feeling, the last vestiges of an emotion. He snuffed it out quickly, knowing it could only make him weak.
'You frighten us, Bane,' a voice said from behind. He turned to see Kopecz studying him carefully.
'When we were focusing the Force through you, it felt as if you had your teeth on our throats,' the Twi'lek continued. 'As if you were trying to suck us dry.'
'The power of the dark side is strongest if it is concentrated in one vessel,' Bane replied. 'Not spread out among many. I did it for the sake of the dark side.'
Kopecz shook his head and climbed onto his flier. 'Well, we know you weren't doing it for us.'
Bane watched him soar off. Then he climbed onto his own flier, but instead of following Kaan to the battle he set a course back to the Sith camp. The first phase of his plan to destroy the Brotherhood was complete.
When he arrived back at the camp twenty minutes later, he wasn't surprised to find it completely deserted. All the Dark Lords had been on the plateau for the ritual, and they had all flown off in Kaan's wake to face the suddenly vulnerable Jedi. The soldiers, servants, and followers who made up the bulk of the Sith army had originally been left behind at the camp, but they had since received commed orders from Kaan and the others to join them at the battlefield.
Bane brought his flier in for a landing in the heart of the camp, right beside Lord Kaan's tent. He killed the engine and was surprised to hear the distant whine of another flier approaching. He looked up, curious. When it swooped in low, he recognized the rider.
The vehicle was bearing down on him in a direct line. Bane let his hand drop to his lightsaber, ready to unclip it at a moment's notice. The Force welled up within him, prepared to throw up a protective shield if the flier's front-mounted blasters should open fire.
But the flier didn't attack. Instead it swooped a few meters over his head, banked sharply, then came in for a landing beside his own.
'You have no need of your weapon,' Qordis said as he dismounted. 'I've come with an offer.'
Realizing there was no immediate threat, Bane let his hand drop back to his side. 'An offer? What could you possibly have to offer me?'
'My allegiance,' Qordis said, dropping to one knee.
Bane stared down at him, his expression a mixture of horror, amusement, and contempt. 'Why would you give your allegiance to me?' he asked. 'And why should I even want it?'
Qordis rose slowly to his feet, a cunning smile on his lips. 'I am not blind, Lord Bane. I see you speaking with Githany. I see how you are undermining Kaan. I know the real reason you have come to Ruusan.'
Perplexed, Bane wondered if it was possible that Qordis, the founder of the Academy on Korriban, the most ardent proponent of all that was wrong with the Sith, had finally seen the truth.
'What exactly are you proposing?' he asked through clenched teeth.
'I know what happened to Kas'im. He sided with Kaan against you. He paid for that decision with his life. I am not so foolish. I know you're here to take over the Brotherhood,' he declared. 'I believe you will succeed. And I want to help you.'
'You want to help me take over the Brotherhood?' Bane laughed; Qordis was as blind and misguided as the rest of them. 'Replace one leader with another, and you and the rest of the Brotherhood continue on as before? That's your brilliant plan?'
'I can prove quite useful to you, Lord Bane Qordis insisted. 'Many of the Brotherhood are former students of my Academy. They still look to me for wisdom and guidance.'
'And therein lies the problem.' Bane lashed out with the dark side, seizing Qordis in an immobilizing, crushing grip. His opponent tried to protect himself, throwing up a field to deflect the incoming assault, but Bane's attack tore through the pitiful defense, wiping it away as if it hadn't even been there.
There was a strangled cry of pain from Qordis as the Force tightened around him and lifted him up from the ground.
'Your wisdom has destroyed our order,' Bane explained casually, watching as Qordis struggled helplessly above him. 'You have polluted the minds of your followers; you and Kaan have led them down the path of ruin.'
'I… I don't understand,' Qordis gasped, barely able to speak as the breath was squeezed inexorably from his lungs.
'That has always been the problem,' Bane replied. 'The Brotherhood must be purged. The Sith must be destroyed and rebuilt. You, Kaan, and all the others must be wiped from the face of the galaxy. That is why I have returned.'
Dawning horror spread across Qordis's long, drawn features. 'Please he groaned, 'not… like this. Release me. Let me… draw my lightsaber. Let us fight… like Sith.'
Bane tilted his head to the side. 'Surely you know I could kill you just as easily with my lightsaber as I could with the Force.'
'I… know.' Qordis's skin was turning red, and his body was trembling as the pressure mounted. Each word he spoke took tremendous effort, yet somehow the dying man found the strength to make his final plea. 'More… honor… in… death… by… combat.'
Bane gave an indifferent shrug. 'Honor is for the living. Dead is dead.'
A final push with his mind tightened the invisible vise. Qordis let out a final scream, but with no air in his lungs it came out only as a rattling gasp that was lost beneath the snapping and crackling of his bones.
Had Bane still been capable of such emotions he might actually have pitied the man. As it was, he simply let the corpse fall to the ground then wandered into Kaan's tent and the communications equipment inside. It was time to enact the second phase of his plan.
On the deck of Nightfall, great flagship of the Sith fleet, acting commander Admiral Adrianna Nyras
