Hey everybody! Bahoogasmif here, presenting to you a collaboration piece with Nozz'ivix on the world of the old republic. All the stories i'd seen on FFnet were about light side jedi, or darksiders turning good, so Nozz and I decided to mix it up a little. Hope you enjoy it, and always remember: Review review review!

Lord Drakal the Bloodthirsty quivered in anticipation as the shuttle slammed through the Jedi temples massive front doors, the vibrations that made others stumble made him all the more eager. He smiled darkly behind his mask as the shuttle screeched to a halt, and he could feel Darth Malgus' presence beyond the shuttle door just outside. He felt an untold pride at having been handpicked for this assignment, and he was eager to put his skills to the test against the pathetic excuse for force users the Jedi passed off as masters. His smile only deepened at the lack of emotion from Darth Malgus, no fear, no remorse, and certainly no pity. Drakal paced up and down a few times as he mentally counted down the seconds, eagerly awaiting the most exciting moment of his life.

With a heavy bang, the ramp fell from the shuttle, and he had to restrain himself from cackling at the sight of the Jedi's shocked faces. He took the first step forward from the group behind him, his lightsaber already in hand since before the impact. Depressing the button on its hilt, he heard the snap-hiss of the blade fill the silence, illuminating the area in a deep reddish hue. His smile continued to cover his face as he heard the others behind him do the same, and at that moment so many overpowering emotions coursed through him it was impossible to single one out and focus on it, so he simply cracked his neck, and embraced them all.

Surely this will be my most glorious moment, and the Emperor himself will envy us this day!

The siege of the Jedi temple was about to begin, and the marble floors were ready to be slicked in the blood of many a force user, Lord Nozz'Ivix the Stalwart knew this, even without the precognitive abilities lent to him by the Dark Side. While the helmeted pureblood paced back and forth before the blast door, steeped in his rage no doubt, the Rutian Twi'Lek Sith Lord focused his mind as an Echani Blacksmith would one of their prized vibroblades, as it was his greatest weapon against the Jedi. He physically felt the shuttle impact the temple's ancient walls, and mentally felt the great waves of hatred roiling from behind the blast door. Malgus was ready to unleash them on the Jedi in their own home. A brazen act even the great Naga Sadow would appreciate. Nozz'Ivix drew on all of his arcane Sith knowledge and allowed his ambitions to fuel him as the great door fell, slamming and cracking the intricate mural that once adorned the Temple's marble floor.

When the Jedi were revealed, he couldn't help but allow a smirk to twist his blue lips, Jedi of every race stood slack jawed, some not even having drawn their lightsabres. He felt the shock, anger, and yes, even fear flow from these hardened Jedi Knights. The pacing pureblood at the front ignited his saber, and the rest of the sith followed suit, the refreshing snap-hiss of his lightsaber granting him further focus as he recalled his training. His green blade, the crystal a trophy from his first Jedi kill, lit up among the sea of red, and as the Jedi stood in awe, they charged.

The Jedi before him leaned out of the path of his swing, narrowly missing the sword point as Lord Drakal's saber singed his robes. His dodge left him off balance however, and he took full advantage of the Human's weakness. Using his overflowing sense of anger, the Sith lord drew upon the force and thrust out a hand towards the mans chest, sending him hurtling backwards and into a group of temple guards. His seething anger would not let him stay still long enough to enjoy the mans pain, and he moved toward the thickest nearby fighting.

He had lost Malgus in the crowd after the initial charge, but even over the din of battle he could sense the scarred man's cold hatred permeating the entire temple. He had killed his fair share of weaklings today, but he felt something around the temple that contested with Malgus' anger, a force of... good? No, that wasn't the word. Perhaps just something that fought against the darkness, but whatever it was, Drakal couldn't help but look around for its source.

Stalking towards the largest battle, never did he run, unless of course the battle was unwinnable, he singled out his next victim amongst the crowd. A jedi who contested with a Twi'Lek in lightly armored robes, both of which had their blades locked together in a contest of might. Bringing his arm back, he flung his saber with a fury, sending it streaking towards the Jedi's chest. Before the man could react and dodge it, the saber was buried deep in his chest, making his eyes bulge as he fell.

Drakal smiled again at all the pain in the room, the dead and dying sent it out in waves, and all the fear they exuded, all of their emotions filled him with joy, and a sense of pure rage. Anyone so weak as to feel this kind of fear was not worth living, and weakness was not to be tolerated. Without looking at the Twi'Lek whom he'd helped, he set out once more to find slaughter before they were all killed. He would enjoy this moment to it's fullest.

