Capítulo 185: The Kanes and The Cromwells
I don't own star wars.
It is said on Dromund Kaas that there has always been a Kane as Moff of Dromund Kaas. That's not entirely true. However it has been true for years, as far back as even the oldest sentient you could talk to without eating you afterwords could remember. Hundreds of years ago, there was a particularly brutal battle between the republic, and the empire over the very capital. In the struggle, the Moff of Dromund Kaas was killed. He was the last of his line, and there was no direct heir to his position.
Alkaiser Kane and Tetragan Cromwell were both popular and efficient Admirals of the Empire. And due to their efforts and their abilities, they pushed back the republic forces over Dromund Kaas in a vicious and horrific rout. Alkaiser Kane was a brilliant tactician and warrior, and Tetragan Cromwell was an intense Warrior and tactician. Little could distinguish between the two.
So the emperor at the time decided on a whim to promote Alkaiser Kane to the position. And while it was a decision that brought greatness to the Empire hereafter. It began a private war between the families of Kane and Cromwell. It started small, a subtle insult here, a flexing of political muscle there...
Then darker, more brutal methods were applied.
It started when Luceious, Tetragan's brother, decided not to send reinforcements to Arten Kane, Alkaiser's firstborn son. Resulting in the young commander's death and loss of two planets under Imperial rule. Luceious, whether through his own idiocy or lack of tact, insulted Alkaiser by saying his son was unprepared an incompetent when he made his report.
Luceious mysteriously died in a 'terrible food poisoning' accident.
Then all out war began.
Luceious daughter Tricia Cromwell was mutilated in a small explosion, Faigen Kane, the second son was brutally crippled in a back alley ambush (visiting one of his many mistresses). Tetragan himself suffered half a dozen assassination attempts. And Alkaiser survived many 'terrorist' attacks on his palace. Tetragan's sister, Moria Cromwell, was viciously murdered along with her entire family. And Alkaiser's older brother and young children, who didn't even enter service, were taken from his home and sold into slavery, only the youngest daughter was recovered, and she was never the same.
Finally, the Emperor had had enough and decided that the two would hold a duel for honor in his presence with only his top Sith warrior in attendance. No one besides them know the outcome of the battle. But Alkaiser Kane remained Moff, and Tetragan was assigned as far away as possible to expand the empire's borders into the outer rim.
The rivalry between the two families became less and less bloody over time. A deathless duel here, a competition and minor brawl afterward there. But the Cromwells soon became associated with the Outer Rims as the Kane's have with Dromund Kaas.
Alastor Cromwell once he became head of the family even 'made peace' (in a matter of speaking) with Altora Kane. The families 'burying the hatchet' somewhere else beside each other's backs.
But that truce ended long ago with the ascension of Tolara Kane, Altora's daughter. Alastor had a deal with Altora before her fall. Her plan to restart the war with the Republic would've benefited both families in the worst of ways. Alastor would make a grand return, and Altora, who was eventually trying to worm her way into the position of Grand Vizier would promote him to the Moff of a more productive quadrant, as opposed to the metaphorical 'Sticks' he currently governs.
There was no question in anyone's mind that Tolara Kane would do (or was capable of) such a thing, and she had quietly canceled the deal.
So now… now Alastor, in his eighties as well as a top of the line hoverchair, was sitting at his mahogany desk while he continued to examine his documents and reports. Frowning prominently as his loyal Nohgri bodyguard, and technically nurse, stood beside him. He was a hulking brute, with broad shoulders and prominent lower teeth. Bright yellow eyes that seemed to stare into your soul but with a permanent squint. No one but Alastor knew his name, in the company of others Alastor simply called him Nohgri.
