"Really, I think the balance already got shifted by one person. Our Emperor's dead, too. It's the Dark Council holding the Sith Empire together, now, and, well. Sith Lords aren't the most stable of people."

"The same Dark Council your teacher is part of?"

"Yes, but she's not the problem. If the Sith Empire collapsed tomorrow she'd be annoyed and concerned for the structure of her organization and the safety of her archives, but otherwise not really care. As long as no one breaks her things, she's inclined to ignore politics and policy. It's - everyone else that's the problem. The turnover rate for Dark Councilors is - shortening alarmingly, and the ones who are stable are not as benign as my teacher."

"Maybe you should convince her to take on a larger role in running the Empire."

Callida raises her eyebrows. Skeptically.

"Do you know what her reply would be? Because I can guess. Something along the lines of, 'if the interests of the Empire concern you so, why don't you deal with it.'"

"If she gave you the authority to back that up..."

"I think I'd want to be more assured that I could hold power before I try to seize it, otherwise I just make a bigger mess. I'm not against the idea, I just don't think I could survive for any longer than fifteen minutes if, say, Darth Marr wanted me dead. My teacher could give me authority, certainly, but I can't hide behind her forever."

"Republic politics is only figurative backstabbing. I guess that puts Fey'lya's antics into perspective..."

"Literal backstabbing is worse than the figurative kind, but neither is particularly fun. What does this Fey'lya do?"

"Oh, he's just always fiddling around with rules and procedures to make sure he's getting the best deal with everything regardless of larger concerns. I can't follow half of it, honestly."

"Charming. A grim bright side of Sith politics is that if anyone is too self serving and stupid, they will either be intimidated until they knock it off, or die when someone gets annoyed with them. Everyone is very motivated to think of the good of the Empire, unless they're Sith themselves."

"That doesn't sound like a very bright side."

"It really isn't."

"So what does the political structure look like?"

"There are two separate sections of the political structure. Non-Sith, and Sith. I have only a vague idea of the non-Sith structure, but as I understand it, it's highly militaristic and based heavily around loyal years of service and skill. Aside from that, I really couldn't say. I haven't gotten involved.

"Sith politics are - well. Deadly. Also somewhat bizarre. They are ostensibly above and in control of all non-Sith in Imperial society. The lowest Sith apprentice is," she grimaces, "above even seasoned and loyal citizens. The Dark Council has twelve members, each in charge of their own Sphere of influence. A section of government or specialization, if you will. Some of these Spheres are dare I say it, sane - the Sphere of Biotic Science, the Sphere of Production and Logistics, my own teacher's Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. Then there are the, ah. Less sane ones. Sith 'Philosophy,' whatever work that involves, an entire Sphere devoted to the vaguely named Mysteries, and no I don't know what it's about, and not one, not two, but three separate Spheres for the military. Offense, Defense, and Strategy. Presumably because if one Sith Lord was in charge of the army, they would go, 'And now I will use that to kill all of the other Sith.'"

"That sounds... almost logical."

"It does, but I find it immensely frustrating anyway."

"It'd probably work better if it wasn't run by Sith."

Sigh. "Probably. With Sith they sort of - they don't play well together. It feels less like three branches of the same military and more like three separate armies that only grudgingly don't kill each other."

"Sounds like the early days of the Rebel Alliance."

"It sounds like you solved it, though. The Sith - if anything, we're getting more and more fractured. None of us liked the Emperor, but he brought stability. Doesn't help that about a third of the Dark Council died at Corellia seven years ago, and most of the replacements haven't been very, ah. Stable."

"It would be a waste if you were dragged down with them."

"Persistent, aren't you."

"You deserve to live the life you want to live."

"Well, yes. But so does everyone. And, really, much as I'll complain about the Sith, I don't precisely mind being one."