The battle had been glorious; many had fallen to Lord Ivix's blade and many more to his mastery of the force. A Jedi defender fell before him, blackened by lightning, while the emerald sabre impaled another. Calling on the force to quicken his movements, he sprinted from his skirmish to engage another group of Jedi that were recovering from a narrow victory over acolytes fresh from Korriban, cannon fodder. The six Jedi were blasted out of their recuperation as lightning arced from one to the other, and the robed Twi'Lek leaped into their midst, crushing one's ribcage with the Force and handily decapitating another. The third lost his saber arm in a flash of green as the fourth and fifth were thrown into nearby pillars, breaking their spines on impact. The final Jedi proved a challenge, the master of the Jedi recently annihilated, Lord Ivix could feel the anger boil off him as his blue saber flashed. Green connected with blue over and over as they clashed, they proved equal until a bright red saber blossomed in the Jedi's chest.

As the Master fell, his tightly restrained rage still in his dying eyes, Lord Ivix looked to the source of the quick victory. The pacing pureblood from before had just caught his thrown lightsaber before pausing, seemingly to sniff the air, and leaping to his next fight. Realizing that there was yet glory to win, the Rutian Sith followed his example, moving off to engage yet more Jedi. They came as wheat before a thresher, each new death a ripple in the force. Quite a few Sith deaths were felt, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the Jedi losses, as if one were to try and watch a pebble drop into a pond during a rainstorm. It was chaos, the Dark Side in its pure form, the very essence of creation and destruction, alpha and omega. And Lord Nozz'Ivix was one with it.

A great many Jedi had fallen, but the tide was unending, more poured into the great hall, many still apprentices equipped with training sabers. He struck them down as they came, but Lord Nozz'Ivix felt a disturbance. He turned to see the Sith from before striking madly at the Jedi, without noticing another, his lightsaber ablaze, flying in from the Sith's blind spot. Without thinking, the Rutian Lord flung a bolt of lightning from his fingers, blasting the Jedi backwards and through an already damaged wall.

The pureblood Sith impaled his final victim before looking at the source of the attack. Seeing Ivix was the one who had done it, he sneered and left without another look, chasing after the Jedi through the newly made hole and into the next chamber of the temple. Ivix followed, the second stage of the siege had begun.

Dashing through the jagged hole a jedi had made with his own body, Lord Drakal spun around in a circle, searching, no, daring there to be more enemies in his path. But seeing the room clear of threats, he finally took in his surroundings.

The room he'd jumped into was the famous Jedi archive, thousands of texts, teachings and instructions all divvied up nicely in some order he cared nothing for. The blue glow that the room cast from all the holo-records clashed with his still alight red saber held tightly in his hand, and once again he felt the call from before. The force rippled, only a slight movement to be felt, and the only reason he felt it at all was due to having no enemies to focus his anger on, making him a little less enraged. Walking further into the room, it's silence felt almost deafening compared to the chaos still going on outside, and the ripples he felt were coming from further in the temple and away from the battle. A spike of annoyance coursed through him at that, he should be fighting, enjoying each and every last scream of the doomed Jedi order, but instead he was perusing some dusty old library in search of Emperor-knew what.

His thoughts were broken by the sound of boots hitting the floor behind him, and he spun around with his saber ready to strike. He held his rage in check however, when the same Twi'Lek from before looked him up and down. Deactivating his saber, Drakal spun on his heel and kept moving towards the strange aura, talking over his shoulder.

"I suppose you want in on this too, but I warn you now, take something that I want, and I'll kill you."

The Sith's words were like the edge of a blade, a true practitioner of the more vicious aspects of the dark side, yet it stirred none of it's intended effects in Lord Nozz'Ivix.

"Noted. But if you touch but one of these records, you so much as breath on a holocron, and I will flay your flesh from your bones."

"Records? Is that why you're here then? Fine, I don't care for those anyway. I'm here for... something else. Just stay out of my way, and we'll be fine."

Ivix clenched his saber, the end of the curved hilt resting on his wrist, before launching forward, the warrior following suit. With the main regiments of Jedi preoccupying the sith, only the Archive masters remained, Jedi long past their prime, but still potent in the force, milled around the holo-books, attempting to save what they could from the ongoing Sith attack. Upon seeing the approaching invaders, they all drew their lightsabers, igniting them for what was likely the first, and last, time in decades. The two Sith were upon them like rabid Kath hounds, tearing into the aging jedi. The Warrior made heavy use of acrobatics and saber manuevers, while Ivix was content to rely on the force first and foremost, bloodying his lighsabre to finish them.

