly voice broadcasted over his radio. "Unidentified Starfighter, you have entered highly restricted space. Identify yourself and purpose or be destroyed!" Aticus could tell this man was not playing as his computer listed 32 TIE Interceptors and 12 TIE Advanced coming in fast on him. To show he had no intentions of dog fighting Aticus dropped his shields and cannon charge and redirected them towards his engines just incast he needed to make a quick exit. He flicked his ComSwitch and replied. "This is Aticus Jade, I am a returning member of House Dinaari of the Clan Taldryan. Stand your forces down or face the wrath of those you work for." This caused a brief silence over the channel, but the fighters were still incoming so Aticus went ahead and targeted the nearest NavBouy just incase he needed to escape. After the few moments of silence the fighters were in attack range. "Aticus Jade, Sith Battlemaster. Registered member of House Dinaari of Clan Taldryan. You are hereby permitted to land at Alturius City on Altur. Our fighters will break but I am required to issue you a five fighter escort. Until you meet with Quaestor Hett and Aedile Taldrya you are still considered a potential threat to our security. Keep your shields and cannons decharged and allow our fighters to place you in escort formation. You have our word you shall not be fired upon unless you try anything stupid." replied the elderly man. Aticus did not feel like discussing any further with this individual so he clicked his buzz twice to show he confirmed and allowed two of the T/A and three T/I to surround him. After mooving past the moon the planet Altur was clearly visable. The green and brown planet was a pleasant sight for him, and for the first time in 10 years the Sith felt comfortable around his former clansmen. The six fighters moved at standard speeds to Altur where the escort finally broke formation from him when he landed at Shuttle Pad X11A just outside of the Dinaari Headquarters in the city Alturius Prime.

Aticus gave a moment for his cockpit to depressurize, then popped the hatch and exited. His blood red flightsuit was one that had not been around since House Archanis was still around, and was still in his opinion one of the best ever made. After climbing down and turning to face the ramp which extended to the main building he could see eight droids quickly moving to his fighter for inspection and repairs and obviously to reprogram the markings to display that the Rage II was now a Taldryan friendly craft. He coughed as the atmousphere was a bit more dense than what he had been used to while on Vandoris Prime, a planet where he had spent most of his exile when not working with Clan Naga Sadow and Clan Arcona. Almost instantly Aticus could feel the presence of two Dark Jedi, and when he glanced up he could see two of them leaving the HQ and walking his way. He evaluated them a moment before moving any further to them. Both were dressed in the Duty uniform of the Brotherhood so it was obvious they were working security for the house, but neither carried a lightsaber so he knew neither would present any real challange if something were to break out. As they drew closer he then made his approach. Both haulted as the three Dark Jedi met midway on the ramp which was elevated some several hundred feet above the planet floor. "Sith Batllemaster Aticus Jade I presume? I am Sergeant Valus Murok and this is Corporal Jazon Kyvis. We will be escorting you to Quaestor Hett's office. If you would be as kind as to disarm yourself and follow us there will be no problem." stated the Sergeant which appeared to be in his late twenties. Aticus was not fond of handing over his lightsaber but he knew his abilities in the force would be more than enough to crush either of these two and retrieve his weapon if need be, so he smiled and handed over his custom lightsaber. Besides, the only way to activate it was the internal switch which recognized only Aticus's force signature. The Sergeant evaluated the weapon for a moment then smiled. "Quite a nice peice you have here Mr. Jade. Now just follow us."

Aticus replied nothing, just nodded, then followed them to visit with an old friend yet enemy. The walk lasted only a few minuets and Aticus found himself standing before the double doors of the Quaestor's office. The Sergeant pointed to the doors where two men in white Royal Guard robes stood outside the door, apparantly two of Hett's "special" guards. "This is the Quaestor's office. Just go in and speak with him and when finished you may retrieve your weapon at the armory." said the Sergeant. After foolishly cliping the saber to his belt Aticus simply used his abilities to unclip the weapon and return it to his hand, then reclipped it to his belt without the man even knowing. He then turned and pressed his tumb on the scanner pad which opened the doors to Sharad's office. Inside was a well decorated office, with several momentos from the man's previous wars and battles. The office was large but it was obvious Sharad spent little time here. Aticus could sense Sharad by the time he had reached Altur but in the same note he knew Sharad could sense him as well, pry by the time he had reached Kr'Tal system. Waisting no time Sharad walked over from his desk and stood before Aticus. "So we meet again Aticus, or should I call you Destavol?" said and asked Sharad. "You may call me Aticus.. Destavol died a long time ago. Though his body is where I live, I am a completely different person than the fool you use to know." replied the Sith moving past Sharad to take a seat in one of the nice chairs he had. Sharad already had a distaste for the returning man's disrespect but considering the time they had served together he held none of it personally. "As you know I've had your exile lifted and you are once again welcome to join our ranks Aticus. However I must ask, do you intend on betraying us once again? For should you do it this time I will ensure that I find you and kill you myself." asked Sharad who also had walked over and took a seat behind his desk made of pure black marble. Aticus thought for a moment, and could feel that Sharad was still unpleased with Aticus walking away from the third Great Jedi War, leaving his entire team to die at the hands of Arcona.

