The Sith Lord's laboratory was flawless. White-gold walls. Red runes channeling the Force.
Force barriers dense enough to withstand an orbital bombardment. Absolute sterility, unlike our previous rented workshop.
Building this facility so quickly defied logic.
I submitted a detailed report following our retreat from the jungle. SorSyn stood opposite me, listening to the recount of events.
The Lord displayed no anger. She merely extended a hand, offering several ampoules of sealed liquid.
"A convenient proving ground for new poisons. A Jedi channels their own Force through the flora. This symbiosis renders them vulnerable. Apply this toxin next time. Record the results. Submit a new report."
I accepted the poison carefully and offered a grateful bow. It is practical when your Lord remains rational and refrains from issuing pointless tasks.
"Any new directives from Alsakan?"
The Lord approached her desk. She retrieved several scalpels.
"Another space battle in a few days. A banquet the day after tomorrow. Princes and princesses will select their bodyguards. We are to protect the Alsakan royal family aboard the command ships."
Guarding the vanguard is far more lethal than securing rear facilities. I needed to prepare a gift for a royal target. Perhaps a scheme could be orchestrated to siphon some credits.
"Do you require assistance in the laboratory?"
SorSyn suspended an animal with the Force, neatly excising tissue samples.
"Your knowledge of chimerology is deficient. You focus entirely on artifacts. I provided my instructional holocron a few days ago. Give me your feedback."
Unpleasant, but accurate. I could blindly replicate the process of breeding war beasts, but I lacked the qualifications for design work.
"Context is the only saving grace for most of your terminology. I have studied the Nal family holocrons since childhood. I have read fragments of Sorzus Syn's records. Without those specific advantages, your holocron is an execution device, not a teaching tool."
Take the security system. SorSyn provided zero warnings. A foolish Sith attempting to grasp the holocron barehanded would simply have all the Force drained from their body.
"That is by design. Are there flaws in the educational material?"
Frankly, it contained an absurd amount of esoteric practical application. Practice is standard, but SorSyn vastly overestimated the financial resources of any Sith attempting to study from this holocron.
"Excessive practical exercises. Yes, application aids retention. But tell me, where exactly am I supposed to procure a purrgil embryo? Such exotic ingredients comprise half your curriculum. Furthermore, the second half of the holocron contradicts the first."
She considered these critiques seriously, mentally reviewing her training program.
"A fair point. I will append more theory. The first section outlines basic data on the Living Force and genetic coding. However, the Force flows through every part of our biology. The genomic data is merely a subset of the rules and life cycles dictated by the will of the Force."
How was I supposed to deduce that? It was completely omitted from the text. Acquiring answers is impossible when the foundational terminology is a void.
"I possess zero experience coding war beast DNA. I assume you manipulate the connection to the Living Force."
SorSyn nodded. She appeared immensely satisfied. She clearly hadn't expected me to grasp even a fraction of her lecture.
"Approximately ninety percent of the genome is 'junk' DNA. A deactivated, chaotic archive of evolutionary mutations. Normally, this rough draft is sealed, starved of the Living Force. The dark side can disrupt the flow of the Living Force. Instead of nourishing the healthy genome, all that energy floods the useless segments of the cell."
Again, how was I expected to guess this? The second half of the holocron now held immense value, but attempting those experiments without understanding the underlying mechanism guaranteed a fatal accident.
"Sith do not spontaneously grow extra limbs or tails. Therefore, the genetic coding that consumes the Living Force must remain passive."
SorSyn rummaged through her desk, producing several microscopic photographs. She handed them over, continuing her lecture.
"They restructure. They actively devour the Living Force. In exchange, they excrete the dark side of the Force. The functioning segment of the cell receives progressively less Living Force. The initial stage of infection allows the host of these microscopic Force parasites to draw upon a vastly expanded reserve of dark side energy."
Midichlorians. I needed to extract more data while her mood remained favorable.
"Define 'parasitic Force organisms'."
SorSyn recognized the blatant attempt to mine her for knowledge, yet she remained accommodating. The Sith Empire no longer held her interest. This entire war was a pathetic farce compared to the galactic anomalies waiting to be uncovered.
She was a researcher at heart. Inquiries about her life's work fed her pride.
"Microscopic lifeforms embedded within the metabolic cycle of living beings. They are essentially a component of our cells. A specific density grants the ability to actively wield the Force. Higher concentrations yield superior Force conductivity."
Midichlorians confirmed. But why was this knowledge restricted? Why wasn't it foundational for all alchemists? Almost every holocron dictated the how, but deliberately ignored the why.
"Consider my physiology as an example. Why didn't half the population of ancient Korriban consist of Sith who utilized the light side of the Force?"
The Witches of Dathomir developed precisely that way. The Sith, however, possessed an exclusive, fatal attraction to the dark side.
"The planet itself is saturated with the dark side. The parasitic organisms adapted, transmitting the Force strictly through the emotional spectrum of a primitive, violent tribe. Sith biology mutated, inextricably binding itself to aggression, dominance, and raw survival."
A physiological dependency dictated by environment. Logical. But that meant the process was replicable. The Sith race wasn't unique at all.
"So, war beasts are merely living organisms subjected to an accelerated evolutionary process mimicking the conditions of Korriban. And leviathans are constructed using highly resilient cells teeming with corrupted microorganisms."
Suddenly, the holocron's contents were trivial. This branch of alchemy was essentially genetic engineering. It explained why Sorzus Syn's works were largely lost or suppressed.
Without understanding the underlying principles, alchemists were just zealots blindly repeating rituals. Artifact crafting was far less reliant on biological variables or laboratory equipment.