The librarians were vanquished in moments, the Jedi's best scholars reduced to mauled piles of burnt corpses and robes. The two continued onward towards the most heavily lauded prize in Republic Space. The Holocron Archive.

Drakal and his temporary companion walked through vast walls of holo-records, mountains of data just begging to be burned. But he resisted his urge to see the jedi squirm, and kept on his target. The strange aura was definitely growing stronger the further they went, and despite the likelihood of these being their most prized possessions, very little resistance was to be found. They had slaughtered the first group of course, making short work of what had once been true masters, and the fact left him smiling. But tempering his smile was his newfound partner. Glancing at the Twi'lek from the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but sneer, the alien probably thought himself an equal or better, but he ignored it for now. The man would learn soon enough.

Refocusing his attention on the area ahead, they soon found their quick pace had lead them into a narrow corridor, the source of the power lay behind the door at the end... and behind two more jedi guardians, clad in heavily armored robes. The two stood at attention, making ready for their inevitable last stand against the other Sith who were likely to come in behind them. The two ignited their sabers as himself and the Twi'lek came to a stop a few meters away, the staring contest that ensued might have been funny if not for the fact that they were sizing each other up to kill. Glancing at his companion, he thrust his chin out to indicate the one on the left, before giving a wicked smile and leaping into the fight.

They had already defeated the brains of the Jedi, now came the brawn. The two guardians, raised from childhood to fight, indoctrinated into the pithy mantra of the Jedi Order. While the librarians had been old and decrepit, these Jedi were in the prime of their lives and still had fight in them. Before a plan of action could be relayed, the impetuous Warrior had leaped at the left guardian, leaving the right to Lord Ivix. He began with a feint, firing a force push at the Jedi before swiftly launching into a lateral saber strike that was easily caught on the Guardian's blue blade. He was face to face with the Jedi now, and he could feel the anger on the young man, contained, controlled.

Manipulatable.

"You like my saber?" Ivix huffed slightly as the two stared at each other over locked sabers. "The crystal was a gift. A Jedi was kind enough to donate it to me, after I slowly tortured him for weeks on end. 'Twas truly a wonderful time, I had no idea humans could survive without limbs for so long." The mere thought of a Jedi being slowly killed was enough to anger the guardian, who lashed out, leaving himself open to a full lightning barrage and falling to his knees. "Yes, kneel worm! Know that the Sith are supreme!" He laughed as he removed the -now crispier- guardian's head from his shoulders

Drakal laughed behind his helmet, the sound carried through the mask, but it was deeper and muffled, making the sound even more terrifying. The Guardian he fought, however, did not seem affected. The fact that he didn't even seem to have any expressions or thoughts was enough to make Drakal's fury boil up to its utmost point, boosting his powers… and his lust for blood.

Striking out with a feint for the Jedi's legs, he waited for the split second of the mans weakened defenses and lashed out with a push. He only barely blocked Drakal's assault as he stumbled backwards from the combined attack.

"You dare stand in my way? You? I have struck down kings, Sith lords! You will die!"

Once more launching himself at the jedi in a full on assault, throwing all his strength into every slash, every dodge, every single movement coursing in time with his anger. The guardian couldn't help but retreat farther and farther from the doorway he guarded, and the realization dawned in his eyes too late. Dashing past the jedi's attempt to stop him, Drakal made it through the doorway, placing the jedi between both himself, and his Twi'lek ally, of whom stood staring down at a charred and decapitated corpse. Drakal laughed.

"Aw, why the long face jedi? I hope you knew him well, maybe that way the pain will last all that much longer." Taking his time, Drakal slowly strode over to the doorway, making sure the jedi could no longer use it to keep them both at bay.

With a suddenness that surprised even him, Drakal chucked his lightsaber and leapt into the air, all the while building up as much force as his boiling, seething anger would allow. The man blocked the saber, but of course, he was supposed to. Unleashing all his might, the Sith pulled, lifting the guardian off his feet so fast he slammed into the ceiling with a force that left a crater in the intricate carvings, and then hurled him back into the ground, ending the fools life with a sickening crunch of breaking bones. Landing heavily, panting from his exertions, Drakal finally retracted his saber with a flourish.

