Of Rising Hands: Wargrave's Gauntlet

[Maester Wargrave]

He'd been called here. It had been quite unexpected, interupting time he was spending with Loklorien s'Ilancy. But she understood. Neither of them liked that he had to leave, but he assured her, he would get in touch the minute he was able to.

But that was for Taylor Millard to concern himself with. And while Taylor Millard was striding in great lengthes down the halls of Bast Castle on Vjun, it was as Maester Wargrave of The Black Hand- not Grand Admiral Millard of the Imperial Navy. The same person, yet different.

His black cloak grazed the side of the stone wall as Wargrave turned the corner towards the Main Chambers. In his black gloved hands were two items, both in a leather pouch.

The lights were off, he noted as he stopped before the black door. The door opened and he stepped in.

"Master Hobgoblin," he spoke slowly and deliberatly, "I have returned with the items you have requested. Both Sasha Kovolev and Darth Krieg of the Sith Order. I bring these items as proof."

The parcel hit the table in the Chamber, emptying its contents. A lightsaber and a small pendant.

"Now, why have you called me sir?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob had been sitting in his chair in the grand gathering chamber. It was a Hall of Sorrow for many lost souls that still lingered.

Ghosts, Hob had learned, dream of their pasts. It was a curious thing.

For those who yet lived within the castle, there were other dreams. Dreams of power, of grandeur, of being made into something greater than the sum of their previous parts.

Taylor Millard- Maester Wargrave- was one such. And it was nearing his moment of choice.

With a wave of one hand, Hob activated the lighting and sent the ghosts flitting away. Not that Taylor would have seen them as Hob had, but perhaps his senses would have felt something.

The items Taylor had presented floated gently through the air towards Hob. "These are a mark of your progression," Hob said, fingering the lightsaber and pendant. "Where once you would have failed against even an apprentice, here you have succeeded. Moreover, you have shown loyalty to the Hand by showing loyalty against the Sith."

Hob set the items into one of the slots on his chair, then folded his massive hands in front of his lap. "So, Taylor Millard, what would you do now?"

[Maester Wargrave]

"I want peace and order in the galaxy," Millard replied, keeping his Wargrave ID in place, "I serve the Black Hand as I serve the Empire. Through dedication and service, am I a member of your ranks."

He paused, opening his mind to the Force, "Yet I want more. I want to learn more. I have reached a point in my duty as a Dark Jedi where I am still a Knight. I wish to advance in my training. There comes a time where a person must 'take the next step'. I wish to take it.

"What must I do, Master Hobgoblin, to advance?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"You are to the point."

Hob smiled and gestured aimlessly with one hand. "That depends. What kind of god would you become?"

[Maester Wargrave]

Honor your family Millard remembered his brother's words.

Do not forget your heritage his dead father, the Jedi Master's words.

"My father was a Jedi Master. I wish to equal him in power, but remain true to The Black Hand. I wish to use the Force as easily as I use the flight stick.

"I would treat those who worshipped with respect. But if they were to turn from me, or make war against me. I would swoop down and make them remember who it was who lets them live and thrive.

"But I would not act out of impetuousness or paranoia. Once I was 100% certain those who followed me were against me. I would destroy them. But I would also keep peace. I am not a god of war, Master Hobgoblin. I simply know how to fight one."

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"So, you would be one who rules all forums of life- a Maester- but also one who makes the Gravest of War."

Hob tilted his head to look at Taylor. "You would be a Maester Wargrave," he chuckled.

Then Hob sobered. "So," he said in a reasoning tone of voice. "You must understand fully the tools a culture uses in order to understand and control them better. Would that not be correct?"

[Maester Wargrave]

"You are correct sir. I strive to do that in everyway. My mentor, Grand Admiral Thrawn, believed that as well. He passed the knowledge on to me, when I was his protege in the Imperial Navy.

