The Assassination of Fred the Seal
by the Coward Robert Daragon
Marakith Skyhook
East Platform
"Shuttle Simus, you are cleared for landing," a Seprosian named Sukkarius stated. Glancing over at his trainee he said frowning, "This is the part of the job you are going to dread."
"Whys that?" the trainee asked.
"Well, shuttle Simus is our House's transport from the Shadow Academy and brings all of our new recruits to us. Its just the choice of shuttle pilot makes our job a little frustrating. You'll see."
With a little difficulty Shuttle Simus slowly docked on the platform. The landing ramp lowered and new members quietly exited the ship looking a little shaken. The new trainee awaited them at the end of the ramp.
"Name?" the trainee asked.
"Apprentice John Fitzgerald ," a human from Tatooine answered.
"Welcome to House Ludo Kressh. Next," the trainee replied after checking on his list.
"Apprentice Michael Lauridsen," the next person stated.
"Let’s see," the trainee said while looking up and down his list, "You’re not on my list. Please step aside and I will deal with this in a minute. Next."
"Apprentice Carlos Delpiano," the next person shouted out.
Scratching his head the trainee could not find this apprentices name either. "Sir," he called over at Sukkarius, "There seems to be some problems with this list."
"No problem with the list at all," Sukkarius said irritated, "Dammit Fred! Get the hell out here."
The trainee looked over to see a rather large slug like creature slowly moving past the apprentices on the ramp. At first the trainee thought the pilot was just a smaller Hutt but upon a closer look he realized it was a seal. A seal with a vodka bottle in his hand.
"Your drunk again aren't you," Sukkarius stated more than asked, "Once again you’re dropping off new members at the wrong houses. Your causing quite a lot of confusion, not too mention more work for me."
"ARFFF," Fred the seal replied.
"I don't want to hear your excuses," Sukkarius snapped back, "We all know Commander Daragon got you this job and there aint a thing we can do about it if we value our lives. But you can at least wait till after your responsibilities are over before you hit the bottle."
"ARFFF," Fred replied.
Sukkarius rolled his eyes, "I know it’s a disease, but it’s a problem that we have to deal with. Dropping new members off at the wrong house is one thing, but poor Malik is getting pretty upset that you keep misplacing all of his mail order brides. Not to mention that whole Starlion waste dump incident."
"ARFFF," Fred the seal said handing his vodka bottle to the trainee and slowly staggered back up the ramp of the shuttle.
The trainee walked over to Sukkarius, "Well, it looks like you've taken care of that problem."
"Young one," Sukkarius said with a smile, "I took care of that problem the other day when I started training you for this job. Good luck and tell Fred I will miss him."
"Sh#t," the trainee replied as he took a swig from Fred's vodka bottle.
Zafiro Torre
Two days later…
“…..and then the Consul said to the Deputy Grand Master; Rectum? I damn near killed him,’ the Commander of Sapphire finished telling his tale as the bar broke out into heavy laughter.
As the Commander finished his beer he felt a tap on his shoulder, “Excuse me Commander Daragon.”
The Sith turned to see the leader of the Jade Serpents looking very nervous at his surroundings, “Tash! How the hell are you? Isn’t it a little late for you to be out, I mean the street lights are on. Shouldn’t you be back at the Skyhook tucking in all of your little Tyros and telling them a story before bed?”
The Jedi Hunter either ignored the comments or didn’t here them over the rather loud rendition of “I’m a Barbie Girl” as sung by Archpriest Starrett in the karaoke section of the bar. “I’m here on official business Bob,” Tash began, “Fred is missing.”
“Well, first off, Fred is usually missing,” the Commander stated as he opened a new beer, “And second, Fred and official business never mix.”
“This is a first then Commander,” Tash continued, “Yesterday Shuttle Simus never arrived, no big deal, it’s been known to happen. When it didn’t show today we put out a track on it and the transponder showed us the shuttle is on the planet Thor. The House Summit wants Sapphire to go and retrieve Fred.”
“Since when does any Summit in Naga Sadow care about Fred?” the Commander asked.
“Your right Bob,” Tash continued, “They are more concerned about the new recruit he was transporting and the shuttle. Bringing back Fred is optional. However, the Dlarit Security Force believes that this situation is not how it seems and that there might be danger involved and requested that Sapphire squadron be assigned this mission.”
