Admiral Ktern
Admiral Ktern checked his sealed orders once more. It was inconceivable that his superiors were commanding him to capture one of their own. The Silth had enough enemies without resorting to infighting and petty power struggles.
Well there was no denying it – he had to arrest General Kofus before he married that lizard bitch princess, Cordillia. Of all the races in the galaxy Kofus had to fall in love with a Ceran. The Silth Empire’s very existence hung in the balance. There were those followers of the Dayunth way of thought who thought the Silth’s future lay in embracing the other star faring races as equals and those of the Relgoran belief that believed Silth were superior to all other races and it was destiny to conquer them all.
Ktern had seen too much of the universe to believe the Relgoran’s philosophy, but he was also well aware that the Dayunths were too naïve. The other races were duplicitous and individually inferior to the Silth. Together, however, they presented a problem. The middle road was probably best, but right now the Relgorans controlled the privy council.
It would have been so easy to kill the two of them, but that would have made Kofus a martyr. And he certainly couldn’t kill Cordillia without making a permanent enemy of Kofus. Politics was complicated stuff and Ktern longed for the simpler days when all arguments could be settled with a blaster pistol duel.
Nexus was too powerful a target to approach directly, so he settled for waiting in the nearby deserted system of Tevangal. The sun had long ago burnt out, its fried core no longer giving energy to the two planets that remained. His battleship, Fury, was the finest Silth technology had to offer with 20 particle beam cannons and several mass throwers for the more stubborn targets in addition to 10 Gecko fighters for longer range attacks. The ship may be superior to any others, but it was useless for this mission. Instead, the best approach was to send in a small team of “diplomats” in a Cartel and attempt to kidnap the couple.
Once the diplomats escape with the prisoners and rendezvous with the Fury, Ktern could head for home. The princess would likely be kept alive until the Cerans paid a large ransom and agreed to cede some territory to the Silth. Kofus would be forced to denounce the Dayunth and help Husmanus, the Relgoran chief, to consolidate his power. Ktern had to be patient. He had no idea when the general and his bride would arrive at Nexus – he only knew they would eventually pass through there on their way to the Ceran capitol, Ranoc. Ktern’s thoughts shifted back to his drink as he swirled the cubes and tasted the delicious smokiness of the terran made alcohol. At least the humans had contributed something to the universe – scotch whisky!