"One can learn so much from cultures. Dead and living ones. Do you agree as well?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"One can learn more by shaping cultures," Hob said thoughtfully. "But yes, I do agree."

"Do you have a personal shuttle or starcraft, Admiral Millard?"

[Taylor Millard]

Millard dropped the hood, allowing his disguise to disappear.

"Yes I do, Master Hobgoblin. A missile boat from the Superior. Why do you ask, sir?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"I ask you, Admiral Millard," Hob answered. "To name the many ways you have used it."

[Taylor Millard]

"In battle. As a transport. A personal carrier. Reconnaissance. A bomber. It's a highly versatile fighter. I helped Grand Admiral Thrawn with the design. Or was consulted at least. Why?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"So," Hob said with a raised eyebrow. "You fight with it?"

"And that," he added in a disdainful tone. "Is all you do with it?"

[Taylor Millard]

"I am a soldier, Master Hobgoblin," Millard said with certainty, "I fight when I have to. I use it for travel as well. Easier to get around with it than a Star Destroyer."

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob winced in disgust. "So in it, you fight, and fly to where you will fight? Have you never put it to other uses?"

With a disapproving frown on his face, Hob sat up straight and looked Millard in the eye. "Your task is as follows: you are to learn how to write the Firuzan phrase 'Bilidet-omage-hung-twayge, gib-arck.' Once you have learned how, you take this ship of yours and alter it for another use-skywriting. You will then write this phrase in the sky over Bast on the next new moon, four weeks from today."

[Taylor Millard]

Millard nodded.

He had no objections to the request by Master Hobgoblin. It was his to make.

"Of course, Master," he nodded, "The missile boat can be modified as such. Anything else for me to do sir?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"No," Hob smiled tightly. "I think mastering Firuzan grammar will be difficult enough a task."

"Before you begin, however," Hob added, as an afterthought. "You will fly me to the fortress of Shadowfaene. I have business there."

[Taylor Millard]

"Of course," Millard nodded, remembering the Sith Master Hera, "I do fear the missile boat is for one pilot though, but I have modified one to fit two. Luckily I remembered to bring it."

He opened the door, allowing Hob to walk in front of him, "May I accompany you there or is this a mission for you and you alone? Madame DrenKast and I get along quite well, and I also have some trade documents to speak with her about."

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"You may speak to her if you wish," Hob stated, getting up from his chair. "But not about me. I have my own business there."

Hob then began ambling away with his cane. "Come, come," he said, moving quickly. "You have much to learn, and it is best you start on it right away."

[Taylor Millard]

Millard nodded, then followed.

"What shall I learn first, Master Hobgoblin?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob smiled. The Firuzans were a chaotic and violent people. Finding a teacher willing to share their language would be difficult, made more difficult still because of Firuzan dislike of all things Imperial, including stiff-backed Grand Admirals. If Millard radiated even a hint of his past, or his Balmorran connections, he would most likely find himself in large amounts of trouble.

But then, if he was a true Dark Jedi who knew well deceit, lies, and mistrust, then he would find his way.

"Ye should start on the simpler preparatory task, lad," Hob answered him. "If ye have no adaptations to yer Missile Boat, ye will accomplish naught, even should ye know the language. Work on that, then go to Firuze."

[Maester Wargrave]

The hood was replaced and Millard was Wargrave again.

"I hear and obey, Master Hobgoblin."

I have studied the Firuzans and their culture. I believe coming to them as I am is the most prudent.

He nodded at the suggestion of redesigning the missile boat instead of going to Firuze first. Such a measure would take a bit of time, with the Imperial breakup. But those were concerns for Taylor Millard...not Maester Wargrave.

"Come I will take you to my ship."

The missile boat was a small, sleek craft. Designed by Grand Admiral Thrawn during Admiral Zakan's threat to the sanctity of the Empire, it had served the Empire well in battle. Millard believed if Emperor Palpatine had not removed it from service before the Battle of Endor, the outcome might have been different. But then Millard would have been leading a squadron not an entire fleet.