“Not how it seems?” the Sith replied as he became agitated and slammed a shot of Jager, “I’ll tell you how it seems. Fred is off on another joy ride with some Apprentice and they shacked up at some little hideaway in the Phare system and because the Security Force doesn’t want to deal with it they’ve stuck it on me. That’s how it seems.”
Finishing up his beer a slight grin grew on the Commander’s face, “Tash old buddy. You and the Serpents want to tag along and help out on this mission?”
“Really?” the Jedi Hunter said eagerly, “I’ve really wanted to get them out into some real operations and get them some experience. Of course we’ll help out.”
“Good,” the Commander replied, “Go wake up the kiddies, have them pack their lunches, and we’ll all meet back at the Skyhook in Hangar 13 in two hours.”
“Yes sir,” the leader of the Jade Serpents said with a serious tone and headed out of the bar back to the Skyhook.
After the Jedi Hunter had left, a Sith Warlord nudged the Commander and asked, “Did you just invite the Seapants along with us on a mission?”
“Well, this op could go two ways Mac,” the Commander stated, “Either it is some kind of trap and we can use the extra people for shielding or it’s exactly what it seems to be and we can have a little fun at our fellow battleteam’s expense.
Thor
9 hours later
The Sapphire Star reached its final destination of the planet Thor in the Phare system with its full crew made up of Sapphire and the Jade Serpents.
“Attention, this is your Captain speaking. On behalf of the flight crew I would like to thank you all for choosing Sapphire Airways. We have reached our destination of Thor where the current condition is f*cking cold. I ask that you return all trays and seats to the upright position and prepare for landing. Thank you and enjoy your stay on Thor.”
As the Sapphire Star followed the beacon they came upon the missing shuttle. Landing near it the Dark Jedi of Ludo Kressh exited and headed for the nearby cave for shelter. Upon entering they were greeting with the growls of grenfels, the lone inhabitant of the planet Thor. The grenfels; huge, nomadic, savage, primitives that continually prowl the steppes and glaciers of Thor searching for any living prey had found some.
The members of Sapphire and Jade Serpents quickly moved into a defensive stance and when the grenfels attacked they were greeted with death. The younger members of the battleteams swarmed in and cut down one grenfel after another. Commander Daragon sat back and watched the Journeymen perform their slaughter.
“Too be young again eh, Macron,” the Commander said with a smile.
“Speak for yourself,” the Sith Warlord replied, “I’m not old like you.”
The two Sith watched as the last grenfel was beheaded by the lightsaber of Protector Vorion. “Are you sure it was wise to hand out those training sabers?” Macron asked his Commander.
The Commander shrugged, “As long as no one cuts off a hand. I mean really, what is up with everyone always losing hands? It’s getting a little ridiculous if you ask me. Why doesn’t anything else ever get cut off.”
“Like that Novice that cut his [Expletive Deleted] off?” Macron asked grinning.
“Yeah,” Daragon replied, “What the hell was his name?”
“Duck!” Macron quickly yelled as he grabbed the Commander bringing him to the ground as a blaster shot nearly missed them.
“No, that wasn’t it,” Daragon replied as he lay on the ground. Looking around he noticed that the members of the Jades Serpent were still standing around, “Uhhm, you guys might want to get down before you get shot.” As if on cue a Novice screamed out as his hand was shot off. The rest of the team got down.
With the second shot Daragon got an idea of where the sniper was hiding, Macron gave him a nod and the Warlord slowly started to move towards the position. “Hey up there,” the Commander began, “Let’s just say you give yourself up and we don’t have to kill you?”
The sniper answered with another blaster shot that ended with another member of the Jade Serpents yelling out in pain as he was hit. “Dammit Tash,” Daragon yelled out, “Would you please tell your members to stop being shot.”
Then a female voice screamed from just above them, “You can’t have Fred! Just leave us alone!”
“A female hooking up with Fred,” Daragon thought to himself, “This is new.”
“Listen up Lady,” Daragon yelled, “Getting killed over the damn drunk seal isn’t worth it. Just surrender and tell us where Fred is and this can all be over.”
“Never!” she screamed, “You will have to take Fred over my dead body,” And even before the young apprentice knew what happened, Warlord Macron had force leaped to her position and with one swipe of his crimson saber, taken the head of Fred’s now former lover.
With the “all clear” sign from Macron, the members of the battleteams of House Ludo Kressh regrouped and continued on through the cavern. As they entered the next large room they all noticed their objective sitting on the opposite side of the room chained to the cavern wall. “Fred!” the Sith Commander yelled out with a grin.
