Chapter 46

The late and great Rharo Dine had a huge amount of useful knowledge and yet it was the first question I asked that I needed the answer to

"You faked your death, started a career in politics, rebranded yourself away from the underworld and yet you attacked me when I didn't even know you existed. You made yourself a target, jeopardised everything you have to kill me when it would gain you nothing..... why"

At first, he played the role of an innocent bystander but when I started to play with his mind, I wasn't gentle.

The answer struck me a little, Rharo Dine wanted to leave a legacy behind, he wanted to be remembered but he was also scared. He had essentially weakened himself too much, he no longer had the immediate power of the black suns. When he heard about me taking the place of Bee he panicked.

The last official words as Bee would reward anyone who found the killer of Bee. Now, of course, there was no killer, i had faked my death to avoid a clash with the leader of the black suns, but he didn't know that.

After all, the old Bee promised massive riches to the head of his killer, and now, there was a new Bee with all those riches. He thought his existence was at risk.

Rharo Dine had overthought it. He had thought I was out to get him and he needed to strike while I was possibly at my weakest. The more time that went by, the more money, power and connections I would gain. He gathered as many old soldiers, loyal black suns and powerful weapons as his power could gain and attacked because he was scared of what I would do.

I can feel the regret in his mind for giving up so much power from the black suns that he needed now. The fear that his legacy would be forgotten and the anger that he had acted without proper planning.

With a little skill and a lot of patience, I withdraw the information from his mind. How the ship was made, the allies he still had, and the work he was paid for but the thing that got my interest the most was a newly discovered plant that the blue beast came from called planet X

Planet X was a new mystery. In a galaxy filled with magic-like events and the force empowering all life and with a galaxy that had giant creatures that could live for billions of years something new like this was worth investigating.

I send my fleet to investigate. In the meantime, I look over the stealth ship. It's nothing special as a designed ship but it used Stygium crystals as a cloaking device.

I like it, I like it a lot. My number one problem with making any large changes to the galaxy was if I would be used by Darth Sidious and the Empire if I made myself known. I have to make sure that the future I know will come true. With a stealth ship and Stygium crystals, I can take myself out of the public eye in everything I do, no matter if I do it personally or send a fleet. I want Stygium crystals.

Buying the crystal wasn't possible, whoever had it didn't want to give it up. So I used the pirates and other underworld to steal it. That's the power of money, I didn't have to raise a finger. However, it still took thirty years of bandits and pirates raiding to get me enough, the bastards tried to hold out some of the crystals when they found out why I paid so well, but they quickly handed over the crystals when they found their captain floating in space. A deal is a deal and there are repercussions when you break a deal with me.

The crystals are installed and now I can go where I want when I want and never leave a paper trail. Only twenty percent of my fleet has stealth but that's a good start.

My enemies are dead, I've never been more secure and now I'm safe from prying eyes, things are looking good but I get a message from the family of the only person I respect in the galaxy.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Darth Vectivus is on his death bed, I drop everything and go to him.

When I enter his home a very strange sight to behold for a Sith master is there. Vectivus is surrounded by his family and loved ones who are all crying and are sad to see him like this.

This is possibly the rarest thing in the galaxy, a sith lord who is dying of old age. He has no enemies because he is in control of the dark side and not the dark side controlling him. He didn't want to control and dominate the galaxy and kept to himself while studying at a darkside hotspot. He looked after his family with the passion he used to look after his business. Darth Vectivus had everything he wanted and no one took it from him. He lived a life that few Jedi could equal to.

I slip past the grieving family members and give some of them a small hug and whisper sorry, and then I reach the bed of the most powerful Sith in the galaxy and hold the old master's hand.

His eyes open and I can see the untainted blue that lets me know that the dark side never controlled him to look at me. Vectivus gives a small chuckle and looks away with a tear squeezing out his left eye.

"You look terrible," I say

"You look the same," he says

What more is there to say, I will miss you, I respect you, and the galaxy won't be the same without you. We both know each other's feelings, and the force allows us to read each other like a book. There are no secrets when it comes to our feelings. He's a much-beloved brother.

Vectivus was powerful but even with that power he didn't try to extend his life. Through Sith Alchemy or skills that could drain life from others he had several choices to extend his life but didn't.

Vectivus had made his choice, he hadn't shamed himself by taking life, he had lived his life and this was his end.

Vectivus asked a question "What happened to Darth Gravid"

Vectivus's one and only apprentice who ran away "He lives and has his own apprentice called Darth Gean" I answer. "He isn't doing so well, he's trying to combine the teachings of the Jedi with the Sith. I think he might go mad"

Vectivus sighed "He doesn't have the flexibility to combine the teachings of both the Jedi and Sith.

"They aren't compatible, if you want to combine anything then the extreme emotions of the Sith with the Jedi way of control would be a good start but not the rules and laws of their schools" I say

He looks at me, a long look and then says "I wish I had an apprentice like you"

Water wells up in my eyes, I'm at a loss at what to say but I swallow the emotion and say with a slight crackle in my voice "I wish I had a master like you"

For the first time in a thousand years, tears fall from my eyes, matched by a Sith lord. What needed to be said has been said and I go and sit in the corner to give room to Vectivus family.

I feel odd as I watch Vectivus slow down and his family weep. I know this isn't the end as the force will take him, afterlife or a force ghost I know that this isn't the end of Vectivus but it's a bittersweet moment of a well-lived life coming to its end. The pain coming from his family is genuine and all of them feel that their life will be that slightly worse without him. The pain from their feelings tells me he lived his life well.

When Vectivus does go into the long night his body disappears to everyone's great surprise, including mine. Only the light side becomes one with the force because of the way the light side guides the force. The dark side twists it and makes the force do its bidding, when a powerful dark side user dies they can make a copy of themself and become a wrath of some sort. Vectivus has become one with the force while still being a dark-side user. Not even Darth Vader was able to do that. Darth Vader had to choose the light side and protect his loved one by throwing away his master and the dark side.

I helped the shocked family who had just witnessed Vectivus's disappearance by explaining it was the force. I showed a little bit of power so they could accept it. Then there was the reading of the will, I wanted to leave but I was asked to stay a while by the family. They weren't strangers, I had spent lots of holidays with them but without Vectivus I wasn't strongly connected to them. And yet I stayed to make sure they were ok, a last favour to the greatest dark side user I knew.

The will was well written and none of the family members would go without. Vectivus gave them a lot but also put checks and balances to make sure that money wouldn't ruin them and their ambitions. As a Sith lord, Vetivus understood how important purpose and ambition were and how fast money could destroy them. Each family member had tailored missions to complete before they would get their money. Surprisingly, so did I.

I had been given a Sith Holocube with Victivus teachings. A complete step-by-step guide of how his phantoms worked. The message that went along with the cube fully understood that I wasn't compactable with the force ability because it used deep dark side powers to create phantoms and I wasn't intuned that way, but Vectivus hoped I would find someone who was and pass on his teachings like a new apprentice.

Perhaps Vectivus thought I didn't have a purpose and set this up so I could train some apprentices. I didn't want Vectivus's way to disappear. It was worth protecting, in my opinion.