The Greatest Sith... That Never Lived
Posted by: Darth Danno 06.06.07 12:01am
Previously:

• CHAPTER I: MEDITATION and REFLECTION
• CHAPTER II: SEEKING THE SITH
• CHAPTER III: THE PLOT THICKENS (Part I)
• CHAPTER III: THE PLOT THICKENS (Part II)
• CHAPTER IV: THE LEGEND OF THE MASTER
• CHAPTER V: A PADAWAN FLEES
• CHAPTER VI: DEBACLE IN THE DOCKING BAY (Part I)
• CHAPTER VI: DEBACLE IN THE DOCKING BAY (Part II)
• CHAPTER VII: CONUNDRUM ON CORUSCANT (Part I)
• CHAPTER VII: CONUNDRUM ON CORUSCANT (Part II)
• CHAPTER VII: CONUNDRUM ON CORUSCANT (Part III)
• CHAPTER VIII: THE PRODIGAL RETURNS (Part I)
• CHAPTER VIII: THE PRODIGAL RETURNS (Part II)
• CHAPTER VIII: THE PRODIGAL RETURNS (Part III)
• CHAPTER IX: ENTER THE APPRENTICE
• CHAPTER X: AN UNEASY ALLIANCE BEGINS
• CHAPTER XI: THE APPRENTICE REVEALED
• CHAPTER XII: SUSPICION GROWS
• CHAPTER XIII: STALEMATE (Part I)
• CHAPTER XIII: STALEMATE (Part II)
• CHAPTER XIV: THE PIECES COME TOGETHER
• CHAPTER XV: THE SEEDS OF SUSPICION
• CHAPTER XVI: THE BEGINNING OF THE END (Part I)
• CHAPTER XVI: THE BEGINNING OF THE END (Part II)
• CHAPTER XVII: A THIRD SITH?
• CHAPTER XVIII: IT ALL BOILS OVER
• CHAPTER XIX: SURVEILLANCE, SUSPICION,and SABOTAGE (Part I)
• CHAPTER XIX: SURVEILLANCE, SUSPICION,and SABOTAGE (Part II)
• CHAPTER XX: THE SECRET REVEALED

CHAPTER XXI: EXPLANATIONS…AND REVELATIONS (Part I)

Lord Ruin didn’t believe his eyes could have opened any wider than they were right at this moment. The expressions on his face went from shock, to awe, to incredulousness, and finally to downright suspicion.

“Exactly what Utapauian sinkhole do you think I just crawled out from? Ruin spat. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe…” as he raised his hands to unleash a severe volley of Force lightning.

Contagion quickly interjected, “Perhaps I should explain…”

Ruin glared at him, but lowered his hands…slightly. “And quickly!”

“Well, it seems the one thing Lord Danno was best at was hiding, was his true nature.”

“You mean that he really was off in the head?” Ruin questioned.

“No,” Contagion responded. “That he was actually a Shi’ido.”

Ruin’s eyes went wide again. “A what???”

Contagion continued. “A Shi’ido. Very similar to a Clawdite, yet Clawdites cannot, as a rule, alter or add to their form to become something smaller, larger, bulkier, etc… I’ve done quite a bit of research in the past few days since I came upon Lord Danno’s secret. ”

The look on Ruin’s face showed he was having a difficult time digesting all of this. “And exactly how did you come upon this…information?”

“I had been trying to find some piece of evidence to use against Danno or Mortis, and not finding anything in either of their quarters, decided to search their ship. In doing so, is when I came across the HK unit. Apparently he remained in a hidden compartment in the floor until summoned by his master. He happened to hear myself rummaging around topside and decided to come out of hiding to investigate.”

Ruin smirked. “And upon finding you trespassing aboard his master’s vessel, just decided to…spill his robotic guts about all of his owner’s goings on, as it were.”

“Something like that. Where and when man and machine crossed paths wasn’t clear. Apparently Danno found him in quite a state of disrepair. He fixed him up, added a few special upgrades here and there, and the droid thought he would be back to a life of hunting and killing in no time. This turned out to not be the case once Lord Mortis came into the picture. Once Danno met his future apprentice, or should I say, became him. The assassin droid was relegated to security duty as far as watching the ship, whenever the two Sith went off on whatever mission they were embarking upon.”

“So why didn’t the droid just leave, or self-destruct, or something?”

“I surmise the droid had an extremely strong sense of loyalty to the one who rebuilt and restored him, saving him from a life in the scrap pile. Danno did use the HK unit from time to time. He came in especially handy when dealing with the Jedi on Coruscant.”

A glimmer of recognition crossed Ruin’s face. “So the Jedi Masters that were shot, the HK unit was responsible for that?”

“Exactly! I’ve come to realize that the only thing larger than this galaxy, is Lord Danno’s ego. It wasn’t enough for him to just eliminate the Jedi on Tatooine, he wanted to rub the whole council’s face in it.”

“Starting to buy into this tale, Ruin asked. “So what exactly happened on Coruscant?”

“Being the egoist Danno was, he was only too happy to relate every detail to the HK unit to record. Wanting eventually to have all of his exploits put into a holocron of his own. So that future Sith could…

“Get on with it!!!”

“Sorry. He crashed the ship right into Coruscant, then took the form of one of the dead Jedi. Apparantly his shape-shifting abilities were to the point he could replicate burns, wounds, cuts, gashes…”

“Yes, yes, go on…”

“ Now the Jedi were so concerned with who had piloted the ship to Coruscant, where did they disappear to, and what were they planning next, they never even bothered to examine the bodies closely while still on the wreck. They thought they’d have plenty of time in the lab. So they just let the medical droids come in and take the “corpses” away, and Lord Danno escaped right under their collective noses. So much for the masters being sooooo attuned to the Force.” Contagion laughed slightly at his joke.

Ruin interrupted his personal amusement. “I’d like this tale wrapped up some time before the next harvest, if you please.”

Contagion stopped laughing at once and returned his expression to one of stern sincerity. “Yes, my Lord. Once inside the morgue, and left alone, he returned to his human form, used his knowledge of chemistry, and what supplies were available in the surrounding rooms, to construct quite an impressive incendiary device. From what I’ve heard, it took out most of the lab, and did considerable damage to…”

“Continue…PLEASE!!”

“So…everything had been planned out to the smallest degree. The droid flew their ship to the pre-arranged landing spot at the appointed time, and awaited the return of his master. Unfortunately, the Jedi must have gotten wind of something, because they caught Lord Danno just as he was attempting to leave. But with the help of the HK unit, he was able to dispatch them and return to us once again.”

“Fascinating.” Ruin nodded. “And what of the holocron?”

“The droid had little information regarding that, as it had very little contact with it. I doubt Lord Danno would have let such a valuable artifact like that be destroyed with the lab, but I found no evidence to suggest otherwise, which leads me to believe it was either a complete fake, or Danno had extracted all pertinent information from it beforehand, and no longer had any use for it.”

“I see. So Lord Mortis never actually existed at all??” Ruin inquired.

“Oh no, my Lord. Darth Mortis was in fact, very real!”

Ruin sighed as he gave into the realization that this tale, to be told correctly, would take some time, and before acting on anything, he would need to know the whole story. “Carry on, Lord Contagion…”

Darth Danno