Chapter 14: Chapter 13: strange connection
After I regained consciousness, the medic hadn't taken long to patch me up, though he hadn't been allowed to do much. Renning had ordered him to withhold painkillers so that I could experience the full effects of Force Lightning, including the recovery from it.
At best, he'd treated the blisters caused by the pelko bug venom. By this point, I'd hardly noticed them. The rest of my body practically felt like it was on fire.
My right hand spasmed. With a growl, I clenched my fingers. To my frustration, it was difficult, but I slowly managed it. I fought with my own muscles until finally the involuntary movements stopped. My jaw clenched as my fury briefly rose at the reminder of how helpless I'd been. But I closed my eyes and breathed in and out, stamping the embers out before they became an inferno.
All the while, the medic had been eyeing me. He was a human male with pale skin, close-cropped hair, and a bulky frame. Minus his helmet, he was dressed in the standard Sith trooper armor. He looked to be in his late twenties, but the gray at his temples and lines around his eyes indicated that he might have been older. That, or he was graying early. Serving on Korriban would certainly do it.
The rage threatened to come back at the reminder that the entire damn camp had seen that display.
"I could slip a sedative in his food tonight," He stated as easily as talking about the weather, "It probably won't knock him out and he'll likely flush it from his system pretty quick, but it'll slow him down enough to give you a chance."
I blinked, my anger suddenly derailed, "What."
"Soldiers talk, especially about superiors that give a damn about them," The medic smirked, "Me and a few of the others here had friends in the Fifth Platoon and Cormun hasn't shut up about you after you exfiltrated him from that tomb.
You're owed at least one favor," His smile turned into a frown, "That and Lord Renning has been, shall we say, less than careful with our lives when it comes to his specimens. Lost a trooper to one of the beasts you brought in a few days ago."
"Sorry about that," I winced. Truthfully, I didn't really feel sorry, more irked that I apparently hadn't secured it before leaving.
He shook his head, "Not your fault. Lord Renning "forgot" to secure the monster properly after one of his experiments while you were gone. The thing was pissed as all hell when it woke up and managed to break out of its cage.
He killed a few more of us for gunning it down instead of trying to restrain it. At this point, if the fat sack of bantha dung accidentally fell on a vibroshiv a few times, I assure you that few here would shed a tear."
The medic's sheer frankness about offering to help kill a Sith Lord was off-putting, though not unwelcome. Unfortunately, it wasn't one I could take at the moment, no matter how tempting it was.
Though he was a researcher first and foremost, Renning was still a full-fledged Sith Lord. I didn't fancy my chances against him, even if he was drugged. Without a lightsaber of my own, I didn't have a way to counter his Force Lightning, which would disable, if not outright kill, me instantly if he realized I was trying to kill him.
"While that's more tempting than you realize, I still need him," I grimaced at the admission. My enthusiasm for being taught by him had been curbed by the latest lesson, "As much as I want to kill him right now, he's also the only teacher I've got for the time being."
Even though I said that, I knew it wouldn't have to be for long. The main reason I'd come to him was to learn how to safely perform the rituals needed to carry out Sith Alchemy. I'd made good progress in that regard. Soon, I wouldn't need him.
Before I let that thought continue, I quickly remembered another point, "That, and arch-traditionalists like Lord Thanaton would disapprove harshly. Killing Renning out of the blue would draw unwanted attention on both our heads."
The medic winced, "Right. Damn," He muttered something that I presumed to be a curse under his breath, "No way about it then."
"I didn't say that," I assured him, "I just said we couldn't kill him. An opportunity will come to remove him. His work is supported by the Dark Council itself, but only on the basis that it's actually producing results."
Thank you for the idea, Malora.
The metaphorical lightbulb went off in the soldier's head, "You're suggesting discrediting him by sabotaging his work. If his backers think he's wasting their time, they'll dispose of him and reassign us somewhere else."
"The reports of his work," I corrected, "Directly sabotaging the specimens would be bound to fail. He'd notice something was wrong."