"I have no intentions of betraying our clan Sharad. But I have no intentions of following suicide orders. I will fight and die for this clan honorably, but I am not idiot. You knew that I was being sent to my death when asked to assault an entire temple of Jedi Masters with only twenty Acolytes and Protectors to ensure the assault. We were outnumbered greatly and had no chance of survival there. I may have fled but I've proven myself elsewhere and I am here to repay my debt." Sharad crossed his hands and leaned his head against his them, propped against his desk. "Regardless Aticus, those were your orders. We all live and die one day. That day may have been your chance to die, but it could have been the day you surpassed even myself in glory. Instead you were branded as a traitor and suffered a great deal sense then. However you held true to your word, and never betrayed our secrets and movements even while serving other clans.. after reviewal with the summits we have decided to lift your exile and allow you to return. So if you would take a knee and lets get this over with." replied Sharad. Aticus could see that Sharad had no desire to waste any time and thus he did as he was told. Once on one knee he could he a hiss then a hum from Sharad's lightsaber. "Aticus Jade, former exile of Clan Taldryan. Your blood was once tainted and hated among your former brothers and sisters here in Clan Taldryan. You have been hunted some time and killed many that attempted to kill you. Even so you have remained true to your oath that you gave upon your initiation to our clan thus earning your seat as a member back with us. I Sharad Hett, Quaestor of the Dark House Dinaari, of the Great Clan Taldryan here and now release you from your exile and mark you reborn once more as a Dark Jedi of Clan Taldryan. Serve well, and recieve the rewards. Fail or betray and suffer death." stated Sharad as he grazed the tips of both Aticus's shoulders. The burns hurt, but Aticus had learned to block pain long ago. "Now extend your arm diciple of Taldryan." said Sharad. Aticus extended his left arm and rolled back the flightsuits sleeve. A tattoo of the Taldryan marking was still present, just with a black star covering a majority of it which was the mark of a traitor. Sharad retracted his lightsaber, cliped the hilt then squeezed the forearm of Aticus. A severe pain that Aticus could barely control jolted through his arm and into his entire body. After several minuets of holding this Aticus neared unconciousness, and Sharad released. The tattoo was now renewed, and the three markings which made up the three houses were clearly present once more and the black star was gone. "You are born again and once more my brother. Do not make me regret this. Aedile Shadow you may show yourself." stated Sharad. and from the Shadow's came Shadow Taldryan standing before Aticus who was still on his knee. "I never thought I'd see the day where I once again called you a brother, but we are in need of you once more. The fact you answered our call for you is worthy enough for me to consider you a potential prospect to serve us proudly once more Aticus. After discussing matters with the Clan Summit, and between Sharad and I we've decided to give you a special position among us. It is of course not an official position but we believe it will be of good stature for you and we believe you will do well in it. To send you into the front lines right now would be a waste, and we do not know if you are yet ready to lead our men and women in battle. However we do have need for this position we are assigning you and it is expected you will serve in it well." stated Shadow. Aticus was still a bit weak from the unbranding proceedure but found the streangth to rise to his feet and stand before both men.

"You are hereby known as Dinaari's Seful Anchetator. We will be sending you out to investigate anything and everything we deem as a potential threat to Dinaari, and possibly even to Taldryan should you prove yourself. We are giving you rights to select those of our house Dark Jedi Knight and below to assist you in your operations, so long as your understand that their lives are in your hands. Should they be killed, the punishment will be inflicted upon you. Should they fail, the punishment shall be inflicted upon you. So I would suggest you do not fail us. You have been awarded an office here at the headquarters to conduct any official buisness that you may need to conduct. Remember though Aticus, you are no longer an assassin, many of these people that we will send you to seek out we will want alive. Prove yourself here and great things may come for you. Go now our Seful Anchetator and prove yourself. You have your first assignment awaiting you in your office. May the darkness guide you." said Shadow. Aticus was quite honored to already recieve a special position within his house, thus gave an honorable bow to both his Quaestor and Aedile. "So be it. Those marked to be retrieved shall be retrieved. And those you mark for death shall die. I shall not fail my house nor clan." replied the newly appointed Seful Anchetator, who then turned and exited the office. Meeting himself outside the office was a solid black protocal droid who identified itself as X4Q2, and would be his personal assistant. Aticus nodded and directed the droid to lead him to his new office. The droid motioned for the Dark Jedi to follow him and they took the elevator down to the second floor and into a much smaller and undecorated office. Only a fine designed wooden desk with a chair was in there. A statue of the clan's emblem was located in the center of the office, made of black marble, but other than that it was quite dull. Aticus did not mind this, he had other things he could spruce the place up with. He moved to his desk where a small stack of papers were obviously his first assignment. He grinned as he took his seat behind his desk and began to read over the assignment.