The Sith Commander quickly meandered over to his friend and was about to cut the chains when Fred looked up at him and said, “ARFF.”
“Yes Fred,” Daragon said while breaking the chains.
“I’m sorry,” Fred replied in perfect basic. As Daragon looked up in shock at his friend of so many years, Fred raised a blaster and fired a direct shot to the head of the Sith Battlelord taking him to the ground. Before any of the members of Sapphire could respond, the Seal hit a switch that simultaneously sealed all exits to the room, dropped Fred and the Sith Commander through the floor, and started to fill the room with a deadly gas. The trap had been sprung and the members of House Ludo Kressh had walked straight into it.
Unknown Room
Unknown Time
Sith Battlelord Robert Daragon woke up with a splitting headache, fortunately this was a familiar situation for him and could slowly begin to make out his surroundings. He was in what appeared to be another cavern with some kind of monitor hanging on a wall. The Battlelord tried to move, but was chained to the wall like some kind of animal. As he tried to analyze his situation he heard, “Welcome Commander.”
Daragon searched for the voice and made out a figure on the far wall in what appeared to him some kind of alteration of the former Dlarit Navy uniforms. As the figure came closer, Daragon could make out the face. “Admiral Kwanda Rosman,” Daragon said bitterly, “I didn’t think you survived your last encounter with Sapphire.”
“Well it appears you were mistaken Bob,” Rosman said with a grin, “By the way, it’s Warlord Rosman now.”
“Warlord of what?” Daragon asked sarcastically, “Last time I saw your ship it was on fire and heading straight for Sif.”
“Yes, I’m afraid I did lose the Thunderstrike that day,” the Warlord stated as he walked closer to his captive, “But that day was just a new beginning”
“Alright,” Daragon stated, “I know I have one hell of a hangover, but even if I didn’t I still don’t think I would have a clue what your blabbing about.”
Rosman kicked the Sith and said, “Allow me to explain.”
“You see my dear Bob,” the Warlord began, “After surviving my unfortunate crash; I thought I would join your pathetic Dlarit Corporation as a spy and get my revenge. But before I could work my way up high enough your band of scum packed up and left.”
“You arrogant Dark Jedi don’t even realize how much damage you did by leaving the Phare System.” Rosman continued, “When you arrived you showed the people how to improve themselves and helped them develop and thrive. And in just a matter of days you took that all away from them. Not only did you take your leadership away, but you took the few natives of the system that could leave with you. And what resources you didn’t take with you, you destroyed.”
Rosman slowly paced around the room, “And you Bob, you made a promise and broke it. After all the so-called separatists left, you stayed behind with the few Dark Jedi who didn’t wish to leave and you stated that you were going to stay and help rebuild. And what did you do? You betrayed the citizens of the Phare System and took your men and left.”
“Now I’m going to have to interrupt you,” Bob jumped in, “I did everything I could to keep Naga Sadow residing in the Phare system. But the Grand Master would have none of it, so I did what I was ordered too.”
“But what happened after you moved Bob?” Rosman asked, “You left the Emperor’s Hammer and rejoined the Dark Brotherhood not once giving a thought to the promise you made. Little did you realize at the time what an enemy you created for yourself, but today you will learn this final lesson.”
“You see Bob, we have rebuilt in the Phare System, even without the mighty Dark Jedi to help us,” Rosman continued his rant, “They formed a council from all the planets and regrouped, while I have rebuilt the Navy and taken command. And now is the time for us to get our revenge on you and Naga Sadow.”
“Well, good luck with getting your revenge on Clan Naga Sadow,” Daragon slowly said, “But as for me, you’ll have to get in line.”
Warlord Rosman started to laugh and pulled out a vile. “I believe we already jumped to the head of the line with you Bob.”
“Once again Rosman,” Daragon struggled to say, “You’re not making any sense.”
“We’re calling it the Sadow Virus,” Rosman stated, “Your fellow members of Ludo Kressh are breathing it in as we speak. As for you Bob, we injected you with some while you slept.”
The realization of being injected with a deadly virus cleared the Sith Battlelord’s head as he lunged at the Warlord to no avail. Rosman just laughed as the chains held the Sith where he was.
“Now Bob,” Rosman said laughing, “Just relax, it’s not an instant death. Well, for most people at least. I’m afraid we really didn’t do a lot of testing with it, so it could differ from species to species. I guess we will find out with your fellow Dark Jedi.”
The rage built in the Sith Battlelord, “Just cause you got to a few of us doesn’t mean you can get to the entire clan.”
