Clever of him. He gets a smile as Occlus walks past. Anyone else between her and the target?

There are a few, but they are amenable to persuasion, and also Occlus looking terrifying.

And then, in the control room: Skar!

"Lord Skar. Two things will see you leave this room alive. First, you tell me where Thanaton is hiding. Second, you restore operation to the rocket trams."

She doesn't expect this to work, but she loses nothing by trying. Power crackles up and down her arms.

Lord Skar turns from the console he was staring dramatically at. He draws his lightsaber.

"I'm not yours to order, Lord Occlus."

"Not yet."

What the hell, today has been fun and she hasn't used her saber yet. Occlus summons her own to her hand, and it spits forth a bar of crimson flame.

"Darth Thanaton wanted me to retreat," says Lord Skar, circling Occlus, "but I think he's being too cautious. I think you're not as scary as you think you are."

Nariveth is just going to quietly back away from the kill radius. She doesn't doubt that Occlus has good aim, but might as well make it easier to blast him.

A few of Skar's technicians have the same idea.

Well, Occlus is just going to have to correct his misapprehensions. She leaps forward and unleashes a barrage of speed-enhanced strikes before Skar can get around her.

Skar keeps up better than one would expect him to! He lasts longer than the jedi did, anyway.

Occlus is toying with him.

After she's done playing, she rips his blade out of his grasp with a lightning-fast scoop and twirl, then blasts him down to his knees. With her saber pointed at his throat, she says, "You remember what I want. Tell me."

"... No," he growls.

She withdraws her saber, and channels a blast of pain at him, without bothering with lightning as an intermediarary.

"Do you care to rethink your answer?"

Lord Skar handles pain well...

... but not that well.

After he's recovered enough to speak: "T-the fuel refinery!"

Damn him!

Occlus points a finger at Nariveth, not taking her eyes off Skar. "Comm Pyron, tell him to get a unit of commandos to the fuel refinery now, and I don't care how he does it!"

Back to Skar. "Tell your men to undo whatever they did to the rocket tram. And explain what, exactly, is happening at the refinery."

Nariveth nods and goes to do exactly as told. Her voice is sharp and she does not waste time.

Skar gets his comm and has his men undo the tram sabotage. He noticeably stalls with explaining the refinery, instead opting to micromanage the tram situation in a bid to buy time.

He can have another dose of pain, then. Does that change his demeanor?

Yep!

"S-Sabotage, make it look like the R-Republic, force your fleet to, go to, the other refinery under his allies' control. Weaken them."

Occlus gestures for Nariveth to relay this to Pyron.

"Do you know anything more specific about the sabotage? Or where Thanaton has his main base?"

Nariveth nods and relays this.

"N-No, he, said it would be d-delicate." That is a very un-sith-like whimper he's making, there. "He'll kill me."

"Consider that I will kill you if you do not tell me. And if you think you know pain now, believe me. We have barely even scratched the surface of what it is possible for you to experience."

"But if I don't tell you," he hisses, "Thanaton will win the Kaggath and avenge me, and he will hurt you."

Sigh. Clearly this could take a while. Zap to the base of Skar's skull to knock him out temporarily.

"Apprentice, you are in command here while I finish the interrogation. Tell Khem to eat anyone who gives you a problem."

Force lift Skar, and carry him to a back room. With a locking door.

A week ago she was a slave, now she is commanding an army, what is this. She maybe has a bit of knowledge at how to murder people with her mind, not how to command an army! Who gives command positions to people for having magic powers! Having magic powers does not make someone a brilliant strategist! Or a competent leader! It means you have magic powers! That's it, that's all it means!

"Yes, my lord," she says anyway, because while this is messed up, surely she has to be smarter than Skar, and things will be a little bit screwed if no one is in charge. No use freaking out about it, she has work to do.

She requests that Moff Pyron retrieve his favored commander to funnel orders to her to give. Moff Pyron is surprised, but is happy to provide. While he's doing that, Nariveth hunts down most of Skar's command group - they're not hard to find. One of them wastes time begging for her life, Nariveth tells her to stuff it and redeem herself by helping to win this battle. Another one swears allegiance to Darth Thanaton, and Nariveth coldly stares at him and then asks if he would like to say that again, while sparking lightning. Or, perhaps, say that to Lord Occlus.

A scream drifts down the hall from the back room. They all become very pliant after that. She does not require Khem Val's assistance.

They begin frantically debriefing her on the situation, and she relays the broad strokes to the newly retrieved commander. Then she starts getting - suggestions, is the term she's going to call them. Few people are actually willing to tell a sith what to do, instead it's framed as potential ideas and valuable time is wasted trying to make it seem like it's her idea.

After the third time she notices this, Nariveth sighs, then says, "Commander, rest assured that I will not fry you for being competent, or for being smarter than I am, we're in the middle of a war, please stop trying to pretend this is all my idea and just fucking win this battle."

The commander is taken aback, but stops dancing around the issue and starts telling her what to say, and things go much more smoothly.

The Republic forces are in disarray by the time Occlus gets the information out of Skar. It's turning into a rout.