The Dark Jedi helped Hobgoblin into his seat, then made sure he was strapped in.

The dark craft flew from the rocky surface of VJun and headed towards Shadowfaene Fortress.

"What is it you seek of Mistress Hera?" Wargrave asked as the missile boat went into hyperspace.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob's eyebrows lifted, then lowered sleepily. "I seek knowledge of the Sith of ancient. She will aid me in finding it, though she knows it not, yet."

[Maester Wargrave]

"I see," Wargrave replied as he checked the instruments, making sure the small fighter was secure as it travelled through hyperspace.

He noticed Hobgoblin had drifted off into a light slumber. The Dark Jedi turned towards his own thoughts as the ship travelled.

Wargrave's thoughts moved as fast as the fighter, travelling from one subject to another.

The main subject on his mind was the battle between order and chaos. As a member of the Imperial navy and a student of Grand Admiral Thrawn- Taylor Millard had been taught Order was the primary objective of every Imperial.

But in the way, the philosophy of chaos was also taught to a lesser extent. Millard hadn't noticed this, until he began his studies under the Dark Jedi Seth Darkserpent. Wargrave wondered where his old master was.

Darkserpent had disappeared into the Unknown Regions, along with his Dark Brother in the Black Hand, Jeseth Cloak. Cloak had returned...Darkserpent hadn't. Although, the former had been quite silent about what happened in the Unknown Regions, Wargrave had a suspicion it wasn't good...but that his former master had decided to stay for...personal reasons.

There was an old saying, he remembered someone once saying, Chaos begats Order...they run hand in hand with each other...use one to get the other... It was a simple saying, but quite true.

Even though Wargrave personally hated chaos. There were too many variables with chaos, too many things unable to control. And while Wargrave did not seek power, he did seek order. And chaos was something difficult to use.

The Dark Jedi heard a stirring behind him, alerting him to Hobgoblin's awakening.

"Out of curiousity, Master Hobgoblin," Wargrave kept his eyes on the starlines, "What is your opinion of chaos and order? As a Dark Jedi...which should we seek more? Chaos...or Order?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"What is one without the other?" Hob yawned. "Even as you would seek to moderate the effects of Sith and Jedi, so should you moderate yourself, becoming the very line between chaos and order. There can be no doubt that the Dark Jedi are uniquely suited to this role."

Hob settled back into his seat, sitting awake and upright and yet looking very much like an absent-minded doll. He made no further moves to reply to Wargrave's question.

[Maester Wargrave]

"Thus you have no problem causing chaos to get to order?" Wargrave asked.

He'd reached his conclusion all ready with this internal battle, but it still helped to ask others of their opinions as well. It had helped him in his career as an Imperial (though he made his own decisions more often than not) and it helped him as a Dark Jedi.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

When Hob spoke, it was with his mouth only- not even his eyes or the rest of his face moved, indicating that something about him was elsewhere. "Is not chaos seemingly unconnected order? Is not order randomized chaos? If there is a goal I seek and I can take it easiest through brute destruction, I will, but should my goals be served better by replacing the extant order with one of my own, I will do that also."

The self-automated lips paused, then directed a question to Wargrave. "Was not the Empire you served organized at the top and chaotic where it interacted with planetary populaces for the very purpose of better control?"

[Taylor Millard]

Again, a switch of Identities. The Dark Jedi, Wargrave disappeared...and the Imperial Millard appeared.

"Yes...with politicians wishing to be military commanders it was. Thankfully, I never had to deal with them."

Too often.

"The Empire faces that problem again today. There are even rumors Lord Viscera is afraid of an Imperial split."

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"All the more reason to have Dark Jedi at the reins of power," Hob countered. "Should such a split occur, there will be chaos, and Dark Jedi are far better suited to bring order from chaos, and chaos from order, than the average being."