It was not what Erebus could have expected when he went into the entrance to his ship to find two important characters in galactic history standing in front of him. Both darths (Marr and Vowrawn) were infamous during the era of the Old Republic because the former would die at the hands of Valkorion during the beginning of the Eternal Empire arc while not much is known about the latter.
When he noticed what the System had meant by "unclaimed rewards," Erebus grew scared about why it chose both of them to be his master in the dark side, but ultimately chose to be on guard. He knew that letting them into his ship would cause a lot of questions and potential violence to occur—making him compromise with these "honorable" Sith Lords by disallowing violence on his ship. When Vowrawn asked about drinks, he didn't mind fabricating some popular alcoholic drinks for them to enjoy.
After all, Erebus knew that things were about to get very complicated. Despite knowing Marr's ultimate fate within the coming years, he had to play things right. This wasn't a game to him where he could restart from a previous save point and choose a different path.
This was a complex game everyone plays until they die.
"So," Erebus began to speak while Marr and Vowrawn got comfortable, "why did you come, my lords?"
Marr was the first to speak. "We felt your strength, Acolyte. It is something neither of us had sensed before..."
"A strength on par with a beast," he finished.
Erebus didn't know what Marr had thought when he had unintentionally tapped into his powerful connection to the Force, but when Vowrawn spoke up about how much potential they saw in him along with how unrefined his skills were, that had been enough to give him some food for thought. He knew his Force abilities had been both powerful yet unrefined—given that his own System rated such things as a Level 2 skill—but there had not been enough reason and teaching to continue honing his skills.
'I had been more or less focused on my arcane skills in Hogwarts than using the Force,' Erebus pondered. 'Even making sure to get used to using the Unforgivable Curses in place of my Force power, but now that I have two powerful masters—albeit people I need to be on guard about—I can potentially raise that skill higher.'
The discussion of being apprenticed to these two powerful Darths left Erebus no room to bargain much. In fact, he preferred being on guard against both of these powerful Sith than dealing with Zash and Baras.
After an hour of discussion and getting to know each other, that was when Erebus' System started notifying him. His voidship was now able to leave Korriban, but the issue of an urgent quest on Balmorra made Erebus concerned.
'What?' Erebus thought to himself as he read the notification while also making the attempt to consider responding to Marr's words. 'Why would the System want me to bother dealing with The Eagle? He's only a pawn of Darth Jadus and his ludicrous plans of cleansing the Empire...'
"Strength on par with a beast?" Erebus muttered to himself. "I understand that I have a deeper connection to the Force than anyone else, but that's all I know."
Vowrawn slightly narrowed his eyes in curiosity towards Erebus. Both he and Marr could feel his passive strength in the Force like it was a uncontrolled storm brewing within a thin barrier nearly about to break, but there was something else they knew. That power he wielded was not from an intense anger or bloodlust like others from the Empire, but stemmed from something further beyond such mortal fuel.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
'I can feel it and there is no doubt about it,' Vowrawn thought to himself as he kept his gaze focused on Erebus. 'Beneath such a calm exterior hides danger unlike anything the Empire has faced before. Normal users of the dark side feel a sense of coldness in the air, but this being in front of us...'
'...He's powerful to the point where even a Dark Council member can feel the intensity like the very gravity around us bows in his presence.' Vowrawn finished thinking.
Before either side of the conversation continued their discussion, the previously disabled engines of the Vengeful Wraith activated in full with the coordinates locked into Balmorra itself. Arch had been attempting to find out why the coordinates were set to Balmorra, but he reminded himself that in this universe they were currently in, most of the odd occurrences can be attributed to the Will of the Force.
'Here we go,' Arch thought to himself as the ship began to dematerialize from Korriban. 'Time to set up the plan to deal with The Eagle...'
"What's happening?" Vowrawn inquired as he heard the voidship's engines whirring to life and felt a strange sense of displacement.
Marr was also curious about what was happening as he too felt that sense of displacement.
"We're taking off from Korriban, My Lords," Erebus stated calmly as he knew this was not going to be any accident. "I hope you're both ready to experience something not even the Empire or Republic can do in thousands of years."
Before they could ask more on the situation, the Vengeful Wraith had completely dematerialized from Korriban.
===+===
Gray Star, Watcher X, Eradicators.
These three key elements made up for the first act of the Imperial Agent/Cipher Nine storyline in the Star Wars: The Old Republic game. It was only after defeating the terrorists in the Dark Temple that the destruction of the Dominator--Darth Jadus' flagship--occurred and Cipher Nine had to venture through elements of this hunt for the Eagle before finally killing him to stop the Eradicator devices.
Erebus was very familiar with the entire story plot of the Imperial Agent from the game, so he knew that Arch wasn't going to let either Jadus or the Eagle off from using the codes to fire the Eradicator devices. He surmised that Arch will use his superior skills as a [Cyber Monarch] to clone the full code for the Eradicator devices as a counter-measure against either side in case Nine didn't stop them both in due time. All Erebus wanted now was to arrive in Balmorra to handle the situation that the System urgently wanted him to complete.
The only problem was that aside from himself, Arch, and Kreia on the command deck, there was the two Dark Council members along with him.
"Are you sure?" Arch asked Erebus. "You know that if we told them about this, it could jeopardize the missions of Imperial Intelligence."
"Tell us what?" Marr inquired.
"I'm sure, Arch," Erebus sighed out in slight annoyance. "Marr and Vowrawn may not have any direct actions during the storyline in the game, but we aren't in a game."
"Alright then," Arch nodded in understanding as both Marr and Vowrawn looked on with curiosity and some slight irritation. Turning to see both Darths, Arch said "We have left Korriban's system and are currently enroute to Balmorra to aid one of the Imperial Intelligence operatives. We have reason to believe that the terrorists under the Eagle--the one claiming responsibility for destroying the Dominator over Dromund Kaas--have significant backing and the operative from Operations is currently needing assistance in dealing with an individual named 'Gray Star'."
It was no surprise that neither of them knew what exactly was going on, but not even the knowledge of terrorist cells was enough to sway them. Erebus could tell--however--that what Arch revealed next greatly turned their indifference into anger.
"WHAT?!" Marr roared out. "You mean to say that Jadus himself was behind it all?!"
"In some plot to cleanse the Empire because of the Emperor's disappearance?" Vowrawn hissed through clenched teeth.
Arch and Erebus nodded.
"Where is he?" Marr hissed out in anger. Unsurprisingly, the Vengeful Wraith was not even straining under the powerful Force energy both Dark Council members were emitting.
"We will deal with Jadus in due time, my Lords," Erebus said in a calm manner despite the waves of intense madness coming off of him. "For now, we have to deal with the Eagle instead of skipping straight to the end."
'After all,' Erebus thought to himself as the ship was nearing its destination within ten minutes. 'I'm not going to let the Eagle or Jadus play their cruel game. Even the Star Cabal will feel my vengeance before I deal with Valkorion and the Eternal Empire.'
Let the games begin.