Now he fights the ghosts, though he doesn't make it into a direct power contest. He uses his power enough to steer himself away from Occlus as he's dragged along, breaking through walls as he goes.

He drops the apprentice off in a hallway on the way.

Is the apprentice weak enough that Nariveth could take him?

He is pretty untrained, and sort of delusional, and she's definitely smarter than he is. But 'pretty untrained' is more trained than Nariveth, so it could potentially go either way.

Then she'll pause briefly to knock him out with a jolt of lightning, then continue chasing Kallous. He's not the only one who can crash through walls.

Down goes the apprentice.

Kallous will lead Occlus on a merry chase. He is very fast, and very good at breaking down walls. The merry chase goes by: turrets, armed Imperial soldiers, battle droids - the list goes on.

He seems to be purposefully wasting Occlus's time; weakening her, and more importantly, buying time for Thanaton's men to fix their security.

Wasting her time: Not Okay.

Out come all five ghosts to hold down Kallous the same way she dealt with that Jedi yesterday.

Kallous can't actually get out of this.

But he can make a lightning explosion at his location in retaliation. Just to maybe get Occlus, too.

She doesn't catch any lightning this time, but she does raise a shield that blocks any of it from reaching her.

Did Kallous survive that or was it a suicide gesture?

What kind of sith do you think Kallous is, Occlus, he wouldn't suicide this quickly.

Maybe later, though.

Right now he's just sparking angrily.

Does his head continue to spark as it rolls away from his body?

...She perhaps should not have been so quick to kill him. Maybe interrogate him. Find out if Thanaton's up to anything right now.

On the other hand, he annoyed her. And there's still that new apprentice she didn't kill. Speaking of which, she should probably go find her own. Is Nariveth in any trouble?

Nope, she has found her way to the apprentice and is tying him up because that seems the sane and rational thing to do in this situation.

The Imperial soldiers were all smart enough to run at the sight of a sith battle that involved so much property damage.

Good. Time to leave before Thanaton gets back or the defenses come online.

Levitate Thanaton's apprentice, and back to the hangar.

Thanaton's men do not try shooting any of them. They'll just - not.

They even get the security system patched, and shortly after the force shields flicker on, they flicker back off. Clearly the people in charge would like Occlus and her apprentice to please leave immediately.

Occlus surmises Thanaton has not yet returned, and is not being apprised of the situation on a minute-to-minute basis. The people in charge may come to regret their decision to speed her departure. Not that that would be any skin off her nose.

Hangar! Ship! Back to Pyron's base which hopefully Thanaton has not destroyed in revenge!

Nope, Pyron's base is completely fine.

But there is a message waiting for Occlus.

Occlus first hands off her prisoner to a pair of soldiers, with instructions to lock him up somewhere secure. Then, she attends to the message. Who's it from and what do they have to say?

It's from Thanaton.

He's - well, livid doesn't quite do it justice. Skar's death was an annoying setback, a loss brought about when his apprentice failed to listen to him. A failure of loyalty as much as it was a failure of foresight. Kallous's death, though? Kallous was his heir. His most well trained, oldest, smartest apprentice. The one he'd hoped would one day take his place. And his death took place while Thanaton was keeping him safe.

Darth Thanaton is perhaps no longer thinking straight.

"Occlus," he growls, spitting the word like it's the foulest of curses. "Government Plaza. Tomorrow. Everyone will be there. The Kaggath ends, one way or another, either face me then or I will hunt you to the Outer Rim."

End message.

He doesn't look happy.

It's nice to connect with people on a personal level. Occlus is going to take this feeling of joy and save it deep in her heart.

"Moff Pyron. It seems this fight will be over tomorrow, one way or another. It has been a pleasure to work with you. You may begin preparations to deploy your forces more conventionally."

Moff Pyron nods, gravely.

"It has been an honor, my lord. Good luck. Not that I expect you'll need it."

Now, where did they stash that prisoner? She should at least learn his name before she kills him.

They stashed him in a set of holding cells built to A: withstand lightning, and B: with all furniture inside welded to the floor. As such, the apprentice is uselessly blasting lightning at the force shield to try to overload it, and getting exactly nowhere.

His name turns out to be Larsus. No title.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you. Bear in mind that your master will be dead by the end of tomorrow."

"You're mad," says Larsus. "When Thanaton comes for me, he'll turn you into a little smear on the ground-!"

Force choke.

"I said give me a reason not to kill you. One more chance." She will allow him just enough air to answer her.

Squeak.

"... I, could, be, useful to you?" he attempts.