[Layne Hoshin]

Layne made sure the Sunset Dawn was empty of all people other than herself. And then placed a holocall to someone she'd purposefully avoided contact with. After all, it was the one connection from her former life she had kept hidden from every Jedi. Her ace in the hole. Her ultimate back-up plan, should she ever need it. Now, having mulled over what she'd found while the strikeforce had still been on Bankor, Layne thought it unavoidable. She had to talk to her. See how involved she was... and if she wasn't... alert her.

[Dapper Dog]

Magara-sha.jpg (8.92 KiB) Viewed 14206 times

She answered, seated on what looked like a throne in the holo image, and said “To what do I owe the pleasure, master, Jedi.”

“I do hope you haven’t had another change of heart, that would speak of a terribly flighty mind. All of these secrets cannot be good for you, maybe you are still more Sith than you realize.”

OOC: Layne will suffer 2 conflict.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Maybe so," she said. "Then again, I *was* almost expecting a warmer reception than this, so maybe the Jedi are rubbing off after all."

"But it's not my secrets you should be concerned about."

Now, how best to proceed...

"Last time we talked I mentioned something about the Voice, and my old master's plans for her. I was wondering if you knew what became of that."

[Dapper Dog]

She laughed wickedly, “Oh…hohoho, she has claws this day. Yes you mentioned the Voice, but they went missing some time ago. Darth Baras has been acting Voice for quiet some time. The Emperor has either not cared or given him his tactic approval.”

“Are you wanting a political update on the Dark Council?”

[Layne Hoshin]

So it's true then...

"The Emperor is preoccupied with other matters, it seems. As for that political update, would you even give it to a Jedi? Or has the Empire finally domesticated you?"

[Dapper Dog]

“I value power and keeping power, I may conceal things if only to protect my position. Just as I am sure you would do for the Jedi, I speak not only for myself but my people. Believe it or not I plan to see the Massassi prosper and grow,” she said calmly.

“So do get to your point, my time is precious.”

[Layne Hoshin]

"That's the thing. Your position is in great danger. All of our positions are, really. But I'll get to that bit. Yours may be in particular peril though, but I'm not sure."

She paused, wondering just how forthcoming she should be, and if so, how to word things.

"Recently, I managed to track down one of the Emperor's abandoned research facilities, where he studied an exceptionally dangerous and powerful ritual. Met an old acquintance there too, but more importantly, I intercepted a more recent communication that got relayed through the facility's communications network. There was talk of a few things. Things you're either already aware of, in which case me telling you about it will probably just make you roll your eyes at me and possibly change the Empire's plans. Or things you don't know about, in which case your new people, also known as your base of power, are in grave danger."

She paused again, once more wondering how to proceed.

"I could show you the recording I made."

[Dapper Dog]

“If it is that important then by all means, niece, show me,” she commanded.

[Layne Hoshin]

And that is what Layne did, she played the recording. Foolish though it might be to reveal that the Jedi now knew about the plans for Coruscant, but hoping perhaps that Magara-sha either wasn't involved with that, or didn't care enough to inform the other Sith.

When the recording fading, Layne spoke.

"The Emperor is developing a ritual, similar to the ritual that Zash used back when we were on Korriban, but at a much larger scale. He can already absorb the life-force of an entire planet and empower himself with it. But that isn't enough for him. He aims to do it to the entire galaxy, and he's not going to restrict himself to just Republic space. Now maybe, what's happening on Yavin IV is simply that you're providing a strike force to hit Coruscant, in which case you and your people will just be sacrificed a little later along with the rest of us. Seems to me that such an attack is just meant as a distraction for both us and the Dark Council. Or maybe what's happening on Yavin IV is something else that you're not even aware of?"

[Dapper Dog]

“If the Emperor has a facility on Yavin IV, then I am not aware of it, which is possible there are many places the Massassi consider unclean. I don’t seek to die by any hand but for the time being I don’t see how I can challenge the Emperor in any meaningful way. What do we know about this Voss?” she asked.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Voss is where Baras had me trick the Voice into going. That's about all I know of the place. This may be obvious to you, but he does not have the backing of the Emperor. He's playing his own game, pretending to be the Voice. As for Yavin, the emperor can cleanse an entire planet of life at once. It's possible he is preparing to do this there. In which case you should probably not be there. Or it could just be more experiments, or some other piece of the puzzle. Either way, you *could* try and find out."

[Dapper Dog]

“He might be pretending but the Emperor and his hands could intervene at any time, they have not. Maybe he does not care, maybe he is distracted. No one has seen the Emperor in months, the Wrath has been on his devices,” she responded.

“The Dark Council seems to be assuming more power or trying to, without angering the Wrath or the missing Emperor. Maybe his vanishing act is tied to this ritual?”

[Layne Hoshin]

"Why should the emperor care? He intends to destroy everything, republic and empire both, to fuel his own power with this ritual. As for the Wrath... well, I actually ran into him when I found the facility I mentioned."

[Dapper Dog]

"I see you survived the encounter," she laughed.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Just like last time," she shrugged. "He didn't try to stop us. And he was aware of the Emperor's ritual as well. Wasn't inclined to help us of course, but I don't think he's inclined to side with the Emperor on this."

[Dapper Dog]

“I feel your fear; you don’t have to put up your false bravado for me. If the Wrath did not kill you then he has his own plans, far be it for me to intercede on that matter,” she said with a shrug.

[Layne Hoshin]

"He could make a powerful ally. I tried to get him to work with us on stopping the emperor, but he wasn't inclined to take the offer."

[Dapper Dog]

“What will you do now?” she asked.

[Layne Hoshin]

"I don't know. The Emperor's ritual must be stopped. Another Jedi had a prophecy, foretelling of a force destroying both the Republic and Empire, and leaving only a few force users behind. Between that, and this ritual, if they aren't even the same thing... I feel as if everything else is just a distraction. Even the Sith, you included, must understand that our differences are meaningless before such a threat."

She paused.

"Do you think we could make the Dark Council see this threat and join with the Jedi to face it?"

[Dapper Dog]

“Do you think you can teach a tu’kata the meaning of love?” she responded with an incredulous laugh.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Surely there are *some* who understand pragmatism?"

[Dapper Dog]

“Indeed there are, and others who will balk at such weakness. The Dark Council will tear itself apart before it allied with the Republic or the Jedi in particular. Maybe Darth Marr could bring them in line but he would need more support,” she leaned back on her throne contemplating the ramifications.

[Layne Hoshin]

"And how would we go about making sure that happens?"

[Dapper Dog]

“We can’t, none of us are on the Dark Council that would be up to them. Best we can hope is bring it to his attention and hope he either believes us or is willing to act on it. Not everything is in our hands,” she said honestly.

“That’s the challenge of leadership.”

[Layne Hoshin]

"I don't exactly have his personal number. Do you think you could set up a meeting in a neutral place?"