“Well Bob,” Rosman said is his usual cocky manner, “I’m afraid we can, and your precious friends will soon be facing the same fate as yourself. If you’d be so kind to check out the nice monitor I had set up special for you.”
Looking at the monitor, Daragon’s realized he had been betrayed.
“Greetings Bob, how’s your head feeling,” Fred the seal stated once again speaking in perfect basic.
“I believe you have already met Fred,” Rosman stated, “He has been a long time operative for the Phare System. We would not be where we are today without his help. And now he is leading the attack on the members of Naga Sadow. Aboard the Sapphire Star he is heading toward Sepros with the Sadow virus. He will be allowed to land and for some reason the ship will have a malfunction and self destruct in the hanger of Sadow Palace, which unbeknownst to your friends will release our deadly trap. By the way Bob, I’m not sure if you are aware or not, but today your clan is having a conclave. So I believe everyone will be accounted for as we will indeed get our revenge.”
The rage grew and grew in the Sith until he decided he had had enough of Rosman’s arrogance. If he couldn’t get to the so-called Warlord he would bring the bastard to him. Before Rosman even knew what had happened his legs kicked out from under him and he landed on his back. Using the force, Daragon pulled Rosman across the floor towards him till he had the Warlord by the throat. “I think I’ve had enough of your gloating Kwanda,” Daragon stated, “You will not live to see the failure of your plans.” With that the Sith broke the neck of Kwanda Rosman, putting an end to another wannabe Warlord.
Retrieving his lightsaber from Rosman, which he must’ve taken as a prize, Daragon quickly cut through the chains and headed over to the monitor. “Fred,” Daragon began, “Listen to me. You do not want to do this. We can work through this, I know that you are conflicted, make the right choice.”
“It is too late for me Bob, “Fred answered, “I am not the seal you have come to know, this is who I am.”
“I don’t believe that,” Daragon said, “I can sense the good in you. You are a member of Clan Naga Sadow and you don’t want to do this.”
“You don’t know what your talking about Bob,” Fred replied, “I have betrayed you all more than you know.”
Daragon shook his head, “Nothing we can’t work through. But if you go through with this there’s no turning back.”
Fred looked straight into the Sith’s eyes, “Bob, I killed CrimsonAngel.”
“No,” Daragon said confused, “That’s impossible.”
“Search your feelings Bob,” Fred replied, “You know it’s true. He found out who I was and tried to convince me to confess. He was foolish and I struck him down. I buried him outside the west wing of the Dargbar’rh Citadel.”
“Then you are truly dead to me my friend,” Daragon said as he switched off the monitor.
Reaching into his pocket, Daragon pulled out the remote for the Sapphire Star. Punching in the override code, he entered in a course that would lead the ship straight into Orian Minor.
Aboard the Sapphire Star
At first Fred was confused by the lack of controls, but as his course changed he knew he had once again under estimated the drunken commander. With no options available, Fred the seal cracked open a new bottle of vodka and awaited his fate of a slow cook.
Back on Thor
Commander Daragon had managed to get the members of Sapphire and the Jade Serpents out of their tomb and into a secure cavern. They had got a hold of Quaestor Ylith and he was sending a transport to take them home. So far none of the members where showing any signs of the Sadow virus, however Macron had retrieved a sample and would immediately get to work on creating some kind of antidote for it. Hopefully they would all survive long enough for a cure.
Sadow Place
Quarantine
1 day later
The members of the battle teams of House Ludo Kressh were all recovering from their ordeal. Warlord Macron had come up with a minor cure, but as the virus affected everyone differently some people had suffered different symptoms before they could be cured. However, no one had died from it.
It turned out the female apprentice was actually not coming to Naga Sadow but to a different clan. Clan Scholae Palatinae was screaming to get their new apprentice, so to avoid a whole inquiry they were going to get one. Commander Daragon decided they needed someone the same build and size, so they threw a wig and skirt on Tash and sent him on his way to his new clan, thus solving that problem.
Dargbar’rh Citadel ruins
Planet Frigg
It had been years since Daragon had set foot on these grounds; the battle that took place here was still evident as the locals feared this place. It had been a tough day for the Sith Battlelord, the betrayal of Fred and now the job of burying his friend. The commander placed the headstone on his old friend’s new gravesite. Igniting the crimson blade of his dear friend, he carved Sith Warrior CrimsonAngel; Son of Sadow.
The End
SBL Robert Daragon(Sith)/CMDR/Ludo Kressh of Naga Sadow