Shadows of Bankor

He was at a distance enough from listening posts and prying eyes, so he went into the cabin, sat, and introduced a secure comm code into the holotransmitter.

There is contact and a shadowed figure in the comm and a single word, "Daunt."

"My Lord Maul." He started respectfully. "First, I need your guidance on how to proceed with the affairs on Bankor. The two cartels under the same aegis of Crimson Dawn are after each other. I understand that it may be a part of a grander strategy, but I want to know if I should involve myself on either side."

"They fight for supremacy and the strong will be revealed and the weak will die, involve yourself if you so choose, I win no matter the outcome," he said in response.

Daunt bowed his head in recognition.

"I have also come into contact with the Inquisitorius. One of them offered me a tutelage of sort, and I accepted. This is over now, but I am in a possession of a lightsabre and have trained in its use. I have also come to some understanding of the Force."

He paused.

"Resistance against the Empire has formed and organised itself on the planet. I have access to them. A surviving Nightsister I've been protecting has chosen to align with it. I wonder if it's of any consequence to your plans."

"It has none," he said gesturing with his shadowed hand.

He nodded. "I had a Force vision on this planet, fighting Darth Vader. I didn't win, but I fought back and wasn't slain either. Then I was tempted by avatars of Light and Dark. I chose to follow neither at that time. Do you think it carries any significance, Master?"

He was silent for a long time and said, “It means nothing, and everything. The Force…”

He said grimly, “The Force touches each of us differently, follow this path if you wish but do not let it interfere with the Crimson Dawn, that is your true Master.”

Daunt nodded in assent.

"A stray child of the Emperor is on the planet. And a Gunray who escaped an assassination mandated by him and is now working with the Jedi and the rest of the Resistance. The Inquisitors have malperformed for what I can tell. I am coming to the belief that my vision may have been prophetic in some way and that Darth Vader is indeed going to come here to cut the loose ends this way or another. That or orbital strikes but the Empire has been investing in infrastructure and they want the hypermatter production going. Is there a way I can prepare for such an eventuality, my lord? In your understanding of the Force which side is stronger, Light or Dark?"

"Kill this child," was his only reply.

Daunt's two hearts skipped their bits. "Does it matter that she has defied him and can be convinced to act in ways beneficial to the Dawn?" He steeled himself to ask this question. He used to kill with indifference that disabled excesses of compassion, but this would be a world of difference.

"I am the Master, she dies," he said.

"Then am I your Apprentice, My Lord?" Daunt's gaze hardened.

"You are Crimson Dawn, that is all that matters," he said. "You have your task."

He ends the call.

So he was nothing more than a disposable soldier. In a way, he had always known that. Here on Bankor, he lived as if he could be someone more than that, a man he might have become had some years not been stolen from him. The unenviable choice put before him would seal his fate one way or another. At that moment, he was too confused to decide, and his indecision angered him.