Alastor himself once had pitch black dark hair, always cut short in a military cut, and he once had handsome features but now he was grayed and winkled with his age. A few of his joints and organs were long replaced by enhanced cybernetics although you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him. But what stood out the most, and had remained unchanged from his advancing years, were his prominent bright sapphire blue eyes…
Now when I say bright, I mean that literally. Whether from mutation or a strange gift from the Force, the Cromwell line has always had glowing, bright, sapphire-blue eyes. They were unnerving in the dark. Just as the Kanes are associated with red hair and green eyes (although this is technically a trait of the Firemane line) the Cromwells were associated with their bright blue glowing eyes. Once a child was born without the true glow and was not considered a Cromwell. He and his mother (also not a Cromwell) mysteriously vanished and was never seen in public again...
This fact about the family's eyes however led to… somewhat of a small issue.
"Father?" he looked up as an aquamarine blue skinned twi'lek with bright Cromwell blue eyes entered the room. This was Elima Tes'sai-Cromwell… and there was no denying that she WAS a Cromwell. Generations of pure, human stock and now… her.
"…Yes?" He said abruptly as she stood to attention in her perfectly fitting officer uniform. There was no real anger in his voice, just a curt, no nonsense tone.
"…Critcher has returned." She said with a very distinct scowl on her young face. He leaned back in his hoverchair and glanced at Nohgri who stood straighter and snarled just as a tall black-haired man in his late forties entered the room.
This was Batson Cromwell, easily the most 'Alastor' looking of all his children. He was the spitting image of his advanced-aged father in his youth, he was an admiral with dozens of campaigns under his belt and essentially his father's second in command. He stood to attention after glancing hesitantly at Elima. "…Elima." He said, kindly, politely.
"…Batson." She said flat and harshly, stepping aside as Batson frowned sadly and marched forward, saluting his father once he reached his desk.
"Father. Critcher has-"
"Elima has informed me." He interrupted with a wave of his gnarled hand, "Where is Daemon?" the youngest of the Cromwell men, Daemon was the last son of Alastor born before the untimely death of his wife. Recently graduated from the academy.
"In the yard training the troops, Father." He replied abruptly. "Do you want me to summon him?"
"No." Alastor replied, relaxing in his chair. "…Let him keep it up. He'll join us when he's done." Batson nodded as the door opened once again, he took his place beside his father on the left as Nohgri approached, standing on the right. More than ready to defend his charge.
Critcher Cromwell; blonde, tall, and thin, had seen much better days… his face and neck were horrifically scarred. His once handsome face was now a patchwork of stretched skin and needle work… some under his command had taken to calling him 'Stitcher Critcher' behind his back. Alastor glared at his second son, as he approached. One of his bright blue eyes was half-hidden under his stretched skin. With enough surgery the doctors say he could be moderately fixed… however Alastor thought this was a learning experience… and would not approve the surgery himself, making Critcher compensate for it.
"Father." Critcher hissed, his voice was once melodious and possibly even charming, but now it was raspy and gravelly. A remnant of the horrific attack on his throat.
Without hesitating and getting right to it. Alastor pointed angrily at Critcher, Nohgri under an almost telepathic command from Alastor suddenly grabbed Critcher's arms with unbreakable strength. Nohgri dragged him roughly forward, Critcher struggling vainly against the might of the Nohgri, as he glared angrily at Alastor. pressed down with Nohgri's strength against the desk as he was forced to look his stern father in the bright blue eyes.
"Stay. Away. From the Firemanes…" Alastor said, his voice, filled with years and years of imperial command, echoed around the room. Elima shivered at his voice.
Critcher snarled viciously at his father, all of them ignoring the door opening and a young blonde man entered eating a spiky fruit and holding a vibro-sword in its sheath belted at his side. He had a long vicious scar on his right cheek, just under his bright blue Cromwell eye. This was Daemon: he was a trooper and a swordmaster trained by a rather tame sith warrior, he glanced at Elima and nodded almost politely to her before silently returning his attention to his brother. Eating his fruit as if all of this was perfectly normal.