The Sith's display was brutal, inefficient, and unprofessional. Like a nexu playing with it's food before devouring it. "How messy." Ivix commented, glancing at the multitude of blood spatters and cracks adorning the once immaculate hallway. "Through here is the entirety of the Jedi's collection... Holocrons. Eons of knowledge, Sith, Jedi, even the free radicals like Jolee Bindo and the Dathomir Witches. Such a glorious prize will add to my collection, and bring much notoriety from within the Dark Council." he inhaled deeply, as one would the smell of their mother's cooking. "Such power is stored here. Forbidden force techniques, and the consciousnesses of thousands of Sith and Jedi masters, ready to teach a new generation."

"Uh huh." The Sith appeared to be focusing on something else, but Ivix ignored him for the time being.

He walked forward, peering at each holocron, scanning each for the knowledge or history he sought, pocketing ones that tickled his fancy. The Sith had wandered off in search of something else, the barbarian darting between shelves of priceless artifacts, his own prize hidden among the small cubes and pyramids. Ivix continued on until he reached an elaborate door, one that had likely been locked for centuries. The carvings upon it were rudimentary to be sure, but the more he saw the clearer the picture became. this foretold the death of the force itself.

He ran his hand across the carvings in wonderment, wishing he'd been the one to have discovered such a prize before reaching for what laid within. He felt a great pull on his mind, and before he thought to resist was sucked from the present and was light years away. He was in a massive underground cavern, three curved pillars reaching upwards. He noticed that the force was... absent. Missing, as if it were sucked from the area, like poison from a wound. Before him stood two figures, a tall man in a black hooded robe, face covered by a traditional death-mask. Across from him stood a woman, enshrouded in a simple brown robe, as worn by Jedi Masters centuries before, her face covered by shadows. The masked one began to speak, a human voice, male, but emitting noises no man should have been capable of. He spoke the ancient language of the dark side, only present in powerful relics of the Dark Side, such as the original Holocrons. It was understandable, if only because of Ivix's extensive studies in history and ancient archeology.

"And this... power, it will sate my hunger?" he hissed, an unnatural noise.

"It will sustain you for a time, apprentice. It is the reason we have trained on the place of your rebirth. Malachor V is a wound in the force, it devours the force, as you shall."

The vision shifted, he was in the same room, but there were changes. The masked man seemed more imposing, powerful, and he was accompanied by a standing corpse. No, a man, held together by the smallest amounts of flesh. The woman from before stood combat ready, lightsaber out and clearly wounded. "You dare betray me?" She yelled, mouth curled into a snarl.

The corpse began to speak, "You are no longer needed, 'master'." He sneered and threw her against a pillar, while the masked man held up a hand. When he lowered it, the woman's force echo was gone; she was empty, completely removed from the force.

The vision shifted again, this time the woman was alone, this time missing a hand and connected to the force by the barest of threads, as if via another. A man entered, and Ivix recognized him, if not by name. He had served under Revan, and was responsible for the victory over Malachor V, the final destruction of the Mandalorians.

"So, you have finally come to kill me, exile. Here in the bowels of Trayus Academy, you will slay me and finally kill the wretched force."

"I have no intention of killing you Kreia." He said simply, his eyes wearier than his age would let on.

"Then I shall kill you to kill the force. Either way, the wretched thing dies." The two masters fought intensely, saber and force techniques not seen since the height of the old Jedi Order, before Kreia finally fell, comforted by the exile, passing peacefully instead of violently, saving both Dark and Light sides of the force.

The vision shifted rapidly after that, dozens of planets: Korriban, a dense jungle moon in orbit of a great civilization with a corrupt past, a ruined enclave with farmsteads dotting the landscape around it, a destroyed planet covered in a shield, a smog choked city planet, and finally, a destroyed asteroid mining colony. He began to feel the force being sucked away, like atmosphere through a tiny hull breach, a curious, alarming anomaly, before the vision ended and he was once more staring at the intricate doorway, his heart beating faster than he normally would have allowed.

A powerful relic indeed.