That was going to be the hard part since he was downright meticulous with his paperwork. The fact that Renning actually was advancing Sith knowledge made it even more difficult. Tuk'ata had a strange connection to the Force, which a lot of people have been interested in over the centuries, even the Jedi.
It caused more random mutations in tuk'ata than any other known species in the galaxy, all of which are natural for them. He'd managed to successfully argue his case before the Dark Council itself, which he had often boasted about.
"Can you do it?" The man asked.
I made a show of thinking about it, before answering truthfully, "I'd need to build up his trust again. Wait for him to get careless and allow me access to his notes. It might take a while."
"It's more than we had before," The medic stated. He glanced towards the tent flaps, "I should get going. I've probably been here too long."
I stopped him as he turned to leave, "What's your name, soldier?"
The man saluted, "Second Lieutenant Ando Maklan, Second Platoon, my lord."
I nodded, "Thank you. Be on your way, Lieutenant."
As soon as he was out of sight, I let the smile that had been threatening to break out on my face for most of that conversation loose into a wide grin. That had gone better than I had expected.
Maklan had extended an olive branch to pay back a perceived debt. He never realized that he and his men would end up owing me more. Like Yellow Eyes, I wasn't going to limit myself to just my "class" of acolytes. I needed to branch out, get my hands on as much as I could wherever I could.
If it ended up helping me get revenge on Renning, all the better. I hadn't lied about wanting Renning dead or disgraced, but I was going to wring him out for all he was worth before then. It would be slow. It would be deliberate. But I would get what I wanted in the end.
Step one had been achieved: Turn Renning's soldiers against him. Thanks to Cormun, I had a solid base to start from.
All I had needed to do was make myself seem sympathetic to bring out their own enough to commiserate on our shared dislike of the rotund Sith. Now, they were unlikely to report anything suspicious I did, so long as it coincided with our goal of getting rid of Renning.
On my way out of the tent. I caught a glance of my reflection off the blank screen of a discarded datapad. Yellow was starting to bleed into the edges of my hazel irises. I reigned in my vindictive glee and watched as it drained away.
It appeared that Korriban was affecting me more than I thought.
...
The sand was a blur beneath me as my procured speeder bike sped across the landscape. Maklan had apparently spread the word among the dissatisfied troopers. I suddenly found myself able to get my hands on ordnance I hadn't before.
Remembering the swarms of shyrack, I was now packing an additional pistol and had a rifle slung across my back. My lost outer robe had been replaced with a sturdy coat and a spare scout helmet. It hadn't gone unnoticed that I wore repurposed trooper armor along with my robes, though no one commented on it.
It wasn't long before the familiar canyons came into view. Dismounting, I approached the cave I had taken shelter in last night. This time, there were footprints leading out into the sand. I tried to use the Force to track the entity, but the trail was long gone, if it was there to begin with.
That said, I could feel something watching. Waiting. But I could feel it wasn't hostile, just curious. Something to shelve for later, I supposed.
However, I was able to find the tuk'ata again. With me gone, it had decided to lair in the canyons. A foolish move on its part, proven rather quickly when I caught up to it.
Rather than attempt to lull it to sleep and perform this with subtlety like I had the others, I simply brought my Force presence and all the anger simmering in my gut to bear and crushed its will, leaving it as little more than a mindless puppet slaved to my commands.
I like to think I'm reasonable, but I'm not afraid to admit that I'm vindictive when I believe I was wronged. The tuk'ata had escaped me once, leading to my punishment at Renning's hands. Renning had decided to give me a lesson in pain and failure.
I remounted the bike and forced the tuk'ata to run behind me.
Renning would have his specimen. And eventually, I would have my revenge. I may be vindictive, but I'm willing to wait.
On the canyon walls above us, I thought I saw a flash of green, accompanied by a sense of approval.
By the time I arrived back at camp, three more tuk'ata had joined their larger kin.
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