"I will DO WHAT I WISH!" hissed Critcher, struggling against Nohgri. "That family needs to pay!" his voice struggled and broke with his words, as if his vocal cords refused to say them but were forced to. Critcher had been told to not speak while he healed, but when had he ever really listened to the advice of anyone?
"And they will. But NOT THE FIREMANES!" Alastor's voice rang violently around the room, causing all of his children to freeze. "Direct your anger appropriately!" he then nodded to Nohgri who lifted Critcher up slightly and slammed him back on the desk before tossing him away as he went to stand beside Alastor again. "Do you have any idea how foolish it would be to anger the whole family?! Your issue, OUR ISSUE. Is with the Kane boy! The Devil's Dog! The son of Kavilla! Do you know that?! ARE YOU AWARE?!" he snarled, insulting Critcher as he slowly got to his feet.
"…I am aware." Critcher hissed.
"SPEAK. UP." Alastor demanded coldly.
"I. Am. AWARE." Critcher snarled louder, his fingers brushing his neck scars, even now they were still tender… he still remembered the warmth of his own blood flowing from the wound.
"You will bring the family down on us. We don't want that…" Alastor noted sagely, examining his documents absently. "They have disowned him publicly, but privately they will defend him. All of them; and they are a powerful family. They have many friends and allies. Wookiees, Hutts, bounty hunters, mandalorians…
"We can kill them. We can face them! They cannot stand the might of the empire!" Daemon glanced at Emila, holding his now fruitless hand like a duckbill and rapidly opening and closing it. Emila, gave him a very rare smile. Of all her 'brothers' she liked Daemon the most. In battle, his was vicious, brutal, and horrific. But to her, he was surprisingly sweet... most of the time at any rate.
"…Oh?" Alastor said slowly, and all of Daemon's mockery vanished as Critcher flinched. "…You think the empire will allow your little feud? You think they will approve?" Critcher was silent, letting the question linger in the air. "…Do you think, that just because you're my son that I'll order all of our forces into republic territory to kill one upstart little half-blood?" Emila flinched. "Just for you?" Critcher's fists tightened angrily.
"…No."
"Damn right, NO!" Alastor replied aggressively. "No. This will be done the old ways. The right way. In the dark, away from the light. WE will handle it. WE will not let this travesty stand. We will find the Devil's dog. The 'Red Wolf' and we will kill him, but we will do it right."
The Cromwell children stood a little straighter. Their father could be very charismatic when he wanted to be. Inspiring speeches were something of a hobby.
"But we don't know where he is." Critcher hissed angrily.
"Yes we do." Emila said pointedly.
"Keep your mouth shut, wormhead." He spat viciously as Emila flinched at his hurtful words.
Batson's fist, faster than even Nohgri crashed violently against Critcher's jaw, sending him off his feet and onto the carpeted floor as a tooth went flying from his mouth.
"Fuck yeah Bat! Nice punch!" Daemon grinned at his oldest brother's skill.
"You will keep a civil tongue in that fucked-up mouth of yours when you speak to Emila, 'Stiches!'" Batson said, grabbing his brother's uniform collar while he lay on the floor, ready to hit him again as Nohgri restrained him easily dragging him off his bleeding brother. This was rather shocking to Emila, Critcher's racism wasn't surprising but Batson's reaction certainly was; he was normally incredibly collected.
"Fuck you Batson!" Critcher said with a violent spat, drawing a vibro-knife from his boot as Daemon's hand instinctively yanked his vibro sword from its sheath as Emila gasped in horror.
With a bang, the vibro-knife in Critcher's hand went flying from his grip as Alastor held the smoking blaster. Daemon re-sheathed his sword. "Enough!" he barked as everyone froze again. "Pick up your tooth." He said dismissively as Critcher yanked the tooth from the floor. "…Emila is right. If you were paying attention. Fool. I said we won't send our forces into the republic. That is where he is… we have our own spies. Our own friends."
"Where is he?" spat Critcher, wiping blood from his mouth.