Lord Drakal strode through the rows of useless items the Jedi had collected over their millennia long decay, and the aura he felt was certainly in this room, but it wasn't what he searched for. His eyes lit up after a moment as they fell on his target. A long row of lightsaber crystals in all manner of different types and colors, but mostly the nauseating hues the jedi so loved. He was not interested in those however, his attention was on the deep red crystal that sat towards the end of the row, It's strange glow seemed to draw him forward, speaking to him through the force as he stepped up to it. He closed his eyes, drawing in the essence that seemed to pour through the stone, and using it to regain his lost strength quickly. He felt revitalized just from being near this crystal, and he had never been so glad to steal in his life. He quickly drew his saber from its sheath at his side, then reached out with his mind, soon the saber was completely disassembled, floating over the floor and waiting for his will to make it whole again. Moving the new crystal carefully, he floated it into the correct slot and clicked it into place from behind with a gentle push. After the crystal was in place, it was a simple matter to reconstruct the blade, and it was done in no time.

Parts flew around each other on nothing but air, seeming to be moving of their own accord as they fell into place. With a flourish he grabbed the completed saber from the air and lit it up, showcasing the new dark red blade with a black outline. He couldn't help but smile as he twirled the blade in his hand, and the fact that he'd found a crystal bonded to him alone was worth any amount of pain.

Shutting the saber off once more, he finally went in search of his other reason for being here. The aura that had been contending with the sheer hate given off by Darth Malgus was nearby, and as he retraced his steps back into the main room, he saw his new ally standing in place with his eyes locked forward and one hand against the wall. He raised an eyebrow behind his mask, but the man seemed far too fascinated for his own good. Shaking his head a little, he turned, finding something he very much wanted. A dinner table, quite enticing from the looks of it, had been left by the two guardians from before, and he took his mask off hastily. Setting his mask on the table and sitting down, he started grabbing as much as he could; from meat to gravy, and so much more. It looked as if these men had been eating their last meal.

Well it certainly looks that way now. He smiled once more and stuffed a mouthful of Nerf meat into his face with a ferocious appetite.

"Whemever ur dumn overr ther, this foofd is rewally good!" Speaking around a mouthful of food was a talent he had acquired and mastered on Korriban during his academy days, but the Twi'lek didn't even look around.

"Okay, morfe furr me."

Ivix came to his senses just in time to see the pureblood Sith shoving food past his barbed teeth, face tendrils flapping as he scarfed down food.

"Quiet you gluttonous fool! This wall, it hides a powerful artifact, even you cannot miss its aura. It echoes of times long past, of masters long dead. It whispers of the very death of the force itself!" His Lekku quivered in excitement, the very thought of such knowledge stirring a sense of adventure he hadn't felt since he was an apprentice.

"Oh really? Well it's waited centuries already, so I'm sure it can wait a little longer Twi'lek, and this food is amazing. If there is one good thing I can say about Jedi, it's that they make a mean Nerf steak."

"Reach out to the Relic behind this door. Sealed by the Jedi for centuries... Its power must be immense."

"By the Emperor, do you ever shut up about ancient this, powerful that? Fine, but I already know about this relic, as you said, even a senile Ronto could feel it." The Sith closed his eyes, and stayed silent for a moment, but opened them and shook his head.

"Nothing. Whatever you saw, I don't feel anything but stone."

"Are you truly so blind?" With this he took an action that would have even surprised his old master. Ivix thrust his saber into the ancient engraving, removing it from the wall in two deft strokes. Revealing an incredible holocron.

"Amazing, it appears to be a combination of both Jedi and Sith designs, angular, yet solid at once. Light and Dark, yet respectful of neither!" he marveled as he ran a hand over it but he sith just rolled his eyes and went back to his meal, quickly losing interest.

Tutting at the ignorant barbarian 'pureblood', Ivix went about activating the Holocron, which emitted a bright light and displayed an image of the hooded woman from the vision, her very consciousness imprinted on the device. He felt his eyes bulge before he could stop them, and inhaled sharply in excitement as the figure began to speak.

"I am Darth Traya, and Jedi Master Kreia, the lord of betrayal, betrayed many times. My secrets are many, and none may learn them until the time is right. I speak of course, of devouring the force itself. If you are Jedi, you are desperate. Be you sith, well done. The temple is not an easy place to conquer."

With this, the Holocron flickered off, the tricky mind within unwilling to share it's secrets at that point. Ivix pocketed the device in a separate pouch from the many other Jedi and Sith Holocrons. Noting his prize's importance, he called upon a rare technique; he shrank the collected Holocrons presence in the force to that of a pea, one unnoticeable in the background noise of his own, and continued his search through the vast treasure trove of artifacts with a small smile.

This will make a fine prize indeed.