Exact science was completely alien to sorcery and primitive Force tricks.
"The Sith can be classified as a stable, naturally occurring breed of war beast."
Simple. Banal, even. Yet this exact evolutionary crucible forged the red Sith race.
"Everything reduces to selective breeding of cells possessing parasitic Force organisms. Alchemy merely serves as the catalyst to activate the desired mutations."
SorSyn discarded the local fauna and pivoted to integrating her findings into the leviathan's cells.
"My free time is about to expire. Are there further questions?"
"Why do the Sith preserve the corrupted genomic data? According to your holocron, it is relatively simple to correct. Why do Sith inevitably die from cellular degradation? Biological immortality is entirely achievable. Why deliberately choose to become wraiths?"
SorSyn laughed. The dark side of the Force thickened around her, oppressive and dense.
"The Sith Code was authored specifically to suppress such thoughts."
The Lord terminated the conversation, retreating deeper into her laboratory. I was left alone, dissecting the terrifying implications of her lecture.
No Sith would reject immediate power, even if it guaranteed an agonizing death. Status demanded power.
That logic eradicated any tolerance for weakness. The dark side fundamentally required its user to embrace their own physical destruction.
SorSyn avoided explicitly stating why the degradation of the Sith was accelerated. But if one viewed us as experimental war beasts... accelerating the selection process was the most efficient method of forcing evolution.
If that hypothesis held true, abandoning the Empire was my highest priority. The more I analyzed it, the more Sorzus Syn's historical actions aligned with this cold logic.
"I will return to my team. Thank you for your instruction, Lord SorSyn."
Just before I crossed the threshold, the Lord's quiet whisper drifted through the laboratory.
"It no longer matters. The experiment has lost its viability."
My pace quickened. My emotional suppression almost fractured.
Did I harbor suspicions regarding Lord SorSyn's true identity? I refused to voice them. I refused to even process the theory internally.
As long as I was not actively targeted for termination, I would ignore the machinations of such a terrifying entity.
Distance brought clarity. Navigating the corridors away from SorSyn stabilized my nerves.
The laboratory was situated within the Alsakan military base, but regular infantry were barred from the subterranean levels.
I turned the corner, completely relaxed. My passive Force barriers detected zero hostility. No premonition of danger.
A skull collided violently with my face. The sharp crack of my nose fracturing instantly purged Lord SorSyn from my thoughts.
An Alsakan officer's peaked cap hit the floor. The source of the impact became obvious.
"What the..."
"Watch where..."
We stared at each other. I swallowed my impending string of insults. The uniform insignia denoted an Alsakan Admiral.
Antagonizing high command over a momentary lapse in composure was tactically unsound.
"The Sith possess foresight. Do you lack basic Jedi magic?"
I tilted my head forward to prevent blood from staining my robes. A surge of Force Healing snapped the cartilage back into alignment.
The woman retrieved her cap. She stepped laterally, perfectly blocking my exit trajectory. She brushed off the fabric with deliberate slowness, placed it back on her head, and locked onto me with a cold, analytical glare.
"Is it not customary to apologize in the Sith Empire?"
Actually, it wasn't.
I sidestepped again. She mirrored the movement, maintaining the blockade.
Had her skin been crimson, I would have assumed Erra was standing before me. Did the High Command mandate quotas for ill-mannered women?
"Go ahead and apologize. I don't mind."
The Admiral blinked in mild shock. Then, she accepted the twisted logic. A faint, ironic smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. The sheer audacity of reversing the blame amused her.
"I apologize. I believe it is your turn now."
Was she mentally defective? Turn around and walk away. We were standing in a freezing, desolate subterranean corridor. This pantomime of etiquette was rapidly draining my patience.
I exhaled and deployed the most flawlessly innocent smile in my arsenal.
"I forgive you. Am I permitted to leave now?"
Genuine astonishment flashed in her eyes. She was entirely unaccustomed to being condescendingly 'forgiven'.
"Is reciprocal apology physically impossible for you?"
She wasn't angry anymore. Through the Force, I registered pure amusement.
Her initial arrogance had degraded into a simple desire to bicker. Since the threat of hostility had vanished, dragging out the mockery served no purpose. The farce needed to end, but on my terms.
"I sincerely apologize for falling victim to your inability to navigate corners."
She seized the opening, deploying a pre-packaged insult.
"Your 'apology' reeks worse than the lower levels of Coruscant."
I spread my hands in a gesture of utter helplessness, completely immune to her metaphors.
"I haven't traveled beyond Imperial borders. Please, describe the exact olfactory profile of Coruscant's lower levels."
She crossed her arms over her chest, scrutinizing my face. She was trying to calculate if I was actively mocking her or simply a natural idiot. My mask of absolute ignorance, fortified by a perfectly serene presence in the Force, dismantled her read. The Admiral exhaled loudly, her rigid posture collapsing.
"I surrender. Sith etiquette escapes me. Does your face still hurt?"
She rapidly inspected my face, then instinctively rubbed the point of impact on her own forehead.
"Flawless condition. I apologize if my retorts were overly abrasive."
"No offense taken. My initial reaction was disproportionate. Magic must be convenient."
A brief exchange of pleasantries followed, culminating in a handshake. Setting aside her momentary spike of rage, the Admiral operated on solid, rational logic.
"Kreso Nal. Deputy to Lord SorSyn."
The woman glanced down the corridor behind me and shook her head.
"Nomi. I arrived with the latest wave of reinforcements. That explains your presence here. I was actually looking for your Sith Lord."
We parted ways shortly after. Nomi proceeded toward the Lord's laboratory, while I altered my trajectory for the hangars to inspect the Twi'leks' progress.