"Coruscant." Alastor replied casually, the Cromwell boys flinched reluctantly. It was practically a safezone metaphorically speaking. There was no chance for a Cromwell to even enter its orbit let alone step on the surface.
"…So what do we do?" Batson asked as Nohgri released him.
Alastor closed his eyes, the glow vanished behind his lids. "…The proper answer is to get him off the planet. Of course, we also have to actually find him first, all we can get from my cipher is he's somewhere on Coruscant… its not exactly the easiest planet to find someone on."
"If only we could draw him out." Spat Critcher, "Then we'll see how he fairs against someone whose back isn't turned!"
"Probably the same way brother." Daemon replied smugly, "…No way you could stand up to the guy… you do remember after he ventilated your throat that he fought off two squads of troopers, right?"
"They were holding back! They needed to take him alive!" he replied.
But there was no doubt that Kallus Kane could handle himself. He's survived blaster fire and wounds that would put down an angry wookiee. Critcher Cromwell was a dangerous man as long as he had a couple of dozen yards between him, and while he did survive his vicious wounds, it was only through the incredibly talented medic MT-654 aka 'Patch' that he even lasted to get proper attending.
"Silence…" Alastor interrupted, rubbing his head, he was getting a headache. "We will deal with Kane. He will not remain hidden for long. Our agents are scouring the planet as we speak, we will find him…" he then pointed to Critcher. "But none the less, my point still stands. You will stay away from the Firemanes…"
Critcher sneered angrily at his father, but he turned and walked out, roughly shoving past Emila as Daemon followed his brother.
"How DARE he speak to me like that!" he hissed out of hearing range.
"He is our dad." Daemon supplied casually, "He kinda has the right."
Critcher poked firmly on his younger brother's chest. He looked furious but Daemon seemed unconcered. "Sending scouts to the Firemane family was your idea!" he hissed angrily, spitting blood onto the floor as Daemon shrugged.
"Scouts, not assassins. That's all you. What that hot twi'lek sheriff did to them wasn't part of my plan at all."
Critcher snarled. "…Don't you get any ideas about wormheads or greenies or furs, (Twi'leks, Mirialans and Cathars respectively) or-"
"I get it brother you're racist." Daemon said casually, "Hate all you won't but they all have their place… mostly in bed. Besides most are just as tight as any imperial human." He replied with a grin. Critcher flinched disgustedly. "Now. Do you want to insult my tastes? Or do you want to find Kane?"
"I want to KILL Kane!" snarled Critcher under his breath.
Daemon's face twisted into a menacing, unnerving smile. "Well dad said not to pick a fight with the Firemanes… but you know. The Kane side has another kid…"
Critcher frowned. "…Aida Kane? Are you a fool?"
"Fool, thug, idiot…" Daemon shrugged again casually, "…Don't listen if you don't care… but Aida Kane is very close with her cousin. They aren't so much cousins as brother and sister, unlike our family who knock our own teeth out-" Critcher's tongue tasted blood where his tooth used to be. "And try to shank each other. Their family bond is strong… now tell me. What do you think Kallus will do if he finds out his dear cousin is in trouble?"
He then walked past Critcher, speaking with an almost 'demonic' tone. "…Why… if I were him… I'd charge right in to help her… not even considering whether it's a trap or not."
Critcher thought about it but shook his head slowly. "…It would never work. Aida is… intelligent." He said the word as if it hurt him to admit it.
"But she is also recklessly confident, there are ways of dealing with people who are." He grinned at his brother, internally keeping to himself how easy it was to play him like a fiddle. "Right brother?" Daemon Cromwell: Demon of the Outer Rim, might have been very aptly nicknamed.
"But what if it doesn't work?"
Daemon shrugged again tapping the hilt of his vibro-sword. "…Then dad's spies will probably find him. Wherever he's on Coruscant, we'll find him, we always do…"
…Well… luckily for Kallus, he wasn't on Coruscant…
End of Chapter
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